From 6pm on Saturday July 24th

Caribbean BBQ includes: Jerk Chicken, bbq ribs, regga ribs, burgers topped with pineapple and cheese, corn on the cob, roasted vegatable couscous, beef tomatoes and red onions, mixed lettuce, homemade coleslaw, hot new potatoes and fruit platters. A rum punch bar will be set up on the balcony for that real Caribbean feel. Food will be served between 6pm – 8pm

Entertainment is being provided by the Big Sand Steel Band and there will also be Pinates and limbo for all those people feeling flexible.

Prizes will be awarded to the 2 best dressed adults and children.

All this and more for only £10 for adults and £8 for children up to the age of 13.

Tickets will be available behind the bar from tonight – get yours quick to avoid missing out on the event of the summer!

This is a ticket only event and for those not wanting food there will be entertainment tickets at a price of £5 per person

Everyone is welcome to get involved, the more the merrier!!!

there will be beer/soft drinks for the winning team.

Hope to see you all there!!!

Entry includes a meal (Chilli) Saturday evening, whilst you unwind and watch the world cup and have a beer.

(water and vegetarian option available at no extra charge)

http://www.tbyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Finns-Contender-NORs.pdf

http://www.tbyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/contfinnentry-form2010.pdf

http://www.tbyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Contender-and-Finn-SIs.pdf

The line up included some of the world’s top young Finn sailors in Giles Scott the current World Junior Champion, Jonathan Lobert the French Olympic reserve, recent European Junior Champion Mark Andrews and Mark Andrews from the Skandia Team GBR squad.

Scott soon mastered the fitful breeze, beating against the tide to secure the first win after Jonathan Lobert ( FRA) had lead for most of the race before making an error at the bottom leeward gate and had to unwind himself before re-rounding correctly.

Mark Andrews recovered from a slow start to finish in the top 10 but was ‘persuaded’ by the race officer that it might be better to retire when he was spotted without a lifejacket aboard.

Club sailor Simon Hoult from Weston SC was the first of the non-Olympic sailors with a very impressive 4^th, followed by local ace Allen Burrell in 5^th. Just to prove that you can just jump in a modern Finn and be fast, Martin Binnendijk from the host club came 6^th in a borrowed boat and showed good speed upwind.

Thankfully the breeze built throughout the second race, peaking at a steady 10-12 knots. The pumping flag stayed down which caught out a few over zealous sailors downwind who were revelling in the almost surfing conditions downwind. This time Lobert made no mistake and lead Scott around the course by quite a margin. With the tide about to change it paid increasingly to hit the shore but some underestimated the tide and ended up reaching into the windward mark, giving away all they had gained. Mark Andrews, now in a borrowed lifejacket, showed his form with a solid 2^nd, ahead of Scott in 3^rd and Andrew Mills in 4^th.

True to the forecast, Saturday dawned dry but with a strong 18-20 knot southerly breeze that was only going to build with the incoming tide. The wind direction allowed the Thames estuary to show itself at its best with a course set with a 1.5 mile beat out from the shore into the famous short chop.

Starting at the committee boat, Giles Scott lead from the start with a very impressive display of downwind sailing, surfing every wave and always looking well in control. Andrew Mills also seemed to like the breezier stuff, passing Jonathan Lobert to claim second. Sadly Neil Robinson from Mengeham Rye received a nasty blow to the head whilst gybing before the start that needed 9 staples to repair. The safety team did a great job in getting him ashore quickly and off to hospital and he was thankfully passed fit enough to drive home later.

Just behind the squad sailors, John Tremlett was having a tough battle with UK Masters Champion Allen Burrell, each swapping 5^th and 6^th places in the next race. Burrell just lost out in the final race of the day when Adrian Brunton got between him and Tremlett and with Burrell dropping to 7^th in race 5 it meant Tremlett finished the day one point ahead in 5^th overall. Marc Allain De Beauvais (FRA) obviously enjoyed the stronger breeze with two 8^th positions to secure his lead in the Grand Masters category. Conditions by now were fairly wild, with the gybe mark boat enjoing the spectacle and taking bets as to who would flip it or spin it at the mark.

That evening the sailors and race committee enjoyed a fantastic championship dinner, hosted by the sponsors J.M. Finn & Co., (stockbrokers) with some hilarious and impressive dance floor action. It was a great mix of British comic genius and Gallic charm and smoothness from the French!

