This year was a very exciting year for Racing at Yaverland. As well as an action packed month of racing in August there was a lot of racing throughout the season. Our Vice Commodore, Paul Hales, is planning next year's Racing Calendar so if you have any suggestions he would love to hear from you. For more information about the Racing, e-mail Paul Hales on wenglishpj@sky.com.

Race Report - Saturday, 27 August 2011 There was an excellent turnout for today's race with 6 Pico/Toppers and 9 Catamarans entering the first of two races. The sun was shining and with winds gusting up to 17 knots made for some frantic racing on the water.

In the first race it was Paul Abbot who first suffered in the strong winds having to retire with a broken traveller wile young Tom Back was kept busy on the safety boat with a number of capsizes around the course. After the yardstick handicaps where applied it was Tom Sayer who took yet another win with a dart15 ahead of Chris Murphy and Jamie Lavender.

As the winds grew stronger in race 2 a number of sailors opted not to start with a couple of sailors pulling out on route to the start. After his first capsize since training in Poole harbour Mark Batchelor became the next victim of the conditions, retiring half way through.

There was a close finish to the race between Chris Murphy and Paul Grattidge in a Dart18 faceoff separated with only an 18 second gap.

Final results for the days sailing were
1st Chris Murphy
2nd Matt Price
Joint 3rd Jamie Lavender and Tom Sayer
4th Jo Pollen
5th Hayden Lavender
6th Ievan Lavender
Joint 7th Paul Grattidge, Paul Abbot and Mark Batchelor
8th Bruce Webb
9th Di Woodhouse

Race Officers Paul Hales and Janet Williams, Safety Boat Tom Back

Race Report – 6 August 2011
Today's race was run in light winds, drizzle and  confusion with 2 sailors failing to cross the start in the light winds. At the start both Paul Hales and Paul Abbot decided to start on the port side of the course and paid the price of the shifting light winds leaving Chris and Tom with a good lead to the first mark. Towards the end of the first lap the wind died leaving Paul and Den with a long downwind drift and to think the race had been abandoned, however it was Tom Sayer that kept going and was eventually followed by the remainder of the fleet  still on the water that there was enough wind to continue.

After the race a consultation between a number of sailors awarded the following positions.
 
1st Tom Sayer
2nd Chris Murphy
3rd Paul Abbot
4th Tim Bateman
5th Paul Hales
6th Den
Ian Molly and Di Woodhouse both failed to cross the start line

Race Report – 31July 2011
After Saturdays racing had to be cancelled due to poor conditions the sun and a gentle breeze returned on Sunday and enabled the sailors to take part in 2 races.

Race 1 saw Paul abbot lead the race from start to finish closely followed by Tom Sayer but Paul failed to pullout a sufficient lead so when the yardstick handicaps kicked in he was relegated to 4th position leaving Tom with his first win of the day and Mark Batchelor in second.
  
Well done to Den who completed his first race in a Pico, finishing in 5th place. 

In race 2 again the sailing was close between Paul Abbot and Tom Sayer but this time it was Tom Who crossed the line first. During the race a large trimaran came into the bay and shadowed Paul costing him some valuable wind and he even gestured to the skipper his annoyance. Rounding groyne inner it was then Paul Hales who found his racing line blocked by the trimaran and had to force his way through. On the second lap Mark Batchelor who had previously come unstuck at the first buoy of lap 2 began to close the gap on Paul Hales after rounding the trimaran, however Paul had a perfect line to the finish and finished with a 1 minute lead over Mark.

Results
Race 1                                         Race 2
1st Tom Sayer                                  1st Tom Sayer
2nd Mark Batchelor                             2nd Paul Hales
3rd Paul Hales                                 3rd Mark Batchelor
4th Paul Abbot                                 4th Paul Abbot
5th Den

Ben Guard and Hannah Beak failed to start in race 1

Race Report – 24 July 2011
Today saw the start of a new fleet series here at Yaverland, Originally designed for our cadets to progress to after completing their 4 week introduction course. However with the introduction of the Portsmouth yard stick handicap system (PY) this has allowed all boats to compete on equal terms.

In light winds in didn't take long for Chris Murphy (Dart 15) to pull away for a commanding lead followed by Jo Pollon (Laser 2) and Ben Guard was hot on their heels leading the Pico's. During the second lap luck ran out for Chris and Jo after they both started to sail the wrong course and lost time doubling back to the 3rd mark. Again during the second lap young Tom Back found some desperately needed wind and brought himself from the back of the race to finishing at a very admirable 3rd spot!. The final result was that our 2 newest cadets in their first ever race took the top spots so well done Ben and Hannah.
 
Final Positions
1st  Ben Guard  (Pico)  - Race Time - 43.41
2nd  Hannah Beak (Pico) – Race Time -  44.20
3rd  Tom Back (Pico) – Race Time - 60.20
4th  Jo Pollon (Laser 2) – Race Time - 50.52
5th  Chris Murphy (Dart 15) – Race Time - 56.46
Joint 6th Di Woodhouse (Pico) and Rex (Hobie 16)
 
Next week the races continue with the possible introduction of 2 new faces to the fleet Paul Hales and Tim Bateman who both missed out being on the water today due to Race Officer duties however next week Janet Williams steps into this role freeing them both up to come out to play.   
If any other sailors wish to take part in the Saturday morning races please contact Paul Hales for more information.
 any other sailors wish to take part in the Saturday morning races please contact Paul Hales for more information.