MEMBERS MAGAZINEAUTUMN - WINTER 2016

It has been another busy and successful season both on and off the water.

Our flagship junior and youth events – Junior Fortnight and Schools Week, and this year the Mirror Nationals too – have together with all the other events and training been very successful and once again it is wonderful seeing the junior and youth classes thriving.

Dinghy and keelboat racers have enjoyed an active season too with over 4,000 starts at the time of writing (end August). The cruisers too have been busy with a number of well-attended cruises and the success of Douglas Pattison and his team coming first in class in the ARC.

Particular successes this year include the selection to Team GB for Rio Olympics 2016 of Ben Saxton (Nacra 17) and Sophie Ainsworth (49erFX), John Tremlett and his team on XOD Lass in winning the Captain’s Cup at Cowes Week yet again, Izzy Davies and Gemma Keers winning the International 420 Youth Nationals in Pwllhelli and finishing top British boat and 9th overall in the Ladies 420 World Championships in Italy, Andy Shaw

and team on Flying Boat winning their class and coming 9th overall in IRC in the Round the Island Race, Ian Walker, Chris Fox and Richard Bullock winning the Nonsuch Bay RS Elite Challenge in Antigua and Bertie Fisher and Felix Kent winning the Mirror Nationals against an entry of 56 boats. These successes are a great inspiration to us all.

Our weddings, private member parties and external events have been very strong again this year and we were delighted to hold our first civil wedding ceremonies at the club now that we have been successful in obtaining a licence. Our club continues to be very popular for these events and the feedback I see on them is extremely positive. The primary rationale for them is to help make the costs of membership lower for us all, which helps to attract and retain members, as well as being a great showcase for potential new members and an excellent facility for existing members.

Other developments this year include the successful relocation (to improve dinghy landing manoeuvring space) of our small floating pontoon after many months of negotiations and consent processes, a much-increased training offering, development of an SUP/Kayak rack and plans to make a permanent rack are in process. We have successfully launched four of our rooms on AirBnB and are expanding the rooms available as well as exploring some other changes to help increase bookings via this channel. Most of our rooms have now been given a facelift and utilisation is increasing steadily.

Our winter programme is being developed with a big club Christmas dinner and party scheduled for Saturday 10th December 2016 and next season we will again have a Start of Season day followed by a party on Easter Saturday 15th April 2017. Please keep an eye on the website and QuickNews for updates on all of these activities.

I wish you all the best for the remainder of the sailing season.

Charles Hyatt

Welcome from the Commodore

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CONTENTS

Foreword - Charles Hyatt

A successful year for RS800s

The fun never stops for the RS200s

Ian Walker on the Rio Olympics

Sunbeam highlights of 2016

Sailing, socials and success for the Mirror fleet

In conversation with Dave Wade

Toppers go from strength to strength

The Cruisers: Offering something for everyone

Swallow musings

A record 64th National Schools Week

Another fantastic season for the XOD class

Sarah and Neil’s wedding by the sea

Edited by David Priscott

Photographs by marypudney.com

Produced by Brightword Communications

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The RS800s have had a very busy season. It kicked off with the RS800 Association holding a two-day training event at ISC. Two National champions, Tim Saxton and Roger Phillips, instructed 32 sailors and 16 boats from both ISC and other clubs. It proved to be a really successful event and will be repeated in 2017.

The RS800s have been enjoying bi-weekly Saturday racing all season with up to 9 RS800s lining up on the start line. This makes ISC the most active 800 fleet in the country, with many other Harbour Club 800s starting to join in our races.

We went on to enjoy a fantastic HISC open event on the 28th and 29th May, sailing out of the harbour and battling the waves which gave three ISC boats great experience and practice ahead of the Nationals. We then had one ISC boat head off to Garda for a five day event there enjoying the Italian hospitality as much as the fantastic Lake Garda sailing.

The 25th - 28th August was the four-day National event which was held at HISC. Five ISC boats attended out of a total of 42 making us the most active visiting club and we won best lady helm with Christina Bassadone sailing with Tasha Gladman. Tim Saxton scored a super 4th overall.

We have had good use of our spare boat all season, which is available for any ISC member to use to get a taste for the class.

We now look ahead to a great autumn and winter series sailing on Saturdays in the harbour.

A successful year for RS800s Tasha Gladman

The RS200 fleet has undergone a small transition this year. The “old guard” is starting to move on to other challenges (mainly 14s) and we’re welcoming a few different groups into the fleet.

