Thorpe Bay Yacht Club - Newsbuoy 16 - Winter 2018

The magazine of Thorpe Bay Yacht Club

www.tbyc.org • Edition 16 • Winter 2018/19

Get involved! Tag your pics with #lovetbyc

Happy New Year to you all.

It’s been only a short while since taking over the reigns from our most recent Past Commodore Beverly Warrington, our first Lady Commodore, so there is not much to say about the first few months except that I am blessed with a club in very good order and a Committee with enthusiasm and knowledge.

In the coming year I look forward to giving back to the club I love and has been a massive part of my family’s life over the past twenty years.

As with any adventure you may face, be it business or pleasure, you always start out with a wish list. The only difference in this case is my overriding hope that as an individual and Committee, that we consider the club and its members first.

Over the coming year we are looking to convert the way we train our members from the TBYC syllabus to the RYA syllabus. This will be only as a private club, which is easier than you imagine, as we are already a RYA Training Centre for power boats, and our existing training was founded on the RYA syllabus. It’s not a huge job to change.

We are planning to start by introducing sailing levels 1, 2 and 3 initially, keeping the other cadet and family activities/racing largely unchanged. The upside of this is to raise the offering to our members and the profile of the club. There will be opportunities for members to gain additional training and qualifications along the way.

We are also very keen to be more environmentally aware, and with this in mind we will be introducing refillable water bottles with easy attachment to dinghies in order to reduce the possibility of plastic bottles floating away after capsize.

We will introduce drinking water dispensers for this. I would also recommend small dry bags be used for on-the-water snacks. The water is our playground, so the more we do, the better for us.

Finally, over the coming year we would love to hear your ideas as they are always welcome.

We strive to make TBYC the best it can possibly be and without the Herculean effort by all of the committees, subcommittees, helpers and members this would not be possible.

Happy sailing. Steve

2

Steve Hopper

Commodore

Your Committee Commodore Steve Hopper Vice Commodore Wayne Miller Rear Commodore Racing Chris Boshier Rear Commodore Cruising Gaynor Thompson Treasurer David Tierney Cadet Rep • Jeremy Sandford House Rep • Alex Gibson Sail Training Officer • John Williams Social Secretary • Anthony Davis Sailing Secretary • Alex Farrall Membership Officer • Candy Miller TBYC Office • Janet Willsmer

Sailing Officers Rear-Commodore (Racing) • Chris Boshier Sailing Secretary • Alex Farrall Sail Training Officer • John Williams Dinghy Park • Nick Elmore Race Results Officer • Graham Dare DutyMan Administrator • Mark Robinson Support Boats (RIBS) • Tony Clarke Support Boats (Displacements) • Toby Speller Cadet Representative • Jeremy Sandford Fast/Slow Mono-Hull Class Captain • Ivan Holjar Fast Multi Hull & Windward-Leeward Mono Hull Class Captain (Joint) • Sophie Boygle and Julian Reichert Albacores Class Captain • John Payne Sprint 15/Catamaran Class Capt. • Paul Morgan Sandhopper Class Captain • Howard Warrington Pico Class Captain • Andras Gal Feva Class Captain • Nick Alston The Cruising Committee

Hire TBYC for your party!

Our rooms can be booked for private events. A booking fee of £100 will be required for the hire of the Main Bar (£75 for the Commodore Bar.) The Sail Training Room can be hired for a charge of £15 per day or evening session. A returnable deposit of £200 will normally be required for each booking accepted, which will be returned during the week after the event, provided there has not been any sustainable loss or damage to the Club premises nor its contents, and that no food is brought in for the function. The deposit of £200 should be a cheque postdated to the date of the event.

Cruising Captain • John Williams Cruising Vice-Captain (Rear Commodore Cruising) • Gaynor Thompson Cruising Treasurer • Colin Keeling Cruising Social Secretary • Nesta Williams Mooring Officer • Paul Farrall

Kitchen and Bar Opening Hours Please see Vice Commodore’s article

www.tbyc.org 01702 587563 • @tbyc_uk

Speak to the Club Secretary for more information!

3

Our cruisers have been active again this year with yachts visiting Sweden, Norway, France, Portugal, Holland and Spain!

Chichester Marina

Brighton Marina

We headed early one morning for the Isle of Wight. We managed to book Island Marina up the river Medina, a few miles from Cowes, despite arriving in Cowes Week. We used the floating bridge to get from East Cowes to West Cowes and were able to watch the racing from Island Sailing Club in Cowes, which had magnificent views.

We left the Thames on our Beneteau “The Raymond” sailing to Ramsgate at the beginning of the summer. We intended to spend our weekends travelling from marina to marina en route to the Isle of Wight. After arriving on Saturday we spent the Sunday in Broadstairs, which was like stepping back in time, sailing onward from Ramsgate to Dover. The entrance to Dover Marina was busy with ferries and we had to wait there for some time, arriving in Eastbourne some 11 hours later. The following weekend we arrived at Brighton in good weather, passing Beachy Head on the way. A great marina and location, and we spent our weekends for the next month in Brighton.

