East Coast Championships Report
The May Bank Holiday saw the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club host the 2012 707 East Coast Championship. The fleet of seven was greeted on Saturday morning by a overcast river Crouch and a strengthening cold north easterly breeze. The visiting team on Black Sheep was keen to learn the waters and reached the racing area in the Roach ahead of the rest of the fleet.
The windward-leeward course was set on a high tide with the start just inside the mouth of the Roach. The fleet got away cleanly on the first start with Race Horse the eventual winner. However, confusion after an individual recall in the second race, resulted in Race Horse starting minutes after the fleet. Pocket Battleship was the over-night leader with six races left in the championship.
A cold northerly wind and drizzle on Day Two left teams questioning what month they were actually in. A flooding tide and clean starts left the fleet battling for the shallow waters, and Baby Beluga found some shallower water!
"Beaver Hunter" Crew, Jane O'Brien, Paul Gray, Sally Gray, Bill Wright and Barbara Wright
Pocket Battleship took the early lead and just managed to hold Beaver Hunter behind to take the race. Beaver Hunter made up for this by winning the next two races. A wind shift before the last race meant a good start was key.
The majority of the fleet headed for the west shore of the Roach before heading out on the long port tack to the mark. A close battle soon ensued between Marlin, Beaver Hunter, and Baby Beluga at the front, with Beaver Hunter as the eventual winner. With three wins on Day two, Beaver Hunter now held the overall lead moving into the final day of racing.
Tricky wind conditions made setting a course difficult on Day Three and after an excursion to the Roach the fleets moved up the river to Cliff just in time for one race. Short tacking up the north shore with the RBODs and RCODs made racing even more challenging, with the lead changing multiple times.
Pocket Battleship just managed to pass Race Horse after a close encounter with the windward mark. However, a final win by Pocket Battleship was not enough to take the overall top step.
Principle Race Officer Kim Allen and his team ran some great racing in difficult conditions, with Beaver Hunter ending the weekend as the East Coast Champions.
James Wade
| Pos | Sail | Boat | Owner | Pts | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 |
| 1 | 7046 | Beaver Hunter | Paul Gray | 11 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 7105 | Pocket Battleship | Andrew Prestwich | 12 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 3 | 7032 | Race Horse | Richard Bavin | 16 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | 7033 | Baby Beluga | John Lewis, Nick Tressider | 19 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | 7004 | Marlin | Mark Rainbow | 26 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| 6 | 7038 | Black Sheep | Steve Parker | 29 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 7069 | Swallow | John Giles | 42 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
17th May 2012
Lawmen take first Edinburgh Cup
A turnout in double figures greeted the inaugural Omnicare Edinburgh Cup Saturday 28 April as the Boatman family team on "Outlaw" put together an impressive series to take home the spoils.
It was superb sunshine and fresh Easterlies as the fleet gathered in Inverkeithing Bay under the watchful gaze of the historic newly painted Forth Rail Bridge for the first event of the season.
Unlike painting the bridge this five race series was to be short and sharp and it was mission accomplished as the races were turned over very smartly by the experienced Port Edgar YC Race team.
James Urquhart, principle Edinburgh Leisure, Dara O’Malley, Team Outlaw and Terry Kirchin Commodore PEYC.
The fleet was very competitive with all boats showing good speed. It was good to see newcomers Poimandres working full on for the whole day, The best looking boat Seaword had some great downwind planing skills and broke into the top 4 for race three. There was an all girl team led by Rachel Alverado who put together a series in the rented boat Baltika.
It was tight at the top with seconds between the boats at times and it was bullets for four different boats over the series. These boats were 2nd ,3rd and 4th overall, respectively Jetstream (with Ronnie Millar and Dave Northridge), Cacciatore (Sarah Robertson), Blue Funk (Neil McLure and Richard Higgins).
But it was "Outlaw" (Dave Boatman) who showed the fleet the meaning of consistency with a clinical wins in race 1 and 4 and the Mackems never dropped out the top 3.
Photo is copyright Liz Tulloch
Neil McLure
5th May 2012
Technical Article
Check out the technical article written by current and past National Champion Jon Powell.
Jon gives us "a quick overview of how we set up the boat and then discuss what we believe is the main issues of how to get upwind ASAP."
Many thanks to Jon for sharing this information.
14th April 2012
New Spinnaker Design
Elvstrom Spinnaker News 
All new 707 Spinnakers which have been ordered during the Winter Offer will have the new Vertical Centre Panel Layout.
The Vertical panels transfer the loads evenly through the sail, rather than hitting the old horizontal panels at 45 Degrees causing distortion.
The main advantage will be when close Reaching , as the Spinnaker should be more stable, dead running any advantage will be negligible.
Note. When Designing a Spinnaker we only lay panels over one half of the mould and Laser cut each panel twice for perfect symmetry.
15th December 2011
Event dates 2012
We now have confirmed dates for all the major 707 events for 2012. In addition to the regular events, I am very pleased that we have reinstated the Southern Areas in our calendar, after a gap of a few years. The event will be run as part of the RSrnYC June Regatta.
| May | 5-7 | Eastern Areas | Royal Corinthian YC | Burnham on Crouch |
| May | 26-27 | Northern Areas | Scarborough YC | Scarborough |
| June | 9-10 | Southern Areas | Royal Southern YC | Hamble |
| July | 19-22 | National Championship | Stone SC | River Blackwater, Essex |
| September | 29-30 | Scottish Areas | Royal Forth YC | Edinburgh |
The National Championship will be at Stone Sailing Club on the River Blackwater, as discussed at the 2011 AGM. It promises to be a great event, so book the time off work now! Detailed planning is in progress, and we’ll let you know the programme, NOR, SI, etc as soon as we have them. Racing will start on Thursday 19th, but you will need to get your boat in the water on the Wednsday. I know you will want to get accommodation sorted out, so here is what is available:
Camping will be available on the club grounds and camper vans can go in the car park
Waterside Caravan Park is a commercial site which is about a 15min walk from the Club. Check it out at www.park-resorts.com and select St Lawrence Bay.
There are also self-catering and B&B properties available, see attached list
If you have any questions about any of the events, please contact the appropriate area rep or class chairman Paul Gray.
I look forward to seeing you at as many of the events as possible!
Paul Gray
27th November 2011
updated 12th November 2011
Winter Offer from Elvstrom Sails
Hunter 707 Association Members 2011/12 WINTER OFFER
Offer available from 1ST November to 20th December 2011
| Retail Price | WINTER | Non-Members | |
| EPEX Mainsail | £1423.00 | £1138.00 | £1565.00 |
| EPEX Jib | £577.00 | £461.00 | £635.00 |
| Spinnaker | £927.50 | £837.00 | £1019.00 |
| RYA TAG | £5.00 | £5.00 | £5.00 |
Prices exclude VAT & shipping
Terms and conditions apply.
Ordering Sails.
If you are a 707 Class Association full member you can buy sails at a discounted rate and help your Association. To place your orders, please contact The Secretary: Julia Batchelor by email: secretary@sail707.com post: 11 Bouvel Drive, Burnham on Crouch, Essex CM0 8TW or telephone: 01621 78102. Send her your requirements and sail number. Julia will confirm you are a member of the Association and send you a copy of the email to Elvstrom. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE AN EMAIL CONFIRMING YOUR ORDER, PLEASE CONTACT THE SECRETARY.
You will then receive an invoice from Elvstrom and deal with them directly for payment and delivery times etc.
If you are not yet a member of the Association, you can join here for £50 for the year. Click here to download an application form. or contact the Secretary for details.
6th November 2011
updated 12th November 2011
