Optimistically , Tom, Southampton,  mobile 07775 95 57 59,  Sail number 1152

Regards, David

Photo: Dean Martin

22 April 2012.

Was good fun but did not turn out to be a small Minisail gathering after all.

A friend I asked to sail one of my Minisails could not make it and Dean was there but without a boat (his Minisail), his trailer suffered a flat tire, he whitnessed the race in the comitee boat.
Wind was 4 to 5 Bft when we started so i decided to rig the Mini with my Topper sized sail. That’s not quite in the spirit of our Class you might think, yet don’t nod your heads in disbelief, our club race is open, only engines aren’t allowed. One sailes with whatever one’s comfortable with, the first crossing the line wins, look at it that way.
The competition were two Fireballs, a Finn and a Splash.
Managed to finish before the Splash in the first manche, well she capsized and so did i but i made it to the finish and she didn’t (not a very impressive exploit i agree).
In the second manche with only 4 of us left the Minisail finished third before the Finn. I was ways behind him to reach the upward wind mark but was able to make that good on the two downward wind racks following.
Due to my 10 minute swim in the first manche with 8° water temperature i was shaking like a leaf during the break so i decided to call it a day.
Overtaking the Finn with a handkerchief sail on my Minisail is what i like to remember.
I’ll underline Goalhanger’s (shortened) lovely discription of our boats: rotten upwind and a blast on a reach in a blow.

Greetings,
Ronny

As a proud owner of a perfectly maintained 40 year old wooden Minisail Sprite there is no reason to built another one.
Yet the lunatic inside tells me to do so anyway.
The blog is about the building of it (and occasional random nonsense).

Greetings,

Ronny

David
I’ll start with my own viewpoint.  I was looking forward to the weekend and to testing out a number of changes that I’d made over the winter.  Not least of these was the manufacture of a “trailering frame” – basically a frame in 4″x2″ wood that carries the mast sections and sliding seat.  I won’t get distracted with that now, it’s worth a separate “blog” item, along with a few other ideas I’ve been trying out.  The weekend itself also didn’t disappoint.  We had a great time practising our sailing and racing tactics; and this in excellent company.

It was a shame that Nick’s car broke down so he couldn’t make it – we’ll look forward to meeting up next time, Nick!  It was also good to meet Robert.  I’ll let him continue…

Robert
I have refurbished my Aquabat dinghy (I was told it was a Monaco) with help from Minisail.org and cvrda [that's the Classic and Vintage Racing Dinghy Association].  I have now received sailing coaching and tips from both groups – if sailing turns out to be as good as the boat, I will be well chuffed. I do not think Rupert expected to be coaching a complete novice at Whitefriars, but he did not flinch, kept calm and carried on.  I think differently about sailing now I have capsized and had to be rescued.  I can’t wait to sail again now, this sums up how members from both groups can help others.

Now, Rupert has his own – very interesting – blog.  The following is taken from Rupert’s report.

Rupert
Saturday was beautifuly warm with a light breeze. I was on the committee boat for the morning, and so couldn’t sail, but in the afternoon I took my Minisail out and ran a single-handed coaching session, concentrating on tacking and gybing. As well as the 3 Minisails and Aquabat, we had a Megabyte and a Skol MKII International Moth taking part, with the British Moths and the double-handers having split into other groups.  On Sunday, everyone was training together doing mini races, and David and Tom had some epic battles, finishing at least one race side by side.

Rupert’s final comment is an excellent way to finish: “All in all, and excellent weekend of sailing. I hope more us us can meet up again soon.”

We went out about 3 after Tom had taken a bit longer to rig up than expected, having brought along a newly acquired and untested Minisail.  Richard Hazelgrove turned up, and took a photo or two (class captain for the MS when we had up to 70 boats in the club in the late 70s, now living in nearby Curdridge).

We tacked  down to  Northam Bridge, with the occasional stronger puff making Tom at least sit out and wish for slightly slacker toe straps, perhaps held out from the cockpit by elastic loops (2) to the other side straps, easy to depress if sat or stood on, but easy to get a foot under mainly, which John has.

We ran into the mud at one point near to one of the hulks on the East side but still 20 yards or so from the shore. The  slight misty gloom didn’t really lift and only the occasional swan shared the slightly rippled waters with us.  John’s mast tip was about level with the underside of the bridge arch so we didn’t venture further on a rising tide.  Tom had to get back for 5.30 so we packed up after helping a dory with a 70 HP engine onto its trailer.

While we were rigging up, there was a van man who said he hadn’t seen or sailed a MS for decades, and also an international canoe owner who has now moved down to a ’less strenuous’ Unicorn cat who chatted.

Tom only had a pint or two of water in the hull which was a relief, and John’s was dry. Soapy water and an inflation pump don’t show any major leaks, just round fastenings. With Blue and Yellow hulls we really needed a Red and Green  to make a really good show.

The above link will take you to the Minisail News blog, a regularly updated newsletter designed to provide an up to date snapshot of life in the world of Minisails. Contributions and photos are very welcome, indeed necessary, if the blog is to be kept up to date and interesting. Please send stuff to rupert@cvrda.org

While there were more Minisail sailors together than for some time, it was decided to hold a meeting to look into re-forming the Class Association, to try and bring more sailors of these wonderful little boats together and make them a common sight at clubs around the country once more.

Note that the picture at the top of the Minisail website was taken at the nationals, and shows Minisails dicing with Merlins (look on the left side of the picture).

A more full report can be found at: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=159297