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Pwllheli Nationals 2011

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George Stephen
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Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by George Stephen »

Before this event I had been extolling the virtues of Pwllheli ( :D :D everything at Pwllheli SC :D :D ) and admitting the drawbacks ( :( Pwllheli as a place :( , :( lack of really local accomodation - no camping on hand like Pentewan, Thorpe Bay or Netley :( ). I said that despite the drawbacks it was one of the very best places to hold a National Championships. Having been there again, I think no different; and I think that the 13 other sailors who had competed at both the Nationals held at Pwllheli share my opinion.

But what do the other 44 sailors who went this year think? :( Did you go there on a false recommendation :(? :D Or do you want to go back there again :D? Let us all know what you think, and especially Erling who has been having a trying time finding Clubs who are willing to stage a National Championship for us. Who knows, our Webmaster Martin might set up a vote for this!

Personal Report and Update

My sailing was limited following a :evil: sudden onset of chest pain :evil: when hiking out on the second tack of the first beat during the 5th race, the third on Saturday. I sat in which :? reduced the pain enough :? for me to go on and :) finish the race :) , sailing :? with as little exertion as was prudent :? - well almost, :evil: Christine Roman and the 2up pair Rob and Hannah Bowen might remember me hiking to sneak up a couple of places on the tacks and beat to the finish :evil: .

:( The long fetch ashore proved trying :( . :( I was not well enough to recover my boat up the beach :( (I watched 4 good mates - :D Keith Chidwick, Jan, Kevin Parvin and Ed :D - :oops: I hope I've got those names right :oops: - dash it up the beach while :( I trailed up slowly :( ). Just after changing, a :twisted: resurgence in chest pain and constriction :twisted: , this time with :twisted: light-headedness and some shortage of breath :twisted: , left me with little option other than collapsing to sit on the nearest bench. :D Kevin Dutch :D noticed and dashed off to ask for the Paramedics to be called. :) They arrived in 2 minutes :) . Given :evil: my pre-existing heart condition :evil: , I ended up being ambulanced to the nearest major hospital, 30 miles away at Bangor!

The chest pain was established :) not to be heart-related from tests etc that evening :) and :? overnight :? ( :twisted: woken for blood tests at 3 in the morning :twisted: - :evil: not for the first time in my life :evil: !). Diagnosis was " :? probably some (other) muscular problem :? ", so I was discharged the following morning. I even got :D transported back to Pwllheli :D , arriving just as the last race started - not that I should/would have sailed!!! :D Brian Phipps :D did the strong arm stuff to take down my mast so my boat and trailer was quickly ready to go. :D :D When everyone came ashore I was awash with wellwishers :D :D .

I found that 3 more good mates - :D Gordon, Robert England and Keith Chidwick (again) :D had taken down my tent and transported it and its contents to the Club, leaving me only to return my campsite key to reclaim my deposit.

Later Gordon gave me the card that so many at the Nationals Dinner had taken the time to sign with their wishes and hopes for my recovery - from something that could have been really serious. I was :oops: caught for words :oops: , so some time elapsed before I was able to express my surprise and appreciation. Gordon told me that had Nick noticed me at the prizegiving I would probably have been given it then. I would have been :oops: :oops: :oops: terribly, publicly emotional :oops: :oops: :oops: !!! The card is very :? pink :? , which I have taken as :) your collective hope that I will be "in the pink" in future :) .

:) The chest pain is now much reduced :) . The nature of the reduction in pain leads me to believe there were eventually 2 causes of the chest pain - one being a recurrence of a problem I've had previously but did not recognise at the time, pain from which must have built up after the initial onset of the pain while afloat. :) I'm even thinking about sailing at Queen Mary tomorrow evening...... :) Don't tell Shirley though....

So as well as my appreciation for all at Pwllheli SC, the paramedic ambulance crew, the doctors, nurses and all other staff at Ysbyty Gwynedd, I thank again everyone who so kindly expressed their wishes for my safe and rapid recovery.
George 1594
Kevin Dutch
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by Kevin Dutch »

George. I think I can say for almost everyone that I wish you have a speedy recovery and to take it easy!! I'm glad that you are ok and on the mend and it was good to see you as we came ashore following the last race! See you again soon.
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George Stephen
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by George Stephen »

Kevin,

But how do you rate Pwllheli SC for hosting our Nationals? Was it as good as I reckon it is? But do try to ignore your result when you give your opinion!!!!!!
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Martin Searle
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by Martin Searle »

The nationals were great fun! The venue was excellent with nice staff who helped me out with my requests for printing this and that. The sailing itself was great, the course was quite a way out but this gave consistent wind directions. The waves on the first day were memorable :D

Our accommodation was very local, a short walk to the club each morning so no complaints there. I can see that for tent based camping it was not ideal with a couple miles of driving each day.

I myself was taking it very easy since I have only just recovered from a bad back problem so given the wind and waves i didn't push it too hard.

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Kevin Dutch
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by Kevin Dutch »

I thought it was a fantastic venue. It was all very professional and I would happily go back there. The scenery when racing was the best I'd ever seen and very memorable.
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Mark Aldridge
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by Mark Aldridge »

Kevin Dutch wrote:The scenery when racing was the best I'd ever seen and very memorable.
Do you mean my transoms????

