Broadreach DECEMBER 2006

Broadwater Sailing Club

EDITORIAL Welcome to the December Broadreach I would like to apologise for the poor quality of photographs in the previous issue, we changed our printing arrange-ments and the photographs suffered somewhat in the process, let us hope that they come out better this time. Thanks to all of you who have contributed articles and photos for this issue. As members will have noticed the committee boat has disappeared. Do not despair it has gone on to a marine health farm in Chertsey for a short holiday to have its prop shaft replaced and various bits and pieces refurbished. In the meantime we have adapted one of the safety boats to do the job. Race Offi-cers can now enjoy the new open plan version whilst hoping for fine weather. The winner of the caption competition in the Summer issue was Alan Ford you will find his contributions elsewhere in this issue. Don Kyle (Editor) Cover: Chris Harding Roberts and Nick Fairweather try out the temporary ‘open top’ committee boat as Race Officers for the Nelson Regatta. (Photograph: David Schwartz)

COMMODORE’S GYBES Dear Members, Since the last edition of Broadreach, much has happened; some of it good, some giving cause for concern. The submission of a planning application, by the Herts. and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, certainly caused consternation. Thankfully, possibly as a result of the Planning Officer receiving so many letters of objection from our members (for which we are truly grateful), the Trust withdrew its application. Everything went very quiet for the next few months, during which we estab-lished our legal position. Then at the beginning of November, I was contacted by the Trust, who were keen to have us back on board and aware of their plans. In brief, the Trust is seeking to remove the trees and scrub from the islands, but reassured me that they have no intention of removing any spoil from the islands, as this would be against the law (which confirmed the profes-sional advice we had sought), and annoy not only ourselves but Lafarge, our landlords. We are to have this in writing. The Trust, praised our team of hard working island clearers, and appreciating

the man hours and back-breaking effort that had gone into our achievement, have arranged for contractors to come, with a digger and pontoon, to do the others. This work is to take place by the middle of February 2007. The contractors will also be clearing trees and scrub from the eastern shore-line, and then this will be planted with reed next summer. Needless to say we shall be watching that space. On the good side, the re-vamped website is now up and running at

www.broadwatersc.org.uk A huge thank you to Kevin Morgan who has put in hours (probably days) of his time, and to all those now “taking charge” of updating the pages. For those of you who haven’t already had a peek, the website not only gives information about the Club, (potted history, membership rates and a downloadable mem-bership application form) but also pages for the Rotas (Race, Duty and Res-cue boat Officers) social calendar, racing (when, how and who’s winning), jun-iors (on this one we would love some input from the younger members), for sale, and a crew register too. In the pipeline is a webcam and wind indicator, so we can all see what we are missing out on when we are not down at the club. The recent Work Party at the end of October was a stunning success. The road trailers (some of which had trees growing up through them as tall as me) were re-claimed, and the undergrowth cutback. Many of the overgrown berths were tidied, and the wood pile re-located, and added to by the tremendous collection that Malcolm Jameson had accumulated in his old Enterprise. The woodpile is for anyone to use, you might find just the right piece for that little repair etc. The wood is currently stored under the patio benches and at the end of the ‘A’ row. Two issues became apparent during the work party. Firstly that our club boats, are not easy to find! The Toppers (in the middle container) and the Op-pies are fairly straight forward, but the Wanderer and our most recent addition, a Flying Junior, are less obvious. We will be solving this by berthing them nearer to the Oppies. The sails for both will go into the middle container (combination padlock). The second issue relates to the berths. Over time the numbering system and some tie-downs have disappeared, and in some parts the boats have become quite crowded together. In the New Year we intend to carry out an audit of the berths, some re-numbering, and re-jigging of width and length will take place. We will contact anyone whose boat may need re-locating, and endeavour to

keep your dinghy as close to its current position as possible. If your boat is not currently tied down please ensure that it is before the winter winds cause it to topple and damage your neighbours’. (See advert in this edition) Finally a big thank you to all involved in the organisation of the 12 hour Charity Race at the beginning of September. The efforts of all the entrants and organ-isers resulted in the club presenting a cheque for £5000 to Michael Sobell House. Hoping that you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, see you on the water in 2007. Catherine Turner

BROADWATER GOES WIRELESS So you’re a budding 'hot desker' but you are finding the view from your 'hot desk' a little dull. Why not try something a little more scenic and spend your working day/morning//afternoon at Broadwater looking at the lake. As part of the website improvements and wanting to remotely monitor the CCTV we have installed broadband at the club. What's more it's wireless and early reports are that you can sit on the end of no 2 jetty and pick up your cor-porate e-mail! To get connected please contact Travis Benton.

