Thorpe Bay Yacht Club is excited to play host to the 2009 Laser Pico Nationals. This will be an event for all levels of ability and provided you can sail a triangle course you are most welcome to attend.

Please download and fill in the following documents if you would like to race:

Pico Nationals 2009 NOR (Adobe Reader .pdf file)

Pico Nationals 2009 SIs (Adobe Reader .pdf file)

Pico Entry form Nationals 2009 (Adobe Reader .pdf file)

Pico Nationals 2009 Parents Declaration (Microsoft Word .doc file)

If you have any questions regarding the weekend please contact Shaun Christian or Simon Bown
Shaun: email: [email protected] Simon: email: [email protected]
phone: 07881 501 675 phone: 07949 646468

Thorpe Bay Yacht Club is excited to play host to the 2009 Laser Pico Nationals. This will be an event for all levels of ability and provided you can sail a triangle course you are most welcome to attend. Do not worry if you have not done much racing in the past, the briefing on Saturday morning will cover all the detail you need to know.

Pico’s can be sailed either single or doubled handed and parents are welcome to sail in the event. Please see attchments for the Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions, Entry Form and Parent Declaration.

Win a New Pico – If you sail in all 6 races over the two-day event your Pico will be entered into a special prize raffle to part-exchange with a new Pico. It does not matter if you are at the front, middle or back of the fleet, all will have an equal chance to win the new Pico. The draw will take place during the prize giving on Sunday afternoon. The winners must be present to collect the Pico.

We have lots of other great prizes and trophies also lined up to recognise the best in Pico racing. If you sail a Pico this is a weekend you will not want to miss.

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 your front screen in order to get free car parking.

Accommodation

TBYC is just a mile along the coast 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

Camping is also available at TBYC and if required please contact us. The clubhouse, toilet & shower facilities and club restaurant will open from the Friday to Sunday, with a BBQ after sailing on Saturday. All this making your stay comfortable and affordable.

Southend-on- Sea has lots of attractions making this a great weekend for the whole family. So even if hurricane winds blow out sailing there is plenty to do, including a walk down the worlds longest pleasure pier or perhaps try a visit to;

Adventure Island (http://www.adventureisland.co.uk/)

The Sea Life Centre (http://www.sealifeadventure.co.uk/)

Ten Pin Bowling at the Kursaal (www.thekursaal.co.uk)

Odeon Cinema Complex (http://www.odeon.co.uk/)

Plus all the other usual seaside attractions

We look forward to seeing you at the Nationals for a great weekend of family fun and sailing.

If you have any questions regarding the weekend please contact Shaun Christian or Simon Bown

Shaun: email: [email protected]   

This Tuesday (19th May) is the first of the Evening Points series, what a great way to relax after a day at work. Come down and enjoy the light evenings on the water. Please note ALL the midweek races start at 19:00 and are mass starts.

Chris

Some photos from the weekends racing are available here : http://www.nutsy.co.uk/bekabean/v/Mike/

There are some notably good shots of a moth, skiff, and 49’er on saturdays race, and some of the sandhoppers on sunday. Credit to the photographers, Neil Hurrell on Saturday and Rebecca Gruncell on Sunday.

Congratulations to Martin and Nick Binnendijk for winning the Yantlet race yesterday out of 50 entrants.

15 Sandhoppers were in the top 20 places and with 17 sandhoppers starting they were the largest class on the water, top marks to Peter and John in Talitrus along with John and Janet in sandpiper who showed the rest of the fleet their skills with tide flow across the thames.

As for chris and toby in Nemises (DBL) along with Apollo and Sand star… boys need to take note of tide times and race course instructions!!!

A fantastic race was had by all in glorious conditions.

Useful Powerpoint (.ppt file)  from the RYA here: Racing Rules of Sailing 2009 –  2012 What’s new?

The Racing Marks are now in Google Earth, additionally, here’s the lats and longs of them

N 51 31 14.9 E 00 46 16.9 1
N 51 30 59.4 E 00 46 03.6 2
N 51 30 42.7 E 00 45 46.4 3
N 51 30 46.1 E 00 45 19.1 4
N 51 30 55.2 E 00 44 49.1 5
N 51 31 14.0 E 00 44 54.3 6
N 51 31 33.9 E 00 45 06 7
N 51 31 29.8 E 00 45 27.4 8
N 51 31 19.9 E 00 46 04.2 9
N 51 31 04.6 E 00 45 41.7 10
N 51 31 10.5 E 00 45 17.5 11
N 51 30 54.8 E 00 44 18.9 x
N 51 31 13.2 E 00 44 26.4 y
N 51 31 28.3 E 00 44 33.5 z

Please note that now the slipway has gone, the RIBs have to be launched and recovered by hand. As we discovered today, this takes 12 people! If you are racing during the next few weeks please be prepared to lend a hand with this operation.

Many Thanks,

Chris

Do you sail a Laser Pico? Getting too big for it? Wonder where to go next?

A laser with a 4.7 rig could be ideal. The 4.7 is the smallest of the 3 rigs designed for use on a one design Laser. The sail is smaller than a Pico Race main but the boat is much faster – particularly off wind when it really flies.

We have several younger members sailing the Laser 4.7 already and it looks like 2009 will be the year when we really take off.

When you outgrow the 4.7 you can stay with a Laser by moving up to the Radial rig.

The Laser Centre are loaning us 6 boats for use at Thorpe Bay over the end of May bank holiday weekend – 23/24/25th. Please email me at [email protected] to add yourself or your child to my list of those interested.

Parents.  A secondhand Laser need not be expensive and if you are selling a Pico the difference could be a lot less than you think. Laser have sold over 190,000 Lasers since the early 1970’s so choice and availability is excellent. Provided that you buy sensibly you won’t lose money when it’s time to sell either.

Email me at [email protected] or call me on 07768 571768 for buying advice.

Robin

I have sailed a Hornet at Thorpe Bay for the last 7 years. I am looking for a new regular crew for week-end club racing, Saturdays and/or Sundays. If you would like to join me for a bit of trapeze and spinnaker work in this fast monohull racing boat please contact me on 07946 413923 or email grahamdare@ blueyonder.co.uk.

Alternatively – if there are no offers to crew with me I may be looking to crew for someone on a regular basis – any boat and any offers considered.

Graham Dare