Dell Quay Sailing Club
Dinghy Racing Race Reports
Big Turnout for 90th Anniversary Celebrations
(Published in the Chichester Observer on Thursday 1st October 2015)
Weather conditions couldn’t have been better, with the club packed and the sun shining, for Dell Quay Sailing Club’s 90th anniversary celebrations and opening of the wonderful new floating pontoon and enlarged balcony. Over 200 members turned out to join in the celebrations together with special guests.
The opening ceremony, which included unveiling a commemorative plaque, was completed by the club's junior members cutting the ribbon. None of this would have been possible without the leadership of Tim Applewhite who designed, project-managed and then built the pontoon and balcony, together with an army of willing volunteers. There then followed a fun packed day comprising: a fancy dress relay race for the Juniors, Junior fun races, a sail past by the club’s cruisers close to the quay, a celebration pursuit race and a hog roast.
A large fleet of 30 boats took to the water for the Celebration Pursuit Race. With so many boats on the water, the very experienced race team of Alison and Gordon Barclay together with Jean and Liz Sagues chose to set a course staying close to the Western shore. The weather provided a fabulous day for mid-September with glorious sunshine but very light winds.
A pursuit race allows the slowest boats to start first, a full 30 minutes ahead of the faster boats for this 90 minute race. The light winds meant a relatively short course with plenty of tactical sailing, to make best use of the tide and wind, with the faster boats rapidly catching the early starters. At the finish Dell Quay's top sailors had come to the fore with Lee Sydenham and son Max in first place sailing a 2000, closely followed by the Solos of Bill Dawber and Richard Ede in second and third place, leaving Anne and Jim Norfolk in another 2000 to take fourth place.
Dell Quay's sailors took to the water again on the following day to enter Bart's Bash, the world wide sailing event in aid of the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. With sunshine and a steady wind it was a perfect day's sailing for both the keen racers and those that sail just for fun.
Results: 1st Lee and Max Sydenham (2000), 2nd Richard Ede (Solo), 3rd Chris West (Laser).
Race reporting by Peter King
Photo by John Nash
Dell Quay Juniors Cutting the Ribbon
