THE BEWL SOLO CLASS
Welcome to the website dedicated to the Solo Class at Bewl Valley Sailing Club.
This season we are seeing a very rapid growth of the Solo fleet at Bewl presently over 30 boats with typically 10 to 15 starters each Sunday morning.
Racing with a separate start for the class is organised on a Sunday, two races back to back in the morning and two more back to back after lunch.
The racing takes part throughout the whole year and is divided into 8 separate series, each one given its own trophies. Results are updated weekly on the Club website and on this site. In addition we hold three open events specifically for solos, “Spring Thaw Open Series” (March), ” The Southern Area Open” (April) and “Southern Quaich Open” (October).
Entrants for these opens typically number 20 to 40 boats.
The popularity of the class is apparently not just at Bewl, other clubs report increasing numbers. This success is a reflection of the suitability of the Solo to the demands on our time, whether we are working with families or retired. The boat is easy to maintain and easy to prepare before a race, it is also of course singlehanded, which avoids the need to arrange a crew.
Perhaps another reason is that the Solo is a One Design boat and has a very long “shelf life” and therefore remains competitive even if it is 20yrs old or more. This “shelf life” also applies to the sailor, with owners young to the mature! Above all racing is straight competition and not handicap.
We hope you will find this website informative and lots more of interest about the boat, the class and the people can be found on various pages.
For more personal contact about sailing the boats and Bewl Valley SC contact me, Class Captain Don Buckle on 01580 753368 or e.mail buckle826@btinternet.com
The Bewl Valley SC office is open 7 days a week. For more information about the club tel. 01892 890930 or e.mail info@bewlvalleysc.co.uk The Class Association has a very good website www.solosailing.org.uk.
If you would like to own a Solo, have a sense of humour and like friendly competition, then you are one of us.
Don Buckle
Bewl Valley Solo Class Captain