At the end of the week we sailed to Port Solent, a beautifully designed marina and then on to Gosport, conveniently placed near the ferry to Portsmouth. We then started our return journey, first visiting Chichester Marina. Chichester had been experiencing very heavy rain, and the area around Chichester Cathedral had inches of rain which restricted access except to the very determined. We had mistakenly left a porthole open, and on our return discovered that the main cabin area of the boat was drenched, which took a couple of days to dry out despite having central heating on the boat!

My son and I sailed on to Eastbourne. The next Saturday we followed a rather top-heavy fishing boat out of Eastbourne. The boat was buffeted by strong winds as we left the shelter of the marina and almost capsized. The winds were creating huge rolling waves, pounding the boat, and we eventually decided to return to the marina and continue the return journey on a calmer day.

The following weekend we left Eastbourne, and after a ten-hour sail sighted Dover. We decided to continue to Ramsgate as the weather was good, and asked permission from Dover Port Control to sail past (there is a two-mile zone around Dover under the control of the port); the last leg of our journey from Ramsgate to the Thames was uneventful, but completed a great summer.

Gaynor Thompson, Rear Commodore Racing

4

Roger and Gloria have been in Dordrecht, Holland in their Hollandia 1000 “Slipper”, while John and Nesta Williams and family on Southerly 115 S4 “Southerly Gem” have been to Dunkirk and the East Coast.

Nigel Campling’s Southerly 115 S4 “Dutch Courage of Cowes” sailed this year from Povoa de Vazim to Lagos, Algarve, stopping to race the Lagos Regatta. After being laid up in Albufeira for a while, she is currently in the river Guandiana between Portugal and Spain heading up to Seville.

Cap St. Vincent

Anchored in Sagres Bay After a lifetime of A trying t to avoid rocks, Judy J and Colin Keeling spent s a peaceful night in i July tied up to one i the lovely nature in h harbou r of Pinneholet in t the Oslo fjord (left).

E Even tight into the rock f face, they had over 2m o water under the of k keel, but with a tidal r range of less than 0.3m t there was no danger of gr ground roun oun ndi ding. ing.

The couple had sailed from their winter lay-up in Copenhagen, north along the Swedish coast and on to Oslo in their trusty Centaur Topaz.

Unlike the archipelago that stretches around Stockholm, the archipelago on the west coast of Sweden is generally devoid of vegetation but is still a lovely area to spend the summer.

Finally in Gothenburg, after lifting Topaz out for the winter, Judy and Colin treated themselves to a luxury night in the hotel in the huge four-masted barque Viking.

Friday 27th July was a wet and overcast night in the UK. By contrast, Judy and Colin were in the remote marina at Verdens Ende (The End of the Earth) in Norway under a cloudless sky. This was the night of the total, blood-red eclipse of the moon and they were fortunate to have a dark sky with a grandstand view.

Amongst the features in the marina was a tipping lighthouse built in 1934 (pictured above) and similar to the one built several centuries before.

5

This has been a very rewarding year for all those who give up their time to facilitate cadet sailing at TBYC. We have seen more cadets than ever participating in all the different opportunities we have offered. I gauge the success of what we do at TBYC by the response I get from the cadets themselves, and this year I have seen more smiles and laughter on the water and off the water than ever before, a sure sign that it’s been a good year.

Cadet Week is a huge event for everyone involved, a huge amount of fun for the Cadets, a huge number of volunteers to help run the week and a huge amount of work for the Cadet organising team. Last year was one of the most enjoyable and fun-packed weeks I can remember, with beautiful weather and hardworking volunteers combining to make it great in every way. All the groups were full of enthusiastic and focused cadets enjoying the boats, beach, water and waves.

Cadet Week involves a large number of people giving up their time to plan and organise so many different aspects of each of the five days. It is to you, the club members who volunteer to help, that I would like to say thank you. The list is a long one, from safety boat crews and group leaders and their teams of experienced parents all working together to make the week a success on the water; to beach helpers, catering, road crossing and bosun’s hut, ensuring everyone is comfortable and safe off the water. There is just as much to do off the water as there is on the water. Last year all of the off-water activities, sponsorship and catering was organised and supervised throughout the week by Lindsay and her team of helpers. Without her help Cadet Week simply wouldn’t have been the fantastic success that it was.

As I write this the cold weather is now upon us, but as the days start to lengthen my attention starts to focus on the new year and the task of co-ordinating Cadet Week. Some of you have already been posting online asking ‘When is Cadet Week?’ and ‘How do we register?’. Luckily, those are a couple of the only questions we have answers to yet.

Cadet Week is the week beginning Monday 29th July and I will aim to get registration packs out around the Easter holidays. Of course Lindsay will have already told you this on Facebook; she has been prompting me to organise our first planning meeting and has already started to put her social programme together! I had better get things underway. Nothing is set in stone yet so all ideas are welcome, even more so if it is in the form of organisation and help.

6

The planning and organisation that goes into facilitating all of the opportunities at TBYC is successful,

not because of one person, but because it is run by people saying, ‘I can run this’ or ‘I can help you with that.’ If you have ideas and can help make them happen, then please let me know and I will gratefully include you and your ideas in our planning team for the next meeting.