First, there’s the new crop of youth and junior sailors moving on from Mirrors and 420s and looking for a new boat to sail during their school and university years. You only have to look at some of the Youth results over the last few years to know that ISC has no shortage of talented young sailors coming through.

Next, there are some new members. We’ve attracted several new teams to the club this year, both experienced sailors from other clubs attracted by the quality of racing, and relatively inexperienced crews looking to learn. Some have been out racing and others have been practising in preparation for more racing next year.

But that doesn’t mean that the rest of us aren’t still around. There are the usual parent/child teams, sibling teams and boyfriend/girlfriend teams and racing is as tight as ever. We’ve had many different trophy winners over the year and there’s rarely a windward mark where the boats aren’t all within seconds of each other.

The Winter Warmer weekends, run by Roger Yeoman on the first weekend of the month during the winter, were a huge success again. We had 15 boats out on the last one in March, with no less than four past RS200 national champions out on the water. Congratulations to Tim Saxton and Holly Scott for their victory in the overall series.

Itchenor also put on yet another wonderful Open Meeting in April, which doubled as the RS200 Spring Championships. Itchenor managed 2nd and 3rd in a very strong fleet of thirty boats. Feedback was very positive as always and the RS Association is keen to put Itchenor in the calendar again next year.

The success around the circuit has continued too. As usual there was a host of familiar ISC faces at the National Championships in Mounts Bay. Nine Itchenor teams were among the 97 boats that made the trip down to Cornwall, with George Yeoman and Sophie Ormsby following up last year’s 2nd with another fantastic 5th place. 

Next up are the Wigmore Trophy and the Firecracker, as well as the ever-popular random pairs team racing. We also have a new event this year, the Sensei Trophy, which is open to teams with a total age of over 60. The fun never stops!

The fun never stops for the RS200sRob Struckett

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I caught up with our own double Olympic medalist, Ian Walker, on his return from Brazil. He kindly fielded a few of my questions:

We heard dire reports of the conditions at Rio prior to the Olympics - were they as bad as anticipated?

Conditions improved a lot when the sewer pipe that fed into the Olympic marina was diverted. They also had rubbish boats scouring the harbour prior to racing and a helicopter looking for debris. Many of the teams took extreme care including disinfecting clothing and equipment, no drinks bottles onboard boats, lots of hand washing, etc. There was some illness and some boats and boards picked up plastic on their foils but whether this was statistically more than normal I am unsure. All in all it was not as big a deal in the end as it was made out to be thanks to short term efforts and prevention. The long term measures for the future were never put in place. The fact so many medalists jumped in the water makes me think it must have been OK!

Compared to other Olympics that you have been involved in/with - how were the facilities?

There was plenty of space in the Olympic sailing harbour and things looked OK. Our commentary position was good but the press boats were poor and unreliable. I don’t think there was too much to complain about really and the sailing was actually pretty good on most of the courses.

Team GB came away with a couple of golds and a silver - is this adequate return for the investments made and is it in line with what you would have expected?

I fully expected GBR to win 3 medals as a minimum although I was wary of such a tricky light air venue. Given the fact it was windier than expected I think GBR should have perhaps won 4 medals but 2 Golds and top nation is probably enough to justify the funding. Team GB was again the only nation to qualify for the medal race (top 10) in all 10 classes. I expected Giles and Hannah/Saskia to win a medal but I also thought Nick Thompson and Bryony Shaw may have had a very good chance. Nick Dempsey did a fantastic job against the run of form. I think the 49er boys and girls, Nacra 17, 470 men and Laser radial were always an outside chance.

Who were the stars?

Well it was a long 10 days and there were some fantastic stories. To start with I think the star of the show was Dorian Van Rijsselberge, the Dutch mens windsurfer who retained his gold medal with a race to spare and then won the medal race by miles as he did in London. Later on it was Giles Scott’s domination of the Finn and the Kiwi 49er team of Pete Burling and Blair Tuke that stood out. They were in a different league to their competitors. Obviously Hannah and Saskia also sailed a fantastic regatta to win Gold with a race to spare, rounding the windward mark in the top 3 in 8 races in a row, but they did benefit from the Kiwi team getting 2 DSQs. For me the two highest points of the regatta were actually Santi (Santiago Lange) winning the Nacra 17 Gold medal at 54 years old and having had half his lung removed last year as a result of lung cancer and then the final lap of the final race when the local team of Martine Grael and Kahene Kunze pipped the Kiwis to win the 49er FX Gold medal. Some ending to a pretty good week!

