Eastleigh and District Model Boat Club

8 skippers competed in the first round of the May-Jun series. It was a little chilly to start with, but there seemed to be a decent NNE 10kt breeze. Chris set a course of P/M, R, B, 7, R, B, 7, R/3 and 10 heats were raced. The breeze largely kept up with some stronger guests later in the morning, but lulls particularly around "R" caused a certain amount of angst among those either trying to round it or attempting to cross the finish line. Congratulations go to those who fared

11 sailors arrived at Lakeside and were greeted with a blustery 13kt mainly NE breeze. A course of 5/P, R, B, 6, 8, R, B, 6, 8, R/3 served for the whole morning and 10 heats were raced. Light winds and holes near R and B were followed nose-diving and broaching as we approached 6 and the gusts between 6 and 8 caused many skipper to round up and miss 8. Those who managed steer their way the best today were: 1st - J Bennett (15) 2nd - I White (20) 3rd - J Richardson (24) Well do

Sunshine and a blustery Nor'Easterly at the upper limit (and beyond) of A+ rig encouraged 11 sailors to participate in the 8th round of the Mar-Apr series. The course set was 5/P, Y, 4, 6, P, Y, 4, 6, M/P, longer than normal, but with the wind strength, 11 heats were raced. Practice was had for recovering from broaches, submarining, and sailing backwards while in irons and many places could be gained or lost in a gust. #37 and #43 sailed reefed after the first heat but with l

Many thanks to Roger for providing today's details. A capricious and at times overpowering southerly greeted a small and select gathering of six skippers. The early persistent drizzle thankfully stopped persisting before the first race. The start line was set between the “Yellow Cross” laid mark and the small Yellow buoy. This gave a good beat to the Pink buoy after which it was downwind back to Yellow Cross and then a reach to 1 before another beat to Pink. Then downwind

The hottest day of the year s far (23°C) and wall to wall sunshine. Unfortunately the wind was light and rather fickle, so having decided on a course NE beat start, it was changed to a beat with a SW start. This was X/Y, 3, M, P, Y, M/P. This was subsequently lengthened to 2 laps with 4 substituting for 3 and 8 heats were raced. Unfortunately, weed did slow some boats and the wind shifts particularly between 4 and P provided many opportunities for gains and losses. The consis

10 skippers attended Lakeside for the 5th round of the Mar-Apr series. Unfortunately 090 suffered a rudder servo problem and was unable to race, but Maurice stayed and did OOD duties - many thanks. With a mainly NW breeze, it is difficult to create a beat on the first leg, and although the first course ("A" M/P, Y, 2, M, P, Y, 2, 3, Y/1) had a beat between Y and 2, it was difficult to sight boats around 2, so after the first 2 heats, course "B" M/P, 3, M, P, 3, M, P, 3/X was

A chilly morning and a 16kt NW greeted 8 sailors and the debate initially was "A" or "A+". After some testing "A+" was abandoned and the fleet was split between "A" and "B" rigs. The course set was M/P, Y, 2, 4, M, P, Y, 2, 4, M, P, 3/North_Pier and 10 heats were raced. There was some variability in the wind strength and direction, particularly around 2 and 4, where places could be easily gained or lost. Some of the gusts were very strong making tacking difficult and causing

11 sailors attended Lakeside for the 3rd round of the Mar-Apr series and were treated to a warm sunny morning with a 10kt SE breeze. We also welcomed Chris Wilson back from surgery, Nick Tattersall who came without boat, but offered to be OOD and other members who came to enjoy the the sunshine and watch the racing. Ian set a course of P/M, X, 1, 4, X, 1, 4, Y/X which had its finish changed to X/B after the first 2 heats. This was used for 2 more heats, but for the final 5 th

9 sailors competed in the first round of the Mar-Apr series. The course setting and buoy throwing committee Nick, Roger and Ian, debated (with appropriate input from others) the best course and with very little wind to start with a short one lap one was set P/M, Y, 1, 3, M, 3/X. This was amended a few times and P/M, Y, 4, 5, X, Y, 4, 5, X/North Pier was settled on as the NE wind picked up. Roger and John traded first places for most of the races with Mike and Ian getting one