A couple of years ago Toby and I headed up a repair and refit of the club Optimist fleet which with the generosity and kind sponsorship of howetools.co.uk sponsoring a new boat last year, continues to go from strength to strength. This winter it is the turn of the club Picos to get a refit. We have already ordered new training sails for all six boats from Grant Pigott at GP Sails and by the time the season starts, will have refitted kickers and control lines to each boat. During the season, please make the most of these resources and

use them as your own. ‘Using as your own’ also means treating them with the respect and care that you would your own, so when you break something, we do understand accidents happen, simply tell someone and we can then ensure it is fixed and back in use as soon as possible.

We are very lucky to have such fantastic resources for our cadets at TBYC and that is down to the continued generous support of Cadet Week sponsors that we are able to offer the events and maintain the boats that you enjoy and use each year. If you can help sponsor events, boats or contribute in any way, please get in touch and make a difference to the opportunities we offer our Cadets.

Our new Commodore Steve Hopper has already put plans in place to strengthen the Sail Training and move the club forward, making us a training centre for RYA dinghy courses alongside our current accreditation for powerboat training.

Thank you for your continued support and hard work and we look forward to another fun-filled year for all. Jeremy Sandford

7

The Nore Race is a combined ‘open’ cruiser and dinghy race held each year, covering a twenty mile circuit of the Thames Estuary, starting and finishing at Southend Pier. Benfleet Yacht Club have been organising this event since the 1930s (although it’s likely that they took a break during the war years) but for many competitors, the Nore Race is the only race that they will compete in: one which they treat more like a rally, rather than a full-on race – until the starting gun fires. Once finished, many competitors, both yachts and dinghies, anchor in the Ray and enjoy the Ray Sands before returning home on the tide.

The Nore sands lie in the Thames Estuary and extend between Shoeburyness in the north and Sheerness in the south. The Nore lightship, southeast of Shoeburyness, is now replaced with a large navigation buoy. This anchorage was much used by the English fleet in the 17th and 18th centuries.

RESULTS Group 1 Julian Reichert & Jeremy Sandford 1st TBYC cats took the first five places in this group.

Group 2 Adrian Strickland 1st in a Musto skiff; seven TBYC boats also competed, including Sandhoppers.

Group 3 Paul Farrall 5th Parker 27 monohull cruiser.

2019’s Nore Race is on Sunday 23rd June.

Save the date!

8

In the 1920s, Frank Garon, of the wellknown Southend based Garon business family, along with several TBYC members, approached the "Interclub" Association of Southend Yacht clubs with the idea of a race round the Nore Light Vessel. Interclub were not interested and the event was taken up by Benfleet Yacht Club.

The annual race awarded a large silver cup which has been lost; after the war the race was sailed for cash prizes. In 1950 Frank Garon donated money, but sadly he died six months later. His ashes were scattered round the Nore.

The Nore Race today has become one of the premier and largest yacht races in the South East of England, in the past attracting 300 entries. There is in fact some great Pathé newsreel of the Nore Race on our website. Numbers

tend to average 120 these days, in a race aimed to attract all boat classes and sizes. Group prizes are awarded.

The race is open to all classes of sailing dinghies and cruising yachts - both multihull and monohull - with split start times for dinghy and cruiser classes. It takes place over 20 miles, with two starts from the end of Southend Pier. The course runs in a clockwise circle around the Thames Estuary, crossing over to the North Kent Coast and passing the sunken wreck Richard Montgomery and the mouth of the River Medway. The course returns to Southend Pier for the finish.

This year’s race, on 23rd June, saw blazing sunshine and, in the light breeze, TBYC boats catching the outgoing tide which can be a slog difficult to be on the start line at gun!

There was concern or excitement depending how you view it, when a tug alerted the club to a Hurricane, turtled in the vicinity of the Montgomery. Ribs attended and at last the cat righted. The fast finishers were seen walking their boats ashore on the rising tide. You might want to take a picnic!

Shore Line Race

The Shore Line Race is a long distance race.

As the title implies the course takes the fleet around the Pier towards Leigh, the home run passing the yacht clubs along the shore. Families settled on the beach, ‘Oppie’ was afloat with cadets; messing about in boats the order of the day.

9

HORNET EUROPEANS & KESTREL NATIONALS

TBYC was pleased to host the Hornet European and Kestrel National Championships over four days in August. A good turnout of 29 Hornets and 14 Kestrels visited us, probably attracted by the great venue, sparkling social programme, cheap bar and free camping. I was going to add “great sailing conditions” to the list of attractions but, as it turned out, sailing was a bit patchy due to fickle weather.

Arrivals on Friday had to pitch their tents in teeming rain, so most made their way quickly to the bar to dry out. Howard had a record evening’s food service, and the bar did pretty well too!

The classes asked for the traditional ‘triangle-sausage’ course, with the start line downwind of the leeward mark and the finish line a reach across from it. This sailed well and was easy to reset for changing conditions. It allowed me to give them a mix of equilateral, rightangled and offset triangles, for maximum variety. The main constraint was that with 2 starts, Hornets then Kestrels, at 5-minute intervals, I didn’t want the Hornets rounding the leeward mark when the Kestrels were starting, so the beat had to be reasonably long; I couldn’t set short, multi lap courses.

10

Day 1 - Saturday - dawned sunny after more overnight rain, but once on the water it quickly became obvious that the wind wasn’t going to oblige. After a couple of hours of boats drifting about in 0-3 kts the tide turned and I gave up and sent everyone ashore. Two races were scheduled but none were held – a disappointing first day.