How did our Itchenor members (Sophie Ainsworth and Ben Saxton) perform?

Ben and Nicola started with a bang leading after 6 races but fell away as the regatta went on. They will be disappointed to have performed so poorly in the last few races but at least they can say they were leading the Olympics! I didn’t see their races to know what the problem was. I was quite impressed with the way Charlotte and Sophie put a series together, especially at their first Olympics but in the end they couldn’t sustain it. They looked a little short of speed compared to the top boats and will be very disappointed with their capsizes in the medal race. I think both Ben and Sophie can hold their heads up high and use the experience to step up in the future - it is never easy at your first Olympics.

Ian Walker on the Rio Olympics David Priscott

Ocean Images/British Sailing Team

Looking forward to Japan, what do GB need to do to bring home medals from there?

I am not sure I am the right person to ask! Obviously they will need to become very familiar with the local conditions in Japan and make sure they optimise for those. It is always getting harder as other countries are all trying to copy the successful British model. Most of the Olympic medal winners are stars at a young age and we need to identify the younger stars of the future earlier rather than later. I hope Giles and Hannah carry on which should provide a strong foundation to build around. Maybe we need to bring in some more experienced, winning foreign coaching in the classes where we lack speed.

Did you get a chance to see any other of the Olympics sports?  If so what were your impressions?

I was generally working a fairly long day and not in the mood to make the one hour journey to the other Olympic venues in the evening. Rio was also a bit of a war zone! I watched the start of the cycling road race on Copacabana Beach and a couple of matches of Beach Volleyball as that was near my hotel. The Beach Volleyball appeared to be more about the music, the atmosphere and the party as much as it is the game itself - the locals were very passionate about it!

Ben and Nicola Sophie and Charlotte

Andre BittencourtBritish Sailing Team

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Points WeekPoints Week didn’t disappoint this year with great racing in a huge high water harbour and wonderfully adventurous courses set by Roger Wickens who gave us another brilliant week. A total of nineteen Sunbeams took part this year and all enjoyed sparkling sailing with lots of place changing in the tactical conditions devised by Roger.

Race 1 in light WSW winds over a strong flood tide led to Symphony taking line honours from Comedy and Query.

Race 2 saw Fay misjudging the position of Beach to be overtaken by Melody and Fleury.

Race 3 in a stronger SSW breeze of 20 knots gave exhilarating sailing conditions with Fleury 1st, Spray 2nd and Comedy 3rd.

Race 4 produced a close port tack start by Fleury crossing Melody by inches. They both duelled through the race and gybed their way to the finish with Melody just pipping Fleury to the line. 3rd was Comedy.

Points Week winners were Joe and Cathy Burnie (Fleury) with John Ford, Julian Hawe and Charlie Reed (Melody) 2nd.

Cowes Classics WeekCowes Classics Week started with the Dainty Dish - the passage race to Cowes from Itchenor. The weather forecast had Duncan O’Kelly fretting all week. After consulting Wind Guru hourly and with advice from the pros we decided to leave earlier to give us wind with tide and an easier passage in the chop and delay the wind over tide until the end of the race. After a briefing by Duncan and a very helpful weather analysis by John Ford we set off into a very lumpy sea but nobody decided to reef.

Spray turned back due to an ill crew but we all know it was to ensure that Alan could watch the F1 qualifying race. Melody also turned back due to a broken spreader bracket. By the time we got to the Forts, four boats; V26, V33, V64 and V11 were all abeam which was incredible in such a sea. Danny won by going into Osborne Bay and should have been covered by the leaders. Maisy and Harmony were 2nd and 3rd.

We were all carefully watched and videoed by the Colbornes on Maurie, to whom we are extremely grateful. They told us afterwards that they recorded gusts of 34k – a reef might have been wise.

Classics Week started with strong winds which knocked out the first day for all fleets, the regatta proper started with Danny streaking off to her first 1st with Harmony surprising herself with a 2nd to Argosy in 3rd.

The second race brought Danny another 1st with Dainty coming in 2nd and Symphony in 3rd. This race ended back at Cowes, which was a welcome response from the organisers to requests from last year.

Wednesday brought lighter winds with a more Northern bias and Danny led all the way from the start but Argosy began to show what lay ahead for the week with a strong 2nd and Query in 3rd.