BROADREACH ON THE WEB This is the first time we have published Broadreach on the web. This version has been edited to remove all personal contact details for members except when specifically requested that they be included. This will be the editorial policy for all future web versions of the magazine. Editor

BROADWATER SC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP NEWS Ex-BSC member Ben Gratton was World Feva Champion Crew at Lake Garda Italy in July. Ben and his younger brother Tim were junior members around 2000 to 2003. His parents were Pam and David and they sailed a Laser 13. We think that they moved to Hayling Island in 2003. Congratulations to Ben and inspiration to our current junior sailors. Thanks to Rodney and Jeremy Steel, who have been active in the FEVA circuit this year, for letting us know. BOAT FOR SALE Enterprise “Enterprise for sale £800, lying at Broadwater berth D35 (White Hull, Blue deck with painted Eye) GRP Hull no 13519 in fair condition, the woodwork has been recently var-nished. A virtually new mainsail, poor Jib, also a useful Cruising Mainsail for single handed use. Two lifejackets. Launch trolley.” Half proceeds to Jubilee Sailing Trust Colin Prior 020 8998 2728 or Colin_prior@yahoo.co.uk

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS NEW MEMBERS We extend a very warm welcome to the following new members: Nick & Kay Corden and family Martin & Kim Corden and family Barry & Jackie Godden and family Andrew & Linda Bolton Paul & Ras Wood Ian James Paul Edwards We hope that they will enjoy sailing at Broadwater.

BROADWATER SAILING CLUB HISTORY

As our Club has been in existence now for over 30 years, it is high time that the early history of the Club was placed on record. A start has been made by preparing a list of Club Commodores in running order, but the task of confirm-ing ‘years of office’ proved to be more difficult and the final list includes a few best guesses. The list is set out below and if any members with good memories or old dia-ries can confirm or amend any of the dates, I should be very pleased to hear from them.

Gordon Harold Broadwater Sailing Club - Commodores

Names

From

To

Dennis Webzell

1972

1975

David Trusler

1975

1981

Reg Moore

1981

1985

Brian Deacon

1985

1988

John Wheeler

1988

1991

Brian Chidwick

1991

1994

Brian Deacon

1994

1996

Don Kyle

1999

2006

Catherine Turner

2006

-

FULL HISTORY MORE INFORMATION NEEDED The written history of the club is also being updated, Don Kyle is collecting information about the various clubs that disbanded whose members have joined Broadwater. He has articles on Chess, Denham and has been prom-ised one about Ruislip. If any member has information or anecdotes to add about these clubs or indeed the early days of Broadwater, Don would be very pleased to hear from you.

DUTY OFFICER

In order to provide a friendly face and safety boat cover at weekends a condi-tion of sailing membership is to undertake a Duty Officer session approxi-mately every 10 months. A rota for this is arranged and mailed out by myself.

As a new experiment, the rotas for the Duty Officer, Race Officer and fast safety boat officer, together with the club calendars, have been published on the new club website using a link to a website called Dutyman.

The Dutyman website provides the club and its members’ the facility for easy management of the duties with club specific pages and personalised access for members.

Dutyman is a secure site that holds the Calendar and duty rotas, as input by me, together with e-mail addresses. These e-mail addresses are not accessi-ble to anyone other than the Broadwater Club Dutyman administrator and the individual member. If you elect to carry out a swap using Dutyman the re-quest to swap is transferred from you to the Dutyman website. E-mails are issued from the Dutyman website to the people you have asked to swap with and their replies return to you via the Dutyman website. Neither of you have the opportunity to find the e-mail address of the other people.

There is a facility for individual members to put other contact details on the Dutyman site such as telephone numbers. This is not available to a casual visitor to the Broadwater web site but does then become visible to Club Mem-bers once they have logged on using name and password.

It is the club's intention to lessen the effort in managing the duty rotas whilst improving the facilities and information for members. At this stage I will still be sending out paper copies of the Duty Officer Rota however in the long term I would like to identify those who would be happy to check on the web site to see when they are on the roster and to receive notification of their duties by e-mail a couple of weeks before the actual date.