Sunday gave us much better weather. The wind ranged from 15 to 20kts, gusting 25, and fairly steady at SW to WSW. The aim was to catch up on scheduled races so we crammed in four. By the second race the Hornets were getting overexcited and after a general recall I had to resort to the black flag.

Day 2 Right from the start Hornet 2154 Mister Wiggly with Richard Garry and Sam Woolner showed their class, with two firsts, a second and a third on the first day. Other race winners on day 2 were 2125 Toby Barsley-Dale and Richard Nurse, and 2184 Terry Curtis and K Francis. By the end of the day’s sailing we had 2154 Garry and Woolner on 4 points, closely followed by 2125 Barsley-Dale and Nurse on 5 points and 2109 Michael McNamara and Harry Chatterton with 9 points.

The Kestrels had a more mixed first day, with the top sailors taking a while to master the blustery conditions.

Kestrel 1460 with Gordon Millian and John Ellingham showed early promise with 2 firsts and the other first places went to 1638 Malcolm and Dannielle Worlsey and 1633 Paul Barnett and David Philip. At the end of day 1 the Kestrels had four boats all on 7 points: 1460 Millian and Ellingham, 1638 the Worsleys, 1633 Barnett and Philip and 1545 Steven Worf and David Hearsum.

Overall, we were pleased to achieve 4 races on day 2, and the sailors seemed to enjoy short, fast races.

Day 3 dawned bright with showers forecast. It turned out to be one of those days that give Race Officers nightmares. Rain fronts swept across the estuary all day long and every 15 minutes or so the wind veered through 30° and then back 10 minutes later. The beat turned into a reach and then back to a beat within the space of a single lap so it was just your luck as to where you were on the course when the wind changed. It was during today’s races I discovered that, without a supply of different-coloured replacement marks, there was no way I could move a mark during the race. With the Kestrels starting 5 minutes behind the Hornets there was never a gap in the traffic long enough to signal ‘mark moved’. Note to Sailing Committee: if you want us to appear really professional, buy a couple of black inflatable marks and, provided we have a spare patrol boat, we can re-set the course during a race.

Day 3 For our leading Hornets race 5 was a bit of a disaster with 2154 Garry & Woolner getting a 7th, 2125 Barsley-Dale and Nurse scoring a 9th, and 2109 McNamara and Chatterton earning a black flag disqualification. But, ‘it’s an ill wind’ (and it literally was), so our leaders’ misfortune allowed Hornet 2163 of Chris Bines and Dave Gibbons to climb into contention with a 1st in race 5 followed by a 3rd and a 4th. At the end of Day 3, 2154 Garry & Woolner had pulled away from the pack with 8 points. 2109 McNamara and Chatterton were on 14, and 2163 Bines and Gibbons on 15.

Everything to sail for on the last day!

In the Kestrels, Gordon Millian and John Ellingham in 1460 used day 3 to consolidate their position at the top, scoring two 1sts and a 2nd, ending the day on 6 points. This left the Worsleys in 1638 chasing them, with a 1st, 3rd and a 5th, closing day 3 with 11 points, followed by 1633 Barnett and Philip who managed a 3rd, 4th and a 6th to total 14.

We’d hoped to fit in 4 races to bring us back on schedule but delays due to the fickle wind limited us to three races.

Our final day brought the conditions we like best: sun and a steady 10-15kt W to SW breeze. We’d agreed not to try and fit-in the ‘missing’ race – the sailors wanted to get away in reasonable time after prizegiving. Consequently, we were aiming for two races, which was better as it let us set a couple of good-length races.

Day 4

unassailable, In race 8, Hornet 2109 McNamara and Chatterton were ns making Gibbo and holding 1st place from the start. With 2163 Bines managing only ner Wool & 2nd, and our overnight leaders 2154 Garry to go and race one Just ce. balan the a 6th, the championship was in In the last 17. on 2163 and s, point 15 on 2154 were on 13 points, 2109 se it becau on, going sailing al tactic some ps, race there was, perha in ers broth Dell threw-up a bunch of surprise results. Our very own had we place d 2146B pulled off their first win of the series. In secon James Beer, another outsider, Hornet 2077 of Tim Coombe and . Our three Cooke en Steph and followed by 2080 John Clementson ver, 2154 Howe 8th. and 5th 15th, Championship contenders came Hornet the them g makin 15th, their d discar Garry & Woolner could 2163 Bines and European Champions on 19 points, 3 points ahead of erton.

Chatt 09 McNamara and 10 2109 Gibbons and 4 points ahead off 2

Results Hornet European Champions: Richard Garry and Sam Woolner of Starcross Yacht Club Leading TBYC Hornet: Mark and Paul Dell in 9th place.

Kestrel National Champions: Gordon Millian and John Ellingham of Lakeside Sailing Club Leading local Kestrel: Chris Grice and Howie Enkel of Maylandsea Bay Sailing Club in 7th place.

As always, many thanks to the fantastic organisation and support of the many members that got involved. I had a crack team on the water and this made the Race Officer job easier and much more fun.

