Inlands 2010

[andy_peters]

very brief summary........

hot (for the time of year), sunny (on the Sunday) and increasingly windy culminating in a quite full on final couple of races.  Lake to ourselves on Saturday, added fun of lots of club boats Sunday.  Decent sized windward/leeward courses, no hanging around between races.  No sand, no mud, no rocks.  Beer and curry on Saturday night.

Embellishments on the report to come.

[Stuberry]

OK, let me have a brain splurge on this one to kick things off:

Race 1:
We had an excellent start, speed and height off the line then binned it in to windward. Everyone else carried on left and we came back right.

Race 2:
Another excellent start, hit the left side of the course, but we were first to sail in to the hole and everyone else tacked off leaving us struggling.

Race 3:
Dodgy start, so tacked back on to port and hit the right side which seemed to pay and we rounded in third. Usagi went for a swim on the run and we took the lead. We mis-judged the lay line coming in to the windward mark on the 3rd lap and had to put two tacks in, letting Eleanor through. But we had a better bear away and snuck inside them, had a disagreement and they capsized. Usagi was quite close at the last windward mark and very close at the finish.

Race 4:
We had an unremarkable start. Usagi was banging the left side of the course, which I think paid so we followed. This made the race a bit processional.

Race 5:
We didn't give anyone room at the committee boat but then got pushed over by Eleanor, I'm blaming karma. We went around the pin but couldn't get past Pasta to do better than 5th.

Race 6:
Breeze was up. We were shattered. Only 3 boats left in the race I think. On the last bare away we binned it in and broke the board righting the boat.

On reflection I didn't take much notice what anyone else was doing and I don't remember much.

[pratn0]

Do forgot you and I won our first ever Cherub race in race 3. 

Then got too pissed on Sat to do any better.....

[andy_peters]

On reflection I didn't take much notice what anyone else was doing and I don't remember much.

You still talking about the racing or your usual Saturday night? 

[Will_Lee]

Sounds epic!

Pictures?

Who won?

[phil_kirk]

Andy and Jill won, Graham and Eddy were second.

Team Born Slippy had a fun weekend interspersed with some frustrating moments.  The Slug is rapid on flat water both upwind and down. Due mainly to smaller sails we were near the back with ocasional glimpses of glory when the 05 rules boats capsized.  The kite halyard jammed on race 1 which we finished under two sails. After freeing the tapered line from the mast pulley it happened again. We opted to go ashore and fix it so we could complete the third race. We missed the start but had a good sail trying to catch the monkey.

After excellent Curry and some beers on Saturday night and a watch of the Grand prix on Sunday morning we enjoyed a second day of racing in increasing breeze dodging the club racing.  In race 1 we had a good battle with the Pasta Frenzy managing to stay in the breeze up and down wind and stayed ahead until the finish.  I discovered that the rudder is sensitive to stalling at slow speed which made manoeuvring at the start somewhat tricky.  My weakness of gybing in breeze had returned and rather frustratingly spoilt some good beats.  We nailed the laylines for the windward mark on practically every attempt. 

Tom was an excellent and very understanding crew. 

[roland_trim]

Looking inthe manual for Born Slippy's 97 rig there is only the following entry under Gybing:
 "Let the kicker off or she tips you in"

[simon_jones]

We had a great weekend. Eleanor showed some real pace at times, sadley let down by the two numpteys
sailing her.
There was some close racing with all the 05 rules boats shown in the results with just two points seperating
2nd to 4th after six races. The increasing breeze also stopped our 6th race although this was due to crew failure not boat failure.
1) We need more practice
2) we need to get fit for next year
Thanks to Andy and Gill for sorting this one and putting us up for the night.

[phil_kirk]

Ahh! that could be the reason.

[phil_kirk]

Could someone who was nearer the front of the fleet who saw more of the action put the above posts together into an article and send to yachts and yachting web site. 200-300 words. 

If we want to increase our exposure as a class and attract a sponsor for next year we need to start getting info out a bit wider than this forum.

[andy_peters]

I have done a report for Y&Y which is up on their website now, with a photo - from QMSC but not taken actually at the Inlands.  I have included some shameless plugging of the new rules boats. 

I am bias but I thought it was an excellent event with good competition and race menagement, shame a few more didn't come and enjoy it.  I'm just enquiring if QMSC would do the same next year either for a traveller event or the Inlands - they would like us to bring over 10 boats though.

Report reproduced here.

The weather gods certainly smiled benignly on the Cherub Inlands at Queen Mary SC with warm temperatures and an increasing breeze over the two days culminating in a couple of quite full on final races.  On Saturday three races were held in a reasonably steady 8-12 knots of breeze. 

In race 1 Andrew and Jill Peters in Usagi were first around the windward mark but succumbed to an early capsize letting Graham and Eddie Bridle in Riot Van lead for the majority of the race.  Usagi though was slowly catching and overtook Riot Van on the last leg to win.  In race 2 Usagi led from start to finish with Dean and Simon in Eleanor getting a good second, Riot Van finishing third.  In race 3 a slightly increased breeze suited Stu Turner and Nick Pratt in Ronin and they took the win by a boat length from a fast finishing Usagi.  Davro had finally emerged from a post Ministry of Sound sleep and posted an excellent 3rd in the Pasta Frenzy.  The first 97 rules boat for the day was Phil Kirk and Tom Kiddle in Born Slippy.

On the Sunday the Cherubs had their own start on the club racing course giving QMSC members a close up view of the fantastic 05 rules cherubs complete with their masthead asymmetrics, twin trapezes and t-foils (there are a couple of great second hand boats available on the class website!)  Overtaking the RS400’s who started 5 minutes ahead showed the turn of speed these 12 foot skiffs can produce given a decent breeze. 

Normal service was resumed in the first two races with Usagi taking 2 firsts and the Inland Championships for the second year.  Each race was hard fought with in particular Eleanor and Ronin also leading for significant periods of the racing.  The increasing breeze was making for some challenging corner turning and the QMSC sailors were getting some spectacular cherub action to watch.  By the final race the wind was upto a good force 4, firmly into Pasta territory.  Riot Van and Ronin duelled for the lead but Dave and Maff in Pasta were never far behind.  A race ending capsize by Ronin freed Riot Van for certain victory, however the thrill of riding the days biggest gust downwind meant Riot Van over stood the finish and had to drop the kite and reach across.  This opened the door for The Pasta Frenzy who, showing a mean turn of speed themselves, blasted across the finish line to take the win.  Adem and Chris in Monkey Magic showed some good boat handling to stay the course and claim third. 

Many thanks to QMSC for arranging such superb conditions and for the excellent race management.

Results are under the sailing>results tab on the QMSC website

http://www.queenmary.org.uk/SailResults/Open%20Racing%202010/20101010_Cherub%20Inland%20Championship.htm

[MK]

Me and Davro both independently think we spotted a camera in a safety boat during R6, do you know who this mystery photographer may be?

[Tim Noyce]

I'd be keen to come next time, just unfortunately in the middle of moving and living out of a B&B in Devon during the week at the moment so just couldn't happen!

It certainly wasn't anything to do with the location or facilities that put me off coming. My first Cherub event was at QM back in 2005 so would like to return at some point 

[roland_trim]

I am  not a fan of the launching, but it is a great map location and we would have been there if we could have. I think somone else pointed out that the most heavily attended event this year (bar nationals) was the one that there was the longest notice for.

Post edit:- there were many reasons for the late notice, this is not a crit. Just a note for future events.

[MK]

Launching was amazing, we used the club jetties!