Thorpe Bay Yacht Club - Newsbuoy 14 - Winter 2016

The magazine of Thorpe Bay Yacht Club

www.tbyc.org • Edition 14 • Winter 2016/17

Yourpassion Yourfriends Yourmagazine YourTBYC TBYC_UK

Beverly Warrington Commodore

Happy New Year to all members of Thorpe Bay Yacht Club!

I hope you all got new sailing gear for Christmas and will be ready to use it when the new sailing season starts unless you are one of the mad members that like to sail in sub-zero temperatures in the Icicle Series, in which case I hope you have plenty of layers!

We have started another year with a couple of new Committee members who will hopefully bring some fresh ideas to the group. David Tierney is our new Treasurer and his wife Joanne is our new Membership Secretary. They have both been members of the club for a couple of years and are often seen out on the water with their two young sons.

Toby Speller, Mark Robinson and Howard Warrington have been busy putting together the new sailing programme and have had the onerous task of sorting out the Dutyman list. If you do have a duty this year please go onto Dutyman and tick your duties. 2016 has been a particularly bad year for duty turnouts, and we hope that this year it will not be the same. Please turn up for your duties because without race officers, assistants and safety boat personnel, the racing cannot go ahead.

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If you are a new member and wish to help out in any way, please either speak to me or to one of the Club Officers, and they can point you in the right direction.

We have a number of ongoing projects at the Club, and these will hopefully come to fruition this year. These include the continuing decoration of the Clubhouse, and a possible safety boat storage facility in the dinghy park.

I would ask all members to try and attend any social events that we put on. These help to fund these various projects and our fabulous sailing facilities, and are also very good fun! Michael Lloyd and his team work very hard to organise these events and it would be good to see all members there.

We have a busy year coming up with club sailing and various open and national events, so I am hoping for lots of wind (but not too much), sunshine (as much as possible) and the occasional rain shower (but only midweek, when it doesn’t matter!)

Happy sailing.

Your Committee Commodore Beverly Warrington Vice Commodore Michael Lloyd Rear Commodore Racing Gary Burrows Rear Commodore Cruising John Williams Treasurer David Tierney Cadet Rep • Jeremy Sandford House Rep • Gary Plant Sail Training Officer • Nick Cotgrove Social Rep • Michael Lloyd Sailing Secretary • John Casson Membership Officer • Joanne Tierney Honorary Secretary • Margaret Kennedy Secretary • Janet Willsmer Dinghy Park Rep • TBA Support Boats – Ribs • Tony Clark Support Boats – Displacement • Toby Speller Windward-Leeward Mono • Dave Ayre Fast Cats • Struan Wallace Lasers • Wes Absolom & Richard Sands Slow Cats • Paul Morgan Sandhoppers • Mark Robinson Picos • Andras Gal Fast Mono • Paul Beasley Albacores • John Payne Fevas • Nick Alston Race Results • Graham Dare Newsbuoy • Paul Morgan

Bar Opening Hours Tuesday 1100-1500, 1900-2300 Wednesday 1100-1500, 1900-2300 Thursday 1100-1500, 1900-2300 Friday 1100-2300 Saturdays 1100-2300 Sundays 1100-1900 (closes at 2100 in summer) Mondays BAR CLOSED except on bank holidays, when Sunday hours apply

www.tbyc.org 01702 587563 • @tbyc_uk

Up with the lark following the revelry of New Years Eve; once again a successful brunch for members cooked and served by Martin, Mick and the General Committee. Photos: Margaret Kennedy

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Once again, the intrepid TBYC Cruising Section have spent the summer visiting the Continent. This year the TBYC Burgee was even spotted flying proudly in the Baltic Sea! JOHN WILLIAMS reports..

