Illusion Fleet

 The boats we sail are principally an ‘illusion’ of an America’s Cup boat of the late 1950’s, as seen from a distance.  The boats are 12ft long and you sit in them and steer via a rudder bar, so many of the people who sail them are more “mature”.

We race on Wednesday mornings, with the first start about 11.00 am and tend to have a turnout of 6-8 boats and great competitive racing. We run our races without any land-based duty officer as we have “BERT”, our electronic start timer, controlled on the water by the class captain. Our sessions consist of 3-4 races of 1 full lap and a 1/2 lap up to windward mark and back to the start finish line. The rescue boat is launched and on stand-by ready to be manned by the nearest one of the fleet, as necessary.

Being one-design, like the other main classes at Aldenham, means that boat speed is very similar. There are only a small amount of things one can do to make a boat go a bit faster, mainly attention to ballast location, rigging and sail set-up. This all adds to the competitiveness of the racing and the fun. At about 1.00 pm we retire to the Club House for lunch in convivial surroundings, and put the world to rights.

The Club also recognises our remote controlled Lasers which we sail in the winter months from November to March (weather permitting).

There is a spare Illusion at the club available for any aspiring illusionists. If anyone can spare the time on a Wednesday morning and wants to have a go, they are very welcome. Please contact Richard Farrow, the Class Captain, via the contacts page.

Richard Farrow