new crew

good news, mutley has a new crew for 2010. Richard Hart has offered his services for the 2010 season.


Sunday 13th is the expected first sail. winds predicted are north east 12knts++
with light winds richard can get a feel for the tasks involved when sailing mutley in more relaxed conditions.
Hopefully all will go well and a new and succesfull partner will be born, 2010 needs to be a good season building on the 2009 season with john.
CANCELLED DUE TO STRONGER WINDS THAN EXPECTED
actual wind on the day
==================
wind was 15 to 18 on the pier reading, so slightly higher out to sea. air temp was really low as well which would not have been good at all

autumn 10

no race due to strong sw winds 37knts

31st october 2009

sailed with john russ. weather was predicted 8to 12knts wnw
launched at 1000 and headed for poole bar bouy. the swell was big when we got out of the bay so much that we aborted our attempt. we headed back into the bay and enjoyed reaching up and down. sailed for hour and half. weather was very pleasant.
today was filmed with my bullet cam v.i.o pov.1.5
weather for the last race of the season was predicted 35knts+++
so 2009 season is over for me and john, overall a better season that we did the races and sailing we wanted to do.
with the prospects of richard as my new crew for 2010 things are looking more positive.

hopefully i will get some training in before year end with richard.

AUTUMN series cont

autumn 9
did not travel no crew no race strong winds
autumn 8
did not travel no race light winds
autumn 7
did not travel expected light winds race went ahead

autumn 6 4th oct 09

a light wind day and i thought we could do well. the sea had a big swell from the saturday 30knts that was blowing, it didnt bother me beacause it was actually good fun surfing down the waves.
john was raring to go and so was i, we had a really good start and crossed the line perfectly with mark(hawk) nearer the pin end. they tacked first and we went further. we came out at the mark expecting 1st place but we did not because a dart 18 flew up to the line. the dart 18 was absolutly storming we had a job to pull away from it on the reach. we got to mark 2 ahead we got to mark 3 just ahead we got to mark 4 ahead. this was the first time ever in my sailing that i had led a whole lap at swanage. we kept it going for the whole race with the dart 18 trying to spoil the party.
we finnished the race ahead of the 18 but not enough for us to beat it. mark had spinnaker problems and did not have the speed on the downwind and reach legs.
we finnished 5th overall and the d18 was 2nd clive was 3rd richard m won.
overall i was very pleased with my sailing, john did some good crewing and offered good tactical advice. i have done less sailing but wht i have done i have enjoyed. and that all what matters !!

speed graph for 260909

autumn 5

sailed on the saturday with jo.
sailed approx 15 miles++
wind was light 3knts in the morning sailed for 1.5 hrs and again in the afternoon 2hrs wind was about 7knts in the afternoon.
sailed as far as old harry's which was good going.
decided not to sail on the sunday as light winds forcast, which did not happen.

autumn 4

duty day

autumn 3

did not travel

autumn 2 06 09 09

well after a few weeks away mutley was treated to a day out by the seaside.
spud and john john joined in and a good time was had by all.
wind was light to start with and gradually built up. hovering on the start i was too keen to get going and as i went past the committee boat my watch didnt tally with the committe's over i went and i heard the cry from patrick, "spud your over" my imediate reaction was oh well that hasnt happened many times before so i promptly swung mutley around and went around the ends
funny thing was i rounded the mark in 3rd place behind BIG THING and henry
this race a pure shakedown race to get back sailing on mutley. it all went very well and we both enjoyed the race. with no mistakes from either of us well apart from me almost forgetting mark 3
we were rounding roughly in 12.5 mins. henry caught us on the last lap so it showed we were out of pratice. We didnt finnish last as greg was having problems with his tramp.

knoll beach cup 25 07 09

with no crew i did not travel.
this is the first time i have missed this race for many years.

my sailing morale is at an all time low now, team work makes for good sailing and missing Dave crewing is what gets me down.
John has stepped in well and we race well together, i wish he had been able to do the summer series as well and maybe i wouldnt be feeling so low.
the summer series is lost for me now and i will not be competing the rest of it.
i have other projects to do at home, roll on the autumn series !!

