Passing of Sheila Crayfourd
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Mrs Sheila Crayfourd earlier this month. Sheila was the Hon Secretary at HSC for 10 years, and her husband Ted was Commodore in 1989 and 90.
Sheila’s funeral will take place at Kettering Crematorium on Tuesday 30th July at 12.30 and afterwards at her son’s home in Holcot. Any member who knew Sheila is warmly welcome to attend.
The family are also hoping to scatter her ashes at sea in Holyhead Bay during the week of 6th Sept – so anyone wanting to make contact should get in touch with the Sailing Club office to find out more details.
Sue James, Company Sec.
- Hits: 6
Wednesday Evening Race Series - July 2019
Race no 3
Last night’s race had again just 3 yachts participating as none of the J105s were around, some still not back after the Dun Laoghaire regatta week.
The forecast at 18 - 24kt SW backing S for a while and low water is at 17:39, (Spring tide) was on the mark with the tide flooding rapidly as the yachts reached Bolivar.
One of the prospective members arrived and sailed with Jim and Chris on Hellhound. We have a number of prospective members who would like to taste the racing environment so if you skippers are short of crew these guys live on Anglesey and are keen!
The revised offshore course card was handed to the contestants and the start line information was made apparent to the skippers with IDM and ODM marks now in position. The course set by the OOD Wendy was Start, Penrhos, Bolivar, Clipera and Finish. As there were only the 3 yachts it was agreed to revert to a single start and they set off at 18:30. Passtime got a good start with Flair IV flying her no4 jib and 1 reef following astern and gradually catching up to undertake before the Aluminium Jetty. Hellhound followed on with full sails.
Passing the end of the Jetty Passtime was a little overpowered and dropped behind Flair allowing Hellhound to catch up. Flair, with her reduced sails was able to sail easily on the windward leg to Penrhos and rounded the mark some way ahead of the two other yachts. Passtime second round the mark called in to retire having seen a tear in her jib while Flair and Hellhound sailed the almost dead downwind leg to Clipera and then on to Bolivar. Flair experimented with changing to the larger headsail on the leg from Clipera to Bolivar and struggled to re-set the no 4 jib before the mark so left the tack late which, in the strong current flowing SW to NE was a distinct time waster!
As can be seen from the track the tide was running strongly at Bolivar and the lead between Flair and Hellhound meant that it was even stronger by the time Hellhound rounded the mark.
Tacking all the way back into the harbour Flair pulled out a significant lead, once again showing that the start times for the different classes makes a big difference. Very gusty conditions prevailed as Flair crossed the line near the wall as the new ODM is very close to the wall and the effect of the Knuckle even in SSW winds is pretty difficult.
Flair Track
NHC Results
IRC Results
Race no 3
Tonight’s race will again be without some of our race boats still in Dun Laoughaire but we are hoping for a good turn out with the forecast at 18 - 24kt SW backing S for a while. Low water is at 17:39, (Spring tide) so the launch will be running from the slipway.
We have had a number of prospective members asking if they can crew on yachts this evening please let Mark know if you have any space on your yacht.The course card is being updated again this morning after further discussions yesterday and the IDM and ODM marks are now in position but currently their locations are not available. Thanks to all involved in making this happen.
Race no 2
As I was away last week I am not sure what happened with the race last wednesday.
A warm welcome to Red Eye the latest J105 to join in the racing at Holyhead.
Following concerns over the slower boats getting disadvantaged by the tide and the wind dropping on summer evenings for this race series we are tested the theory of two separate starts with the slower boats starting before the faster class. As Wendy was not available for OOD this week Mark, while trying to sort out issues with reinstalling her mainsail and the exchange Raymarine Chart Plotter, was also attempting to get the race starts organised. Finally having delegated it to one of his crew the 2 classes set off at 18:40 Class 2, and 18:45 Class 1. Red Eye with Flair IV in Class 1 with Shearwater and Carpe Diem in Class 2.
The course set was offshore Course 3 on the new Course Card Start, Bolivar (s), Clipera(p), Penrhos(s), Clipera(p) and Finish with a distance of around 9Nm
The winds were 10 - 18kt SW with very little swell ideal for a good race.
The Squibs start was at 18:35 and this allowed the Class 2 yachts Shearwater and Carpe Diem to start at 18:40 and follow the Squib racers out of the harbour. With the Class 1 boats starting at 18:45 Shearwater and Carpe Diem got most of the way up to Bolivar before the Class 1 yachts caught up on the almost dead downwind leg. In the rush to get sorted Flair was having a struggle after having to sort out various repairs following the weekend on the 100th IOM Midnight Race from Liverpool to IOM. Flair had elected to go with the Code 0 from the start but as she turned downwind it was obvious that it was too deep an angle for the code 0 as they turned downwind at the end of the breakwater. A problem developed with the roller furler on Flair IV’s code 0 so she had to sail at more of an angle to keep up the speed rather than going directly to the mark. Red Eye had deployed her asymmetric spinnaker and was comfortably ahead of Flair by the first mark.
As Flair had a significant crew turn up for the evening it was agreed for some crew to swap vessels giving both Shearwater and Red Eye some extra hands.
Over the water the result was Red Eye, Flair IV, Carpe Diem and then Shearwater; with the same order on NHC Handicap with Carpe Diem just 1 minute and 27 seconds behind Flair IV.
The small entry for this race was due to the other two J105s have travelled to Dun Laoghaire, along with crew members from Passtime and Houdini, after the weekend’s IOM Race to compete in the DL Regatta. We look forward to seeing them all back next week.
