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September 2003

The Newsletter of Spinnaker Club, Ringwood

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Oppie Girls

On the 12th July Team GBR sailor Kirsty Bonar came to Spinnaker to teach a number of us girls more about sailing. We all enjoyed the training and learnt a lot about racing. We asked Kirsty if she would do another session later in the year, hopefully this will be on 18 October. Thank you Spinnaker for the prizes.

Rachel Bunt

T-shirts and hoodies from CoucheBébé. Ed.

Attention Spinnaker Girls

Sat 18 October 2003: Spinnaker 'Girls Only' Oppy Training, Part 2

Kirsty Bonar, Team GBR European and World Championships 2003 and Optimist National Squad Coach will be back at Spinnaker on 18 October for another training session. Spaces will again be limited to 10 so you will need to pre-register for this training. My contact details are below. The cost will be £15 per helm.

Nick Bunt, IOCA (UK) Optimist Flotilla Leader, SSC
Email: nickbunt@rookwood.freeserve.co.uk, tel: 01425 650525, mob: 07711 939757

Oppie Week 2003 Race Report

Dragon Boat Races

Bad weather forced an end to sailing for a short while so to occupy 16 intermediate Oppy sailors a Dragon Boat race was proposed. Until this point the groups had been mixed so the boys decided it would be a good idea to challenge the girls. To further tip the balance in their favour a Le Mans type start was asked for.

The basic plan was to start at the top of the Laser launching concrete slip, run down to de-rigged Oppies sitting in the water. Three each side to paddle, one in front with a longer paddle and one responsible for steering. A short pre-race strategy talk was allowed. The girls had an animated yet polite discussion and agreed job responsibilities. The boys argument presaged what was to come. At the start two buzzing clouds of kids descended on the Oppies.

In the Girls’ boat:
Crew embark into pre-arranged positions and cast off immediately. A rhythmic stroke is established, one, two three, one two three, speed rises, course set and off they go into an immediate lead. Paddles in perfect synchronisation.

Meanwhile in the Boys’ boat:
The on shore shouting match had achieved nothing so their boat had eight skippers and no crew. Thanks to gravity, stored energy from the headlong dash down to the slip, lots of falling over and a natural tendency for the larger boys to end up where they wanted, they got afloat and moving. "No, ow, ouch, who, you, me, go ,no, what side, who did, Harry! look out, shift, that’s mine, stop it!”, this soon to be established chorus to what looked like a boiling cauldron of little boys. Arms, legs, paddles, the occasional head would pop out of the scrum. It looked as though a passing swarm of Hornets had attacked, based on the frantic thrashing going on.

Meanwhile in the Girls’ boat:
One, two three, one two three, poetry in motion, steady progress towards the turning mark, animated excited chatter, some polite hints as to minor mid course corrections to the helm.

Meanwhile in the Boys’ boat:
Somehow someone notices, THE GIRLS ARE GETTING AHEAD! the shouting becomes screaming, some attempt the lowering of tone of the voice to impart the seriousness, the flailing becomes ever more desperate, the chorus continues as another Hornet attack comes in, arrrgh, ouch, no, stop it, etc., etc.

Meanwhile in the Girls’ boat:
Approaching the turning mark, wide in, tighten the turn at buoy, one, two three, one, two three, the rhythm established. Just a slight increase in stroke rate on the port side to aid the manoeuvre, perfect.

Meanwhile in the Boys’ boat:
The sight of the girls on the way back triggers a release of competitive spirit with enough energy to power a nuclear reactor for a fortnight. The thrashing reaches a crescendo, another Hornet attack, another chorus, this is not just paddling anymore, this superheated plasma of boys is now literally whisking the lake into soft peaks. If this were a meringue competition they’d win hands down.

You just had to be there. The girls won of course, even the rematch.

Anyone thinking of helping at Oppy Week don’t hesitate, it’s the best fun you’ll have all year.

John Clarke

Optimist Nationals 2003

This year’s Championships were held during the 2nd week in August at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy. There were about 300 boats altogether, split into 3 fleets: Senior, Junior and Regatta.

Spinnaker Club had 2 boats there, myself, Joshua Irons (4884), and Theo Clay (3588). I (unfortunately) was a week too old to sail in the Junior fleet, so was in the Senior fleet, and Theo sailed in the Regatta fleet.

Most of the week was very hot, very sunny, and without much wind. Some days we spent a lot of time swimming off of the support RIBs (thanks Richard) and nibbling on our packed lunches while waiting for the wind to arrive. One day someone got stung by a jellyfish. We also saw the Coastguard helicopter in action quite a bit during the week.

As far as the sailing goes, my best result was a 16th, (which I was really pleased with) and my worst a 102nd (which was rather disappointing), and the others spread around in between, mostly 40s and 50s, and I ended up in 74th place, having retired from the last race on Friday when it was actually quite windy and I was worn out. We’d sailed 12 races by then.

Theo had a good week’s sailing too, and ended up 48th. We were both quite exhausted by the end of the week, although I have to say maybe sleeping round my friend Ben’s tent for most nights and yapping all night might have had some effect. We also got out and about a bit during the week, visiting Portland and Chesil Beach and some evening events at the Club.

Next year’s event is in Largs, near Glasgow. I’ve got my accommodation booked already, it would be great to have some other Spinnaker boats coming too!

Oppy Week 2003

This year’s Oppy Week was very successful in terms of numbers attending and achievements of participants. We had 61 children attend with 26 adult instructors and helpers. The weather was good to us and we only had the Tuesday afternoon with rain, so a good deal of sailing was achieved with many children attaining their Optimist certificates.

The Regatta was held on the Wednesday afternoon in light winds, however some close racing took place with some of the intermediates showing the racers a thing or two.

Thursday was Fun Day, much enjoyed by all who took part including the instructors with the now annual event of the Oppy Challenge which all the teams rose to with greater or lesser success depending on how well they could tie knots.

This year we were able to present a trophy for the best achiever of the year. Mrs Plumley in memory of John who died last year donated it to the Club. We were to look for a youngster who had not only improved in their sailing but also contributed to training sessions, helped others and had a positive attitude to sailing.

The award will be presented annually and this year went to Nesta Wigan, congratulations to Nesta.

Thanks to ALL instructors and helpers because without you this event could not take place; see you all next year.

Alan Copestake