The afternoon race was Argosy’s with a strong performance with Dainty in 2nd, who went chasing clouds and came in from nowhere and unseen by all except the committee boat – great surprise all round and delight on V1. Fay, sailing with two valiant ladies, came in 3rd despite spending the day on an economy drive by just using one foresail halyard and being bare headed for much of the downwind legs.

Thursday turned out to be ‘terrible Thursday’ for Danny with a 10th in the first race and everybody beating her in the last race. Query took 1st place in the morning race with Penny using her new mast to great benefit, taking her 1st of three 2nds of the week. Jabberwocky finally got things going with a 3rd.

The afternoon race showed that right was right as three boats, Fay (with new halyard at last) Penny and Jenny tacked Northwards immediately after starting to seek the wind. We all thought they were mad but sure enough, they all popped out 1st, 2nd and 3rd – such is Solent lottery excitement. This result bought a problem for Danny who was relegated to 2nd in the leader board. Roger was seen on the balcony of the Royal London with his cap seeking offerings for his retirement fund.

Friday bought a return of strong Westerly winds, which later backed Southwards. Roger had clearly been sent to bed early after a lecture from the crew mistress and came out fighting to try to ward off the Argosy blades who were 3 points to the good overall. Danny won by inches from Penny and Argosy in 3rd.

The final race saw Harmony spoil the V12/V26 party by streaking off into an unassailable lead to take 1st place over Danny in 2nd and Argosy in 3rd. Both Danny and Argosy finished the week with equal points but Danny won overall on count back with four 1st places and also won the overall Charles Stanley Classic Week Trophy – well done to Roger, Tim and Becky on free transfer from Betty. 3rd was Harmony and 4th Query.

The week showed great sailing by all the fleet in testing conditions with every boat challenging the leaders. Five different boats got a 1st place during the week and 10 different boats got a place during the week – how’s that for close racing?

Sunbeam highlights of 2016Duncan O’Kelly

We have had a very busy season in the Mirror fleet so far, starting with the very successful winter training, which saw around 20 Mirrors training over six weekends from September to May. As well as honing their racing skills we had fun evening socials at the club.

May and June have seen club racing most weekends and despite the fairly dire weather that we had this year we have had an improving turn out from the fleet.

Max Mirror Mission took place at the end of May on a warm and sunny bank holiday weekend. 25 Mirrors took part with 50 of the less experienced kids aged between 7 – 12 years and helped by some of the older ones from the club. We sailed to the beach and back with games and a picnic followed by supper at the club in the evening. Great fun was had by all and confidence gained by quite a long sail.

We had two successful Mirror training weeks in the middle of July, the first week saw quite strong winds but the sailors coped admirably. The second week saw improving weather both in wind strength and sunshine leading onto a fantastic Junior Fortnight with some close racing and a full social timetable both for the kids and the adults. There was a noticeable improvement in racing skills by those who had attended all the training that has been on offer this year.

The summer sailing has culminated with the Mirror Nationals being held at Itchenor and the new National champion being Itchenor member Bertie Fisher with his

crew Felix Kent who sailed a very good regatta to win with a 1,1,4,4 score line. 53 boats were on the start line, we had plenty of sunshine with light winds and the race team led by international race officer Peter Taylor did a great job in making sure that enough races were sailed to ensure a championship in tricky conditions. Half of the entrants were from Itchenor with a mix of adult and child boats and children only boats. A number of the final prize winners were from Itchenor and we also won the team shield. Thank you to Strutt & Parker for their sponsorship of the event.

Alongside all the racing that has gone on this year there have been a number of us who have gone sailing simply to mess around in boats and we hope to do a bit more of this next year!

Sailing, socials and success for the Mirror fleet Camilla Bullock

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You have been Mirror National Champion, Fireball National Champion twice, runner up Fireball World and European Champion, Scorpion and Wayfarer National Champion and in the top few at the Albacores. You have been making sails at Pinnell and Bax for 18 years, where you are a director and sail loft manager, and where Ian Pinnell and before him Alan Bax “looked after” you, as you say; but which we know to mean, they recognised a great talent and provided the conditions for you to thrive.So what are you campaigning for right now?

I’m racing Merlins this year, going to Penzance for the Nationals plus open meetings; I’m going to the Fireball Europeans; and the Wayfarers as well. And of course the Mirror Nationals at Itchenor.

At what age did you start sailing? Who is responsible for getting you on the water?

My mum put me in a dinghy at about age 5, and then I went racing with my dad. Together with mum I did Mirrors, then Toppers and then the various National Squads in both classes. Dad and I did well at various Fireball Nationals, Fireball Euros where we got 2nd one year, and Fireball Worlds.

