New Forrest Travellers Trophy - National Series No.4, Western Series No.2

Success for Team Tideway and Arsenal

Leslie and I with Flag trophy's

New Forrest Sailability hosted the 4^th in the TT National Series on F.A. Cup Saturday 30^th May. Spinaker lake, has two islands – one of which was incorporated into a figure-of-8 course with 2 beats and 2 runs/reaches. This is a very beautiful place to sail and the club has a good racing tradition. By the afternoon the wind had veered and the course was changed, for races 3 & 4, to a long windward/leeward sausage with a choice of 2 leeward marks. The wind was light and very shifty during the morning and it built up to a gusty force 3 to 4 in the afternoon. Leslie Philip and I were supported by Hugh Landsdown and Kate Tierney again, along with my PA, Des who also takes all of the photos.

Chasing after Dave Durston on the Reach - 303 fleet waiting to start in background.

Close run with DD and Keith Harris

With my Mk 2 sip 'n puff system now in place plus uprated jib strut and boom, I was eager to test them out on the opposition. There were 5 Liberty's competing. After making 2 average starts in the morning, I managed to keep in touch with the leaders and after some close racing, eventually pulled away to win the first 2 races of the day. After lunch the strengthening wind made for some exciting sailing; it was still shifting about so the long upwind legs were very interesting; places were lost and made up very quickly. At the leeward marks, again because of the shifty wind you had to decide, on each lap, which one to round to get the most favourable tack back up. After a good tussle, I won race 3 and came 2^nd in race 4.

Finally overtaking Dave Durston

On the Beat with Paul Philips

On the other Beat with Keith Harris

Off around the Island

This was my first win of the series. Thanks to the improved technical back up now on hand at Tideway, I feel better prepared than ever before going into a race. One sailor thought it was hilarious that I was winning with, by far, the oldest boat in the fleet. I think the key phrase here is marginal gains - and there are many more that can be had.

303's caught in a lull

Leslie gained an overall 3^rd place on the day in the 303 Single Class – securing another double podium for Team Tideway. More details on Leslie's races to follow.

Leslie Close Hauled on Port Tack - from Yachts & Yachting

Leslie on Starboard Tack

Pulling ahead on a reach.

Weaden TT – National Series No 2. & Southern Series No. 1

Gusty Conditions

The Wealden TT - 18th May - was postponed as the gusty conditions were considered to be too extreme. The following is copied from the International Hansa Class Race Management Guide.

Maximum Wind Speed.

Class	Average wind speed with difficult wave conditions	Average wind speed with small waves	Maximum gusts
Hansa 2.3	16 kts	20 kts	24 kts
Hansa 303	18 kts	22 kts	28 kts
Liberty	24 kts	26 kts	30 kts
SKUD 18	20 kts	25 kts	30 kts

1 knot = 1.15mph.

Note: The above are guidelines only. Decisions about when to commence, continue or abandon racing are the responsibility of the race officials and should take into consideration local conditions, the ability of sailors, fatigue levels and the capability of safety coverage.

Notts County TT – National Series No 3. & Northern Series No. 1

Notts County TT – National Series No 3. & Northern Series No. 1

Leslie keeps Team Tideway on Course

303's in forground, Liberty's in background

Team Tideway – Leslie and myself, supported by Hugh and Kate rolled up to the 3^rd meeting in the TT series, which was held only 2 days after the postponed Wealden meeting, on 23^rd May at Notts County Sailing Club. A very friendly club set in lush countyside in the Trent valley. We unloaded the boats and set up camp the day before in the club grounds. The gusty wind was still forcast and was perhaps the reason only 12 boats turned up to race. In the event though, the wind was good all day and the sun shone - making for ideal racing conditions. There was a trapezoid course, again, which made for 2, exciting, reaching legs in the gusty wind.

Fast reach in the gusty wind

I started the first race well and maintained a decent lead to the end while keeping watch on the chasing boats in my new mirrors. I had to drop out of race 2 when the, prototype, sip and puff control stopped working. We switched back to the old system for the 2 races after lunch. Race 3 didn't go so well; the competition was fierce and I struggled to keep up with the leaders. I have become used to the s 'n p control and the intuative control it gives me; the old system requires me to be constantly flipping switches in to control the sails independently. Race 4 was worse still; the main sheet got fouled in the winch and I lost control of the main sail. I came 4^th overall out of 5 Liberty's racing.

Struggling to catch up

Leslie had only one competitor in the 303 single handed class but it was Kate Hedley, who is turning out to be Leslie's biggest rival so far in the series. They had a close battle for all 4 races, finishing on equal points. However, Kate clinched first place by winning the final race and taking line honours. Leslie is putting in consistently good races; I need to be doing the same.

Big thanks to Hugh and Kate for their crucial support.

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Burghfield Travellers Trophy – Hansa Class National Series No.1 & Western Series No.1

Good start for Team Tideway with 2 Podiums.

