Club News

Snafu!

An error crept into the results for the Choak's Pasties series. A number of boats were incorrectly classified in the first race. This only affected those boats who sail in W and another class (usually U or E). Until we see you on the water with your class flag we don't know what you are up to. A more egregious error occurred as a result of the postponement in the second race of the series. All the start times were adjusted, but unfortunately, some of those start times were applied to the last race, with an obvious knock on effect for the elapsed (and therefore corrected) times. All of these errors have now been corrected. A cursory examination suggests that there are no major changes in positions and that the overall results remain unaffected.

Clearly no more days off for me! Apologies for any upsets.

End of an era

Tuesday May 17th saw the last ever Choaks Pasty series come to an end. There was an excellent turnout with W class excelling themselves and a few newcomers to the racing (welcome Lola, Allsorts). The Choak's banner even flew properly from the committee boat, almost a first. It usually wraps itself round the rigging.

But a sadness nonetheless. We wish Charlie a long, happy and productive retirement and look forward to his continued association with the Club, as President. No more saffron buns, sigh.

Following the Choaks series, we have the 7 race Hine Downing One series which will take us through to July.

A reminder for Q, E and U classes: please ensure you have a current IRC rating.

Silver Sunbeam

A reminder to the Sunbeamers out there. The competition for the Silver Sunbeam trophy takes place this Saturday, May 21st. Melkin is ready to go, are you?

Gull Rock / Manacles

The annual Gull Rock/Manacles race takes place on Sunday May 29th. Run by FSC, it is part of the COGS Coastal Series. The SIs are available here.

A full list of crew racing must be held by shore based contact for the boat. The Yacht's name and the Contact's telephone number must be sent to the race officer at least a day before the start. Full details in the SIs.

Sailing Suppers

Pre-ordering your meal on a Tuesday or Friday through the Flushing Food WhatsApp remains the preferred option, but Denise will always have a few extras for those who fail, but they may not be your first choice. Examples of what may be on the menu is under the Suppers page on the website. Denise also sends out a WhatsApp message outlining the menu to those who have registered.

Friday evening opening continues and the clubhouse itself will be open from 1830, serving food from Denise and drinks from the bar.

NB: the QR code in the SI handbook does not appear to work, but the version on the noticeboard in the Clubhouse does.

Flushing Sailing Club is a truly amazing, flourishing sailing club running the finest yacht racing in the port of Falmouth.

Founded in 1921 for the benefit of Flushing residents, the club is situated on the New Quay commanding stunning and panoramic views of the inner Falmouth Harbour and the reaches of the Penryn River.

The club has a long history of providing exhilarating and competitive racing for yachts in and around the Carrick Roads as well as coastal and offshore events. A strong involvement with the Sunbeam class during the early years of both the Club and the Sunbeam class continues. We enjoy the full support and participation of the Falmouth Working Boats Association.

With their distinctive topsails, the working boats and the gaffers are a symbol of the region and continue a traditional form of sailing. But the club supports contemporary yachts too, providing competitive and friendly racing for many classes.

Most racing takes place in the Carrick Roads and Falmouth Bay, usually finishing on the club line (an imaginary line between ourselves and the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club). During the summer we can expect around 50 boats racing on a Tuesday evening, and an awesome number of yachts setting sail for their Saturday afternoon races. They make a grand sight as they come up the harbour to the finish line.

Members are joined together by their love of sailing, but being a visitor friendly club, non-members are also invited to share our facilities on Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon racing throughout the season.

Flushing Sailing Club has been honoured to host the main prizegiving for the whole of Falmouth Sailing Week. It was a day to remember for all competing sailors and families. We look forward to hosting the 2022 prizegiving.

And we are inordinately proud that Pete Goss MBE consented to become an Honorary Life Member of the Club, together with Nessa Simcock and Harold Martin.

A potted history of the first 75 years of the Club is available here.

YTC no more?

YTC, introduced & developed in Falmouth will now be managed and run by a consortium: comprising the RYA Racing Department, the RORC Rating Office (who administer IRC) and representatives of the present YTC core team. This will ensure that the system is sponsored properly by our sport's national governing body, the RYA; while business continuity and technical knowledge will be provided by the core team representative; and, the existing boat data, technical knowledge and business reach of the RORC Rating Office will be harnessed to develop the system for the future.

YTC handicapping system is already in use by twenty-five clubs and organising authorities in the South West and has details of around 1400 boats, issuing about 500 certificates a year. The ethos behind YTC has always been to encourage people with ordinary boats to turn out and race, normally at club or local regatta level, and not to put unnecessary barriers in their way. The certificate has always been free, and will remain so.

What changes? The full title of the system will now be RYA YTC, powered by the RORC Rating Office. Superficially, the changes should be transparent. You submit your details in the same way, and lo, back comes a certificate. The only difference is that the elves dealing with the numbers are at RYA, and not FSC (or RCYC, or Mylor etc).

Aar, Jim lad!

A big welcome to Jim Lloyd-Davies, our new boatman, whose smiling face will become familiar to you as he ferries you out to your boat on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Help Jim and help yourself by giving him your mooring location rather than your boat name. He knows where all the moorings are, but he might not know which one is yours.

The launch is available from 5 on Tuesday, and 12 on Saturday; until racing is over and crews are ashore.

Sailing News

A summary of the Race Officer and Skippers' Briefing is available here.

Please note that start times for the Pursuits will be posted at the Clubhouse, and may not be available online. Q, E, U and W classes require a current SWYTYC certificate.

Pontoon Project

The next big thing for the Club!

Where marked

an event will also be available over Zoom (Meeting ID – 304 203 4596; Password – POFSA)

Join

We are a friendly sailing club and always welcome new members. If you would like to join, please follow this link for membership details. Or come along any Tuesday evening, or on a Saturday afternoon through the sailing season. You will be guaranteed a warm welcome.

A short (2 minutes) promotional video was created by Katie Barker and Nick Bray, journalism students at Falmouth University.

Talking Heads

Just before we entered lockdown (such a long time ago), Gaye Slater, our Commodore, interviewed a few club members as part of another project. To remind you of the Club and see a couple of friendly (!) faces, we decided to offer a couple of them to you all. The first two are from one of our oldest members, and one of our younger non-members, covering our wide age appeal. To find out more, follow this link.

Development Plan

The Club's Development Plan is available here.

We send out a newsletter to all Club members on a monthly basis to provide some up-to-date information on what is going on at the Club. Why haven't you received yours? Perhaps because you aren't a member, we don't have an email address for you, or it's in your spam folder. All three can be easily rectified.