The 2011 Tasar season at Porthpean finished at the end of November. Since we started the season we have more often than not at least 6 Tasars out racing, which has really benefited our racing, as most of the top helms in the Club race Tasars. Our top 2 Contender sailors also have a Tasar each and both make quite a few outings in their Tasars. Stacey Bray, one of the Contender sailors is sailing his Tasar with daughter Lucy and are getting some good results. Steve Mitchell who was dividing his time between Tasar and Merlin Rocket has sold the Merlin and bought one of the newer Bethwaite boats, but at the moment of writing still has an older, lightweight boat for sale. Steve is sailing with his girlfriend who is finding the Tasar much easier to handle than the Merlin. Steve & Polly won their class at Plymouth week, whilst Jeremy & Suzanne won their class at Falmouth week. Jeremy & Suzanne went to Whitstable for the Nationals and came home as Champions and have dominated most of the racing at Porthpean this season, with some incredible boat speed, which has increased since sailing in the Worlds in September.

We even had a deputation from Graham Hanna, Chris Parkinson & Liz Kemmins, all from Australia, after the Tasar Worlds. Graham is the Tasar Chief Measurer, Chris has finished off lots of kit boats in Australia and Liz has just written a book on the history of the Tasar. They paid a visit to Porthpean one Wednesday evening to see some of our racing but typically the wind wouldn’t come out to play that evening, but at least it put Porthpean on the map for them, and they were quite happy to sample our beer.

Porthpean has been a home for Tasar sailing since 1986 when Dennis Bray brought the first one to the Club. Within a couple of years the fleet had swollen to about 15, and gave some very competitive racing. I joined in 1987 and was soon converted and became an owner of a Tasar and have owned several over the years. The Tasar is a fantastic boat for Porthpean. The boat handles delightfully on the sea and its light weight makes it ideal for pulling up our steep slipway after racing. Several other boats have been introduced since, but only the Tasar has stayed the course and is still the largest racing fleet at the Club. Even on a poor day we usually have 4 out and on a good day can get up to 8,

We have selected those dates which are just after the summer Bank Holiday Monday, as it provides quite a few permutations for possible entrants. Some may want to come to Cornwall for a whole week for a holiday. They can leave their boat at the Club and go sightseeing etc, for the first few days or join in with Club racing or even sail on their own in the bay. They could if, so desired, spend the BH at home and travel down during the week at their leisure when the roads may well be quieter. The event is also in the school holidays, which I know will suit the family type sailor. There are quite a few campsites and B&Bs in the immediate area and for the last 2 Nationals that we have hosted the privately owned car park adjacent to the Club has hired out some areas of the car park for those wanting to camp. So there is a good choice for everyone. A lot of details will appear on www.porthpeansc.co.uk in the New Year.

The racing will be held in a number of sessions and the number of races per session will be at the discretion of the RO. I am also hoping to include a long distance race, where we can stretch the course to take in most of the bay and hopefully get in some long reaches in which the Tasar excels. Obviously everything will depend on the weather so we want to leave the racing as flexible as possible to get a good series in.
We expect to have a strong healthy fleet racing in 2012 and also expect a strong Nationals entry, so if you had a disappointing time at Whitstable with the strong winds or missed the Worlds last September, then why not come along and see if you can wrest the crown from Jeremy & Suzanne, or failing that see if you can come and beat an old veteran or two.
Lionel Rigby (Tasar 2576)