Dutyman only sends out passwords to people who have a duty assigned to them and have an e-mail address. So if you have not received an e-mail with a password don’t worry.

If you are not using e-mail and internet, don’t panic, Royal Mail is still available to deliver the rotas.

However stuffing envelopes is time consuming and printing and stamps cost money so I should like to reduce the number of envelopes that I have to post out.

At the moment I have put Duty Officer, Race Officer and fast power boat rotas on Dutyman, there is no way for me to stop you swapping Duty Officer for Race Officer etc etc so please be careful to only arrange / agree to swap du-ties that both parties are capable of performing.

Members can view the rota, or if logged on, can view their specific duties.

Members will receive a reminder by e-mail of their forthcoming duties approxi-mately two weeks and then two days before their allocated date for duty. Please check the list and confirm your availability for your duty. Should you be unable to make the date allocated you can request that someone swaps with you. This request will be sent by e-mail to the other member who may accept the change or reject it. The club duty rota co-ordinator will also be informed.

If you are not on e-mail you can still swap duties by telephone as before. If you let me know I will update the roster.

To log on to Dutyman

Go to the new club website www.broadwatersc.org.uk

Click on “Duty Rotas”, 5th item down on the menu

Click on the “Click here to go to the Broadwater Duty Rota”

This will bring up the Broadwater Sailing Club duty roster page.

Click on the login button at the top of the page.

Enter your login name and password.

Each member should receive an email with a login name (your name - note please type as printed in the email including spaces and capitals) plus the password sent in the email. Please keep this email as a reminder of your login details. Should you forget these you can request that they are re-sent by email.

A message stating that you are logged in should appear. The various func-tions available to you are shown at the top.

To confirm a duty you must be logged in and on the 'My Duties' page. You may also request reminders or disable them.

To request a swap of your duty you must be logged on and in the 'Roster' page.

Should you wish to change your password go to your person 'Profile' page and you may change it.

If you use Microsoft Outlook for your electronic diary you can request the details to be sent to you by email in a form that can be loaded directly into Outlook on the 'I Calendar' page.

A record of your interactions with the site on the site can be viewed on the 'Activity' page.

CONTACT DETAILS

I would really appreciate feed back as to how useful Dutyman is. Clearly it works better as more people provide me with email addresses so please send me your name and email address if you are not on the system.

At some stage I shall email people who have sent me addresses and ask if they need to continue to get paper copies of the rota. Let’s see if we can save paper and money.

Stewart French

MINOR ACCIDENTS – They do happen. Just a reminder that there is a first aid box, to the right beside the main Club-house door. Should you require anything stronger than plasters, wipes or a bandage, e.g. scissors or painkillers, these can be found in the self-medicating first aid box in the top of the cupboard, above the sink, in the kitchen. Please record on the piece of paper in the main first aid box, if any items are used, so that we can keep the box topped up. In the past we maintained a list of “First Aiders”, Health and Safety being so much more litigious and complicated than before, we will no longer have such a list. If the injury is so serious that professional help is required, there is a telephone for emergency use in the box behind the bar area, in the clubhouse. There is also a notice in the box giving instruction for the emergency services to get access to the club. Remember if the police, ambulance or fire service is called someone needs to be sent down to the barrier to open it and it is also a good idea for someone to wait at the entrance on Moorhall Road to direct emergency vehicles to the club site. The telephone number of the Club is 01895 824729

LADIES HELM

Gill & Karen Fight it Out

Catherine with Nick Fairweather

Wondering what to give them this Christmas?

The perfect stocking filler, boat tie-downs.

At just £5 a pair, make sure that your boat won’t blow away in the wind.

Available from the Club, please see any Committee member.

CLUB EVENTS

CLUB RAMBLE - 1 JULY 2006 Eventually, all seven ramblers met up (the problem was finding the right car park?) and in glorious weather had a very pleasant ramble along the Chess Valley via Sarratt Bottom. The walk was through water meadows, shady woodland and open farmland leading us to the Red Lion at Chenies. It was here that a few “Jars” were downed along with an excellent snack lunch. After this welcome rest, the walk continued down the Chess Valley again and back to our starting point, a dis-tance of about 5½ miles. Everybody enjoyed themselves and a suggestion was made for an Autumn ramble, it didn’t happen this year but who knows. Alan Darvill

FUN WEEK – 24 –28 JULY 2006 One of the many highlights of this year’s Fun Week was the look of glee on some of our younger members’ faces as their heads popped up above the water after their first ever capsize. Not that the wind had contributed to the capsize; it was more the bulk of Tom leaning on the mast. While we had all hoped for a consistent breeze, coming from the same direction (just like it is every Wednesday evening,) we were at least lucky enough to barely see a cloud all week.

