I see the results are now up at:

Mumbles Y C Results page

Dave Tugwell is the new UK F16 National Champion - Congrats Dave! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Stealth 1st, Blade 2nd, Stealth (2 up) 3rd.

The defending Champ, Mark Pressdee in 4th on his new Stealth... What happened Mark? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I know that Simon 'scooby' Longstaff had problems with his boat that dropped him out of the running, but no other news.

Can we get a report from someone? Please?

Just got back now. The short story is that we made a great weekend out of some pretty miserable weather.

Friday had a good steady wind for most of the day, comfortable trapezing weather with some stronger stuff in race 4. Mark and I (1-up on the Friday) were both plagued by kite troubles (and a couple of capsize incidents) in race 1, leaving Simon and Dave to fight for first. In true circus style, they lost count of the number of laps (4 is a big number) and headed off for a 5th. Meanwhile Mark went through the gate, couldn't get the kite down and would have accidentally won the race if only he'd drifted the other side of the pin.

Race 2, Dave was absolutely flying and moved from 3rd (I think) to 1st on the second beat and then proceeded to leave us behind. Meanwhile, Mark's kite problems got worse when his pole broke in two, and he headed in for some repairs.

Race 3, I got some nice clean air off the start as Dave and Simon went back as at least one of them was over. I got to the windward mark first and managed to stay there for the rest of the race. I was very pleased to rank 4th amongst the As on elapsed time.

Race 4 and the wind started to pick up. I stuck it in on the first run and barely had enough strength to get back on the boat. I headed in with bleeding hands, looking forward the arrival of The Crew. The wind then really picked up, with Dave leading Simon and Alan and Jan. Everyone was pretty exhausted by this stage, especially the singlehanders, and Dave and Simon seemed to reach a gentleman's agreement to not pull the kite on the last two laps.

Saturday saw some strong winds, and lots of umming and ahhing, and eventually a decision to not race (it was all the As' fault. We were up for it, honest <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

We woke up this morning to yet more rain, and what looked like a lot of wind. More umming and ahhing and we decided to do it. When we eventually got enough water to launch the rescue boats and get out, it turned out to be fairly mild, if somewhat choppy. The wind was strange, but fun. No real gusts, but steadily rising and falling from the bottom of 3 to the middle of a 4, but with a decent swell for most of the race. There was even one race where it didn't rain.

Race 5 was very frustrating from where Ann and I were sitting. We got a rubbish start after failing to spot that the wind had shifted to make the line almost impossible to cross on starboard. We clawed our way up to first, only to throw away two places on the final run when we gybed into a nasty hole. Mark and Dave both managed to keep the boat speed on and got past.

Race 6 saw a great tussle between us and Mark, with a finish so close that we had to ask the race team who won. Mark had kept his cool and managed to time his dive for the line perfectly and took the victory.

Race 7 and at the start I feared that the wind was going to give up completely. Mark got a great start with us close behind. Pointing a few degrees lower meant that there was no way past on the same tack, so we tacked off, straight into a comfortable force 4. We had an absolute blast for the rest of the race, twin wiring through a modest swell and finishing first. We managed to post a respectable time against the As - another 4th, but just 2 seconds behind the 2nd and 3rd As.

The medal race was just a little lighter than race 7. The final leg was pretty close with Dave hot on our heels. The race committee were treated to to some truly choice language regarding the finer points of spinnaker technique from Blade 801 when it looked like Dave might just get us on the final sprint.

Well done to Dave - a well-deserved first overall, and consistently good sailing.

Thanks to Mark and the team at Mumbles for making a great weekend out of some difficult conditions, and especially the race and rescue boat crews who headed out in some truly uninviting conditions this morning. MYC were as welcoming as ever, and my sailing was helped by a decent hangover on both days that we raced.

