Jonathan Bentman

About Jonathan Bentman

Posts by Jonathan Bentman:

12th May 2020

NSSA ANNUAL REGATTA UPDATE

Sadly, as a result of the ongoing situation with Covid 19, the NSSA has made the decision to postpone this year’s 2020 NSSA Annual Regatta at the Mount Batten Centre in Plymouth until 2021. Further up to date information and announcements on events from the NSSA can be found on their Facebook page rather than their website.

Whilst we are not sure how long it will be before the NSSA schedule any on the water events, they are arranging some Q & A sessions with well known figures from the sailing community. Further details are on their Facebook page; to get involved contact: Rob Mallett on robmallett2@live.com.

We will also be organising ‘qualifiers’ to find a KSSA representative to sail against British Team member Sam Whaley in the NSSA eSailing Team Championship which will take place in the summer. We will distribute more information nearer the time.

12th May 2020

2020 KSSA EVENTS UPDATE

An Update on KSSA Events 2020:

Virtual Regatta: Saturday 16th May 1 pm

Pierce Seward will be continuing with the KSSA Virtual Regattas on Saturdays. If you haven’t already joined in with these competitive online races and would like more information please get in touch: commodore@kssa.co.uk

Topper Team Racing: 6th June 2020

The event at Westbere has been cancelled and we will be going online.

Mark Thomas will be holding an online coaching session on team racing, techniques and rules: 10 am 6th June 2020

New Racers: 13th June 2020

The event at Redoubt SC is cancelled.

We are currently exploring the possibility of holding a replacement event at Downs SC which will be a regatta with rookie fleet for newcomers, if government and RYA guidelines allow. The KSSA Committee will make a decision on this event by the end of May.

If we are unable to sail on the water then we will hold an online training event with one of our youth captains and new coach for the 2020-21 season, Charlie Baker. Charlie will provide a training session with lots of advice and tips aimed at those in their first few years of competitive racing.

Summer Regatta: 4th-5th July 2020

The KSSA Committee have not made a decision regarding our own Summer Regatta, 4th-5th July 2020. The Committee will make a decision by the end of May so please keep looking at the website, follow us on Facebook or check your emails for the latest news on events.

Hopefully we will all be back on the water very soon, until then sail safely online!

Stay safe

Sarah, KSSA Commodore

21st April 2020

Abbey takes KSSA virtual regatta #2

Thanks to everyone who took part in the racing yesterday as always it was very tight. We had a few difficulties at the beginning with people joining but I believe everyone who took part thoroughly enjoyed it and are honing their tactical skills. Abbey Mumford (‘Ab’) took the overall win with LAserB and Izzisawesome closing out the top 3. Evie h, last week’s winner, came fourth showing the closeness of the racing. Again there was tight racing all down the fleet with every place being toughly fought for. (There’s a second game here, of course – guess the sailor from the pseudonym.)

The regatta and high-quality racing will continue next Saturday if anyone knows anyone who they think would like to join in with the action then let them know to get involved.

See you on the (virtual) water.

Mark

13th April 2020

EVIE H wins first KSSA virtual regatta

The first-ever virtual KSSA regatta took place on Saturday (April 11). There was a good turnout for the first event with a total of 12 KSSA sailors (and the odd ex-KSSA sailor to mix things up). Racing was close and there had clearly been some practicing as all boats were around the first mark within a few hundred meters of each other.

The racing took place in a large variety of boats from Stars to offshore racers with the odd hydrofoiling catamaran thrown in. Although the most popular boat was the 49er, getting the kite up was certainly easier online with the press of a button, than in the real version. There were a number of people with gear failure as their internet or phone struggled to handle the pressure.

Race 7 (in the Americas Cup F50) had to be abandoned and re-sailed in the favourite 49er due to an unfortunate number of dodgy internet connections. The results reflect the closeness of the racing with the top three boats separated by just a single point. Evie H ending up in first place on count back over Joseph02 in second, with Trash Python completing the top three. The closeness of racing extended right down the fleet and valuable knowledge was learned as to the impact of shifts and lay lines.

A special mention must go to SailorGeorge who came out of retirement and showed what the effect of KSSA coaching can be, with a commanding performance, before being disqualified for breaching the age restrictions. There were unfortunately a number of signups who didn’t make it to the start line due to technical difficulties, however we look forward to them joining us at the next event, if anyone would like to contact me for help my email is markhthomas@outlook.com.

On that note there will be another regatta next Saturday at 1pm and all are welcome to attend and hone their sailing strategy with the classic ‘on the water communication’ (via Skype) of any KSSA regatta.