A Classic ‘Step Over’ Capsize?

The week started with a game to get the boats rigged and within five minutes I found myself paddling an Oppie around the island! The week continued in a similar vein, and we were fortunate to get the odd breath of wind to supple-ment the paddle power. Points were available from all of the games during the week and the competition was light hearted and in very good spirit. I didn’t hear the words “unfair” or “cheat” all week! Congratulations to Emily Benton for achieving the highest overall score. On Friday there was a model boat race with a prize for whoever’s boat could sail the furthest. The effort that went into the designing and building of these boats was incredible, with some young members forcing their parents/grandparents to go to the pub for design meetings.

For lunch on Friday Chris fired up the barbeque and we had a delicious feast. Thank you to everybody who cooked and prepared salads and deserts. The only problem was dragging Tom away for long enough to get him to help pre-pare for the afternoon’s improvised rafting. The afternoon took a turn for the wetter, with rafting and a small water fight making sure that the week ended with a splash. Finally I would like to say a great big thank you to everybody involved in Fun Week 2006. It was lovely to see club members and their friends and families from all generations enjoying themselves on, in and around the water.

Continued overleaf

Intrepid Model Boat Designers/Sailors

And now for the prizes

Broadwater Fun Week will be back on 23rd -27th July next year. Make sure you put this in your diaries. Colin French

Go on, you try paddling your way out of this!

THE BROADWATER SC 2006 12 HOUR CHARITY RACE. Twilight fell, the barbecue sizzled, and the eerie strains of “Land of Hope and Glory” rang out across the water from a stereo tuned in to the Last Night of the Proms. Out on the lake regular inhabitants just went about their normal daily lives; large numbers of white terns came home to roost amongst the ducks and geese whilst millions of gnats and flies took to the air to feast on the un-wary. Less regular inhabitants turned on a fascinating assortment of lanterns and wondered how they could continue to get round the devilish course, in pitch darkness and ever decreasing wind, without being eaten alive or drowned. So continues the epic tale of the Broadwater 2006 12 hour race! In only its second year, this event has become one of the highlights of the club’s sailing and social calendar; a good place to catch up with old friends and meet new ones, where you can sail in different boats and learn some new sailing skills, and where you can just have some fun. Although classified as a bit of a race, the noble aim of the event is to raise as much money as possible for worthy causes and in particular this year for the Michael Sobell House hos-pice at Mount Vernon. A total of 46 club sailors and guests took part in the racing although many other club members willingly gave up their time to help with the organisation and running of the event. The 11 teams showed a diverse range of tactics to win the coveted prize for raising the highest level of sponsorship. Some went for quality not quantity by limiting their crew to the select few who they hoped would sail the highest number of laps. Others seemed to think that size was more important (number of crew, length of boat, inside leg or whatever!) and sought to maximise their earnings from the largest number of sponsorship forms. The competing boats ranged across most club classes including a Top-per, Pico, Solo, Enterprise, Laser, Albacore, Kestrel, Sport 14, Magno, Way-farer and a Fireball. Spare a thought for Kevin Morgan and Mary Allen who had the onerous task of being our race officers for the day. Not only did they have to keep track of the number of laps but also the elapsed time for every boat, and continuously for 12 hours, so that relative positions of all teams could be regularly com-puted (rather mystically and without bribery!) from the Portsmouth handicap numbers. A difficult job made even harder after nightfall but done brilliantly as ever. Dave Banger and Don Kyle, pilots of Thunderbirds 1 and 2, made sure that International Rescue was on hand at all times. Rod Lacey from Michael Sobell House was there to get the racing off to a prompt start at 12:00 hours, in generally modest southerly winds and warm bright sunshine. By the end of the first hour Aslan, the Solo team, held a nar-row lead on handicap from Youth & Experience in the Laser, Little and Large

