Well the team at TeamB4Ego have done it again- 2 more awesome vids here - Download it ,plug it in to your big screen tv turn the volume up and sit back to watch some great action from Brightlingsea !!
I especially like part one as firstly Fraz pisses it in big stylie and we get some cracking footage of the CatGuru sending it downwind !!!!
And guess what rumour has it there is a part three !!!!!
Tuesday 28 September 2010
Monday 27 September 2010
Regfest Video 1 - Saturday
Geoff has the first one up here - its awesome and shows some great Tornado / F18 Stuff - but guess what the second one according to him is even better, hurry up and get it uploaded mate i cant wait any longer !!!!!
Regfest Results and Views !!
All the results are up on the BSC website here -
As for my nationals predictions - for the fleets that raced , Tornado and Spitfires i can with a big head say i called it spot on !!!
Tornado Nats - Well done to Grant Piggott sailing with Robby Jon who won the T fleet, Grant had been trying to win this one for about 30 years so its about time the old boy got a win !!!
Henry White and Ed Redfearn won out in the Spitfires nats, after a tough saturday when they capsized in the 2nd race of the day while leading the fleet they didnt let the pressure get to them and took the next four race wins to deservedly become champions.
In the other fleets the Shadows failed to get a race in so will need to find another event to get their nationals in this year, id bet on the Grafham open weekend for that.
F18s - We won yes get in there !! my first open win in the F18 fleet but pushed extremely hard by the infusions of Tom/Trevor on the saturday and Fraz/Seb on Sunday.
Hurricanes - Toby Gray and James Suter won convincingly in this fleet which must be a nice feeling for Toby who is normally defending Queen and Country abroad and has just returned from a tour in Afghanistan !!!
Final Thought -
The atmosphere at BSC all weekend was fantastic, the sailing was competitive but more importantly it was just so much fun to be part of such a great event, well done to everyone involved you put so much effort into it - the prizegiving was an emotional one, it always was going to be with Reg passsing earlier this year- RIP Reg your family did you proud !!!
As for my nationals predictions - for the fleets that raced , Tornado and Spitfires i can with a big head say i called it spot on !!!
Tornado Nats - Well done to Grant Piggott sailing with Robby Jon who won the T fleet, Grant had been trying to win this one for about 30 years so its about time the old boy got a win !!!
Henry White and Ed Redfearn won out in the Spitfires nats, after a tough saturday when they capsized in the 2nd race of the day while leading the fleet they didnt let the pressure get to them and took the next four race wins to deservedly become champions.
In the other fleets the Shadows failed to get a race in so will need to find another event to get their nationals in this year, id bet on the Grafham open weekend for that.
F18s - We won yes get in there !! my first open win in the F18 fleet but pushed extremely hard by the infusions of Tom/Trevor on the saturday and Fraz/Seb on Sunday.
Hurricanes - Toby Gray and James Suter won convincingly in this fleet which must be a nice feeling for Toby who is normally defending Queen and Country abroad and has just returned from a tour in Afghanistan !!!
Final Thought -
The atmosphere at BSC all weekend was fantastic, the sailing was competitive but more importantly it was just so much fun to be part of such a great event, well done to everyone involved you put so much effort into it - the prizegiving was an emotional one, it always was going to be with Reg passsing earlier this year- RIP Reg your family did you proud !!!
Saturday 25 September 2010
Regfest so far
2 races completed today. - full on conditions a lot of boats chose not to race , those who did had some awesome racing though - plenty of capsized and a few more broken masts , getting round the track without too many dramas was the way to go . Tornado fleet currently led by Grant Piggott / Robby Garca . We had another great day with a first and second to stay on top off the leader board in the f18 fleet . Spitfires led by youth team Andy Sinclair / Gilly Sutcliff of Echo sailing. 5.9s led by Toby Gray . The singlehanded shadows decided before racing not to compete so they are yet to race. 3G reception poor here but will try to get some pics on the site later.
Thursday 23 September 2010
Reg Fest Preview
Well the Shocker is all loaded up and ready to go, just a few jobs here at the loft to finish up then on the road to Brightlingsea, a 3 hour road trip so should easily make the bar in time for a few beers. I'm planning on daily updates / results / pics on the blog and also the odd "Tweet" or two so bookmark this page or follow me on Twitter for some inside scoops !!
The forecast looks a windy one, so with a limit of 120 boats consisting of 5 different classes (Big T, F18, 5.9s. Spits and Shadows) the race course is going to be one interesting place.
