how natalie lost her big lead in race 4

several people wondered how natalie managed to lose such a big lead when leading race 4 of the nationals:-she had to give water to the 30 lasers that were using the mirrors mark as their windward mark !!(she was the only boat effected)
surely this shouldnt have happened at a national championship ??!!
luckily her finishing 2nd in that race rather than 1st didnt effect overall results but she could have won a nice cup for that race rather than the 3rd placed overall trophy that unfortunately resembles a dirty,have chewed dogs bowl!

neil roach

Neil

Ideally the Nationals would have been concluded at Llandudno where we had the water to ourselves, as you know the weather was not on our side. Fortuntatly Poole stepped in at the 11th hour and were able to accomadate a much larger fleet in the Nationwide Championship III, albeit we had to share the course with Lasers as part of the original plan. Short of organising another exclusive National Championships which would have proved very difficult at such a late stage, it was agreed that Poole offered the best compromise for the outstanding Nationals Races.

It is unfortunate that Natalie and Grace lost out because of the Lasers, but often positions can be effected by boats not in your race, I have seen ferries, yachts, cruisers, submarines etc that have had an influence on race results.

Sorry you don't like the trophy, these are donated to the class, new modern trophies are always gratefully received

MCA Secretary

Simon

Yesterday I came across a website in Australia that make unique sailing trophies in wood. One of their designs is of the Mirror with a map of the UK as a backdrop. Prices are not that high, but could make a unique trophy for the class.

The link is
www.fantasticsailingtrophies.co . ... php#mirror
Do have a look at some of the other work they do, they are quite impressive.

Roger Clark
59725

Steve Makes very Nice trophies. This is where the Ptwootle trophy came from for the 'classic' mirrors, I donated last year.

simon-i will replace the dish of the trophy (which has literally been chewed by a dog and is now badly damaged) to make it more appropriate for finishing 3rd overall at the nationals

regarding other vessels -a submarine would have been preferred as natalie (with her contacts in the RN ) could have arranged for it to surface just behind her in front of the rest of the fleet !!

regards

neil

Natalie sailed a superb race and desreves something better try this link

www.chow-bella.org.uk/4.html

Simon it was great for poole to step in so we could finish the Nationals however the club needs to become more friendly towards the dinghy sailors. Being told that you cannot eat your own food or drink in the club was rather sad, add to this the car park situation when because of the weather the MEMBERS car park remained empty all weekend, we for one will not be visiting Poole again.
Natallie as Phil has said you sailed really well and should have won that race, I guess this is your last year in the Mirror? I think our boys will miss you!!!

Sorry to hear gripes about Poole,but glad none of them involved important issues such as ease of launching and landing in any wind direction or tide, safety cover, race officers or energy, friendliness and dedication shown by the local Mirror organisation team! Every club has some downside and as a PYC member I agree car-parking is a "downer".But at Brightlingsea for example the difficulty of getting back to the club against an ebbing tide without local knowledge over the oyster beds proved very difficult for some of the late finishers.Nowhere is perfect I guess but we all do our best for the Mirror sailors old and young.

Hi Colin
We had no problem with the Mirror sailors or the sailing side of Poole Yacht Club however the club could be a little more friendly to visiting Yachtsman, no club is perfect as you say but when you have spent a lot of money to get to a venue buyin food from the club is not always a cheap option esp with a large family. I understand its a club rule at Poole but surely when it is open to visiting sailors this rule should be dropped! The lady who told us could have just turned a blind eye and not said anything. In fact the visitor in question had not even oppened the sandwich box before she was on to him! Just for the record our family all ate at the club on saturday evening and Sunday lunch time and felt the food was good and great value!
Craig
PS The Oyster beds are not good at Brightlingsea and we all suffer getting our boats over them. Give me the Poole sailing area and the Brightlingsea welcome and you would have the perfect club!

Thanks Craig. Issues you have raised have been brought up by Poole members involved with running events as you can imagine.The argument is that with lots of yachts in the marina a sunny sunday would see the car park heaving with crews cars.Sadly most recent weekends have been better for windsurfing than sailing- maybe one day a workable compromise will be sorted out.Lets hope the south-westerns fares better. see you there. Colin.