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Club members go offshore!

Published 20:33 on 4 Sep 2024

4 members of the Shotwick Sailing Club took part in the 56th edition of the Anglesey Offshore Dinghy Race on the 18^th Aug. The race, inaugurated in 1965 was also was part of the 2024 Allen Endurance Series.

Hosted by Red Wharf Bay Sailing and Watersports Club the challenge navigates from Beaumaris to Traeth Bychan, passing through the Menai Straits and Puffin Island sound, with a turning point off Moelfre. The course spans over 15 nautical miles for monohulls and up to 30 miles for catamarans. Participants also have to consider the logistics of needing to launch from their trolleys in Beaumaris, and needing the trolley at the finish line some 11 miles away via roads, so sailors also require support teams to rush the equipment from the start up to the finish line with help from partners and friends.

The race attracts a diverse group of participants, including Olympic sailors, former and current National Champions, and family racers from many clubs. The race is also a good location to see a vast range of boats, this year there were 29Er, Weta, RS400, 505, 2000, RS Aero, Flying Dutchman, Enterprise, Contender, Dart 18, D-Zero, Javelin, Albacore, Hornet, Wayfarer, International Moth

This year there were 42 entrants with 37 boats completing the race and a 29ER winning with a corrected time of 1:53:20

"Anglesey Offshore Dinghy Race course - photo © AODR"

The race stared at 11 O'clock (just after the high tide) off shore from Beaumaris with a down leg run with the tidal flow to Penmon Point for the first significate point, Puffin Island and the lighthouse. Ask Karen what the lighthouse looks like (its a standing joke, she missed it last year). At the point you entered the sound were the tides and wind battled with each other to make going through the sound quite a roller coaster ride. Once through the sound, it becomes sailing up wind. The choice is to stay close to the coast line and battle with less predictable winds as they drop off the headland, or from the sound sail further north for slightly better winds and a better tidal help as the tides at this location run from east to west at this time in the tidal flows.

The next mark, the crews have to make, is a starboard buoy located north of quarry and then head for the bay at Benllech to round the green buoy near the beach. Once rounded the crew then charge to Moelfre sailing past the finish line for the last buoy located just off the RNLI station. Now its the final run for the finish line. Once over the finish crews sort out all the lines and ready for being received by partners and friends with launching trolleys in hand. After at least a 15mile sail, boats are cleaned, de salted and packed away quickly as participants are eager for the good home cooked food and cakes waiting in the clubhouse.

We had a tracker on the Arago so that relatives could track the boat during the race. The stats showed they sailed an overall distance of 17 miles with an average speed of 5.2kts with a max speed of 9.2Kts