Webcam
For the Tornado, Spifire and Shadow this is their main Uk event comprising the Nationals for the T and Shadow and the combined Nationals and Europeans for the Spitfire, with a few of the leading F18 sailors jumping onto Tornados and Spitfires and a few foreign entries expected the competition for the big titles will be hard fought.
Nationals Class by Class favourites -
Tornado - Well this is a close one call, Last years champion Kyle Stoneham will have his work cutout to repeat this, Grant Piggot who has been on good form all year on his Nacra returns to the fleet and will be looking to dish out some punishment on another favourite John Ready- these two had a battle Royal early on this year at the 5.9 Nationals with Ready winning on count back, there are a few German teams heading over and also Aussie Ryan Duffield who could be in with a shout - My bet is Piggott to take this one.
Spitfire - With the breeze forecast and on home turf Henry White (Regs Grandson) will be hard to beat this year, Gary Smith also likes the breeze , as does Adam Piggott (provided hes got a boat otherwise he will be F18ing) , also could be a return to the fleet of Sproaty and possibly David White (Baby David). My bet is a Title for Henry which would be apt !!
Shadows - id stick my neck out and say this one will be easier to call, Yves Loday, Olympic Gold Medalist class builder will surely have this sewn up, id say Ollie Harris would be the dark horse but it would have to be gear failure or maybe an OCS or two that will Rob Yves of this win - My Bet then Yves to win !!
Final thought - this weekend will be sure to bring out many memories and stories of Reg and i will share my last conversation i had with him here - Regs latest passion was sailing his Brightlingsea One Design and as he was always pushing boundaries in whichever class he sailed the BOD was no exception, he was chatting to me at this years dinghy show (we were on the Shocker stand) about how he had been having problems with the mainsail halyard stretching because of the distance from the cleat(at the base of the mast) to the head of the sail, Regs solution to this problem was a simple but ingenious . he went off to the spinlock stand and 5 minutes later came back with a new pxr cleat and calmly announced he would just simply screw it to the top of the mast and trip it with a small trip line run down the side of the mast !!! After a moment i said to him well thats fine Reg but what happens if the trip line breaks or gets caught up and you cant get the sail down - quick as a flash he replied "Well boy its on a Swinging mooring ill just leave the sails up till the next weekend then "
I never knew whether he fitted that cleat but it doesn't matter, Reg you will be missed by all, i will certainly be having a few jars in your honour this weekend, and as I'm sure you will be watching from above can you send some nice shifts my way !!!!
Reg Sailing the Tornado.
The forecast looks a windy one, so with a limit of 120 boats consisting of 5 different classes (Big T, F18, 5.9s. Spits and Shadows) the race course is going to be one interesting place.
Webcam
For the Tornado, Spifire and Shadow this is their main Uk event comprising the Nationals for the T and Shadow and the combined Nationals and Europeans for the Spitfire, with a few of the leading F18 sailors jumping onto Tornados and Spitfires and a few foreign entries expected the competition for the big titles will be hard fought.
Nationals Class by Class favourites -
Tornado - Well this is a close one call, Last years champion Kyle Stoneham will have his work cutout to repeat this, Grant Piggot who has been on good form all year on his Nacra returns to the fleet and will be looking to dish out some punishment on another favourite John Ready- these two had a battle Royal early on this year at the 5.9 Nationals with Ready winning on count back, there are a few German teams heading over and also Aussie Ryan Duffield who could be in with a shout - My bet is Piggott to take this one.
Spitfire - With the breeze forecast and on home turf Henry White (Regs Grandson) will be hard to beat this year, Gary Smith also likes the breeze , as does Adam Piggott (provided hes got a boat otherwise he will be F18ing) , also could be a return to the fleet of Sproaty and possibly David White (Baby David). My bet is a Title for Henry which would be apt !!
Shadows - id stick my neck out and say this one will be easier to call, Yves Loday, Olympic Gold Medalist class builder will surely have this sewn up, id say Ollie Harris would be the dark horse but it would have to be gear failure or maybe an OCS or two that will Rob Yves of this win - My Bet then Yves to win !!
