BLSA 'AGM' - 17th October 2009

The BLSA AGM is to be held on the Saturday evening of the scheduled BLSA Fun Weekend 17/18 October at the Cotswold Gliding Club.  The AGM will be held after the events evening meal in either the Briefing room or the 'Club' room (TBC).

AGENDA.

Previous Minutes

New Constitution 

Open to all BLSA Members 

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BLSA Fun Weekend - 5th & 6th Sept

Officially 'the best Weston Fun Weekend so far'

Another excellent BLSA Fun Event at Weston over the weekend.  Thanks to Chris Moore for the organisation and a special thanks to Steve Harvey for holding excellent race training sessions on both days.

25 members attended over the weekend (inc. 5 new members joining over the weekend), with 16 karts out on Saturday and 17 on Sunday plus a few demos and 'Have a Go's. Some had never been in a Blokart before the start of the day and by the end were racing around with the others with smiles from ear to ear!  Everyone had a great time, really enjoyed themselves and it's official, the best Weston Weekend we've had! 

We've already had some great feedback from those that attended but I think this e-mail from the Johnson family somes it up...

We are a family of four, Kev and Ali Johnson, with two sons, Max aged 12 and Sam 14. We bought our two blokarts after attending an activity session at Perranporth with Kevin Meyers, earlier in the year and contacting Chris Moore from Weston Windsports.  We joined the BLSA and met several times on Uphill beach where Chris and other members of the BLSA made us all feel extremely welcome and were all eager to help and advise.
 
Chris contacted us about the BLSA Fun Weekend from 4th - 6th Sept and we went along, not knowing what to expect. When we arrived at the beach, there were around 15 other sailers with various levels of experience from beginners like us to advanced.  The whole weekend was well thought out, and included several sessions of verbal instruction covering technical terms, wind, race rules etc. followed by the opportunity to put these instructions into practice.

Steve spent several hours over the weekend giving us all the chance to experience race starts and putting the strategies into practice.  The courses were set out and moved around to give us all the chance of learning how to sail in different wind directions and to discuss what we had learned.  The experienced BLSA members helped throughout the whole weekend, giving coaching advice and tips on how to improve.  All of this was done in such a way to be effective to all sailers there, no matter what level of experience.
 
I now feel far more confident on how to control the blokart, how to get the best out of different wind conditions and get the maximum enjoyment out of the blokart.  It has also made me eager to attend the other such fun weekends scheduled, as the whole weekend was a great experience and a great atmosphere.
 
I'm now looking forward to the weekend of the 19th September when we will all be going to Pemberey for another fun weekend.
 
Thanks to everyone at BLSA for a fab time

Fantastic feedback.  I hope that this will encourage more Blokart Sailors to attend BLSA events whether for Fun or Racing.  I also hope that it will encourage other members, whether experienced or not, to organise more Fun Events throughout the year. This year all of the BLSA Fun Weekend Events have been organised by Chris Moore at Weston (well done Chris), we really need othrs to take up the baton and organise more BLSA Fun Weekends around the country.  Not only do we get great sailing, they're great social occassions and you can pick up a great deal of knowledge.  Let's see if we can make 2010 even more successful than 2009.

Thanks again to Chris and Steve.  I've posted a few photos of the weekend in the right hand pain and more are available on this link.  Photos

Nick Dodge, Chairman 

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The long awaited Katalyst 'blokart edition' is finally in the UK.

The new Katalyst was unveiled at the South Wales Boat Show on the 12th June and put through its paces by the UK distributor and seasoned Blokart sailor Graham Bobin.  Despite very light winds Graham sailed confidently across the small lake despite the antics of an enthusiastic Zap Cat pilot.  The first sail in the UK went very well and Graham then performed a controlled capsize to see how easy it was to get back the right side up.  After an initial hiccup with the positioning of the 'righting' line, Graham soon had the Katalyst the right side up and sailing was resumed.   

Pictures of the Katalyst at the South Wales Boat Show are available in the Picture Gallery

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Important restrictions affecting Gwithian Towans Beach venue

Please goto the Gwithian Towns page under the Sailing Venues menu option for access to full details.

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Blokart Racing

The first Northern Ireland Mini Yacht Open took place on Benone Beach, Limavady on the weekend of 9 th & 10 th May 2009.  Use the link to the Blokarters.com site in the left panel for a full report and some great photos.

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BLSA - North Somerset Open  17th - 19th April        Sponsored by 

The first North Somerset Open was a great success with Sun, Sand, and Wind!  The mixture of competition and a really relaxed friendly atmosphere made the weekend thoroughly enjoyable and fun. 

A big 'thank you' to event organisers Chris and Gill Moore, the event Race Officer Adrian Brown, Marshals Mary Brown, Christine and Graham Deal, Gill and John Endean for operating the Transponder System, Graham Bobin for help and advice and toWeston Windsport for being the main sponsor hosting the event, supplying the trophies and the lunchtime refreshments.

A personal 'thanks' from myself to all those that took part, for making the event so enjoyable.  It was great to see a number of first time racers enjoying themselves and even walking away with trophies.  Well done to all. 

Race Results are available under the Racing menu (link) and I hope to add a full report and loads of photos very shortly.

