CHAIRMAN'S CHAT

Saron Rusden
Commodore

Another summer has flown past. The summer seems to have been dominated by high winds at least that is my reason for capsizing most times I went out!! A warm welcome to all the new members who have joined this summer. We had 10 memberships signed up on the open day we held on the RNLI Funday and more since.

We have had good numbers sailing in the harbour thanks to the coached racing, and several junior members are now regularly at the front of the fleet. We had 35 boats sailing for Highcliffe in the harbour inter club Although not successful in winning the harbour interclub HSC won the Sea Interclub and the inaugural Junior Interclub thanks to some great results from Jim Sowden, Dan Sowden, Jamie Tarrant, Ellie Walker, Matt Langdown, Amber Sutton and Emily Paines.

Numbers sailing at sea have dipped slightly but we hope next year the top harbour sailors will progress out to Sea. As you will have noticed, we have approached renewal of subs again.

Given the economic climate the Committee have agreed to freeze subscriptions at last year's rates, however, we are raising the dinghy park fees, but this is because our fees to the Council have risen. To ensure the club is financially viable, we are reliant on Open Meetings and functions.

I would like to thank everyone who helps at and supports these events over and above their normal duties.

We have successfully held several fund raising events during the year, including assisting Eric Innes in his bid to kayak around Britain, raising money for Help for Heros. HSC raised a further £100 for him on the day.

I look forward to seeing you at the several social events we have coming up, Junior disco/prize giving 31 October - THE WHOLE FAMILY WELCOME, Dinner Dance 14 November and the AGM 26th November. If you would like to stand for one of the committee posts but are unsure what they entail please speak to a current committee member, we welcome new faces and ideas on the committee.

CONTENDER NATIONALS 2009

Paul Walker
Rear Commodore (Sailing)

The season had been building to this weekend- the Contender fleet converged on Highcliffe SC to do battle in Christchurch Bay; at stake the crown of National Champion. Currently held by local 'boy' Gary Langdown.

Race 3

After a leisurely Saturday ashore with no racing possible, the 53 strong Contender fleet tested the shifting waters of Christchurch Bay today with a patchy force 1 blowing from the North. The race officer, starting on time, caught out some latecomers, but his trickery was thwarted by a sudden dash for the line causing a recall. The second larger attempt had the same effect but the black flag finally got the fleet away. At first the right seemed to be paying but in true comedy style the left got the nod. Stacey Bray (Porhpean S.C) led and comfortably held on to the shortened finish. Tim Holden *(Halifax) and Rodger White (King George) followed along with a grateful gaggle some distance behind. Due to the gusts, hole and shifts there were opportunities all causing many place changes, so at the finish Matt Aston (Datchet) pulled comfortably through to second with White closely followed by Stuart Jones (Datchet) making up the next places. With the tide now rushing westward and with the wind all but gone the fleet was sent ashore for the day, just in time to prevent being washed out past Swanage and beyond.

Race 6

Race 1 Monday. After 2 days and just one race, the RO amended the SI’s for a prompt 10 o’clock start and 4 races a day. The fleet duly arrived in time to be greeted by no wind. After a 2 hr postponement a gentle westerly began to build with fleet eventually getting away at 12pm in 8kts. Jones led from the start followed by David Bates (Weston) while Aston and Langdown (Highcliffe) worked their way up through the fleet. Aston overhauled Bates into 2nd. With the pumping flag now up, Langdown tried to close up on Bates by taking ‘Rocking and Rolling’ to a whole new level until the inevitable capsize. This gifted 4th to Peter Dives (Eastbourne) who was being hotly pursued by Graham Scott (RYA). Langdown limped home a bedraggled 6th.

Race 7

The second of 4 races sailed on Monday, with the wind from the SW force 3-4. This time no black flag was needed, but the surprise for Matt Aston was to have a flying start at the pin end and to find a rib moored by its prop about 2 boat lengths to windward of the pin - Penned in by other boats he had no option but to t'bone at full speed. Luckily no damage, and redress elevated him to 5th in the race. The left had side of the first beat paid off, with a close group locked in a pumping battle down the next two reaches. After the second beat, Simon Mussell (Highcliffe) had shown his upwind speed to take the lead from Gary Langdown, with Graham Scott and Tim Holden in close contact. The race was shortened after the second triangle, giving Mussell his first win of the series, Langdown holding on to a good second for a light boy ! Scott and Holden followed up, with John Browett (Datchet) leading the charge from the pack behind.