As a youngster I had invaluable support and training with Jim Gaunt from Winders.

What special memories do you have of any of these many and varied events?

The one that sticks in my mind is the 2003 Fireball Worlds at Kalifi in Kenya. The sun, the sea and the African cool was something I will not forget. We had a pretty good time in 2010 in Barbados too.

Who has been your sailing inspiration or mentor?

Apart from my mum and my dad, Ian Gaunt, Alan Bax and Ian Pinnell, I learnt a tremendous amount from all the mums, dads and kids at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club, where I spent many happy days racing and just spending time.

What is your one piece of advice for anyone reading this who aspires to follow a similar path to you?

Sail with as many people as you can. Practise a lot. Get on the water as many times a week as you can.

In conversation with Dave WadeTom Trevelyan

The Topper fleet has continued to go from strength to strength in 2016 with 45 entries at Junior Fortnight for Toppers AM and 43 active racers. What happened to the two missing ones is a mystery we will try and solve over the rest of the season! Congratulations are due to the following; Emily Turner for her selection to the 2015/16 Topper SE Zone squad, Laura Partridge for her convincing Toppers AM win, and to Johnnie Law for his wins in Toppers PM and the new Youth and Junior Championship. 

Of those sailing at Junior Fortnight, more than 15 had participated in the new Junior and Youth Winter Topper training at some point over the winter and many more had trained with the Mirrors. Clearly the training is working with five of the top ten having trained with Toppers, one having trained with the Topper SE Zone squad and two with the Mirrors. A great testament to the quality of the coaching on offer at the club and time spent on the water by sailors. 

Having spent the first week of JF on the water I have witnessed some fantastically close racing throughout the fleet, some very tight personal duels and equally importantly extreme determination throughout the fleet. Skill levels seem to be on a strong upward curve and in true Topper style there has also been plenty of fun both

on and off the water. Looking to build on the fun and social side, and with the aim of trying to encourage less regular Topper sailors onto the water more often, we are planning a number of ‘less racing’ focused events in next year’s programme. Please watch your emails for news. 

The applications process for the 2016/17 winter programme is now open; all the details can be found on the club website. If anyone would like any more info about all things Topper then please let me know; my details are in the handbook. One final request; if you aren’t receiving Topper class emails then please let me know and I will add your name to the email list. 

Enjoy the rest of the season and we look forward to seeing lots of new sailors taking part in the training over the winter.

Toppers go from strength to strength Nigel Wilson 

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Swallow sailors need winding up before the season. In order to preserve our parallel reputation as the walking class we gather in mid-January to (amongst many other things over the course of a full weekend) traverse the Sussex Downs and then once again at the end of February to explore the London flatlands. We remind our members of the joys of a planing three-sail reach and of cruising past the other ISC keelboats aided by the comfort of our sculpted side-decks which make hiking (a trendy description) so pleasurable and effective. In January we also award prizes for anyone who can remember the previous year’s Cowes Week winners and a visit to the Batt emporium revealed that a jib can be made in 10 minutes (presumably the one that Echo had) – Dick only kidding! The one thing we don’t do is go to the truly awful London (motor) Boat Show. In March it starts getting serious with conversations about the virtues of copper-coat anti-fouling (dubious it would seem), ready to race forums and the delayed arrival of new sails (the Philippines always seem to get a hurricane just when their sails are due for shipment). Our unfortunate class captain has to show solidarity with his programme and be on the start line for the first race of the Winter/Spring series but (along with a few other stalwarts) was actually rewarded with clement conditions until that Easter-time Force 11 which created a new mud-berth trot on the Bosham foreshore. Incidentally why is it that our lighter, elegant but low freeboard boats generally have the exposed moorings nearer to Itchenor Fairway?

The season proper? Well the Royal YC de Belgique Plate is our first main event. Gwaihir (Mike Wigmore, Mark Struckett and Charles Hyatt) continued their winning streak that had started back in the winter and then went on to capture the Ponder (one day, three races, all to count – better behave), and then on the May Bank Holiday weekend when they added the prestigious Norman Moore trophy to their already bulging trophy cabinet – and they hadn’t even got their newest sails out of the wrapping.....continued over page

Swallow musingsMike Wigmore

If it is not racing, then at ISC is must be cruising. This year Flag Officers asked the Rear Commodore of Cruising to expand his remit to include ‘Family Sailing’. While the core activity is organising a series of events and rallies, there is an increasing awareness that our members enjoy the water in all sorts of ways.

