BRISTOL SAILING ASSOCIATION

Newsletter November 2009

Contacts:Gordon Ogden (Commodore)01275 462473

Jock Playle (Secretary)0117 973 8855

Jane Jenkyn (Treasurer) 01275 880318

We welcomed Tiffany Barrett as a guest and potential new member.

Future Trips

1.1Phil Steele will skipper a “Xmas Lights” trip on the weekend of December 18/20, from Plymouth to either Fowey or Dartmouth. This is fully booked. The balance payment of £38 was due on November 13th. As at November 19th, some payments were overdue. If you haven’t yet paid please send a cheque to the Treasurer, Mrs J R Jenkyn, Edgecliff, 12 Marine Parade, Clevedon, Bristol, BS21 7QS.

1.2Looking ahead to next year, some members enquired about sailing in the Round the Island Race on June 19th. It could be difficult to obtain a bareboat charter for this, although Sunsail are offering their Sunfast 37s for £2015 + VAT for 3 days, including berths in Cowes, fuel and race entry. Individual berths cost £435, but are available from other companies from £275 for 2 days. If we have a full crew wanting to do it we will enquire about a charter, but we need to know soon, as places are already filling up quickly. One word of warning – the start of the 2010 race will be at 5.00 am, so anyone booking on boats based at Gosport or Hamble will be having a very early start!

1.3Also for next year, Alan Howells has heard that the Dufour 35 “Tigger Too”, which we chartered for the Helford – l’Aber Wrac’h race some years ago, is now available for charter from Sail West, from whom we charter the GK 29 “Gundulph”. If there is sufficient interest Alan would consider chartering this boat for this year’s race (probably the weekend of June 25 – 27).

Alan also points out that “Tigger Too” has cabin heating, so is a suitable boat for West Country sailing out of season.

2.Announcements

2.1Membership renewal. A membership renewal form was sent to all those whose membership expired on October 31st. If you haven’t yet done so (and this applies to 60% of the membership!), please return it, with contact details updated if necessary, with your payment to the Treasurer (address in 1.2 above).

2.2Those who have booked for the informal pre-Christmas meal are reminded that it will be on the evening of Tuesday December 8th at 7.30 pm at the Priory, Station Road, Portbury. Your menu choices should have been sent to Gordon by now.

2.3For the past few years our January monthly meeting has been a purely social event. Members at the October meeting voted for this to continue in January, rather than December. This will be on January 11th with a free buffet and raffle. We will not have a band this year. Will anyone able to help with providing items for the buffet please contact John Robinson (0117 942 7147).

2.4Each year one of the series of Wilderness Lectures in Bristol is given by a well-known sailing personality. The lecture on Wednesday 20 January 2010 will be by Dee Caffari, who became the first woman to sail solo non-stop westbound (the “wrong way”) round the world in 2006. On finishing the Vendée Globe last year she became the first woman to have done it in both directions. The lecture will be in the University of Bristol chemistry lecture theatre at 7.30 pm. Tickets are £8.50 in advance from Stanfords, 29 Corn Street, Bristol, or £9 on the door.

3.Recent Trips

A summary of all trips reported at meetings is given here, or a full report, if available. Members reporting at a meeting are reminded that a full version of the report should be provided, either written or emailed. If this isn’t available, then only a short summary will be given in the newsletter. Full reports will be included in the next newsletter following receipt.

At the November meeting the reports were by Alan Howells on a training trip he skippered from Plymouth on October 29 – November 1, and by Sonia Russé (in her usual entertaining style) on a midweek Solent trip on the Phoenix yacht “Firebird” skippered by Gordon on November 2 – 4. Bob Buchanan reported on a weekend trip from Plymouth he skippered on October 23 – 25 with a crew from members of both BSA and Shirehampton SC.

These three reports follow.