in the club Topper, and Riders of Smaug in the Kestrel. But back on shore there were far better things to do than go sailing! Anne Dar-vill, with her team freshly inspired by the latest Jamie Oliver series, started serving up superb cooked lunches to fatten up all the aspiring go-fast crews, whilst Terry and Doreen Broughton “manned” the bar to get everyone coming and going. Lured by the smell of good food and beer, boats began to come ashore from about 14:00 hours to change crews and sample the fare. As the day went on Aslan still held pole position and generally increased their lead but Little and Large (Topper) began their surge forward, swapping places on handicap with Youth and Experience (Laser) in second place. This was a brilliant piece of sailing by Richard Linsdale and his daughter; just goes to show that the club toppers can still be competitive in capable hands! The Blue Peril (Special Agents in the Enterprise) came up to 4th position but at 17:00 hours were still 10 minutes behind the leader on corrected time and making little impression on the gap. By early evening many of the fleet had formed into a regular pecking order with positions that generally remained unchanged to the end of the race, led by Riders of Smaug (Kestrel), and followed by Neame Team (Wayfarer), Snoopy 2 (Sport 14), Not a Chance (Pico), Odea Odea (Albacore), Mango (Magno) and Peperami (Fireball). Regular crews were in short supply on some boats so press gangs were organised to keep the show on the road and add to the fun of the event. By sundown, the barbecue was lit (by Terry Broughton) and the food and beer flowed once more to the sounds of the Last Night of the Proms. The marks on the water were also lit to ensure that everyone sailed the correct course! The wind however began to drop and sailing became quite tricky especially on the bit of the course from No. 2 to No. 1 buoys (behind the island closest to the clubhouse) where the wind seemed to come from any direction. Synchronised sailing backwards in the dark is a difficult skill but seems to have been mas-tered by some when attempting to round number 2! By now each lap was tak-ing the best part of 45 minutes for the leaders and much longer for those fur-ther down the fleet. In the last couple of hours up to midnight, with light and fickle airs, Aslan’s commanding lead gradually got whittled down. But only on the last lap did Special Agents come through to win the prize for leading boat on the water. Most boats completed over 20 laps, some up to 36 laps, which was good con-sidering the conditions. And in the final analysis, whilst the racing was fun and exciting, the Club col-lectively raised £5000 in sponsorship for Michael Sobell House. The galley

and bar alone raised over £300. A fantastic achievement and a thoroughly enjoyable day! The sponsorship money was presented to Rod Lacey of Michael Sobell House by the Commodore, Catherine, at a short prize giving ceremony at the club-house on 29th October. Details of the funds raised are listed below, let’s hope this event continues to be as successful for Broadwater and its chosen charities for many years to come. Aslan £832 Peperami £140 Little and Large £430 Riders of Smaug £680 Magno £30 Snoopy 2 £158 Neame Team £745 Special Agents £565 Not a Chance £270 Youth Odea Odea £200 and Experience £307 Catering £310 Entry Fees £145 Donations £45 Total £4984 rounded up to £5000 by the Club RACE RESULTS

Team name Class Pos Laps Corr. time diff.

Special Agents Enterprise 1 36 00:00:00

Aslan Solo 2 35 00:04:23

Little & Large Topper 3 29 00:21:00

Youth & Exp Laser 4 36 00:23:37

Riders of Smaug Kestrel 5 35 00:59:13

Neame Team Wayfarer 6 31 02:13:07

Snoopy 2 Sport 14 7 31 02:26:44

Not a Chance Pico 8 23 04:31:57

Odea Odea Albacore 9 26 04:46:03

Mango Magno 10 20 09:08:08

Peperami Fireball 11 13 13:37:13

Greg Hart Ent 22569

Sailing into the Sunset - 6 Hours to go

John Smith & Rod Lacey

John Smith is holding the Michael Sobell Shield which is awarded to the race winner Rod Lacey from Michael Sobell House is holding the Dorothy Smith Trophy which is awarded to the best fund raising boat