Alan Willis

Gordon Millian and John Elllingham in Kestrel 1460 showed themselves to be worthy Kestrel National Champions by staying at the front in both final races and keeping their series points total to an economical 8. After a 3rd in race 8, Kestrel 1638 of Malcolm and Dannielle Worsley came 2nd in race 9, placing them 2nd overall on 16 points. After a poor start, 1633 Barnett and Philip completed a charge from mid-field to take 4th place in the last race, leaving them 3rd overall with 23 points.

11

Happy new year guys, and as this is the first Newsbuoy of the year and we’ve only had one race at Thorpe Bay at the time of writing, there isn’t much to report on other than the well-attended Frozen Sheets (double the field that the LSC Brass Monkey attracted!) with a few travellers into the process, so well done to the 42 hardy crew who came out to play on January 6th, and thankyou to the race officers Phil Crawford and his assistants, the ever present safety boat helpers of Tony, Toby and John, and Commodore Steve, for providing a much welcomed hot toddy and mince pies when we came off the water.

And let’s not forget Andrew Stickland picking up the Musto Skiff Junior Trophy at the Nationals this year.

A little nearer home we fielded half of the dinghies for the Nore race this year as well as providing safety cover help (thank you again, Toby, Tony and John) and from this TBYC gleaned 14 of the 27 dinghy trophies on offer. Richard Smith (overall winner on handicap, well done Richard) entered under TBYC instead of Benfleet (the hosting club) which could have won us even more silverware! At least we can console ourselves in the fact that he does all his racing at Thorpe Bay when not travelling.

I might as well have a little retrospective ramble and recap over the events of last season, as we hosted a couple of excellent National Championships for the Moths and Hornets.

Certainly hosting these events, showcasing the hospitality we have to offer (a lot of thanks due to Howard for the catering and the bar staff for the refreshments) and great racing we put on for them gave us excellent coverage in the media, and highlighted what an awesome venue we have at our disposal. What a great team we can put together here, and see local sailors from the club competing at the highest level on home waters.

Talking of travelling, we’ve had a few club members who’ve had things to write home about too.

Sticking with the Moths briefly, Kyle Stoneham started the year as the fastest Moth in Bermuda.

Feel free to watch the YouTube clip and ask him what he means by his ‘big stiffie!’ Also in his need for speed, his Vampire cat also took the fastest boat(i.e. not a kite or windsurfer) at Weymouth Speed week… but enough about Kyle.

We are also honoured to currently have in the club the National A class champion, Struan Wallace, and also the Nacra 20 European champion Nick Elmore.

Back at the club, we ran the Icicle, Spring, Summer Saturday and Sunday, Autumn and Winter Saturday and Sunday series. For those of you not at the prizegiving (and I recommend you come next year, as you forfeit your wine if you don’t turn up) the club champions from my convoluted way of scoring the year’s sailing were Julian and Jeremy, narrowly defeating Jim Bowie, the defender of the title, by 2 points.

Let’s not forget – or shall we? - that we also have the Sandhopper National Champions, Peter Thompson and Mark Dell here too.

Okay - the Sandhopper dig was a lead up to this next bit, as they are often unfairly the butt of jokes, when actually they have the largest fleet and best close class racing, so, instead of knocking them, why not give a Sandhopper a go?

There is a club boat available to use and even better than that, the class will be laying on an invitational regatta where you may be selected to come and race against them in one of the top boats and see if you can cut the mustard So on that note, we come down to what it takes to against them. I certainly look forward to that one. keep the racing going and the duty roster! Dutyman is simple enough to use so please, to make life easier So that starts the ball rolling for this year - what else do for the duty officers, ensure your contact details are we have coming? up to date and if you can’t make a duty, please From the feedback from the Dinghy AGM we will be arrange a swap and inform the duty officer. We’ve putting on more two-races-per-day events where possible had to cancel one race this winter due to lack of cover and with the success of the triangular course trail in the and I really don’t want to be forced to make that Autumn for the Monohulls, we will be sticking with this decision again. Additionally, if you’d like to lend a format and continue to encourage the younger hand, please keep an eye on the website, Facebook members of the club to come and learn the ropes of group and watch for your class captain’s emails to see racing with the racing fleets as often as they wish. The what’s going on and what we need to do. The Club best way to learn racing, rules, boat speed and trim is by safety boats all need some work, and as it’s winter being out there, seeing what others do and ask questions these tend to be ad-hoc working parties dependent of your peers who will be more than happy to assist and on weather. We don’t want to be fitting gearboxes in the snow again, so keep an eye on social media and explain. your inbox.

Talking of rules, we’ll be having regular dinghy nights on the last Thursday of the month with engaging and useful Good luck preparing your boats for the new season, short talks about sailing related things that hopefully and happy racing in 2019. Chris Boshier interest you and I urge you to come along, for both the learning and the social aspect of these occasions.

I’ve mentioned what a great club, great facilities and great water we have to sail on here at Thorpe Bay, in my opinion one of the best clubs in the world, but and there is a but I’m afraid - it doesn’t run itself. We are a members club, and believe it or not we keep our membership prices low because of the amount of time and effort that volunteers put into the club, so I’d like to take a moment to thank all the members of my Sailing Committee for the support they’ve given over the last couple of years and the time and effort they’ve put into the club.

13 Noble Allen 2018 International Moth UK Championship at TBYC, day 4 © Mark Jardine/IMCA UK

The first race of the year for TBYC members and visitors alike was the Frozen Sheets Trophy, traditionally sailed in the first week of the new year.

