Trio Nationals 2021

Noble Marine Comet Trio National Championship at Exe Sailing Club

The Comet Trio National Championships (proud to be sponsored by Noble Marine Insurance) was held at the lovely Exe Sailing Club on 31st July – 1st August.

It was a good turnout with several visitors from Durleigh, Whitefriars, Cotswold and Hawley Lakes joining the local Exe boats.  Several new boats were making their debut nationals including Steve’s new white boat looking very pacey with a new MK1 North sails and Guy’s new boat with MK2 sails, both showed amazing speed with race wins throughout the event. Scarlett Lady also made a grand return with new owners and also new to the fleet Chris/Ben Biglin.

MK1 report

Saturday races were closely fought throughout fleet, with 3 different race winners including Richard Sallis/Carol Williams, Chris/Ben Biglin and Steve Ashford/Martin Yeomans. Closely followed by Symon/Lou Doliczny, Sue Morris/Debbie Woodcock, Jamie Gregor/Tim Farmer all with top 3 results, it was shaping up to be a close fought championships.

Sunday started in a light shifty easterly. Steve was seen up early studying the wind shifts and tidal patterns but a battle on the start line meant that both Steve and Richard were both OCS allowing Chris/Ben to get another 1st place. Anne/Mike Way had their best result finishing 2nd and Sam/Chris Mayne with a 3rd.

It came down to the final race to decide the MK1 championships and in a more steady 7 knots breeze, Richard/Carol won with Chris/Ben second Steve/Martin 3rd. These turned out to be the final overall results with 4th to Simon/Lou Doliczny and 5th to Jamie Grigor/Tim Farmer.

Comet Trio Mk1 Winners

MK2 report

Saturday racing was a tight affair with 4 different race winners – Ade/Tracie Padro, Bob/Colette Horlock, Guy Farrant and Graham Skyes, and Andrew/Caroline McAusland. It was all to play for on Sunday with only 1 point separating the top 3 boats.

Sunday saw a delay whilst the wind settled however the AP flag came down and we were able to launch in a light breeze.

With favourable pond like conditions, it was Ade/Tracie who led in first place around the last mark with a final run to the finish however the wind became lighter/shifty and the lead boats were becalmed for a few minutes while the wind filled back in. 1st to spot the new breeze were Guy/Graham who took full advantage and finished in 1st place, the battle for 2nd was between Andrew/Caroline and Ade/Tracie and Bob/Colette who had to settle for 4th following A port/starboard incident. This enabled Ade/Tracie could sneak through to 3rd place.

With one race remaining, Ade/Tracie, Andrew/Caroline and Guy/Graham were on equal points, this was going to be the closest finish of the championships. Ade/Tracie reached the first mark first and then spent the rest of the race in close coverage of Andrew/Caroline. Bob/Colette split from the top 2 in search of new wind shifts, however Ade/Tracie managed to hold off the fleet to win the event overall on count-back. Andrew/Caroline finishing 2nd, Guy/Graham in 3rd place, 4th went to Bob/Colette and 5th to Simon Gregory/Veronique Hart.

Huge thanks to Exe Sailing Club for putting on a terrific three days including sailing, BBQ, Trio dinner, cream teas and for all the help / support needed to run a successful championship.