Balint Vida (pictured) and Boglarke Nemeth have been sailing their Seawych “Bogi” around the Medway and East Coast

Hylton and Gaynor Thompson along with Rene Dolphin moved their Beneteau “The Raymond” to Shotley Marina this year so have been cruising the Orwell, Stour and Deben. They also ventured into the Norfolk Broads for their summer holiday; here they can be seen entering the Norfolk Broads

Courage of Nigel Campling’s Southerly “Dutch year when the in y Cowes” suffered damage earl gales. in ks bloc her off she was blown for the time in out ied carr were Repairs y at St Southerly Owners Association rall Vaast in May. h coast for Nigel then sailed back to the sout (pictured) July in the Round the Island Race result fine a s, clas in 6th where he came ently curr is indeed. “Dutch Courage of Cowes” the for rt) hefo (Roc in the La Rochelle area winter.

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and Judith Keeling Our Baltic sailors Colin of sailing their r yea r have enjoyed anothe stunning scenery Westerly “Topaz” around the “Topaz” is go. ela of the Swedish archip Stockholm r nea den Swe currently ashore in winter but will be ready for the long cold t summer. sailing the same area nex

“Topaz” in a tight spot

edish style “Topaz” moored Sw

Nesta and I sailed “Southerly Gem” in early May to the Two Rivers Rally at Bradwell . We followed this up with sail to Ramsgate in late May where we met up with the Island YC Commodores Rally and then on to Boulogne, Gravelines and Nieuwpoort before spending a week in the river Deben in June.

We followed a great TBYC Cadet Week by taking Ben (14) and Grace Holmes (11) sailing on “Southerly Gem” to Holland. We sailed from Fambridge Yacht Haven on the Saturday following Cadet Week to Nieuwpoort in Belgium. We stayed a day and then on to Middelburg followed by Veere, Goes, Bruinisse then back to Breskens and Nieuwpoort before crossing back to Fambridge.

“Southerly Gem” at the Deer Island (Haringvreter) in the Veersemeer Ben watching deer around the boat...

Grace and Ben in a lock ready to go

... a deer will sell its soul for a crust of bread!

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The annual Prize Giving Supper took place in November.

Once again the main bar was packed as sailors of all ages collected trophies to mark their achievements on the water during 2016.

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Now that’s got your attention, please keep reading as this is one of the core aspects of sailing at TBYC – support duties managed by Dutyman that is, and - sorry - not dancing of any type. (Anyone still reading? I know this seems like the small print on your phone contract but it’s really not like that. If you take a few minutes to familiarise yourself with Dutyman, you will find it easy to use and save time too!)

You don’t need to race or sail regularly to be involved with supporting the sailing at TBYC. If you don’t do duties now but would like to get involved then please watch out for emails or club notices on the TBYC website / lobby to find out how. Or simply contact me. Just being out on the water is part of what the club is all about and you don’t need any experience to take part.

The club race calendar is now published in your members’ handbook and online, but all support duties are only listed on Dutyman. This has several advantages: Firstly, duties change as people swap around and the list at year end is pretty different to the start of the season, so a paper version is always out of date.

Swapping is easier as you can mark your duty as “Swap needed” and see others who also need to swap. You still need to request the swap with someone, but this can be done via Dutyman rather than having to contact people directly.

I can now tag your name on Dutyman with the type of duties you can do and prefer to do, so this should mean that you only get allocated to the right duties! The TBYC Club Secretary emailed everyone on 14th November asking you to reply with your preferences, so if you have not done this yet please do so ASAP – another one will go out in early January ‘17 so don’t miss the opportunity to give me your preferences!

For 2017 we will also be giving you the opportunity to request specific duties and dates – these cannot be guaranteed but we will try and accommodate as many as possible. This way we hope to reduce the number of swaps required and make doing duties as easy as possible.

What about those who would like to have a go but don’t have any experience? Well, you can go as crew on a Seasafe support boat (pictured) or go along to help out on the committee boat without any experience. Race Officers are always happy to have extra help and you get a great view of the race from SS4. We can also provide training for any of the duties so please just get in touch and ask.

RYA Powerboat training is also available at TBYC as we have qualified instructors who run several courses each year. These train you to helm a RIB or displacement boat correctly and result in an RYA Powerboat Level 2 qualification.

Lastly, I do plan to produce some further user guides on Dutyman during 2017 but if you have any questions on Dutyman or duties at TBYC generally please do get in touch.

Hope you have a great year at TBYC in 2017!