summer 7

did not travel. strong winds forecast. i dont do them anymore !!!

summer 6

did not travel

Summer 5

crew was alan induni.
all i can say is i hate the summer series, nothings going right at all. today we launched and proptly capsized with a gust which put us over like a ten pin, had no chance what so ever. i was perched on the top hull dangling and alan was trapped in the rigging at about mast level, when he untangled himself he swamaround to the bow and then couldnt swim toward me because of the tide, then couldnt climb up either. i helped and then we preceded to check the boat that nothing was still cleated. we then had to get the bows head towind. it dint happen at all, bothe were on the bow and the bow was under waterby a foot so should have swung around. swan 3 came over to help, lets say no more about that or this page will be full of swearing. sorry clive not your fault at all, thanks for your efforts.
swan 4 came over and got the job done with in minutes. by that time me and alan didnt have the strenght to haul ourselves abourd the boat. i swam under the tramp and got on from the rear as it was lower in the water. alan did the same and got the boat under control, with that we sailed in. With arms aching like whey were it would have been stupid to have carried on.
we live to fight another day. only my 2nd capsize on mutley probably not the last either!!

summer 4

did not race. light winds predicted.
suffering from the bournmouth race.

elizabeth cup june 27th 2009

weather was predicted wsw 9 knts,weather was sunny and just right for a nice sail to bournmouth, we knew it was going to be a broad reach there and in pratice we knew it was going to be slow. we worked our angles and were ready. we decided on port tack which was scary to say the least. weducked a few boats and tacked to avoid a few others and frantic calls of starboard, all in all it went well and as far as i could see it went without incident.we rounded the short beat well down but set on our way as we decided.
the spitfires were well away in their own fleet, we decided to stay with the dart18's. dooley and miller. every time we heaeded on port we lost ground to making our way to bournmouth so we decided to gybe often, we headed toward balard and then to make the gate at old harry we then headed well out to see,after rounding the gate we heaed out to see again and went parralel to the bournmouth eye. when we gybed we were heading well left and again losing ground. we were trying to spot the mark of bournmouth by watching the groome spitfire. with a place in mind we altered track and made good speed. a few more gybes later we went around the mark in just over the hour. now for the best bit every wave we surfed in on we hit on the way back, i settled down and john was soon out on the wire. john played the downhaul well and i never lifted the main once just played the steering to suit. when the wind died we headed out on starboard for what semed along way, the condor cat told us otherwise to tack again, all tacks were down very well as i normally struggle in choppy seas.
as we were nearing old harry we forgot about the gate and headed back until we spotted it, we wernt far off anyway, the hobie 18 was tariling us all the way back after recoveri ng froma long capsize. he did well or we were struggling, memories of the poole bar bouy race again !
so now we knew we had to back for line honours over them as they had the same handicap.
they went out to sea and because of the chop we heaed close into the bay. we upped our speed and spotted the finnish. we knew they were beat and we crossed the line in 2hr 9min approx
we were glad to have done the race in what i thought were tougher conditions than in 2007
mark groome finnished in under 2hrs and said the tide and wind didnt help the speed of the race.
as i write this i am absolutly knacked and my back is killing me. roll on 2010 for the next epic race, i dont care wher i finnished, to finnish was all that mattered
mutley did me proud and its all on film i hope, wait for the link posted here.
Spud

Summer 3

crew Alan induni.
not a good week as suffering from the flu, so wasnt sure that i would be upto much anyway.
launched at 10.00am it took most of that time to fig that the tide was running strong and the wind was changing alot and then dying.
sure enough at race start it died and we were in irons as usual. 6mins later we crossed the line.
we got to mark 4 eventually and then it all went wrong. the tide was getting us, we tacked and then we hit the mark. we did a 360 and scared the living daylights out of henry. we knew he was there and it wasnt a problem. the next lap was better until mark 4 again. this time we gave it more room.
we called starboard on adrian (d15) he didnt give it saying he couldnt tack. we tacked to avoid and was sandwiched between 2 boats. alan was on the starboard side when we caught a gust, i shouted as we heeled over. aln was caught under the boom with his jacket and in he went for a swim. like a demon he swam back and i dragged him back on board, annoyed with adrian we caled it a day and sailed back in. we were going to protest but didnt. lets just say im having words with him next week as to why he couldnt tack away.
bad weekend ontop of a bad week. roll on next week.