Mark

Position	Name	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Net	Total
1	Evie h	2	1	9	2	2	8	6	30	21
2	Joseph02	5	3	4	5	5	3	1	26	21
3	Trash Python	3	7	3	9	1	2	6	31	22
4	420sRtrash	1	7	2	1	8	8	6	33	25
5	Izzyizthebest	9	4	1	8	6	4	4	36	27
6	NIX	6	2	8	3	8	8	6	41	33
7	HenGBR	8	7	6	6	4	7	3	41	33
8	HarryMitch	10	7	5	4	8	8	2	44	34
9	squidman	4	6	10	7	7	5	6	45	35
10	TopperMan	10	7	7	9	3	6	5	47	37
11	FredSutt1	7	5	11	9	8	8	6	54	43
12	Sassy	10	7	11	9	8	8	6	59	48

12th April 2020

2020 KSSA EVENTS UPDATE

Further to the situation regards Covid-19 and the national lockdown, the KSSA 2020 sailing programme is understandably in a state of suspension. Reference our next scheduled regattas here is the latest position on those:

All Girls Training, April 18

It is with great disappointment that we will have to postpone the All Girls Training event on April 18. I have contacted Amy and we will try to get another date in the calendar, either in the autumn or spring next year. As we cannot confirm when this date will be we will process refunds to all who pre-entered for this event.

Opening Splash, May 2

We are currently waiting to see what the most up to date advice from the Government and RYA will be with regards to holding sporting events in May. We have a team on standby ready to get this event off the ground if at all possible as we are sure that your sailors will be desperate to get some sailing in. The committee will make a decision on this event by April 18.

Stay Safe

Sarah, KSSA Commodore

9th April 2020

KSSA VIRTUAL REGATTA!

STARTS THIS SATURDAY!

OKAY… because of lockdown we can’t go sailing, but we can go virtual sailing! You probably saw the demonstration races (with top sailors) that the RYA put on a week ago. Well now it’s your turn! We can have KSSA virtual regattas!

These are being organised by Mark Thomas, with a weekly KSSA Virtual Race every Saturday at 1 pm. Starting this Saturday, so you’ll need to get a move on. There’s a video below to show you what it’s about, but you can find much more at the RYA website and YouTube channel, so get cracking!

To participate, please email Mark at Markhthomas@outlook.com and he will contact you with the details. We are limited to 20 sailors at a time so get in touch with Mark quickly if you’re interested. Depending on interest we may arrange different level races.

Keeping safe online

Now we hope and trust that everyone will enjoy eSailing with Virtual Regatta safely and responsibly, treating other competitors of all ages with respect. If a young person aged under 18 feels uncomfortable or intimidated by any message received via Virtual Regatta, they can find useful contact details, advice and information here.

As private messaging is available within Virtual Regatta we ask that all parents supervise their sailors when using the site and ensure that they are aware of keeping themselves safe on social media. The links below have advice and our safeguarding policy. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact either myself commodore@kssa.co.uk or our Welfare Officer, Brian Mumford: Teammanager@kssa.co.uk

You can also check out safe practices through the following links:

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/young-people

https://www.rya.org.uk/about-us/rya-policies/safeguarding/Pages/what-to-do-if-youre-worried.aspx

http://kssa.co.uk/privacy-safeguarding/#data-protection-policy

9th April 2020

Charlie’s Blog – DI in a (long) weekend (part 2)

Back in February, KSSA Fleet Captain Charlie Baker decided on attending an RYA Dinghy Instructor course. We pick up the second part of his story as Charlie faces the reality of sailing in the Solent in mid-winter…

Force 7 was predicted for the Monday of my dinghy instructor course so it looked unlikely that we would be sailing, therefore in the morning we were mainly in the classroom learning about the RYA method on how to tack and gybe. This may seem like a piece of cake to most sailors as it is something that every sailor does without even thinking, however after seven years of racing different dinghies, and almost twelve years since I first learnt to sail, I had built up many ‘bad habits’. While these habits do make me a more efficient sailor, and help me to gain speed on the race course, it is really important that every beginner is taught the same method for tacking so as not to confuse them, as I result I spent the morning relearning how to tack via the RYA method through numerous hours of land drills. After more time in the classroom I began to gain confidence with teaching the double handed method.

