Bartley Sailing Club Blog

He sails a Laser, we wins a lot, he maintains the club grounds, he is the infamous John Ling! (But you may not recognise him when he comes back as he has been seen cultivating a sailors beard since the lockdown)

 Hi all

I was playing about today and got thrown out for an app upgrade. You may wish to upgrade before tonight.

Today we have Kerry in his Laser looking particularly happy! 

 With series 2 of VR Inshore drawing to a close and series 3 ready to start you may be wondering what you need to do to get to the front of the fleet. Here are a few tips:

• Don't infringe – it may seem a pain to tack off or go around someone but it is much quicker than a 10s penalty. Use the space bar if you are not confident with the controls
• VMG is the best help there is for fast boats (but you don't need it for the slow ones)– you know you are always sailing at the optimum speed for where you are on the course
• Go on a public race – The first race gives you all the 'helps' so you can see how much of a wind shadow other boats cast (light areas on the water vs the dark areas where wind is strong), see the wind angle (3 wind socks in the circle in the top left), VMG so you are always pointing well relative to the wind, layline so you know when to tack for the mark, and distance to start so you can be going full speed. You can then decide for yourself which are the biggest help. For each public race you do you will get either a green coin to 'buy' a race help or a blue sticker so you can pimp your boat so worth doing regardless of your position.
• The wind strength can be seen in the circle in the top left. Dark areas are strong wind, lighter is less wind. Head for the strong wind areas.
• Room at the mark doesn't apply in VR – port / starboard and windward / leeward are the only rules so watch out!
• Luff gradually or you get the penalty
• If you really want a port start and the line is congested infringe with 10s to go and start on port by the committee boat. You lose a couple of seconds but if that is the side with all the wind you soon get the advantage.
• If you don't complete a manoeuvre then you take the infringement. If you want to gybe to starboard but there is a boat to leeward head up a bit so you can complete you gybe and then take them out... 
• If you have eyesight like mine play the game on a laptop rather than your phone. The controls are a bit more clunky but at least you can see the VMG windsock!

Good luck it all and keep racing as the big races are the most fun.

Can anyone challenge Baker Boy? (and does anyone know who A of the Cloanes is?)

It is interesting how sailing fleets change over the years from Mirrors, Larks, GP14s through to the need for speed with RS400s, Moths, RS600s, and anything with a trapeze and Spinnaker. Now days  single handers continue to grow in popularity as it is harder to coordinate helm / crew commitments. As a result Bartley has grown very healthy Supernova and Laser fleets. 

So today here is a shout out to all the Supernovas with a picture of the Master of the class Mike Gibson. For those unfamiliar with the class it is similar in handicap to a Laser but with a more comfortable hiking position and more sail controls. The sail is fully battened which makes it more powerful and also more tactical downwind as 'velocity made good' (VMG) becomes more of a factor than it is in the laser. Recent hull colours have given the newer boats a very striking appearance. If you are looking to join a growing class at Bartley then the Supernova is definitely worth a look. 

 Whilst we all do what is necessary during these strange times there are those who think it is acceptable to just drop their rubbish wherever they feel like so long as it is away from their property. Thank you for those members who brought this situation to our attention. Luckily Newman University have a camera that points to the area and have identified the culprit as an individual in a people carrier - the rest is up to the police to trace them and take the required action. In the mean time the council have been informed and will hopefully remove the rubbish, unfortunately at the tax payers expense. There are some great stories of people helping each other selflessly in the current crisis, it is just unfortunate that there are also a minority who act in a completely selfish manner wasting time and resources that could be better focused elsewhere. 

In other updates - thanks to all members who continue to support the club, and remember that if you are struggling with your membership due to circumstances out of your control then please get in touch rather than just cancelling and we will try to work together to keep you sailing and the club still operating.

The club Directors continue to explore government and Sport England avenues for cost saving opportunities - a big thank you to Tony for filling in and submitting the paperwork as it is a time consuming task.

Thanks also to Dave, Dan, and Steve who have been making sure that all moving parts of the club are kept serviced and operating so we can hit the water seamlessly when restrictions are finally lifted.

Hoping you are all safe and managing in the current climate, and remember that you can sail virtually every weekday evening and twice on Saturday and Sunday.

Ruth at the helm of the Javelin 

How many people has Ann taught and helped to start their sailing journey? It must be in the hundreds. Thanks Ann!