Race Reports		What kind of club are we?
Taplow Lake takes part in the 50th Anniversary of the Enterprise Sailing Dinghy Representatives of Taplow Lake Sailing Club attend the Enterprise Class Associations 50th anniversary Tideway Race from Putney to Westminster and back on Sunday the 4th June. Read the full report here. May Day May Day 2006 - Calling all Enterprise Sailors - By Kathryn Gladwyn (Enterprise 22658) The May Day signal at TLSC was not a distress signal but a call to action for all owners and sailors of Enterprises to race on May 1st 2006. This event marked the 50th anniversary of the 1st Enterprise and was dedicated to Daphne Gater, a long term member of the club who recently passed away. The day itself was somewhat unsettled with a moderate but variable westerly wind. This made for an interesting start line with 18 Enterprises all due to go off together. An extra rule was introduced to allow boats with a sail number of 20,000 or less to start a minute earlier. Before the race had begun the first Enterprise had capsized and the rescue boat was called into action. Racing with so many blue sails on the water was a great spectacle but proved challenging for the race crew. It was hard to keep track of the placings especially when the pencil was 500yds away in the rescue boat, rescuing a second capsized Enterprise. The first race was won by Tony Best with Mike Hamilton 2nd. The usual tea break was enhanced with a great choice of home made cakes to choose from including a 50th birthday cake and there was plenty of time for a chat. The 2nd race saw another battle of the Enterprises, with another capsize. It became apparent that the Enterprise owners were clearly in charge with them taking the first 5 places during the second race. This may be contested by those sailing club boats as several were required to make on-the-water repairs during the race, which they may argue affected their final positions. The prize giving ceremony followed swiftly after the end of the racing with Cyril Twining presenting the winners prizes. The results were:- - 1st prize - Tony Best & Margaret Twining (First in both races, sailing Cyril?s boat!) - 2nd prize - Mike Hamilton and Jo Jones - 3rd prize (& 1st club Ent.) - Malcolm Brown and crew - 4th prize (& 2nd club Ent.) - Ray Bridges and James Grace There were many prizes so Cyril awarded John Green a special award for, as he put it ?dunking my daughter?. My thanks for a very enjoyable and well organised afternoon go to Cyril Twining and his race crew. Also, a special thank you for those lovely cakes! Brass Monkey - Boxing Day 2005. The day I picked up a Penguin - By Philip Stone Sailing on Boxing Day ? are we mad? After all that food and excitement on Christmas Day, not to mention the late night, I had to get up early to race the next day. It was a cold damp morning and we had to be on the water by 11.00 am. I sail a Topper and they are the first to start. I led most of the race until the last 10 minutes when the more experienced sailors in the faster boats started to overtake me. At the final mark I was in fourth place with others following close behind. I thought my chance of winning was over. The boats ahead sailed into some bad wind and I saw my chance. I sailed away from them closer to the line but as I approached the finishing line Paul Bussey in a Laser slipped past to just take first place ? he got the brass monkey trophy. I got the penguin trophy and a regular race winner ? Mike Hamilton in a Laser - got the crocodile trophy. It was a very exciting race and an unexpected second place for me. I have been sailing for 2½ years and race most weekends but this was my best result yet!!! The Easter Trophy - Three days of racing 26th, 27th and 28th March 2005 - By Arthur Saunders I joined Taplow lake sailing club as a novice last summer. The Easter Trophy was a great experience. The event saw 23 helmsmen in total with double figures taking part in each race. This Yearly event gives us beginners the experience of 6 races with mass starts, so some of us got to experience the feeling of being ahead (even if that experience was brief!) The event also saw the judicious use of Special Handicap?s which enable those newer to the sport a fighting chance of a position nearer the front of the fleet. Great experience, I really enjoyed it. Special results must go to Philip and Ian Stone, who got 1st and second places respectively in the Topper Class. The only slight disappointment came on Monday when the light Northerly dropped, vanished and then reappeared weaker than ever. However in true club spirit 11 boats took to the water exploiting every last puff. This rounded the holiday event off with yet another competitive enjoyable race. The overall results were:- - First - Dave Killey attaning a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places - Second - Tony Best attaning a 1st,2nd,4th and 5th places - Third - Kathryn Gladwyn Special thanks must also go to Mark Taylor, Brian Jones and Ray Bridges as Race Officers, along with all those who regularly give their time to run the club. Geoff Foster Club Championship - October 2nd 2003 - By Cyril Twining A Race Officers View:- The Geoff Foster true to tradition was held in conditions to test the fitness of the eighteen sailors and their crews, also the rescue boat crew had to keep on their toes, especially during the first race. Three boats retired in the first race, two in the second, and none in the third as the wind had moderated so much by then it must have felt monotonous after all the excitement of the first races. Everybody got wet, not necessarily by capsizing as several heavy showers passed through during the day. A large fleet of nine Lasers turned out needless to say swollen by the heavyweights who always love to come out in a blow. Eight of those taking part where competing for the Geoff Foster Challenge Trophy which resulted in a win for Colin Yeandle ably crewed by Kathryn Gladwin, but at race two it looked as if Paul Bussey might win it. It was not to be. The lighter wind of the last race allowed Colin and Kathryn to show the improved capabilities of their partnership by obtaining sixth place to Paul?s tenth putting them just two points in front. Of the Gold fleet, Tony Best, (Comet) Brian Jones, (Miracle) had one good result each, Mike Hamilton, (Enterprise) Robert Hamilton, (Laser) had two good results each, but none could match the mastery of Alex Reeve (Laser) who achieved a first place in all three races thus gaining the pleasure of holding the Geoff Foster Trophy until this time next year. Father and Son Hamilton were Equal second, but this caused the Third race to count in which Mike had capsized enabling Robert to take second place leaving dad in third place. What of the other sailors? Most sailed constantly keeping their station in the fleet and I?m sure enjoyed the exhilarating event. It was encouraging to see two of our newly trained sailors bravely taking part, namely, Arthur Saunders and Simon Hoy. (Toppers) Arthur managed to sail all three races with consistent positions. And in conclusion, Simon the youngest helm did particularly well using the new toppi rig, and managed two races.		