What Snow ??!! Datchet is Open for Racing - Sunday 5th

It's warming up - well a little anyhow!!  The forecast for tomorrow is 8kn and 4 degrees.  The Club has informed me that they are open and Honda has been putting down as much grit as they can.  The Club also has new caterers, the lasagne last week was particularly good!

We have six races left in the Autumn (ha!) Series with, I think, Dominic and David Hume leading the Fleet.  Roger is leading the Silvers and Classics.

FC

New FF Photos on Fleet Website

To my mind, David Harding at Sailing Scenes is the top photographer for Flying Fifteen Events. David kindly gave us permission to use his work on the Fleet Website and most of the terrific photos shown there are his work. I've just added four more fantastic FF action shots from David. You can see them in the Photos page of the Fleet Website - they are the first four on display. (Click on the Fleet Website photo to the right side of the blog, then click "Photos" on the Welcome Page...)

More on definition of Silver FFs

I think that the cut-off for Silvers should correspond to a significant change in 'build' which results in a performance increase.  By allowing the fleet to increase to a numerical formula, the purpose of a performance based group is destroyed.

If they dont want to support older boats, then they could consider a handicap based on the sail number of the boat.

Roger

DM says : and we could have another performance cutoff for 3860, as it's obviously in another league!

Want to Watch the FF Worlds - very close up??

John Hanson has suggested that he could take half a dozen FFers out on his RIB to watch a Worlds Race at Hayling in 2011 at close quarters. See your favourite Stars' technique from just a wave away !!  If you're interested, have a word with John. His email address is on the "Contact Us" page of the Fleet Website. Bring your own bag!!

What are the Australians doing with Silver Category FF's?

I was just reading what the Aussies are doing with Silver FFs - they have some Fleets that are built entirely on Silvers. At FFI they have a rule which says that silvers are 2701-3200 and in the UK we are keen on 2700-3400. The Australians seem to have adopted a rolling formula - they have just gone to a definition of Silvers which is 2700-3329.

They describe the formula as "half the number of sail numbers less 2700, then add back the 2700".... Interesting !

Read about it here:-
http://www.flying15.org.au/index.php?page=test

BIFFA's Support to Clubs

I can understand that BIFFA might feel reluctant to promote an individual Club, but they should get behind a group of Clubs that have a "trial boat" capability. It would benefit the whole FF population - which is what they should be doing.

I have voted in the Datchet Man poll !!

Roger Abbey-Taylor

BIFFA does a Good Job for Club Fleet Members?

I've put a little poll at the bottom of 'Datchet Man' to find out how good a job you think BIFFA is making of supporting Club level FF members. Just click a button there to let me know what you think. If I can figure out how to get the results out of it,.... I'll let you all know what they are....

Mike Firth's Contribution is Recognised

This had snuck past me as I did not attend the AGM this year... our very own Mike Firth has been awarded the Vice Commodore's Cup for the year in recognition of his "unheralded contribution" to our Club and our Sailing. Quite right too and I am sure you'll all join me in congratulating Mike on this special achievement. Hip Hip Hooray!!!

New Caterer at the Datchet Club

Did you know we have a new caterer at the Club? New faces, new names and ... a new menu, I hope. They were trying really hard to impress last Sunday - pity the arctic conditions made lots of people stay huddled around their campfires at home. There was simply tons of food on display. Even vegetarians would be happy. I expect we shall have some gastronomic experimentation while they figure out what we like. I tried their lamb kebabs with salad on Sunday - which were terrific !

Some of This Year's New Boats

We've a great surge in fleet members this year. I've not seen Jonathan Baggott's 1803 Classic yet, but we have three pretty interesting boats in recent weeks. Steve Bell's 3827 is extremely interesting technically. It is a carbon Coryn. I would guess that it's the same mould as Dave Harrop's old boat, which here at Datchet with dominantly light breezes went like absolute Stinkie. (We had better watch out!). It was previously owned by a disabled Fifteener so has some conversions like a short tiller which Steve is removing. Also interesting in that boat is the centre mainsheet post arrangement. Take a look when you get a moment. I was very taken by the hiking handles too! And the cream hull colour!

