Weymouth Speedweek with AYRS meeting on the Wednesday evening

Once again the AYRS will hold a technical meeting on the Wednesday evening of Speedweek, this year that Wednesday evening will be 11th October 2023 and as for the past few years the venue will be the Weymouth Sailing Club.   Speedweek is based at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy at Portland (WPNSA), this is at the southern end of the causeway onto Portland island.  The Weymouth Sailing Club where we hold our AYRS Wednesday evening meeting is in Weymouth, near the sea end of the quay on the west side of the harbour.

Spectators are welcome on any day of Speedweek but if you are coming for just one day there are usually a few AYRS members gathered at the WPNSA on the Wednesday afternoon then we go into Weymouth for a fish+chip supper before going to the Weymouth Sailing Club for the start of our AYRS Speedweek meeting at 19:30.

Speedweek is not an AYRS event but the AYRS has a long association with this annual event.  Although most of the Speedweek entrants are boardsailors, there were some notable exceptions last year.   We probably will not have so many ‘boats’  (Speedweek people refer to anything that is not a board as a boat) at Speedweek this year but entries are accepted even on the day so still time to register on the Speedweek website – https://weymouthspeedweek.com.   If you have an experimental boat that is ready to try out this could be a good event for sea trials even if you dont want to sail competively – good slipways, parking, safety boat cover, often strong wind and flatish water, willing helpers with launch and recovery and other enthusiasts to chat with.  And if you have a realy fast boat, perhaps on foils, there is a real possiblity that you could be faster than the boards, at least under certain conditions – Kyle Stoneham’s Vampire catamaran was faster than any board on a lightish wind day last year.