29th March
10.30
12th April
10.30
26th April
10.00
5th May
10.30
17th May
10.00
7th June
10.15
TBC
14th June
10.30
5th July
10.30
30th August
10.30
4th October
10.00
RYA NW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER April 2008
Welcome to the April edition of the NorthWest newsletter. Here, you will read about RYA activities in the NW, and find out more about latest initiatives from RYA HQ. The newsletter is being sent by e mail to clubs and centres in the NW. You can forward the e mail news to your fellow committee members at your club, or even to all your membership thus giving them all the chance to get the latest news fast. Print a copy to put on your notice board to let others see the news, or cut and paste stories onto your club website. You can also be added to the circulation group to receive your own personal copy.
If you would like to be added to the distribution list, just contact the Regional Secretary at
jgraham.knox “at” virgin.net
This month’s highlights include;
· New look for 2008 NW Junior Travellers Series
· Fireball World title for Mee and Wagstaff
· NW sailor receives top Coaching award
· Laser Lakeland Series Revived
· Regional Development – Instructor courses for Dinghy Sailing and Windsurfing
· RYA Community Awards – nominations open
· Cruising- NW conference planned for Spring 2009
· Cruising E Newsletter launched
· Windsurfing- all about Team 15
· Yachting- join the Volvo Keelboat Squad
· Youth Sailing- funding boost for OnBoard, Team 15 and Volvo Champion Clubs
· RYA Publications- new books in April
NEW Features for 2008- now for Youths up to 19
YOUTH HANDICAP EVENT open to helms and crews under the age of 19 on the 31st December each year.
DINGHY HANDICAP RACING open to helms and crews under the age of 17 on the 31st December each year.
OPTIMIST CLASS RACING open to helms under the age of 16 on the 31st December each year.
No need to pre-register - just turn up and sail at any event - you will be made most welcome.
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29th March |
10.30 |
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12th April |
10.30 |
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26th April |
10.00 |
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5th May |
10.30 |
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17th May |
10.00 |
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7th June |
10.15 |
TBC |
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14th June |
10.30 |
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5th July |
10.30 |
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30th August |
10.30 |
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4th October |
10.00 |
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Prizes will be awarded at each venue by the host club.
OVERALL PRIZES will be supplied by the RYA NW Training Committee and awarded in the following categories:
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Handicap class |
top three places in the u19, u17 and u14 categories (eldest member of the crew determines the age group in the boat ). |
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Optimist class |
top three places |
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Double Hander |
1st placed Double Handed Boat |
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Team Trophies |
for the best overall club (first two boats from each club to count towards the team trophy) |
Best five results from ten will count for the series. Any ties decided on discard and amount travelled. Qualifiers in both fleets will be awarded certificates.
For every event a competitor travels to, their name will be entered into the end of season prize draw.
The Annual Parent Forum Meeting will be at West Lancs YC on Saturday 4th October after the start of the first race.
For further information on the series, contact: nwtopper@millington.eclipse.co.uk
NWJTT in association with 1st Mark Ltd, www.1stmark.co.uk Tel 01942 273372
Copyright © RYA North West Junior Traveller Trophy MMI-MMVIII
DINGHY RACING
NW sailors are World Champs
Matt Mee and Richard Wagstaff, from Hollingworth Lake, took the Fireball World Championships at Royal Varuna Yacht Club at Pattaya in Thailand.
Mee and Wagstaff started the week with a win, and added another three wins as the week progressed, so that by the last day, Mee and Wagstaff had carved out a four point lead over their closest rivals, Nathan Stockley and Sam Muirhead from Australia and were twelve points ahead of fellow Brits David Wade and Ben McGrane.
The first race of the last day was the decider, when Mee/Wagstaff opted to defend their lead and luffed Stockley and Muirhead at the start putting them under pressure, and causing both boats to drop into the pack on the first beat. On the second beat, Mee and Wagstaff closed on the leading group, but Tomas Musil and Jan Stantejsky from the Czech republic took the race, beating Australia’s Greg Allison and Richard Watson to the finish, while Mee and Wagstaff took a safe third place. This gave Mee/Wagstaff the world championship, with their main rivals Stockley/Muirhead well back in 17th.
Mee, 21, has come rapidly through the ranks of sailing, having recently taken top five finishes in major GP14 championships, followed by his switch to the Fireball. Now, he hopes to move on to 470s. Wagstaff works with boatbuilders Winder, who supplied the Worlds winning boat.