For those that don’t know, there is a set order in which you teach beginners how to sail which is really important to follow so that any instructor can pick up where you left off if you are not around to coach. The general idea is that you first familiarise them with the boat before focussing on the elements required to head upwind, finally focussing on downwind sailing and gybing before setting them off on a solo triangular course. This can either be taught as in a double handed boat with the instructor present in the boat, or can be taught in a single handed boat very close to shore. It is the double handed method that we aimed to have confidence in teaching by the end of the day.

Charlie!

Wayfarer / bath tub

After lunch, a gap in the wind was spotted so we were told to get ready at lighting speed and rig up two bathtubs… sorry Wayfarers. We then role played an instructor student interaction in which we had to teach the other person to steer the boat, and to get them sailing on a beam reach. Unfortunately the area we were in was very gusty and two gusts took Zoe and me completely by surprise; we therefore ended up in the water not once, but twice, begging the question… “why did I book this course for February and not in the middle of the summer?!” After extracting ourselves from the disgusting Solent water – that was so mucky that you could almost chew it – and after ten minutes of bailing water from the bathtub that we were sailing in, we continued the exercise until we were told that we could head in.

On the dinghy instructor course, you are required to give a short presentation on a sailing related subject such as tides, or the five essentials. I was asked to give a presentation on sail controls and what they do, which after doing lots of racing, is second nature by now, so you could argue that I got off lightly. I therefore laid a boat on its side with the sails up and demonstrated how the sail controls work using that.

Once we had completed the presentation and the daily quiz, we had dinner and study of what we had learnt for the next day. Despite the high winds, and the capsizes, I was really enjoying the course. If anyone is looking to complete their DI course in the near future and have any questions then please feel free to come and find me at any of the KSSA events.

Thanks

Charlie

23rd March 2020

Abbey & Evie’s Blog – 420 Inland Championship

Last weekend (March 14-15) Abbey and I attended the 420 Inland Championships at Rutland Sailing Club and competed in seven races over the two days.

On Saturday we completed four races in medium winds with a few gusts. It was a mixed bag with very unpredictable shifts. Sometimes our decisions were right and sometimes we got them wrong, but we weren’t alone as this happened to most of the fleet and have, and will, continue to learn from these experiences. We stayed overnight on site in the ‘van’ but unfortunately for us, the clubhouse was locked early and so we spent our evening watching Pitch Perfect 2 in the van!

On Sunday we completed three races and our racing got much better through the day, with the last race being 6th round the windward mark and finishing 12th overall.

Overall, it was a good weekend for us as we learnt lots from the mistakes we made and we feel we are continually improving and making our way higher up the fleet. It was definitely a weekend where the focus was on tactics rather than boat speed.