Tracie Padro 

Comet Trio Mk2 Winners

Overall Results


PosSail NoHelmCrewClubR1R2R3R4R5R6Pts
COMET TRIO (MK I) Fleet           
1st511Richard SallisCarole WilliamsCotswold Sailing Club11221015
2nd476Chris BiglinBen BiglinShustoke4316127
3rd510Steve AshfordMartin YeomansWhitefriars2241738
4th364Symon DolicznyLou DolicznyESC55344916
5th435Jamie GrigorTim FarmerWhitefriars SC74539517
6th348Sam MayneChris MayneHawley Lake69753721
7th472Sue MorrisDebbie WoodcockESC37985823
8th443Keith LawsonHazel LawsonESC106878627
9th486Anne WayMike WayESC8(RET)(DNC)DNC2428
10th373John AndrewsTom AndrewsWhitefriars1386961029
11th365Ono OlmedoRobert VinceESC910101011(RET)39
12th471Dave LeeIzaac Lee 12111211121145
13th444Paul FurlerPeter Denford 11121112(DNC)(DNC)46
COMET TRIO (MK II) Fleet           
1st505Adrian PadroTracie PadroShustoke1432317
2nd501Andrew McAuslandCaroline McAESC2241227
3rd509Guy FarrantGraham SykesESC5313138
4th503Bob HorlockColette HorlockESC31244410
5th394Simon GregoryVeronique M HartESC4(RET)755519
6th368Mike HartJenny HartESC65679724
7th502Nick WebberRichard StradlingESC86567824
8th428Ian McKayPaddy BettesworthESC77886626
9th457Saul TylerDeborah/Alana TylerESC989RET(DNC)(DNC)36
10th485Peter LabdonRichard YoungESC(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC8943
11th429Michael UptonIan UptonESC(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNCDNCDNC52
11th393Alex HorlockJessica DunnESC(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNCDNCDNC52

Comet Duo World Championships 2021

On Saturday 17 July 2021, we welcomed 12 Comet Duos to the latest Cransley Worlds.  With one visitor (Nigel Ford from Solihull (93)), and five international club members from Wales, it had the feeling of a universal event.  

The wind was light – Force 0-2, with the occasional sudden summer gust catching 2 folk out (Jane and Ian).  The racing was very well organised and led to an enthralling first race, with young Tom Chapman and Georgie Hind (121) chasing and very nearly catching Nigel Austin and Polly Guyett (103).  Our visitor came in 3rd, very happy chappy.   The remaining competitors were not that far behind but to be fair had paired up with crews to get as many out on the water as possible to enjoy this prestigious event, and certainly the trim of some could have been better!

After a lunch that slowed the fleet even more (but wouldn’t have been missed, thanks Claire/Niamh), the 2nd race was more of the same with the leading exchanging hands a few times between 103 and 121, with Tom and Georgie just unable to hold on to the lead on the final leg.  Rhiain Bevan (4) was pursuing hard for a 3rd and thus for the final race an intriguing prospect was set up for 2nd and 3rd place.  

The heat of the day, over 26 degrees on the water led some to go for impromptu swims off the back of the Duos, however there was certainly no cooling particularly on the last five minutes of race 3 where the lead changed hand 3 times between different boats and it looked as if Nigel in 93, would take the honours.  However the wind disappeared 50m from the line for him and Nigel and Polly managed to harness their own zephyr to achieve a clean sweep.

This event was designed to bring together as many of the 180 odd Comet Duos (ever built by Andy Simmons) in a fun and entertaining event and it achieved that again – although we would love to get more visitors, our water is perfect for them, so please if you have one get in touch for next year!  It was also the aim to give our youngsters and less confident adults a chance to race in an event that whilst competitive was also friendly and with lots of banter.  This year young Polly (8 years old) is able to go into school with the trophy on “Show and Tell” and tell her classmates of the day she won the “Worlds”! – creating memories like this is what sailing is all about in my mind!.  

Well done all 

Nigel 

Comet 103

Cransley Sailing Club

TRIO NATIONALS 30th JUL to 1st AUG 2021

Entries are open for the Trio Nationals at Exe Sailing Club later this month.  3 days of racing in Lyme Bay with a social programme to match.  We are of course expecting the sun to shine and a nice breeze to blow!  The plan is for 2 races Friday, 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday, with a BBQ on Friday evening and the Trio Dinner on Saturday evening.   This year we are using outside caterers to deliver these meals and it would help us to know the numbers of people attending so please submit your entries to Caroline McAusland and if there will be others in your party who would like to come to the socials please her know.  The racing will be in separate fleets for the Mk1s and Mk2s. All the information is on the Exe SC website on the Open Events tab.  Here you will find the Notice of Race and the Sailing Instructions.  The entry form is part of the NoR.  There is also information on; accommodation, including local campsites and details of the car parks in Exmouth that allow overnight motorhome parking, tidal flows in Lyme Bay, and things to do in Exmouth when you’re not sailing. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible to celebrate the end of the lockdown restrictions (assuming all goes to plan!) Bob HorlockSec CCCA