This year's 6 Jan race fielded 44 boats ranging from a couple of Picos to a Nacra 20 at the other end of the speeds scale. Five TBYC cadets tried their hand in the crisp conditions and enjoyed fantastic sailing, rounded off by the Commodore's rum punch! The largest fleet by far was the Lasers, with 15 boats out competing for the trophy against the rest of the handicap fleet.

Launching

Race officer Phil

This year’s race, akin to the Brass Monkey at Leigh the week before, wasn’t a particularly windy affair with and the course set by our race team seemed to favour the non-spinnakered boats, Finns especially with all 6 in the top 7 on the score board.

Congratulations to visitor Lawrence Crispin for lifting the trophy from Allen Burrell in second place.

14

terly breeze Sailing in a light wes

...and Steve’s rum pun ch

Time for brunch...

15

Here I am, one month in as Vice Commodore, a title lovingly bestowed upon me by my lifelong friend and your new Commodore, Steven Hopper.

For those who do not know me over the years, I have had the privilege of sailing in the slow cat, fast cat, mono hull, fast mono hull and Cruiser sections of the club, and felt that, yes, it was time I gave something back.

This first month I must admit I have not put a great deal in to the running of the club, due to a business move, and have relied on Steve to take over my duties, for which I am truly grateful. However, that said I did attend the Christmas Ball which was expertly served to us by Anthony and Howard in the kitchen, along with Donna in the bar and all their associated staff. To you all I extend a big thankyou for the smooth running of that day.

It was a resounding success; may there be many more.

Donna, Shane and the team at the bar have also succeeded in making the Christmas festivities go unhindered with service being first class. I was very pleased that I did not see many long waits for bar service and their attention to this was fantastic. Thanks, team.

At our first committee meeting we discussed various aspects of club running and looked over the recent kitchen survey. Overall the comments were very supportive of the kitchen and the chef Howard Fruin.

Personally, I think he is the right man for the job; conscientious, hardworking and a strong will to make the kitchen work for the club. A big advantage of his appointment is that Howard was a club sailor and knows exactly what we need. And what we need to help him is constant feedback and butts on seats both at lunchtimes and in the evenings.

Please support your kitchen as well as the club. It is a facility second to none which we are very lucky to have and an envy to a lot of visiting clubs.

Howard’s Sunday Carvery has been a great success and I believe I am right in saying this may be extended to two Sundays a month. If you intend to dine at any time Howard would be grateful for an indication of numbers so if np plea pl please e se book or let the kit ease kitchen en k e know no ow you can a ar re e you are g to coming i in eat nc e. nce. advance. aid idss This aids y in greatly i i the th h numbers b off staff t ff ff required i d to t ascertaining serve you in a speedy manner.

Wayne Miller Vice Commodore

Going forward, we have a year with the majority of weekend sailing taking place in the early mornings or late evenings, so the committee have been busy agreeing various family and adult events to ensure we keep our bar and kitchen functional. Please support as many as you can. I do not want to steal Anthony’s thunder so I will not list them here as our social rep I am sure he will be noting these for you!

Steve, the committee and I are fully committed to the ongoing running of the club and hope to improve on the base we have been given, so any suggestions with regard to bar or kitchen I will gladly listen too.

Please also do not forget the club is available for hire. So if you have a celebration or event you wish to hold at the club, catered or noncatered why not have it at the at the club?

Background photo: Sara Speller

Happy New Year.

16

YACHT CLUB TAKES PART IN SUCCESSFUL BEACH CLEAN-UP Southend Echo, 29th July 2018

Members of Thorpe Bay Yacht Club took part in the litter pick after seeing a lot of rubbish dumped around the yacht club.

More than 130 cadets, aged between 14 and 16, at the club took part in the clean-up voluntarily.

They were split into four groups and each had responsibility for part of the beach.

In total, they collected four large bags of rubbish, which mainly consisted of plastic litter which had been flushed down toilets and washed up on the bay. Plastic can be fatal to the surrounding ecosystem as birds and mammals eat it but cannot digest it.

Members at the yacht club hope the litter pick will inspire residents and visitors to not litter and to be more aware of their plastic waste and its impact on the environment.

From the archive, we are proud to present this wonderful photo of the 1995 ‘Horners’ reunion.

All these people met at TBYC in the 1960s and have continued to meet yearly since - at least, those who are still of this world! Some more senior members may recall the faces: Hobday, Beecher Moor, Carter, Smudge, Price, Garon, Kennedy, Weedon, Louis, Kennedy, Owles, Quinlin, Farmer, Morgan, Wheeler and Harries.

Proof, as if you needed any, that sailing promotes friends for life.

17

“We thought it would go down to the wire, and that's exactly what happened. The final race decided the title with four sailors still in with a shout of winning the event,“ writes Mark Jardine.

The weather on Saturday was stunning, with early sunshine leading to a good sea breeze. The later high water allowed enough time for four races to be held, leading to the full series of twelve races being completed.

There was drama just before the start when Kyle Stoneham, who has put so much time into organising this event, found a mouse in his wing bar (see picture below, inset) while heading out onto the race course. He of course went back to shore to drop it off on land, but hit the slipway with his centreboard foil, leading to some quick sanding time to get it smooth enough to sail with.

