Please select your home edition
Edition
Maritimo 2023 M600 LEADERBOARD

Time for Teams? - Chelmarsh Sailing Club builds Team Racing skills and participation

by David Partridge 14 Oct 13:03 UTC 12 October 2024

Team Racing has become established in the Chelmarsh SC calendar with a Spring and Autumn Saturday event each year. The background idea was simple: how can we encourage new sailors to participate in racing, start to learn some rules (applicable to all!) and build a social atmosphere at the club.

The club runs four RYA Sailing courses each year and both youth and adult participants are offered three month membership and invited to the weekly Saturday Improver session. Some transition readily to Wednesday evening sailing or Sunday Racing or chose our Tuesday Leisure sailing groups but others are worried about the cut and thrust of racing. Loud shouts of "Starboard!" can seem threatening!.

Team racing at the start of the year to encourage people back onto the water and a celebratory Autumn event to encourage all the new sailors to keep going and feel part of the club works well to develop club cohesion and provides a great way to integrate everyone and promote racing.

How?

We have great little training boats (Hartley 12s) which new sailors learn to sail solo with mainsail only. Introduce the jib and a hairy old racer sat up front explaining tactics and rules and you have a mean racing machine.

Promotion is key, the Improvers and Leisure sailors, regular club members and racing fleet captains get besieged with e mails, social media and prompts. The event is advertised on TGIF our weekly newsletter and incentives offered (including a legendary Guinness cake). Sailors and Helpers sign up on our booking system with a low entry cost (£3) just to cover lunch and tea and coffee. The club sponsors the boats, clubhouse heating and showers!

On the day registrants (we had 32 this week) were invited to fill in their name on post it notes (one colour for new sailors one for older or experienced) and these were jumbled and matched on the board.

Briefings are simple, an outline of a simple triangular course, prizes: the biggest being for the best team name!, and a very short overview of two key rules: port/starboard, and windward boat.

Key to the day is everyone mucking in so the pre-event notice warned all that everyone would be involved in making tea and coffee, launching safety boats and helping teams transition on and off the water.

Race management was simple (2, 1, go) with lots of timing, help and countdown and encouragement to get stragglers over the line. Short two-lap triangular courses, and a finish line close to the pontoons to get team change arounds organised. Keeping a good pace ensures everyone is engaged.

Our even sail number boats were decorated by enthusiastic juniors with streamers and bunting to form one team. Odds the other so we had teams of three matched and equal boats.

Simple results showed a total team score of less than 10 was a winning result so a second, third and fifth place was sufficient to win a race. This of course provides opportunity for the best sailors and tacticians to team race whilst providing everyone with an incentive to try hard for every place.

Race Management

So through the day we hold a series of races so each of the four teams meets all of the others. Team A sails against B, then B against C then C against D etc. Change overs resembled grand prix pit lanes by the end of the day with crews in and out in seconds!

The key is fun! Rita and the Bouys, Chelmarsh Champions, Chelmarsh Delinquents and the Barracudas battled it out through the day. At the lunch break we announced half way results (a convenient very even scoreline) scoffed soup and rolls and rushed back onto the water to try and complete the series before forecast 30 knot gusts set in!

The helpers were fantastic, manning start line safety boat and galley. We also had a great photographers (pressed into sharing the pictures from their phones on club socials) Karen Iley and Martin Carl really captured the day. Special thanks to AOD the inestimable John Streubig and Derek Bollen for coordinating safety.

It was noticeable with all the quick fire races how much better starts became and how many more calls of windward boat and starboard developed. The finish line sometimes required photo finishes!

Results:

Rita and the Bouys - 10,10,6
Delinquents - 9,11,9
Champions - 9,11,13
Barracudas - 11,11,12
Best team name (by very vocal crowd response) - the Delinquents

Smiles and laughter all round. A few capsizes, lots of team building and rules learning and a great day on the water. All topped off with wonderful cakes from Berni Garrihy and Jonathan Carter and a rules discussion and Q&A hosted by Matt Thursfield.

The winners will be engraved on the splendid Team Rudder Trophy and win their place in the bar.

Related Articles

ILCA UK Midlands Grand Prix at Chelmarsh
Light and dying south westerly a challenge for both helms and the race management team On Saturday 28th September fourteen sailors gathered at Chelmarsh Sailing Club, in Shropshire for the ILCA UK Midlands Grand Prix, including five helms from the home fleet. Posted on 10 Oct
Supernovas at Chelmarsh
Two helms test out the prototype new smaller sail With forecast winds of 20+ knots, the bemused Supernova fleet gazed upon the mirror-like and windless 110 acre Chelmarsh reservoir, located in the heart of rural Shropshire. Posted on 2 Oct
Solo Allen Midland Series Round 6 at Chelmarsh
Two races completed in very light winds After much deliberation throughout the Friday, due to low wind forecast, the team at Chelmarsh Sailing Club decided to hold the Open event. This forms part of the Allen sponsored Midland Series. Posted on 7 Sep 2023
An irreverent look at Sunday racing at Chelmarsh
Does our correspondent like blowing his own trumpet? It was a lovely January day, chilly but fresh, and the turnout was good considering how cold it was and the forecast was a bit iffy. Although cloudy in the morning, it soon cleared and the sun came out and this always makes the sailing feel better. Posted on 23 Jan 2023
Solo Midland Area Open at Chelmarsh
20 helms take part in the Allen-sponsored event It was an early start for some us, driving about 100 miles, but that didn't matter, I was excited to be back on the road after two months from our last Midlands series event in Shustoke early on July. Posted on 10 Sep 2022
British Moth Nationals at Chelmarsh
90th Anniversary event for the class The British Moth fleet returned to Chelmarsh Sailing Club for their 90th Anniversary National Championships on 27th July with a programme of seven races over 3 days. Posted on 8 Aug 2022
Supernovas at Chelmarsh
Braving the gusty conditions at the Craftinsure Traveller Series event A good turnout with 16 of 23 boats signed on elected to brave the gusty conditions for the Craftinsure Traveller Series event at Chelmarsh SC. The fleet is returning for the second year to this iconic club's lake and joining the growing club fleet. Posted on 30 Apr 2022
2020 Solo Club Racing Championships
Racing across the country in a safe socially distanced manner With the 2020 Solo National championship cancelled, like many others due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the Class Association were keen to find ways of keeping its members engaged during these restricted times. Posted on 25 Jul 2020
Chelmarsh Sailing Club Portside Pursuits
A longstanding tradition at the club Chelmarsh Sailing Club has a long tradition of hosting Portside Pursuit racing over the Christmas break. Posted on 30 Dec 2019
RS Aero UK Midland Championships
Chris Hatton in the 9s and Roscoe Martin in the 7s dominate at Chelmarsh A perfect blue sky forecast of 12mph with gusts expected in the high teens brought a fleet of 22 boats together from across the Midlands. Most of the clubs represented reported growing numbers of this high adrenaline boat on their start lines. Posted on 22 Sep 2019
Savvy Navvy 2024Maritimo 2023 S600 FOOTER