Racing | Weymouth Sailing Club

WSC Cherbourg Solstice Rally 21-23 June 2019

Sailing in company is a good way of taking the stress out of a Channel crossing, especially if you’re doing it for the first time. There is nothing to beat the feeling of the open sea as you get clear of the land, except perhaps the sense of achievement of having made a good landfall with the tide in your favour, as you drift up the coast in the sunshine towards your destination.

If you’re thinking of joining the Solstice rally this year, I’d be grateful if you could let me know as soon as you can, so that I have an idea of numbers for the winetasting, etc.

Steve Fraser
Aliya

Saskia meets the Figaro Solitaire

On Sunday 9th June, Rima and I enjoyed the company of Cherbourg Yacht Club crews during a delightful BBQ on the terrace organised by Amanda and superbly cooked by our Commodore Steve and his wife Josie.

La Weymouth 2019

You could tell the weekend was going well from the singing coming from the cockpit of 'Les Rapetous' from Granville; sailing hard seems to come as naturally as partying hard to the French, though WSC was ably represented, in the former if not the latter, by Kathy Claydon and her crew on 'Arcsine'– Mike, Charlotte, Pat, Kirsty and Andy. Well done to them, and to the crew of 'Effusion', who decided not to risk their rig in those conditions, but still got in on Sunday morning after the wind had dropped a bit.

Double-handed to Dielette

Having decided not to enter this year’s Fastnet race, accomplished WSC skipper Kathy Claydon is concentrating this season on double-handed offshore racing in the JOG and RORC series. Last weekend Kathy and Phil Kirk competed in the JOG race from Cowes to Dielette on the Cherbourg peninsular. The route took them via the Casquets rocks off Alderney.

Cross-Channel commuting

On passageweather.com Thursday looked an ideal day to cross back to France, though the shipping forecast was giving fog patches; I was sailing as soon as I was clear of the Stone Pier, though beyond the Shambles it was obvious there was humidity still being carried up-Channel after Wednesday's rain, and I soon had about 400m visibility, which lasted till after the shipping. AIS should mean there are no surprises, but it was still a shock to see a huge container ship suddenly loom out of the fog to starboard, heading SE to Le Havre.

Jelenko - "Myth of Malham"

This last bank holiday weekend, 136 yachts and 900 crewmembers from all over the world competed in the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Myth of Malham race, a 236 nautical mile classic. The course started from the Royal Yacht Squadron line at 0800 on the 25th May, the starts were staggered by 10 minute intervals with the IRC 4 Fleet leading the way, following on was IRC 3, 2 &1 (the fastest fleet). The course was simple round “Eddystone lighthouse” to port and finish at “North head buoy “ about a mile from Hurst castle.

YCC Transmanche - 2019 edition

The record Transmanche time for a Cherbourg boat is 6 hours 45 minutes, achieved by 'Metis', a Cherbourg Grand Surprise without a spinnaker in 2011, in a NW force 7, sailed by my friends Wilfried and Fred with a couple of mates. It was also the year we broke the boom on the way over at night in 'Protocole', a Beneteau 40!

The event is growing in popularity among French sailors from Le Havre to Granville, not least for the welcome they receive at WSC, and we look forward to a good crowd both in Cherbourg and Weymouth this year.

Jelenko - "Cervantes" Fastnet qualifier

On Saturday 4th May “Jelenko” entered the Cervantes 2019 Trophy, crewed by Al Doughty and Ian Cheke. In IRC 3 and 2 handed series, 159nm of the 300nm required by RORC for Fastnet entry.

Tony Bennett Pursuit Race

Monday 22nd April - start times from 1430

Start times

Find your start number on the list - if your boat is not on the list of start times please email sailing@wsc.org.uk

Your start time is on the start of the next minute, eg. start 1 at 1432, start 17 at 1448

Starting the season in Cherbourg

Waking in a chilly dawn on board with the promise of N 5-6 to blow me on my way was not a hugely motivating start to the season, though the prospect of ending the day abroad for a change got me up and going, leaving the bay for the first time this year as the sun rose south of St Alban's, and the wind gradually filled in, from the NW then the true wind from the north, giving a pleasant if chilly broad reach down to the traffic in mid-Channel.