At one extreme is the rapidly increasing use of small personal watercraft to enjoy the harbour, in the form of stand up paddleboards (SUP’s) and kayaks. The General Committee asked that provision be made at the club. We built a temporary SUP rack and have now applied for planning permission to create a fenced off area for kayaks, SUPs and tenders. We hope to have this available for 2017.

At the other extreme is international activity of our cruisers. Members’ boats are frequenting the Caribbean - Douglas Pattison, family and crew, and Barry Sampson, for example. We also have four boats including two syndicates based in Corfu. Several members regularly organise winter charters and this year we expect to have boats in the BVI’s, Antigua Race Week, and even Burma.

Though the club tends to be organised round one-design classes, members often participate on the water in other ways. While one member is racing, others may be enjoying the family RIB or launch. This year we opened up the cruising rallies to power boats and we are also looking at RIB events for 2017.

The cruising season traditionally starts with the Shakedown Rally in May. Peter and Kim Henshaw did a magnificent job in organising this long weekend, which started in Bembridge and ended up in Yarmouth. June saw a fascinating Seine Bay Rally, organised by Bas Taylor, taking in Le Havre, Honfleur, Caen, Ouistreham, and finally St. Vaast. Traditionally we haven’t had a mid-summer rally because most of our members have their own. On Maurie we made a trip to France, the Channel Islands and returned via Weymouth and Poole. Others headed to the West Country and elsewhere.

Thanks to Diana and Kees van der Klught, the September Solent Dinner Meet had nine yachts in attendance, including Ted Roose’s motor launch. And finally we are looking forward to the Pilsey Island raft up on the 27th December, organised by Alastair and Susanna Shaw on Masquerade.

Sailing clubs generally are experiencing challenges and cruising is no exception. Some of our older members are selling their boats and younger members are finding that there is just not the time to operate and maintain a cruising boat. However, membership syndicates such as Pure Latitude and Flexi-sail are expanding. Easy access to a boat without the hassle of maintenance is attractive to busy families. We are looking at whether Itchenor might be a possible base for an ISC syndicate.

Though Cruiser News, our monthly broadsheet, is now emailed to about 160 members, the fact is that most cruisers moored within 10 minutes of ISC are not members of our club. This year we leafleted 160 non-member cruisers in the harbour. We are reviewing the services we offer to see whether there is a way to make ISC more attractive to cruisers and family sailors. We have real strengths, such as deep water, a wonderful clubhouse, and guest rooms. But we also have challenges, such as remote car parking, and a ferry service that only works during ‘racing hours’. We are looking at ways to extend the ferry service by pooling resources with other operators and cross training staff. We are also looking at how synergies between racing and outside events could allow the clubhouse to remain open and thus provide a more regular service to members. Finally, the overall policy of ensuring that all activities at the club are self-funding, plus the growing contribution of external events such as weddings, is allowing membership costs to be reduced, thus ensuring better value for cruisers and family sailors as well as racers.

The Cruisers: Offering something for everyoneChris Colborne

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A record number of young sailors descended on Itchenor Sailing Club in Chichester for the 64th Schools Sailing Championships, sponsored by MPI Brokers and JDX Consulting.

On Sunday, 105 entries from 40 schools arrived at the club for the Fevas training day. The thirteen and fourteen year olds were greeted with glorious weather and a special welcome message from Ben Saxton, from where he was training in Rio.

Despite a delayed start on Monday after the first race was abandoned due to a wind shift, Hayling College’s Henry and Rupert Jameson led the fleet with Churcher’s College Louis Wright and Jamie Allen), Ditcham Park (Finley Dickinson and Tom Gorringe) and Portsmouth Grammar School’s Henry Chandler and Louis Johnson also in the leading pack. These schools dominated most of the races throughout the day with the Jameson brothers coming out on top following another win in the final race.

Tuesday’s racing began with a 10-knot breeze that built all day. After race five the top of the fleet was highly competitive with Hayling College just one point ahead of Portsmouth Grammar School. As the final race counted down Jameson and Jameson triggered too early and picked up an OCS leaving Portsmouth Grammar School needing a third or better to win the regatta. The Portsmouth Grammar team of Chandler and Johnson held their nerve and got a bullet to win the championship by two points.

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the Feva fleet was replaced by Fireflies and 420s sailed by mostly fifteen and sixteen year olds. After Wednesday’s practice day, the senior championships got under way with 39 Fireflies and six 420s from 17 different schools.

