Thornbury files

[Tim Noyce]

I see that you came 2nd at the Grand Slam too. Well done! Nice 2nd and 3rd for Cherubs in one race too by the looks of it! Excellent work :-D

You missed out on some very 'interesting' wind on Southampton water yesterday. Was offshore and gusting 2-20 knots with shifts of nearly 180 degrees which was fun! Kept me on my toes sailing on a broadish reach with Kate on the wire, and then the main backed to the point of gybing completely unexpectedly. Was fine though... managed to escape embarassment :-)

[simon_jones]

Congrats on the results at Weston and Thornbury guys, all that practice is paying dividends. Watch out for team Kirk this year!

[phil_kirk]

We didn't think we had done quite that well at Weston and the race 4 results were a bit odd by many accounts. Much of the time we were close to B14's or International 14's which does show that in those conditions we were sailing closer to their handicap.  The T foil does make a big difference in those conditions and allowed us to pace Int 14's down wind.

[phil_kirk]

Just had an excellent sail today at Thornbury in our long distance race to Sharpness and back which is about 18 miles. Since the forecast looked light to moderate Sarah agreed to crew and our practice from the nationals really made a difference.

We chose our start time of 11:43 to reach the turning point at Sharpness before the 12:30 limit and started with a tight reach to the cardinal called Counts.  Then it was kite up all the way to sharpness approx 30 minutes of single wire spinnakering. We reached the turning mark with 2 minutes to spare and set about the upwind slog back to Thornbury.  We initially had to tack up the shore to keep out of the worst tide crossing and ducking  other boats. We made the mistake of ducking behind a yacht and nearly loosing it in the wind shadow. Soon the tide turned and helped us on our way.  Unfortunately this made the water choppy and E-numbers was occasionally trying to jump from one crest to another.  As we got closer to the power station the wind increased to 20 knots. (About our experience limmit and above our maternity limmit of 15 knots.) We capsized twice while tacking but were otherwise powering along with jib telltales lifting and the main mostly backed.  Finally we were able to tack and round Counts again for the final two sail reach to the finish.  This was seriously bouncy and we were still over powered. I was struggling to helm straight while Sarah was struggling to managed the gusts with the main. I eased off some t foil at this stage which helped. tim Unerman kindly binned his 700 in a gust.  As we left the main channel the chop reduced making the boat easier to handle and we drove for the line. as we got more comfortable with the conditions we started catching the leading 700. Due to the minimal capsizing and minimal manoeuvers we took the win on corrected time from the 2  RS 700's and the Scorpion.  So now we are labled handicap bandits (despite sailing off 930 instead of 941). Maybe we should be sailing off 900?
a bit knackered but pleased with an excellent day's sailing.
 

[Hayley_Trim]

Sounds fantastic but really don't know where you got the energy from! 'Nuff respect to you both (but mainly Sarah).

[phil_kirk]

Thanks.  Sarah really enjoyed the long kite run and did a fantastic job for the full 1 3/4 hours. It is a shame that it picked up and got quite so bouncy towards the end as we were probably quite tired at that point.  We were getting close to the limit of the degree of co-ordination between Sarah spilling wind and me helming to feather the jib while remaining stable on the wires in the bouncy chop and remaining upright.

It's good to end Sarah's Cherubing for several months on a high.

[Phil Alderson]

Sounds like a good sail. Also congratulations to you both.

[TSC]

Your only a handicap bandit because Paul Croote opted to sail scratch against the 700s!

It was a good sail though and at least I beat you and Tim on the water!

[Will_Lee]

Excellent job! .we find easing the jib a bit really helps when beating into big breezes. it means your steering does not need to be so precise.

[paul_croote]

Sounds like a great race well done.  Regarding handicap, I opted to sail off 858 because I did not want to cause waves whilst being a non member entering in club races. I have not done enough racing at Thornbury to judge what a fair handicap should be there.  I think two light people sailing off 930 in 20kts on choppy water have done well to win!

[roland_trim]

Sounds like an excellent sail.

Hayley and I thought about it, overslept and then found we were too tired to move. I'm seriously impressed you found the energy to muster it. Look forward to seeing you both (and my now recovered sail) in the nearish future...

[Hayley_Trim]

Have just added a couple of photos of Paul and Tim sailing Anti last weekend to UK-Cherub facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/UK-Cherub/248933448471702. Nuclear power station, Severn Bridges. Classic Thornbury.
A wider selection of pics from our rib duty is at https://picasaweb.google.com/110044885139843498248

[phil_kirk]

Well Yesterday was sarah's last sail for a few months.  Now Six months large and the dry suit is tight.

We have been sailing the enterprise at Frampton recently but yesterday was a bit of a trial.  With the low water level we can safely use about 20 of the 40 acres. The warm weather and lack of any events elsewhere meant we had 42 boats in the first race. The race officer set a bizare figure of eight course with 2 biased crossing beats.  As you can imagine. carnage!

We were near the front on handicap in the first race despite being in dirty air a lot of the time and having to sail around some people.
In the second race it appears that the baby is getting the hang of sailing and gave sarah a good kick each time we needed to gybe.  It wasn't so bothered about tacking but probably couldn't see the teltales from within.

[Hayley_Trim]

Team Trim went to Thornbury yesterday hoping for a cobweb expelling blast in born slippy. The wind had other ideas and had decided to go somewhere else. The Severn was a fog-shrouded mirror and there was not even a token flutter from a single flag. Racing was cancelled. We went home and R painted ceilings and fitted lights while I grouted our newly tiled shower. It  means we might have a working shower in the house this week, but I know what I would rather have done ...

[Hayley_Trim]

Quick question for the boys (and any girls who have had to deal with this dilemma):

My better half has suggested, very sweetly, that in between all the bathroom fitting etc that we have to do this weekend he takes me shopping, what with it being my birthday next week and all. I greatly appreciate this sentiment and have duly awarded brownie points. But if I tell him that actually I've looked at the Thornbury forecast and I'd rather go for a blast in Born Slippy, will this mean that he never offers to take me shopping again, assuming that the response will always be the same? Or will he offer more often in the hope that the response will be the same? Do I take the shopping option and run? Perhaps I should expressly reserve the right to go shopping on another occasion?