Mark Robinson, TBYC Dutyman Administrator Email: dutyadmin@tbyc.org Phone: 07957 801 099

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report by NICK ALSTON

The Matt Trophy On Saturday 15th October a group of young Pico sailors (plus Peter Snow who sailed to the event at Thames Estuary Yacht Club in his Laser) raced for the annual Matt Dear Trophy.

On a glorious sunny day and in ideal conditions, the Cadets raced against local youngsters from neighbouring clubs.

Our Pico sailors Adam, Sam, Luke, Tom, Dominic and Daniel, aged between 10 and 14 years with Peter aged 17, sailed for an hour experiencing all the fun and excitement of racing against other youngsters of a similar age.

All the Cadets, representing Thorpe Bay Yacht Club in a large handicap fleet, performed well. As the race progressed, Peter took the lead and triumphantly gained a well-deserved first place, winning the Matt Trophy.

It was good that our club was represented at this event. The Matthew Dear Foundation was set up to help educate and inform others about the dangers of APEDs (Appearance- & Performance-Enhancing Drugs) and more information can be found at www.matthewdearfoundation.co.uk.

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Team Race On Saturday 12th November, our Cadet Team Racing Squad travelled to Maidenhead Sailing Club to battle with Eton College with our youngest-ever team. With great enthusiasm, the boys and girls spent two evenings in the sail training room, studying the rules and tactics of three -boat Team Racing.

During the morning of the match at Maidenhead, the Cadets practiced sailing in Eton’s boats, where they effortlessly transformed their Pico sailing skills to the larger Fireflies and soon became proficient, whilst practicing starts and manoeuvres.

The opposition arrived at 2pm, and soon we were starting the first race. Ben and Joe soared into the lead, with captain Luke and his crew Sam coordinating the Team Racing tactics to maintain the overall lead. Louise and Dora battled away, but eventually the much older Eton side edged their way to an 11/10 victory with only one point in it, which was amazing considering it was our first ever Team race.

We started the second race determined. With all six boats on the line and shouts of protest from both sides at every perceived infringement, each team put their tactics into practice. Eventually, as the wind dropped and the fog drew in, Eton managed to sneak in that one point again. However, Thorpe Bay Cadet can be proud of their efforts and sailing ability. Teas followed, and the Captains of each team gave their speeches of thanks and enjoyment, and arranged a rematch. What a great bunch of youngsters!

These two events are only a small part of the impressive sailing by our talented Cadets at the club. The Pico series, Stage 1 and 2 training (for adults as well),Race training, Cadet week and using the Cadet Buoy in Club racing, all provide the youngsters with opportunity to progress and excel. I am impressed with the Cadet’s enthusiasm and progress this year and also the support of their parents.

I look forward to further success with the Cadets next season.

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s e r u t in pic

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Barracudas

The highlight of the year for many has been, is and will always be Cadet Week, reports JEREMY SANDFORD This year saw 150 cadets participating and taking over the club for the week.

The tide times, the favourable weather and positivity throughout the four groups all went into feeding an evolving theme running through all the groups this year which was sailing, sailing and more sailing...

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Endless fun!

This year Stingrays were as keen as ever, with the introduction of a sixth group to take advantage of our twelve-strong new Optimist fleet. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Black and the new Orange teams enjoyed the never-ending fun we had each day, from practising knots, rigging the boats, sailing games, paddleboard games, free sailing time and, for a large number of our older Cadets, solo sailing the Oppies with confidence.

Piranhas and Barracudas

With all this going on there was never a dull moment, and all the parents and volunteers were kept busy on the beach. Coaching was supplied by the Wet Suit Outlet Paddleboards, which once again made for an encouraging, teaching and immediate response. The Cadets felt confident, whatever the water threw at them.

Piranhas were also busier than ever, with Andras and Nick borrowing more Picos than ever to get all those Cadets wanting to make the move up and further their seamanship on the water. What a week they all had, they were sailing round courses in some blustery conditions, and even made it out to the Mulberry Harbour, further than any of them had ever sailed out before. Piranhas were progressing in confidence and ability at a rate of knots!

Off we go!

