Things have not been easy for the sailing community recently with Covid closing sailing clubs and open events being cancelled but over the weekend of July 24-26 the Byte Class met up at Pwllheli for their 2021 National Championships.
Read more: Byte Nationals Plas Heli July 24th-26th 2021 - results
The Notice of Race and Entry Form for the Byte Nationals are now available.
YES, after over a year in lockdown we actually had a Byte open meeting!
Weston hosted an “invitational Contender and Byte Open Meeting” which ran alongside their own “fast” and “slow” handicap fleets. Consequently each start took 20 minutes with Fast, Contender, Slow and then Byte starts at 5 minute intervals, fortunately no General Recalls! Efficient race management from the committee boat made it seem simple. Three races each day, constrained by the tide to start at 12:30. The weather was spectacularly good, with bright sunshine all day, temperatures reaching about 25degrees on Sunday. The wind was light and variable for the first two races, 0-6mph but picked up to 5-10 for the last race. On Sunday the prevailing wind was augmented by a sea breeze to give a good 10-15mph across the course, all day. A trapezoidal course with two laps for the Bytes resulted in little mixing between the fleets (the contenders and “fast” fleets sailed a mixture of trapezoids and sausages). The occasional catamaran zipping past and more often the larger fleet of Contenders mixing it up providing more spectacle than interference.
The NOR for this event is available from the Events page.
The link to the booking page is https://members.weston.org.uk/event/june-cup
The main points are:
- Pre-registration is required using the booking system on the Club website before 12pm on Friday 11th June. There is an overall entry limit for the event of 50 (including Bytes).
- Entry fee of £30 must be paid on registration and in any event before the race briefing at 11am on Saturday 12th June. Entry fees will be refunded if the event is cancelled more than 72 hours in advance.
- Limited camping at £10 per night is available in our Pound and must be pre-booked (limit currently 10).
- A Saturday evening Indian meal can be pre-booked at £10 a meal.
- Saturday 1st race 12:30pm - 3 back to back
- Sunday 1st race 12:30 pm - 3 back to back - no race will be started after 4pm.
Provisional programme for 2021.
This will be subject to revision, cancellation or, hopefully, confirmation dependant upon Covid19 restrictions.
Notices of Race and Sailing Instructions will be provided when events can be confirmed.
The Nationals dates include a practice day, then for the hardened enthusiast, there are 4 days racing with 3 races per day and a “spare” day to allow for any days not raced. However, it is intended that 4 discards will be allowed, so that competitors can qualify with 1 discard in 3 days.
Due to changes in the shared Javelin event, the Byte Nationals will probably change to a 3 day event with 3 races on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Consider a family holiday in North Wales! Book your accommodation now.
(Paignton Open for Single Handers 7-9th May). The restrictions on staying at accommodation away from home are likely to still be in place, therefore it is unlikely that this event can be included in our programme.
Weston (with Contenders) June 12-13th
Nationals (with Javelins) Pwllheli 24-29th July (may reduce to 24th-26th July)
Combs Open 11-12th September
Bowmoor Inlands TBC.
Class association prizes (Nationals, Inlands, Travellers) require Association membership valid at the time of the events.