BRISTOL SAILING ASSOCIATION

Newsletter October 2010

Contacts:Gordon Ogden (Commodore)01275 462473

Jock Playle (Secretary)0117 973 8855

Jane Jenkyn (Treasurer) 01275 880318

Future Trips

1.1Bryan Thomas will skipper a weekend trip from Hamble Point on October 29 – 31. This is fully booked and paid, and crew details have been sent to all going.

1.2Several members asked for a training trip concentrating on sail handling; Chris Watts will skipper this on the PYC yacht “Spellbinder” on Monday November 8th – Wednesday 10th. There is one place still available for this; will anyone wishing to take this please let me (Jock, 0117 973 8855) know as soon as possible, as this will take place at the time of our next monthly meeting on November 8th and I need to send out details soon to all going. No advance payments are needed for this trip.

Malcolm Price and Bill Thomas will skipper two boats from Plymouth on the weekend of November 19 – 21. This is fully booked, and all those going have paid a deposit of £50. The balance of £38 is now due, and will those who have not yet paid please send a cheque to the Treasurer, Mrs J R Jenkyn, Edgecliff, 12 Marine Parade, Clevedon, Bristol, BS21 7QS.

1.4Gordon Ogden will skipper a midweek trip on the PYC yacht “Spellbinder” on Monday November 22nd – Wednesday 24th. There are two places available on this trip. Please contact me or Gordon (01275 462473) if you would like to take this up.

1.5Chris Watts will skipper another midweek trip on “Spellbinder” on Monday December 6th – Wednesday 8th. (This is listed on the PYC bookings calendar as “BSA Winter Warmer”!) This is fully booked.

1.6Phil Steele would like to repeat last year’s “Xmas Lights” trip on the weekend of December 11th – 12th. This year he plans to go from Falmouth. There are two places available – please let us know at the December meeting if you wish to join, or contact me before then.

2.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 October meeting we heard reports of a 3-boat weekend sail from Plymouth in September, skippered by Alan Howells, Bryan Thomas and Mike Quick. Alan’s boat went to Falmouth overnight on the Friday and met up with the others in Fowey the next day. Sharon Scurlock reported on this and we hope to have this report later. Full reports by Don Hirst and Joe Buxton for the other two boats are included below. Then there is a report by Sue Fowle on a midweek trip to Weymouth on Spellbinder, skippered by Gordon. Bernard Smyth’s short report (but rather longer than the verbal two-sentence one he gave at the meeting!) of sailing in Sicily follows.

Julia and Chris Wallace’s fourth report of their voyage from London to Seville on board their Westerly Conway “Aremiti” is our final report. This has already been sent to those who receive the newsletter by email, and is included now for those who normally receive a posted newsletter.

We start however with a brief ad hoc report given by Steve Hall (having been deserted by the crew expected to give the report) on another midweek Spellbinder trip on September 13 – 16.

Midweek sail on Spellbinder, September 13 – 16 – report by skipper Steve Hall

Steve has been a Phoenix YC skipper for some years, bur this was his first trip skippering a BSA sail. The crew was Sue Fowle, Sonia Russé, Colin Hodges and Elli Gilligan. The poor weather put paid to the original plan of going to Weymouth, and on the Monday they sailed to Yarmouth in a F7. Next day was so windy (32K in the harbour) that they stayed in port. The crew walked to the clifftop battery overlooking the Needles, where it proved difficult to keep standing in the wind. On the following day they ran with the tide and 20-22K of wind to Chichester, just making the Bar crossing in time and going up to Chichester Marina for the night. They returned to Haslar the next day after a rather rough crossing of the Chichester Bar.

Steve thanked Elli and Colin for their superb catering, and added that PYC charged for just three days after losing a day in the bad weather.

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Trip on Ready Ssaltd, skippered by Bryan Thomas

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Trip on Moonshine, skippered by Mike Qick

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Midweek trip on Spellbinder, Sept 27-Oct1. – report by Sue Fowle

Skipper - Gordon Ogden, Crew - John Hartland, Keith Fisher, Ros Bennett and

Sue Fowle.

We Saga sailors met up at Hamble Point for 5 days sailing on Appaloosa a Bavaria 36 which BSA has chartered several times. She is generally well maintained but has a tendency to be a little damp - there had been no heating/dehumidifier used before we arrived so although the charter company were a little laid back about this they agreed to loan us sleeping bags to use on the bunks. By using the heating later in she soon dried out. She is well supplied with charts but her lines are short and few in number.

The week's plan was to sail to Weymouth and Poole with the possibility of a night at anchor, perhaps in Studland Bay. For once the tides were in the right direction.

On Monday afternoon we set off for Yarmouth practising reefing despite the very light winds. The following day we were up at 05.40 to catch the tide through Hurst. There was no wind so we motored out thro the North Channel - an opportunity for some night sailing and nav practice. We made steady progress across Christchurch Bay so some of us retreated to our sleeping bags until a more acceptable hour of the day. By lunchtime although the sun was out the wind remained variable so to amuse ourselves we practised heaving to and doing the 'Measured Mile' which proved the log was under reading by 2knts. Ros and Gordon pulled it out to check - in 50m of water. We had not been in too much of a hurry to reach St. Alden's Head because of the tide over the overfalls but as they did not seem too bad, Gordon rang the firing range who gave us permission to sail through. Each sentence ending in 'Sir'. Despite the sky having clouded over the view of the Jurassic Coast was

spectacular and our approach to Weymouth very easy until we arrived at the berth allocated by the Harbour Master. He did admit to it being rather cosy - between two rafted yachts, one of whose lines were across the gap and a short finger pontoon. Sue chickened out of mooring but Gordon gently ferry -glided in -you make it look SO easy, Gordon! Unfortunately there was no time for the Grumpy Old Men to get into their speedos and sit on the beach licking an ice-cream cone. Neither were there any glamorous girls practising beach volleyball! Later that evening after listening to the weather forecast - F3-4 with occasional F6 we went to our bunks mulling over how we would get out of the mooring in the morning- as many possibilities as crew members.

