Optimist Open: Cancelled

With the cold weather we are currently experiencing, the lake has started to gain some ice. The forecast for the next 24 hours is for temperatures to stay below zero and dip to minus seven. With little wind, we expect the amount of ice to grow significantly overnight.

Therefore, we have taken the regrettable decision to cancel the open meeting tomorrow. We are looking to reschedule to the near future and will confirm this in the next few days. Once we have a date we will offer to carry over the entry fee or issue a refund.

So that we don't spend all evening phoning around, if you have entered, please could you check your email and reply to the cancellation notice. Can you please also advise any other sailors that you know are planning to attend.

Topper Easter Coaching: Tue 10th - Fri 13th April 2012

BSC Junior Topper sailors - come and hone your skills during the Easter 2012 school holidays.

On Tuesday 10th to Friday 13th April 2012 there will be a 4 day Topper coaching at Burghfield Sailing Club for members. The course will be conducted by Tim Hulse as head coach and other RYA qualified coaches as appropriate.

There are three groups:

Boat Handling:
Start Racing:
Racing:

Whether you are relatively new to sailing your Topper, looking to transition from an Optimist or another boat, ready to start club racing or are already actively competing, this course will improve your skills.

Click here to find out more and to register.

RS 200 Training Dates

The RS 200 Fleet, which has expanded considerably over the winter period, is organising two training dates this winter/spring. Whether you are an experienced circuit racer or someone new to the boat, there is training available which will suit you! Providing you are a club member all training is free to enter.

• Experienced racer training -Saturday 18th February 2012


• More novice/intermediate training Saturday 14th April 2012

Booking for the first date is now available, but don't hang about spaces might be limited.
Booking and more information

Final day of the Christmas Series

This year the Christmas series has been running beautifully, no ice and snow for starters! The wind and weather has played ball and we have had some great racing and entertaining starts- Yes, starting between Pylon Island and the shore is back! Sometimes a running start and sometimes a beat, depending completely on what the wind had decided to do. Mulled wine and Mince pies dominated the Burghfield icicle which was won by Mike Lyons in his experimental Blaze.

That brings us neatly on to the final day of the series on Monday 2nd January. Having shaken off your possible sore heads from Saturday night, why not drop down the club on Monday and join in what is sure to be a great finale to the series, the wind is looking good and the caterers will be around to keep you topped up! See you there!

Blaze Christmas Dinner

Saturday 17 December saw 21 Burghfield Blaze sailors meet up for their annual Christmas dinner. This years event was held at The Crown at Playhatch. As usual there was much merriment some talk of sailing and much quaffing of alcoholic beverages.

James Acton Memorial Trophy

Congratulations to Lottie Harland, a junior member of Burghfield Sailing Club, who has been awarded the James Acton Memorial Trophy by the Club.

The trophy, established by Jack Acton in memory of his son James, is awarded each year to a deserving member of the club who has made a difference both inside and outside the club. Lottie was awarded the trophy in recognition of her achievements and representation of the club on the open racing circuit; the help and encouragement she has given to the club’s other junior sailors whilst racing regularly at the club herself; the work she has done this year with Burghfield Sailability; and the money she raised for Burghfield Sailability and the RNLI whilst competing in the Isle Sheppey Round the Island Race earlier in the year.

Lottie was presented with the trophy on Sunday lunchtime between races by Jeremy Carey.

Winter Squads 2011-12

Well done to the following youth sailors who have achieved squad membership for the 2011-12 training season.

420

420 RYA Youth Squad
Kat Colvin

420 RYA Transitional Squad
James Taylor and Robert Baddeley

LASER RADIAL

Laser Radial RYA Transitional Squad
Lottie Harland

OPTIMIST

IOCA Intermediate Squad
Matt Thornton

IOCA Development Squad
Hannah Brant

RYA South Zone
Peter Baddeley
Dermot Gannon
Douglas Calder

RS FEVA

Feva National Junior Squad
Will Dolin & (Tomy Darling)

RS Feva Class National Squad
Jonathan Baddeley & (Jack Nunn)

RS Class Intermediate Squad
Matt Hill & Joe Reeve
Libi Askew & (Emily Proud)
Paddy Gannon & Sam Pearce

More places for club sailors in Topper squads

Following on from the RYA Topper National Junior Squad announcement a few weeks ago, the remaining 2011 RYA and ITCA (GBR) Topper squads have now been selected. Congratulations to all of our junior and youth Topper sailors at the club who have worked very hard over this year and been rewarded with the offer of a squad place - and for those who have recently started taking part in our club Topper sessions, it may well be your turn next year - just ask one of the squad sailors or Nigel Ashworth about what is entailed:

Icon shows its pace on open water

Congratulations to club memebrs Mike Lyons and Simon Beddows, who took the Icon to Lymington Town Sailing Club last weekend for their annual Charity Pursuit in aid of Children in Need. Fighting closely with a local Merlin Rocket team and a Blaze, they held on to lead the thirty boat fleet across the finish line, not a bad result for a first time on the circuit.

