1 day away

The forecast’s not looking bad for the 2012 Impala Championships in Plymouth over the next few days – a bit of rain, but that seems to be a feature of this year’s summer! There should be some great close racing – check back here and on the Impala 28 Facebook Read more…

HONG KONG ROUND THE ISLAND RACE

This took place on Sunday Nov 20th.

Course is HK Island to Starboard, with a number of  racing marks on the southern shore which have to be left to port to keep the yachts out of the very busy shipping lanes. Also there are a couple of small islands which must be left to starboard and a final starboard turning  mark to line the fleet up for the final beat up the harbour from the west.

The starting and handicapping is similar to IOW RTIR with two start lines off the Club House, with an event handicap based on IRC with non IRC boats slotted in as the handicappers see fit.

Simultaneously Starting from the southern point of the island, from the Middle Island clubhouse is the RTIR for outriggers. These are strange craft in which the occupants, eschewing the wind that nature has provided, expend vast amounts of energy paddling the boats along. With gentle coaxing and the offer of rum and coke, and genial relaxed company whilst letting the sails do the work the male paddlers can usually be brought back into the fold. The female paddlers on the other hand strike fear into the souls of the humble and gentle sailing folk. With their highly developed physiques, bulging biceps, and steely eyed, they are best avoided.

(more…)

Summer in the Winter Series?

A beautiful sunny day with 9-12 knots of breeze? In November? The sixth Garmin Hamble Winter Series weekend could have been in the Caribbean – apart from Fawley power station chimney, of course. Polly crossed the line first, ahead of a very close battle for second by the next five Read more…

Please Stand By

You may have noticed that the website has been throwing up a lot of error messages recently. We’ll be moving it to a new Linux server in the next few days, so please be patient – it should resolve the irritating issues we’ve been having. Please Stand By….

Back in Business

A new mast for Monkey Business at last! Not without its teething troubles it has to be said, and a lot more to sort. To say that the new rig is different is something of an understatement! A full write-up should follow over the winter once we have worked everything Read more…