We were spoilt in 202 with balmy weather, so perhaps we will remember this year’s camp for the wind and rain but there were a few sunny days….
We had the normal morning briefings, sometimes in the rain and mizzle, led by Andy with some superbly animated weather from Steve, complete with human spinning high and low pressures (plus a speedy jet stream). We loved Steve’s weather explanations but even he could not put a positive spin on some disappointing weather…
Some regular features were part of the programme:
The Communal BBQ (thanks Mark) followed by the Jamie and Claire quiz with questions read by Ella in her own inimitable style. Fun was had by all, with much laughter and banter. Most competitors were “discombobulated” at times and there were silly prizes for winning a round.
We had an ‘on field’ cream tea (thanks Sarah Louise), and a few birthday celebrations, some paddleboarding, kayaking and swimming – not forgetting Andy revisiting his old wind surfer.
But after all, we are a Sailing Club – and (despite the weather) there were several cruises with fleets of up to 15 boats on some days heading out from the beach.
No camp would be complete without Pirate’s breakfast brunch complete with a water fight enjoyed by the more senior pirates (in particular!)
It wouldn’t be a Cody Camp without an evening of songs – with music and song contributions from many. For the first time for a few years, we had a camp fire on the beach on a foggy evening.
We sang and socialized until late when the tide came in to put the fire out.
At the middle weekend we had a lot of wind (Storm Antonio if anyone needs a reminder!) which necessitated the boats to come up from the beach and be tied down. But we had a lovely walk that day from Mylor Bridge (thanks Vanessa and Jenny K) which was very sheltered and enabled sight of a wild and choppy Carrick Roads.
Some tents survived unscathed perhaps with one or two (or more) extra guy lines, others needed emergency repairs, whilst others didn’t (sorry Rob B it had to be included but fortunately you had another tent with you). The rain meant cars were left at the top of the field and the Trengilly Wartha did good business on those wet and windy nights.
The weather inevitably changed the programme and some events did not happen but we had some lovely trips which included, amongst others: breakfast at Gweek, a mass gathering of the Club at Durgan, a long sail to St Mawes, Porthallow with some emergency rudder repairs, top of Gillan Greek, Gyllingvase (avoiding the thieving seagulls), enjoying the wind off camp, and the normal visits to the Ferry Boat and Shipwright Arms.
For some there was a sadness of not going to Salcombe (but it might have been a good thing given the weather we might still be trapped there!) but for all it was nice that the Club were together in the same place. Thanks to Andy for keeping us all in control, Steve for letting us know when we needed those extra guy lines and Gordon for all his advance organisation.
Without Gordon’s liaison with the land owner, we would not have been there at all. Until next year……see you all then.
Regatta Day 2023
Why regatta day? Because the day was more than just sailing with morning and afternoon activities.
Where would we be without Alan M and his rocket launcher. As usual there were many creative designs and a lot of “ooh, mind your head”, as a series of rockets was let off from the top of the field. There were a number of novel designs including multi stage rockets, parachutes and astronauts sent into “space”, each rocket having a clever name. Rob H had bought with him some super rockets, courtesy of family days at work, that really did go into orbit. Elliot H won the price for the longest flight – he has showed that he is the master of rocket design. Roy won a special prize for his 3-stage rocket that finally worked at the third attempt. His astronaut, lured by raspberry jam, was a wasp, and is probably still flying into space.
After lunch it was time for the water regatta which consisted of three events – Main race, Occasional helm and the inaugural Calamansack Cup. The weather conditions were perfect with a nice F3/4 and bright.
Awarded from the main race, which had 15 entrants, was the Overall winner, U16 trophy, Asymmetric Trophy, GP trophy and (with so many Comets now in the Club) a new prize for Comets.
Andy (the 2022 holder) displayed the “Overall” for people to see before handing it over to the new winner David Stones. The full table of results is given below
The winners of the main race were:
1st David and Katy
2nd Morgan
3rd Jack and Isaac
U16 prizes went to:
1st Morgan
2nd Jack and Isaac
3rd Harry
Asymmetric Trophy: David and Katy
GP Trophy: Mike and Christine
Comet Trophy: Alan, Donna and Joshua
The Occasional Helm (formerly always called the Ladies helm) had a smaller field of 5 entrants and was won by Donna crewed by Alan and Joshua, 2nd was Vanessa and Andy and third Isaac and David.
The final event of the day, the Calamansack Cup, had the biggest entry of 18 craft (including some repurposed rockets from the morning) these numbers caused some logistical challenges with how to start the race with only a downwind course – thanks for Peter and Julie for providing the starting gate. It was a new class of vessel – a development class with a boat having to be built and developed within strict measurement parameters. Rob H agreed to act as independent scrutineer and ensured no boat was over size. With 18 entrants the race was run over 6 heats and 2 semifinals with 3 boats in each and then a final of the 2 semifinal winners. Many capsized but most made it to the finish line. As well as first across the line there was additional prizes for Most Innovative, Most Fun Design and a Random Prize which was eventually awarded for Technical Detail.
The prize winners were; – Most Innovative – Jack for “Pelligrino Mk II”; Most Fun Design – David with “Just Stop Oil”; Technical Design – Morgan and Ella with “Autism01” which had superb replica Sport 14 sail and asymmetric spinnaker. First across the line, just ahead of Jamie’s “Praise the Lord 2” was Roy’s “Just the Tonic”- winner of the Calamansack Cup 2023. The secret to “Just the Tonic’s” success was the short length of string trailing behind which acted as a drogue to ensure the craft headed downwind.
The Chicken Run 2023
The day of the Chicken Run dawned with scarcely a breath of wind and this only lifted a little throughout the day – ideal for the Chicken Run! For newer members, it might be worth mentioning that the ‘Run’ was the idea of John Anderson (who died in 2021) who conceived of a sailing event where entrants started by sailing away from a specified finish line and eventually decide to turn to sail towards the finish, aiming to cross the line exactly at a specified time. The catch was that once turned, you had to continue to sail in a forward direction – no backtracking or use of any means to slow down were allowed. The ‘chickens’ were of course, those who turned too early.
The first Chicken Run was held at Salcombe many years ago and all entrants had the same finish time. In later years slightly different finish times were used to make it easier to time the finishers – some differing only by seconds! For Helford 2023 three slightly different times around 12 noon were used. 18 competitors took part and all eventually departed in the direction of Gweek and the closest ‘no turning back point’ of Tremayne Quay.
The first to re-appear was David and Katy who slowly and carefully sailed in steadily decreasing winds to the course marker buoy in Polywheveral Creek. Other competitors appeared and soon there was a melee near the buoy from which Alan and Donna appeared, pursued by Steve and Mel and then by David. By now, because of the very light wind, all competitors were going to be late – it was a question of who could keep the error to a minimum!
It was quite tense at the finishing line as Alan and Donna crossed the line first with, Isaac and Jack in hot pursuit. Steve and David were only 2 or 3 minutes behind. But the required finishing times were different and Steve and Mel were the winners with David and Katy second and Alan, Donna and their boys third.
Interestingly, the very light winds made this course difficult to complete and so there were 5 non finishers but all credit to Isaac and Jack who finished 4th and to Harry, who probably had the most difficult task, managing a Topper in those very light winds. Well done!
Roy and Jenny