Well done!


Full Y&Y report

Laser Open 2011

Yesterday was the Club's Annual Laser and Laser Radial open. With the wind forecast to increase, sun shining and warm temperatures, it was too much of a draw for people not to attend! 30 standard rigs took part and they were joined by 9 radials and an unexpected 4.7. The racing was tight in the shifty and gusty conditions but a great sail was had by all.

Well done to club member Matt Stephens who won the Radial Open!

Click the links below for the results and access to an image gallery.

images

results

Topper Easter Coaching Course: Tue 10th - Fri 13th April 2012

BSC Junior Topper sailors - come and hone your skills during the Easter 2012 school holidays.

On Tuesday 10th to Friday 13th April 2011 there will be a 4 day Topper coaching course at Burghfield Sailing Club for members. The course will be conducted by Tim Hulse as head coach and other RYA qualified coaches as appropriate.

There are three groups:

Boat Handling: (will run this group if we can get 5-6 pre registered)
Start Racing: 6 registered already
Racing: 9 registered already

Whether you are relatively new to sailing your Topper, looking to transition from an Optimist or another boat, ready to start club racing or are already actively competing, this course will improve your skills.

Click here to find out more and to register.

Burghfield SC Topper sailors lead the way

This year, Burghfield's junior Topper sailors have scooped three places in the prestigious RYA Topper National Junior Squad. Following four selection events over the year, including the week long National Championships (at which 274 Toppers competed this year), the RYA awards only the top 24 Topper sailors in the country a National Junior Squad place, and so for Burghfield SC to have three sailors in this squad is a huge achievement.

Congratulations to Matt Stephens, Adam Stone and Katie Barraclough on their National Junior Squad selection, a credit to all their hard work over this year. They will now train over the winter in the squad before embarking on their 2012 campaign to bring more prizes back to the club.

Fleet Trophy Day & Masters

This coming Sunday (11th) is the annual Fleet Trophy Day and Masters title. Three lap timed Handicap races in the normal fleets with two results to count. Race one before lunch with races two & three back to back in the afternoon. To qualify for the Masters you need to be over 50.
There is plenty of wind forecast so should be a cracker......

see you there!

Lottie raises over £500 for charity in IoS Round the Island Race

Lottie Harland, a junior member of Burghfield Sailing Club, competed in the Isle of Sheppey (IoS) Round the Island Race on 3rd September. Sailing in a Laser Radial I completed the 41 mile race in just over 5 hours, finishing 36th out 119 boats. In completing the race I will have raised over £500 from sponsorship donations for Burghfield Sailability and the RNLI. To finish off a fabulous day, I was also delighted to win the 1st U16 year old helm trophy.

Sailability is a charity that runs at various clubs around the country and helps disabled people get out on the water sailing. Half of the money raised will go to the Burghfield Sailability Group. All the people at the Burghfield group enjoy it very much and for a great deal of them it’s the highlight of their week. The other half of the money will go to the RNLI which is a charity that saves lives at sea providing a 24 hour service to anyone that needs them. They have saved over 139,000 lives at sea since they were founded in 1824 but can only keep running through volunteers and donations.

If you didn't sponsor me before the event but would still like to support these causes please send your name, address and postcode, and how much you would like to pledge, and whether you can Gift Aid your sponsorship (you must be a UK tax payer to Gift Aid) to . Any amount is very much appreciated.

