The Commodore and Buckley - NEW FORMAT- Sunday 10th May BOTH RACES COUNT
Published 17:14 on 6 May 2026
Coming up Sunday 10th May - Commodore Cup & Buckley Trophy WE HAVE JUST MADE A DECISION TO CHANGE THE FORMAT-BOTH RACES NOW COUNT
This Sunday (10th May) will be a special event open to all club sailors and classes of boats. We have been discussing the best format and have decided to make some changes from last year (and our previous communications).
We will go back to racing in two fleets: the fast fleet (ILCA7 and faster boats) will race for the Commodore Cup; the slow fleet (slower than ILCA7) will race for the Buckley Trophy. Each competition will be based on two races, a long handicap and a long pursuit race with no discards.
In the morning we will hold one long handicap race with two starts (fast fleet then slow fleet). It will be for a minimum of 1-hour, starting at 11:30.
After lunch we will hold a 2-hour pursuit race race. To give time for lunch, we'll aim to start at 2:00. The fleets will again be split and the pursuits scored as two separate races (fast and slow). The start times for each class will be shown on the board in the club house. Make a careful note of your start times (which are, of course, very different to the usual 75 minute Wednesday evening pursuit times) as the OOD will be watching!
For those new to pursuit races, we have the usual 6:3:GO sequence, but only the slowest boat in each fleet starts at the GO (so ILCA7 for the Commodore Cup and Optimist for the Buckley Trophy and they will start at the same time). Other boats will start however many minutes later are shown on the list. We will sound the hooter every 30 seconds to help with your timing. Two-hours after the start we'll sound the hooter to finish. Please hold your finishing positions whilst your sail numbers are recorded - we'll sound another hooter when we've completed that and you can sail for the shore.
As well as the two main trophies there will be other prizes, so even if you're fairly new to racing, do come and have a go!
Calling all of our sailors - please join us for a full day Fleet Challenge. We're challenging each fleet to get the highest percentage of their fleet out on the water! For sailors who have not been racing long, the more you sail with your fellow fleet sailors, the more you can learn from them by simply watching, following/ copying. So it's a great way to have fun and improve your own sailing skills.
Let the FUN begin!
Don't forget to join in the social, post race banter in the bar after the racing and cheer on all of our winners and racers!
Please remember to sign in :)
Last updated 09:19 on 9 May 2026