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Trip on Gundulph, skippered by Alan Howells

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Solent Sail, Sunday 1st to Wednesday 4th November 09 – report by Sonia Russé

Skipper: Gordon Ogden; Crew: Mike Berry, Sue Fowle, John Hartland, Sonia Russé

We were due to sail on Spellbinder, the Phoenix YC Starlight 39 a boat which, for those who know her will view her with confidence and affection. However, for reasons I now can’t recall we were switched to the smaller and much lighter Firebird - - Élan 34. This invoked disappointment given the menacing forecast for gale force 7/8 winds gusting 9 over the next three days with sea states from rough to very rough, even high ,very high and visibility moderate to poor. We also learned we would only have a storm jib and no Genoa, though thankfully on arrival, a full genny was waiting for collection. Sue and Mike, the first on board started the rigging, later checked out by Gordon. Indeed Mike was to be complimented on his ‘whipping’ and the sail was to be fully tested over the next few days. That night we settled for a meal on board – a couple of cheap but tasty Lidl lasagnes and a bottle of plonk or two.

For those unfamiliar with Firebird, she is a lively compact piece, with a 2m keel, sensitive to the touch, not always responsive in the way you might expect and though rather damp in the upholstery department, her central heating is a force to reckon with. For her size, the wheel is enormous behind which is an adjustable back stay somewhat intrusive for the helmsman or woman and when heeling hard, there are few convenient points to hold on to. Her rigging runs well however for the whole trip due to the conditions we maintained three reefs out of the four in the main. All in all though the occasionally flighty Firebird is a relatively easy craft and with careful handling she is guaranteed to give you a good time………. Bit of a tart really!

So back to the sailing details where we have to confess that despite rising relatively early each day to catch the critical 7:30 weather forecasts which were consistently scary, we never managed to slip our moorings before 10:00am. Always with some trepidation as to what we would really find out there! Every day and within a short time, the sails were up, the engine was off and we were quickly into some hard sailing. Day 1 we sailed on a broad reach east of Gosport through the submarine boat channel and back through the Forts past Gilkicker tacking up the North Channel to what we anticipated would be the calmer state of Southampton Water. Despite having earlier set our sights on Poole, then possibly Yarmouth and diminishing to Cowes we settled for the immediate local waters. Occasional squalls, lumpy seas and inconsistent wind forces did not make for comfort sailing so we ultimately headed for Port Hamble and the inevitable Pub. Oh Dear ….what a drag these charters really are!

On Tuesday we sailed out into something of a “hoolie” up to Calshot and on the back turn down Southampton Water we were easily clearing 7 knots, surfing along, in and out of ever changing weather slots of rain and poor visibility to clear blue sky periods with a strong westerly gusting 30 K plus. We took a mooring buoy outside Hythe Marina for lunch and well placed to view an interesting line up of warships from HMS Illustrious to the stealth vessel HMS Daring, the frigate Liverpool, and an unknown American Destroyer. We were also entertained by a couple of distress calls based around the entrance to the Beaulieu River. The logic of one which was hard to follow - a UKSA training boat, “The Harrier” claiming engine problems and drifting in difficult seas. Their radio style was disjointed, incomplete and amateur despite claiming to be professionals. Later “The Harrier” was spotted safe and sound in West Cowes. After lunch the seas had settled and we enjoyed a thrilling afternoon’s sail between Calshot and Cowes with racing tacks and gybes moving on occasions with the speed and direction of a steel ball on a pin ball table. Finally we sailed into the River Medina dicing with the chain ferry to the relative quiet overnight of East Cowes Marina costing all of £12 given our skipper’s description of us as a training boat. Oh the ignominy of cheap accommodation! Later we walked to the ferry over to West Cowes for a disappointing meal at far end of town in The Union Public House.

Day 3 and weather, pretty much unchanged – we sailed out in to a solid F6 tacking downwind to Bembridge with building seas, surfing through the small boat channel to more comfortable seas south of the No Man’s Land fort where, having missed the tidal slot for Bembridge we set about “heaving to” for lunch. Our flighty Firebird was having none of it. She settled for a few minutes to allow the skipper to have a drink and sandwich in hand when, without notice she turned, gave into the embrace of a F7 gust spilling fizzy drink and sandwich parts in all directions. Given these pretty tiring conditions and wimps that we are, we agreed to head for Haslar to undertake the usual spit and polish before splitting up and heading home.

In the 3 short days we covered 70 miles mainly under sail just 3 hours of engine time however despite Sue having laboured over secondary ports, passage planning for entries and exits from various locations we were just the mere instruments not just of the seas but our skipper who seemed to be in a frivolous even skittish mood. Perhaps the spirit of Firebird had got to him.