Summer 2

crew was Alan Induni. we launched in light winds at 1020am. the wind was changing all the time and a postponement was posted. the wind filled in and alan was out on the wire on the reaches.
we lined up at the start and reached half way down the short line, we got a good start and tacked onto port to find we were well ahead once again. we tacked for the mark and were in1st place.
we led around mark 2 as well. It seemed natural to go into the middle of the course as we had good boat speed, but ti didnt work when we gybed. the 2 spitfires took the lead and were gone, next lap we went out to sea off mark 2 and seemed better, alan was doing a good job helping with tactical decisions as well. we were about to start our 5th lap when we were stopped. only 48 mins of racing ??. a bit disgruntled we headed back into the club. alan enjoyed his first race on Mutley. With a bit more racing together we should get better.
this season has started out better then i thought, getting better finish positions overall in our fleet. Also getting better starts is starting to help as well, i just need to sort my downwind technique and we could get even better results.

13th june Rees Cup 2009

am.
sailed with alan induni in the morning pratice for for summer series. wind was light and dropped off completely. It filled in again for a reasonable sail.

REES CUP
crew was John Russ .Wind was filling in nicely just before the start of the race, we seen that the pin end was better to head straight to the mark. we started and were the only on's close to the pin, we didn't hear the hotter and got a cracking start. we tacked and rode over robert baker(laser) nobody was close to us at all. we tacked and rounded the mark in 1st we looked back and the groome spitfire was snapping at our heels, with the spinaker up and the chem spitfire fast approaching the two disappeared into the distance. we did our best to stay with them and had a good sail downwind until we got to the poole bar bouy. mark and chem encountered the barfluer ferry and rather than claiming rights of the sea gave in due to the size of the opponent. we did the same and ran along side running up to the bouy. i didn't want to make the headlines of the local news.
after rounding the mark it was a beat all the way back home. john was out on the wire straight away and we did good speed back to swanage bay. we were still in 3rd on the water and the spitfire were just visible. the hobbie 18 tried overtaking us near the line but we outwitted them and got 3rd on the line. we indeed got 3rd cat from 10 but 20th out of 30ish for the whole fleet.
we had a good sail and could not complain. time 57 mins
in the evening we had a barbecue with the rain falling. tomorrow was supposed to be light winds.

Summer 1 7th june 2009

duty day team 4. typical after the day before we were greeted with good wind and flatish seas.
bill macmillan went over before the race started and we sorted him out, then one of the jnr's had tiller problems on a club laser. the race seemed to go very quikly, which was good for us.

James day cup

wind was easerly and 20-25kts
decided not to do the race as did not like the conditions at all. greg said after i wouldnt have liked the waves at all. i hate waves and that with the wind as well im glad i stayed and watched.

spring 8

Crew was john russ. We launched at 1015am. Wind wasnt much, we managed to go around the course and sort out our tactics for the race. We did learn not to tack to early coming off 4 as we got tangled with the mark going under the bridle !!. We did try to free it our self, looking as we were not going too, i called swan 4 on the radio, by that time we had cleared the mark.
mike chem said "how did could you not miss it, its big enough". we laughed and carried on.
For the race we worked out that we had to tack after only a few hundred metres up the course as the mark was off to the right side of the course!! we did this and rounded in 2nd place. The groome spitfire was in 1st and then all the 18's behind us. We followed as long as we could and even made up some ground going from 2-3. however on one leg we fell behind badly. We sorted our way thru the mono's and tried to limit our losses to Mark. we did a few different things down wind seeing if it would work.We finished glad that we had a good sail and the weather was really hot. No other incidents and rudders were ok. Mutley behaved for once or was it that the helm sailed as he should do !!
arrived at swanage the following saturday to check the results and had a surprise when i seen the results. john and i got 2nd place in the last race of the spring series and 5th overall in the series. a good start to the 2009 season.

