Dell Quay Sailing Club

With dinghy racing as we know it on hold, competitive sailors at Dell Quay Sailing club have switched codes and taken up eSailing in order to get their racing fix. eSailing takes a bit of getting used to but once acclimatised it becomes apparent that it shares much with the real thing. DQSC’s chosen platform, Virtual Regatta Inshore, cleverly replicates wind shifts, wind shadows, wave action and lee-bow amongst a host of other realistic features. Virtual Regatta also enforces the yacht racing rules, though sometimes with questionable decisions which, if anything, encourages more gentlemanly behaviour.

DQSC hosted two events in April, with 17 competitors in total, racing over two series, each of 9 races. The age of helms in the fleet has ranged from 10 to 70 and experience from 50+ years to complete beginner.

April Series 1

The first three races of series 1 were raced in the 2-sail star which makes for tactical upwind racing and close downwind legs where wind-shadows become key. Races 4-6 were sailed in 49ers, bringing in a whole new skillset with downwind angles and laylines making the difference. The final three races were run in the J70, combining elements from both the Star and the 49er. The first series was won by Will Parrett, with Mark Garder in second and Steve Holcroft third, just ahead of Mike Dicker. Jon Rutter, new to sailing this season, clocked an impressive 5^th despite crashing out of 2 races due to slow bandwidth!

Overall Results after 9 races and 3 discards.

1^st Will Parrett (6 pts)

2^nd Mark Gardner (11 pts)

3^rd Steve Holcroft (18 pts)

First Junior - Ethan Sparkes

First over 60 – Mark Harper (or DQSC Nobby as he is now known)

April Series 2

Series 1 was a great start for eSailing at DQSC and Series 2 was even better attended, with many having clearly practiced between series. Following the same Star, 49er, J70 format, Racing was close with 9 different sailors featuring in the top 3 over the series. We also saw some impressive individual efforts, not least from Tim Boon who left the rest of the fleet for dead in race 6 to win by 8 seconds. The series was won overall by Will Parrett, with Mark Gardner in second and Shaun Pollard in 3^rd. Shaun just pipped Steve Holcroft who came in 4^th, followed by Tim Boon and Jon Rutter in 5^th and 6^th.

Overall Results after 9 races and 3 discards.

1^st Will Parrett (9 pts)

2^nd Mark Gardner (13 pts)

3^rd Shaun Pollard (18 pts)

First Junior - Ethan Sparkes

First over 60 – Andrew Horne

eSailing has had a really positive start for DQSC and we will be hosting more events over the coming weeks. Keep an eye on club news and the DQSC and DQSC Juniors facebook pages for news.

Will Parrett

Series 2 Race 3 Start

Series 2 Race 5 Downwind Mark Rounding

 

Series 2 Race 8 Gybe Mark Rounding

Series 2 Race 9 Start

Series 2 Race 9 Upwind Mark Rounding

Series 2 Race 9 Second Beat

Series 2 Race 9 Downwind Mark Rounding