The Bell Chimes Oct 00

	CLASS CAPTAINS WAFFLE Well that's it almost another sailing year over which I feel has been a most successful one. Our turnouts for club racing has been the best ever reaching the magic 18 again with a number of 17s and numerous 16s. Congratulations to Tony Moore who up to this year had never won a series. Unfortunately he showed his true colours, got greedy and grabbed two. Pete Harlow found his form after a slow start to take three and a well done to Andy Welch for retaining the Monday Spring Series.
My position as Class Captain has been a doddle this year due to the introduction of the new system where basically the duties are shared out. For those not familiar with what happens, the class is run by a six person team.
Next Captain Class Captain Vice Captain Social Secretary Results Secretary Press & PR Secretary	(Class Captain in training with a list of duties) (only 1 year in office) (previous Class Captain and the deputy with duties) (elected annually) (elected annually) (elected annually)
The three captains are in each position for one year and the whole thing is a team effort. We are very lucky that in addition to the above, David Bracey offered his services as Treasurer and Graham Chase has been taking on special tasks such as organising this years successful GP Training Day. Pete Harlow also joined the team and played his part in the organisation of the South West Area Championship which we hosted in May. Getting back to the Class Captain business, part of the new system is to plan ahead so the position at the moment is :-

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004	Next Captain Barry Southam David Bracey	Class Captain Den Valentine Barry Southam David Bracey	Vice Captain Tony Moore Den Valentine Barry Southam David Bracey
As you can see we have some gaps, so come on, throw you name into the ring. Our WebSite www.poolegp14.co.uk has been running since January and already is a mine of information on our group and what we get up to. Nevertheless we are always looking to add more information to the site so your articles or ideas please, let us have it and we'll get it on. Well that's enough waffle from me but before I sign off can we wish the best of luck to Anne Sweetzer who is leaving the area and unfortunately the club. Anne has been an active member of our class and her lovely smiling face will be missed. Some congratulation are also in order, first to Greg and Jane who eventually tied the knot last month (at last making it legal) and best wishes also to Peter Carswell and Linda Compton on their recent engagement. That's it. Bye for now, see you at the AGM ??? Den Valentine

	THE B.B.Q. Baldrick is not in the habit of congratulating Mr Peter Harlow (he wins too many races for my liking) and so finds the next few lines quite difficult. It was with mild surprise we accepted the invitation from Peter to host this years B.B.Q.
	Of course now in hindsight (good name for a boat that!) if I had known Pete's sister Christine a little better there would be no surprise. Well organised, great eats and sweets, and a choice of 5 or 6 individual grills to cook on ! So I will say this only once, thanks very much Peter for a really great evening, (I mean Christine really).
King of the Slipway Award This year the jury was clearly bored with John Ballinger's paddling and Tony Knill's attempts to sail out of the haven with his centre board up. So who is this! Steaming towards the slipway under full sail on a good beam reach. Crew goes forward to the bow and neatly lassoos his foot in the cleated genoa sheet. He turns to wind at speed, neatly dodges two stationary boats only to come face to face with the slipway wall. Only option is to tack fast, crew falls over, now on fast run to the yachting berths. An out of control gybe (when was there any control) and heading for disaster on the rocks. Unfortunately the dire consequences and the writers entertainment were brought to a halt by some do-gooder clambering down the rocks (sorry Den) and grabbing the boat off, yes, you know who this winner is, it's Greg McLoughlin !!

TRAVELLERS SERIES 2000
(Sponsored by Brown Fintube)
It's good fun traveling to other clubs especially when there are a few of you. The host club always make you welcome and sailing on strange water is certainly different.

If you happen to end up sailing on one of those pond things then I would have to substitute the word "different" !!
To qualify for this years South West Area Travellers Series, it was made extra easy for us Poole boats. We only needed to compete in 9 races with at least one event involving hitching the boat. A record number of PYC travelers took to the road with 4 of our GPs attending the Whitefriars open and 5 making it to Spinnaker SC.
Sadly our local heroes Pete Harlow and Barry Southam were beaten in to 2nd spot narrowly missing out by just one point to the Lympstone team of Tony and Caroline Blackmore.
Anyway well done to those who had a go and maybe we can improve the numbers next year and dare we even think of it - Bring the trophy to Poole ??

Final Results
1st Tony & Caroline Blackmore (Lympstone) 13 pts

2nd Pete Harlow & Barry Southam (Poole YC) 14 pts

3rd Den Valentine (Poole YC) 17 pts

4th Matt Valentine & Sarah Saunders (Poole YC) 27 pts

5th David & Barbara Brann (Poole YC) 35 pts

Captain Nemo Award
The last sentence in the last newsletter went "we can't always rely on the Branns playing submarines in the main shipping channel." How wrong can you be. Having done so well in this contest last season David has now progressed to celebrity ditching. Clearly bored with pitching long suffering wife Barbara into the drink, the latest casualty was the ex-commodore Jim McGregor ! Even with ex-commodore, still only counting 1, David amassed a grand total of 7 capsizes, so being head and shoulders 'below' not even close contenders Mike Williams, Tony Moore, Matt Valentine and Greg McLoughlin all on 3.

GP RACE TRAINING DAY - SAT 22nd July 2000 It's now happened and at least we now know what to do! Doing it will be something different. Neil Thompson came down from the Midlands and it was brilliant. He gave us a full day covering everything from setting up the boats to starting skills and an advanced level of boat handling. Thanks again Neil, we all enjoyed it.
REPORT by DAVID BRACEY (Oct '00 Newsletter) It came as no surprise that Neil Thompson, who came 2nd in our South West Area Championship		(a touch unlucky not to win), provided a very informative and enjoyable day. Two sessions in the dinghy park sandwiched very lively practical exercises on the water.

Unfortunately when Celia and I met the gusty F5 we adopted our customary panic paralysis mode and hurtled across the bay and back, duly ignoring our prestigious guest. The thought of practicing close quarter starting techniques in those conditions has no relevance to our sailing. Thankfully the efforts of our more spirited GP14 ers limited our embarrassment and found it very worthwhile. Sadly one lesson learnt did disappoint. I always understood that when beating upwind it was my duty to ensure the shroud impressed a groove at least 10mm deep into my crews side. Not so, current thinking has is to sit slightly back at an angle to encourage the bow over the waves.

We send our thanks to Neil for giving up his time, the GP14 Class Association who laid on the event and Graham Chase for the organising it all.