Late Spring Series: Sunday 05-May-2024

Filmed from the safety boat. Getting some ideas of the shots we could get from a camera boat.@upper Thames Sailing Club

UTSC Title Sequence

 Creating a new title sequence for the Upper Thames Sailing Club. We have many videos to create this year for the club, so starting with a brand image title sequence.

The animation of the flag was done in Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve Studio.

Out in the Safety Boat

 Out in the Safety Boat

​We missed our turn in the Safety Boat at Easter because of the bad weather, so Paul and I were out in the Safety Boat on Sunday for the Late Spring Race Series. We did the morning and afternoon races. We get points in the race for this; maybe they are the only ones we will get.

Setting up the Course

The course needs to be set up before racing can begin, and this is the first job for the Safety Boat crew. We set out to deploy the buoys. 

H for Home
S for the Dog leg 
W for the end marker

This was my first time deploying a buoy, so I had my first lesson. Take out the anchor for the bucket and set it so the digging-in bits stick out. These anchors were like grappling hooks; the digging-in bits I learned were called flukes.

So, I dropped the anchor and chain at the desired location and put the buoy in the water.

Let the Race begin

Being very new to these racing sailing boats, I have little to no idea about starting, racing, and finishing. Paul has an app on his phone that listens to the Klaxon for the 5-minute warning and then goes through the start sequence, the flags, and a countdown. The app also listens for other klaxons to keep the timing accurate. Paul could give me a countdown to the start of the race, the same as race control. 

The Dinghy Sailing Race Controller app for Android only, seems to do everything, recording the times for the laps and calculating the winner. It's good on the water to know when the race starts, and it's good in the box, too, for taking all the hard work out of racing. 

Camera Boat

There is a lot of time to spend in the Safety boat, slowly chasing down the stragglers and being in the mix of things so that if the boat is needed, it is where it is needed.

Much of this spare time was converted into filming. We had some great angles on the boats and plenty of time. The weather was fair in the morning, with just a few clouds in the sky. With light winds and a strong stream, only three competitors entered the race. Two Safety boats were required: one with the boats ( the one I was on) and the other ready to launch in case of problems.

Our first race

 

Our first Race of the Season

​It was a cold and wet Sunday morning. The Temperature was 8C, and the wind was light, falling from 14mph in the early morning to nothing in the late afternoon when there might be some sunny intervals. Today was the day of the A-Rater 9-mile race and a handicap race for other boats. We were going out for some fun sailing, but Paul got talked into us entering the Race.

The A-Rater Race

Rain and light winds coming directly from upstream at 8 mph decreasing with a river flow of 1 mph.

Tacking: I get plenty of practice

With the wind coming directly downstream, going upstream against the wind required much tacking. The wind was also variable, so sometimes, when we turned the boat with no wind to push us, we drifted back downstream with the river's flow. It was like one step forward and three to ten steps back. 

Everyone else in the race seemed to be going up and down the river. We seem to have opted for a more across-the-river and back race. We indeed managed to cover some 3 miles but only managed to travel at best 250m upstream. We are not sure due to a lack of data from other boats, but we may now hold the record for travelling the longest distance to have made the least progress.

1st Day Sailing

Rigging the sail and getting on the River 

We watched the first proper race of the season, and then Paul and I went to the water. It did take us a while to get ready, being the first time we were in the water this year. We needed to tighten the shroud lines and haul the boat from the car park across the railway crossing to the river. With advice, we turned the boat into the wind and set the mainsail. Because this was effectively my first lesson, Paul decided to use only the main one and get me to practise moving from one side of the boat to the other to keep us balanced. 

The RS Toura is quite a heavy boat, so we needed to use the winch to lower the trailer down the slipway into the water, then tie it up whilst pulling the launching trolley out of the water and putting it out of the way before we could set sail.
Then I discovered we had to raise the sail to the correct side of the gnav so we could connect the downhaul rope.

Off we go

Once aboard and we we off. The thrill as the sails filled with air and pulled the boat along. Winds of 10mph gusting to 25mph gave the boat a bit of speed. This is what I had waited 6 months for.

With Paul at the hem, I sat by the mast  first on one side then the other - I moved to slowly and found that on my knees in the centre worked well for a time.

We were doing so well that the crew on the safety boat came just behind us and gave us some instructions to improve the boat's handling. Paul quickly mastered pulling in the main to increase the power and apply some force to the rudder.

I was grateful for my decision to wear a helmet as the boom clouted me a few times as I didn't duck quite low enough as I scrambled past it.

All too soon, we were back at the club, taking down the sail and hauling the boat, two safety boats out of the water, and other boats from the field where they had been stored away from the floods back down to the river. The Toura was moved back into the boat park, where we covered it up until we could get out on it next time.

Watching some sailing

We didn't manage to sail, as there was not enough wind for us, and the red boards were still up, but a couple of brave souls ventured out on their boats, along with a couple of safety boats, and worked on the RYA Powerboat 2 course.

 

The logo design process

 Designing the logo for the T-shirts hats and Mugs to go with the sailing

Designing the logo is only the first part of creating T-shirts, Mugs, and other accessories. In-house, we can easily create T-shirts, cups, coasters, and bags using design software, a dye sublimation printer, and a heat press.
The dye sublimation printer can then print out the logo at any size onto special heat transfer paper. in reverse. 

The Paper the then fixed to the garment where the image or text is required.

 The garment is then transferred to the heat press, and after 45 seconds, the image is copied to the T-shirt, Which can be worn straight away. At present, this is for the crew to wear and use on the boat, but later, if we need and decide to go down that route, it can be used for merchandising.

Mugs and Bags are made in the same way.  The Mugs need a different mould, but are made in the same way, except the heating process takes a lot longer - about 3 minutes to heat the Mug to 200 degrees to take the transfer.

The Hats are made differently using a computer-controlled sewing machine which takes the design and converts the logo, etc, into a machine embroidery pattern, which is then stitched onto the hat. This takes a long time, typically about 30 minutes, with each colour being changed by hand.