Gosport Model Yacht and Boat Club

09/04/2024

Mini 40 Open Meeting 27th and 28th of April 2024 at Gosport Model Yacht and Boat Club UK
Entries close on 15th of April.
Fast, fun, fantastic!

All welcome. Details on club website.
Will be great to see you.

05/02/2023

IOM RACING today.

18/11/2021

Excellent turn our for today's IOMs

20/02/2020

The February post was for cancelling R4
R5 of the multihulls Saturday 14 March

Nine boats turned up for the multihull racing with a great forecast of 10 to 15 mph SW breeze, and the forecast - NO RAIN! Although someone forgot to tell the people in charge as it was raining at the start of the morning! It was good to see Mike Dann back with his tri, also Paul Edwards on the water again after a while doing race officer duties.

In the lighter early breeze, Paul, sailing his super metallic blue Dann cat, won the first race, with Tony Cleal in second and Pete Lawley in third. In the second, Tony Cleal came from mid-fleet to take the points. As the rain passed through the wind was strengthening, and skippers were beginning to struggle with their big sails they had rigged for the light stuff. Mike Dann’s tri with a slightly snugger rig, started to really get into its stride and took the next five races. Having chalked up a few seconds, Simon Walley took line honours in race eight, but Mike then came back to take the remaining races.

Mike took first place overall, although he didn’t have things all his way and Paul, Tony, Simon Walley and David Donin were usually snapping at his three transoms and waiting for the increasingly likely capsize as the wind strengthened! Simon’s second overall was remarkable in that he used his tall No 1 rig all through. Tony Cleal was third on countback, with equal points to Simon, and in fourth was Paul only two points behind. Jay Britton and Rob Walley found they had too large a rig for the increasing breeze and after some exciting sailing had more than their share of capsizes.

It was a pleasure to watch Mike sailing again; his mastery of the headers around the clubhouse building earning lengths when it mattered. It had been an exciting day’s racing, and the overall standard of the fleet, sailing these challenging boats, was first class.

The next date for racing our Mini40’s is the open event April 3rd – 5th. The developing national crisis may overtake events, but we’ll keep everyone up to date as the situation unfolds.

Mervyn

15/01/2020

Wednesday 15th January 2020 Winter lake drain down commencing
Necessary emergency repair work to the walkway which required a significant lowering of the water level prompted the decision to bring forward the seasonal drain down. This will enable investigation of the sluice valve and any repairs necessary during the same period.
The process will take about three weeks from start to finish. After today it is unlikely that there will be enough water to sail/race.
The Gosport Model Yacht and Boat Club web site will be kept up to date.
Jacque Cook
Commodore

21/12/2019

IMPORTANT......
HELLO JUDGE COST
These are the ‘WHAT3WORDS’ to give emergency services to enable them to locate the club.
They are posted in various prominent places in the Boat House
The post code only locates the middle of the lake....... not useful for an ambulance!
The next Bulletin will explain further.
Jacque
Commodore

02/11/2019

Mick Thomas Trophy

Friday 1st November 2019

This is the annual race held in Vane 36’s in memory of Mick Thomas. Mick was a consummate clubman, who built a lot of the carpentry in the club premises once we’d moved into the new building. He also enjoyed his sailing, for the pleasure of sailing rather than chasing the win! So the winner of the Mick Thomas Trophy is the boat which comes in the middle of the fleet, the fleet all racing together. Scoring is reversed so the winner of each heat has the lowest points. A full round gives every boat the windward start position, in strict rotation.

Friday dawned a grey, grizzly, wet day, the forecast predicting only slightly drier weather by mid-morning, with a solid 10 to 12 mph of SW breeze. Even so, seven 36’s turned out, ranging from Max Buttimer’s 1953 vintage simple ply box boat, to Jacque Cook and Eric Meighen’s ultra-modern heavily foiled carbon Mike Dann special. We also welcomed a rare visit from Roger Cole, sailing his restored early Sybora. Skippers opted for a variety of rigs; Alex Kennaby chose quite a snug rig, whereas Pete Lawley and Jay Britton, Bob and Gill Pearson, and Roger Cole guessed that the light breeze at the start time might stay for the morning and rigged No 1 or even taller sails.

The beats are always impressive, with seven vane boats racing at the same time. There were very few collisions in the first beat, although some incredibly close shaves had the spectators sucking their breath in! The runs saw a few more clinches, but the good humoured fleet was in a mood to enjoy the event.

Top scorers each with 18 points were Jacque and Eric and Bob and Gill’s Diversions…. But, of course, that didn’t win them the trophy! In third place was Roger Coles Sybora, having missed a couple of races with a broken jib boom. In fourth place, and the middle of the fleet with 26 points were Peter and Paul, sailing a Sybora. Well done to them both, and they get to hold the Mick Thomas Trophy for the year. Tying with 35 points each were Alex, and Pete and Jay, and last (partly because his rudder kept unshipping) was Max Buttimer.

A fun mornings sailing was had by all. Congratulations to Peter and Paul and the fleet’s thanks to Julie Lawley for galloping up and down the lake and keeping tabs on which boat should start in which position!

Mervyn

13/10/2019

Bit of a writeup from the penultimate MH round of the series.

15/09/2019

The Club hosted the RG65 National Championships this weekend and the 26 competitors hopefully enjoyed the event, despite some very challenging winds. Organiser John Smith and Race Officer Chris Durant are to be congratulated. Well done chaps. Sue Brown (Catsails) took some lovely photos and they can be seen on the following link https://flic.kr/s/aHsmGXLCPX . Thanks Sue.

Explore this photo album by Sue Brown, Catsails on Flickr!

01/09/2019

Vane 36’s Saturday 31st August

The forecast of a strong, gusty wind didn’t materialise, although the warm SW breeze saw most boats in second rig. There were still some gusts, serving to tease out whether boat settings were robust enough to allow boats to drive through them. Four boats came to the line, and the wind deflections upwind of the clubhouse made for some complex calculations when setting up the vanes, both upwind and down. On one run, Peter and Paul actually demonstrated that it is possible to sail along the knuckle, following closely the headland, without banking!

A pattern swiftly developed, with Jacque and Eric’s Diversion and Peter and Paul’s Sybora taking every board until they raced each other in the last heats. So strong had each boat been that the overall win hung on the result of the last beat. Jacque and Eric’s N.B.C. drew the leeward berth, but managed to drive through and beat Peter and Paul by a small margin, winning the day and at the same time achieving that rarity in vane racing, a clean sweep.

Graham and Ray, sailing a Road Runner, had a less successful day for them, having listened to the weather forecast and opted for too small a rig. Mervyn, with the generous help of everyone else there, sailing his Diversion, fared just a little better with the venerable Hhot.

Our thanks to Jacque and Ray for doing the cards and scoring, and for setting up poles and mats. The next vane racing will be Sunday 22nd September, the A class Met & Southern Championship. It would be good to have a good turnout, so if you could all put that date in your diaries and spread the word!

Mervyn