Barracudas (see opposite, top) were once again let by Scott, from Nick’s cruiser Mintinta. This gave the Cadets their choice of sailing area, independence and use it they did. The sailing and racing series went from strength to strength, with close racing and fun had by all. Cadets not only learnt to race, but improved their boat handling and seamanship, and all with big smiles on their faces.

Stingrays

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The most experienced and enthusiastic of all our Cadets was once again Rupert’s Shark Racing group.

Before Rupert could teach them all his racing tips and tactics they were all off and as fast and competitive as ever. One of the highlights of their week was their trip to Island Yacht club on Canvey Island, which saw them round the Pier, accompanied by our TBYC Committee Boat and support Ribs they all sailed round safely, camped, slept (sort of..!) and then in record time sailed back the next day.

Sharks

For some of these guys it was their last cadet week and their group will be sorry to see them go, but we can all take comfort in the knowledge that racing at TBYC will continue to set high standards at club, national and international events in the hands of some of our top cadet sailors.

Oppies

But the fun didn’t stop after a full days sailing! Sara had organised a series of fun-packed evening activities for all ages, including pottery painting, Fun Factory, Bounce Village, an evening meal at Trattoria, prize giving and an end-of-week disco.

The success of the week was down to the enthusiasm for sailing from all of the Cadets that took part, but was made possible by the generosity of our sponsors, keeping costs down and the huge number of tireless volunteers and parents that made everything happen.

You know who you are and without all your help and support this flagship club event would not be possible and would not encourage the future of this club to get out on the water, have fun and sail.

Thank you for another great year.

Piranhas

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I am very proud to inform the Club that the following members have successfully completed Stage 1 and Stage 2 in 2016: Stage 2 (April) Samantha Edwards, Megan Driscoll, Isabella Rainbow, Laurence Prince, George Friday, Ethan Manging Stage 1 (May) Joshua Webb, Kevin Morgan, Grace Holmes, Sky Holmes, Daniel Speller, Nathan Sverdloff, Ami Wood, Jelena Stefanovic, Freya Wood, Janet Willsmer; Justine, Isla and Dylan Neal; Claire, Mike, Alex, Amelia and Isobel Downer; Boglarka Nemeth, Balint Vida, Jessica and Sophie Sandford, Kris Berry Stage 1 (July) Hannah Cole, Tom Duddridge, Emma Berry, Donna Boygle, Lucy Davidson, Toby Gower, Leslie Haynes, Matthew Sullivan, Francesca Berry, Charlotte Rainbow, Michael and Emily Pellett, Ruben and Nikil Shah, Gary and Daniel Crooks.

With members’ ages ranging from eight to 60, it can make for some entertaining and sometimes challenging days on the water! The weather during the season was not kind with higher than average winds we had to postpone two days during stage 2.

Survival swim ashore, first solo sail and being under a capsized boat were just a few of the skills that were completed.

At the end of each session ashore, I introduced Andras Gall as the Pico Captain and Paul Morgan, Captain of the Sprint 15s, as a point of contact for new families to progress through the club, in a dinghy class of their choice.

None of this is possible without continued support from our band of enthusiastic, committed instructors, who give up their time to assist new members, to make sure the skills required are completed, and that the members are able to sail with control and confidence.

This season, I would very much like to thank Eleanor Herve, Paul Morgan, Mike Thomason, Laura Cotgrove, Scott Weller, Rob Manging, Paul and Ellie Morgan , Toby and Sara Speller and Andras Gal for their time on the beach, instructing new members and teaching them to sail, very often it being their first time afloat.

I have emphasised the importance of putting the new sailing skills to use, and getting out on the water and racing in the Pico series, as this is when they really start to learn and have fun, which is what it’s all about!

If anyone is interested in becoming an instructor at TBYC, I am pleased to discuss this very rewarding aspect of membership at our club with you. nick.cotgrove@aol.co.uk

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In June we held the annual TBYC Summer Ball, and this year the theme was “A Midsummer Night's Dream”. We danced the night away to a fantastic band called 'The Essex Undercovers'.

