Xenon real Handicap

So just what is the handicap of a Topper Xenon??

Being a good citizen I registered it at the club when I arrived as PY1070 – just like the booklet tells me.

The Lasers which I race against are ‘officially’ PY1078 and there has been some comment in the club that the handicap PY1070 is perhaps a little low ….(or we have very good Laser sailors, or I am particularly rubbish). It has even been suggested that Topper might promote low handicaps to make their boats faster!! <gasp!>

So officially at Wivenhoe Sailing Club, Topper Xenons are now rated as PY1075. This by co-incidence is the same handicap as Brightlingsea Sailing Club uses.

In my quest for the truth, I looked at a couple of other club websites and had a laugh at Erith Yacht Club who has gone totally the opposite way and has given their Topper Xenon class a local handicap of 1035!!

I suspect that a major issue is that when we race, the Barman and I are both quite heavy fella’s and this might cause some of the apparent slowness. Read here for the weight guide lines!

That said, last Sundays race went extremely well for the Barman and I. Despite the spinnaker detaching itself from the bow sprit and the forestay accidentally not been undone when the jib was rigged, we crossed the finish line a credible 2nd just behind the lead Laser. Lessons described in the blog posts below are working.

Man Sailing and Gunships

Last Sunday's sailing was tough and I have classed it as proper man sailing - apologies to all women sailors!

The Barman and I had the boat going to Brightlingsea and once the estuary opened up we got the Xenon going like a speedboat. Now the forecast said it was going to be a managable F4 wind which was perfect; unfortunately it was much stronger. On return and checking the Brightlingsea Sailing Club website (see above) we had been out in a F6 gusting +30 knots.

When we started to plane off Brightlingsea, I have to admit I was starting to get a little scared, not necessarily because of the wind but the size of the waves that we started to hit and the fast approaching shoreline directly ahead of us. To add to the man-sailing day an Apache AH64 gunship flew overhead as we were bombing along looking cool.

Now the real challenge was getting 8km back up river and maintaining control (i.e. not capsizing); as a result my tacks became real girly (I've made my apologies already).

Problems came when we found a mud bank opposite Arlesford Creek and came to a sharp halt; I had managed to get the nose pointing back down wind before both centre board and the rudder had to come up.  We then found ourselves on a very difficult to control run in a foot of water, all lines on the rudder snapped again(!) and the tiller looked like it was going to break as I tried to keep us straight - it started not to be so much fun. I wasn't able to get the rudder back down properly so we had to limp the last 4km back in to Wivenhoe. All in all an exciting and challenging sail.

Update on dress in the boat - it is time for wetsuits.

Brightlingsea One Design

My lack of original content and poor prose show up badly when compared to professionals like Dylan Winter. I came across another video he did as it had some Topper Xenons in sailing at Brightlingsea. Anyway it gives a great impression of what it's like where the Colne River opens up and what they look like underway.

The Brightlingsea One Design (BOD) is a big feature of this video and is similar to the Wivenhoe One Design (WOD) but bigger!

Anyway - here is how the pros do their video blogs.....

How to Capsize a Topper Xenon

I finally capsized the Topper Xenon with the Barman!

Today was a damn good outing - HW was at approx 4pm and we launched at about 2:45pm from Wivenhoe Sailing Club. May be it was a little ominous but I botched the start again - need to get the rudder down faster so I get control of the boat before we get blown into the mud in front of the club house. Knee deep in mud we had a second launch and were much more successful.

The pic above shows how good the wind was - we were out on the peaks. It's on days like this you need a warm-up program as you get a proper workout as the invisible hand (called the wind) flicks the sails with its finger randomly. At 3:45pm we were opposite Bateman's Tower at Brightlingsea (took about 50min - remember we had a botched start). Hmm seems we were averaging 6 m.p.h. which is not too bad - feels faster!

There were a couple of skiers about and oddly enough the RNLI were attending a boat on the east shore.

We had turned and were heading back when it all happened. We tried to line the boat up for a mega down-the-river-gybe with the spinnaker up all the way. We were just about on the plain as it was but this was going to be even faster - sadly not. Only a couple of minutes after we had the spinnaker up, we were over powered by the wind and into the Colne River we went - salty yum.

So we are in the water. Initially puffing because of the cold. All of a sudden the boat is massive - only our heads are above the water and the boat towers high-up floating on its side. We have to right her. I swim round the back and the dagger board is above my head at the top of my arms reach. I get both hands on. Kicking my feet and hauling myself up I get laid across feet still in the water. Nothing happens. Slowly it starts to move towards me and we shout at each other as it comes up straight. Sails up and wind blowing it starts to race off and blows over again. This time worse. The mast starts to sink and she begins to turtle. This is not good. Our arms are aching as we try to haul ourselves out of the water and right the boat. It starts again but blows over. We keep going and getting tired fast curse not going to the gym enough. A speedboat approaches and offers help. They haven't a clue what to do. We need to get the nose to the wind when we right her. A rope is tied to the front and it hauls the nose towards the wind. Another young guy pitches up in a speedboat but he is on his own and useless. We start again. Tired, it's getting harder and I understand how people get too exhausted to do anything. It works though and I try to get over the side. It's too difficult now and I go over the transom at the back instead. I bring down all the sails. The Barman needs hauling on board, he's tired out as well. We re-organise the sails. Thank the speedboat people and get on our way. We are knackered.

It's not over though as we have a few miles to do.

However this is when the good bit happens. All the time I thought I had been on the plain previously were mistaken. We were hurtling along when all of a sudden the boat lifted up above the water and we had a significant turn of speed - WOW it made it all worth it.

There are many lessons learned here - see my coming blog about gennakers (!) - but I would recommend if you are going to do daring things with dinghies and they are 10ft+ it is well worth getting a mast float. Next time I go out, I need to take the mast down and wash the top where it scooped mud from the bottom of the River Colne (meconium style [er....look it up]).

Video - Colne Estuary

I found some more clips on YouTube and think they are great. They show where I sail, all thanks to Dylan Winter (dylan.winter@virgin.net) - no I don't know him, but just giving credit where it's due!