Sunday morning arrived with a howling 25kts wind that rapidly built through the morning, killing any chance of sailing. All seemed quite thankful after the rigours of the previous day and were already packed up before the race officer, Geoff Appleton made his decision to abandon the racing.

Every entrant went away with a prize, thanks to the generosity of class supporters North Sails, Hi-Tech shoes, DEM Foils who generously donated a rudder blade and Yachts & Yachting who supplied the trophies

Giles Scott retained his National Champion title by just one point from Jonathan Lobert from Nantes, who is another rising star to watch. Third overall and winner of the final race was the ever improving Andrew Mills, who with Giles Scott is off to China next week to help tune-up Ben Ainslie for the Olympic regatta.

A number of people took a day’s holiday on Friday to ensure things ran smoothly.  Yesterday we had the added ingredient of a particularly strong onshore breeze making launching and recovery a tricky affair for boats with fixed rudders. 

Particular heroes were Samantha Husk, Robin Foster-Taylor, Barry Duce, Paul Farrell, Keith Persin, Kevin & Lesley Iles, Theresa Ryall, Martyn Ellis and Glen Ratcliffe, all of whom at times were neck-deep assisting Finns launching or catching them before they hit the beach.  Many others helped with trolleys and hauling boats over the shingle.

I would also like to pay tribute to all those who responded to our emergency with slick efficiency.  I’m pleased to say I saw him later in the day looking much better than he was when he was brought ashore.

Thank you

Spratty

The J.M.Finn & Co. Finn National Championships is fast approaching and takes place over the 4,5, & 6th of July at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club in Essex.

The club would like to extend a warm invitation to you to enter the event that has been generously sponsored by J.M.Finn & Co. stockbrokers. The entry fee includes a free BBQ on the Friday and the Finn Championship Dinner with live music on the Saturday night. Food will be available during the day and on Thursday evening and the club has a great veranda for supporters to watch the racing from. (Handily placed within a short stagger from the bar!)

The club is looking forward to hosting the Finns and has gone to great lengths, re-furbishing the changing rooms, smoothing the beach and laying astro-turf especially to make launching easy for us all!

North Sails and Yachts & Yachting have kindly donated trophies and prizes and our new class sponsor has also provided shirts for every entrant. There will also be trophies for top Junior and each Master’s category so whatever your age group there will be plenty to race for. The Olympic squad have promised to attend so don’t miss your chance to pit your wits against Britain’s finest Finn sailors.

Car Parking

TBYC has ample free car parking and boat storage facilities in the field to the east of the main dinghy park. On arrival you will be given a TBYC car sticker that must be displayed in you car in order to get free car parking.

Accommodation

TBYC is just a couple of miles along the seafront from Southend-On-Sea so has a good selection of hotels and B&B’s. We have listed details of a few local places that are a short distance from the clubhouse.

www.roslinhotel.com

www.beachesguesthouse.co.uk

www.premierinn.com – search for their Thorpe Bay Hotel

If camping facilities are required please contact us. Depending on numbers we can accommodate camping and camper vans at the clubhouse.

If you have any questions regarding the weekend please contact John@YachtsandYachting.com or the Club Secretary Lorraine Stevens. The Club Secretary can be contacted between 10am and 2pm Tuesday to Friday.

Address

115 Thorpe Bay Gardens
Thorpe Bay
Essex
SS1 3NW
Tel: (01702) 587563

Email – secretary@tbyc.org

Entries.

Notice of Race – Finn National Championship

Sailing Instructions – Finn National Championship

Entry Form – Finn National Championship

To avoid the late entry fee, get your entry form and payment in by June 23^rd to Allen Burrell.

We are really looking forward to welcoming as many Finns as possible to the event and can guarantee you great racing and a fun social time…make sure you don’t miss it!

Best wishes from the Thorpe Bay Finn fleet,

Allen, John, Sander, Mark, Keith & Laurence.

Race 1 John Heyes 3rd Allen Burrell 57th

Race 2 Allen Burrell 1st John Heyes 46th

race 3 Allen Burrell 1st Sander 29th John Heyes 31st

Race 4 Allen 9th John 19th Sander 22nd

Overall Allen 20th Sander 24th and John 32nd