NHC Results
IRC Results
In review after the race it was agreed that the dual start was a good idea but that it ought to be a 10 minute delay from the slow to the fast boats.
We are waiting for the confirmation of the Sail Number and IRC Certificate for Red Eye…
Wednesday July 2019 - Race no 1
The results for the first July Wednesday Evening race are now in the system see the links above. The course sailed was Start, Clipera (s), Penrhos (p), Bolivar (p) and finish. Wendy was OOD. There was only Houdini in the IRC Class on Race 1. Sorry I have no further information at this time.
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Sunday Race Series July 2019
Race 2 July 2019
Only two yachts turned out for this race, Shearwater and Flair IV. Many of our racers and crew were competing in other events, Here is a link to the Dun Laoghaire Regatta results where Jetstream and Jaydreamer were competing... Well done guys!
In light NW winds the two yachts set out on the same course, course 3, Start, Bolivar, Clipera, Penrhos, Clipera and finish. It was discovered that the IDM mark is rather too close to the breakwater and in light winds the effects of the breakwater cause significant areas of very little wind and changes in direction. We have asked for this mark to be moved further south towards the club house. The two yachts struggled with the oddities in the wind and then the wake of two ribs leaving the moorings area, but once away to the south to find some wind they modified their courses to point to Bolivar.
The fine beat suited Flair IV and she had a significant lead by the first mark. Once round Bolivar Flair set her spinnaker and headed at a fairly tight reach towards Clipera a leg which slightly favoured Shearwater with her asymmetric. Once round Clipera Flair benefitted from the deep broad reach with her symmetric spinnaker and again had a significant lead over Shearwater at Penrhos.
Sailing back into the harbour ahead of the Irish Ferry Jonathan Swift and over the finish line Flair IV circled around to get a record of the finish time for Shearwater and an opportunity to discuss with two new recruits for the club who were on a follow up to the Try a Sail Day.
Back off the two yachts we all met up for a pint in the Clubhouse. Another beautiful afternoon’s sailing here at Holyhead just a shame we are not getting more of you yacht owners to come out with us on these friendly fun races!
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June Wednesday Series 2019
2019-06-05 Race no 1
On Wednesday 5th June we welcomed back to the HSC Offshore fleet Jaydreamer before she rushes off to participate in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race on 12th June, good luck Paul!
As preparations were made to get to the start line Flair IV’s crew arrived and had to carry out a mast climb, to fix the newly restored anemometer, which delayed her getting off the mooring until just on the 5 minute gun. Therefore she had to sail off with her main partially raised and no engine. Successfully away from the moorings she then had to round up to complete setting the main but that delay meant preparations for flying the spinnaker were somewhat delayed too.
The six yachts competing got reasonable starts even if not all of them were quite ready, the yachts closer to the breakwater started on jibs leaving their spinnakers until after the knuckle. Flair, as soon as she could, hoisted her spinnaker but in the rush the port sheet and guy became detached from the clew so she had to partially drop it again to re-fix. Once flying properly all looked good until there was a big bang as the pole uphaul halyard snapped! The usual Wednesday evening disasters but at least the crew now had a working anemometer!
- Hits: 158
June Sunday Series 2019
Race no 4 2019-06-23
With a good start the fleet got away cleanly with all but Jetstream tacking onto port close to the wall end of the line. The new position of the IDM meant that all the yachts had a smaller area to start from so Jetstream took a long tack down towards the aluminium jetty with Flair IV heading the rest further north.
Flair IV’s heading was good for rounding Bolivar to starboard, the first mark of the course. She rounded the mark with Jetstream close behind both then deploying their code 0 foresails for the leg to Clipera. At Clipera the order remained the same and Flair unfurled her genoa and furled the code 0 for the leg to Penrhos, now in its revised position. Jetstream on the other hand continued with her code 0 but gained little or no advantage over Flair IV with the order remaining the same at the penultimate mark.
Click here for an album of photos from this race
Photos courtesy of Kevin Wood, Becca Warren and Harry Tugwell.
NHC Results
IRC Results
Race no 1 2019-06-02
Due to the weather only two yachts turned out for what turned out to be an exciting and blustery race. Jetstream and Flair IV headed out but had to delay the start to allow the late departure of the ferry to clear the harbour entrance.
Wind speeds from 25kt - 32kt generally around 30kt were recorded and the two yachts achieved some pretty impressive speeds on the downwind first leg to Bolivar leaving it to starboard. Flair IV recording boat speed at 10.2kt, so needless to say neither yacht attempted to fly anything but their jib and reefed main, it was just too windy!
Turning at the mark Jetstream, with 8 on board, was in the lead and she headed south whereas Flair with only 5 onboard tacked and headed back west making a track just to the north of the breakwater. With several tacks towards Clipera she fell further behind as Jetstream tacked only 3 times before entering the harbour. As you can see at Clipera it was a little wild!
- Hits: 260
Offshore Race Series May 2019 Wednesday Evenings
Wednesday evening 2019-05-29
A completely different aspect to the weather for this evening race with thick grey cloud and rain greeting the participants. Wind speeds from 14kt to 22kt from the west indicated a spinnaker start, however with shortage of crew on Flair IV, Incantation and Shearwater left just Houdini and Jetstream to fly their spinnakers from the knuckle.
Wendy started the race for the offshores setting course 1 from the old course card; Meath (s) Penrhos (p) Clipera (p) and finish. Houdini got the best start and had a considerable lead by the end of the breakwater with Jetstream, Flair IV, Shearwater and Incantation following in order behind.
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