May 02: I think it is fair to say that with 14 Mini-12's showing up for the first day of racing plus two other possibles - we have become a Mini-12 club (I didn't count those who have two boats)

Dirk had interference problems of some kind. There are no duplications so it's a problem of checking the possibilities one at a time. I remember that for two years I had to move away from the others but even then whenever my boat was close to other boats I lost control - I had to purchase a better quality radio - Brian experienced the same problem last year and now has a new radio - some testing is in order to explore Dirk's problem.

So much for the preamble - Here are the results:

Mini-12

1. Brian Credico 10.25 pts
2. Terry Doble 11.5
3. Peter Easterbrook 24.75
4. Chris Wyvill 33.0
5. Peter Sly 37.0
6. Peter Savidge 41.0
7. Peter/Jill Cox 44.0
8. Norm Struthers 52.0 tie
9. Dirk DeBoer 52.0 tie
10. John Hutchings 58.0
11. Anthony Gallow 69.0
12. Peter Brister 73.0 tie
13. Phillip Allison 73.0 tie

There were a few first race problems - our newest member Phillip Allison is to be commended for hanging in there after missing the first three races. The ties were broken by "best score" but of course we end up with the total points at the end of the series anyway. For new members - the weekly point results are divided by the number of boats racing so that there is no advantage from having lower points simply because there are days with fewer boats.

Mini-12's
SAIL SKIPPER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 PTS              Final

25 Calnan, Pat (78) 4 7 11 8 12 11           10

29 Credico, Brian 0k 8 2 6 2 2 6                 2

33 Sly, Peter (87) 6 8 1 7 3 3 27.75            3

34 Doble, Terry (78) 1 4 3 1 1 1                 1

37 Brister, Peter (79) 5 3 9 3 7 2               4

38 Brister, Marg (62) 3 11 8 11 10 4           9

43 Struthers, Norm 89 9 12 10 10 8 13       12

62 Easterbrook, P (66 10 5 5 6 9 8              7

79 Hutchings, John 63 11 10 13 12 4 10      11

84 Savidge, Peter 0k 12 1 2 5 6 9                6

93 Wyvill, Chris (69) 2 6 7 4 5 7                  5

95 Allison, Phillip (76) 7 9 4 9 11 5              8

Mini - 12's
1 Terry Doble                 8 pts 1-2-1-3-1-1
2 Peter Easterbrook        24     2-7-4-5-2-4
3 Brian Credico              27.5   7-1-7-1-10-2
4 Peter Savidge             29      4-5-5-9-3-3
5 Dirk DeBoer                33      9-3-3-7-5-6
6 John Hutchings            37     8-6-6-2-7-8
7 Jill Cox                       44     6-4-2-6----
8 Peter Sly                    46     3-8-9---6-7
9 Pat Calnan                  48     5-9-8-8-8-10
10 Chris Wyvill               54      ----11-4-4-9
11 Anthony Gallow          60      ----10-10-9-5
12 Phillip Allison             67     10-10-12-11-11---

Mini - 12's
1. Peter Sly 12.75
2. Terry Doble 28.0
3. Chris Wyvill 31.0 (two seconds)
4. Brian Credico 31.0 (one second)
5. Peter Savidge 34.75
6. Peter Easterbrool 36.0
7. Dirk DeBoer 39.0
8. John Hutchings 43.0
9. Anthony Gallow 47.0
10. Norm Struthers 49.0
11. Jill Cox 52.0
12 Pat Calnan 63.0

Peter Sly is to be congratulated for leaving the pack behind. Peter was first in five races - there must be something with all this measuing.

Chris, Peter Savidge and Anthony also should be pleased with their results. All had some excellent races but the short course injected various variables into each race (bad starts, collisions, rafting, luck at the marks)

May 30 : A very interesting afternoon - dead calm at 1.00 o'clock but wind arrived for us at 1.15 and six races were completed in a little over an hour.

Peter Sly had an amazingly consistent day -5 seconds and 1 third Brian produced 4 firsts, a fifth and an eighth This is a clear example of how a 7th throw-away race would likely have given Brian a clear first. Throw-aways tend to be a reverse handicap as the leaders often have only one bad race for one reason or another whereas the less skilled will likely have a number of poor finishes so it doesn't make much difference.

July 04: Cancelled due to weather

July 11: Our first day at Oak Lake and the first race of the Summer Series. The wind was excellent - directly from our left pretty well parallel to the shore line. We ended up with only 6 boats, Peter Sly showed up but discovered that his radio board was loose in the boat and it couldn't be repaired for the races so made his way back to Picton (regatta damage presumed)
We didn't miss any race days during the Spring Series but already have missed the first two race days of the Summer Series. We're all beginning with a handicap of two races days that can't be thrown out.

Mini 12

1. Brian Credico 6.75 pts
2. Don Demeza 18.75
3. Dirk DeBoer 21.0
4. Chris Wyvill 26.0
5. John Hutchings 26.0
6. Norm Struthers 27.0

Brian took 5 first - he was just untouchable - the rest of us all had some good races but blew it on others. Chris had two 2nds as opposed to one for John so that broke the tie.

