Sailing Starts at Last with a Topper and Tera Blast!

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1 tter Weekly Thursday 30 th March Issue 4/2017 Sailing Starts at Last with a Topper and Tera Blast! This Coming Saturday: Pond Group Sailing starts on 22 April! River 1 No sailing this weekend, boat checks with Justin on Sunday morning After the disappointment for the majority not being able to get out on the river the previous weekend all eyes were on Wind Guru throughout last week hoping for calmer conditions. So when Saturday morning dawned with a steady breeze just about everyone was up for getting out there and sailing even when the wind started to build.. Cadet Fleet Saturday afternoon sailing meet at 1.30 All other groups Arrive at the club by Fortunately the River 1 s (trust us guys that wind would have been too strong for you) were having their final refresher session on the pond and with others competing elsewhere it was a rather depleted optimist fleet of two who set sail early. They were followed by a couple of Fevas, the Lasers and an RS200 thrown in for good measure. All seemed to be having great fun out on the water - but the sail of the day belonged well and truly to the newly formed Topper & Tera Fleet who, with 13 sailors on the water had, well, let s just call it a BLAST! See the full reports and all the pics in the Fleet News and Information section on pages 2, 3 and 4! Meanwhile three of our Otters were out on the water in a rib taking their Power Boat 2 course well done to Christie, Dom and Tom for passing the course. Remember we are All Volunteers! We d like to thank all those parents who helped recover and wash down the safety ribs after last Saturday s sailing session you were all stars! Like many other sailing clubs the Corinthian Otters is run and managed entirely by volunteers and help is always welcome. Please be aware that the majority of our Trainers also have children out sailing themselves who may sometimes need another adult to help launch and recover their boats. Remember if you see someone who looks to be struggling then they probably are so please do help if you are able! Easter Regatta - Saturday 15 th April The Otter Easter Regatta will be taking place this year on Easter Saturday, the 15th of April. More details to follow, but there will be fun and plenty of chocolate egg prizes for morning racing on the river for those that are ready for it and off the river fun for those who aren't. We've put a request in for some lovely weather, so please save the date in your diaries! Entry forms are now available online check out the webpage. Flag Officers Corner This week our Rear Commodore, Colette Bacon, gives us the Otter sailor s take on what was going on last weekend: Another windy weekend for the Otters but as per everyone was up for a good sail on the water. Despite spending 80% of the time in the water, I was able to see that everyone was coping well in the conditions. With no casualties or broken boats I would say the day went very smoothly for what was the first outing of the year for many!

2 Justin s River 1 News Fleet News and Information A perfect morning with blue skies greeted everyone for their last Saturday at the Pond. After a quick run through of the boat parts, everyone doubled up and launched, the wind was in true pond style, shifty, and went from 5 knots to 20 in the blink of an eye. All managed to sail around the two marks for some of the time, and even managed to slip in the odd pit stop for re- fuelling as well! Then the fun started, sprit paddling, the start was straight off the lee shore, so technique was required, the rushes caught a few, but tremendous team work was shown by all in helping everyone out of them. Some of the lessons learnt: Sitting in the right place in the boat is one of the major factors that Justin likes! Making sure you check your own zips are done up on your own drysuit.swimming with a zip only fractionally undone can be very cold when swimming ashore (and trying to pin the blame on someone else doesn t help you when you re wet!) Never ask why when you re swimming half way around the pontoon when you agreed to do it at the start! The coaches really like fuel stops stop too! Team work and looking after each other at this stage is very important, so that s why Bella won the Sailor of the Day Cup, for helping so many out of the rushes. That the electric engine on the pond rib really does have a mind of its own either that or Justin is simply not that good at driving it! To confirm that there s no R1 s this Saturday, but Justin can be around on the Sunday 2 nd 9.30am for those that would like to make sure their boats are all ready for the following Saturday the 8 th for their first day of being on the river in their own boats J Mark s River 2 and Race Group Combo The combined race and river 2 fleet put the rest to shame last weekend as we were all rigged and ready by 9.40, waiting for the last rib to be launched and then we were off! OK, sounds great, and it was, but there were only 2 Oppies! That said, we were out sailing around long before the other fleets making the most of the calm water and slightly lighter winds. As the tide turned there was a nice chop building up and Brett was reminded that he needs some waterproofs when sitting on the rib, he was almost as wet as the Tera sailors. Felicity has been sailing over the winter months and looked at ease going around the little course we set up and Ethan got into a good rhythm even though he got cold hands. After the rest of the fleets had launched the Oppies decided to go in which allowed us to go watch the other fleets and practice our towing skills. Looking forward to having more of the Oppie sailors back this weekend and request that they are all rigged and ready by 9.45.

