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Having booked our B&B for Pevensey next weekend, we're now not coming ... boat not fit to sail.  So, we have a double room booked for one night now available in a beachside location very close to the club.  We've already paid £60 for it - offers are welcome.  Call me on 020 8783 9243 or 07717 581632, or email [mail=anne@annemurch.co.uk]anne@annemurch.co.uk[/mail].
Mike D
N3533

A date for your diaries - the Winter 2013 Open Meeting at Ranelagh will take place on Sunday 27th January with a provisional 1200 start.  The annual Thames Area lunch will follow.  

More info and invitation to book nearer the time.

Mike Day 
N3533

Pretty riverting stuff at Weymouth.  Ainslie goes in to the medal race on Sunday 2pts behind the Danish sailor.  Assuming he beats him by one place and with points counting double, it's a tie ... but how do they break it in the Olympics? Numbers of firsts or result in medal race?
 
Mike D
N3533

Just a quick plug for the Ranelagh Open this Sunday, 1st July.  The start is 1130 prompt.  As usual it will be one long race on the Tideway for the prstigious Silver National Trophy.  I'll be there with Rock Lobster trying to remember how to sail.  I'm sure that Ranelagh would appreciate knowing who else is coming.
 
See you there.
 
Mike D
N3533

A date for your diaries - the Ranelagh Winter Open Meeting will take place on Sunday 22nd January 2012, with a 1200 start.  As in past years, the sailing will be followed at c.1430 by the annual Thames Area lunch and prizegiving for 2011.  Everyone is welcome, regardless of whether you have sailed in the Thames Area this year or not.  More details (ticket prices etc) nearer the time but do let us know whenever you can if you'd like to reserve places. 

Who will be crowned Thames Area Champions for 2011?  Graham and Zoe have already qualified and are leading, followed by Dave and Charlie Peacock from the upper reaches of the Thames (Malvern!).  However, a number of boats need only one more meeting to add their names to the qualifiers' list with John and Mandy holding three firsts and promising to make a post-lunch appearance at the final meeting at Twickenham this coming Sunday.  The tension mounts ...

Mike D
N3533

Time to give a shout out for this Sunday's open at Ranelagh.  As usual, just one long race - with a 1500 start time advertised on the club's programme.  I know already of three or four boats coming but everyone is welcome - to sail for one of the Twelves' oldest trophies.

Mike D
N3533

Anne is away that weekend so I'm crewless.  If there's anyone out there less than 9 stone who fancies a day in the front of Rock Lobster, I'd love to hear from them! 

Ian, Simon ... is there anyone in the Spinnaker cadet fleet who might be available?  Thanks

Mike D
N3533

With all 2010 open meetings now completed, it's time to congratulate John & Mandy Thornton who have won this year by one point from  Jon Ibbotson & various crews.  51 boats took part in at least one event.

Prize giving at Ranelagh on 5th December, as previously advertised. 

Mike D
N3533

This is just to give you all advanced warning that the prestigious Ranelagh Winter Open Meeting, followed by the annual Thames Area lunch will take place before Christmas - on Sunday 5th December, because of the tides in January.  The race start time will be 1145.

Children's lunch will be served at 1230ish and the grown-ups will eat after the race and packing up at around 1415.  

The racing will be testing and competitive on this famous part of the Tideway, and the race will count as the first open meeting in the Thames Area 2011 series.  Anne and Melissa will be doing their usual great stuff in the kitchen.  Fun will be had and everyone is welcome for the race, the lunch or both, from anywhere in the country.

Please make a note in your diary and post here or email so we have an idea of the numbers.  We'll ask for lunch payments in advance nearer the time.

Mike D
N3533

Please note for anyone who was planning to go ... an email from Mike Storey:  'Sorry to say that the info I was given about the IBRSC event on 26^th was wrong â€" it’s not an open event this year and the format has changed too. I’ve only just found this out today. I don’t think we can have the 12s turning up as was the original idea. Sorry for the late notice.'

Mike D
N3533

Ranelgh's summer open - the next meeting in the Thames Area Series - is on Sunday 11th July.  The start time is advertised as 1300 on Ranelagh's website.  The usual format is just one long race for the wonderful historic Silver National Trophy.  Ranelagh always provides a challenging and entertaining sail on the Tideway above Putney Bridge with warm hospitality from the club. 
[face=Comic Sans MS]Anne and I are taking Rock Lobster - hope to see as many boats there as possible.[/face]
[face=Comic Sans MS]Mike D[/face]
[face=Comic Sans MS]N3533[/face]

At:http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6797&PN=1

Mike D
N3533

Just noticed - big congratulations to Jon and Char for wiping the floor and beating 138 other boats to win this prestigious race. More here ... http://www.hisc.co.uk/nupdate.asp
Mike D
N3533

The next meeting in the Thames Area is at Desborough, this coming Saturday.  I haven't heard from the club but the normal format is 3 races, first start at 1100.  Anne and I are planning to be there with N3533.  Desborough offers traditional river sailing in a lovely setting and an active home fleet.
 