Thank You - Lottie

Burghfield at the RS Games

Burghfield Sailing Club was well represented at the RS Games at the Olympic venue in Portland with members competing in the RS200, RS400, RS500, RS600 and surprisingly in the RS800 too.
The games comprised of world or national championships for all the adult RS classes and the Vareo. They were staggered over the fortnight, August 15th to 26th, so that it was possible to compete in more than one event. Those of us who took that option did a lot of sailing! For a full report of how our sailors did click the link below:

full report

Burghfield sailors at the National 12 Championships (Burton Week)

Five Burghfield 12's made their way to Brightlingsea Sailing Club over the bank holiday weekend for their championships and were greeted with superb, though challenging, sailing conditions. Tom Lee & Helen Chapman, Alan & Syd Beeton, both made their debut to the event as did Chris Rowland taking the place of Jeremy(relegated to photographer) alongside George.

Though Club members Graham & Zoe Camm did not come back this year from the N12 nationals as winners (came 3rd in strong winds) their excellent performance combined with Chris & George Rowland's and Tom Lee and Helen Chapman's, mean that Burghfield sailors did win the Gipsy Team Trophy for the 3rd year in a row.

Click on the image for a trip to the Burton Week website where there are plenty of images, reports, results and video or click below.

Burton Week

Strong turnout from Burghfield for the Topper National Championships

Last week, nine of our junior/youth sailors from the club made the long trip to East Lothian Yacht Club in North Berwick, Scotland, for the six day long 2011 Topper National Championships. Seven of the sailors were competing in the main fleet along with 273 other sailors (as an open class the fleet comprises of junior, youth and a few adult sailors). The other two were taking part in the regatta fleet of 50 boats, which is a good mix of coaching, racing and fun.

It was a challenging week of mixed weather with lighter winds (and some Scottish rain) earlier in the week for the main fleet qualifying series followed by strong winds, particularly on the final day of the championship series, when the sailors were racing in Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets.

All of our sailors performed exceptionally well:

Gold Fleet:
10th – Josh Stone (including winning the final race)
18th – Lottie Harland (who was also 2nd female and 1st 15-year old girl)
35th – Katie Barraclough
37th – Matt Stephens
57th – Adam Stone

Silver Fleet:
2nd – Tom Goodbourn

Bronze Fleet:
79th – Charlotte Ashworth (taking part in her first National Championships)

Regatta Fleet:
Jonathan Ashworth and Sara Shelly who were both taking part in their first National Championships

Congratulations to all in the challenging conditions and we are now looking forward to seeing many more of our up and coming group of Topper sailors next year in Pwllheli.

National Championships website...

Well done Robert and James!

Congratulations to clubmembers Robert Baddeley and James Taylor who took well deserved and hard fought bronze medals away from the RS Feva Worlds which took place in Bruinisse on the Grevelingen Lake in Holland.

The event, beset by largely light winds, drew together 160 teams from around the world so it was no mean feat for Robert and James to hit the podium.

Well done Guys!

Y&Y Report

Charity sponsorship for Isle of Sheppey Round the Island Race

My name is Lottie Harland, a junior member of the club, and I’m doing the Isle of Sheppey (IoS) Round the Island Race on 3rd September. It is a 41 mile race around the Isle of Sheppey in Kent and I’m sailing in a Laser Radial. This will take me up to 8 hours to complete depending on the wind. I’ll be raising money for two charities, Burghfield Sailability Group and the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).

Sailability is a charity that runs at various clubs around the country and helps disabled people get out on the water sailing. Half of the money I raise will go to the Burghfield Sailability Group. All the people at the Burghfield group enjoy it very much and for a great deal of them it’s the highlight of their week. The other half of the money will go to the RNLI which is a charity that saves lives at sea providing a 24 hour service to anyone that needs them. They have saved over 139,000 lives at sea since they were founded in 1824 but can only keep running through volunteers and donations.

If you would like to sponsor me then please send me your name, address and postcode, and how much you would like to sponsor me for, and whether you can Gift Aid your sponsorship (you must be a UK tax payer to Gift Aid) to . Any amount you can sponsor me for will be very much appreciated.

Thank You - Lottie

Cake sale in aid of RYA Sailability

RYA Sailability have declared Saturday 9 July to be Pirate day! The Admirals club are supporting their fund raising efforts by holding a tea and cake sale from 3.00 in the club room.

Do please support this fantastic cause (taking place during and after this Saturdays Admiral's Club development day!) by buying some yummy cake and /or a hot drink.

ALL club members (Pirates and non pirates) are welcome. So, if you planning to be down at the club on Saturday afternoon, or perhaps you just fancy some tea and cake, do please come and visit us - we'll be open for cakes and drinks until all sold out, so make sure you come early!

Proceeds from the sale will be split between local and national Sailability charity.