Race 8

Race 8 got underway with a port biased line and tide underneath the fleet under a black flag. The port side was favoured and Scott rounded first from Holden in second. Jones and Langdown moved through the fleet on the reaches so by the leeward mark they were in third and forth respectively. These 4 pulled away from the remainder of the fleet and were never seriously troubled.

Race 1

The final race of a long 7hrs on the water run to pull back lost races from Saturday. The sea breeze was fully established and steady – great Contendering weather. F4 full wiring all the way around the course with fantastic, rolling waves to surf down. With the pumping flag still flying this was to be a test of stamina as well as the skill. The fleet got away under now familiar black flag circumstances – the RO taking no prisoners – this catching out front boys Ben Holden (Halifax) and Keith Paul.(Weston) Mussell showed he had the metal where it mattered – his bulk! – and streaked out to win comfortably from Jones by some margin. Scrapping for the minor places Tim Holden held off Aston for 3rd. Notably reigning champion Langdown went for his now routine race dip, this time after fluffing a tack, dropping out of the top 5 and eventually retiring with exhaustion. All the competitors and race team certainly deserved their championship dinner and a beer that night!

Race 9

First race of day 4 started on time as the RO was on a mission to get at least 3 races in. The regatta finish time had been extended to give the RO some breathing space but 1 general recall was enough as the race team went straight into black flag mode. Mussell was out of the blocks well, for a change, along with Ben Holden and John Browett. Scott and Jones joined the front 3 but Mussell’s pace was too much for them all and again he won convincingly. Jones picked his way through to lead Scott and Browett home as the morning breeze built.

Race 10

The RO set a port biased line for race 7 and with 30 seconds to go everything was looking pretty tight. Stuart, Graham and Matt all got good starts and sailed away in clear wind. Simon Mussell was forced to make a tack and immediately collided with another competitor which resulted in a 720 turn. The first beat saw the fleet split with some choosing to head right in towards the shore expecting the wind to bend right and others headed out to sea looking for the tide which was now on the change. At the top mark it was clear that the right had paid and Graham Scott rounded first with Stuart, Tim and Ben in hot pursuit. The reaches were fast and furious with a lot of frantic pumping and by the leeward mark the first 4 remained the same. Simon Mussell had recovered to 9th place and was now officially on a charge. With the tide now running steadily from left to right across the course and the wind bending right up the beat there was a difficult choice to make. The front of the fleet chose right whilst Simon headed to the far left in search of clear air. By the top mark Graham and Stuart remained 1st and 2nd with Ben up to 3rd and Simon now up to 4th. The remaining part of the race saw the front 4 move away from the fleet and whilst Simon did sneak past Ben up the last beat he dropped back to 4th when he capsized at the last mark with only 30 yards to go to the finish (idiot!!!) and how he was later to regret this silly mistake! . Graham calmly secured victory which moved him in to pole position to win the championship, Stuart was second with Ben and Simon following.

Race 2

What turned out to be the final race and decider for the championship was sailed in near perfect conditions. The right hand side was paying, although the heavily port biased line and hope of more pressure out to sea drew many towards the left windward mark layline. The first 4 boats of Mussell, Jones, Scott and Aston pulled clear of the fleet by the second round, with the front 3 unknowingly dicing for the championship. Mussell powered his way clear of the other 3 showing great technique off wind, particularly on the run, to a comfortable victory. While Jones and Scott luffed each other high of the rumb line they almost let Aston through at the last mark. Had they done so there would have been a different name on the 'auld winners pot', as unbeknown to them the championship had been decided by a single point and count backs!. Scott and Jones were level on points and Mussell a further point adrift but with more firsts.(aah that capsize) Once the RO called time on racing for the day, much to the disappointment of a few, the remainder of the fleet headed ashore to join those that had already gone in, all unsure of who had won. After 4 days of tough, trying conditions for all, Graham Scott emerged victorious to claim his 9th National Championship by virtue of more first places (2).with Stuart Jones 2nd and Simon Mussell 3rd Excellent series by both Martin Jones (12th) and Tony Cook (20th) resulted in them claiming the Silver and Bronze fleet prizes. Tom Hooton (38th) collected first youth and Scott also picked up first Veteran.

A massive thanks must go to all at Highcliffe SC including Paul Walker (RO) and his team for running an excellent series, plus everybody behind the scenes who made the event great value and a real treat.

Bring on Filey in 2010!

HSBC are currently offering new business customers 18 months free banking for both start-up accounts and where a business is transferring from another bank. This is for businesses with an annual turnover up to £500,000.