A quick recap of the positions going into the final day; Jason Belben was leading by nine points, but Jim McMillan, Dave Kenefick and Simon Hiscocks were on the charge in the stronger winds. Would anyone be able to close the points gap on two-time champion Belben?

Jim McMillan got down to business straight away in the first race of the day with a bullet, followed by fellow title contender Simon Hiscocks knocking in a win in the next race. Jason’s lead was disappearing fast with a sixth followed by a DNC.

One man who has not had his best event is last year's runner up David Hivey. The light winds and an attraction to weed has led to some bad results and 'loud' moments on the race course. With the wind up for the final two races Hivey showed his true potential with a dominant performance and two bullets, moving him up to eighth overall.

David finally had a smile on his face when he told us about his day, "I managed to miss the weed for the first time all week! It was a great day's sailing and really nice to prove I'm not rubbish at sailing. I nearly lost in one race when I had to let go of the mainsheet to avoid some weed at the bottom of the course and I nearly missed the gate, which was quite scary, but apart from that it was really good fun."

The man who was closest to Belben going into the final race was Jim McMillan, and his final day charge 1,2,8,3 results giving him enough to win the overall title by four points. Jim was understandably ecstatic to overturn the nine point deficit: "I'm absolutely stoked! This is the first Moth event where I didn't have to count Did Not Starts

and Did Not Competes. I came here to have some fun and hopefully finish in the top ten, so to take the win I'm stoked.

It's been fantastic for the last two days – perfect Moth sailing conditions with flat water, the sun out and everyone enjoying themselves, non-stop foiling around; it's perfect."

Many overseas sailors have travelled to the event, including Hiroki Goto from Japan, who was enjoying the stronger winds today: "I had a few troubles on the first two days and the weed was also annoying me, but the last two days have been brilliant, and we've had seven races in two days. I was getting better and better so I'm feeling pretty good! I've been sailing in the high wind ranges this year and travelling I could only bring one sail and mast, so the last race in the strongest winds was the best for me."

Jason Belben was understandably gutted to lose the title on the final day: "I'm disappointed. I think I sailed really badly today to be honest. I ditched one of my races to change foils, which was a good decision as I went a lot quicker afterwards. In the last race I had speed on Jim but let him go, and then downwind I managed to pitchpole it so that was the end of the story really."

Praise for the event has been universal.

David Hivey: "The way the club have put on the event is absolutely amazing. The pasta and beer straight off the water, the event meals, the helpers – they've all been absolutely unbelievable. Kyle put a huge amount of effort into this, so hats off to him."

Jason Belben: "It's been a superb event. The yacht club have done everything to make it perfect onshore, and offshore they've done the best possible job in the conditions."

Liz Adams from Allen Sailing presented the prizes to the winners in all the categories and then the competitors settled in to Happy Hour, sponsored by Wetsuit Outlet, and the vast majority are staying tonight for the club social with live band Thorpe Bay Yacht Club really have pulled out all the stops for this event as the competitor feedback shows. Also a huge thank you to the sponsors of the event: title sponsors Allen Sailing and Noble Marine as well as WetsuitOutlet.co.uk, Maguire Boats and ShockSailing.com who have provided support for the daily pasta and beer for sailors coming off the water.

Mark Jardine

19

It’s the new, improved TBYC prizewinners’ ceremony with a slap-up dinner of delicious homecooked pies!

20

21

70 Years Of TBYC In 2018 we celebrated 70 years of great company, great times and great sailing with a packed social programme culminating in a sailpast and 70th Anniversary Ball. But how did it all start? We delved into the archives and came up with a few surprises!

How did it all start?

Terry Wheeler remembers.

Inset photo L-R: Brian Pennington, Terry Wheeler, Audrey Christmas, Margaret Taylor (now Porter), Mary Jeffries, Fred Harries. school, Eton During the Second World War, my Banbury in to ted cua eva was House, der while my Oxfordshire, so I became a boar ne End, on Bour at alow bung a ed rent parents r the war, the Thames in Buckinghamshire. Afte 1945 and in ugh Boro the to rned retu my school ed Kit lud inc s boy new the early intake of the time, at ain Capt ol Scho was I As Hobday. ee of rivalry it was not unnatural for a degr us. een betw ge to emer the point in Pat Linnel (nee Wetton) makes of the Club in orig the on her excellent notes e, Pearl, wif his and her fat 's that Kit far too for us for e plac provided a meeting s Hut was un' Bos te cre con the ce Hen long. purchased and built.

Kit's 'gang' included Barry Belton, who was left-back for the Eton House first eleven, and a lad called Williams whose father either owned, or was, Chairman of the Kursaal. He was also artistically inclined and designed the flag for the Yacht Club, which still flies proudly. Warileaky broke up in the August gales of 1946, and with the insurance money we bought an EOD called Minuet, number 2. Kit then bought a Jewel onedesign. As Pat Linnel describes, the early keen sailors bought four or five Jewels, which were sprightly sixteen foot sail boats.

it was on the But that was not the beginning: go down the you If n. bega all it that beach Road to the steps opposite St Augustine's from the end huts h beac en elev t abou beach, which was there was one called Ben Hilton, Some of the regular stalwarts included Fred Harries, five huts r the fur A s. ent par my by owned e wher which is was most fortunate as he lived in Thorpe Bay that and hut ay along was the Hobd Gardens whereas I lived literally miles away, north of d chine har a d ere ord Kit d. rte sta it all the railway line. Also, Pat Linnel, who was a real h was called dinghy from Johnson and Jago whic tom-boy and kept up with us all; the beautiful Margaret a largish had nce, Tere her, brot his : Texacana Taylor, whose blonde hair would have made Marilyn and I had an dinghy with an outboard motor: red mainsail.

