Xenon Rigging Tip

This is a top tip which when I last checked wasn't in the Xenon Rigging Guide.....

I have found when sailing the Topper Xenon the slug at the bottom of the main-sail has a tendancy to pop out of the runner in the mast - the result is flappy, vibrating foot on the main sail (see http://wivenhoe-sailing.blogspot.com/2009/07/parts-of-sail.html). Whether this makes any difference or not is hard to know, but it is very annoying when you're bombing along. Maybe it's me but I tend to have the Cunningham right off when sailing round Wivenhoe to get as much curve in the luff as possible. With recent light winds it has been essential - this hasjust made the popping out slug worse.

The solution I have come up with is best described in the picture below. The Cunningham once threaded back through the boom and locked off, is lead-up to the bottom tack. When doing this it is important not to prevent the cunningham working or you will not win races....

Sailing Cancelled!

How annoying, the wind over the weekend (Sunday) was just too much for the race May mug/Sykes 3 to start. The small dinghy with 3 on-board, that did launch had to be retrieved by the safety boat - or rather walker back through the mud upstream.

Below is a snap from the Brightlingsea Sailing Club twitter account giving some indication of the weather. It should be noted that they are down wind from us and I believe a little more sheltered.

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Too Strong Winds

Force 4 sounds all well and good but the gusts at Wivenhoe were er ....very gusty!

May Mug and Burgee Report

May Mug Race Results
Well more excuses I'm afraid. This time we hit the mud right after the start line - I had only just uttered the words, "...if we stay off the mud we might win". However too much enthusiasm to play with the spinnaker ended up with me trying to push the boat off the lea shore which should be renamed lea mud bank. The boat was a mess and we were well behind the fleet. However we did have satisfaction reeling some of them in. Results below....

May Mug / Sykes 2 Results

I heard a rumour I am in line for the Ploughing Trophy - something to do with the mud adventures.

Burgee Report

At the top of the Topaz Xenon mast there is no-where to put your burgee and I gather that the thing to do is buy a burgee holder. Well, given we were about to go sailing there had to be another solution and  magic gaffer tape was put into use.

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Pic - Magic Gaffer Tape Burgee Holder

Can I report the gaffer tape burgee holder works a treat and really does help with sails.

New Burgee

For sometime now I have been sailing without a burgee at the top of the mast to give wind direction - relying on the wind in my face so to speak; that is until now. I have finally invested in a burgee for the Xenon.

Pic - New Burgee for the Topaz Xenon

All I can say is; fellow sailors, watch out next Sunday when we have the next race. 

If you are really into Burgees, here are a few facts

• Burgee is the name of the distinguishing flag, regardless of its shape, of a recreational boating organization.
• Square is for racing, triangle is for cruising.
• GBP6.25 from the Chandlery at Brightlingsea.
• Sailing Clubs and their members may fly their club's burgee while underway and at anchor, but not while racing. 
• Modern sailing vessels fly the burgee from a lanyard under the starboard spreader on the mast, while older sailing vessels fly the burgee from the main masthead. 
• Power boats fly the burgee off a short staff on the bow.

Web 2.0 and Sailing

What on Earth has Web 2.0 got to do with sailing and, what is Web 2.0?

Well first of all, the term "Web 2.0" is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups, and folksonomies. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with each other as contributors to the website's content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them. So this blog might be an example!


Our neighbouring club, Brightlingsea Sailing Club, have had a brilliant idea of how to make use of technology to let people know what the weather is. They have an electronic weather station on the roof of their club and the summary data from this is tweeted to twitter every hour.

 Today's Brightlingsea SC twitter feed with very large gusts

This means that using your mobile phone, you can get hourly updates on the wind and weather conditions downstream from the club house. This is important because at Wivenhoe Sailing Club we are very sheltered from the true wind conditions down river. 

Wivenhoe SC (top left) sheltered compared to Brightlingsea SC (bottom right)

Today's race was cancelled because of the wind although the Barman and I have been out in much worse (suckers for punishment!).

Link to www.twitter.com/bscweather

Definitions of RYA Portsmouth Yardstick Numbers

When looking up your Portsmouth Yardstick Handicap number on the RYA website, you'll find the letters PN, PY, SY, RN & TN next to them.

For example the Topaz Xenon is 1070 RN.

Basically this means that all us Topaz Xenon sailors are sailing on an estimated handicap. Encourage your club to submit returns to the RYA and we should see something more accurate appearing. I suspect though it is probably near enough accurate as I am starting to beat the Laser sailors in the club.

See.....RYA Definitions

Portsmouth Numbers (PN):	are measures of performance. They represent times over a common but unspecified distance, and are expressed as whole numbers.
Primary Yardsticks (PY):	are Portsmouth Numbers published by the RYA and well attested by many clubs over several years.
Secondary Yardsticks (SY):	are Portsmouth Numbers published by the RYA but not as consistently attested as Primary Yardsticks.
Recorded Numbers (RN):	are Portsmouth Numbers published by the RYA on the basis of limited information.
Trial Numbers (TN):	are Portsmouth Numbers allocated by clubs until a Recorded Number is assessed.

My Topaz Xenon

To prove I really do have a boat and I really do sail, here's a snap of me and the Barman on the Xenon during the Bostock Cup Race. We had the spinnaker up but the winds were relatively light. Shortly after this we found ourselves in the doldrums resulting in a WOD and Laser catching right up to us on the sea breeze (I've got loads of good excuses!).

 Looks like we are going fast than it felt.

Snaps taken from the WSC Viking heading down river.

Bostock Cup Results
Results from the race along with my examination of handicaps are Bostock Cup Results