There is a new section on the website homepage where I will put links to videos and articles of interest. I've been following a couple who have been sailing around the med for a number of years. In fact they were stranded in the mar menor during the covid pandemic for a couple of months if I recall correctly. They have now decided to sail the Atlantic and they will be posting at least one video each month. Some of you may have already seen last month's video, which I posted a few weeks back. I really enjoy watching their adventures and I hope you do too.
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Group News & Photos
SAMM (the Sailing Association Mar Menor) can be regarded as the sailing Centre of the Mar Menor and surrounding district. Members and friends come from as far away as Mazarrón to sail and socialise. Membership of one of the associated Groups is required to be able to sail one of their boats. The sailing groups are listed below by category, where you can find out all the latest news, race results, and social events.
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Updated: Dec 23, 2023
Our autumn 2023 racing season has been the worst on record for cancellations. Out of the planned 30 races only 9 actually went ahead, the remainder were canceled. Three due to adverse weather, four because a team could not be found to run them and the remainder were canceled by CTD.
To cap it all, the final day, December 3rd was a disaster because all the access roads in Los Narejos were closed to traffic for a cycle race, and many of the organisers and competitors were unable to reach the SAMM base at CTD, some after driving for 80 kilometers. There appears to have been no prior notification and even the CTD management seemed not to have known as they had given the OK for the racing to go ahead.
Seasons Results
Of the nine races, the worst three results for each boat were discarded and, although many of the individual races were very closely fought, the outright seasons winner had a big lead over the other boats.
The full results were as per this table. A score of 12 indicates that a boat didn't race.
Cuatro, one of the Shoestring Groups Gamba dinghies, and sailed by a number of different crews, scored five firsts and a second in the six counting races to finish, with just 5.75 points
on the low score system. A fantastic performance by all the crews. The second
place boat, Shoestrings Dos a Laser 2000, mainly sailed by the same crew, was 7 points
behind but still did extremely well with one first, three second and two third places.
We all hope for a better 2024 racing season.
Cuatro, below left
Below right: Trophies were presented to Jack Moss, who sailed on Cuatro, right
and Dianne Hardwick who sailed on Dos, left.
After losing two race days due to events at CTD, plus a third due to a lack of members to run them, ten SAMM sailors again took to the water on November 12th, looking forward to great racing.
The NNW 11 knot wind as the boats launched soon gusted to 15/18 knots forcing the three dinghies to return to the beach to reef their sails. This left just the two Sailfish 18’s to start alone at 11.15. The Race Officer decided that this would not make for a good race, so abandoned it and rescheduled a 12.00 start.
Only two dinghies, Dos and Cuatro returned to race, one competitor deciding the conditions were not to his liking. Then disaster! One of the Sailfish was seen returning to it’s mooring with the mast laying on the deck, having collapsed when the fore-stay snapped leaving just Ginetta to race.
The start signal sounded at 12.00 and the two dinghies crossed within 20 seconds but the Sailfish was nearly 4 minutes late. The wind continued to deliver challenging conditions, first dropping to N 7/8 knots, then to 3 knots but then gusting to 12/15 knots. The Sailfish managed just two laps in the 45 minute race, both dinghies did four but all boats crossed the finish line within a minute.
The second race started at 13.00, with Dos still reefed but Cuatro had shaken hers out. All boats crossed the line within a few seconds. The conditions were the same, winds of 8 knots but with sudden 15 knot or higher gusts. The two dinghies had a great battle the entire race. The lead changed frequently as the crews tried different tracks around the course to gain a permanent advantage. Neither did and, in a spectacular finish, they were neck and neck timed just 1 second apart.
SAMM use the Average Lap race system and after the handicaps were applied the two results gave the same order, First Cuatro, second Dos, third Ginetta.
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