Nick (Chairman)

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USA Open - Ivanpah

Reports are coming in about the USA Open at Ivapah.  More details can be found on the Blokarters UK Site / forum, the British Blokart Club website and via various Blog pages.  Details will include a new land speed record for a wind powered craft ' Greenbird' prior to the Blokart Racing. Reports from the Blokart Racing itself and a potential new Blokart speed record for Santi Oliver of 62mph!!  More details...

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BLSA Fun Weekend at Weston Super Mare

Another fun filled weekend at a very dry and sunny Uphill beach.  A great time was had by all and a number of demo sessions took place with another new member to the BLSA signing up.

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Series 'b' Racing - Ainsdale Open

 The Blokart Dealer Series 'b' Racing meeting at the Ainsdale Open was a great success according to organisers Gwen and Justin Heap.  Comments from those attending have been full of praise for a very well run event.  A full report and pictures can be found on the Blokart North West dealer website.  Full Report...

New BLSA 'Club Days' page

I've added a page under the 'Events Calendar' menu called BLSA 'Club Days'.  This is a list of known venues where regular get togethers are organised by local members of the BLSA for anyone wishing to sail or even 'Have a Go'.  'Have a Go' sessions require a BLSA Instructor to be available.  Please check this out and get in touch with your local venue contact to get sailing.  If anyone else has a similar regular venue then please let me know and I'll get it on the list.  Nick D

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London Boat Show 2009

The BLSA was represented magnificently at the 2009 London Boat Show.  As part of the Speedsail UK stand we had a fantastic corner location opposite Topper, Laser and RS Dinghies and very close to the Model Yacht Association's demo pool (in which one young lad went swimming!, but that's another story).  This meant that at busy times during the day we continuously had over 20 people actively looking, discussing and trying out the blokarts on display.  Everyone of these people got to know about the BLSA and how we support Blokart Sailing in the UK and Europe.  In the time I was at the show, I thought it was a great success and would like to thank Graham Bobin and Speedsail UK for the use of their stand and their continuing support of the BLSA.  Full Report... 

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New BLSA Committee for 2008/2009 - posted October 08

After the recent election of a new BLSA committee we can now confirm that the committee positions have been distributed to those elected. In addition to the normal positions (e.g. Chairman, Secretary etc.) we have assigned a number of roles to help and advise with the setting up and running of Racing Events (non commercial). These are specifically to ensure that anyone wanting to organise a Race Event under the guidelines of the BLSA will have the full support and experience of the committee.

There have been a couple of changes in the new committee, one of which is the Chairman. Chris has decided to stand down as Chairman after being in the role since the very beginning. However, he will continue in his other role as Membership Secretary. 

As the new Chairman and on behalf of the entire committee I would like to thank Chris Moore for his outstanding chairmanship over the past years. I just hope that I can provide as much enthusiasm and dedication as Chris has over the coming year. It’s going to be a tough act to follow. Cheers Chris.

The full committee can be found under the BLSA Committee heading.

New British Blokart Speed Record

Its been pushed up again, this time by Chris Moore.it now stands at 59.6MPH on a 2m.

So the list grows, see list of Venues and Top speeds for BLSA members.

To get your Name listed, speed has to be Clocked by GPS and have at least 2 other BLSA members in attendance. 

1. Chris Moore 59.6 MPH 2m sail Pembrey S.Wales (Beach)
2. Tony Elliott 59.3 MPH 2m sail Pembrey S.wales (Beach)
3. Tony Elliott 57.8 MPH 2m sail Pembrey S.Wales (Beach)
4. Kevin Meyers 55.6 MPH 2m sail. Perranporth Airfield (Tarmac)
5. Steve Harvey 54.2 MPH 3m sail Pembrey S.Wales (Beach)
6. James Brown (Junior) 52.8 MPH 3m sail Pembrey S. Wales (Beach)
7. Darren Hall 52.2 MPH 3m sail Pembrey S. Wales (Beach)  
8. Chris Moore 51.1 MPH 2m sail. La Franqui France (Beach)
9. Nick Dodge 51 MPH 3m sail Pembrey S.Wales (Beach)
10. Steve Hill 50.7 MPH 2m sail Pembrey S.Wales (Beach) 
11. John Endean 50.6 MPH 2m sail. La Franqui France (Beach)
12. David Hare 50.2 MPH 3m sail Pembrey S.Wales (Beach)
13. Chris Moore 50 MPH 3m sail.Pembrey S.Wales (Beach)                      
14. Phil Chapman 50 MPH 2m sail. Pembrey S.Wales (Beach) 

Standard Kart Set up

1. Bas Aldwell 44.6 MPH Guernsey (Beach)

Lets Do a Deuce Speed Record as well !!!

1. Chris Moore & Tony Elliot 39.1 MPH 3m sails. Weston S Mare (Beach)
2. Chris Moore & James Brown  29.4 MPH Pendine S.Wales (Beach)

Chris Moore and Phil Chapman both managed to achieve 50MPH in 25MPH winds recently at a Pembrey meeting. 

Interestingly these speeds were achieved using differently rigged karts - one with a 2m and one with a 3m rig. 

Apparently the kart with a 3m suffered sideways drift, where the 2m kart went in a straight line!