Frensham Pond Sailing Club

Sadly the Pond is well and truly frozen and so there will be no sailing this weekend. The kitchen will also be closed.

The scheduled First Aid course, however, will go ahead as planned.

The following further nomination for General Committee was received by me before 8.00pm on Friday 20th January 2012:

Position:  Honorary Treasurer
Nominee:  Aaron Todd
Proposed by  -  Judith Young
Seconded by – Jeff Dolton

Jeff Dolton, Honorary General Secretary

Frensham Sailing Club's Nick Craig has been elected UK Pantaenius Yachtsman of the Year. Nick was nominated as the most outstanding amateur racing sailor for many years.

In winning this award he beat two other top names. Ben Ainslie, Olympic gold medallist and Dee Caffari the record breaking long distance sailor.

THE CITATION.

NICK CRAIG. Nick not only won the highly competitive OK Dinghy World championship in 2011, but in doing so also became the only person ever to hold the World, UK and national inland water championship titles. He won the RS400 championship. To conclude an outstanding year. Craig went on to secure an overall win in the Endeavour Championship for the fifth time. The Endeavour Championship is an annual invitation only event held at Burnham on Crouch to determine the overall champion of championships from the UKs most popular dinghy racing classes. Winning the Endeavour Trophy is and always has been recognised as an ultimate dinghy racing achievement.

So to win five times, representing different racing classes throughout the years, puts Nick amongst the most versatile and talented dinghy sailors in the world.

Preparations are being made at Frensham to honour Nick at a special celebration in the near future. Frensham Pond is a notoriously tricky lake to sail and race on and this has played a huge part in honing the skills of rising ninety former World European and National champions as well as Olympic competitors. Frensham Pond is very much "the nursery of champions".

The following further nomination for General Committee was received by me before 8.00pm on Friday 20^th January 2012:

Nigel Bayly

· Proposed by  -  Graham Howlett
· Seconded by - Tony Hyland

Jeff Dolton, Honorary General Secretary

Our 59th Annual General Meeting, to be held on Friday 27th January 2011, will include the customary election of Officers of the Club and Members of the General Committee.

Nominations for Officers of the Club and Members of General Committee are welcomed. They must be proposed and seconded in writing by two members of the Club entitled to vote, and must be received by the Honorary General Secretary at the address below by 8.00pm on Friday 20th January 2011.

Little Ponds, 6 Witherslack Close
Headley Down
Hampshire GU35 8HN

Jeff Dolton
Honorary General Secretary

Sailability will be holding its 8^th Annual New Year Supper Dance in Crondall Village Hall on Saturday 21st January. Click here for further details. Tickets costs £16 each, including a fish & chip supper. All Club members are very welcome.

Why not kick off this Olympic/Paralympic year by making up a table yourselves (6 - 10 people) or, alternatively, join the general Sailing Club/Sailability tables.

The event is always a sell-out, so make your reservations asap, by e-mail initially to Brian Grimwood (brianmag@btinternet.com). Applications will dealt with on a strictly first come, first served basis. Super company, super F&Cs, super music and dancing,

All proceeds from the evening to support Frensham Pond Sailability.

The annual Helm of the year race was held on Sunday 27th November at 1215.

The event is open to the top three qualifiers from each class from a combined winter and summer series and this year 17 boats took part. The wind was a very shifty west north westerly, slowly veering to the northwest and blowing about a force 3 with gusts to force 5.

The start line was Green south to 5 giving a very fast start downwind, Tim Hemsley in a Phantom started on his own at the race hut end with the lasers of Clive Eplett, Ian Gregory and Nick Hudson all battling at the first mark.

Tim led around 5 followed by the Lasers and the very fast GP14 of Brian Taylor, with the rest of the fleet close behind. By the midway point it looked as though it was going to be a battle between Tim, Clive and Brian for the title although the Cadet of Megan Fergusson and Amy Crick were lurking at the back of the fleet on the water with the leaders unaware of how they were doing on Handicap.

At the finish Tim crossed first followed 4 minutes later by Clive and the other lasers with Brian crossing 8 minutes later. Megan and Amy may have finished last on the water but after video evidence about a confused shortening they were eventually given a time that reflected their performance.

After applying the Handicaps, the results were:-

1^st Tim Hemsley- Phantom ( wins the Hook Helmsman of the year Trophy )

2^nd Clive Eplett - Laser

3^rd Megan Fergusson - Cadet ( wins the Peter Martin Trophy and Amy the Half pint

4^th Brian Taylor - GP14 Trophy )

5^th Nick Hudson - Laser

6^th John Townsley -Solo

7^th Ian Gregory - Laser ( Wins the Hambledon RoDC Trophy )

8^th Bruce Hill - 2.4mR

9^th Tim Deacon - Solo

10^th Roger Carter - Enterprise

11^th David Youll - GP14

12^th Phil Whitney - Lark

13^th Paul Hollzherr - 2.4mR

14^th Simon Millar - GP14

15^th Jeff Dolton - Solo

16^th Lionel East - 2.4mR

17^th Colin Gilbert - Enterprise

This Friday, 2nd December, we are holding another social evening in the Clubhouse.