Eric Goodley

I’m sorry to report that Eric Goodley has sadly passed away.  Many of our long standing members will remember Eric as Secretary of the Class Association from it’s inception around 1997 until 2005.  He did a lot for the class during this time, promoting the Trio both on and off the water.  He was friendly and conscientious, welcoming new Trio owners to the class at events and showing them how it should be done by helming Lady Z to first place in the inaugural Trio National Championships in 1998 and also the Inland Championships in 2002.  He could be found at the Dinghy Show manning the stand and extolling the virtues of the Trio to anyone within earshot.  As Secretary he helped David Talbot steer the Class Association through it’s transition from the Trio Class Association to the present Combined Comet Class Association.  He will be sadly missed by those who knew him. His funeral is likely to be in the first week of February and it will be video streamed. If anyone wants any further information then please contact Chris Boutle.
Bob Horlock

Online Forum for CCCA Members

We have created an online forum for CCCA members.

https://groups.io/g/CCCA-Community

The purpose of the group is to promote understanding about Comet boats, and include answers to technical questions, best practices and a way to easily ask things of other owners. 
One of the problems with Facebook is that information is lost in the timeline, whereas the forum is very much more persistent.

To borrow a guideline from another online forum, drifting off topic is tolerated within reason. Consider it the equivalent of the sailing club bar. The moderators reserve the right to encourage you back on topic so that the quality of the content is kept honest to the values of the CCCA.

New members are very welcome, and for a short period you posts will be moderated while we all test the waters. Please be aware that our total storage limit is only 1GB; that may sound a lot, but it is relatively little per member. There should be no problem with uploading photos, as the platform will automatically re-size them where necessary, but please avoid uploading videos;  we suggest that you put the latter on Youtube, and simply post the link on this site. 

To subscribe, please visit the group and find the email address to send a request to. (If I put the email address in plain text on the internet we’ll be overwhelmed by web crawling robots).

Once you have sent your email in to subscribe to the site, the moderators will get a meesage and allow you onto the site. If you are not already a member of the CCCA, and would like to join the forum, please apply to join the forum and we’ll be in touch to assist you in joining the class association.

RIght now the forum is pretty empty, awaiting your contribution.

If you’ve had a question about your class, or you have some great info that you’d like to share, feel free to use the facility.

North Trio Mk1 Sails

Following the announcement from Peak Dinghies that they had asked North Sails to produce a white Dacron panel cut main to replicate the performance of the original Rowsell main sail, the CCCA set up a Mk1 Working Group composed of five Mk1 Trio owners to consider the suitability of the North main, jib and code zero spinnaker as replacements for the Rowsell sails.

The Working Group met on 24 Oct 20 at Whitefriars in the presence of a number of other Trio Sailors and compared the North main, jib and code zero spinnaker to a number of Rowsell Trio sails.

Comparison of size between the North Trio mainsail and a Rowsell mainsail.
The North Trio Mainsail hoisted

They concluded that the new North Mk1 Main, Jib and Code Zero Spinnaker are acceptable as ongoing replacements for the Rowsell sails on original Trios. 

The CCCA Committee met on 4 Nov 20  and accepted the conclusions of the Mk1 Working Group.

We are therefore pleased to confirm that we have advised Peak Dinghies that the North Mk1 main, the North Jib and the North Code Zero spinnaker can be marketed as Trio Mk1 sails. The CCCA will revise the Trio rules to reflect this change and the revised rules will be put to the Trio owners in due course.

May I take this opportunity to remind Trio owners that sails and all major components of the Trio must be bought through the licensed builder Peak Dinghies. Replacement, class legal and race legal sails for Comet Trios may now be ordered from Peak Dinghies.

Bob Horlock Secretary CCCA

AGM Minutes

I have today e-mailed all CCCA members with a copy of the 2020 AGM minutes.  If you haven’t received your copy, look under the Documents tab, 2020 AGM, and please let me know as I may have an out of date e-mail address for you. Bob HorlockCCCA Sec