All over now and still counting the money so thanks to everyone who gave money and sponsored the event it it greatly appreciated.
The ASC Big Weekend kicked off at 9am on the 3rd of September with the first section of the powerboat competition to win 36 pints of beer donated by Nottingham Brewery and despite teh early start and weather many were ready for the start. Colwick Park lifeguards showed up with 6 of their members to give the course a go! Later on in the day, Kevin Last, Dave Bexson, Keith Brereton, Kevin Milton and Iona Reid all had a go. By the end of the Saturday powerboat, Keith was winning with a seemingly safe time of 6 minutes 46 seconds. Spectators stood under marquees kindly donated by Broxtowe Sports to watch the powerboat competition while it was raining.
The Saturday Afternoon Fun Day started off with a large number of junior sailors competing in a 40 minute race for the Cygnet Series. Richard Baker and Connor Green won in an RS Feva, with Jill Reid and Alex Herbert coming second. In 3rd place came newbie Tomas Herbert. Iona Reid and Martin Atkinson won Rash Vests donated by Allen for most improved. Thomas Ireland won the Eric Twiname Trust trophy. After the race, everyone had some pizza donated by Papa John’s and also some salad. Each of the juniors that participated in the race received a free MERCK Bag which included some notebooks and pens as well as Allen T-shirts which they all wore during the event. After the race results had been read out and prizes had been given out, all of the juniors went and did a game of throwing a rope around a bucket as far as they could! After this small game, they went out and played a game of tag before packing the boats away. It was great to see many families down supporting the event and also a number of junior sailors coming down to for taster sessions with Richard Baker and Jill Reid. The afternoon was all about getting youngsters out sailing and enjoying themselves.
The evening BBQ kicked off at around 6, with small number that grew slightly as the evening progressed. Two musicians, Chris and Stella came and played some great music which everyone enjoyed.
On the Sunday morning, the powerboat competition kicked off again with Wanlip Sailing Club. By 12 noon, Wanlip’s Richard Baker won the competition with a time of 5 mins 27 secs, with Jill Reid in 2nd with 6 mins 22 secs and Keith Brereton in third with 6 mins 45 secs. Iona Reid had her second go at the competition in the small inflatable RIB, setting it up correctly this time, thanks to Keith!. She managed a very good time of 7 minutes and 58 seconds in the small 6 horse power rib. The prize for the powerboat competition was 36 pints of beer, donated by Nottingham Brewery.
The Sunday races had good wind, and a lot of people enjoyed themselves. After two back-to-back races, lunch was served, before the sailors went back out and sailed the last race of the day. After all three races and the results had been worked out; a prize giving ceremony was held in the ASC Clubhouse. In the Adult category, 1st place was Kevin Last, 2nd Duncan Adams and 3rd Paul Jago. In the Crewed boat category 1st place was Dennis and Janice King. In the Junior section, 1st place was Richard Baker, 2nd Jill Reid and 3rd Iona Reid. Most improved trophies went to Jeff Marshall and Roger Day. A couple of spot prizes went to Ray Kemish and Andrew Goodman! Gillian Day was in charge of racing for the day, which was a huge help in allowing everyone to sail in the races. The prizes were a mixture of Gill kit bags, books printed by Adlard Coles Nautical donated by the Eric Twiname Trust, and trophies made by a local artist. After the prize giving, some of the sailors stayed behind to socialize and drink some of the beer donated by Scribblers Brewery.
Overall, over £900 has been raised through the event and also two sponsors, Clipper Ventures, who donated £100, and MERCK, who donated £250. All of the money raised through this event will be donated to the Eric Twiname Trust and the Ellen MacArthur Trust. There are still a few event bags available to buy for £5 in the ASC Clubhouse.
I would like to say a big thank-you to all of the sponsors and to everyone who donated money, food and time as without them this race would not have been a success. The University Of Nottingham MEU helped publicize and to print out the posters for the event and also to DBN Web Design helped to design a great website for the event, which has been commented on by other sponsors as professional. Thank you to Michael Adams, participant of the Clipper Race 15-16 on the Garmin boat, for talking to the helpers and people around about his experience. There were competitor’s packs available at the event for £5. These included items from sponsors, including Clipper Ventures, Marlow Ropes, Gill, Allen, Eppendorf, SLS, the RYA, the Ellen MacArthur Trust, Cycle Inn, RNLI and MERCK. Thank you to everyone who purchased one or more of these. Thank you to the Co-operative who donated bread towards the event for the BBQ on both Saturday evening and the Sunday lunch. Thank you to the local photographers Mark Storey and Dale Russel attended both days of the event and took some absolutely amazing photos. I would also like to say thank you to the Attenborough Sailing Club for allowing the event to be held at their club and for the use of the club facilities and to all the other people and companies who helped make this event a success.
ASC Bigweekend