Wednesday Evening Race Series - July 2019
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.
- Hits: 68
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!
- Hits: 37
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: 253
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.
- Hits: 553
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: 154
Peggy Robinson RIP
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Peggy Robinson overnight on Friday 3rd May 2019. Peggy was a stalwart member of the club and was our President for a number of years. She was the owner of Hellhound and sailed out of Holyhead for a very long time and now Hellhound is a reminder of her as the yacht continues to be based in Holyhead.
Peggy’s ashes will be scattered in the Irish Sea by the Holyhead Lifeboat; we are awaiting information on the exact date – but it will be sometime in September. The club will make sure that those who knew her can say their goodbyes too on this day.
In the meantime, some of us attended her funeral last week and Kim Argyle, the Club Commodore gave a eulogy. We have replicated this below as it gives a good flavour of our past Club President who was a true ‘character’.
Tribute from Kim Argyle:
Peggy, as we all know, was a feisty, firebrand of a woman. She started sailing a long time before I knew her, in a GP14, moving on to a 505, gaining success at club level, always committed to winning.
She had a few yachts, all called Hellhound. She organised events around the Irish Sea, as well as competing in the racing. When Holyhead Sailing Club hosted the ISORA Race Week, Peggy was there to make it a success.
Peggy was always willing to do anything asked of her! But one weekend, we had our Try A Sail event at the club. Peggy turned up unexpectedly and asked for a job. So we asked her to make a cup of tea. The retort was ’I don’t make tea’. So we decided to ask her to speak to the people who had been taken out sailing – to gauge their reaction to their experience. This turned into quite a lengthy grilling which probably terrified our potential future members.
As it came near to the time that boats were due to be launched, there was obviously a flurry of work to be done ready to go in the water, scraping, cleaning and anti-fouling. At that time I was working in the boatyard, and from far off I would hear a shout of ‘Kim, Kim! Where are you? I need you to mask up my line.’ For a while, I would ignore the call, but she would hunt me down and tell me to come to her boat ‘IMMEDIATELY’. If I was foolhardy enough to say I would be wither in half an hour, the answer would be ‘Now – I need you now!’ My reward was a tumbler full of whiskey on Hellhound that evening.
On one occasion, we had a club cruise to Ireland. As we sailed up Carlingford Lough, we heard an eerie noise coming from afar. As we approached the marina, we were greeted by the sound of Peggy playing the bagpipes – enthusiastically, but not desperately tunefully.
She always attended our AGMs; at these events, her main bugbear was the Ladies’ showers. There were two good showers, and one that had been made to fit in a smaller space. Peggy was not happy about this so she decided that the shower nearest the window was the best. One morning, one of the members was in that shower and heard a knocking on the shower door – which she ignored. The knock came again – also ignored – on the third knock, she quickly wrapped the towel around herself and opened the door, thinking someone was in trouble. Instead, she was greeted by Peggy in a state of undress, demanding that it was her shower, and why was the lady using it. The poor member was so taken aback that she grabbed her belongings and dashed out apologising profusely.
Following Peggy’s knee and hip operations, she would shanghai friends with a few seductive words, such as ‘you know I fancy a little sail on my boat – why not come along as my guest?’ This really meant –‘I find it difficult to sail on my own, so you can do the running around stuff, while I sit at the helm and shout at you.’ She would disappear from Holyhead at the crack of dawn, and return in the fading evening light; Peggy with a smile on her face and the other lucky guests tired out and still running around to get the boat moored up safely.
Peggy will be greatly missed; she was a one-off, highly regarded and an honoured President of the Sailing Club for a number of years.
Peggy, Thank you
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