Horning Regatta 2016

[LizG]

The cannon just went off 14 minutes ago, the last morning bang of the week!!! It doesn't how much you are expecting it, it still makes one jump and all the birds scatter

[Poppy]

9 hours ago, w-album said:

The cannon just went off 14 minutes ago, the last morning bang of the week!!! It doesn't how much you are expecting it, it still makes one jump and all the birds scatter

I do loke a good early morning BANG 

[Vaughan]

I have been waiting all day for someone to answer that!

[TheQ]

Well the double cannon has fired, that is the end of regatta week and the glasses have been handed out.

The entry fees (50p per person on board, per race) help pay for glasses engraved with the club flag, if you enter and get a certain amount of points you get 1 glass, if you do well, with more points and enter almost all your qualifying races you get two glasses.

It has gone well with 98 competitors, some non members came as far as from Shropshire, and our own members from the peak district.

No rescues for me today, very light winds causing many races to be shortened. The light winds caused huge traffic jams in the morning, not helped by 3 sets of hired canoes ( one with tiny children) paddling through at the same time. Causing the motorboats to come to a near standstill as the couldn't move out into the river because of all the sailing boats.

Later when the jam had cleared, I did advise one motor cruiser, that carrying on at the same speed as he was, might not be a good idea with a Park Ranger  motoring along in front of him.

Later the wherry Olive came through for more entertainment, she managed to be going round Swan corner, the same time as a motor cruiser with a large broads yacht towed alongside, and a large hire cruiser coming the other way... there wasn't a lot of room....

 One more grumpy **** today, as I approached motor boat " The Black Cat" and was going to thank him for his patience, he said " how much of the river do you f***ers want" so needless to say he didn't get thanked....

But for the rest of the hundreds maybe thousands of non competitors who went through our chaos, I'D LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL for your patience and good acceptance of our advice.

 

[BroadScot]

Thank you The Q for all your daily write ups. Its been a long week for you, now enjoy a few guid ales!

 Iain

 

[LizG]

For me I am wrecked, shattered and returned to base leaving the clubhouse echoing and shaking to the noise of salsa and various other carnival antics and many happy people.  My problem has been that I have been trying to helm and when crewing, trying to crew as I did when I was 15, sadly the body doesn't agree and despite a few glasses of something, body says no! Another great Horning Week, great atmosphere and happy sailors and friends.  The river at Horning now returns to peace and quiet.

Now the big cruiser boys go to Burgh Castle for BREYDON REGATTA so another one to avoid????

[Gracie]

 Even though you flappy thingies frighten the bejeevers out of me, I have really enjoyed reading this thread, and have gained an awful lot of knowledge, you have my utmost respect, thank you for a smashing read  

Grace

 

 

[Polly]

Thanks Q I enjoyed sharing the regatta.

Just a point of information, The Back Cat as mentioned above no longer belongs to forum members Elisamoose, I think their lovely new boat is called The Cat's Whiskers  

[TheQ]

5 hours ago, Polly said:

Thanks Q I enjoyed sharing the regatta.

Just a point of information, The Back Cat as mentioned above no longer belongs to forum members Elisamoose, I think their lovely new boat is called The Cat's Whiskers  

That I am glad to know

[Mowjo]

Q! I followed your instructions to the letter, not that I ever have many problems, but did you forget to tell the competitors the score, twice I went through very slowly first time two youngsters miss-judged it and clipped my boat but a couple of older ones in a little blue thing must have thought they were kamikazi pilots aiming straight at me and going under my bow forcing me to slam it into reverse, a little faster on my part and I reckon they's have been sailing clouds, I still don't know how I mised them! second time through wasn't as bad apart from a few that cut me up by watching the other competitors and not where they were going, all in all it was fun apart from the two with a death wish and no damage was done by the two that clipped my boat,,

[TheQ]

The little light blue boat was a national 12,  one of two, and both were visitors from outside of Norfolk. i don't think they quite got the grasp of leaving you enough room. I apologise for that... The other N12 was a little more careful having been torpedoed by a bowsprit early on in the week.

[Mowjo]

It wasn't a problem Q, but even me knowing nothing about sailing though his action was not only stupid but dangerous, I aways creep along there hugging the bank when there's sailing going on, knowing I can accelerate or reverse out of trouble, but this one just went for it and the look he gave me could have killed, I'm glad to know he wasn't one of our locals though as I'm one of few that has never had any problem with them, I don't know if they recogognise my boat or me, but most let me know what side they want me to pass and give a cheery thank you wave, I've even started the habit of if they can see me signaling what side i'm going to pass, then that way they have a chance to tell me what side they want me to go, and so far it works,,,, 

[Poppy]

48 minutes ago, Mowjo said:

It wasn't a problem Q, but even me knowing nothing about sailing don't know if they recogognise my boat or me, but most let me know what side they want me to pass and give a cheery thank you wave, I've even started the habit of if they can see me signaling what side i'm going to pass, then that way they have a chance to tell me what side they want me to go, and so far it works,,,, 

Therein may lie the problem for a LOT of MoBo drivers.