Then we have Mervyn Wright's 3536, sister boat to my old 3537 which is with Matt Glasgow now. This boat is in outstanding condition - it's a Mk IX Smoothie and reminds me what astonishing value these boats of that period (c 1995) are now. They don't cost a lot to buy and will hardly depreciate at all. And my goodness, they are fast. They were really well built and have retained their stiffness. Mervyn's boat is particularly clean too - and could pass for a two year old. Fantastic!

The final boat to tell you about is Andy Murphy's 3965(I think). This is straight out of the box from P&B and has got all the latest thinking in it. Very smart, but a couple of things grabbed my attention. One was a very interesting harken track on each cockpit side aimed at relieving those situations when you cant crank the pole off the forestay. Really clever. Also for a chute boat, the cockpit was very clear. The other thing I noted was the move to thinner jibsheets and tiny genoa cheekblocks as a consequence. I guess thinner sheets will anyway come with the new shape jib, but I am reminded that my Dragon had even thinner genoa sheets than that - and that on a genoa the size of an FF main. "Why?", some of you will ask. Well, it speeds up the tack is the answer - because they run out much easier. VC Tinsley took a thin pair with us to the Europeans, and actually it worked just fine. Take a look at Andy's boat if you can - it's very interesting.

News from the Club

Datchet Man phoned into the Club office last week to ask about the water level, which normally rises about now, and the alleged changing room refurbishment - the two most common questions "in the Bar"....

On the former, the answer was, "we just don't know". On the second the answer was, "We simply don't know.... We expect the new Commodore will include something about it in his Christmas address."

For Catch 22 fans, this all reminds me of a scene in Joseph Heller's other great book, Good as Gold. I'm thinking of the bit at the Whitehouse Press Briefing where the President is asked a particularly tough, gritty, insightful, strategic military question by one of the journalists - and when he responds, "We just don't know", the pack of journalists clamour around him shouting, "Can we quote you on that?!! Can we quote you on that?!!"

So now you know what I know, which is actually what we don't know..... For myself, I think it would just be nice to have the hot air hand dryer working again.....

Race Report and AGM - Sunday 28th November

We arrived in minus three degrees at Datchet this morning, very light ghostly breeze, and six boats were promptly rigged!! Blimey.....
Biggest thrill was a brand new Datchet member, Andy Murphy, with his brand spanking new, out-of-the-box, Flying Fifteen. Lovely it is - 3965 I think. 3965 will form our sixth new team at Datchet this year!!
It wasn't half nippy though. Roger's furler shattered in the frost and then there were five. In the end, it was two family teams were the brave souls who cracked the ice and ventured out for a spot of match racing - Mark and Matt Firth and Dominic and David Hume. The rest headed for the Bar..... and the new caterers' coffee machine.
Actually Dom and non-Dom really did crack the ice - very, very slippery it was there this morning but boat and team survived to sail the day - with around a dozen fifteeners ashore watching. To be honest, I couldn't see that much of the racing through the steam pouring off my hot cappucino.... The results aren't posted on the website yet, but the PRO reported to Datchet Man that Team Firth had won the day.... Well through his shivering lips it was actually quite difficult to tell what he was saying, but I think that was the gist of it. He was very grateful for the opportunity to run the races this morning, as were the RIB drivers who were OK once they had de-iced their eyebrows. We were very grateful to them obviously. Mark and Matt, who between them weigh the same as two bags of sugar, found the conditions outstanding.
Team Hume and Team Firth arrived ashore in time for the quarterly prizegiving, which was the last item on the Fleet AGM - held in a very snug Boardroom with gallons of coffee and misted up windows. It was a pretty active fleet meeting and you can read or download the minutes by clicking the Fleet website picture to the right of the "Datchet Man" blogpage, and then clicking "Downloads" from the list above the photo.

New Fleet Captain at Datchet

The Datchet Fleet's AGM was today.  Among other topics the Fleet dealt with was the bi-annual changeover of Fleet Officers.  For Richard Jones it is time to step down at the end of his second "tour" of duty and the new Fleet Captain is .....Adam Mangan!!!  (A fine photo he makes too!)  His Vice Captain will be John Hanson.  A brilliant pairing, I would estimate.!!!

Good luck and best wishes to them both!