Abbey & Evie’s Blog – 420 Inland Championship

2020 420 INLAND CHAMPIONSHIP – RESULTS

BowNo	BoatGender	SailNo	CountryCode	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total	Nett
36	M	54483	GBR	Haydn Sewell	William Heathcote	1.0	5.0	(8.0)	2.0	1.0	4.0	2.0	23.0	15.0
57	M	54487	GBR	Dylan McPherson	Jack Lewis	5.0	1.0	1.0	(6.0)	3.0	6.0	1.0	23.0	17.0
19	mixed	55871	GBR	Jess Lavery	Ollie Meadowcroft	2.0	2.0	(7.0)	1.0	4.0	1.0	7.0	24.0	17.0
23	F	55517	GBR	Eleanor Keers	Faye Chatterton	(9.0)	4.0	3.0	4.0	2.0	5.0	5.0	32.0	23.0
28	F	54480	GBR	Ella Lance	Matty Evans	4.0	7.0	5.0	12.0	7.0	(14.0)	8.0	57.0	43.0
7	M	54852	GBR	Bertie Fisher	Fraser Hemmings	3.0	(19.0)	2.0	8.0	9.0	12.0	16.0	69.0	50.0
42	mixed	53328	GBR	Alice Davis	Iain Blake	14.0	(21.0)	4.0	9.0	10.0	10.0	4.0	72.0	51.0
38	M	54482	GBR	Henry Heathcote	Hector Bennett	7.0	6.0	6.0	11.0	13.0	9.0	(25.0)	77.0	52.0
11	M	55398	GBR	Kuba Staite	Joey Taylor	15.0	11.0	9.0	7.0	(17.0)	7.0	11.0	77.0	60.0
37	mixed	56342	GBR	Lucy Hughes	Josh Manning	11.0	14.0	13.0	10.0	6.0	(19.0)	15.0	88.0	69.0
25	F	56007	GBR	Julia Staite	Bettine Harris	17.0	16.0	(18.0)	16.0	8.0	3.0	10.0	88.0	70.0
9	F	56383	GBR	Megan Farrer	Ellie Rush	8.0	15.0	10.0	15.0	(16.0)	13.0	9.0	86.0	70.0
12	M	56339	GBR	Jamie Cook	Will Martin	19.0	12.0	22.0	5.0	11.0	2.0	(32.0 UFD)	103.0	71.0
45	M	55634	GBR	Harry George	James George	12.0	3.0	(21.0)	13.0	21.0	17.0	6.0	93.0	72.0
3	F	54947	GBR	Phoebe Hutchings	Daisy Desorgher	6.0	10.0	14.0	(20.0)	12.0	15.0	17.0	94.0	74.0
6	F	54853	GBR	Lizzie Beardsall	Emmy Walker	10.0	13.0	15.0	14.0	(19.0)	11.0	14.0	96.0	77.0
2	mixed	54481	GBR	Callum Davidson-Guild	Syzmon Matyjaszczuk	13.0	8.0	11.0	3.0	18.0	(32.0 DNC)	32.0 DNE	117.0	85.0
24	F	56469	GBR	Charlotte Videlo	Cally Terkelsen	20.0	29.0	12.0	17.0	5.0	(32.0 DNC)	13.0	128.0	96.0
32	F	52566	GBR	Kt. Byne	Lia Horne	16.0	17.0	19.0	22.0	20.0	(23.0)	3.0	120.0	97.0
39	M	54785	GBR	Mathias Potter	Cameron Hook	(23.0)	9.0	17.0	21.0	15.0	18.0	20.0	123.0	100.0
33	mixed	55242	GBR	Megan Ferguson	Nick Deveraux	18.0	22.0	(24.0)	19.0	14.0	8.0	23.0	128.0	104.0
26	F	55107	GBR	Abbey Mumford	Evie Herrington	24.0	18.0	16.0	24.0	(28.0)	22.0	12.0	144.0	116.0
51	M	54724	GBR	Terry Hacker	Ben Knights	21.0	20.0	23.0	23.0	22.0	(26.0)	18.0	153.0	127.0
41	F	56467	GBR	Ellie Driver	Rose Edmonds	25.0	(28.0)	25.0	18.0	23.0	20.0	21.0	160.0	132.0
30	F	53645	GBR	Scarlett Cawthorne	Eloise Clapson McBride	(28.0)	24.0	20.0	26.0	27.0	16.0	22.0	163.0	135.0
74	M	54847	IRL	Jack McDowell	Henry Thompson	27.0	27.0	(30.0)	25.0	24.0	25.0	19.0	177.0	147.0
76	M	54123	IRL	Harry Shackleton	Christopher Evans Garrett	22.0	26.0	(28.0)	28.0	25.0	24.0	24.0	177.0	149.0
20	F	52062	GBR	Freya Sewell	Molly Dowson McGill	26.0	23.0	27.0	(29.0)	29.0	21.0	27.0	182.0	153.0
54	mixed	4481	GBR	Eilidh McQueen	Robbie Littlefield	(29.0)	25.0	26.0	27.0	26.0	27.0	26.0	186.0	157.0
17	M	537847	GBR	Nick Evans	Ben Haigh	30.0	30.0	29.0	(32.0 DNC)	30.0	28.0	32.0 UFD	211.0	179.0
47	M	47118	GBR	James MaClachlan	lewis Choularton	31.0	31.0	(32.0 DNC)	32.0 DNC	32.0 DNC	32.0 DNC	32.0 DNC	222.0	190.0

10th March 2020

Abbey & Evie’s Blog – 420 training

This weekend while the rest of our KSSA friends were at Bough Beech, Abbey and I were at Rutland Sailing Club for a 420 training weekend in preparation for the start of the championship series starting next weekend.

The forecast for this weekend was very breezy with strong gusts – and it didn’t disappoint! The focus of the weekend’s training was ‘FID’ which is to help the communications inside the boat, it stands for Focus Information and Decisions. There was also a strong focus on upwind sailing.

Day two was more of the same in the morning with races in the afternoon, lots of fast reaches and huge gusts. Unfortunately for us one of these gusts hit us while we had the kite up on the reach, causing us to capsize and snapping the bungee on our trapeze wires in the process, so we weren’t able to complete the last race.

It was a weekend filled with capsizes for everyone, one of which was a fairly spectacular one by our friends who actually made it onto Pitchpolecentral (check it out on Instagram). All in all a great weekend. Hard work and a few bruises but lots learned.