September 2014 Steering course.
On Saturday 7th September the club met up for the final steering competition or ‘fun run’.
The course was the same as the last two with just a few minor tweaks to make some of the sections a little harder although it didn't seem to prevent anyone dramatically improving their own personal bests!
Starting at 11am Clive Beard went first with his White Star instantly putting a staggering time for all to try to beat. Paul Millers almost matched the time with Miss Adventure but unfortunately hit two buoys on the final obstacle- more to come! Mick Shambrook entered his infamous ‘Bent’ fishing boat but quickly realised he needed something a little faster to catch Paul or Clive. So out came his even more infamous ‘Surfer Girl’ improving upon his time with Bent dramatically. Les Griggs entered his latest model of a fishing trawler, not yet finished but will be a stunning model to see when complete. Clive tried his Puffer around but couldn't match his time with White Star whilst Nigel Marriott had a go with Paul’s Miss Adventure and set the fastest time of Round 1! I, however, was in last position with Thornycroft 150!
At just gone 12pm, the BBQ was fired up by Maureen, Jan and Joan, the bacon sandwiches with coffee were dished out efficiently as always and probably eaten as quickly as they were made. Many thanks Ladies.
At 1pm the second round started with the same boats entering but Paul entered his Lady Wooes tug to try to make me less ‘upset’ being in last! He beat me anyway!!!
The times were very hotly contested being only seconds apart for second and third place but a clear winner for first place was evident with the stunning time of 56 seconds!
1 Paul Millers Miss Adventure 0:56
2 Nigel Marriott Miss Adventure 1:18
3 Mick Shambrook Surfer Girl 1:20
4 Clive Beard White Star 1:24
5 Les Griggs Trawler 2:29
6 Mick Shambrook Bent 2:42
7 Clive Beard Puffer 2:49
8 Paul Millers Lady Wooes 3:35
9 Nick Brown Thornycroft 150 3:59
I would like to thank everyone for this years steering/fun run courses, I hope everyone enjoyed them and liked the layout. The timings I have seen since the first course held in July certainly have proved to me how much we have improved our steering abilities.
Nick Brown.
The course was the same as the last two with just a few minor tweaks to make some of the sections a little harder although it didn't seem to prevent anyone dramatically improving their own personal bests!
Starting at 11am Clive Beard went first with his White Star instantly putting a staggering time for all to try to beat. Paul Millers almost matched the time with Miss Adventure but unfortunately hit two buoys on the final obstacle- more to come! Mick Shambrook entered his infamous ‘Bent’ fishing boat but quickly realised he needed something a little faster to catch Paul or Clive. So out came his even more infamous ‘Surfer Girl’ improving upon his time with Bent dramatically. Les Griggs entered his latest model of a fishing trawler, not yet finished but will be a stunning model to see when complete. Clive tried his Puffer around but couldn't match his time with White Star whilst Nigel Marriott had a go with Paul’s Miss Adventure and set the fastest time of Round 1! I, however, was in last position with Thornycroft 150!
At just gone 12pm, the BBQ was fired up by Maureen, Jan and Joan, the bacon sandwiches with coffee were dished out efficiently as always and probably eaten as quickly as they were made. Many thanks Ladies.
At 1pm the second round started with the same boats entering but Paul entered his Lady Wooes tug to try to make me less ‘upset’ being in last! He beat me anyway!!!
The times were very hotly contested being only seconds apart for second and third place but a clear winner for first place was evident with the stunning time of 56 seconds!
1 Paul Millers Miss Adventure 0:56
2 Nigel Marriott Miss Adventure 1:18
3 Mick Shambrook Surfer Girl 1:20
4 Clive Beard White Star 1:24
5 Les Griggs Trawler 2:29
6 Mick Shambrook Bent 2:42
7 Clive Beard Puffer 2:49
8 Paul Millers Lady Wooes 3:35
9 Nick Brown Thornycroft 150 3:59
I would like to thank everyone for this years steering/fun run courses, I hope everyone enjoyed them and liked the layout. The timings I have seen since the first course held in July certainly have proved to me how much we have improved our steering abilities.
Nick Brown.
As soon as I find my SD card with the pictures I took I'll put them here.
August 2014 Steering Course.
This is Wicksteed Park MBC’s second fun steering course for this year and as usual the weather was against us once again! I arrived early to check out the water and the buoys were in the correct positions, the course was the same as the last event to keep a standard for the year to see if you can improve upon your earlier timings- some did and some didn’t!
Due to the weather the numbers were down slightly compared the last time so I made a managerial decision to create one class to allow a greater number to compete against each other. But at 11am the first boat made its way around the buoys to complete a time in under three minutes, some may remember that I made a challenge to anyone who could put in a time under two minutes were going to receive a medal. Eight models entered the water through out the morning and once again after lunch to give two sets of timings to see if they could meet their original effort. It became a 50/50 split of those who did and those whose times were slightly worse! Admittedly my time was the worst, my latest model of HMS Orkney with robbed motor and R/C equipment gave out half way round the course and the smell of electrical burning became very apparent when she eventually sailed back in. Our illustrious chairman managed to sail his model of CMB 216 around but could only achieve a slightly better timing than me of just over four minutes. Nigel Marriott entered his Huff Puff springer tug achieving below the three minute time whilst Mick Shambrook amused us all with his model of a Surfer but put in a extremely good time once he had slowed down a bit!
Bacon sandwiches, cakes and coffee were kindly provided by Maureen, Jan and Joan once again rounding off a nice day of sailing before the medals were awarded. Les Griggs proved that he was unbeatable once again with his model of a US Coast Guard Boat smashing his own time by 8 seconds closely followed by Clive Beard with his version of a Wavemaster called Madame Edith, and only a few seconds behind was Paul Millers with his new model- a trawler called Gratitude.
I would like to thank everyone who sailed and turned up to give their support to the competitors. We will sail for the third time on September 6th with the added competition for the Keith Carey Memorial Trophy.
See you then…
1- Les Griggs Coast Guard Boat 1:41
2- Clive Beard Madame Edith 2:02
3- Paul Millers Gratitude 2:07
4- Mick Shambrook Surfer 2:12
5- Mick Shambrook Shirley Ann 2:24
6- Nigel Marriott Huff Puff 2:49
7- Steve Brown CMB 216 4:23
8- Nick Brown HMS Orkney 4:58
A few pictures of the event follow, taken by Brian Inger the firt slide show of the members who took part and the second of the boats.
Nick Brown.