The early morning mist had given way to sunshine, but little wind by the time 10 sailors had assembled at Lakeside for the final round of the Jan-Feb series. The course was set as 3/O, M, P, Y, M, P, Y, 3/O and 10 heats were raced The mainly S breeze picked up and increased throughout the morning although there were lulls which meant tactics and/or luck on the beat up to M was where most places could be gained or lost. Ian (12) was on top form and was joined on the podium by

7 sailors met at Lakeside to compete in the 5th round of the Jan-Feb series. It was a cold morning, light drizzle and a fresh ESE breeze. The course for the first heat was P/M, 3, 2(S), Y(S), 3(S), 4(S), Y/1. This was amended to 3/O, Y, 4, O, Y, 4, 3, Y/1 for the next 2 and then for the remaining 9 to 3/O, Y, 5, M, Y, 5, M, 3/O. Julyan and Nick opted for A rigs whilst the rest of the fleet was on A+. The A+ sailors had to content with nosedives and broaches in the gusts, but

Andy Smith was warmly welcomed by 10 skippers for his first sail at Lakeside and was able to experience some wind which was variable both in strength and direction. The course was set as R/2, M, P, Y, M, P, Y, M/P and lulls round both M and Y coupled with some fast beating to M and running to Y, made for some interesting sailing. Those who managed to read the wind changes the best today were: 1st - I White (13) 2nd - R Brydges (14) 3rd - C Wilson (17) Well done to them and to

Many thanks to Roger for the details of this morning's racing. Nine skippers lined up in sunny weather and a generally easterly wind to content a magnificent 10 races. The start line of Red and 3 was biased towards the inshore end, but that was generally where there was less predictable breeze so a compromise was needed in the pre-start manoeuvres. Good-looking starts would often evaporate by the time the first mark (Brown) was reached. Then it was a reach to Yellow before a

8 sailors arrived at Lakeside hoping a breeze would also make an entrance. Although a little late it did build and by the last few races provided sufficient propulsion for 6 heats to be raced. Initially the course was O/Y, P, 3/R and this was extended in stages to eventually be O/Y, P, O, Y, 3/R. In race 4 46 decided to investigate the vegetation on the north bank sailing beautifully on its own and necessitating a recovery by Julyan firstly by pole and then by dinghy. At the

Thank you to Roger for the details of the sailing: Seven skippers arrived at the lake after having had to battle with severely iced up cars and rubbish traffic. The breeze was precisely as forecast i.e. very light from the east. So light in fact that tacking was often not possible so very slow gybes often had to be executed instead. A very basic course was set comprising a start/finish line from the jetty to 3, the light brown buoy as a turning mark, back to yellow and the

I am indebted to John Bennett for the details of today's sailing: This morning was the last sailing session for 2025 and we had a grand total of 3 sailors turn up at the gate in foggy and rather cold conditions but there was a breath of wind so we went on down. The ground was frosty but the lake wasn't frozen, we donned our warm clothing and sailed around for a while wondering if anyone else was turning up. A course was set for the first race and this was a single triangle f

8 sailors viewed the resident cormorant and the mist on the lake for 90 minutes hoping that some wind would arrive. Chris had brought his scratch-built mirror, which sailed rather well in the very light airs and Julyan rowed out to clean buoys 2 and 3 and reset 3 as it had been blown north. Although some boats were launched it wasn't until 11.35 that racing began with a short course of NorthPier/B, P, Y, NorthPier/B. The wind then rose sufficiently for a course of 3/Y, M, P,

8 sailors enjoyed a dry sunny morning with a decent 8kn SSW breeze, which annoyingly seemed to have holes just where you had decided to sail to. Never mind, 8 heats were raced, initially over a course of Y/2, M, P, Y, 4, M, P, Y, M/P and then after the first heat: Y/2, M, P, Y, B, M, P, Y, M/P which gave a better beat. Those who avoided the most holes were: 1st - I White (12) 2nd - C Wilson (15) 3rd - J Richardson (16) Best wishes, Bruce

The weather forecast was right - no wind, but sunny. Ian, then Julyan attempted to recover boat 28 which had sunk last week, but with no success. The rest of us watched giving helpful advice from time to time. A gentle zephyr became apparent and racing started about 10:20 with a simple 1 lap sausage SPier/4, P, Y, SP/4 and 6 heats were raced before the wind rose sufficiently for the last race to be 2 laps: SPier/4, P, Y, 3, P, Y, 3, M/P. Those who best a finding what wind the