Newsletter  BSASep09

Trips

Yacht Started
Gaia 2009-09-04
Spellbinder 2009-09-07

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BRISTOL SAILING ASSOCIATION

Newsletter September 2009

Contacts:Gordon Ogden (Commodore)01275 462473

Jock Playle (Secretary)0117 973 8855

Jane Jenkyn (Treasurer) 01275 880318

At the meeting on September 14th we welcomed new members Dinah Hayward and Joe Buxton. We also welcomed Wendy Parker, Carol Watson, Bruce Holman and Xavier as guests and prospective members.

Future Trips

1.1Phil Steele will skipper a charter from Falmouth on the weekend of October 2nd - 4th. This is fully booked and paid, and information has been sent to all going.

1.2Following Alan Howells’ charter of a GK 29 from Plymouth for training and boat-handling practice (see report in this newsletter) some members asked for a repeat on the same boat. This will take place on October 29 (Thursday evening) to Sunday 1st November, but those who cannot get to Plymouth until the Friday will be accommodated. The 3-day charter will cost from £80 - £100 per person, and those going will be contacted and asked to pay the full fee when the cost is confirmed. Alan will do another one early next year if there is sufficient demand.

1.3Gordon Ogden will skipper a midweek Solent trip on the Phoenix YC yacht “Spellbinder” on November 2-4. All places were booked at the September meeting. No advance deposit is required, and those going should pay Gordon the fees of £20 per day while on the boat, which he will forward to PYC.

1.4Phil Steele will skipper a “Xmas Lights” trip on the weekend of December 19/20, from Plymouth to either Fowey or Dartmouth. This is fully booked. Will those who booked please now send a deposit of £50 to the Treasurer, Mrs J R Jenkyn, Edgecliff, 12 Marine Parade, Clevedon, Bristol, BS21 7QS.

1.5Several members would be interested in a weekend trip in November. Do we have a skipper available for this?

2.Announcements

2.1Our website. Don’t forget the BSA website, well maintained by Andy Hiles. The Library page has all our newsletters for the last 18 months, the Gallery has photos of this year’s PASAB on board “Enigma” as well as an earlier trip to Cherbourg and Alderney, and on the Links page you can link to Julia and Chris Wallace’s latest position on their round Britain sail on “Aremiti”.

2.2Bill Thomas completed the Bath half marathon in 2h 44m, and thanks all who sponsored him for the RNLI.

2.3Steve Addis also thanks those who sponsored him in the Fastnet campaign – he raised £1500 for several charities. After a disastrous final race before the Fastnet itself, due to a ripped mainsail, they had a good Fastnet, considering the lack of wind, finishing in 5 days and 24 minutes. There was no wind at the start and the fleet of 300 had to anchor to stem the tide. On the return from the Fastnet four days later some boats were forced to start their engines to avoid being swept by the tide on to the rocks off the Scilly Isles.

2.4If anyone is going to sail from Italy in the future, Peter Wakeling has a copy of the latest edition of the Italian Waters Pilot, available to borrow.

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 September meeting the reports included one by Don Hirst on a long weekend trip from Plymouth on the August Bank Holiday, skippered by Bill Thomas; Sue Fowle reported on a week’s charter in Sicily, skippered by Phil Steele; Gordon Ogden skippered a trip on “Spellbinder” from Plymouth, reported by new member Jeremy Powell.

We have also received the third log “Aremiti in August” from Julia and Chris Wallace of their round-Britain sail. This has already been sent to email recipients of the newsletter and is included in the posted version with the others which follow.

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Plymouth 28 - 31 Aug – report by Don Hirst

Skipper: Bill Thomas

Crew: Don Hirst, Jane Jenkyn, Rhian Phillips, Kath Liddiard, Peter Ashdown.

Friday 28 Aug. We assembled at QAB. The Skipper was wondering why the boat, a Bavaria 37 “Gweilo”, was riding low in the water; however the provisions + extras effectively doubling the original list had already been loaded when he arrived. The wind was a little high and in the wrong direction. We erred on the side of caution and abandoned our proposed overnight trip to Fowey and ate the first of Jane’s excellent fish pies, sampled the wine and washed it down with a G&T, nevertheless a slightly more sober BSA crew than usual retired to their bunks.

