BRISTOL SAILING ASSOCIATION

Newsletter March 2022

Contacts:Kath Liddiard (Commodore)01443 227928

Jock Playle (Secretary)0117 973 8855

Becky Goddard (Treasurer) 01749 346818

Welcome to the first ‘normal’ newsletter since November 2021, as we have a sailing report for a charter from Neyland on March 11th, and we now have regular monthly meetings again.

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Chris Watts. Sadly, we begin this newsletter with the news that our member Chris Watts died on Saturday 26th March after battling an illness for some time. Chris had been a club member since 1996, after 30 years as mate of a sail training vessel, and, at the time he joined us, was the lighting director for the TV Teletubbies series. Chris gained his Yachtmaster Offshore in 1990 and was a skipper for BSA since joining us. A great skipper and crew companion, Chris had logged up over 25000 miles sailing, which included two passages of over 2500 nM. Recently trips with Gordon and the crews on two boats saw them sailing in France. There are many happy memories for all our members who sailed with Chris over the years. Chris always gave you the benefit of his experience, not just about sailing , but his other interests too (he was the dendrologist at the National Trust Tyntesfield site) posting pictures of all the trees, plants and buildings he encountered on his frequent walks with a local walking group.

At our meeting on April 11th we shall raise a glass in his memory. The funeral will be on April 19th, and Ginny Watts has asked me to pass on the following information to our members:

“Chris’s funeral will take place at 1200 on Tuesday 19 April at South Bristol Crematorium, with refreshments afterwards at Nailsea Masonic Hall, Nailsea Park, Nailsea BS48 1BA.  This is a celebration of Chris’s life and he hated gloomy colours so please wear bright casual clothes.  Family flowers only but donations to Lymphoma Action and RNLI can be made via the site or via the funeral director’s website which is Arthur E Davey & Sons (). 

 Please let me (Ginny) know if you will be coming to the Crematorium only or also to the Masonic Hall so I have an idea of numbers.  My email is .”

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Future Trips

1.1Gordon Ogden will skipper a weekend from Liberty in Plymouth on the weekend of May 20 – 22. This is fully booked and the final payment of £170 is due by April 5th.

1.3 Jerzy Wieczorek is planning a Yachtmaster training trip in September, which will be on a Jeanneau 37 from Hamble Yacht Charter at Mercury Yacht Harbour on the weekend of September 9 – 11. As a Solent high season charter this will cost £190 per person. Jeff Birkin and Dave Lloyd will oversee this, and there is one place still available. Anyone interested should understand that this will not be a normal cruising sail, but could include repeated manoeuvres and a night passage, but this will be invaluable for anyone wanting to brush up their sailing skills or planning to take a RYA qualification.

1.4Jeff Birkin has had disappointing news about his plan to sail in the Helford to l'Aber Wrac'h race in June, or at least accompany the race fleet as a cruise if we could not get race insurance. However, we have now heard from both Liberty and Pembrokeshire Cruising that they are not allowing their boats to sail to France at all. This is a direct consequence of Brexit; the bureaucracy and paperwork for both boat and crew to enter France, coupled with the difficulty now of organising any service work if necessary, have persuaded the charter companies that it is not worth the effort. We are hoping that Ian’s new boat will be ready in time.

1.5Ian Collins has suggested that we could have a cruise from Neyland to Ireland in September. Will anyone who would be interested in this please let us know.

2. News

2.1 Shorebased courses in Bristol

At a recent meeting Reg Morris said he would confirm if Frank Dunne at the Avon Navigation School in Hotwells is currently taking Day Skipper and Yachtmaster theory students.

He has got back to say that he is.

Reg found Frank's approach really helpful since he came to the Yachtmaster course with a fair bit of existing knowledge. Frank was prepared to do a course tailored to gaps in Reg’s knowledge so he didn’t have to go over (and pay for) stuff he already knew.

Members who are contemplating theory courses may also find his approach suits them.

His contact is: Frank Dunne at avonnavigationschool@gmail.com.

3. Recent trips

3.1 At the March meeting Ian Collins gave a report on the weekend he skippered from Neyland on March 11th.

Trip on Kale1’, skippered by Ian Collins

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