Bloody Marvellous
The Bloody Mary was worth getting out of bed for, but I would say that, wouldn't I? When I looked out of the window that freezing Saturday morning, to find snow swirling around the house, I really wasn't too keen. But I'd cried off sick with flu the previous weekend from the Grafham Grand Prix, so it would have been an excuse too far not to drive up to Queen Mary reservoir. If I'd known that the club has its own webcam, I definitely would have knocked it on the head, as at 9am the picture on the web was of a flat calm, from what another competitor told me later.
But by the time I arrived at 11am (one of the privileges of sailing a fast boat with a late start time), it was blowing a good 14-16 knots, with beautiful sunshine taking the worst of the chill away. Lovely. One of the other things that used to be such a turn-off about the Bloody Mary a few years back was that it was always such a fight just getting your boat up to the top from the car park, plus which 600 odd sailors and spectators soon turned parts of the dinghy park and car park into a mud bath. But Charles Wand-Tetley, Hugh Brooman, and others have really turned this event into a slick operation, with walkie-talkied volunteers directing traffic with great efficiency.
The course around the reservoir was a good deal simpler than I remember it from past years, too. I can recall some Bloody Marys where only 30 or so boats have actually done the proper course, while two or three hundred other competitors all played follow-my-leader round the wrong set of buoys. The other nice thing - from the fast boats' point of view, anyway - was that the organisers have put a limit on the slowest boat at the Topper, with other junior classes like the Optimist and Cadet now competing in the Junior Bloody Mary on 8 February.
What a great idea, at least it will be if the junior event is as good as the big one. This decision now gives another 15 minutes back to the race, and means the faster boats actually have a chance of spending more time on the water racing than rigging and de-rigging, a criticism the Pompey Perisher would do well to take note of. I've not done that event in the last few years, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time I turned up it was a 45-minute race. And the sort of dedication and commitment to get up at the crack of dawn and drive down to a race of that length has long since abandoned me.
Nevertheless, there seem to be plenty of mad-keen people around who will drive to the ends of the earth to compete in these races, and I think that's one of the best things about our dinghy scene in the UK. Whilst we tend to spend the summer season heads down focused on our own class, this time of year is all about handicap racing and catching up with long-lost friends for another year.
The right handicap?
Talking of handicaps and all that, I rang up the technical department of the RYA and had an interesting chat with Kath O'Connell, one of the busy people in the division who helps administer the Portsmouth Yardstick system. The RYA relies on getting results and times back from sailing clubs around the country, to feed back into the system and check that the handicaps are working out reasonably equitably. Kath told me that about 200 clubs are good at getting their returns in, which leaves a whole lot of others who obviously don't get round to it, but 200 is probably enough to keep the system moving along smoothly.
I asked Kath how they legislated for boats that perform better in some conditions than others, the 420 being a classic case. I recall Ian Walker driving to one Bloody Mary with a choice of 420 or Mirror depending on what the forecast was and what conditions he found when he got there. The Mirror would come out on a light-wind forecast, or the 420 if it was a breezy day. And he did indeed win the Bloody Mary back in about 1989, although in which boat I can't recall. The thing is, the 420 is pretty undercanvassed so goes like a train in a blow, but like a dog in lighter airs. So the best the handicap system can hope to do is find an average number.
Actually that's not quite true, according to Kath, who told me it is up to the disgression of the race officer of any handicap or pursuit race to adjust the Portsmouth Yardstick for any boat if he deems fit to do so. So you could peg the 420 back a few notches in a breeze, for instance. But in reality, as Kath points out, it hardly ever happens because it would take a brave race officer to face the wrath of the competitors who had just driven to an event, only to find they're not going to be racing the handicap they were expecting. And what if the breeze were to change? All those things mean it really isn't that practical to muck around with the basic numbers.
The other boats that are hard to get a fair number for are the difficult-to-keep-upright classes like the International Moth or 49er for example. For every boat that's upright and sailing well, there's another with its burgee getting a good soaking. Maybe this explains why the 49er has done well lately. Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks dominated the Grafham Grand Prix by winning both races of the fast handicap and catamaran division, but then again they were runners-up in the 49er Worlds and Europeans last year, so they can hardly be accused of fluking it. Nick Murphy and I managed to win the Bloody Mary by the skin of our teeth from a Cherub sailed by Gavin Sims and Simon Goodwin. So I hope we haven't gone and ruined the 49er's handicap. As it happens, Kath O'Connell is Paul Brotherton's mum, so I was wondering if she'd managed to pull a few strings at the RYA on the 49er's behalf, but apparently it doesn't work that way. Shame about that.