THE CHARITY EVENT TROPHIES

The Dorothy Smith Trophy Presented to Broadwater SC by Dorothy’s daughter Chris and John, a long time member of the Club. It would not be said that Dorothy was a dinghy sail-ing enthusiast, but she tolerated John’s persistent absence on Sunday morn-ings with good humour and provided knitted woolly hats on demand. Dorothy actively supported several charities, but the most important to her by far was Michael Sobell House, for whom she worked as a volunteer in their Ruislip shop. When her cancer was diagnosed she was fortunate to be re-ferred by her consultant to Day Care at Michael Sobell House, where she and John received tremendous moral support as well as medical care for Dorothy. She subsequently spent the last few weeks of her life in the care of the staff at Michael Sobell House. She was delighted to hear that Michael Sobell House was to be a beneficiary of the Broadwater 2005 Charity Race and if she had been well enough she would have given her active support. She would have wanted to continue that support thereafter and we feel that this Trophy enables us to do so, on her behalf. Chris Stanford and John Smith July 2006 The Michael Sobell Shield was presented to the club by Michael Sobell House after last year’s event.

JUNIOR REGATTA 23 SEPTEMBER Broadwater Junior Regatta was once again a fiercely contested event with the importance of consistent performance in all stages being demonstrated. Many congratulations to Simon Thursz who won overall in the Topper section and Ian James who won in the Oppie section. Once again a range of sailing chal-lenges were set including penalty turns around a buoy (without touching it), reaching sausages, sailing backwards and a race around and through the is-lands. 6 boats enjoyed the sunshine and a pleasant gentle breeze. Prizes were pre-sented by the Race Officer and event organiser, Richard Linsdale. The only ones to leave empty handed were those who ate the chocolates straightaway. Many thanks to Richard for running the Junior Regatta and to David Kinnerley for running the Junior Sailing Programme. Junior sailing will start again on Saturday afternoons straight after Easter. Hope to see you all on the water practising your skills. Stewart French

AUTUMN REGATTA 3 SEPTEMBER Results 1st Greg & Pam Hart , 2nd Dave Walford, 3rd Richard Linsdale & 4th Dave Kinnerley

BSC CLUB CLOTHING Don’t forget that the club offers a wide selection of clothing embroidered with the BSC Logo. If you are still stuck for a Christmas present have a look at the samples and pictures in the club house, or contact Wolfgang Ansorge

BRIAN & CAROLE ALLEN SAY AU REVOIR TO BROADWATER

Don presents Carole & Brian with the Nameplate

Many of you will already know that Brian & Carole have moved down to the south coast and are now living close to the Solent. This move has not been without its problems as there are several sailing clubs within a few minutes of their house and they have to make the difficult choice of which one to join. Brian was Chairman of the Race Committee for several years and during his tenure was responsible for significant improvements in the quality of racing at Broadwater. Carole looked after the sale of club clothing for several years before persuading Wolfgang to take on the task. The Committee felt that they could not let Brian & Carole’s departure go with-out making some recognition of their contributions to the club and suggested having a nameplate made for their new house which appealed to them. They chose the name “Breeze” and the plate was made up to include the Broadwa-ter logo. We wish them all the best in their new abode. Don Kyle

NELSON DAY REGATTA

Harold has a brief rest before the start

Gareth looks for a new angle

Brian & Karen Clare & John All clear this side!

Rounding One A View from the Hill

There were 23 entries for this event; three races were run, the first finishing just before 11 am in good time for the 2-minute silence for Remembrance Sunday. A second race was run before lunch and a third after. The event was won by Dave Walford (Solo), second were Neil Parsloe & Siobhan Ladyman (Enterprise) with Mike Parker (Solo) taking third place. The Junior prize was won by Thomas French (Laser). Thanks to Chris Harding-Roberts and Nick Fairweather, the Race Officers, who had to endure the new open top commit-tee boat. An excellent lunch was provided by Mary Allen ably abetted by: Gill Kyle, Kathleen Wilson and Charlotte Walford.

Thomas French receives the Junior Prize from Catherine

Catherine presents Dave Walford with the Nelson Trophy

Neil & Siobhan who looks particu- Mike gets a bottle as well

BROADWATER OFFSHORE In addition to sailing at Broadwater quite a few members own larger boats or charter them for specific events like the Solent and East Coast Rallies. Two of our yacht owning members have gone further a field this year, Gordon Harold and Greg Hart having decided to sail round the UK. Gordon’s account is overleaf followed by a report on the 2006 Solent event.

