Impala 28 Offshore One Design

Image: courtesy Argyll News

Lammergeyer kept up her good record in the Scottish Islands Peaks race at the weekend with another win in Class 3 making it a 1, 2, 1 over the last three years

This annual endurance event involves “sailing” 160 nautical miles and running around 60 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing up and down some of the most noteworthy hills in Scotland – Ben More on the Island of Mull, the Paps of Jura and Goatfell on Arran – before ending up at Troon. It’s a “first boat in wins race” event – none of this handicap nonsense.

The team of 5, two sailors and three runners, set out with a short running race round Oban on Friday, then sailed off on a rather slow spinnaker reach to Salen on the Isle of Mull. Despite a great run round Oban and a brilliant Le Mans style start, the team of Andrew McArthur, Andrew Shannon, Andrew Coulthurst, Roderick Grey and Alistair Gray (aka The Wild Goats – don’t ask, you’re far too young to know!) were overtaken on the sail by the larger boats who were able to take advantage of their waterline lengths in the light breezes. Lammergeyer being one of the smaller boats in the fleet at 28ft long.

Arriving at Salen, the runners were rowed ashore in the dinghy and headed up, and down, Ben More. A personal best later (5hrs 20minutes – we said this was a tough race), they came haring off the hill, flopped into the dinghy and headed for Lammergeyer expecting food and a nice rest as the boat sailed down to Jura. Little did they know!

Arriving in Jura 12 hours later after some adverse tides and light winds, the runners set off to run the Paps of Jura, again running a personal best of 5 hours 04 minutes. They left Jura at 2.45pm on Saturday for their next destination – Lamlash on the Isle of Arran.

And so the team left Jura in very light winds often rowing at c 2.5kts. And they rowed . . . . and rowed  . . . . and rowed  . . .  and rowed for over many miles. Andrew Shannon was nearly thrown overboard for remarking that ‘looking on the bright side, at least they’d overtaken the heavier displacement boats as they could row much faster.’ He was only saved from being dumped into the Sound of Jura when the rest of the team remembered he was their best rower!

They eventually arrived at the notorious tidal gate off the Mull of Kintyre in the early hours of the morning, just missing the chance to get through at slack water. The tide change saw them drift backwards for six hours, the brisk breeze filled in and they hared off to Lamlash . . . finally reaching their destination 24 hours after they started, at 2.45pm on Sunday evening.

By now the team had been overtaken by other boats and the mood on board was dismal to say the least. The nearest rival and the leading boat in their class, Marisca – a Contessa 32, was well over an hour ahead of them and, with only one hill and the last sprint (13nm) to Troon left, things looked dire. But never say die, the team soldiered on.

The team’s run up the last peak, Goatfell, was in the dusk falling into night and, much to their surprise, was a very good time and another personal best of 4 hours 12 minutes, cutting down some of Marisca’s gains on the water. All was not lost as Marisca was now only an hour ahead of them and the wind was dropping away fast. Knowing they could row much faster than Marisca, the cry went up “To the oars” which elicited the response of “What do you think I am, a galley slave?”

Nevertheless, they set too and the slowest ding-dong battle ever seen between two boats got underway. Brisk rowing by the Lammergeyer team saw them overtake Marisca and leave her in their foaming wake as the wind remained elusive and the sea glassy. Then, as if the weather gods were having a laugh, the wind filled in for an hour or so and Marisca hared passed Lammergeyer and back into the lead.

Cursing like fury, our intrepid team set to out to chase Marisca hoping, rather oddly for sailors, for the wind to die away. The wind, having played its little joke, duly died away and Marisca was caught and passed. All that remained now was to keep going until Troon and the final sprint into the finish line.

Meanwhile on the quayside at Troon stood Jo (the boat’s owner) and Tim (Andrew M’s dad) having a gentle argument as to whether the shadowy outline they could see approaching the harbour wall was Lammergeyer. Variations on “It’s a masthead rig” swiftly followed by “No, it isn’t. It’s my boat” continued for some minutes until the shadow disappeared behind the bulk of the harbour wall. The watchers relocated to the outer harbour and watched a small green light lurch its way towards the harbour entrance – the rest of the boat being hidden behind the harbour wall.

A few moments later and one Impala 28 comes gently rowing round the harbour dolphin – leading its class home. Much jubilation ensued on the dockside but the race wasn’t finished yet. The final leg runners were dropped into the dinghy in the outer harbour and they paddled like fury off into the inner harbour to tie up and complete the final sprint into the office signing in at 12.15am (yes, that’s am) on Monday morning.