Thursday saw some superb racing with six races completed for each class. The race officer moved to a black flag after a general recall, and Julian Fung and William Jacken of Rugby School showed early pace to take the first race win for the Fireflies. They were challenged all the way by Gabriel Ing and Primrose Barker from Magdalen College School who won the second race, whilst Tonbridge’s Dom Lewis and Oscar Wright took race three.

By the afternoon the breeze had increased to 15-knots with strong gusts which caused a few capsizes, but Alex Baxter and Ben Nicoll, representing Bartholomew School, showed great speed to win two races, although RGS Guildford’s Patrick Croghan and James Dickinson capped a consistently strong day to lead overall.

In the 420s, it was Ben Childerley and Nick Burt of Sherborne Boys’ day, taking first overall following four race wins with another Sherborne boat – Harry Guy and Timo Malikou – in second.

On the final day of Itchenor Schools’ Week both the Firefly and 420 fleets managed four more races in 15-knots from the south west.

In the Firefly fleet, Bartholomew’s Baxter and Nicoll showed blistering upwind speed to win the first race, but the RGS Guildford team completed a superbly consistent series to count nothing below third place and take the Sir Richard Fairey Trophy for first overall.

In the 420s, Childerley and Burt showed a clean pair of heels, discarding two third places to count only race wins.

Charles Hyatt, commented, “ We are proud to be able to continue our support of schools sailing. The increasing numbers and the quality of the competition attest to the strength of sailing in schools across the country. I would like to thank our sponsors, MPI and JDX, for their support and the many club members who make this event possible.”

A record 64th National Schools Week

Points Week - We love it - but not enough of us can get that vital pink ticket. Thirteen boats took part but the action was up front with Gwaihir and Skua battling it out to the last. They finished on level points but Gwaihir just got the nod. A great social week too – just magic to be at the Club for the feature event (when donner und blitzen threatened) - thanks to all who made that possible. Pity the croquet and tennis tea party was lost to another deluge – but weren’t those scones scrummy!

We sailed to Bembridge for our Inter-galactic Championships. A great if challenging weekend prefaced with a tough passage race on Friday. They’re a great team over there and having hosted many of their members at ISC four weeks earlier it was a delight to meet up once again. We managed to get four races in between the driving rain and howling winds. The inner sanctum met almost continuously to make sure all would be well (and for those not going to Classics Week), that we could also get back to ISC. And guess what, Gwaihir did not win! Carolyn Brigg with David and Olly Sloper blitzed the fleet with an imperious performance that belied her meagre time in Marengo. In fact were it not for Gwaihir’s mainsail clew tearing out on Saturday’s last race it might have been a different story, and what if Franck Petitgas and his ace crew had had more time in the Quetzal than their 11th hour appearance allowed?

Along with our fellow keelboat brethren we must admit to a dilemma over Cowes Classics Week vs Cowes Week. As with the others the fleet is roughly evenly split over which to support (if not both). The pros and cons are well known and the convenience of being in Bembridge immediately prior to CCW tempted our captain for the first time this year. He liked it (possibly because Gwaihir won). An in/out referendum on a four day CCW? Obviously the result would be subject to an over-riding veto by the upper house (and then the status quo ante will continue – or maybe not).

Salvete and valete? After a long and distinguished 50 year record in the class including a stint as NSCA Chairman, Jeremy and Gilda Buckwell have now sold Boomerang to Robin Knibb (most recently sailing an X35 from the Hamble but also many guest appearances on Skua in the last decade) and David Eglinton who we welcome to the band of brothers (and sisters). Olly Shaw will have Peregrine back in the water next year and many other ownership exchanges and revivals are being talked of. Our ‘try it and see’ boat, Svala, has had another busy year and there are some excellent Swallows available to those ready to commit. New crews (the backbone of any of the ISC keelboat classes) are arriving and we await the arrival of Roger Ewart-Smith (?). Well having seen ex-Champ and bro Michael sailing a Mirror solo at the recent Mirror Nationals anything is possible.

Swift deserves a mention for cleaning up on regatta day – both the Haines Challenge Cup and the fine Shippam Trophy. The weather had much reduced attendance (why a Sunday in August too?), but the talented team of ex-14ers have been nibbling at the podium all summer long and deserved this moment. Migrant too for their win in a modest but well-formed Cowes Week fleet that nevertheless had very close racing.