Sailing around the UK Inspired in part by reading Roger Oliver’s fascinating accounts in PBO (Practical Boat Owner) of his cruises around the UK, Greg Hart and I decided to make summer 2006 our year for UK circumnavigation. Unlike those who set out to complete the trip sailing non-stop, our plans were based mainly on 30 to 70 mile legs, most of which could be completed as day sails. The UK has a great variety of interesting coastline, marine wildlife, har-bours and anchorages which reward taking time out to explore and enjoy them. There are pros and cons for sailing a UK circumnavigation in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. We chose to sail anti-clockwise, setting out from our East Coast home ports at the end of April and hoping for a prevailing south westerly wind. This would have taken us quickly north, but in the event we had to put up with gusty and very cold northerlies during May. Although it was planned for both boats (Greg’s Tradewind 39 and my Con-tessa 32) to head north along the East coast, the routes diverged in the north of Scotland. At this stage Greg headed for Orkney via the notorious Pentland Firth, whilst I sailed into Inverness and made passage to Fort William via the 3 lochs in the Great Glen and the beautiful scenery in the Caledonian Canal.

Contessa off the Dorset Coast on a reach

Problems with the alternator drive belt on the boat’s diesel engine had delayed my departure from Newcastle. Together with bad weather in Scotland in late May this meant completely revising my carefully laid plans for crew changes. However, the early delays did deliver an unexpected bonus. The weather was perfect at the time of my passage across Scotland and through the Inner Heb-rides beginning with a fast 30 mile spinnaker run into the Moray Firth. Meantime Greg had moved on from Orkney to the Outer Hebrides and Skye before crossing to Ireland and sailing around the west coast on route to the Scilly Isles and Cornwall. I also crossed the North Channel to Ireland, but chose to make my way down the East coast, spending time in Strangford and Carlingford Loughs on the way south. Dublin was also an important stopover, as it gave me the chance to enjoy a Guinness or two with an old friend who has been living in Ireland for many years.

My route to Cornwall was via Milford Haven and Lundy Island, where we an-chored for a while in a delightful cove on the Island’s west coast. An overlong lunch-break and lack of breeze in the afternoon led to a midnight arrival in the normally busy little harbour at Padstow. And it was such a dark night that we didn’t even see the notorious Doom Bar on the approach to Padstow! By this stage of the trip I had a developing problem with the boat’s feathering propeller. The effect was much reduced bite and speed through the water and this seriously affected the ability to make tidal gates. Coastal cruising invaria-bly means that there are critical times for rounding headlands and entering harbours. After rounding Lands End and visiting Falmouth I decided on arrival in Ply-mouth to have the boat hauled out to assess the problem. It was immediately obvious that the propeller feathering mechanism had worn to the extent that there was little more than an egg whisk at the end of the prop shaft. Fortu-nately fitting a simple fixed 2 bladed replacement propeller solved the problem and doubled the boat speed ! After the extended break in Plymouth the remainder of the trip provided some excellent sailing along the South Coast, around to Ramsgate and then back to my home berth on the River Crouch. However, it was during this phase on passage from Eastbourne to Ramsgate that we encountered some of the most unpleasant weather of the trip. It was a day of almost continuous heavy rain and a wind building to Force 7 as we sailed past Dover. Ahead of us Greg and his crew had already made their way back to the East Coast via the Channel Islands and the north coast of France.

In all my circumnavigation amounted to a distance of nearly 1800 miles and 45 sailing days. Bad weather and remedial work on the boat accounted for a further 25 days and of course there was time out to explore the places we vis-ited by foot, cycle and hire car. During the course of the trip 12 friends joined as crew over different stages, although at any one time the number on board was usually 3.

Looking back, it was a great trip and one that I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone with time to prepare for and enjoy the experience. Gordon Harold 19-11-2006

BSC SOLENT RALLY 2006

The club rally took place over the weekend of the 20th to 22nd October this year. Twenty-three members, ex members , friends, colleagues and a baby took part on a very wet and windy weekend. Friday gave some great sailing for Elana J (Moody 31) and Bold Patch (Gibsea 43), both out of Gosport Ma-rina and determined to meet for drinks in the Victory pub in Hamble village. Both arrived in ample time with drinks on board prior to a short walk to the Vic-tory to meet with late comers driving down for the weekend, Brian and Martin Allen drove round from Hythe, as did Peter and Lynn with 11 month old Daniel. Due to the forecast Daniel decided not to take Mum and Dad sailing for the weekend!

