Combs Sailing Club Newsletter

Transcription

1 Combs Sailing Club Newsletter No 234 A typical start this summer with two-trophy Andy Sant pushing the line! August 2014 Commodores Notes August We have now completed the bulk of this seasons Sail Training Programme. I have to say its so rewarding for the Training Team members to see many of our course participants now competing regularly in club racing. We are also seeing training course members regularly coming along to our Saturday afternoon sailing sessions. Please note. We will have a manned patrol boat on duty on Saturdays up to and including the 4th October. The boat will be on the water from around 2pm I would like to give special thanks to all the members of the Sail Training Team for giving so much valuable time to the Sail Training Programme. I think it is worth giving them a special mention, they are Norman Whiteley, Paul Brereton, Russell Talbot, Alex Bowden, Andy Butler, Mike Craddock and Louis Saunders. You may have noticed we have re-configured the pontoon in recent weeks. Unfortunately, this was forced upon us to counter several acts of criminal damage which have occurred during the summer months. A number of individuals have been screwing a BMX ramp to the end of the pontoon and cycling off the end into the reservoir. As we have had a quote in excess of 500 to professionally repair the damage, you can appreciate its significance. We have involved the police and the matter is proceeding. The Chapel police are aware of this and number of similar incidents. So if you come across acts of vandalism or unacceptable behaviour at the club, please do not put your self in harms way but do please inform the police by ringing 101 for non emergencies and of course 999 in the case of an emergency. From the negative back to the positive. Members who frequent the ladies changing room will have noticed our club house refurbishment programme continues. Many thanks to Robert Rawlinson and Harry Mayo who have removed the rather outdated and unstable benches and constructed new bespoke fitted pine seating. 1

2 Congratulations to Sarah & Noah McCahill Ash Dawson and Alison Wake. They took their RYA level 1 & 2 examination on Saturday 9th August. Under the watchful eye of dinghy instructor Norman Whiteley and with the generous cooperation of our friends at Toddbrook Sailing Club they sailed through with flying colours. May I extend the warmest of Combs welcomes to our new club members: Sylvia Douglas, Jake Ijima, Alex Mighall & Lydia Weileinger, Lindsey & Justin Bailey and children Max, Fredrick and Kate, Robert and Claire Parker Bob Pyett, Commodore Open Meetings News. Bytes and Supernovas. Saturday morning did not look good for the Combs Sailing Club Byte Open. Rain fell steadily onto a windless lake as Louis Saunders and Rick Whitehouse flipped eggs and brewed tea for the assembled sailors. Breakfast consumed Louis talked to the assembled sailors about Byte sailing techniques. These hints where digested (along with seconds of bacon and egg) and the company moved outside where Rick gave hints about boat rigging and legal weight saving. He particularly stressed the importance of lightweight ropes, odd really bearing in mind the quantity of breakfast just consumed! A little wind sprang up as the rain eased and the boats took to the water for further training using the 'buddy system'. It is unusual for an easterly wind to blow at Combs but that is what had now sprung up, just enough to texture the surface of the water. Race officer Peter Gardiner was able to set a course which involved most of the Reservoir giving a surprisingly long beat on this comparatively small water. Louis Saunders was quick off the line and was leading at the distant windward mark. He managed to increase this lead and maintain it over the remainder of the race. He was followed home by Rick and Eddie Pope. There was now a break for more food, lasagna on this occasion. One has to get ones priorities right! As the boats left the in race two line a quick hoot indicated that someone was over, in fact both Rick Whitehouse and Richard Aberstien were! Rick looked back the starters hut in disbelief and that cost him dear as Louis sped away. Back through the line they both went and set off in pursuit catching Angela Oakley first then Andy Sant and Eddie but unable to do anything about the now distant Louis who won by a clear margin from Rick and Eddie. Race three began with the wind even lighter and conditions deteriorated from then on. Some of the marks were now in flat calm where the boats sat motionless. From the far side of the lake all we could hear was the cracking of battens as the competitors attempted to find a tack that might work. Eventually the tiniest breath began to ripple the glassy smooth water which was to the advantage of Rick and Richard. As they gathered almost imperceptible motion Louis was left sitting helpless in his own reflection. Things did not improve very much but all the boats found some means of propulsion and the Officer called it a day on one lap. Richard Abenstern won this race proving his light wind ability (not withstanding heavy ropes) with Eddie second and Rick third. After racing, the competitors retired to the local pub for a very good meal. Bearing in mind the Byte is considered a boat for light weight sailors... they do seem to eat a lot. Perhaps today's Byte sailor is the Finn sailor of tomorrow? 2

3 Sunday morning dawned with the surrounding hills shrouded in mist. As the smell of bacon wafted from the clubhouse (more food) the sun began to break through and a breeze sprang up in a totally different direction from the previous day.. In race four action was quite intense with the boats well grouped on the lake. Rick was able to challenge Louis this time and just managed to pip him into second place followed by Richard. Race five once more saw Louis first to the line in the slightly increasing wind chased by Rick then Eddie. Race six once again saw a win from Louis from Rick with Richard in third. Despite early rain and light wind it proved to be an enjoyable weekend. Louis was pleased to beat his old rival Rick and revenge last year when Rick won! The remainder of the fleet declared them selves satisfied and newcomer Richard Abendstern was very pleased with his race win. At the end of the day he was showing considerable enthusiasim for the class. The remaining food was devoured and everyone went home to sleep it off. So, now to re-stock the galley and wait for next months Calshot Nationals. Hartleys (class builder) have a considerable number of boats on order and we expect to see a significant interest in the class next year. RESULT Ist Louis Saunders Combs SC, 2nd Rick Whitehouse Combs SC, 3rd Richard Abendstern Toddbrook SC, 4th Edwin Pope Ogston SC 5th Andrew Sant Combs SC, 6th Angela Oakley Haversham SC.. Rick realises he is over the line with a disbelieving backwards stare 3

4 Supernova Open Our sport of sailing is always controlled by the weather. So it was when 18 Supernovas gathered at Combs Sailing Club on Saturday June 6th. Visitors where greeted by the lightest of fickle winds. When dealing with such conditions a philosophical out look is essential and no complaints where aired. Perhaps the beautiful scenery soothed the potentially troubled souls? Race officer Rick Whitehouse decided on a committee boat start to make the most of the long changeable beat. There was little wind pattern on the water most of the ripples made by the lead boat and flotilla of ducks as the fleet spread over the lake in the search for wind. After mark number 9 the next leg was a broad-ish sort of reach and slight zephyrs opened gaps or closed them as it felt appropriate with no specific advantage to anyone. Little wind was found however and the race was shortened to two laps. The only amusement was caused by Louis Saunders falling off his borrowed boat which duly capsized. Over the line first was Tim Hand followed by Tony Critchley with Alex Collins in third. Louis Saunders was the first Combs boat in fourth. Now a break for lunch, the high spot of the day! Lunch included an excellent bread pudding which, given the, by now, non existent wind and the waist size of the average Supernova helm was not a very tactful menu choice. One has to admire the solid dedication of sailors who ate heartily rather than nibble a lettuce leaf and jog round the dinghy park. At last the odd disconnected puff appeared from random compass points and Rick Whitehouse dispatched the boats for racing. As far as can be judged the wind had moved through 180 deg and a new committee boat start was set diametrically opposed to the first. Progress over the line was sub-pedestrian with the lead boat performing lazy circles as it waited for the sailing boats to arrive at the next mark. The creeping pace continued until the officer called it a day at just 2 races. No one complained, no one wished to get out there and continue the joust. Alex Collins was victorious this time then Tony Critchley who pipped Louis Saunders on the line. Tim Hand was fourth. RESULT 1st Alex Collins 4 pts. Bolton SC, 2nd Tony Critchley 4 pts Bolton SC, 3rd Tim Hand 5 pts Sutton in Ashfield SC 4th Louis Saunders 7 pts Combs SC 5th Paul Underell 12 pts Haversham SC 6th Robin Kirby 12 pts Cotswold SC. As luck would have it ripples appeared after the abandonment. No one trusted this however so boats where packed away and helms consoled them selves with further tea. As if to make fools of us all a minimal breeze sprung up from completely different direction, its reliability was not trusted so it was ignored. It did however stay with us, horrible but not as horrible as the rest of the day. Once again a philosophical attitude prevailed. A quick presentation and the fleet drove off to Carsington where the second event of the weekend was taking place on Sunday. By way of compensation three races were sailed at Carsington with slightly better wind for the 28 entries. John Saunders (and photos) 4

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6 Bart s Bash Sunday 21 st September 2014 Hi all, We have registered to take part in Bart s Bash the largest sailing event in the world and hopefully we can help to set a new Guinness world record! Bart s Bash is being held in memory of Andrew Simpson, Olympic Star class sailor, who tragically died whilst training for the America s Cup competition last year. We will be racing against 570 clubs in 50 different countries and against Yachts, dinghies and windsurfers...but don t worry we ll still be sailing on Combs! After the racing we ll be having a BBQ and a nice sociable evening. Minimum entry for us to be able to participate is 25 boats, so it would be great to get as many of you involved as possible, even if you haven t raced before. We ll also be extending the invitation to our friends at Toddbrook. Our club is registered on Bart s Bash site here and you can now sign up to race on the day. If you do race on the day, you will be racing against Ben Ainslie in a Finn, Iain Percy in a Star, Paul Goodison in a Moth, Jimmy Spithill in a Melges E-Scow, Louis Saunders in a Byte and Loick Peyron in his Trimaran. The event is a fundraiser for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation, and they are asking for a 5 donation from each person over the age of 14 who intends to sail. Sponsorship is optional, however it would be good if as a club we can do our best to raise money for this worthy cause. Attached is a sponsorship form or you can create a just-giving page when you sign up on the Bart s Bash website. What you need to do now: 1) Click here 2) Click Sign me up 3) Enter your details - personal, club, and boat 4) Optional - raise some money (create a just giving page/download sponsorship form attached to this ). We ll be sending out further information over the coming weeks, so watch this space! If you have any questions along the way, contact Alex Bowden or Jenn Lamb. Happy sailing Alex & Jenn 6

7 Four Men and a Bird sail to Copenhagen Opportunities to sail a leg longer than from 9 to 4 don t crop up often, so it was an occasion to perform a sea jig when I was invited to join Russell, Russell s yacht-owning friend Bill and Mike C on a big-boat delivery trip from Inverness to Copenhagen. The three of us Comb-ites left Piccadilly Friday morning, on the TP (sardine) Express and on account of reserved seat problems, engaged in a scrabble for seats with a Hen party and their inflatable boyfriend. An amicable allocation of bums on seats was, thankfully, soon sorted, without resort to ego or boyfriend deflation. The yacht, a 1980 Oyster 39 ketch was moored at Inverness (following its earlier leg up the West Coast from Conwy) ready and provisioned for an early start on the Saturday morning. Tacking our way out along The Moray Firth, the sun in our faces, dolphins playing alongside and breeze in our hair, things don t get much better than this I thought. A thought that came back to me, along with other assorted items of food some time later. The big sticky-out-bit part of Scotland stayed planted on our starboard and it was over a day before land disappeared from sight behind us and we were out in the real North Sea. The scale of passage distances, set against yacht speed, is always a surprise to me and no more so than when there s no reference point, other than the odd distant ship or oil platform. The wind and waves were coming in both the wrong direction and strength relative to our direction of travel, giving rise to uncomfortable swishing, such that not much food was consumed for some time. Days, weeks went by, for the leg from Inverness to the top of Denmark is some 480 miles. Pitted against the sailor s lament (unfavourable wind) we progressed in the best possible direction with occasional and judicious use of the oil engine to assist in making way. Unfortunately that way was in rather a too north-easterly direction. Overnight watches, four on, four off took care of sleep (getting any that is), but lucky enough to get the and 2-4 watches, both the sunset and rise could be appreciated. These appeared and disappeared as incredible, almost Photoshopped reflections on the sea in red, orange, purple and blue, shimmering from the horizon to the yacht. Land Ahoy, we re nearly there, as Norway appeared somewhere ahead-ish. Norway not being our destination, we swung southward and it slipped out of site, only for us to find that in the night someone had moved Denmark. It was a whole day more before we found it again and it slowwwwly got bigger hrs Wednesday morning, we put feet on land in Skagen to be greeted by two American ladies on the pontoon who kindly took the ropes. Four days of hard sailing and we re beaten there by the Yanks, but worse going ashore, we find that the Danes had also got there before us. These 7

8 Scandisorts, they beat us to the South Pole then get to Denmark ahead of us too. Skagen is a pit stop though, for hosed down and re-provisioned with an enormous Danish pastry, we set sail within two hours, Copenhagen our next stop. A leisurely start turned, as we crossed the Kattegat, into quite a healthy breeze, then into a breeze for making good progress, then properly windy (see, I m getting an understanding of these old sea dog terms by now). Off-watch (the body that looks after Seamen s working conditions) I bunkered down on my shelf below deck, Russell steered us through the dark hours, when it became right windy. Things became akin to a bowling alley down below with random items losing grip on their rightful locations, the highlight being as Russ slid us sideways down one monster wave at 11 Knots and the grill pan exited its normal home and clattered around as if we were in zero gravity. That was the point where I pulled the sleeping bag over my head and wrapped myself into a foetal position. We made terrific progress though through the night, ducking and diving in amongst ferries, supertankers, fishing boats, container ships and the odd block of flats masquerading as a cruise liner. Following in the footsteps (wake?) of Lord Nelson I had the honour of helming our little yacht the last 7 hours through the narrow sound around Helsingor in our re-run of the Battle of Copenhagen. Just as Nelson before, we managed to sneak through unchallenged and before you could say Horatio, we were forging our way into Svanemollen marina. The original assault was the famous occasion of Nelson s telescope, blind eye and him choosing not to take up the offer to retreat. The lack of counter attack by the Danes in 2014 meant we didn t need the retreat option (and a good job as we would never have read it with Bill s Kaleidoscope-vision binoculars). Not quite the same impact as 1807, but nevertheless we soon set about our assault on the City, throwing Kroner around in a dangerous manner. A great trip. I would like to thank Russ for the invitation, Bill for owning the boat and allowing me on board and Mike for his sailing expertise and company on the long night watches / our wanderings around the City. There was a brief moment in the dark of one early night as I went to get my hat, when when a bucket of sea water or two came sloshing through the forr d cabin rooflight, down my neck, onto my bed and into my sleeping bag and holdall, that I thought why do we do this. Fortunately, as my wife Kris tells me, there s a German saying that puts things in perspective by reminding us that Memory writes with a golden quill. Pass that feather cabin boy 8