coronation cup 30th may

In the morning sailed with david holmes on 048 hurricane, praticed going out on the wire. wind had died down from what it had been. 30 mins sailing

RACE
safety team duty team 4
wind was south easterly 9knts

24th may

no racing was reserved for 1974 cup.

commadores cup 23rd may

a nice summers day and an easterly wind.
in the morning i finally sorted the downhaul return bungy that leads back tru the main beam. however after setting it up it now needs adjusting.
greg was down at the club and said you doing the pevril today its your fav race. my heart sank and i threatened to pack the boat up. the course was set and we only had to go around the windward mark then pevril then around the triangle and then 3 sausages. thats ok providing there is some wind. we launched 45 mins early and john was out on the wire again. we waited for the race and when it started the wind dropped completly. we rounded one in 3rd and headed toward the ledge.
we never ever got there. after an hour tim page abandoned the race. we decided a few secounds before it was that we were going to anyway.
nice day froa suntan but that about all.
the rudder problem from 2 weeks ago is now sorted and seemed ok.
a month to go to the big race, cant wait but need some pratice in the mean time!!!

spring series7

SUNDAY 17TH May 2009
did not travel due to strong south westerly's on saturday and sunday
crew John Russ

spring series 6

my crew for today was john russ.
we launched very early so john could get some pratice. we praticed some trapezing and general moves so john and myself were in tune for the race. we had roughly an extra hour prior to the race.
when the race started we were on our own half way down the very long line, we had to dodge the mono's as usual.
with john out on the wire from the very start we made good progress but not as good as the groome and chem spitfire. we rounded behind adrian(d15) we then overtook on what was a fetch rather than a reach to 2 and then down wind to 3. the wind wasnt very good at all. everything seemed very slow. it was a nice sunny day with the occasional good bit of wind.
we could see we werent doing well because martin and greg were catching us.
my rudders made the steering really heavy and i suspect they were out of adjustment from 2 weeks earlier, one rudder arm was sitting lower then the other, the boat kept heading upto wind and i was constantly pulling on the tiller. so with this affecting the boat speed for sure we just had to finnish. The wind died as well on the last lap and we just made it across the line.
we made our way back to shore relieved the race was over. my arms were like popeye's
the whole race and pratice was captured on my new v.i.o. POV.1.5 all singing and dancing rugged waterproof bullet cam.
i recorded 2.5 hrs of sailing and some clips will be on youtube soon
when i got home and looked at the rudder it was out of adjustment and one of the bushes was loose so there was movement in the arm. hopefully it was adjusted correctly and will be ok for the next race.

1974 cup

no crew for the 1974 cup
did not travel

Spring 5

john russ was crew for the day. again it was lumpy but 15knts of wind.
this week we launched ok and when we went past the old pier the wind was more.
we reaced up and down and i decided after the first tack that i was not going to race. in large swells i often have problem tacking and it was happening again. we stayed out until most had launched so we could have a good entry back to the beach. john was happy we had gone out but i was glad we came back. i used my new cam to get some good footage as well.

V.I.O POV.1.5 with 110 deg wide angle lens

Dasterdly has gone

on the 24th april i sold Dasterdly to Sean of Burgfield SC

it was a big desicion to make to sell him on, but lack of use and the problems with crew on Mutley have not helped.
My plan is too raise more funds and then maybe revert to a sprint 15, where crewing will not be an issue.
I will see how it goes for this season and then decide for 2010.