A big thank you to everyone who helped with the set-up and break-down on Sunday morning, but a huge thank you goes to Tracy Cullender who transformed the club into a woodland glade.

In Chinese mythology, 2017 is the year of the Rooster, but for TBYC, it will be the year of the ‘Nationals’. As has become our habit, this year we will be hosting four open events. Uniquely however, we’ll also be crowning four national champions.

These will be for Tornados (plus Big Cats), Sprint 15s, Sandhoppers and Finns.

Despite any of my personal bias, 2017’s premier sailing event at TBYC is likely to be the return of the Finns. Their last Nationals at Thorpe Bay were in 2008 and whilst they probably won’t be the biggest racing fleet next year, they are likely to exceed 60 plus on the water and arguably will be our most prestigious visitors. Discretion prevents me from naming the winners of the 2008 event, but I think it’s true that we might anticipate some genuine world class sailors visiting our club.

This will no doubt give our own Grand Master Allen Burrell a run for his money. Certainly with two of our best race officers offering to manage the event, we’ll have no problem manning the committee boat for this one.

Also making a return (and busily praying for more wind than 2014) will be the Sprint 15s. Last time out, we managed a bumper crop of 85 boats sailing round the bay, with many TBYC members borrowing a boat for the event (29 TBYC boats were entered). Hopefully, this year will see attendances as high, local participation as strong and some big dollops of wind.

The Tornados sent us a tentative enquiry regarding their Nationals. With technology and sailing moving on, they no longer command the kind of numbers necessary to hold an exclusive event. Fortunately, they will be assisted by a number of their ‘Big Cat’ friends to make up the numbers. The Hurricanes are happy to return for the third year in a row. Also, having sailed at our Regatta a couple of years ago, the A Class Association (okay, Struan) decided it was time to host a ranking event of their own here. With the F18s rounding off the start line combatants, it promises to be a fast and keenly contested set of meetings. Certainly, with four starts per race and possibly three races a day, this will be a busy event on the water.

Whilst likely to be the smallest open event next year, when you see the skill with which the Sandhopper fleet line up for the charge to the start, you know that this will nevertheless be fiercely contested racing. Having tried a three day event last year, but losing Sunday to poor weather, they are having another go this year and I’m sure hoping for more moderate conditions.

Whilst recognising the effort it takes to host these events, the General Committee appreciate the benefits of doing so to both the club and its members. These activities will allow us to: Present ourselves as the most attractive club in the area for potential new members to join. At a time of falling sailing membership and fewer boats on the water, this is both worthwhile & necessary.

Raise additional funds. By attracting large and active fleets, I would hope that we can raise £10,000 pa in entry fees, additional bar and food profits. This will allow sailing activity to directly contribute to the investment in our club and its many outstanding projects e.g. rib store, replacement windows, carpets & curtains, a small second committee boat etc.

Provide live entertainment free of charge to club members during these weekends.

Demonstrate the vibrancy and activity of our club.

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A result of hosting open events is that club racing starts are restricted to running from the race hut, reducing the chance of a start to windward. I raised this at Octobers GC meeting with the suggestion that we buy or rent a second committee boat for use on these occasions.

This is still being investigated, but ironically, I heard in discussions after the AGM that many people have no issue with starting from the race hut. It’s been observed that it works well for midweek racing and throughout the Winter & Icicle Series. Do please feed back your thoughts to your Class Captains and the General Committee, so that we know how best you’d like us to proceed with this.

So what else does 2017 hold? Well, I’m trying to simplify and standardise the event organising process to make it more of a tick box exercise. This will support our Class Captains and other individuals who volunteer their time and effort but don’t necessarily have experience in arranging these open meetings. This approach will also offer consistency in the delivery of our events and ensure that important items are not missed such as the provision of subsistence & rewards for event staff (sending out people on support boats for a long day in the sun without so much as a bottle of water is clearly unacceptable.)

should reinstate the TBYC calendar? What better way of keeping track of all the activity!

At this point, I’d like to thank all those people who participated in open meeting weekends with the running of races, crewing the support boats or assisting in any number of other ways this year.