This was another world title for a British pair, after Richard Estaugh and Rob Gardner took the 2007 World title last summer. Mee and Wagstaff used a Winder hull, with Selden Cumulus mast and P & B sails.
COACHING
LOCAL Sailing COACH recEives TOP HONOUR
Neil Marsden, from Preston, has been awarded one of the RYA’s most prestigious coaching awards – RYA Squad Coach of the Year 2008. The eagerly awaited awards ceremony took place at the world’s biggest dinghy show, the RYA Dinghy Sailing Show, London, in March.
The RYA Awards acknowledge the importance of instructors and coaches within the UK’s boating community. Categories cover all aspects of boating, from powerboating to dinghy sailing, windsurfing, squad racing and club racing from grass roots to Olympic level.
Neil is one of just ten exceptional coaches and instructors to be given one of these prestigious awards. Neil has clocked up seven National titles and three World titles, in a long and consistent racing career.
Neil has now been coaching for five years and has developed the RYA Youth Topper dinghy NW regional squad. In this time Neil has helped coach two local Topper sailors to the very peaks of their class, becoming World champions. His distinguished pupils have also taken National Championships and European gold medals. Fellow coach Kirsty Bonar nominated Neil for the award and she said, “Neil is incredibly humble and would be embarrassed to think he had been nominated for this award, but he is the most deserving person I know.”
Rod Carr, Chief Executive of the RYA, presented Neil his trophy along with some boating equipment donated by awards supporters Gul.
At the same ceremony, another NW instructor received an award, when Trish Melton, from Manley Mere watersports, took the Windsurf Instructor of the Year title (see March issue for full story).
DINGHY RACING
LAKELAND LASER GRAND PRIX
A forecast of cold winds and hail didn’t deter 13 sailors from turning up at Bassenthwaite on April 5th for the first round of the newly revived Lakeland Laser Grand Prix, sponsored by Rooster Sailing. Dark black clouds gathering behind the snow covered fells suggested that the forecast was right and indeed we had everything from bitterly cold squalls laden with hail and sleet to warm sunshine and light winds – four seasons in one day.
Race Officer Roy Blackburn postponed twice to reset the course before the first race got underway in a brisk northerly breeze that had everyone working hard upwind and down. Leader at the end of the first lap was Jono Shelley but he had failed to notice the course change between postponements and went round the mark the wrong way. He went on to finish second behind Dylan Noble but was disqualified and third place finisher Sam Hall promoted to second.
After lunch two more races were sailed back-to-back with a big windshift between them bringing more hail showers. Mark Somerville took an early lead in Race 2 and was never challenged with second place going to Jono Shelley. In the third race, Julian Elwood of Royal Windermere Y.C. was first to the windward mark and when he got to the end of the first reach the three boats with him all tried to round the wrong way. The ensuing melee allowed him to build a good lead which was slowly whittled away as the wind became lighter and more fluky but he held on to finish first with Jono second again.
After 3 races with 3 winners from 3 clubs there were 3 sailors at the top tied on 4 points, Jono lost out because of his DSQ in race 1 and Dylan Noble won the tie-break. The closeness of the competition was also shown lower down with 4 sailors tied on 13 points. The next event in the series is at Coniston on May 25th.
RESULTS: 1st Overall Dylan Noble Ullswater Y.C.
2ndOverall Mark Somerville Bassenthwaite S.C.
3rd Overall Jono Shelley Ullswater Y.C.
1st Master John Lyons Ullswater Y.C.
1st Youth Josh Moran Ullswater Y.C.
1st Junior Sam Hall Bassenthwaite S.C.
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Instructor Courses
Dinghy Sailing
· Dinghy Instructors course @ Hollingworth WAC
May 3 – 5th and 10/11th
Contact 01706 370499
· Dinghy Instructors Course @ Waterpark , Cumbria
August 18th – 22nd 2008
Contact 01229 885456
· Advanced Dinghy Instructors Course @ Hollingworth
May 31st / 1st June, cost £85
Contact Sally
Windsurfing
· Start Windsurf Instructor Course @ Rossendale Valley SC
May 3-5th
Contact Nora Girven Tel: 01282 421674
· Start Windsurf Instructor Course @ Hollingworth Lake WAC
May 17/18th & 24-26th
Contact 01706 370499
· Windsurf Senior Instructor Course @ Salford Watersports
July 12/13th & 26/27th
Contact Sally
If anyone needs any other RYA Instructor courses / Endorsements please contact me so that I can know the demand and organize courses accordingly
Any Club or Centre wishing to run an Instructor course in any discipline please contact me to check that it is ok and supply dates / venue and details of the Coach or Trainer running the course.