If HSC makes the introduction and recommends HSBC Business Banking to a business customer and they subsequently open an account with HSBC, the club will receive £50 for each new account. So, for all members with a Business Bank Account, if you are unhappy with your current bank charges and would be interested in transferring to HSBC to benefit from 18 months of free banking and at the same time help the club, please call Linda Day on 07788 148143 for more details.

We have one vacancy - Rear Commodore House. We meet the first Monday of every month and are a friendly bunch! If you are interested please phone Saron on 01202 480566 for an informal chat.

If interested, please contact Saron on 01202 480566
Registration on www.ryaracingevents.org.uk
Follow link on left hand side to coaching courses and then apply online

CHALLENGE TEAM RACING ...

Pete Bell - Vice- Commodore ...

between Highcliffe Sailing Club, Mudeford & District Fishermen Association and Mudeford RNLI was run following earlier postponement earlier in the year. We were lucky with a beautiful sunny day but initially lacking breeze and tide depth in the harbour. The Sailing Club hosted an afternoon of team racing in Pico dinghies sailing a starboard hand windward leeward course, two boat teams with last boat loosing format. The members of teams had members who belonged to more than one of the organisations, with Fishermen and Sailing Club Secretary who are RNLI crew. The rules had been somewhat simplified to just Port/Starboard and Windward/leeward but in the initial light winds the on-the-water umpire's whistle was needed to impose penalty ( just one turn) for blatant Rule 42 propulsion (hand paddling) by the fishermen in the first round.

The Umpire boat was also generous with tactical advice to all the teams, between races, maybe more so to the Fishermen than the others. The sea breeze finally matured to about 8 knots by 15:30 hrs at which time tide depth had increased to more than a dagger board. In the first round the sailing club won against both the Fishermen and the RNLI, and Fishermen beat the RNLI, so HSC 2 pts, Fishermen 1pt. In the second round, crews and helm swopped around in the sailing club team who then lost both their races and Fishermen again beat the RNLI, so HSC 2pts, Fishermen 3pts, RNLI 1pt. The final round was raced single handed, the sailing club took a good win off the Fishermen to level the scores at 3 each despite some good tactical luffing by Richard Stride of the fishermen on the run to attack Alex Gibson.

It was anticipated that the sailing club would win the next race against the RNLI and that would leave the Fishermen to have to win against the RNLI to force a sail off. The sailing club pair got well ahead but were thwarted, but the umpires whistle for both having fouled the Fishermen on Starboard running down to the bottom mark as they beat back up to the finish line on port, a messed up penalty turn cost the race. So with scores HSC 3pts Fishermen 3pts and RNLI 2pts the final race between Fish & RNLI could require a three way sail off.

Richard Stride got to the windward mark first and waited to support his team mate Pete, Port starboard on the run gave the RNLI a penalty and it looked all over however Fisherman Pete it the finishing mark and received a penalty, drama was short lived as Pete quickly completed his turn and crossed the finish before the 2nd RNLI boat

Fishermen 4pts / Highcliffe SC 3pts / RNLI 2pts

The teams retired to Highcliffe Sailing club and the bar to discuss the validity of the umpiring and plan the rematch - Fishing!

see club notice board and website for further info
Tania Tarrant - social secretary

Saturday 31 October (7pm) **HALLOWEEN PARTY **

ALL WELCOME ADULTS AND KIDS
with DJ/games and Junior Prize giving and buffet. £1.50 each person plus bring finger food for the buffet table to share. PRIZES for best fancy dress (optional) and best decorated pumpkin lantern.
TICKETS IN ADVANCE PLEASE

Saturday 7 November **STANPIT FIREWORKS **

Bar Open - weather permitting the Gas BBQ available for BYO DIY BBQ

Saturday 14 November **48th ANNUAL DINNER DANCE & PRIZEGIVING **

6.45 pm for 7.30 pm meal. Dancing until 1.00 am. CAPTAINS CLUB HOTEL, CHRISTCHURCH - booking details and table plan up at Clubhouse Members £30.50 Non-members £32.50 - ONCE YOU HAVE RESERVED YOUR SEAT PLEASE MAKE PAYMENT ASAP. OPEN TO GUESTS AFTER 23 OCTOBER. DEADLINE FOR BOOKING AND PAYMENT 30 OCTOBER.

Sunday 29 November **CHRISTMAS ROAST LUNCH WITH PAUL SLADE **

Saturday 12 December **CHRISTMAS PARTY **

parent volunteers needed to organise some party games please.