It’s also appropriate to thank the many individuals without whom all racing would quickly grind to a halt. It is in many ways a list of the usual suspects. The ones who are there year in, year out supporting the club – Toby Speller, John Casson, Tony Clark, Howard Warrington, Graham Dare, Paul Morgan, Mike Thomason, David Ayre and a host of others. I’d also like to thank Jeremy Sandford as outgoing RCR for his assistance in negotiating this challenging role in my first year whilst also assuming his duties as Cadet Rep. I know that none of the above would be able to do this without the ongoing support of their other halves, so our thanks are due to them also.

Photo: Jodie Bawden

Also for next year, we will have more sailing. As I write, the sailing programme is still being drafted but we noted from the sailing AGM the general support for more days with two races back to back rather than one long one. It won’t always be possible due to tide and start times, but will become more the norm. The more we do it, the better we’ll get at turning round races quickly.

People lead busy lives. Accordingly, we need to be thinking beyond 2017 already. In future years it would be great to have a default position whereby we consider events for all our classes - Big Cats, Slow Cats, Fast Monos, Slow Monos, Sandhoppers and Cadets. Whilst I don’t suggest for a second that we could/should attempt to host six events a year, we would do well to identify the most prolific fleets amongst our membership and proactively offer our services to their class associations where possible. I note that the Laser class missed out in 2017, so perhaps first shout in 2018 should go to them? With all this going on, perhaps we

As a footnote, can I say that our annual club Regatta is also an open event and entry is free of charge. The Lightnings joined us last year and have asked to return again in 2017 (so it must be good!) Additionally, both the A Classes and International Moths have joined us in previous years. If you sail in a smaller class for whom a full-blown open meeting wouldn’t be possible, or would like a no obligation/no cost opportunity to test the waters with an event at TBYC, please let me know. 2017’s regatta will be on the late bank holiday weekend of 27–29 May. Apart from sending out invitations, there’s nothing more for you to do.

A final date for your diary. The Rotary Club is organising a raft race on Sunday 25 June to raise funds for the RNLI. It would be great to see some club rafts entered in this event.

Wishing you all the best for your sailing endeavours in 2017.

Gary Burrows

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Blue skies, sunshine and a force 3 to 4 greeted the thirtyone entries for the Frozen Sheets General Handicap this January 2nd.

Racing was close with one, two or three seconds between places on corrected time for Dave Eyre, Kyle Stoneham, Adam Smith, Gerald Sverdloff and Daren Fitchew, Mike Thomason and Adrian Bunting. Hurricane 368 Mike and William Thomason led the first round; overall, the Hurricanes completed four rounds. Julian Reichert and Jeremy Sandford in their Hurricane 455 were the first boat to finish on the water and held their time on handicap winning the Trophy. Sprints and monohulls completed three rounds.

On returning to shore, Commodore Bev served rum punch with mince pies in the Bosun Hut, as is the TBYC tradition. Thank you to the Race Officer Phil Crawford and team for good racing.

Margaret Kennedy RESULTS 1st Julian Reichart & Jeremy Sandford 2nd John Charles 3rd Chris Boshier 4th Alex Frost 5th Allen Burrell

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Over the past 20 years, TBYC has successfully used the Optimist dinghy as an introductory training craft for Cadet Weeks and for the first stages of Sail Training.

TBYC has acquired ex-RYA training fleet boats of both polypropylene construction and GRP. These boats are used extensively throughout the seasons.

Over the New Year of 2016, a plan was formulated to once again bring the TBYC Oppie fleet back up to spec with twelve fully functional boats. The fleet of boats were each surveyed for hull damage and assessed as to what could be economically repaired. This resulted in five GRP hulls, all needing various degrees of repair, and these were moved to the rear of the clubhouse, to be cleaned down and stripped of all fittings. Unfortunately, two of the polypropylene hulls were deemed to be scrap due to prolonged storage and the effects of UV light on the hull skins.

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We utilised the Sail Training Room as a workshop during the dark winter evenings in order to progress the works and left the major preparations for our Saturday morning sessions.

The repairs required were mainly boat-to-boat impact damage around the gunwhales, bow corners, transom corners and some general crazing, probably caused by the enthusiastic Royal Tournament race during Cadet Week.