Clive Eplett will be introducing his new book 'Club Sailor – from back to front' – the first book of its kind to target club racers and not beginners or Olympic hopefuls.  We will also be showing the DVD of this summer’s 10 Hour Race and you will be able to order your copy on the night.  If you are a new member you can be assured of a warm welcome and what better way to get to meet your fellow sailors, club and committee members?

The clubhouse and bar will be open from 7:30pm.

We look forward to seeing you!

Sunday 30th October

The summer season has now pretty much finished, with only the last Saturday handicap race to go this weekend, which means that it’s time for the traditional end of summer season Club Class Championships. For those of you who have never done this event before, it is a one-day, three race event for the honour of being crowned your class champion. The racing is slightly different from normal, in that a committee boat is used to start and finish the races rather that the standard club lines although the courses will be similar to normal.

Depending how many boats of each class turn out, there will probably be three starts at 5-minute intervals, something like this

• Start 1 Laser and General Handicap
• Start 2 GP14 and Enterprise
• Start 3 Solo and 2.4 mR

If any Cadets wish to sail this event then we may add a fourth start.

The forecast is looking really quite good for Sunday with about 10-12 knots of westerly breeze, so it should be a good sail, why not come and give it a try.

Frensham sailing club's annual fun event took place in every weather: from sunny skies and warm breeze to rain and flat calm. Added to this the extra hazard of weed clumps bringing boats to a slow stop added to the fun.

Teams from every class of boat sailed from nine in the morning until seven in the evening. Crews changed in relays every fifty minutes. Shoreside attractions included a kids bouncy castle, a treasure hunt and a late evening Barbecue all to this year's theme: Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirate hats and flags were everywhere both ashore and afloat.

Behind the fun was a serious cause. All funds raised on the day will go to Toe in the Water a charity that introduces wounded servicemen to the sport of sailing. Toe in the Water is wholly dependant on public contributions.

Racing in the morning started in sunshine and a fair westerly breeze. In spite of weed clumps and the crowded lake some good close quarter racing developed with some slick crew changes and few comic ones. But by mid afternoon the clouds had gathered and heavy showers killed the breeze. Competition was as keen as ever although lap times slowed in the fading wind. For the second year running a Phantom class dinghy took the winning prize helmed by Nick and David Royce. Second prize to a single handed Solo helmed by Jeff Woolen, Tim Deacon and Jeff Dolton. Third prize to the entire Videlo family aged 6 to 50, sailing a Graduate, lead by former world champion Keith Videlo. While the full size boats raced, the radio control model yacht section ran their own ten hour event. An extra attraction was a chance to helm an RS100 dinghy loaned to the club for the day. A chance to helm this boat was offered for £10 a go to twelve club members all contributions for the charity.

As the racing wound down to the finish so the celebrations ashore took off with one hundred and sixty crews and supporters enjoying the spiced chicken barbecue and great entertainment from the local "Pantastic steel band". An enjoyable day with a serious purpose.

Special thanks go to generous local sponsors John Goodridge in association with Sebago and long standing friends of Frensham: Guildford Marine.

Other sponsors were Musto, and Crewsaver Marine. All these companies produced fine prizes for the winners and the evening raffle.

Results: 1st team: Phantom class - Nick Royse and David Royse.

2^nd team: Solo class - Jeff Dolton, Geoff Woolen, Tim Deacon.

3rd team: Graduate - The Videlo family - Keith, Charlotte, Stephanie and Rebecca with Neil Hardie, Karen Fergusson, Megan Fergusson.

1^st youth team: (under 18) Megan Fergusson, Jessica D'Arcy, Emily Spiers, Issie Spiers, Olivia Bates, Alex Philpott, Jack Hardie, Rory Burdock, Jim Brooker.

Grand Masters sailing 2.4 class: Tony Goodall, Brian Grimwood, Richard Smallwood.

1^st Sailability Access team: Lindsay Burns, Adrian Porter, Margaret Foreman, Tessa Watkiss, Mark Greenwood, Alex Mitchell, Peter and Peta Etherton, Shaun Lehane, Kevin Gubbins, Michael and Julie Jordan.

This year's 10 hour race will take place on Saturday 9th July. The charity for this year is Toe in the Water, a charity which helps injured servicemen and women re-adjust to life through the inspiration of competitive sailing. Full details including booking and sponsorship forms can be found here.

Frensham Pond Sailing Club will be holding an Open Day on Saturday 4th June from 10.00am until 4.00pm. Everyone is invited to come along and find out more about sailing.

Come and watch the Members Plastic Bottle Boat race at 12.30

Refreshments available.