The 2017 programme is all but fixed – socials as well as sailing. It will be our 70th anniversary year (design year and/or launch year!) and we shall be celebrating with our Championships in Cowes at the RLYC. CCW starts immediately after...

Swallow musings (contd)Mike Wigmore

SAVE THE DATE!Christmas Dinner and Party - Saturday December 10th, 2016

Start the Season Day - Saturday April 15th, 2017Let’s get 100 boats on the water!

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SCHOOLS WEEk 2016

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Despite a bitterly cold start to the season that seemed to linger for far too long into May and June, the Itchenor XOD Division have been out sailing in good numbers for the Saturday and Sunday series. Racing, as always, has been keenly contested with a good variety of different boats winning. X50 ‘Xcitation’ won the April Fools event and X80 ‘Lass’ won the Felix Bowl over the first of the Bank Holiday Weekends.

Wednesday Evening Racing has been slightly less well attended this season, which is disappointing for those who haven’t sailed as there has been some great sailing, food and company to be had at the club.

It has been good to welcome a variety of new and reorganized boats to the fleet this year including: X82 ‘Magic Dragon’, X100 ‘Mary Tudor’, X184 ‘Quixotic’ and X192 ‘Felix’.

Points Week saw a good fleet of 26 boats gather. Roger Wickens provided challenging courses and the ‘social team’ provided some wonderful entertainment. Two visitors from Cowes swelled the numbers (slightly); X 64 ‘Lightwood’ returning for a second year and X173 ‘Gin’ venturing east for the first time. Both these boats would end the regatta in 1st and 3rd places with the top Itchenor boat being X182 ‘Sweet X’ in 2nd place overall.

With summer finally in full swing, Cowes Classics Week attracted twelve Itchenor boats. The racing was

dominated by light North Westerly winds which provided complicated races. X50 ‘Xcitation’ and X51 ‘Athena’ both won races but despite their efforts, no Itchenor boats made it into the top ten overall.

With many of the so-called ‘top’ boats away ‘on tour’ for some of July and August, the two Summer Series’ gave the chance for different boats to head the races. X160 ‘Merlin’ was to win both of these events.

Another notable performance was X188 ‘Princess Jalina’ winning the Seaview Passage race by a huge margin.

Itchenor Division have won the Captain’s Cup at Cowes Week for the last six years and brought home the Phillipson Shield for the top Division for the last five years. This year only improved this winning streak! John Tremlett steered X80 ‘Lass’ into 1st place overall for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year, with X50 ‘Xcitation’ in 2nd place, X91 ‘Astralita’ finishing 7th and X174 ‘Foxglove’ 12th. Racing was held in an interesting variety of wind conditions and directions with the racing being exceptionally tough as you would expect from the 58 boat fleet.

As autumn draws inexorably in, the always competitive October Series will provide the final flourish to what has been another fantastic season for the XOD class at Itchenor Sailing Club.

Another fantastic season for the XOD classJohn Tremlett

In April we were lucky enough to play host to the beautiful wedding reception of Sarah and Neil. The couple met through a mutual friend and instantly bonded over their love of sailing, windsurfing and water sports. So it only seemed fitting that in April 2016 they decided to celebrate tying the knot at our beautiful sailing club.

On the morning of the wedding, the couple and their families, who had taken advantage of the accommodation we have here at the club, awoke to a beautiful sunrise across Chichester Harbour. It was the perfect way to start their day as they had always dreamed of getting married next to the sea.

Aside from the outstanding views and cosy, welcoming interiors, it was the high quality food which secured our club as Sarah and Neil’s dream wedding venue. The couple opted for a Crab, Smoked Salmon and Avocado Tian to start, delicious Seared Rump of lamb, Sweet Potato and Celeriac Dauphinoise, Seasonal Vegetables

and a Rosemary Jus for their main and light and fresh Lemon Posset with Shortbread Finger, Summer Berries and Coulis for dessert.

The couple’s love of sailing meant that our club was their ideal venue and they made sure they pulled nautical influence into their decoration wherever possible. Lots of personal touches were included such as bunting and a wedding flag which had been handmade by Sarah’s mother, and tables were named after boats that the couple had sailed in.

It was a beautiful day, Sarah and Neil loved the freedom to make the venue their own and made full use of all of the beautiful photo opportunities on offer. The perfect wedding by the sea.

To find out more about weddings or venue hire at Itchenor Sailing Club please contact us on 01243 512400.

Photo by Simon Biffen

Sarah and Neil’s wedding by the sea

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