Spring series 4

wind was forcast f4 dropping to f3.
when i arrived it was anything but. white horses in the bay and 20knts at times.
clive stracey was crewing today and we decided we would wait to see if the wind dropped or the white horses. at the last minute we launced in 15knts of wind.
we decided to go right from launching BIG MISTAKE.
low tide and not alot of wind where we were proved fatal as the rudders hit the low lying rocks.
i tried to redo the right rudder but to no avail. we ended up near the old pier and u guessed we went thru, how the hell we never trashed mutley i do not know. we made it and then we had to avoid the new pier. we did and got underway. we cleared the fishing boats and i had another go at re doing the rudder. we couldnt so i had to make my way back to shore, in the process i lost my watch. oh well it only cost £65 !!!!
we got back safe and had a beer to drown our sorrows.
clive was dissappointed as the wind did indeed drop and turned out nice.
i learned from this alot but it wont make up for missing a race when series pts were vital.
life goes on !!

RUDDER adjustments made and fixed ready for sp5

SPRING SERIES 3
duty day.
I asked to go on the committe boat for a change, the wind was 12knts originally and died thru out the race. the boat began bobbing around alot and luckily i was ok from seasickness. before i would have almost certainly been ill. it was a sunny day and a pleasure to be out on the sea. a fishing boat made a guest appearance on the course just as we were about to start, so we postponed and after it had dropped its pots we set the 3 races away. it was good fun watching the other s race and funny when at 56mins we sent all the fast boats around again much to mark g 's disgust. the wind did really die off and the last lap made it tricky for afew near pevrill ledge.
after 7 years of avoiding the committee boat i finally did a turn and see how it is from the scorer's view.

Spring series 2

5th april 09
a force 3 was forcast but certainly was not evident.
clive stracey was welcomed aboard to crew as dave was busy working.
we launched about 30 mins before the start to pratice our tacks as clive is really tall and would struggle to get under the boom. after a few goes in little wind we were happy. the race was delayed for a while and when it did there was no wind. we crossed the line eventually at the same time as the last boats off. we made mark one in 45 minutes!!. once around the wind did pick up nicely and we then worked our way thru the fleet. the chem and groom spitfire was out front and then all the d18's. i managed to get upto martin(d18) but knew i had lost on handicap big time. we finnished ahead of him and we were glad it was over. clive was pleased he had crewed for me and me the same that he had. no doubt we finnished last on handicap but who cares we were there at least. and thats what counts !!

opener/spring series1

today marked 7 years of sailing at swanage sailing club.
a new van LT to get me there and new catrax wheels for mutley.
weather was predicted very light but sunny, lots of boats turned up and lots of new faces.
mutley was rigged and dave and i set off on a season that we hoped would be much better than 08.
the opener was a mass start for cats and monos. the start was dleayed and when the postponemnet di come down we were well behind the line, which then led us to do a port flyer at a good speed. we got to the line ok and were one of only a few that went on port, we had clean air and made the mark no problem dodging the yachts that would have caught many out.
we came off mark 1 in 3rd place behind the chem and clark spitfire's, we followed for 2 laps and just lost touch when a change of tactic took us into the middle of the square course.
we lapped most of the field as far as tim page's laser. we were not far from the two spitfires
we thought we must have done reasonably well , however the overall result was not good. 25th didnt really reflect on how well we had sailed, no mistakes at all and everything we did we gelled well.
we were rewarded with 3rd cat which counted to the spring series. and we beat greg !!!
an encouraging series start, but for the cup it was a mono day.

2009 The Opener

well a good start to the 2009 season, the weather was windy all week and forcast windy all weekend.
I said this year i wasn't going to look at the weather and travel anyway, old habits are hard to get out off.
I looked and decided not to travel saturday, weather was 23 to 28knts and above from the northwest, better lighter winds for sunday. HOPEFULLY !!

new crew needed

well not a good start to the season. trusty dave is working hard and cannot make a lot of the season.
so i need a new crew to cover for him. the ability to trapeze is a must or be willing to try it.
contact me at KJS63@BLUEYONDER.CO.UK
season starts march 28th.