UPPER TAMAR LAKE SAILING CLUB

UPPER TAMAR LAKE SAILING CLUB

2007 News Archive

Link to test video clip footage

As an experiment, we have done some tests to see if it is possible to display video footage of club sailing on the web site. The link below should display a couple of minutes of footage of video taken last season - many thanks to Jennie Leveridge for shooting it. The quality of the video clip as as it displays on my PC isn't very high, nor is it very big (I'm sure it should be possible to do better in future), but it's potentially important to see both: a) Whether club members can access the clip successfully and view it , plus, b) Whether they think it's worthwhile. On the first point, the video clip has been converted to Macromedia Flash format - the consensus of people vastly more technically capable than myself is that this is the best format to display video on website; however, although most web browsers will have built-in capabilities to view this file format, there may still be some people whose browser can't access it and who will need to download a Flash plug-in for their browser for it to work. (As an aside, one of the drawback of video clips is that they take up a considerable amount of file space on the web site). I'd be grateful if anybody who looks at the video clip could e-mail me with feedback (both positive and negative) at J.Buckett@exeter.ac.uk

To view, click on the link below and wait for it to load - note, only view this clip if you've got a broadband connection, otherwise it will take a very long time...):

Link to experimental sailing video clip

Team Racing at Roadford - a retrospective roundup

Back at the end of September and start of October, a band of intrepid sailors from Tamar Lake took their dinghies onto the broad expanses of Roadford Reservoir for a team racing event with the host club. Although this is now a little while ago, there are now a couple of additional things on the web relating to the event that deserve a quick update. Although the Roadford club were very clear winners of the team racing overall, the Tamar contingent had an enjoyable time over the two-leg event, though the lack of wind on the second weekend tried the patience of all the competitors. The race reports produced at the time are still available on the 'Race Reports' web page:

1) 30th September report (scroll down to find the Team Racing write-up)

2) 7th October

In addition, there are now a page of photos (taken by Robin and Sue Burnham of Roadford SC) of the event on the 'Pictures' website, click on the photo below for these. The photos include pictures of the massed start of the first race on the first week and the first few minutes afterwards, and then mainly images of some of the Tamar sailors going round, including Nicky Buckett, Mike Ford (out in grandson Tim's Laser instead of his current Bosun), Bob Sampson and Jane Chadney enjoying the wide-open spaces in the RS200, Simon Veal , Dave Harker (grappling with a gennaker single-handed), Toby Tobias and John Leveridge (with Toby making a welcome reappearance for Tamar) and John Buckett. Also included is a picture of one of the Roadford boats, because it's a great shot of a planing dinghy moving at speed (probably an International 14, though whenever I saw it coming, it was going past so fast it was just a blur!).

Click on the picture below to see the photos....

The Roadford Sailing Club website has complete race results for the event - congratulations to Bob Sampson on coming in as top Tamar boat in 6th placc. To view the results, click on the Roadford logo below for a link to their series results web page and then scroll down to the Team Racing event:

Peter Pocock Achievement Trophy Award Ceremony

Once again this year, the club has run a series of races for juniors, with the winner being awarded the Peter Pocock Achievement Trophy. The series has been run on Sunday lunchtimes during the summer, mainly using Picos kindly loaned by the Lakes Trust. The races have proved a welcome attraction for juniors who have developed their sailing skills at the Trust’s Saturday morning cadet sessions; the timing of the races, held when the water is relatively clear of other boats, (whilst the club members are concentrating on their lunchtime sandwiches) means that they offer a useful stepping-stone for aspiring dinghy helms and crews before venturing out into the cut-and-thrust of the full club sailing programme. The photographs show the trophy and awards being presented by Mark Pocock, son of Peter Pocock, a much-liked and respected member and officer of the Tamar club in its formative years, in whose memory the trophy was presented by his wife, Rosemary This year, the competition was again very close, with the series eventually being won by Adam Pollard. In second place were Sarah Balsdon and Grace Waterhouse (sailing as a two-handed team), with Victoria Forrest-Mitchell and Tamsyn Keens tying for third. Unable to be present at the presentation were Victoria Forrest-Mitchell and Fraser Martyn. The centre photo shows Mark Pocock making the presentation of the trophy to the winner, Adam Pollard, whilst the photo on the left shows all the competitors who were able to be present.

Congratulations are due to all the competitors for demonstrating determination to complete races in conditions that were often taxing. Senior sailing club members watching from the club veranda commented on how the general standard of the racing increased as the series progressed, giving a clear indication of how the experience of racing was helping to improve sailing skills. The series was also used as a means of gradually introducing the concepts underpinning the various racing rules to the juniors throughout the series, so that they were not overwhelmed by all the intricacies of the rules at one go. Special praise must go to Adam Pollard for his consistency and resolution which made him a deserved winner of the trophy – well done.

The series will be running again in the 2008 season, although dates have yet to be decided. Any new junior sailors who might be interested in taking part in what has always been a gentle and non-threatening introduction to dinghy racing are very welcome; contact the Vice-Commodore Roger Heasman (tel 01409-241055 or e-mail rogerheasman@hotmail.com) for more information or with any queries - and we look forward to seeing everybody on the water in a few months time and the series continuing to grow from year to year.