3 Fleet News and Information Oppie Race Group sailing this weekend with Jamie Mears The Oppie East Zone Squad have their final training this weekend being hosted at the club so it s sure to be busy. Showing the quality of the Otters Oppie Race group we loose many of our regulars to the zone squad this weekend but it will be great to see first hand the kind of thing they ve been getting up to over the winter months. If you are in Oppie race and not in the zone squad please can you confirm if you will be sailing by ing corinthianotters@gmail.com Honestly we do have an Oppie Race Group but the majority of them have been off at other events and squad training the last couple of weekends. Thankfully though, Imogen Palmer sent us in the report below, and, in her own words, highlights what some of the group experienced last weekend whilst sailing in Torquay: Optimist Springs Championships By Imogen Palmer At the weekend Flo, Jemima, Bryce, Ralph and I travelled to Torquay to take part in the weekend racing. It was the first time Bryce, Ralph and I had ever sailed on the sea so we were really excited. On Saturday morning the wind was really strong and was north easterly which in Torquay means enormous waves! The waves were so big they were hitting the top of the sprit and then running down the sail and filling the boat up. If you didn t lean out the back of your boat quickly enough you pitch poled, as soon as you nearly finished bailing you had to start again! The second race was a disaster! I pitch poled three times, capsized at least as many times and lost count of how many times I sank. In fact, I did so badly that even though I was in the first start I finished after the end of the second starting boats. By the end of the second race I was crying, I was so tired and feeling so sea sick and then Victor popped up and said don t worry keep bailing like I had any choice my boat was more like a submarine! By the time I finished the third race I had been on the water for over 5 hours. I don t think I have ever been so tired in my whole life and the clocks were going forward as well! But the great thing was that I hadn t realised how many people had retired and that in one race the committee disqualified over 40 boats so for a whole day I was 63 rd out of 147, which I knew wouldn t last, but I kept dreaming. On Sunday the waves were just as big and the wind a little lighter but mum gave me a sea sickness tablet which by the way don t work! We raced for another 5 hours and returned to the shore feeling just as sick and tired as on Saturday. I was so pleased though 6 races and 6 finishes, the chance to sail on enormous waves (I didn t know you could surf in an optimist) and spending the weekend with really good friends. In the end I came 80 /147 but both Jemima and I finished in the top 10 junior girls. Bryce who was so sea sick on Saturday he had to come in stayed out all day on Sunday. Ralph in the Regatta fleet had a great time but got hit on his head by the boom so had to retire and Flo, who is just amazing, was the second girl in the whole fleet and 13 th overall. At least I know how to sail and bail now! STOP PRESS NEWS IMOGEN SELECTED FOR BRITISH JUNIOR TEAM! All that hard work last weekend has clearly paid off for Imogen as we have just found out that she has been selected for the British Junior Team at the Irish Optimist Nationals this summer well done Imogen, glad to hear that all that bailing was worth it!! Cadet News By Elaine Rashbrook Unfortunately the weather got the better of the cadets last weekend but at least that gave us a chance to give the boats one last check before taking to the water. Where did I put those spinnaker sheets - arghhh!!!!! This weekend the weather is looking kinder so we are planning to meet in the dinghy park for 1.30pm. If there's anyone new to cadet's that would like to come and join us we'd love to see you. Could you drop me a call/text on so we can add you to our mailing list and make sure we can let everyone know what we're up to!