Photos show the final runners, Alistair Gray (L) & Roddy Aitken just after finishing (see the time on the clock) and the full team of L to R Andrew McArthur, Roddy Aitken, Alistair Gray, Andrew Coulthurst and Andrew Shannon.

Read more about the race here, and here for a great piece of reporting from a local website and includes loads of photos.

In brief:

5 happy but exhausted sailors, 4 drinking establishments, 3 Impalas competing, 2 third places, and 1 person (almost) overboard!

The longer version:

Imptish competed in her first ‘offshore’ races this weekend with her new owners Barney Smith and Graham Tullett. Engine troubles earlier in the week meant an emergency plan b had to hatched on Friday when the team borrowed a much used little outboard from the local repair shop. The good point of the new engine was that it worked, the bad point was that it only had a forward gear (more on that later!). On Saturday morning we motored to the start to join Vlad (the Impala) and the newly acquired Magic on the startline together with 13 other boats in class 5. Light winds meant the planned trip out past the Needles and round the Shingles was shelved in favour of some zig-zagging in the Solent. Magic and Vlad made a better start under kite but Team Imptish was back on form when we started beating to Yarmouth and soon pulled out a considerable lead despite our bowgirl injuring herself trying to dive off the foredeck! Luckily she had a change of clothes with her and we had a first aid kit to stick her hand back together. As the wind increased on the final leg Vlad began to reel us in finally crossing the line just a few seconds behind and ending with a better corrected time due to her lower TCF. The final results had Vlad in 2nd, Imptish 3rd and Magic 6th, an excellent showing by the three Impalas.

I’ll draw a veil over Saturday night’s proceedings in Yarmouth except to say that our poor crew of three ‘ shanghaied’ girls from Hamble River SC now know much more about the Isle of Wight’s geography. Next time we’ll take a look at a map before we try to walk to the pub for dinner!

Sunday morning dawned wet and rather more breezy. With Imptish snugly buried in Yarmouth harbour, bow pointing directly downwind at a very expensive Sunseeker and only a 3hp (forward gear only) outboard as motive power, our exit from the pontoon was somewhat tricky. We would now like to say a big thank you to the man onboard the neighbouring yacht who hauled our bow round 90 degrees on his own and allowed us to escape without a scratch! With a ridiculously early start time of 0830 certain members of the crew were showing their age (or was it their hangovers…) and it took a while for us to get the boat moving. Luckily for Team Imptish Vlad and Magic seemed to be just as asleep and we quickly pulled out a nice lead, swapping tacks with some of the bigger class 5 boats. Two hours of upwind sailing later we were past Cowes, very cold but luckily still in possession of a healthy lead over the other two Impalas. The final leg involved some tight spinnaker reaching…we now know what to do it a broach before we crossed the JOG finish line and congratulated ourselves on a fantastic weekend. Final results had Imptish 3rd, Vlad 7th and Magic 8th.

What did we learn from our first ‘offshore’ weekend? A few things…1) a working engine (with reverse) is useful, 2) you can never have enough food onboard, 3) the South coast of the Isle of Wight is actually quite close to the North Coast (and quick to walk to when you’re lost), and 4) racing Impalas is fun, and addictive. We’ll be back for more!

Writing a piece entitled “From your Class Captain” sounds terribly snotty to me and not quite the friendly open organisation I know the Impala Class Association to be, but I couldn’t think of a more appropriate heading.

It is a privilege to take over from Rob Leggett who gave us sterling service during his term of office as Class Captain. Since 2009 when the Association and the Class were in dire straits – almost to the point of losing the Class Association and our One Design Status – we’ve come a long way and we’ve still much further to go.

There’s a new buzz about the Class as people realise you can have an awful lot of fun with an Impala for not a lot, in sailing terms, of money. Boats are changing hands swiftly and, even in the depths of recession, the buoyant market is seeing keen demand.

That demand is being stimulated by fleets growing in some areas. As with all classes, fleets move over time and, at present, consolidation is being seen on the South Coast and in the South West. Long may this growth continue!

In my term as Class Captain, I’d like to see more Impala owners joining the Class Association and this is gradually happening. I’d also like to see us hunt down the ‘missing’ Impalas – there must be at least 50 boats which have fallen off the Class radar over the years. Some, like the very sad looking Decoy, lie lost and neglected up creeks and back waters. Others must be sailing somewhere, perhaps under new names. With the demand for Impalas, I’m sure some of the lost and neglected boats might be brought back into use and into the Class.

