Barry's Passion: Sailing
It occupies most weekends during the summer (much to my Vicky's irritation) when I race on Sundays, Wednesday evenings in the summer, and often teach sailing on Saturdays. Sailing takes place at one of the greatest venues in the country: Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis Marine Parade
Lyme has a safe harbour for launching and then sea sailing at its best: general south-westerly winds with good swells and sometimes great breakers. It tests the keenest sailors and is one of the reasons why Lyme Regis Sailing Club hosts major championships and events throughout the year, e.g. World Albacore Championships took place in 2005.
Sailing is my passion: it's exciting, it's challenging, it's stress relieving (you can only sail, think of anything else, and you get wet!), and it's with a great group of people. Who could ask for anything more?
My Current Boat
My RedEye Solution 'Osiris'
Since May 2007 I've been sailing a Redeye Solution. This is a new class started in 2006 by Kevin Clarke and Andrew Elliot both Phantom sailors. I met Kevin at the 2006 Phantom Nationals and discussed how he sailed the big boat in the heavy conditions --- he is a similar weight to me. That's when he introduced the Redeye Solution; a mini-Phantom for sailors up to 75kg.
Unlike the Phantom, the Solution is shorter at 3.9m in length, wider at 1.75m, and has a smaller sail at 8.5m2. Being shorter it's very maneuverable, its wider beam allows my weight to be further outboard (more 'rocker'/leverage) and the smaller sail keeps the power lower down. It will still capsize though as I have found out!! But like the Phantom, the controls: rig tension, outhaul, downhaul, kicker are the same although the cleats are placed close to hand rather than on the foredeck (there is no foredeck!).
The Phantom Years!
My BIG Phantom 'Gweilo'
From 2004-2006 I sailed a Phantom. These are single-handed boats for sailors between 12-18 stone in weight; the heavier helm! I'm just on the lower weight limit so each season proves very exciting and a major challenge.
In fact it proved too much of a challenge—my weight was not enough whenever the wind rose above a Force 4. This showed itself clearly at the 2006 Phantom National Championships held at Lyme. Out of the nine-race series, I started four but only finished two races! Both on the last day when the wind dropped from a F5-F7 to a pleasant F2. Managed to achieve a 41 and a 49 place out of 80 boats, so went away quite happy. But decided that eating lots of pies and curries, and drinking beer to add more weight was not for me, so needed a different boat—a mini-phantom!
My first boat
After 30 years: "Good Vibrations" to remember my Beach Boys teenage years!!
My first boat was a LASER 2000 which is a modern dinghy for general sailing and good club racing. It has a gennaker (the big purple & white sail on the pole in the front) that gives terrific fast sailing when the wind is above Force 3 (7-10 mph).
The Laser 2000 is a two person, non-trapeze sailing dinghy. It can be sailed by myself and with more than two people, but when racing it must be sailed by the two person crew. Non-trapeze means that there is no wire and hook for the crew to clip onto and stand/lean on the side of the boat. Very fast dinghies have this arrangement --- sometimes for the helm and the crew --- which allows the weight to be further out, hence allow a bigger sail area to be carried by the boat. I decided that if I wanted to be able to sail with anyone, from beginner to expert, it would be better to not have a trapeze-based boat, despite the higher performance. Also at my age, it's more safer to sail a hiking-boat where we are both in the boat rather than standing on the side!!.
Exciting Sailing!!!!
I had one of the boats built soon after its launch after I saw it at the London Boat Show. The sail number is 2025 --- the 25th boat built --- and there are now over 1000 boats sold in the UK. I called the boat "Good Vibrations" after the Beach Boys classic hit. It took a long time to decide on this name, but when I heard the song on the radio I remembered and re-lived my great sailing days in Scotland in the 60's. So it was appropriate to recognize that history in my new boat. The name turned out to be more relevant than I thought. When the wind is up and the boat starts to go very fast (planing) then it hums; vibration on the foils (rudder and centre board) cause a loud hum through the hull. The faster you go the higher pitch of the humming. So Good Vibrations has proved to live up to its 60-s name!