For example… typical conversations went as like this:

“What’s our course then skipper?” “Well” says he, (having surveyed the Solent from east to west) …“We’ll sail some where over there” (indicated by a very fancy flourish of the wrist) “And then”….. Long pause … “we’ll shoot down somewhere over there!” (pointing to some indeterminate point in the far distance) yet again: “Skipper, where are we going?” And he…. having cast a quizzical eye over the general direction replied, again with big flourish “That way and then we’ll work out where we are, when we get there!” – The crew trusted that this was the delivery of a confident man, very familiar with the waters around him and not normal BSA passage planning. Of course Gordon we didn’t doubt you for a moment, and thanks for guiding us safely back. We had fun and would love another mid week sail with Bob, or Phil or Dave but mostly with you!

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Plymouth sailing 23/10/09 to 25/10/09 – report by skipper Bob Buchanan

Yacht “Bertie of Tamar” Bavaria 44

Skipper. Bob Buchanan,

Crew, David Fogden, Becky Goddard, Becca Hayward (BSA); Geoff Louch, Paul Ashbee (SSC).

Friday. We do the hand over at 16.00hrs and wait for Foggy & Becky.

It’s raining and the wind is about 10knts. The plan is to anchor in Cawsand bay for the night. I get a call from Foggy saying that they will be there at about 19.00hrs. We are in the “Chandlers” waiting for them, and the general feeling is that by the time they get here it will be too late to go out. I totally agree with them, and ordered another round. Foggy and Becky finally turn up and have a drink with us and discuss plans for the weekend.

Back on board we have a lovely meal of lamb and apricot pie, one of Becky’s specials.

Saturday. After a full English breakfast we slip our mooring at 11.00hrs, heading for Fowey. The wind is up to 20knts and we have a bit of a job getting out of the marina, the bow thruster on “Bertie” didn’t really help that much.

We motored down the sound and decided when outside to put two reefs in the main, and about half of the genoa out. “Bertie “has a fully battened main with lazyjacks, and a furling genoa.

The wind is now 25knts S/W. we are having a very good sail, with no rain and mostly clear skies. After a couple of hours the wind was now up to 30knts gusting to 35knts. It was ok on a starboard tack, as we were just punching through the waves without much problem. When we tacked onto a port tack things got a little bit difficult. With Foggy on the wheel, we were taking a lot of water into the cockpit, as we were almost beam-on to the waves. This is where Foggy got his extended nick-name to Soggy Foggy.

It was decided to lower the sails and motor the last five miles. We berthed on a pontoon in the middle of the river as the town quay was full.

That evening we got the dinghy out and went ashore. The town quay was occupied by “Gweillo” another Liberty yacht, and an aluminium yacht that had earlier put out a mayday saying that she was sinking. She was escorted in by Fowey lifeboat, and on further investigation found that a very bad leak in her water tank had flooded the boat above floor level. We talked to the owner of the yacht and he said that he had only had her for three weeks; he saw the water level rising and just sent a mayday. We asked him why he didn’t taste it first and he replied that he just panicked, still better to be safe than sorry.

That evening we had a meal in “Sams” it was very crowded and we had to wait for an hour, before we could get a table. With a short walk and a dinghy ride back to the boat, we had a quick drink and then into our bunks.

Sunday. We move the boat over to the town quay as the aluminium yacht is gone. Another full English breakfast and we are ready to go. Paul has gone to the pasties shop as we plan to have lunch on the way back to Plymouth. We slip our moorings at 10.15hrs and head out to sea. The wind is a steady 20knts S/W. we decide to just put up the genoa. The sun is out and we are having a very good sail, doing 6/7 knots at one point surfing down the waves we hit 9.4 knots.

Three hours after leaving Fowey, we were just off Rame head. We headed into Cawsand bay and dropped the anchor. It was pasties and a beer time. We felt like staying for a lot longer as we were sheltered from the wind and the sun was very warm, but we had to get the boat back.

We motored to the fuel pontoon, refuelled and put “Bertie” back in her berth. Did the hand over and went home.

It was an excellent weekend with the sailing on Saturday very demanding and on the Sunday very relaxing.

Total miles sailed, 50

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