'Duck and Hounds'

After last weekends great trip to Weymouth, Admirals Club is back in Burghfield this Saturday with our next fun event - Ducks and Hounds. A chance to put some of your close quarters sailing skills into practice as you chase ducks (rubber) round the lake whilst avoiding being hit by balls! As usual, be rigged up and ready to go at 1.30 when we will kick off with a briefing under the balcony.

Admirals Club trip to Weymouth

Last weekend, Admirals Club, the recreational, social and sailing development group, packed up their boats and headed for Weymouth Harbour and WPNSA(home of Olympic sailing 2012)for their annual foray onto the sea. 14 boats took part and utilising a local rescue boat team, took to the water on Saturday with some trepidation in winds gusting from 20 to 30knts! This did not stop 2/3rds of the group from venturing out in the bright sunshine with those that could reef making the most of this option! Whilst the Canoe Nationals entrants who were there as well, were held on shore, many from AC took on the local Kite and windsurfers and had a complete blast.

Sunday, a complete contrast, started with a thick sea mist and 10knts of wind. Luckily it cleared enough for the group to get on the water though visibility remained poor. By the afternoon, however, it was a completely different matter, with perfect champagne sailing in bright sunlight. Overall, we had a fantastic time, a complete range of sailing conditions to improve our skills, great evening meal and socialising together- precisely what Admirals Club is all about!

Click the image to see a short video of the weekends activities.
Many thanks to AC member Trevor Stallwood for organising such a great weekend. With WPNSA closed next year for the Olympics, guess we'll just have to find somewhere else to go instead!

SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR JUNIOR RACERS

To help sailors in Oppies and Toppers build up the fleet of home racers we will provide you with a junior fleet start. If six or more boats come to the start line you will be given a whisky start (this is the fleet flag ‘W’, not the prize!) Your results will be scored separately from the main fleet and those qualifying will be awarded prizes at the end of the series.

If fewer than six start then you will start within the Slow Handicap fleet as has been happening before so that you have the fun of racing with others.Shorter courses can be set if you would like them and your results will be extracted from the main race. This has the advantage of letting you compete within your peers and keeps the beastly RS400s etc. out of the way.

Big smiles all round for an excellent day's racing

Another superb day's sailing for the 7th Annual Burghfield Blast

Though fleet sizes were smaller than usual due to the out of season conditions - cold, wet and very windy; the racing was tight throughout and there were many stories being told at the bar at the end of the day!

The wind started early in the South east but very quickly clocked round to the south as forecast.As the day went on it, so the wind strength increased providing some very challenging, shifty, and gusty conditions which challenged all the competitors to the full. Gusting in the region of 25knts, with big shifts, the beats were somewhat of a lottery at times and the runs enough to add years to your age!The regular fleets were joined by 8 intrepid National 12's who also joined in the day, having had an event at another club cancelled, this extra fleet adding another dimension the the busy starts and courses!

Overall a great days sailing- thanks must go to the efforts of all the race and support team involved, but particularly to SRO, Ian Bullock, for what was a very busy day!

Click the image of the blasting Solo on the right to go to Alex Irwin's images of the event on his website: sportography.tv

Results

National 12's joining in the Burghfield Blast

The National 12's, who have had an event cancelled at Spinnaker this coming weekend have, instead, been invited to join in the Burghfield Blast on Sunday and will be having their own start at the event.

This should add to the already exciting event and we look forward to some really tight racing across all fleets! Prize giving for both the club racers and the National 12's will take place shortly after the end of sailing on the day.

Burghfield Blast- 12th June 2011

Next weekend is the Burghfield Blast, one of the clubs special annual events.
A cracking event, the Burghfield Blast is a day of frantic and fun short course racing- lots of one lap races of about 15mins, with rapid restarts.

The aim is to keep the fleets tight together and create as many chances as possible to get on the leader board. Last year it attracted around fifty boats onto the water and I can guarantee if you don't make it this year, you will have missed something special!
So if you haven't done it before, give it a try it's great fun!

First race will be from 11am with as many starts as possible after! (there is a break for lunch though!)

for more information click here

Thankyou for such a successful day!

A very big and public thank you to all those club members who came down to help out on Saturday's annual Open Day, I cannot describe how much we appreciated the effort you put in to make the day so successful.

Over 100 visiting families came down to experience sailing and we would like to warmly welcome those who decided to join and look forward to seeing you on the water soon. If you have any questions please feel free to either contact our Manager or our Commodore who will be happy to help you with your queries or just ask any member for help when you are at the club.