Burghfield Sailing Club, near Reading, was the venue for the first of this season's Travellers Trophy series on Tuesday 28^th April. Leslie Philip and I represented Tideway in the 303 Single and Liberty classes. Conditions were ideal with a good fresh breeze and sunshine all day. 27 boats turned up to race: 7 x 303 single, 2 x 303 double, 4 x 2.3 and 9 Liberty's. This was a good turn out, especially for the Liberty class; this fleet has grown since I last took part in 2011.

We were supported on the day by Kate Tierney and Hugh from the club along Des, with my P.A.. A friend of mine, Steve, towed the boats to The venue on the day before, giving us time to unload and prepare the boats without pressure.

There was a a bottleneck at the pontoon with only a single hoist in operation; more sailors had turned up than expected. This gave me time to get set up in my boat – (we are on a learning curve without Dave Shill) – I still managed to be the last away to the start.

Two 30 minute races were held, back to back, around a trapezoid course before lunch and two after. Each class started separately, with the Liberty's going first. I had a poor start to race one but got lucky with the wind shifts on the windward legs and managed 2^nd place. A good start to race 2 put me in the lead. I just managed to hold on until the end of the race whilst having a good tussle with Dave Durston, the Liberty Champion.

I couldn't resist the cooked lunch on offer in the club house but that was no excuse for the terrible start I made to race 3. I pulled back a couple of places to finish 6^th. I made up for it with a good start to race 4 but despite leading for most of the race, I allowed DD to get an inside overlap on the last downwind leg and finished in 2^nd place giving me 2^nd overall. Next time I'll have my wing mirrors and be able to better defend my position.

Deaf Tideway sailor Leslie in one person class

Our Deaf sailor Leslie Philip has been racing the two person

303 Access class on the circuit for over two years. This will 

be his first season sailing the 303 one person class. At the 

briefing, as previously planned with Leslie, the means of 

communicating a protest if hearing sailors felt he had 

breached the rules was discussed, and readily agreed.

All Access racing, whatever the class, requires a 

single 360 degree penalty turn.

Racing rules for small boats require a hail of ‘protest’,

 which a profoundly Deaf sailor won’t hear.A protest

 hand signal with the index finger pointing 

downwards swinging in a circle was shown to the

 hearing sailors (it doesn’t matter in which direction 

the finger circles). It was also explained that Leslie 

would not be intending a breach of the rules, so 

hopefully the signal would not be needed.

It is not intended to impose this hand sign as a 

definitive protest signal for Deaf sailors in all classes 

of sailing boats. The Access classes all have sailors 

sitting facing forwards, suiting this way of 

communicating. The sign is also pretty intuitive for a

 hearing person to indicate a boat needs to turn in a 

circle.

It was also asked that a visual signal be given by the

committee boat when Leslie crossed the finishing line in

 addition to the sound signal given to hearing sailors. The

 committee boat crew at the briefing signalled the thumbs up

 sign.

At the end of racing

Leslie scored 2nd then 3rd in the morning, then 3rd and 2nd 

in the afternoon.The photo shows him coming in after the 

last race signing that he got a second place.

At the prize giving

Leslie scored third place overall. Frensham sailor, Peter 

Etherton, who got first place in the two person class, asked 

us to tell Leslie that he had sailed supremely well, splitting 

the two Frensham sailors, who won first and second places. 

Leslie is heavier than them, one disadvantage to overcome. 

He enjoyed his days racing, and wants to work on tactics to 

prevent boats getting past him.

Deaf people wanting to try sailing, or sailing already, are 

welcome to Tideway to build your sailing community. Leslie 

will be at Tideway on Thursdays.

Hello Sailor




June 2010 - Bruce Wake Access Class World Championships - Rutland Water

 

When I'm not marooned in bed dreaming about it , I'm out sailing a small single seater boat called an Access Liberty. It does exactly what it says on the tin: this little boat enables me, a quadripleagic to be a sailor; to access the free energy of the wind to get out on the water and experience a whole new world.

I live in North  London so it's even more incredible that I'm able go sailing regularly. If you're familiar with the popular BBC soap, "Eastenders", then you'll know the ariel shot of London with the Thames snaking it's way around the Dome at Greenwich peninsular. You also get a clear view of the few remaining docks attached to the river - well, the one on the left of the picture, the only dock on the south side is Greenland Dock -  home to Surrey Docks Water Sports Centre and Tideway Sailability .

This is my club, where I learned to sail and whose dedicated volunteers make it all possible. I'm now in my 4th year and with the support of Tideway and the UK Access Class Association , I became the World Champion in the Access Liberty (servo) Class. I get odd looks from people when I tell them I'm a now a World Champion; in anticipation of this reaction, I have "liar" written all over my face. For this reason, perhaps, my local paper (Islington Gazette) wasn't interested in my acheivment; the national media was absent from our World Championships, held at Rutland Water in June - no doubt overshadowed by that other championship that was going on at the time in South Africa.

In 2012, I'm planning on defending my title at the next Access Class World Championships which is being held in Sydney Harbour Yacht Club. While the whole worlds' attention is on the Olympic / Paralympic Games in East London, a stone's throw from Tideway, I'm hoping to be down under sailing and having a good look around afterwards  - so I'm going to blog away about my sailing experiences past, present and future. Welcome aboard.