Paul

If only and how did that happen would seem to sum up my weekends racing. Whilst leading how did the spi tack line release in race 1. If only I had taped on the tiller extension in race 2 and how did I manage to run over the spi causing the pole to fail? I could carry on with the list but it would become boring.
However, the event was great. lots of really close racing right up to the finish line where on one occasion I was less than 300mm/1'0" in front of Paul and Anne and in another under a boat length to Dave. Consistency and steady boat handling again was the key to success but even Dave did try cutting inside me on one mark and ended up getting tangled in the ground tackle thus becoming a new windward mark for the 'A's who thought it very amusing.
I would like to thank all the Competitors and helpers for their time and efforts, the weather wasn't the best and was practically the total opposite to last year but the friendship of the 16 Circus certainly made up for the rather damp conditions.
Lastly a big congratulations to Dave Tugwell and remember "It's not just the wining"

I've uploaded a video that I took on Thursday when Mark and I went out for a quick sail in the dying wind. Unfortunately, the recorder packed up on Thursday night, so I wasn't able to get any footage of the racing.

http://www.formula16.org/videos/mumbles.mov

Apologies for the lack of sound, quality, and the fact that the video seems to want to download completely before playing. This is (was) a new toy, and I haven't really got the hang of it.

Paul

As Paul said it rained a lot but we all had good racing. It was good to get on the water with the other F16's and see what I was doing wrong; I think we all had kite problems and or handling problems at some point on Friday. I was lucky not to go in at least once downwind with the kite up - stuffed the boat in hard and got the front of the pole wet, but the T Foils saved me.

I also need to learn to count ! Sods law dictates that you loose count when you are in first place !

By boat did have a problem with some cracking on my front beam around where the beam bolts go in; John has taken the boat back to the shop and on close investigation said it would have been fine for me to sail on Sunday. Ho Hum; being on the bleeding edge means things break now and then. Boat will be fixed in a week or so. Shame it broke at the Nationals, but better now then later or further off shore.

It was a good weekend and I learned a lot about what else I need to do to make the boat go fast. I'll not be able to make the next event at Datchet which is a bit of a shame. My next event with the the ECPR.

Good to see everyone and now we need to plan next year !

Thanks to Mark and the team at Mumbles, who were standing/sitting on ctte or rescue boats while we were flying around the place.

Great video Paul, you should put that onto the Formula16.org website !

We don't have a very good Blade video yet, but that is all sorted out with this video of mumbles.

Also somebody should make a new entry for the Aussie Blade by Marcus Towell and the family Barrett. And of course the new AHPC Viper F16.

Things are heating up !

Wouter

There is another set of 'fun' results not linked to above :: A and & F16 on Elapsed time - As started 5 mins after F16s.

www.mumblesyachtclub.co.uk/results/2007/200705af16.htm

Photos available now.

www.mumblesyachtclub.co.uk

scooby - have not forgotten about lap times - just trying to locate them.

Colin,

Can you decribe the courses for us.

How many laps
type of course
estimate length
Rought indication of windstrength.

I may well be wrong but from the pics it doesn't look like the course is very long.

In the pic below the A's are still waiting for their start and you can see the start vessel on the right. Mark appears to have already rounded the A-mark here. An upwind leg of less then 5 minutes ?





To bad Mark and Simon got so many DNF's and DNC's. Because on the average of the races they did do it appears that they are very close to Paul and David.

Thanks.

Wouter

Wouter,

First race was very short and in about F3 (but it was gusty all day) W/L courses with a gate to finish - 4 laps (for those that could count)

Second race was a bit larger course, similar wind

3rd race was slightly more wind, and a much bigger course

Final race (day one) was starting to get proper windy, I was washed off the side a couple of times going up wind and managed to stuff the boat in so hard downwind (with the kite up) that I got the front of the pole wet.



I would say during the 2 days we were on the water everyone had their "good" race. I was miles ahead in the first race but cannot count to 4. Both Paul and Mark washed the sails twice on the first day and still put in some good results in other races.

David did a fine job in sailing well, winning races and not washing sails. I could not sail the second day as I broke the boat - all now fixed and ready for the East Coast Piers race in 3 weeks time.

Overall I think every one showed bursts of speed, we all need to do is remove mistakes and spend more time at max speed and less time sorting out messes (I managed to sail over the kite sheets twice, forgot to raise the plates when it got windy and a number of more minor screw ups).

We have a lot more speed hiding in our boats <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />