BRISTOL SAILING ASSOCIATION

Newsletter November 2022

Contacts:Kath Liddiard (Commodore)01443 227928

Jock Playle (Secretary)0117 973 8855

Becky Goddard (Treasurer) 01749 346818

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1. News

December meeting – Social Evening Last year we held our Social Evening with buffet on board Sabrina in December instead of the usual January, and at the meeting on October 10th it was decided that we will do the same this year. Our meeting on December 12th will be our social evening with free buffet and raffle and the Commodore’s Christmas Quiz

As usual we are asking those members who can to bring items of food for the buffet (BSA will refund costs). Brian Adams is co-ordinating the buffet, so if you are going to bring anything please contact him, tel. 0117 907 8862 or 07590 099564, email

2. Recent trips

At the November meeting Phil Steele gave Alex Barry’s report of a trip Phil skippered on ‘Celtic Flame’, the GSA Plymouth boat, and Reg Morris gave report on a boat-handling skills trip skippered by Ian Collins, also on ‘Celtic Flame’. Sue Fowle then described sailing in the Bay of Naples, and two trips on a Turkish gulet.

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Trip on Celtic Flame 2, skippered by Phil Steele

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Trip on Celtic Flame II, skippered by Ian Collins

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Kath Liddiard also reported briefly on a second boat-handling trip on Celtic Flame’ skippered by Ian, with Rhian Phillips and Harvey Freer in the crew, on November 10 – 13. This also involved lots of berthing practice (‘pontoon bashing’ said Kath), lassoing mooring buoys in a high wind, and a slalom course around visitors’ buoys. Kath said they all gained lots of confidence.

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Bay of Naples, August 20 – Sept 03 2022.- report by Sue Fowle

A group of friends from Club Ibis which is run by my Caribbean contact, Sam Bartlett.

Two white plastic boats, 45’ and 50’

Charter was from sicilysailing.com from Marina del Archi, south of Salerno. Salerno is easily reached from Naples airport by bus or train and then navette or taxi to the Marina. All marine facilities are there.

Sam, our skipper hired a car for a day to shop in the local large Carrefour – 3 weeks x 10-12 people means a lot of food! Nearby was a Chinese supermarket which sold EVERYTHING you needed…. except for tea towels and cool boxes – Italy too had had a torrid summer!

The first week was mainly calling into towns on the mainland – Amalfi, Positano and Sorrento then to Capri. This first week was the end of the Italian summer holidays so everywhere was very busy. I couldn’t see the ground in Amalfi. Italians love their speed boats of all dimensions! So it was really amusing to see the flotilla of boats speeding back to Naples on the last Sunday night in August. We had a booking in the marina on Capri but it was so hectic we went around to the south coast to anchor despite the water being very deep. Our chain was only 40m long.

From Capri we moved north to the Pontine Islands spending the second week around Ischia, Procida and Ponza, the main islands and Ventetone and Palmerola which are smaller.

Apart from Ponza where we changed crew and did some laundry we were on anchor every night. Some nights off the mainland were a bit rolly. Marinas are expensive so we needed to use the dinghy to go ashore to explore or eat on shore. We had some excellent meals out, not always expensive and ate lots of sea food. I probably returned home with a high mercury level having eaten a lot of tuna, both cooked and raw….

We saw few sail boats but there was a fleet of Sunsail boats in Ponza marina. There is a good ferry service in the summer months to Naples but also to the mainland at Anzio and Terracina which have good train connections to Rome. This would offer a greater choice of flights from Bristol. A good website to use for transport links is rometorio.

The weather was very hot and there were storms around Vesuvius and south of Sorrento, but we got short bursts of wind most days – usually when I was on the helm. August is not the best month for wind in the area.

The islands are the edge of an extinct volcano, the rock formations and colours of the cliffs are quite amazing. There are little developments of new white houses as well as the tumbled together old towns painted in the most gorgeous colours. Victualling can be a problem but we were able to top up our main shop with bread and wonderful fresh fruit. We managed to find gluten free food for one of the group in the shops and restaurants.

Altogether this was a beautiful area for sailing, quite a revelation to me. There are historic sites around too, this area has been where all of Italy’s leaders chose to send their political prisoners….and in Roman times to let them starve. Out of high season it must be a great area to sail. I will be returning to do some walking unless anybody offers to be my skipper….

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Trip on BORINA 1, skippered by

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Trip on Laguna, skippered by

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