4 Paul and Olly s Terrific Toppers & Teras By Paul Drew Fleet News and Information Well, that could certainly be described as a bit of a blast! I'm really pleased that we managed to get out on to the water last weekend. Whether you were out for 15 minutes or more than an hour I was really proud of you. I honestly believe that everyone who came out sailing last week learned something positive for next time. Because conditions were variable and challenging we'll continue with the theme of re- familiarisation in the weeks to come. We'll also throw in some capsize- righting practice but perhaps when the water warms up a bit! Let's keep the focus on ensuring the boats are well rigged before launch and remember the water is still very cold so appropriate clothing required. Well done again to all. Lasers By the Ghost Writer The Laser fleet is notorious at this time of year for not managing to get out of bed in time for the sailing to start (something to do with revision stress we re told) and at first it seemed that last weekend was no exception until we found them elsewhere. Colette and Harry were sailing together in the RS200, Dom and Christie were being put through their paces by Phil on a PB2 course and Lizzie had decided the wind was a little too strong for her maiden sail of the year and so had decided to rig her Topper which was fortunately still sitting in the dinghy park! Even so, Jason and Nick were off with three sailors, Hannah, Luke and Tom who joined in with Colette and Harry s fun! Team Feva! By Gavin Kemp & Nick H- P So the weather has two switches on and off. Last weekend was definitely another on weekend and our depleted Feva fleet (two boats lost to a family event and one to a PB2 course) were rigged and ready to go out almost to time. Luc had stepped in to fill Archie s place with Rory along with team girl power (only the oldies will remember that) Martha and Izzie. Apprehensive was the word of the day on shore but once off the racks grim determination probably was a better description. I settled in to my new role and fuel (bunkers) pumper in rib 9, Ross in charge of wave break duties and Kathryn offering words of encouragement to the Fevas. They were not entirely happy with Kathryn s requests but once they got into the swing of it kites were up and down and I suspect, whilst they probably won t admit it, much fun was had by all. This weekend Ross and I are away at a rugby festival so we re hoping any fevas planning to sail can join with the Lasers after last week it seems their numbers could do with a boost! Meanwhile as Kathryn was enjoying Feva training in the sunshine in Burnham, brother Ben H- P were battling the winds down at Hayling Island for the RS Feva Spring Championships which is the first National event of the year. Proud Dad Nick was keen for us to point out the lack of boats around Ben s boat as he won the race well done Ben! Ben and his crew Lucy finished 5th overall which was great, but, more importantly, won their first National Event race, finishing the final race in 1st place by 100 yards. Apparently everyone clapped, even the Race Officer!!! Dad Nick is glad he went to the expense of buying new sails now

5 Tickets for our fundraiser are available to purchase from Harry Phelps: Otter Fundraiser 2017 Otter Car Otter Car Wash Wash Car Otter Do you dare let one the otters Wash Doofyou dare let clean you re car? Otter Fundraiser 2017 the Otters clean your Do you car? dare let Starts: 10AM in the car park. one of the otters clean you re car? Starts: 10AM in the car park. Dinner Darts Starts: 10AM in the car park. Dinner Darts! Come to our Dinner Darts for a fun evening playing the classic game of darts. Competitive games will be played before and after a lovely meal entailing a gourmet burger, in the bid to find our champion. Come our players Dinner Darts for a fun Our topto darts will win a fabulous evening playing theand classic game of darts. prize for themselves their table. Competitive games will be played before and after a lovely meal entailing a gourmet Meet downstairs at 6:30pm for Ticket Prices: burger, in the bid to find our champion. first round of darts. Our top- darts Adult 15 players will win a fabulous prize for themselves and theirdown table. to eat at 7:30pm. Sitting Child Ticket Prices: Adult - 15 Child Meet downstairs at 6:30pm for first round of darts. Sitting down to eat at 7:30pm. 29th April! 29th April