The Class Association doesn’t run itself and during the coming months, the Committee will be looking for volunteers to help promote the Class both nationally and in regional hot spots. Please do get in touch if you’d be willing to help out in your area!

Speaking of the Committee, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ben Meakins and Kevin Palfreeman for the support they give to the Class. Ben, as you know, is our webmaster and has just been elected into the role of Rules Secretary. Kevin has the onerous job of Secretary running our administration.

Philip McDanell has just been elected to the Committee and he’s looking forward to helping promote the Class. We need more volunteers like Philip to come forward to help the Class to grow.

I’m looking forward to meeting members at the Nationals in July and would urge you to get your entry in swiftly. Numbers are expected to be into double figures so it’ll be a great event.

If you want to bring anything forward to the Committee, please contact me through jo (at) gapcomm.co.uk – it would be good to hear from you.

Good sailing in 2012

Jo

PS: The Membership Secretary/Treasurer says to remind you that 2012 memberships (£10.00 Sterling, €20.00) are now due. Click here for a membership renewal form.

Outcomes of the 2012 AGM.

23 members (60.5%) out of the 38 members eligible to vote voted and the results were as follows:

To elect Jo Lloyd (Lammergeyer) as Class Captain of the Impala Class Association.

For: 23 votes                  Against: 0

2. To elect Ben Meakins (Polly) as Rules Secretary of the Impala Class Association

For: 23 votes                                    Against: 0

3. To re-elect the current Officers of the Impala Class Association as follows:

   Secretary: Kevin Palfreeman (Zulu)

   Treasurer/Membership Secretary: Jo Lloyd in a dual role (Lammergeyer)

For: 23 votes                                    Against: 0

4. To elect Philip McDanell (Trudi) as a Committee Member of the Impala Class Association.

For: 23 votes                                    Against: 0

To hold the 2012 subscription rates at the following rates

Full Member: £10.00 or €20.00*

5. Associate Member £5.00 or €10.00

   *The Euro price is not a direct conversion as we incur increasingly heavy bank charges on Euro payments.

   Please note that we will no longer accept Euro CHEQUES for membership as we are being charged c£8.00 to process each cheque – however we will accept Euro payments in the following forms: electronically or as a €20.00 notes or, if you have access to them, a £10.00 Sterling note.

For: 23 votes                                    Against: 0

AOCB

One item was brought forward under AOCB as follows:

Might the new officials/committee consider having a few nominated Area Representatives? Whilst boats are scattered round the UK and Ireland, there are some areas (rather than individual clubs) with a worthwhile number of Impalas. It might be advantageous to instigate some communication between those owners (including encouraging non-Association members to join the Assn). An exercise to locate all the boats might also be good.

Commentary

As all the resolutions were passed unanimously, they are duly adopted.

The Entry Form is now up on the Royal Western website: rwyc.org.

A pdf  and a Excel file version (which will let you type in your details) also available at the bottom of this post.

Note that for entries received before 1st June, I can have your boat’s name put on the mugs. All entries will get six mugs, if you want more please let me know – £3.00 each

If any difficulties call me on 01752 567500 or kpalfreeman@yahoo.co.uk

If you don’t want to put your card details on paper you can send in the form then call Claire Adams at RWYC to pay over the phone on 01752 660077

You also need to renew your membership to get your class cert.

Good Racing

Kevin Palfreeman

Notice of race:Impala-NoR-2

Entry form in Excel format:
IMPALA CHAMPIONSHIPS FORM 2012

Entry form in PDF format:
IMPALA-CHAMPIONSHIPS-ENTRY-FORM-2012-1

Send your completed form by email to admin@rwyc.org

Postal address:
THE ROYAL WESTERN YACHT CLUB OF ENGLAND LTD.
Queen Anne’s Battery / Plymouth / PL4 0TW

SECRETARIAT: +44 (0)1752 660077

The number 64 – the Beatles sang about it, there are 64 dark squares on a chessboard, it’s a Slang term referring to a 1964 Chevrolet Impala – and today, there are 64 days to the start of the 2012 Impala Nationals in Plymouth. We’ve got a bumper entry this year, with 14 boats competing so far (Fearnought, Jiminy Cricket, Inca, Polly, Curved Air, Vlad the Impala, Imptish, Atalanta, Wisecrack, Maverick, Imelda, Zulu, Magic and Happy.)