Mike Day
N3533

The Warming Pan is nearly upon us, with races across both days for Twelves as one of the selected classes.  Details are here: http://www.hambleriversc.org.uk/wp_2010.asp.
 
It has come too soon for those with new boats on order.  Anyone going? (and if so, please could you make a note of the Twelve results for me, thanks).
 
Mike D
N353*

I'd just like to offer a public appreciation to Christian and the whole Twelve team who put together a great stand at the Dinghy Show.  Tom's new DCB looked great and there was constant public interest.  If you add to that Michael's similarly new DCB and Tim's vintage boat on the other stand, we had a terrific presence.  Maybe people who took photos could post them ...?
 
There's also plenty of positive comment on the Y&Y forum about the Twelves at the show so job done, guys - well done.
 
Mike D
N353*

We will be holding the Thames Area annual lunch and prizegiving, as has become the custom, at Ranelagh SC, after the Ranelagh Winter meeting.  The date is Sunday 14th February 2010.  The start time of the race will be 13.15 with a late lunch at approx 3.30.  Earlier eating arrangements will be made for children. Lunch will be £10 adults, £5 children. All are welcome, regardless of whether you're sailing that day or have competed in the Thames Area in 2009.

Please let us know as early as possible if and how many of you are coming to assist catering arrangements - either post here or email us at anne@annemurch.co.uk.

We look forward to seeing you all then.

Mike D and Annie
N352?

I think we’re on the cusp of an interesting time for Twelves, with a sense for me of déjà vu.  I started sailing Twelves in 1968.  That year, Hugh Welbourn completely cleaned up at Burton Week in Mr Jones â€" the most radical Twelve ever seen.  Here was the future … it was wide, tippy, devilishly attractive and in Hugh’s hands, faster than anything ever seen before.  At the same Burton, an impressive though much more modest performance was put in by Phil Morrison in his new China Doll.  Hard chines at the back, an odd knuckle at the front and it didn’t look nearly as quick or as nice as Mr Jones.  As things turned out, literally hundreds of Phil’s design was built in its 7 and 4 plank versions, along with its derivatives Whisper and Paper Dart.  Only 8 Mr Jones were ever constructed and none went as well as the original in Hugh’s hands   The conclusion â€" Mr Jones worked brilliantly in a limited range of conditions and won in 68 because Hugh put in masterful performance.  Remember, it’s usually more down to the guys in the boat than what they’re in, even in Twelves.

We’ve seen this pattern - of design stability overturned by the broadly simultaneous arrival of two new designs - on several occasions since then.  It wasn’t the case with Cheshire Cat and its Tiger/Tigress derivatives â€" which reigned fairly unchallenged from the mid 1970s, though Rob Peebles’ light weather flyer Pipedream did give it a run.

But the next main pair of rivals did show a similar pattern to the Mr Jones/China Doll  era.  Baggy Trousers and Crusader arrived within months of each other.  Baggies were fantastic when driven by lightweights on the sea and had some great championship wins in the hands of super talented sailors like Will Henderson and Chris Atkins, and around 50 were built.  Crusader and its variants including Design 8 was a much more all-round shape, with an equal amount of race success but many more â€" hundreds - were built.

I’d say the pattern repeated in the 90s with the Chapters versus Bim Daser’s Foolish / Numinous shapes.  Once people had seen the potential in Mike Jackson’s odd-looking design, Chapters were amazingly fast on the sea in moderate conditions in the hands of great sailors and over 50 were built.  But Bim’s shapes have been the better all round boat and the numbers have gone past 70.

My hunch is that we’re at another turning point with another pair of new designs, which couldn’t be more contrasting.  Dead Cat Bounce’s Burton Week showing was the most dramatic since Mr Jones over 40 years before and the echoes are striking.  A radical package arriving out of nowhere in the hands of one of the Class’s most talented ever sailors â€" and almost the same end result.  The boat is strikingly attractive â€" and lots of people are said to want one.  Nobody knows of course whether the speed is due to the hull shape, the rig, the T-foil, the plate trim tab or Jo and Sophie’s stellar performance â€" though I think history might give us a clue.  Alongside DCB, Gavin Willis’s weird-looking boat of the last few years has now found some devotees and has been re-packaged in Paradigm 2.  It’s the beauty of the Twelves as a Class that the thinking could have suddenly gone in two such different directions.  Will Paradigm be 2010’s China Doll to DCB’s Mr Jones?  It’ll be really interesting to see how it works out â€" though I’ve already placed my bet! 
 

Mike D
N352?

We will be holding the Thames Area annual lunch and prizegiving, as has become the custom, at Ranelagh SC, after the Ranelagh Winter meeting.  The date is Sunday 14th February 2010 (the first Sunday the tide works).  The start time of the race will be 13.15 with a late lunch at approx 3.30.  Earlier eating arrangements will be made for children.  All welcome, regardless of whether you're sailing that day or have competed in the Thames Area in 2009.


Please save the date.

Mike D
N352*

- is now commissioned and will be my 13th (hopefully not unlucky) Twelve.  Watch this space...
 
Mike D