Saturday 29 Aug Plymouth – Dartmouth. The day dawned bright and the wind had died away to a Westerly Force 4. We slipped at 08.35. We set course out of the Eastern Channel for Dartmouth. A very pleasant sail slightly bumpy round Bolt Point, Prawle Point and Start Point but it did not spoil our second breakfast of bacon and egg butties or our 2nd fish pie which we had for lunch. In Start Bay we saw a most unusual sight; the horizon was filled with hundreds of sailing yachts as opposed to lots of masts in a marina. Unknown to us at the time we had come across Dartmouth regatta. The helm was rather hoping the other yachts would sail back into Dartmouth so their crews could get drinks at the bars before we got there. No such luck we proceeded under full sail, as windward boat on port tack, with 20 -23 knots wind and boat speed up to 7.4 knots, we passed through three large fleets of yachts, crossing in different directions, to arrive in the middle of Dartmouth regatta weekend without loosing any Gel Coat. We were rafted 4 deep on the Dartmouth Harbour and Navigation Authority Pontoon having taken almost the last berth available at 15.45. We watched a flying display by an EH101 Helicopter as we consumed our Après Sail drinks. We hailed a water taxi for an early run ashore in the hope of finding an evening meal. We were warned on the way to the quay that the taxi boatmen would be retiring to their luxury villas by 23.00 hrs prompt. As all the Skipper’s favourite restaurants had told us they were fully booked, we asked the boatman for a recommendation for a place to eat, he recommended Cherub. We walked through streets clogged with pedestrians most of whom were standing with drinks in their hand outside the pubs because there was no room inside. Panic was setting in as we pressed onwards. We arrived at Cherub a picturesque pub uneven floors, oak beams inside and out with lots of hanging baskets decorating the outside. We edged in and managed to extract a promise from the waitress of a meal by 21.00. We asked her to pick us up from the bar below. She took pity on us by 19.30 and invited us to dine while we were still capable of getting up the stairs. It was a good pub with substantial meals. Kathy had at least a double D size Steak and Ale pie. We even got to see some of the regatta fireworks from the dining room windows at 21.00 they were quite extensive and lasted over 20 minutes. We returned to our boat before the taxi man knocked off. We had only just arrived back when the boat rafted inside us decided to leave. Our reputation obviously preceded us. We assisted the boat to leave as we did not want to find ourselves cast adrift by a well inebriated crew.

Sunday 30 Aug Dartmouth to Salcombe. The day dawned fine, but the weather soon deteriorated. We left at 07.55. We had wind against tide and the lumpy bits of yesterday were now getting quite rough in the Westerly Force 5, but Jane managed to serve mid morning drinks and nibbles even in the roughest bits. We arrived at Salcombe and rafted up at the visitors pontoon just in time for lunch. We took the water taxi to the town quay and made our way to the yacht club for a shower and dinner. After an excellent dinner we returned to our pontoon.

Monday 31 Aug Salcombe to Plymouth. The yachts moored with us wanted to leave by 08.00. Why it is no one wants to moor with us? To improve our image we had even taken advantage of the free showers at the yacht club included with the mooring fee. The Navtex weather forecast predicted a force 7. We put a reef in the main as we left Salcombe, however the wind instead of rising fell. The reef was soon out, but the wind died off so we put the engine on and motored round Newton Ferrers looking at the properties we could not afford on the way back to Plymouth. We handed back Gweilo safe and sound and made our way home. Gweilo was well turned out, we did not have any of the problems with the engine experienced by Phil Steele on his recent charter The crew gave a big vote of thanks to Bill our skipper for making the trip very enjoyable, informative and achieving the maximum with the prevailing weather conditions.

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Trip on Gaia, skippered by Phil Steele

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Trip on Spellbinder, skippered by Gordon Ogden

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