Final thought - this weekend will be sure to bring out many memories and stories of Reg and i will share my last conversation i had with him here - Regs latest passion was sailing his Brightlingsea One Design and as he was always pushing boundaries in whichever class he sailed the BOD was no exception, he was chatting to me at this years dinghy show (we were on the Shocker stand) about how he had been having problems with the mainsail halyard stretching because of the distance from the cleat(at the base of the mast) to the head of the sail, Regs solution to this problem was a simple but ingenious . he went off to the spinlock stand and 5 minutes later came back with a new pxr cleat and calmly announced he would just simply screw it to the top of the mast and trip it with a small trip line run down the side of the mast !!! After a moment i said to him well thats fine Reg but what happens if the trip line breaks or gets caught up and you cant get the sail down - quick as a flash he replied "Well boy its on a Swinging mooring ill just leave the sails up till the next weekend then "
I never knew whether he fitted that cleat but it doesn't matter, Reg you will be missed by all, i will certainly be having a few jars in your honour this weekend, and as I'm sure you will be watching from above can you send some nice shifts my way !!!!
Reg Sailing the Tornado.
Friday 17 September 2010
Thames Raiders !!
They are off again - no game plan other than sail the boats from Whitstable to Brightlingsea in time for next weekends massive tribute to uncle Reg at the Regfest !!
DNF !!
Well its been a long time since i DNF due to injury, luckily for me it was my crew who was injured - Nick Barnes (Normally a Cat Helm) my crew for Sunday after a startline collision with a couple of nippers in a spitfire , im amazed though we did the first 20 minutes of the beat at the forts race with poor old Nick just hanging there on the wire in pain untill we both realised it was more than just a bash !! So turned round and headed back in we got the attention of the committe boat (funny that 50 cats heading directly out to sea, 1 cat with a crew passing out on the tramp heading to shore !! ) anyway paramedics called by the club and after much prodding and poking and groaning the diagnosis was two broken Ribs and no more sailing for my old mucka for 6 weeks !!!
Forts Race 2010 in Brief - Bundock Wins
Olympian Darren Bundock with Jeroen Van Leuwen sailed an F18 C2 to victory in the main event and also won the round the cans racing on the saturday.
William Sunnucks and Oli Egan on the monstrous M20 Vampire took line honours by a huge margin but still couldnt do enough to win on H,Cap.
Stuart Gummer and Ryan Crawford on a Wildcat completed a great weekend with a 3rd in the Forts after sailing on saturday in the famous Round Sheppey race they smashed the record of the 40 mile course in just 1 hour 52 minutes taking line honours and the overall handicap win in the process !!!
Forts Results Here
William Sunnucks and Oli Egan on the monstrous M20 Vampire took line honours by a huge margin but still couldnt do enough to win on H,Cap.
Stuart Gummer and Ryan Crawford on a Wildcat completed a great weekend with a 3rd in the Forts after sailing on saturday in the famous Round Sheppey race they smashed the record of the 40 mile course in just 1 hour 52 minutes taking line honours and the overall handicap win in the process !!!
Forts Results Here
F18 Nationals 2010
Well a couple of weeks back we had the F18 Nats just round the corner from us at Whitstable Yacht Club, no real shock to see Hughie dominate the event after poor old Rob Wilson suffered gear failure in a big way again on the first day,
Rob must be rooing his luck after the same thing happened at last years nats at Parkstone so Mr Styles watch out for Rob in a years time at Yaverland (Confirmed Venue for the 2011 event) !!!
Another great performance was that of our Chairman Jon Worthington and Seb Greber (Pictured) who were the only team to take 2 races of Hughie and steamed round the courses in the big breezes of Saturday to take a well deserved 2nd Overall and 1st placed chaps that have a proper job aswell !!!
Full Results here -http://www.wyc.org.uk/results/F18_Nationals_August_1.htm
Cats are the new Black !!!
Well what a week to start a Cat Sailing Blog with the fan bloody tastic news that the 34th Americas Cup will be in catamarans- finally us cat sailors will be taken seriously in the club bars and boat parks in the uk, wanna have fun - sail cats, wanna go fast sail cats, wanna win an Americas cup yes pops you best get little Johnny a Spitfire or an F18 pretty damn soon !!!!!!!!!
Anyway welcome to my Cat Guru UK blog - i make no bones about it i love cats every single one of them i have ever sailed, from the humble dart 15 right through to the still should be "Olympic" Tornado.
So whats this blog all about then, well its my attempt to bring some news and views to the UK and the world about the UK cat sailing scene, if you have any cat articles, news, events , topics etc please feel free to send them in to me and i will post them along with my ramblings.
Please note there may be the odd shameless plug for Northrop Sails (i do have to make a living aswell) but if you dont like it then send a constructive letter in and i will file it in the marina opposite my loft !!!!
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