Tenby Sailing Club Osprey Fleet details, July 2007

Ospreys out training in mid February.

The Osprey Fleet
Sail No.	Name	Helm	Crew
1141	Blunderbus	Dan Jackson
1145	Smuggler	Graham Dony	Elliot Dony
1219		Alistair Knibb
1261	Lady in Red	Colin Parmenter	Simon Hill
1310	Brave New World	Ted Lewis	Mat Goldwait
1316	Suzi Jane	Rowland Squibbs	Marc Shepherd
1326	Shameless	Mike Stace	Deanna Morton
1327	Alacrity	Paul Evenden	Anthea Patterson
1328		Nick Berridge	Govan Berridge
1330	Harriet Grace	Bill Dowell	Nan Dowell
Fleet Captain: Paul Evenden. Phone: 07967 000884   paul_evenden@msn.com
Osprey Association Representative - Mike Stace, phone: 01834 844484

• The current Osprey fleet at Tenby was started in the autumn of 2006. The opportunity of good class racing in a modern very high performance boat encouraged many crews to change from a number of other classes to the Osprey.
  
  
• The Osprey class is 50 years old in 2007.
  
  
• Brand new boats currently available are of the Mk.4 version, manufactured by Hartley Laminates in Derby.
  
  
• The Ospreys at Tenby are a mix of Mk.3 and Mk.4 designs in GRP, FRP & wood and range in purchase price from around £1000 to over £10,000. There is a strong second hand market nationally and boats can be found throughout these price ranges to suit all budgets. Many of the Tenby boats are in joint ownership, thus helping both affordability and increasing the average turnout during club sailing.
  
  
• Careful consideration of the latest update in 2005/06 by the class association has ensured that all the different marks of boats can still race against each other on level terms with the results determined by helm/crew ability not by the team with the largest budget!
  
  

          The boats are proving to live up to all expectations and it is not unusual to have several different boats leading at various times in a single race.

          The superb design by Ian Proctor provides not only a very fast hull but one with a much higher level of stability than many modern designs. This enables less experienced helms & crews to safely and enjoyably make their way around the racecourse whilst gradually gaining the knowledge to enable them to maximise the potential speed of the Osprey.

          The fleet at Tenby has a very broad range of ability from those with 30 years dinghy sailing, to those with just a season or two's experience and therefore any newcomers to the fleet will immediately have other boats close by during racing. As all of the owners are new to the class there is a healthy exchange of information and advice flows freely both in the dinghy park and the club bar following every sail.

          The Osprey was originally designed for either two or three crew and it is not uncommon for an adult helm to sail with two children as crew which is great for family friendly sailing, and introducing newcomers. The Osprey is the only racing dinghy that this option is available with, whilst still remaining competitive while racing.

          Should anyone wish to go for a trial sail then this can be easily and swiftly arranged in one of the boats listed above.

          The rapid growth of the Osprey class at Tenby Sailing Club has made it the class to be seen in. Tenby provides the only venue for high performance two crew dinghy class racing in West Wales with regular visits to Open events & Regattas by visiting Ospreys and, in the spring of 2008, a planned official Osprey Association Class open meeting at Tenby that will see the largest fleet of Ospreys sailing in Wales since the National Championships were held at Tenby in 1993.

          Further information is available on the class history and technical information from the Osprey Class Association website, which is the voluntary group which controls all class matters nationally and supports the fleets and individual members in all Osprey related matters.