As for signalling - what' precisely is unclear when I point DIRECTLY at a mobo and follow that with another point to one side or the other?  What makes them thing that I'M going in that direction ?    And incidentally, there isn't an armco barrier down the middle of the river, you know - either above or below the surface.

[Timbo]

9 hours ago, Poppy said:

Therein may lie the problem for a LOT of MoBo drivers.

As for signalling - what' precisely is unclear when I point DIRECTLY at a mobo and follow that with another point to one side or the other?  What makes them thing that I'M going in that direction ?    And incidentally, there isn't an armco barrier down the middle of the river, you know - either above or below the surface.

It's not that the signalling is unclear Poppy...we are just shocked and stunned a yachtman actually signalled.  I used to watch yachtsmen avidly for instruction of intent...but soon discovered most I encountered never bothered. I still give them the opportunity but tend to shout a prompt these days. I must say my polite enquiries don't receive such a quick response as Uncle Albert's joyful hail of 'Oi wazzock! Giz a clue then?". Strangely most then seem to give hand signals of where they want us to pass...but to do it twice. 

[Poppy]

8 hours ago, Timbo said:

It's not that the signalling is unclear Poppy...we are just shocked and stunned a yachtman actually signalled.  I used to watch yachtsmen avidly for instruction of intent...but soon discovered most I encountered never bothered. I still give them the opportunity but tend to shout a prompt these days. I must say my polite enquiries don't receive such a quick response as Uncle Albert's joyful hail of 'Oi wazzock! Giz a clue then?". Strangely most then seem to give hand signals of where they want us to pass...but to do it twice. 

Perhaps they've just given up out of frustration......

[Mowjo]

Poppy! are we talking hirers or private here? most private owners and I state most know what side a raggie wants us to pass, but from what I've seen quite a few hirers don't have a clue and could easily presume that when they point thats where they are going, once someone signals me, I give them a thumbs up to let them know I understand, but it must be confusing to someone new on the Broads, you'll never find a cure for the ones that hate raggies and just do things to P raggies off, (yes I've seen it done) but unless we all try to work together and understand each other nothing will ever change, I was glad in a way that the one I nearly killed was a visitor and not a local, but it makes me think the Us and Them attitude is far more wider spread than a lot of us realise,,

[Poppy]

Mojo - I will ALWAYS signal unless it's obvious that my intentions are clear. Even then, some seem unable to interpret them

It's usually hirers who 'go the wrong way' subsequently - but not exclusively.  The private ones seem to do it ( go the 'wrong' way)  out of bloody mindedness however. I've been sworn at on more than one occasion ! 

 

[NorfolkNog]

As Poppy says it's usually (but not always) fairly clear what a yacht skipper is trying to do. If he's tacking it's usually possible to time your approach to pass behind the stern without too much trouble. However I find it more confusing when a flappy is going the other way (running free)??? as they are sometimes in the middle of the river or even the 'wrong' side. In that case it can be difficult to know which side to pass. Many will signal, however Mrs Nog has a useful approach which to hold up both hands pointing in either direction in a quizzical manner, this usually encourages the yacht skipper to indicate which side he/she wants you to pass. 

Like most situations though there will always be exceptions! 

[Poppy]

Please, please please NEVER try to 'nip in front' of a tacking ( zig zaging) yacht. ALWAYS (unless CLEARLY signalled otherwise) pass astern. That may involve throttling back a little to get your timing right......

[Timbo]

2 hours ago, Poppy said:

Mojo - I will ALWAYS signal unless it's obvious that my intentions are clear. Even then, some seem unable to interpret them

It's usually hirers who 'go the wrong way' subsequently - but not exclusively.  The private ones seem to do it ( go the 'wrong' way)  out of bloody mindedness however. I've been sworn at on more than one occasion ! 

 

In all seriousness though Poppy...obvious intentions to a yachtsman/woman are as clear as mud for a member of the public confronting maneuvering around a yacht particularly if you are a first time hirer. One of the reasons why I'm so keen to learn to sail is so I know what is exactly involved in navigating one of yon flappy beasties. I used to think there was some kind of rhythm to a yacht's tacking, I would try and adjust my speed to correspond with the yacht so when they made their turn I would just gently motor past.  Even though I had watched an approaching yacht tacking, timed it, watched for the relative position to the bank that the yacht turned at...as sure as eggs as eggs the yacht will make a longer run at the bank before turning, stop to fiddle with something usually right in front of me. The end result a lot of throttle work..often complicated by a hirer zooming up at full speed to complicate matters further. I agree we all ought to have a lot more understanding of each other. But honestly yachts are so random Rainman would have a hard day working out where they are going to go next.

I had a rather pleasant experience on the Bure a few years back. Four or five hire craft were confronted by four yachts going one way and three going another. One yachtswoman cheerfully and confidently (obviously a school teacher before retirement) started giving instructions to yachts and hire craft and we were all past each other with no mishaps, no cross words, just cheery waves.