Club Racing at Midland

All about Club Racing

Saturday afternoons.

At Midland sailing club we race every Saturday with the exception of certain

‘exclusive days’ see calendar. The first race begins at 1.30 pm and is an average lap race, and the second a pursuit race starts after lunch at around 3.30 pm. In the winter months November to February we start at 1 pm and 2.45 pm so that we can finish before dark.

We have Winter (January, February March), Spring (April, May June), Summer (July, August September) and Autumn Series (October, November December).

For each series there are different trophies to compete for - fleet trophies (such as the Merlin, Solo, and GP14 fleets), handicap trophies and scratch (overall winners).

Club racing calendar 2017-18

Helm and crew availability (log-in only)

Wednesday evenings.

During the summer we also hold a Wednesday evening race starting at 6.30 in April and September and 7pm for May, June, July and August. We have two series here the Spring and Summer. Wednesday evening races are generally pursuit races with the exception of the flag officers races which are held one each in May, June and July. These are average lap races and the flag officers are generally expected to provide strawberries and crea, for the competitors.

Pusuit Racing

The second race on Saturday afternoon and most Wednesday races are pusuit races. Slower classes of dinghy start first and faster ones later with the intention that all things being equal all competitors should finish at the same time after an hour's race.

Pursuit race start times 2018

Average lap racing

The first race on Saturday afternoon and the Wednesday evening flag officer series races are average lap races. The principle of the Average Lap Time (ALT) race is that it provides a mass start for all the classes of boat that we sail, and a nominal race length of around one hour for each competitor. It allows slow boats such as toppers and optimists sailed by the juniors to compete fairly with faster ones. It also means all competitors have the same wind conditions unlike a pursuit race where the wind may vary throughout the race benefitting one particular secton of the fleet.

The results of each race are announced after racing, (sometimes forecasts are made before races) and posted in the club house so you can instantly see how you've done and where you stand in the current series.