Sally Kilpatrick
RYA Development Officer NorthWest
( Mobile: 07747 534527
E-mail: sally.kilpatrick “at” rya.org.uk
RYA COMMUNITY AWARDS
Recognising Volunteers in Sailing & Boating
The RYA Community Awards, launched in 2002, recognise the exceptional voluntary contribution given by individuals. These awards, seen as the ‘MBEs’ of our sport, are given to people who make a real impact on our sport at local, grass roots level. In November 2007, fifty-three Awards, including six in the Youth Category were presented by HRH the Princess Royal.
Individuals must be nominated by their club/centre or organisation to receive an Award, in one of three categories. Clubs may only make one nomination in each category.
Award Categories
Lifetime Commitment - someone who has shown exceptional commitment and dedication to their club or organisation for at least 10 years
Outstanding Contribution - someone who has volunteered for less than 10 years but who has none the less made a significant contribution. This could be a single or ‘one-off’ contribution.
Youth - someone under the age of 25 on the 1st October 2008 who has demonstrated a regular commitment and/or inspirational contribution which is over-and-above their own participation or achievement within the sport.
Award winners and their guests will be invited to a special presentation ceremony and luncheon in London in November.
This is a great opportunity for your club, centre, organisation or association to recognise and reward outstanding contribution made to our sport by individual volunteers.
For further information and to download a nomination form please visit our website http://www.rya.org.uk/WorkingWithUs/volunteers/communityawards2008.htm
Or
call Maria Clark on 023 8060 4192.
Written nominations should reach the RYA by Monday 12th May 2008
CRUISING
Cruising conference planned for 2009
A Cruising Conference is being planned for the NorthWest.
The theme is to be Cruising Tomorrow – the Future of Offshore and Coastal Cruising
The programme will suit both sailors and motorboat cruisers. The date had now been fixed for Saturday 14 March 2009 at Warrington. Famous cruising author and raconteur Tom Cunliffe has agreed to be the keynote speaker. Two more speakers are being approached. The charge for the day, including lunch and coffee, will be around £25 for RYA members and affiliates and £35 for others. More details as we get closer to the time.
RYA Cruising E Newsletter launched
The first issue of this new e-mail newsletter has been sent out to personal members from RYA Hamble. It's planned as a six-weekly update on the cruising scene for personal members and this first one seems rather useful. If you are a personal member and haven't received a copy then it means that RYA doesn't have cruising down as one of your interests. Contact them (the Cruising Dept) in the first instance.
Offshore Wind turbines
The MCA is conducting a “horizon scanning” exercise to understand what might be required of them in the future. There was some concern that this is a precursor to more regulation.
Current proposals are that there should be a 50m “safety zone” around individual wind turbines – it seems to be the safety of the turbine at stake rather than that of sailors. It will be up to developers to apply and police this.
Red diesel
The proposals published for red diesel are much as expected: it will be up to individual users to declare the use they intend to put it to (propulsion or heating) and whether they are leisure or commercial users. There are details still to be worked out (might there be a notional proportion assigned to heating for example) but we seem to have achieved the main aim of ensuring availability of supply to leisure sailors.
There is now formal support from the European Commission for the principle that it s up to the country in which the fuel is sold to collect the tax. Keep all receipts seems to be the rule.
WINDSURFING
Team 15 Windsurfing
Team15 is a nationwide network of clubs where the coolest windsurfers aged 15 and under get together every week to have a great time and learn new skills. Getting into the T15 clubbing scene is easy. It doesn't cost the earth and if you're just starting out, clubs can often provide all the equipment you need.
Whether you windsurf already or just thinking it would be cool, team15 is all you need to know to get to the action. From basic board balance to cutting edge stuff, T15 can make it happen for you. So if you are aged 15 or under, then why not join in?
It's on your doorstep... The North West Region has a number of active Team 15 clubs – you can check out their location by logging on to www.team15.org.uk
The Team15 inter-club challenges are really friendly events and the competition is pitched to cater for all levels of ability. The day starts off with a bit of real fun on the water to help break the ice (not literally - the water's quite warm!) then once everyone has relaxed a little and starts to enjoy themselves, various other challenges are set. You will sail with others who have the same size sail as you to keep things fair and there are trophies to be won - and not just by those who get top scores - so join in the fun.
The region organizes 4 Inter-club events where teams compete against each other for the title of Series winner. In 2007 our series winners, Team Astbury went on to win the National title – The Champions Cup!!!!!!
