MIDLANDS POSSE

[JP233]

Thought I'd fire up ye olde thread.

Had an epic little sail today!
I raided the Y&J fleet to find a guy called Rowan.
I sailed moths with his dad in years gone by.
He was surprisingly good, hadn't trapezes before, hadn't sailed an asymmetric kite, but within 10mins he was flat wiring, little bit of windward heal (I lied about what flat was). kite up, ripping along downwind.

Silly boom (now reinforced) worked well, plenty of room, he didnt know how lucky he was!

Now I'm achey in all the right ways.

[JayW]

Does he have a mate who would also like to play?

Time to reactivate the Draycote Cherub fleet!

[JayW]

EJ and Shiny heading to Draycote on Sunday.

Would anyone like to swell the numbers?
Can do some swapping around if we have spare people.

[JP233]

Bit of an epic day at draycote.
Forecast was of some big winds in the afternoon which caused some hesitation.
Shiny has Jamie and Rowan
Squid has Jimmy and Guy

We waited in the morning until lunch to see how correct the forecast would be and to get Rolands crazy sail put on squid.
we launched as the wind built, squid getting away first, with shiny following, only for squid to return to retie the kicker strap.

Shiny tried 3 kite runs throughout the day, only one being acceptable, during the first the kite cam out the bag in a double wine glass and was not moving , capsize, sort manually, sail upwind try again.
the second reviled the retrieval line was in front of the luff then through the patched, capsize, sort out, try again.
on the next upwind, the breeze really filled in, there were times when the main was flogging, the jib was flogging and both of us flat on the wire were just about keeping up hull side down.
The last kite run made it all worth it with many expletives from rowan. i believe he has had his shiny moment

[CHERUB CHERISHER]

WOW!
sounds execiting,
the wind really picked up yesterday,well done for persevering.
building up to my first kite run but gotta learn to walk before i run..... like the wind!!!
rick

[Jimmy Rudd]

As Jamie reports, a bit epic yesterday.

I now have a boom, so 1st job was to rig that up, a couple of other tweaks and put the crazy main on and we were ready to go. I picked a 'youf' from the wet bar who had shown interest before and without any hesitation he jumped in the Squid.

A quick out and back to sort the kicker and then we got going. A quick blast with both of us on the wire to give him a grin and then I sat in for a while so he could get to grips with tacking and keeping the boat flat (hard work on a day like yesterday). A quick splash when Guy missed the wire and the odd moment of nearly going round the front but all in all pretty successful.

Now for the bear away, which happened to be around an on looking fisherman, managed well and without much hesitation in to the middle hoisting the kite. I'd opted for the "smaller" kite and after a reminder to hook on before sheeting in we took off down wind, a bit of bouncing big grins and a few choice words later we'd covered most of the lake, we were about to drop when the halyard popped out the cleat and down came the kite, oooops! As we hit the water the grin was still big, and I think "that's the biggest rush Ive ever had, Cherubs are insane" is probably a good statement from the young'un.

Heading back up wind sadly the job track exploded, hmmm running theme with Squid, so it was time to limp back home.

Great sail, potential for a new crew, and a few showing interest so we hope to get them all out next Sunday. A good day had by all.

[scorpion_1925]

If you get a few who want to sail, I don't mind bringing King Tubby over, once I've sorted the spinnaker with the insurance

[JP233]

I belive we have 3-4 yooffs kicking about that want a go.

[JP233]

If you get a few who want to sail, I don't mind bringing King Tubby over, once I've sorted the spinnaker with the insurance

If you can measure your mast tip to pole end we will be able to see if one of my/Rolands spares will fit.

Just make sure the rig tension is on and the pole is fully out!

[scorpion_1925]

since I'm still working on my insurance claim, but don't want to take the risk of the sail and therefore its measurements vanishing completely, I'm going to measure the distances corner to corner so i'll be able to send you those

[JayW]

Last Saturday I arrived at Draycote to find Jamie working on Squid's jib track, Jimmy heading for something more robust (a Bahia?), and Guy (survivor of last week's sail in Squid) ready for his maiden voyage in EJ. Once Rowan arrived, EJ and Shiny were rigged and we headed out for a settle-down sail. Probably 7-10kts with the odd gust of 12. Shiny's recut flatter main looked good, and Guy rapidly found his way around a very different Cherub.
In for lunch and then back out for a bit of boat on boat action until the wind started to fade away.

Another good day on the water.

[Jimmy Rudd]

Last Sunday saw Squid (Jimmy and Jamie) and EJ (Jay and Guy) take to the water. Having only dropped the boats off after Poole boats had to be re-rigged and fettled with plenty of tea and coffee. Finally as Draycotes masses of club racers returned to shore for lunch we launched to an empty lake and a building F4.
Jamie crewed the Squid 1st and complained about it being hard work and needing to do some mods to the main sheet and the spinny halyard, but a few really good runs up and down wind twin stringing. A bit of windward heel and Squid really takes off, something to practice for the future I feel. We swapped over and I soon realised it wasn't just Jamie being a wimp, the main was really heavy..... maybe lengthening the bridle will help, and possibly another purchase. No capsizes until I got a bit over excited on the run in for the drop leaving no weight on the wing and Jamie trying to hold Squid and me up, never going to happen so a quick splosh was needed.
EJ seemed to be going well with only one or 2 capsizes, and Guy really starting to find his groove in EJ.
Tea time was called and a quick brew was had. Jamie got distracted talking so I grabbed Harry (a fellow 300 sailor and Musto newbie) for a quick blast in what was now a good F5. Harry though a little hesitant to get on the wire at 1st soon held on and we tore up the lake locked in at the back, and being a 300 sailor asking for a little windward heel was nothing new and Squid was flying. A couple of shifty gusts caught us out, but neither minded the swim. A quick bear away and the kite went up, a very big grin appeared on his face and all too soon we had to drop again. By this time Jay had come out to play again and both boats were looking good.
Another capsize after a bad tack and somehow the block on the boom at the back untied itself......hmmmm. Couldn't get it tied back on and with the wind now really gusty we got a rib over, took the main off and had a tow, well sat the wing on the tube and journeyed back.

A great days sailing, lots learnt, and if its windy watch out for Squid, she's quick and as Joe will tell you she bites!

[Barbarossa]

Loco's Moving to Draycote

After a busy year of not sailing very much, I have decided to move Loco to a bigger bit of water and have joined Draycote. Not sure how much sailing we will manage this spring as my crew has GCSEs this year. But hope to see you all soon.

Paul

[JayW]

That's great news, and we will look forward to seeing you on the water.

Several of us have crews with exams this year, but my daughter found that one day's Cherub sailing a weekend was actually a really good mental break but not as time-consuming as whole weekends with 29er or 420 squads.

[roland_trim]

Should probably add that daughter (Rosie) aced both GCSE and A-Levles exams and is currently at university in Oxford. However, J is a bit modest on this front :-)

Several of us have crews with exams this year, but my daughter found that one day's Cherub sailing a weekend was actually a really good mental break but not as time-consuming as whole weekends with 29er or 420 squads.