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A huge thank you to: ‘Composites Guru’ David Johnson for the excellent advice at the start of the project; West System Epoxy for the kind donation of resin materials; CYB, based on Canvey Island, who supplied all the flow-coat materials.

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4 Photographs of our progress as numbered: [1] [2] [3] [4]

[5] [6]

[7]

Assessing the damage; Preparing the affected area with the help of an angle grinder; Adding epoxy using gaffer tape as a loose mould; The magic ingredient of ‘peel ply’ placed over the surface on lay up to give good compression, exclusion of air pockets and give a good key for surface finishing; Holes & battle scars repaired ready for finishing; Hard wearing flow-coat added as to the surface following the structural epoxy repairs to give the nice smooth white surface; New coat of non slip on the interior floor surface.

Other tasks (unpictured) include rudder & daggerboard refurbishment, new sails / re-rigging, new trollies

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Well, 2016 went quickly – I’m pretty sure it was because there was a lot going on rather than a sign of me getting old – but could be either! When the time flies, that’s generally a sign of having a great time, so I think it was a good year for Sandhopper sailing. The race entry stats tell me that more boats were out on average each race than the last two years, and although the weather did have some ups and downs I think that’s pretty good news. The year started with another slick lift-in thanks to Jason and Roger doing the heavy lifting and the usual team of helpers in the Dinghy Park and doing battle with the pedestrians and cyclists at the top of the slipway.

BOAT MOVES: Talitrus was sold to Brian Wells at the end of 2015 and moved to a new home in Leigh early in the season.

Brian was a member of TBYC in the past and may attend some future events – of course it’s sad to lose a boat from TBYC but on the positive side it may generate interest in Sandhoppers elsewhere, which is good for the class. On another positive note Grahame Harp sold SH42 Bleu Bird to André Tyndall who is looking forward to sailing at TBYC in 2017. Andre’s father Anthony previously owned SH42 at TBYC under its original name Libertine, and André has been interested in buying it for some time, which is great news all round.

The Sandhopper Nationals tried something a little different in 2016, firstly by moving to a late August weekend to try and catch better weather, and also expanding to a three-day event which had not been tried for quite a few years.

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Having a three-day event was a great success but late August proved to be a problem for quite a few regular entrants so numbers were a little down this year.

On Friday 19th August eighteen boats signed on to contest six races over the three days, with the weather looking promising (at least on the Friday) with good winds although not as sunny as hoped! Race 1 was a mixed start for many including front contenders Zeus and Satisfaction who were way down the field at the end of the first lap. But Rupert

Snow and Rod Watson in SH14 Zeus did a fantastic job of mastering the varying wind direction to climb up to fourth place by the end of the three-lap race.

Reigning champions Allen Burrell and Paul Beasley in SH157 Obsession staked their claim early by leading all the way, winning the first race with Peter Thompson and David Hopper in SH17 Prey close behind and a great start by Sue and Will Daly in SH159 Sandstar finishing third. The second race was back to business as usual with Obsession leading Zeus to the end, followed by Phil Crawford and Margaret 2016 National Champions - Allen Burrell and Paul Beasley in SH157 Kennedy in SH158 Satisfaction but Prey snatched 3rd on the Obsession last of the four laps, relegating Satisfaction to 4th.

2nd - Peter Thompson and David Hopper in SH17 Prey 3rd - Richard Barnes & Paul Dell in SH154 Bluejacket

The forecast for Day 2 looked grim and proved correct with all racing abandoned – although the windsurfers appeared to be enjoying themselves! Day three dawned bright but windier than Day 1, and gave Race Officer Alan Willis and his team the task of getting as many races in as feasible. But, helped by strong winds, they rose to the challenge, a further reduced fleet and some short but exciting two-lap races. Four boats stayed ashore with one turning back before the start in the punishing conditions. Then, to prove them right Zeus retired with a damaged halyard.

