Thomson Long Distance Race

The Thomson Long Distance race will be held this Saturday, 2 October.

The first signal at 11:00. There will be a brief skippers meeting at 10:00.

This race was established in 1966 by the Commodore at the time, Arthur Thomson, and is an important part of the tradition of the club as well as being a very enjoyable sail.

All keelboats are welcome to participate, and a prize is awarded to the first boat on corrected time. The prestigious Thomson Trophy itself will be awarded to the first “cruising boat” on corrected time. For a reminder of the review that was conducted last year of the definition of eligible boats for the Thomson Trophy, follow this link.

Sailing instructions will be posted on the club website.

Club Championship 2010

Following a very exciting day’s racing, in the very last race of the series, Evert Bastet with crew Taylor Grant, Matt Rozon and Jenny Marten emerged as the HYC 2010 club champions.

With 6 races to run, RC, led by RO Scott Lawrence was out early, but very shifty conditions delayed the start of the wild card race until 10:00. Alan Gray and David Godin exchanged the lead position several times during the first three legs of the race but, in the end, Jean-Luc Gosselin caught a personal wind-lane on the last down-wind and snatched a second place just behind Alan to go through to the club championship series.

The wind continued to strengthen, but remained very shifty the whole day to challenge both competitors and race committee alike. Each race in the 5-race series proved exciting with no one competitor dominating and all the boats appearing reasonably matched. The wind continued to oscillate and also varied significantly in strength – so there was a major premium for picking the right side and getting in-phase – and a big penalty if you happened to be on the wrong side of a wind variation. The positions changed frequently on the course, providing plenty of interest for the small fleet of spectator boats that were out to support the sailors and follow the action.

After four races, Evert Bastet and Allan Gray were tied with 1 race to go and 1 drop to be had. The RC was determined to set an absolutely square course for the determining race and so tension mounted as the pin and the windward mark were adjusted and the start sequence was called off a few times. Once underway, after a close start, Evert eventually managed to open up a lead and Ron Harris snatched a second place for the race, with Alan in a close third. Congratulations to all competitors who all pulled off some excellent moves during the day.

The final placement was: Evert Bastet, Allan Gray, Ron Harris, Jean-Luc Gosselin and Chris Campbell and their respective crews.

Thanks to everyone: Competitors, Race Committee, Support Boats, the J/24 fleet and the office for helping to make the event a success.

Club Champions 2010 - Photo courtesy of Robert Steiner

To see more great photos, go to http://steinerfoto.zenfolio.com/.

And also to www.maddylane.com

Soling One Meter Champion 2010

Thursday September 9 2010.

By Roy Folland

Our Soling One Meter Fleet Championship event was run today off the T pier. Reasonably steady west winds of 6 to 8 knots with gusts up to 15 or so, enabled us to complete the scheduled six races.

Races were generally tight between the four competitors with George Roberton coming out on top.

George has been a tough competitor all season. His win today is well deserved.

Congratulations George. Well done!

Roy

Club Championship Qualification

It has been a challenging and exciting season at HYC this year, with unusually strong winds but also low water levels.  The battles in the various fleets have been hard fought and everyone who has sailed deserves congratulations.  In the end, however, the following skippers and crews have emerged as the direct qualifiers for this years club championship:

PHRF1B/2: Jack, Ron Harris & crew

PHRF3: Shigawac, Chris Campbell & crew

Dinghy: Evert Bastet

In addition, the following boats have qualified for the wild card race:

PHRF1A: Slim, Alan Gray & crew

PHRF1B/2: Won Ton, David Godin & crew

PHRF3: Will o Wind, Jean-Luc Gosselin & crew

As there are only 3 boats that qualified directly for the club championship, the top two boats from the wild card race will qualify for the club championship.

This year, unfortunately, the PHRF1A fleet did not sail the minimum number of 16 official races to qualify directly for the club championship.  They did, however, sail more than 11 races and hence have a wild card spot.  The dinghy fleet did sail the minimum number of races, but only 1 competitor accumulated enough races to qualify.

The full scores for all boats have been distributed on email and will also be posted on the club website. If there are any queries, please send an email to sailing@hudsonyachtclub.com or give me a call.

Congratulations to the qualifiers and we invite everyone to join the fun and come out to support the sailors and watch some exciting racing on Saturday 18 September.