Come and join us for three days of racing in the West Country, a mix of inshore racing and a longer coastal race, a chance to race against some well-sailed boats in one-design and to meet and party with fellow Impala sailors. What could be better?

Let us know (email us) if you want to come – see the Nationals page for more information.

Day 5 of the Warsash Spring Series dawned bright and sunny with a lovely light breeze rippling the trees in Hamble’s waterside gardens. A gentle sail to the start allowed Imptish, the only Impala competing this week, to practice several spinnaker gybes amongst the newly formed multinational crew (if 2 Estonians and 4 brits some of whom can speak French counts as multinational!). Halfway up the first leg it all looked good for team Impala as Imptish had snuck out to a comfortable lead. Unfortunately it all went downhill after that. A nasty kite rip on the first drop and a rapidly increasing breeze leading to withdrawal of the new no 1 from the field of play meant that by for most of the downwind legs Imptish had a poled out no 2 and the crew were drinking tea and eating cake! The end result wasn’t great on handicap (6^th out of the 7 finishers) but it’s all to play for next weekend when the series concludes with Imptish, Sigma 33 ‘Prospero of Hamble, and Mustang 30 ‘Erik the Red’ essentially tied on points after the discard. Whoever finishes first in race 6 will win the series!

Hamo Thornycroft/www.yacht-photos.co.uk

Sunday provided a marked contrast to the past few weeks of racing in the Warsash Spring Series, as a cold, brisk northerly wind forced the Impala crews from Imptish and Polly, to remember how to sail in a breeze. Imptish got the better start and picked up an early left shift that got them to the windward mark in first place. The wind increased as the day went on, and by the final beat, the tide kicked up a nasty chop that made windward speed tricky to find. Polly snuck ahead of Imptish to finish third on the water, but close enough to the Mustang 30 and Sigma 33 in front to save her time and sneak ahead by 59 seconds on corrected time. Imptish finished fourth. Cold, wet crews could be heard muttering that maybe summer wasn’t quite here yet…

The season is beginning to swing into action, so please send in any race reports or updates on what your plans are for the year around the country! Email info@impala28.co.uk

To All Owners,

At the last Champs we were so happy to have boats there that we never touched the topic of scrutineering etc.
However people are putting in a big effort to get to Plymouth and within the context of having 30 year old boats, some of which have passed through several hands as cruising boats, and which we sail on a budget, we do need to have a level playing field.

Not directly relevant to a One Design series but in theory everyone who races off the standard IRC 0.89 should have on board all the required mattresses, pots and pans, doors etc etc. and meet safety Cat 4. Those with other ratings will be based on what they had on board when weighed.
With the passage of 30 plus years since they were launched parts will have gone missing, previous owners will have made a number of mods, owners will not have the time or funds to restore their boat to the original specs and cannot see the point; on the other hand some boats will have acquired weight through being in the water or through all sorts of junk building up on board, overweight engines etc.
Maybe it all works out equal in the end, but we need to move to a situation where all boats carry the min equipment and fit out per class rules.

Matters such as black bands, tracks, etc are easily dealt with, and  I am not too fussed about the sails – they are all made by professional sailmakers and the scope to oversize by an amount that makes a difference is very limited. (the overhang of the mast and boom beyond the black bands is minimal, and a full size genny can barely sheet on the track).

The main areas where I think there will be problems will be below decks.
Most of the equipment when purchased new is expensive, so I have have developed a checklist with the corrector weights for the missing parts.
If you do not want to restore the parts to your boat, then you need to add weights.
It is expected that the weights will be lead – but other weights can be accepted if you are fitting them just for the championships.
The weights should be added per the weight plan – see the rules section of the website – or if not shown there, then as close as practical to where the missing part would be.
The rule numbers is next to each item.

For practicality I have made two ad hoc variations

Rule 7.2 The door: rules do not give a weight,so I have allocated 5kg
Rule:13 Pilot Berth: The rule sates 15kg if the whole structure is missing, but I know of at least one boat that has done away with the hinged section and kept the lockers etc. We weighed the hinged section and they came to 7 kgs each (it was a factory finished boat). So I have divided the weight between the two parts. Of course that boat also carries weights for the missing mattresses.
I think quite a few boats have removed the lining from the forepeak – the weight compensation for this is quite surprising.

Read more…