2008 Team 15 Inter-club Events:-
7th June – Hollingworth Water Activities Centre Nr Rochdale
28th June – Wirral Sailing Centre, West Kirby
19th July – Astbury, Nr Congleton
6th Sept – Manley, Nr Chester
YACHTING
Join the RYA Keelboat Squad
Fancy a place on the Volvo RYA Keelboat Squad?
Want to get up to speed in a Keelboat?
Now is your chance!
The RYA are holding a series of Open Keelboat Race Training events in 2008 and are looking for the next generation of up and coming sailors to get on board. Open Keelboat Race Training events are a route for being selected into the Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme and provide the opportunity for sailors to brush up on skills and receive first class coaching in the RYA’s fleet of J80s. These events cater for sailors of all race abilities.
Open Keelboat Race Training dates for 2008:
Selections: September 2008, Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (by invitation only)
To reserve your place at an Open Keelboat Training event, please fill out the form available on RYA website.
To reserve your place on a training weekend there is a £40 entry fee, made payable to the RYA. Sailors are required to find their own accommodation, however it is advised that where possible, you stay at the centre/academy at which the training is being held. Food will be available to buy at or near the venue.
If you would like to know more about the Volvo RYA Keelboat programme or about the sailors currently on the squads please go to our website: www.rya.org.uk/AboutRYA/programmesinitiatives/volvoryakeelboatprogramme
YOUTH SAILING
FUNDING BOOST FOR YOUTH SAILING IN CLUBS
Youth sailing in England has received a big boost after Sport England awarded the RYA an extra £1.1 million to further develop sailing and windsurfing for young people.
Through increased support for the RYA’s existing Volvo RYA Champion Club, OnBoard and Team15 youth initiatives, the funding will enhance junior and youth training, race training and provide additional coaching and coaching resources throughout England. It will also provide clubs with funding for training and developing volunteers.
For further information about grant applications or how the new funding may be able to help your club contact James Tilley, RYA Champion Club Liaison Officer, at james.tilley “at” rya.org.uk or call James on 07748 800808, or speak to Sally Kilpatrick or Chris Blackburn.
RYA PUBLICATIONS
New titles in April
RYA Knots, Splices and Ropework Handbook, Gordon Perry, £24.99
RYA Youth Windsurfing Scheme Syllabus & Logbook - new edition, RYA, £4.50
RYA books can be ordered at most marina shops, or online from the RYA site. Remember, all RYA members gain a 10% discount on RYA books. Order at www.rya.org.uk/shop or phone the order hotline on 0845 345 0372. RYA Vouchers can also be purchased on the site.
YOUR RYA REGION
Get your own newsletter
If you would like to be added to the circulation list, please send your e mail address to jgraham.knox “at” virgin.net.
The newsletter may also be viewed on the RYA NW website, at www.rya-northwest.org.uk .
RYA NW contacts
Chairman; David Williamson dwilliamson ”at”rya-online.net
Secretary; Graham Knox 01706 642311 jgraham.knox ”at”virgin.net
High Performance Manager for North and West; Chris Blackburn 07909 994637 chris.blackburn ”at”rya.org.uk
Regional Development Officer; Sally Kilpatrick 07747 534527 sally.kilpatrick ”at”rya.org.uk
OnBoard Development Officer; Adam McGovern Adam.McGovern “at” Rochdale.gov.uk
Chairman, Training Forum; Wendy Rigg 01270 820779 wriggcsf “at” btopenworld.com
Regional Race Management Adviser; Adrian Stoggall 01625 871579 stoggall “at” zetnet.co.uk
Regional Rules Adviser; Peter Johnson 0151 632 1805 mq22 “at” liv.ac.uk
Regional Windsurf Liaison Officer; Mike Roberts 0161 904 0212 mark “at” aroberts56.freeserve.co.uk
Sailability; Ian Shirra 07749 012414 ian “at” shirra.fsnet.co.uk
Communications; Alan Henderson 01292 281383 alanhe “at” tiscali.co.uk
Web addresses for further information;
RYA NW www.rya-northwest.org.uk OnBoard; www.ruob.co.uk
RYA HQ www.rya.org.uk or tel 0845 345 0400 Team 15; www.team15.org.uk
Disclaimer; this newsletter is published by RYA North West Region. Information is believed to be accurate at time of going to press, but comes from diverse sources. Neither RYA NW nor the editor can take responsibility for any errors or omissions. Opinions of contributors or interviewees are not necessarily those of RYA NW. Please check info about events etc before going.
RYA Hamble contact
General enquiries; 0845 345 0400 www.rya.org.uk