Seriously - George, the Aldridges are pleased to know you're OK and it was a relief to see you back at the club after the paramedics karted (deliberate typo as Jacob won!) you off..

As for Pwllheli, I think they were wonderful and accomodating hosts both on and off the water. The course was I agree on day 1 not quite right, but speaking to the Race Officer, he'd set it as he'd understood we asked for - so perhaps our communication needs to be better initially. The sailing conditions, scenery, launching, race management were as good if not better than we could ask for.

Safety boats on the whole were good (especially when I was trying to get tape over my hole) although I know George in particular and Jacob waited a long time when their masts fell down. Once again, we should learn from this and communicate our expectations in a pre-event briefing.

Yes, I'd happily go back and in hindsight should have stayed for the fun sailing which I hope is a success.

Well done to Kevin.
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by Mark Aldridge »

Forgot to say that the karting location I suggested was ~ 1 1/2 hrs away, so my apologies for that!

The more local track was excellent value for money and it was good to see our loyal Sprint 15 spectators in attendance.
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simon
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by simon »

My first Nationals in the 15, great place, good food, good sailing, Id go back, well done to those who attended.

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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by SteveR »

Glad to hear your on the mend George, :D As I was one of the one's who attended the last Nats at Pwllheli.S.C. Firstly the venue was great, better this time than last as we did not have to travel from the camp site every day, being on site like Netley was much better. Congrats to Erling for organising a great Nationals :idea: and also well done to Kevin, Stuart & Mark. :wink:
Steve & Beryl Roberts 1910 8)
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by DARTPOTT »

George, it was a relief to know that you were fine.....mind you there were probably a few more of us who were in need of a nurse on the beach :roll: ....perhaps the committee should consider this for future events!

A huge well done to Erling for organising such an excellent event and getting the numbers up so well. As for the venue I think that it was excellent apart from that horrible chop which bounced us lighter weights all over the shop. It was such a privilege to sail in such a lovely location, the club was excellent and the support team very good. It would have been nice to have less re-calls (strangely :shock: most seemed to have their best start on these) and rescue did seem a bit slow but I don't think that these were really venue specific. All in all 9/10 from me and I would certainly return.

So sorry Shanklin that we squeaked the team event....a last day effort to spare embarrassment about the missing trophy :mrgreen:
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Andrew Hannah
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by Andrew Hannah »

Far from me to post a comment on an event that I did not attend.

However, I would like to thank the member who posted the results on the Sprint 15 website each day. This allowed me to see how everyone was progressing. I'm pleased the championship was well supported.
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Martin Searle
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by Martin Searle »

Andrew Hannah wrote:Far from me to post a comment on an event that I did not attend.

However, I would like to thank the member who posted the results on the Sprint 15 website each day. This allowed me to see how everyone was progressing. I'm pleased the championship was well supported.
Thanks Andrew! Michelle (my GF) read them out and I entered them into the computer. Thanks to the sailing club for all my printing requests.

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Bob Carter
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by Bob Carter »

And here is the report on the Y&Y website:

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=159034

:D
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by ray.gall »

George, good to see that you are on the mend :D
Pwllheli, well I attended in 2005 and had no issues with returning, infact I booked for eight days so that I could stay for the fun events and explore the local area.
Pwllheli didn't disapoint, great sailing and big courses which clearly for a championship there needs to be, superb facilities, boat park, sailing club and a big chunk of Cardigan bay complete with choppy and flat water depending on breeze conditons. Hospitality in the SC was wonderful and I believe we were all made to feel warmly welcome and as a result we all used the club facilities no need to travel in to town or country pubs for a beer or meal. Plenty of accomodation types, I camped in 2005 but decided to rent a house within five minutes walking distance at what I thought was a reasonable price....Howmuch! :roll:
Great job Erling, take a little rest as you appear to have lost a little weight with all of the worry of organising the event :wink:
Only two minor negatives for me to report, the first of which we can't really do much about and that is the issue of our trolley dollies/friends & families who even with the use of binoculas cannot see who is in the lead and where their partners are in the race......the second issue we could change and that is the structure of the race program, normally in previous years Saturday is a day of travelling and boat set up with Sunday, Monday & Tuesday as race days, this saves the problem of finding an extra nights accomodation, most of the lets in Pwllheli were Saturday to Saturday and for the majority amongst us the full week would only require five days annual holiday leave rather than the six I had to use this year.
Liz & I look forward to returning to Pwllheli in 2015 and for those of you out there that have not been to Pwllheli, don't miss out in 2015, it's a blast and fun for all the family :D
Congratulation Kevin Dutch our new National Champion, see you at Sheppey in a couple of weeks for the round the island race :)
Andrew Gregory
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Re: Pwllheli Nationals 2011

Post by Andrew Gregory »

Pwllheli Sailing Club provided an excellent championship venue. While the rather interesting clientele visiting the squat opposite my B&B brought the quality of the town down, given the constant wind and views of Snowdon in the background we could almost have been sailing at Lake Garda.

Thanks Erling and your team for organising such a good regatta; an entry of almost 60 in North Wales during August is some feat! Hopefully we can exceed this next year.

And finally, thanks everyone for making me feel so welcome at my first Sprint 15 event; learning how to sail a class of boat is always fun, especially with all your help & advice.

Andrew Gregory
1958 (Barcelona Bob)
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