Far Travelled
14 - year old HSC Cadet member Andrew Perratt is off on his travels again representing Team GB, this year at the North American Optimist Class Championships at Club Nautico de San Juan in Puerto Rico running from 13th to 20th July.
Andrew is third from right in this team photo. We wish him all the best in the racing!
Summer 2024
2024 is turning into another season of stellar results for former Commodore James Miller's "Mayrise". Runaway winners of the Sigma 33 class at CCC's Jura Scottish Series in Loch Fyne in May, Team Mayrise took Bangor Regatta by storm at the end of June by winning the highly competitive Handicap Class 3. Racing in winds which touched 38 knots and more, the young crew dealt with the conditions in style - and were equally competitive, as usual, on the dance floor!
Never a man to miss an opportunity, James was only just back from the Sigma Class Championship in Falmouth where he sailed in Paul Prentice's "Squawk". The Bangor-based team fought their way up the fleet to finish second behind the Cove SC boat "Leaky Roof II", who ensured a run of over 10 consecutive years of overall victories for Clyde-based boats.
Congratulations!
BUCS/BUSA Fleet Championships 2023
Students from across the UK assembled in Helensburgh last weekend [11/12 Nov] for the British Universities Fleet Racing Championship run at Helensburgh Sailing Club and jointly organised by HSC and Strathclyde University Sailing. A fleet of 59 dinghies competed, 35 Fireflies and 24 racing on handicap including 17 RS200s.
Saturday’s blue skies looked perfect ... except for the complete absence of any wind! Race Officer James Miller eventually chased a light zephyr into Rhu Bay, off the HSC clubhouse, but that proved elusive and the only attempt at a race was eventually abandoned.
Sunday racing was a different business entirely – more blue skies but a fresh and steady north-easterly which rewarded competitors and organisers alike with a racetrack which was successfully used for all four of the races crammed in to constitute a series. After an early start races followed on in rapid succession, keeping everyone on their toes - and keeping blood flowing to the toes in the near-to-freezing conditions!
Exeter University produced the Handicap class winners in a 420, with Durham second in a Wayfarer and HSC’s Calum Bell (sailing for Strathclyde, pictured above) coming third in his RS200.
Loughborough took top spot in the Fireflies, with Exeter featuring again, in second spot this time, and with East Anglia finishing third.
The event was the culmination of months of careful planning by the HSC and Strathclyde committees, with over 40 volunteers from both clubs managing all the operational roles both ashore and afloat. Father and son James and Jake Miller led the respective organising teams and were rightly complimented on the event’s success.
The event closed in late afternoon and the fleet dispersed to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester, Oxford, Liverpool, Warwick, Newcastle, Swansea, Southampton and beyond. A fine start to the universities’ winter schedule of sailing.
- Winners, Handicap Class: Ollie Meadowcroft and Oliver Rayner – Exeter
- Winners, Firefly Class: Ben Tylecote and Alice Lucy – Loughborough
Crew Register
We recognise that there are members with boats in the Dinghy Park or on the moorings where hopes of participating in racing (or other outings) are frustrated due to lack of crew. Additionally we are approached fairly regularly by folk - usually non-members - where the chance to go afloat could easily result in a win-win-win for them, the boat owner, and the club.
We have developed a fairly simple register which allows both parties to submit basic details which it then shares appropriately. We are very conscious of the security and safety considerations involved in operating such a system. We believe the correct safeguards are in place, including the ability to alert us to any perceived misuse of the system.
We invite members to give it at try - and for non-members stumbling across this information we invite you, too, to register. We can't guarantee success, but having a mechanism is a vital first step. The link is below:
Weather Station
Youshiko 9387 Weather Station Overview
Our weather station needs are very simple – wind speed (average and gusts) and direction. However, a simple unit that only measures wind and can upload data easily and create webpage data doesn’t exist, so we need to go for something more sophisticated. The Youshiko system was chosen to meet our needs whilst also being straightforward to install, delivering live weather data both on line and via mobile phones.