A total of twelve boats started the third race. Obsession led once again but this time followed by SH41 Squiffy with Alex Farrall and George Warrington showing their Dads how to do it! Prey and Satisfaction followed them home. Both SH12 Sandstorm (Chris and Ken Clarke) and SH156 Dogs 5 (Vernon Ralston and Alex Knight) had minor equipment failures, relegating them to the back of the fleet but the winds looked to reduce slightly for the 4th race.

Races 4 and 5 saw some exciting starts and action at the windward mark where the short course gave some close fighting for position. A collision on the start line in one of the races between leaders Obsession and Prey dropped Obsession to the back of the fleet leaving the way at the front clear for Bluejacket, Sandstorm and Aeolus in both races. Richard Barnes and Paul Dell in SH154 Bluejacket pulled clear to win race 4, followed by Sandstorm and then Squiffy. Then in race 5 they did it again, leading all the way followed by Martyn Eyre and Paul Spratt in SH161 Aeolus in 2nd and Prey 3rd.

Race 6 was back to form for Allen Burrell and Paul Beasley in Obsession, who led all the way to remain champions for the

second year running. Phil and Margaret finished second followed by Peter and David. After doing four races on the Sunday we had completed all six scheduled races, but it made for an exciting but tiring last day.

So what can we expect for 2017? The Sandhopper Sunday Trophy will be awarded every Sunday following racing. This magnificent trophy would look fantastic on any mantelpiece, so if you want to have it on yours for a week all you need to do is be out sailing a Sandhopper on a Sunday! Oh - and win of course! Then making a popular return we have now recovered The Golden Anchor which is awarded to – how shall I put it, a suitable c**k-up on an ad-hoc basis. In other words you have to really earn it, it’s not just handed out every weekend.

We have introduced a new Sandhopper Trophy for 2017 – the Sandhopper Intergalactic Trophy which is a six-race series including a Saturday and Sunday from the Spring, Summer and Autumn club series. Running in parallel, scores will count and at the end of the year the magnificent Sandhopper Intergalactic Trophy will be awarded.

The 2017 Sandhopper Nationals will be a three day event again and will take place between 8th – 10th September. The weather seems to be all over the place whatever dates we choose, so we’re going back to September as it’s a fitting end to the season.

See you on the water.

Mark Robinson SH26

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July 29th: a wonderful summer’s day and as afternoon turns to dusk, race followers gather on a packed balcony waiting to watch what promises to be a close finish to a race that began a year back on a very wet Bank Holiday Monday.

Racing to the end, the two leading boats swapped places between the chimney land mark (now gone) and the Pier. Our admiration goes out to all the crews.

The only disappointment, perhaps, was that with the light fading it wasn’t possible to speed out in a rib to welcome the boats.

Throughout the past year weekly updates on Clipper positions, stories and weather reports from becalmed to raging seas have been posted on the Cadet notice board.

Neil Hurrell, a prominent past club member, joined Clipper Telemead from China where the TBYC burgee could be seen flying in the ports.

You may recall Neil’s evening talk before the race, and we are planning an after-race talk for those who may be interested.

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Refurbishments Problems found with the windows to the front of the building have delayed the final completion of the refurbishment project, but we are hoping to have this completed before the start of next season.

Painting and decorating did take place early in 2016, and the Main Bar & Commodore Bar now have a much fresher feel, as these “before and after� pictures can testify.

Nick Cotgrove writes...

Does anyone remember this old friend? Our old committee boat, rotting. She served the Club for decades, and what a shame she never had a second life afloat. If you fancy a project, you can find her in Leigh Creek, just over the sea wall near the station...

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September saw TBYC playing host to other some local sailing clubs for a Sunday lunch buffet. It has been some years since the club has been involved in the ‘At Home’ programme, which brings sailors together from clubs between Benfleet and Wakering, and we were delighted to welcome twenty to thirty guests to our club.

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With one of the best views on the seafront, the clubhouse was very busy on the morning of September 7th with members keen to witness the demolition of the Grain Power Station Chimney – a feature on the Kent coast for the last four decades.

Clockwise from top left: Before and after demolition; “The View Before”, a delightful watercolour from Margaret Kennedy; a packed bar serves breakfast to hungry spectators; an overflowing club carpark!

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