Click the image to the right for a brief video snapshot of just how busy the day was or click here to see some images of the day.

Enjoy your sailing!
Burghfield SC Committee

2 New dinghies available to test sail at the Open Day

Two new dinghy designs will be joining in tomorrows fun at the Open day and both will be available for test sailing.
X1 Riverboat 1.30pm-4pm
Cirrus Icon 11am-4pm
Both classes are two man hiking dinghies designed for inland and open water use. Each carries a large amount of sail area to make the most of light wind inland sailing, the X1 differing through the addition of a symmetrical spinnaker.

Fancy trying them out?- just pop along tomorrow and join in!

Laser 4.7 Worlds

Dan Bullock will be representing Great Britain as one of six sailors selected for the RYA supported team at the Laser 4.7 World Championships in San Francsico in July. Dan finished first in his age group and 2nd overall in a recent series of three qualifier events. The series also gives him a place at the European Championships in Workum, Netherlands just 2 weeks before the worlds.

He also went on to win the RYA Indicator event at Rutland last weekend with an impressive 15 point margin. This cements his place in the summer phase of the RYA Laser 4.7 National Junior squad program and extends his lead at the top of the Laser 4.7 National Ladder series.

Recently he was selected for the "Lloyds TSB Local Heroes programme" which "helps some of the most talented emerging athletes in the UK during one of the toughest stages of their sporting careers".

Dan started out in our Oppie club just a few years ago and raced Optimists before switching to the Laser 4.7.

Good luck, Dan, for the events this Summer!

Wednesday evening video

Quick turn-around!

Last night we had 60+ boats take to the water for a nice evening sail. I managed to take 1900 photos over the course of the race, combine them together and create a 2 minute time lapse video.

Click the image to see the result

Cracking Weekend Sailing

Last weekend was one of those memorable weekends when the sun shone and the wind blew, and at times I mean blew! The peak gust over the weekend of 32Knts made for some very exciting sailing and some very exciting viewing as well with a gybe mark being set at buoy 1 just in front of the clubhouse.

If you didn't manage to make it down why not click on the image to the right and watch a bit of video to get an idea of the fun that was had!

Wedenesdays here we come...!

Tomorrow looks set fair for a perfect start to this years' Wednesday evening series with temperatures forecast to still be around 20 degrees at 7pm and the wind at around 8-10 mph from the south east.

Bring your sunglasses and lightweight sailing gear and come and have some fun!

Click the images for a bit of video from last years series just to remind you of what to expect!

Burghfield Sailability - first session of 2011


Pictures and videos here.

More helpers always welcome from 6 - 8pm on Thursdays from now to Sept.

Booking deadline extended to 27th April for Weymouth trip organised by Admiral's Club (open to all club members)

Olympics tickets have been on sale for a few weeks now, and perhaps you are still planning how you can get down to Weymouth and watch some of the sailing taking place there in summer 2012. But don't wait til 2012 to go to Weymouth to WATCH some sailing, instead book NOW to join a number of us from the club as we hold our third and FINAL Admirals Club outing to SAIL on the sea at Weymouth the weekend of 25th - 26th June 2011.

The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy is an excellent custom built sailing facility located in Weymouth Harbour, with a vast sailing area. It has great shore facilities and will be the headquarters for sailing at the 2012 Olympics.
Whilst organised by Admiral's Club, this event is open to any member of BSC interested to try out sailing on the sea - booking deadline extended til just after Easter to ensure as many as possible are able to join us at this event, which will be the last trip to Weymouth organised by Admiral's club before the Olympic games.

For more details on how to book, plans for the weekend, and associated costs, click here
To see a selection of pictures from the 2010 trip, and get a flavour of what you might expect in 2011 see our Facebook album here and report
Booking forms must be received, with payment, by 27th April.
We hope you will be able to join us.

Service to Sailability Recognised

The picture shows our very own Charles Benham receiving an RYA Community Award for "Outstanding Contribution" from HRH The Princess Royal, to recognise his work in supporting Berkshire Sailability for many years.

If you can help disabled sailors get on the water, the new season for Sailability starts on Thursday 14th April from 6pm at BSC. Just turn up on the day or you can join in the training session held on Saturday 9th April from 9:30 am.

More info on Sailability here.


Follow this link to the RYA Thames Valley Newsletter to see more on the award.