A record number of YOBs with their families and friends gathered at the club for the annual YOBs prizegiving and disco on Friday 2^nd Jan. Despite cold winter weather and the post Xmas blues the turnout was impressive. Although the poor weather during the summer prevented completion of the planned YOBs series of races, and accordingly the winning of the prizes for that, trophies were still awarded,.

Memorial Cup Cadet of the Year Tom Rees

Digby Cup Most Prominent Racer Sophie Atkins

Peter Rose Cup Most Impoved Thomas Williams

Yates Challenge Cup Highest Achiever Cory Ronayne

WSC Cadet Cup Most Enthusiastic Alice Perrett

The If Only…!   Most Enteraining Alice Perrett

Autumn Dinghy Cup Autumn Series Ross & Craig Groves

Thomas Williams {TH as he is known by his friends} joined the party over the internet as he now lives in the Caribbean.

Axmouth is a small drying harbour on the East Devon coast near Beer Head; it appears difficult but with good weather and a little planning there are no real problems and once safely tied up the pleasant town of Seaton with its shops, promenade, cafes and famous tramway is easy to get to on foot. In unfavourable conditions Beer Roads nearby offers much more shelter than you might expect except from the SE quadrant.  

With light northerly winds forecast and settled warm weather I left my Weymouth Sailing Club mooring at 2000 hr and motored across Weymouth Bay in a flat calm.  I was sailing singlehanded and timing was important: in order to catch a fair tide it was essential to round Portland Bill about 4 hours after H.W. Weymouth. In addition I wanted to enter Axmouth in daylight at high tide - there is only an hour or so of slack water so I chose a night passage. With my new 5HP outboard I made good time and had to wait for the tide off Church Ope Cove on the East side of Portland. Having been up all day I was glad to doze for an hour in the cockpit as night fell. 

I got under way again at 2230 hr which turned out a bit early with a spring tide under me. It is best to keep close inshore rounding the Bill and in the dark I found it tricky to judge distance off  - finding myself in disturbed water and anxious to avoid the Race I motored directly inshore to find calm water, passing the darkened Lobster Pot café, the daymark at Portland Bill and Pulpit Rock half an hour early at 2330 hr but on such a calm night it didn‘t matter. The strong tide rushed me into Lyme Bay and I steered for the lights of  West Bay, Lyme Regis and Beer which I could see faintly in the distance.  About 0100 hr a light Northerly filled in and I was glad to stow the motor and make sail at last. The breeze gradually strengthened and I had a wonderful fetch in bright moonlight, arriving off Haven Cliff at the eastern end of Seaton about 0430 hr, I even needed a reef for the last half hour. Rounding up and dropping the sails I motored slowly past a dredger at anchor and dropped my own anchor 100 yd off the beach near the entrance to Axmouth, settling down for a short sleep while I waited for the tide.

The Rear Admiral's Cup series of races competed for by the three yacht clubs of Weymouth was considered a great success in its first year.  The trophy was duly presented by the instigator of the new event Rear Admiral John Croydon to the Rear Commodore (Sailing) of the Royal Dorset Yacht Club, Diana Gill, after sailing on Sunday 30 November at WSC.

The final scores in the event were: RDYC 71 points, WSC 89 points and CCSC 110 points.  The result was not finally settled until the last race.  Next year the series will be repeated, hopefully with the final event being the Cherbourg race, and with the handicapping being under the Portsmouth Yardstick system, rather than the IRC system as this year.  This will render more yachts eligible for selection for the club teams.  I think everyone who took part enjoyed the event very much and it raised a good spirit of sporting competitivness between the clubs

It is a almost a feat of memory to recall that until a few years ago all the evening race starts were run from the hut and associated start line.  Mostly it was spinnakers up right from the off.  For Saturday and Sunday races, members used their own boats to give a windward start.

Then, someone had the inspired idea of buying a boat to use as a committee boat and thus provide windward starts as the default situation.  So a very dilapidated Viking was purchased and made seaworthy mainly by John James personally, and a team of devotees.  To say there was a lot of work to do is a gross understatement.   All the decking, cabin, and electrics were completely renewed resulting in the present very useable vessel.  Over the first few years, there were breakdowns probably due to ageing parts such as the starter motor, starter relay, bilge pumps, winch motor corrosion, old and corroded wiring etc.  But these did not hamper the operation of the boat.  We managed to repair every fault in time for the next race.