9 Oh, the Bird. She s Tui, the name of the yacht. Apparently a New Zealand species of bird akin to a blackbird. Old Sea Dog Mike passing on his experience to new boy Robert en route to Copenhagen. 9

10 Something Nasty In The Woodshed (or A Mess In The Wooden Hut) Equipment for many of the club boats is stored in the wooden hut. It all has a correct place, and if it s put away in the right place it fits in easily, leaves space for other stuff, and avoids confusion with member s gear. On a number of occasions recently I have noticed a member s Topper rudder and centreboard being used on club Toppers so there is clearly some confusion about what lives where. If a Topper rudder or centreboard doesn t say Combs or BCS (we have an arrangement with Buxton Community School) on it then it s not a club one. If a rudder or centreboard isn t drilled for a retaining line it s not a club one. Club Topper centreboards all live in the rack on the wall. The rack for rudders is marked to show where club rudders live as seen in the picture. The Topper and Optimist rudders and centreboards at the left in the picture belong to members. The empty spaces are available for members to store rudders etc. The club gear is all at the right hand end, and in this picture is all in the right place, and as you can see fits easily. Please try and make sure equipment is taken from and returned to the correct place. Next time: Masts and Booms 10

11 Byte Inlands Over the weekend of June 7-8 Cardiff Yacht Club played host to the Byte Inland Championships as part of their annual club regatta. The weekend started with something of a bang when a huge tent-destroying storm hit Cardiff very early on Saturday morning. However as if to atone for the earlier destruction Saturdays wind was kind gentle and very light. In race one the defending Champion Louis Saunders became locked in a close battle with Charlotte Gough and in doing so allowed Ryan (sorry I do not have his full name) through to the front. I need to elaborate on this, Ryan is a 13 year old Oppie Squaddie who has only owned his Byte for a few months! At only 7 stone something he was electric downwind. Ryan went on to win the race. Ryan's minimal weight, even for a Byte, gave him an advantage downwind but he certainly knew how to put it to good effect! Charlotte was third and Mike Radford fourth with another newcomer Andy Sant in fifth. In race two Louis took control of the situation and led from the line never to be challenged. Charlotte was second, Ryan third, Mike fourth and Andy in fifth. The remaining two races on Saturday followed the same pattern with Charlotte, Ryan and Mike Radford swapping places behind Louis. Sunday dawned with considerably more wind making sailing more challenging for lightweight Ryan but allowing Louis to storm away. However he did experience problems when his traveler bridle snapped meaning that he could only sheet on one tack! Newcomer Andy Sant remained at the back of this group but managed to be third round the windward mark in race six. Andy and Ryan did capsize a couple of times and in the final race Charlotte's kicker broke forcing her retirement and allowing Andy through to fourth place. Louis continued his winning streak but Ryan hung on to take second from Charlotte in third. The Byte Nationals are being held as part of Sailfest at Calshot over the weekend of August and it is hoped that some of the new Hartley built Bytes will appear at this event. Will this add an interesting twist? 1st Louis Saunders 2nd Ryan, 3rd Charlotte Gough 4th Mike Radford5th 5 th Andrew Sant John Saunders 11

12 Dates for your diaries : First Aid Course. Saturday 13th September. Clubhouse, Numbers limited please contact Paul Brereton Barts Bash. Sunday 21st September Annual General meeting. Monday 24th November. Mechanics Institute, Whaley Bridge Dinner Dance and Prize Giving. Saturday 6th December. Davenport Golf Club, Poynton Finally, in this marathon newsletter Images of the lively sailing we have enjoyed recently 12

13 Old helms busting a gut. cruising it, two trophies in four days for Andy Sant. Well done. Busy start lines,. New helms 13