The following morning our departure happened very quickly as a passing Harbour Authority rib offered to pull out our bow so we headed off to raise the main in Weymouth Bay. The weather out there was very different to in the harbour and as the wind increased and Portland disappeared in the rain we added a second reef. In fact most of the passage was in F8 with significant periods of wind at 40knts.Consequently all of us got practise at helming in these conditions. Despite being a Bavaria, Appaloosa sailed very steadily and held her course well. This time we headed out to the suggested waypoint avoid the overfalls but saw one of the few other yachts out that day going close inland. Our intended stay at Studland was not possible and taking into account the S wind, the moderate seas and tide times it was decided to head for Yarmouth instead of Poole. Sue and Ros tried to keep spirits up by singing sea shanties but as the wind increased some of the crew became rather anxious as they began' Eternal Father strong to save'....

As tide and wind turned we made slow progress across Christchurch Bay retracing our route thro the North Channel to be met by the tide racing out through Hurst and then safely into the Solent - another world after our cold, wet 7hours on deck. On Thursday a Sea Cadets skipper confirmed the treacherous conditions at the entrance to Poole Harbour so we were relieved to have chosen Yarmouth as our safe harbour.

Thursday was calm and warm with a respite from the weather but the forecast was for increasing winds and deteriorating conditions - had the Met Office got the days mixed up? The calm conditions gave us the opportunity for some boat handling - forward and reverse moorings, sailing up to a buoy, goose-winging and dropping the main into the lazy jacks by flaking the halyard on the cockpit seat. There was some discussion about attempting Wootton Creek but jettisoned this in favour of Beaulieu River. However it took several goes to decide which day of the week it was and remember the difference between drying heights and charted depths but safe passage was made to Buckler's Hard with enough wind to sail out again. As always a useful nav exercise.

Although we had little faith in the weather forecasts we decided to head back to Hamble Point that evening and managed to get into Appaloosa's very tight mooring which was blocked by a rib. Next morning as the wind howled and the rain poured down we felt vindicated in our decision to return early.

Thanks to Keith we ate well and Gordon eventually managed to hone us into an efficient sailing team, whatever the conditions! Altogether an enjoyable but testing few days with lots of opportunities to gain more experience.

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Sicily sailing – report by Bernard Smyth

I sailed the Egadi Islands of Favignana, Marettimo and Levanzo with Dave Price and some friends in a Bavaria 40 C, Anita. We set of from Marsala on the west coast of Sicily on Sunday, September 19, and covered 120NM. The charter was a reasonably-priced one from LateSail with Kiriacoulis.

On the Sunday, we sailed close hauled in a NW wind F3 increasing F5 to Favignana Marina, Isola Favignana (17NM) and had an uncomfortable night due to swell around the inner harbour wall at a cost of €36.

Next day, the wind was NW F4 decreasing F3. We moored for free outside two yachts on the harbour wall at Scala Nuova, Marettimo Isola, Favignana, after finding that the pontoons had been taken out as they're a summer-only feature (20NM sailed).

On the Tuesday we motor sailed in a SE F2 increased to F3 as we approached Isola Levanzo. We anchored for lunch in a bay on SE side of the island and sailed on to Trapani in a SE F4 to moor stern-to in Marina Arturo Stabile, Trapani, after 23NM at a cost of €45. Having been there with Phil Steele and other BSA members the previous year, I suggested we visit the nearby medieval mountain-top town of Erice so we spent half a day exploring it via a 15-minute cable car ride. We got back just in time before a forecast storm broke.

On Wednesday we initially motored then sailed in a light wind that increased to NW F3 and anchored with a line ashore at Cala Dogana, Isola Levanzo, after 10NM.

On Thursday we had to motor to moor on an inner harbour wall at Favignana and then sailed east around Favignana in a Northerly F4 and spent he night anchored with a line ashore at Punta Lunga, Isola Favignana, after 15NM.

Friday saw us sailing east around Favignana in a SE F4 increasing to anchor west of Punta Calarossa (the blue lagoon) on Isola Favignana for lunch. We reefed the sails in the Sirocco SE F6 increasing F7, gusting 8, with the sea state increasing. We tacked, then motor sailed the 23NM in shallows in heavy rain with thunder and lightning, eventually mooring stern-to with lazy lines at Marsala marina, with 34-knot wind veering SW. Ten minutes after mooring the wind was a northwesterly 12 knots (the Meltimi)! I got a hero-gram for spending some time getting drenched on the wheel in the storm, blinded by the rain and spray.

Meals were fairly expensive and mainly fish during the week, although we ate on board two nights.

The trip home was marred by a mad scramble at Trapani Birgi airport caused by an airliner crash at Palermo the previous day that led to some flights being diverted to Birgi.

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