Anyway, I'd like to hear what you think about the handicap system, whether you think it works and how it could work better, and if you believe there are any classes out there getting away with murder or dearly in need of a leg-up with a better Yardstick. I look forward to your emails.
29er veterans
Talking of Paul Brotherton, it was he who put in my touch with Nick Murphy, Paul having spent some time coaching him and the rest of the squad for the 29er Worlds and a few training events. I've sailed with a couple of top 29er crews lately, the other being Olivier Vidal who won the Nationals crewing for Ian Martin last year. All I can say is, if you can get one to crew for you, do it, because these 29er sailors appear to know more about sailing by the end of their teens than most of us get to learn in a lifetime. Judging by the way these two just slotted in to 49er sailing - not the easiest task in dinghy sailing - they have had some impressive training through the youth system. I thought I knew most things about asymmetrics, having sailed them more or less non-stop for the last 10 years, but I learned a new trick off Nick, which we used to good effect during the nasty, gusty, shifty stuff at the Bloody Mary.
Here's how it works. You're just making the gybe mark with the kite up, when a gust hits and you're way below the layline but you still want to keep the kite up, ready for the next reaching or running leg. Just oversheet the gennaker, strap it in, and the boat slows down, you lose pretty much all your apparent wind, and you can head up towards the mark, albeit slowly but surprisingly safely. It can be a lot quicker and safer than flogging the kite, or sending the crew in to drop it, only to have to rehoist it once you reach the gybe mark. Try it out sometime and see if it works for you.
Guinnless wonder
Well, with 49 years of Earl's Court Boat Show having come to a glorious end, the big question on all dinghy sailors' lips is what will become of the legendary Guinness stand? Will it be in place when we come back next year to ExCeL, that gargantuan new complex in the middle of Docklands wasteland? The Guinness stand was one of the better things about Earl's Court, but from a dinghy sailor's perspective the show really had become a bit of non-event in the past decade. With valuable square footage of display space going to the highest bidder, there was no way the little people could compete with the Sunseekers and Swans of the marine world.
The general concensus from the marine trade seems to be that the move to ExCeL will be a bad one. It is in the back of beyond, for starters, and you can either spend hours trying to negotiate east end traffic, or sit on the Docklands Light Railway and wave to the pedestrians below you as they walk at twice the speed of the train. It's not too bad a place once you finally get there, but one of the other things that makes it a strange choice for a boat show is that it's got very limited ceiling height. Maybe that will be a good thing for the dinghy scene, as no one with anything bigger than a 35-footer is likely to be able to stick their mast up inside ExCeL.
Anyway, back to Earl's Court, and one of the encouraging trends on display at the show was the proliferation of rotamoulded boats now available. This is an automated process that is expensive and complex to tool up for, but once you're ready to go you just press the button and pop the boats out one after the other. RS reckon it takes about 50 minutes to produce one of their new Feva dinghies with this process. Topper had their new rotamoulded Magno on display for £2,995, not bad for a dayboat that could just about accommodate a family. By no means the prettiest boat at the show, but the Magno looked fairly indestructible and fitted out with decent quality equipment considering the low price tag.
One boat that continues to confound me is the unfeasibly expensive Optimist, but who can argue with the sort of turn-outs they get at their competitions? Peter Martin sent in a gear guide of the current arms race in Oppie sailing.
Gear Used at the Optimist Nationals 2002
Hull Foils Spars Sail
Seniors
1 Hannah Mills 42.5Kg Winner 12 E&V/Nordest Optimax 3 Speed F1
2 James Murdock 48Kg Nautivela Tebbertman Black Gold Toni Tio Medium
3 Edward Powys 50Kg Naaix N1/Teb Giuletti Olimpic Bl. Light
4 Robert Clarridge 38Kg Naaix N1 Black Gold Olimpic Bl. Light
5 Richard de Boltz 52Kg RS M1 E & V Black Gold Toni Tio Radial ?
Juniors
1 Claire Lasko 41Kg Winner 12 Piranha Black Gold Toni Tio Medium
2 David de Boltz 43Kg RS M1 E & V Black Gold Olimpic Bl. Light
3 Ben Saxton 32Kg Winner 12 E & V Optimax 3 Olimpic Red
4 Patrick Metcalfe 38Kg Winner 12 E & V Optimax 3 Speed F1
5 Tim Saxton 36Kg Winner 12 E & V Optimax 3 Olimpic Red