As usual the Victory supplied an excellent meal. For those who know the Vic-tory and its character landlord, Budgie, you will be pleased to hear that al-though he was absent from the pub with cancer during our 2005 rally he is now fully restored, anti-fouled and again managing the best pub in the Ham-ble.

Saturday dawned with the wind just as forecast, SW 5/6 and rising. Our plan to lunch in Newtown Creek was agreed as still possible, this to be followed by continuing west to Yarmouth for the night. It turned out we were a very opti-mistic bunch, and a good job we were not sailing Optimists!

Outside the Hamble entrance we met up with Brian and Martin in Morwen and set off on the beat to Newtown. The two Moody 31's soon left a frustrated Bold Patch in their wake as my crew struggled to get the balance right on our very blown out sails. Off Calshot we hit a squall which dropped visibility to 100 me-tres and flattened the sea with stair rods of horizontal rain. Rod Brownlee was declared as the wet weather helmsman and we left him to it as we huddled for shelter under the spray hood. When the visibility cleared the two Moody's

were out of sight. Finally getting the reefing right we set off in hot pursuit.

An hour later we were still pounding through the short Solent chop with an RNLI drama unfolding around us as they rescued a yacht with its mast over the side. After some radio discussion we elected to turn and run for Cowes. It never fails to surprise when you turn off the wind and all of a sudden the crew come alive and the day seems to be brighter. We ran for Cowes with only a small piece of Genny showing, but still surfing at 9 knots. Brian and Martin had the longest to run as they were the closest to Newtown when we turned. As we approached Cowes the forlorn RNLI casualty was towed in with its rig still trailing over the side. Cowes Yacht haven was a welcome sight, they soon had us berthed together with a promise to look out for Mike Thwaites and crew en-route from Gosport.

The chance of night stop port now gave a problem as we needed a venue to accommodate nineteen hungry sailors for the evening. Rod and Jenny toured the town and eventually found that the Red Duster would open up their up-stairs room and be ready for us at 2000 hrs. The chandlers certainly benefited from our visit during the next few hours, the fat face shop ending up with my credit card which I forgot to pull from their machine when paying for a very fetching top, well at least I think it’s fetching!

The meal in the Duster was excellent. The group finishing off a variety of wines and conversation turning to previous rallys, cruises and sailing stories in general, is there a better way to spend an evening when the wind and rain are rattling the windows? After leaving the Duster we all managed to fit on board Bold Patch for more drinks, more stories and a quiz, expertly given by yours truly. The quiz winners being our guests from Germany, Belgium, Australia and Denmark, what an international club we are. About 0200 hrs we all col-lapsed into bunks for a very rolly night, as is usual in Cowes.

Sunday dawned with light winds to start but by the time we were underway the previous day’s weather had returned. Kevin and crew made for the bar at Wooton, typical of the Morgans! Mike’s crew stayed in bed until late, Brian and Martin set off for Hythe. The crew of Bold Patch set the perfect reefs and raced down to the Forts at 10.5 knots with spray in all directions. A brilliant end to a great weekend.

A huge thanks to Kevin for organising the weekend and for all who turned up and made it a weekend to remember. Next year the sun will come out…..

Brian Deacon

BEHIND THE SCENES AT BROADWATER

There are a large number of members who work behind the scenes at the Club to ensure that all goes smoothly. One of these is Kevin Morgan who re-cords and processes the race results to provide the overall results for the vari-ous club race series and events. Kevin is also the club’s webmaster.

PHOTO COMPETION FROM THE SUMMER EDITION The bottle of wine goes to Alan Ford

Kevin slaves away over a hot computer recording the results of the Autumn Regatta.

BSC ‘Sub’ Section I can’t see a licence plate

You said yes I‘ve put the bung in! Expecting the ‘Tsunami’ anytime

BROADWATER IN FLOOD For those of us who have bemoaned the low water levels for the past Year or more here is a nostalgic view of No. 2 slipway in September 2004 when the river Colne flowed over its banks across the boat park into the lake. Gill had to rescue this boat before it floated off. Photograph: Don Kyle

Broadwater Lake Frozen Over in 2003

Photograph: Don Kyle

And Finally A Happy New Year To all our Members

Enjoy Your Sailing in 2007

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks to all of you who have contributed articles to this addition and also to Travis Benton John Wilson and, David Schwartz for their excellent photographs Please keep up the good work. Don Kyle

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