July 18: The winds were light, flukey and challenging. Boats quite close together but some on a run and others tacking. Everyone except yours truly managed a first and Chris scored two firsts. Dirk was last in the first two races and then was first in the last race - quite an interesting day for our final day at Oak Lake.

Mini 12

1. Terry Doble 14.75 pts
2. Chris Wyvill 16.5
3. Brian Credico 16.75
4. John Hutchings 21.75
5. Don Demeza 27.0
6. Dirk DeBoer 27.75

NEXT WEEK - JULY 25TH - 5.30 P.M. AT THE BAY OF QUINTE YACHT CLUB - FIRST RACE 6.00 P.M.

July 25 : Our first evening at BQYC was very interesting. I made the mistake of arriving very early and rigging my boat under the tree. A huge gust arrived and ripped my rigging off the boat. We then moved to the protection of the clubhouse where I completed three different repairs to my rigging (I was using a new set of sails and I had been a bit careless with a few joints - nothing like repairing at the field)

Meanwhile, Brian set an interesting course in the dock area. We lined up by the guest boats and the first leg was a broad reach. The last leg of the triangle was a beat and we repeated that leg twice. Very interesting with the boats tacking meeting those running.

We also had docks for hazards - there were some close shaves as we attempted to pass the docks without an additional tack. In the fourth race - approaching the finish line - Terry rammed the dock and de-rigged his boat.

There were some calms as the wind died but there were also some pretty fierce gusts - in these conditions it's anyone's race. The final scores were much closer than usual. John Hutchings should receive an award for the most improved in one night of racing (he began with two lasts, then a 5th, then a 2nd and finished with two firsts)

Mini 12
1. Don Demeza 18.75 pts
2. Chris Wyvill 22.0
3. John Hutchings 22.5
4. Brian Credico 22.75
5. Peter Easterbrook 23.0
6. Terry Doble 27.5
7. Peter Savidge 33.0

I think we all enjoyed the evening racing despite the initial winds and storm threats. When we were bringing in the marks some of our spectators on the guest boat dock thanked us for the sailing show. A number of us enoyed the hospitality of the yacht club before heading home.

August 01 : Very windy and wavey again. Race in the inner harbour for some protection but resulted in many windshifts. Waves also kept knocking the wind out or the sails. Needed luck in the shifts to do well.

Mini 12

1. Brian Credico 11.25 pts
2. Peter Savidge 14.5
3. Don demeza 19.75
4. John Hutchings 21.0
5. Chris Wyvill 23.0

August 08: Finally we had good winds and a cool summer evening - as a result 12 boats were on hand for the evening racing.

1. Don Demeza 11.25 pts
2. Brian Credico 25.75
3. Chris Wyvill 26.0
4. Peter Savidge 29.0
5. Norm Struthers 43.0
6. Terry Doble 44.75
7. John Hutchings 46.0
8. Peter Easterbrook 46.0
9. Peter Sly 47.0
10. Dirk DeBoer 48.0
11. Anthony Gallow 53.0
12. Pat Calnan 53.75

Terry had equipment failure and missed three racesJohn Hutchings missed one and Anthony Gallow missed one. John Hutchings had a 3rd in the first race and this broke the tie with Peter.

If you wonder what I did to my boat to get that first place- read on -

My deck eyes for the jib were slightly off standard (set to Soling rules) - one was legal and one was 1/4 inch out - I removed them and then spotted them exactly to Mini-12 instructions and then used the second eye from the bow.

My measured distance from the top of the mast to the bow was about 3/4 of an inch longer than I had previously determined was nearer to the ideal. I replaced the top jib lines as they were difficult to adjust and set the distance at exactly 55 and 1/2 inches.

I made sure that the boom for a tack was over the corner of the stern and that the jib was slightly past the stays.

The sails full in adjustment is made with the sail stick and trim levers both at the bottom of their travel so that I can't stress the servo with the trim control. Downwind I let out both the stick and the trim control.

I adjusted the sail slack to two fingers for the quieter winds.

Presto - it worked - the boat held a tack with hardly any rudder adjustment

August 15: The winds were good on Tueday and we had a long course.

Mini 12
1. Terry Doble 6.75 pts
2. Don Demeza 15.0
3. John Hutchings 20.75
4. Chris Wyvill 22.0
5. Norm Struthers 24.0
6. John Aitken 38.0
7. Peter Savidge 48.0

John Aitken is to be congratulated for staying in there on his first day of racing. Peter had problems and we hope he'll have them solved for our next day out.

2006 Club Championships (combined Spring, Summer and Fall Series)

1. Terry Doble 23.78 pts
2. Brian Credico 23.94
3. Peter Savidge 35.71
4. Peter Sly 38.58
5. Don Demeza 40.76
6. Peter Easterbrook 40.98
7. Chris Wyvill 44.11
8. John Hutchings 46.2
9. Norm Struthers 50.79
10 Jill Cox 56.24
11 Dirk DeBoer 57.48
12 Pat Calnan 59.06
13 Anthony Gallow 65.36
14 Peter Cox 73.07
15 John Aitken 73.2
16 Phillip Allison 73.61
17 Peter Brister 74.1
18 Marg Brister 74.5