After 90 minutes, the final positions were: 1. Matt & Graziano (Buzz), 2. Harry Janes (Topper), 3. Chris Lawson & Chris Burgess (Xenon). Two more weekends are scheduled for later this year.

• April 12th – 18:15
• April 19th – 18:30
• April 26th – 18:30
• May (all dates) – 18:45

1. Membership Renewals: Members must act quickly to get their renewal to Jane Pilkington, the club membership secretary. If you have any questions, please get in touch with the section membership secretary as soon as possible, at membership@swsc.org.uk
2. Duties:We have a number of gaps within the duty list for this year and, with the season already started, we’re keen to get them filled as soon as possible. We will shortly be allocating duties automatically to members who have not completed a duty preference form. This may mean you may be allocated a duty that is not ideal for you. The quickest way to let us know what you want to do and when you are available is to complete the online duty preference form on the website. Alternatively, complete and send back the form that was enclosed in the last WindShift mailing.

Members can review the duty list at any time from this site. You’re browser will need to be able access Google Docs so one or two people my have trouble seeing the list if there workplace imposes restrictions, for example. All the vacancies are clearly marked with a “+” and if you want to volunteer to fill a gap, please contact duty@swsc.org.uk.

Read the full article for some minutes and actions noted on the evening.

Key Information

1. The racing mark flags were refurbished over the winter. Now in fluoescent yellow and orange, the flags are much easier to see and colour coded to help competitors around the course.
2. The Committee Boat has been repaired and refurbished. The mast has been put back on, flag supports re-fitted, the front window now opens to allow access to the anchor from inside the boat, new handles & cleats have been fitted, the horn control box has been refurbished.
3. As previously announced new class flags have been purchased.
4. New Handicap Numbers have been published by the RYA and the sheets in the yellow race manual updated.
5. New documents have been written and published on the website for race officers and competitors alike. They include reference guides to committee boat and race-hut equipment, instructions for timers and sailing instructions.
6. Race Officers will now receive a briefing note with their duty reminder to help prepare for their day.
7. A sample time-table for race officers is available to help plan for a successful day running races.

The new timing sequence.

1. Giving the catamarans a separate start has been both successful and popular but now needs to be put on a permanent footing with an appropriate timing sequence.
2. The timing sequence chosen has sound signals made every 3 minutes resulting in a -6, -3, 0, +3 with the catamaran fleeting starting at 0 and the handicap fleet starting at +3 minutes.
3. This sequence is popular at some of the best clubs in the country that run multiple starts and provides a flexible way of incorporating visiting ‘open meeting’ fleets during the summer.
4. A briefing for competitors will be given at 10.45 for the first 3 weeks of racing at the club on Sundays.
5. The new timing sequence will be used on Wednesday evenings as well.

Update on actions

Following a few questions raised during the evening a few actions were taken and now have been completed

1. Calculating the results: Greater clarity was needed to allow race officers to correctly calculate the results. A simple solution has been devised where the race officer will note on the results sheet the time (in seconds) that the fleet started and subtract this amount from the finishing time before calculating the corrected time. Typically these values will be 0 seconds (zero) for the catamaran fleet and 180 seconds for the handicap fleet. The method is flexible and allows general recall situations to be calculated. New forms will be produced.
2. General Recall Procedure: The announced procedure for dealing with general recalls seemed too complicated and Karl was asked to look at this again. Having reviewed the processes operating in other clubs the procedure has been simplified and now allows each fleet to know precisely when it’s re-start time is. The elapsed time in seconds of any start is fed into the results calculation (see point 1).
3. Timer Instructions: Omitted from the presentation itself, clear instructions for the use of the timer are now available.

1. On November 5th, Stewartby hosted the largest Sprint 15 Winter event ever held with 32 boats.
2. Stewartby’s home team at the Nov. 5th event was the largest in the series (12 boats). What’s more, we didn’t have a full turn-out!
3. Jon Finch bagged 3rd Place in horrendous conditions at the Carsington event on December 3rd. Robert Finch, Andy Bunyan and Karl Pountney were forced to retire.
4. Stewartby had the largest travelling team of all the clubs competing (6 boats)
5. One fifth of the boats qualifying in the series (completed 3 races) were Stewartby boats.

Hopefully there’ll be a more in-depth account of the Winter TT Series in the forthcoming Windshift, but for now, congratulations to: [Qualifiers] Simon Miles (6th), Jon Finch (8th), Robert Finch (19th), Andy Bunyan (21st), Karl Pountney (24th); [Non-qualifiers] Mark Norman, Chris Clarke, Andrew Gregory, Robin Hall, Marcus Finch, Steve Wakelam and Clive Latham. We’d like to wish Clive well as he leaves Stewartby and joins the emerging fleet at Oxford SC with our thanks.

You can read about the Grafham Winter TT on the Yachts and Yachting Website and the series report on the Sprint 15 website.