Sailing at other clubs - Some members activities in 2007: Some club members also sail at other venues. One of those is Brian Welham who sails his Comet on the Comet Open circuit. In 2007 he sailed 13 Comet open meetings plus the Comet Inland Championships. Brian came away with the first place (and the trophy) after the usual 3 race open meeting arrangement. As the open meetings are situated in different geographical areas there are area championships to compete for, and Brian won the Southern travellers championship with two first places and one second place. And he was 2nd in the Eastern and 3rd in the Western and Central. He was not the only Taplow Lake SC Comet sailor to compete in open meetings in 2007. Tony Best visited, Hampton, Littleton and Kingsmead where he was placed 2nd. Alex Reeve went to Cransley where he came 2nd just before going to the Comet National Championships at Teignmouth where he just missed out on the win and came a very commendable 2nd. Another Brian regularly sails his Miracle with club member John Green as crew in a number of events around the country. He is currently demonstrating the new Mark 4 Miracle as he does so. The most notable event was the Miracle Nationals held this year at Beaumaris where he came 8th out of 31 entries. The Pair also sailed a number of Area Championships, coming 2nd in the Southern at Margate, 3rd at Deeben Open, 5th in the Midlands at Burton, 12th at the Inland at Draycot. Our youngest racing sailor Ian Stone ( aged 9 ) crewed by Brian of the Jones clan, also attended Beaumaris to defend his 2006 success of winning the Junior National Trophy, which we are pleased to say he retained. He also won the Youngest Competitor Cup by crewing for another helmsman who found himself without a crew. Ian Stone learnt to sail at Taplow and last year started taking part in the Topper Class South Zone Training, visiting Oxford, Burghfield, Mudeford, Spinnaker, Parkstone, and Chichester. This led to him entering into the Topper South Zone Travellers open meetings at Calshot, Spinnaker, Oxford, Parkstone, Hawley, Chichester, gaining a credible 11th overall. He then entered the RYA South Zone Topper Championships at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy and finished 9th which gained him a place in the RYA South Zone Topper Squad. Dave Killey a Laser sailor took part in the Masters events during the year which took him to Grafham water in June for the Spring Cup, he came 2nd out of 42 entries, and in September to Rutland Water for the Autumn Cup, gaining a 5th out of 43, both were two day events. Then from the 29th September to the 6th October he took part in the World Championships at Roses in Spain with 422 others, achieving a 22nd place. On the 27/28th October he entered the Inland Championships at Chew Valley, and was 10th out of 54 entries. He said he was nearly always fist to the beer tent. Several, more senior members venture out on to the high seas in their sailing cruisers and have travelled as far as St Vaast on the French coast in Ray Bridges Island Packet boat, setting out from Gosport. The return was not without incident however as the engine developed a fault and they had to divert to Cherbourg for repairs. Rays fellow club member crew Leon Jacklin and John Hayward ran out of time and had to return home leaving Ray to make the return journey home single handed. Ray also sailed with Leon Jacklin, Dave Killey, Geoff Smith and 1,766 other boats in the world?s largest race, the 50 mile Round the Island Race. John Hayward has sailed his Westerly Sentor from Mill Ride Hayling Island to many Places including Ryde, Newtown harbour and Sharfleet on the Isle of Weight with other members of his family and Leon Jacklin. Roger and Wendy gentle have sailed their Westerly Merlin from Liliput sailing club in Pool Harbour to Bembridge, Yarmouth, Lymington, Ryde, and Southsea, sometimes in a force 8 winds. They also made an attempt to sail to the Isles of Scilly but had to abandon the attempt after bad weather forced them to take shelter in various ports along the south coast so many times they ran out of time, and had to return home. Roger is not frightened of a challenge as he volunteered to let his boat be the featured yacht by the Westerly Owners Association in the Start Boating area of the ExCel London Boat Show in mid January2008, His stories of the problems of doing this are interesting to hear. Finally 2 club members also competed in the Bloody Mary at Queen Mother SC and were placed a satisfactory 111th from the sole Miracle entry of Brian Jones and crew John Green, and 120th from Brian Welham in his Comet. This prestigious race is held each year in January and consists of a pursuit race with the slowest boats (Toppers) sailing for about two and a half hours and the fastest (Foiling International Moths) covering the same course in about 40 minutes. This year there were 240 entries which made a beautiful spectacle on the water and the logistical nightmare to get all the boats on and off the water. Hardy! or Crazy! - By Cyril Twining (Spring 2003) Over 26 members sailed during the winter, taking part in our winter series of races. These ran from November till the end of February, and included a special Boxing day morning event The Brass Monkey, totalling 35 programmed races in all. Of the regular winter sailors one member managed to fit in 31 races. In actual fact only 33 races were sailed two races being lost due to lack of wind. Usually it's too much wind or ice that stops us sailing. We were lucky this year on the last two races of the series on Sat. Feb. 23rd, members arrived at the lake to find it covered in ice with glorious sunshine and a steady easterly wind blowing. Frustration was experienced by all, but as everyone watched, with the race start time fast approaching the ice miraculously disappeared. So there you have it, are you hardy or crazy enough to join us?