October Opener J80s Report

This event celebrated the joint acquisition by RTYC and the Royal Yacht Squadron of 6 no. J80s to be raced in winter on Queen Mary Reservoir and in summer at Cowes.

Queen Mary Sailing Club which has use of the reservoir under a lease from Thames Water has welcomed and facilitated our use of the reservoir and their excellent clubhouse.

The low level of the reservoir after the recent lack of rainfall (!) caused last minute problems which nearly prevented the launching of the boats – a team effort recovered the situation.

On a windy Saturday 22 RTYC members were joined by 11 sailors from RYS for some warm up fleet races.  This was followed by 3 boat team racing with combinations of RTYC and RYS boats in each team.  Scores were kept for each boat and the top boat was skippered by Mike Ewart-Smith of RYS.

Sunday was sunny but even windier with gusts up to 25 knots.  23 RTYC members (5 had sailed Saturday also) enjoyed some competitive racing with a mixture of fleet and 2 boat team racing.  Top boat was skippered by Nick Gillies.

So in total 40 RTYC members tried out the J80s – the age range was 19 to 70!

Our thanks to all the people who made this event possible:

-          R/C Sailing Bernard Kinchin for securing the acquisition of the boats

-          The Race Management Team – Malcolm McKeag, Gill Smith and helpers

-          The umpires and the rib drivers

-          The Event Manager

The fleet is there to be used so come and join in the fun.

Next event is a race training weekend on 14-15 November – contact the Sailing Secretary sailsec@royalthames.com .  The Event Manager is Charlie Lowe charlielowe@gmail.com