Munroe envious; Mary Stewart, a choir girl from St. ht brig a with hy ding foot eight Augustines Church with a beautiful voice; Grant Jones, war German This was later replaced by a preBrian Pennington and John Cotgrove, who really knew machine, ing sail ed deck ter quar foot sixteen about boats. We were all constantly lectured by Kit; Firstly, it which had two disadvantages. fact that the who was always talking about forming a yacht club, and the e henc e, siev a like leaked when he came back from National Service, he did it! ileaky and name of Warihiki became War cana.

Texa than er slow was it , secondly present Yacht Club was occupied by a large building of the pre i ar the site War, War orld W World W e econd Second he S th e the efore Bef Before of clapboard. This was a coastguard lookout which was painted white and, I believe, was made and a large naval gun was installed. I suspect station. During the war the inside was stripped out that the Club bought this site.

C.J.Moorhouse, David Cotgrove, Fred Harries When I returned from National Service in early 1953, baulks of timber on top of the rainwater and myself, and I think, Ron Weedon, fastened large through the wood and far enough into the outlet, using an explosive hammer, which fired boltswood with one and a half to two inch gaps to concrete, to make a slipway. Naturally, we spaced the C.J.Moorhouse was digging the foundation stop the waves forcing up the wood. At the same time which belonged to the Kursaal. Our first trenches for the current club house with a dinkum digger the time the slipway was operational. I then club house, the Bosun's Hut, was certainly there by Club so I had little to do with the Thorpe bought my Essex One Design and sailed at the Essex Yacht is another story! that Bay Yacht Club until the advent of Hornets.... but

TBYC on film?

The British PathĂŠ film archive contains some amazing footage of Thorpe Bay Yacht Club in the early days, as well as a wealth of old clips of sailing in and around Southend.

Scan the QR codes below with your smartphone in order to see some of the films perhaps you have a story to tell or will recognise some of the participants!

If you can add anything to the TBYC archives, get in touch!

Watch the British defender, "Lady Helmsman" beat High winds and rough seas hamper the the Australian challenger, "Quest 111" in the seven- International Catamaran am mar ma ara a rra an a n Championship Cha C Ch ham mpi mp po p at race International Catamaran Challenge Trophy TBYC! (1963) ("Little America's Cup") at TBYC (1967)

The International Hornets Race at TBYC (1958)

Pictured: the TBYC story as reported d in a a 1971 edition of Newsbuoy (right) Below: we prepare to host the Hornets again 1977 g in n 1197 9777

23

After what seems a lifetime, Phil at Boatacs has retired, and I know he has looked after us all.

I recently asked Ian of Wetsuit Outlet if they could also stock dinghy hardware, and they are now stockists of Kingfisher Ropes, Allen Brothers, Seasure & Harken, which will save us having to drive all the way to Burnham!

As a sailor and customer, I have watched Wetsuit Outlet grow into Europe’s largest water sports clothing retailer - and it all started here, in the club’s flat downstairs! Many people support the club without any thanks or recognition, and Wetsuit Outlet does too. They have supported us with sponsorship of the slipway, office equipment and hosting our website, as well as sourcing prizes for our events too. They have become huge in surfing and even have Surf 2018 World Champion Gabriel Medina's signed surfboard in their showroom.

Not wanting to let their roots in dinghy sailing become forgotten, Wetsuit Outlet became a co-sponsor of the Moth nationals held at TBYC last year which was a great event. They are also the lead sponsor for the Moth Nationals in Weymouth for this September too and undoubtedly will be involved with the 2020 Moth Worlds held in the UK which Kyle Stoneham is organising. The Moths are a really exciting class, and it's great that our members are actively involved with the nationals & worlds.

We have always been proud of our cadet section here at the club, enjoyed training them to become great sailors. The chances are if you go down to Wetsuit Outlet in Shoebury Garrison, it will be one of the cadets we trained working down there!

If you need any sailing accessories, hardware or clothing, I highly recommend that you pop down and take a look.

Wetsuit Outlet, The Gunnery Drill Shed, Shoeburyness SS3 9SL www.wetsuitoutlet.co.uk • Tel: 01702 295678

one to b’s 70th birthday truly was 2018 - what a year! The Clu shine! The bar sun of ds loa and nts ial eve remember, with fantastic soc with the son ed at the height of the sea takings soared, only match efforts from the kitchen. , the 70th Year’s Brunch, the Regatta Clockwise from top left: New l, and the Bal as istm Day drinks, the Chr Anniversary Ball, Christmas nts and eve re mo ny ma ing Day. So annual RNLI Dip held on Box l sold out in Bal as istm Chr the t fac in , bed gatherings were fully subscri ... ad. ahe d amazing year planne two days. And we have an

25

“After much coercing, my co-owner Ian Homan was reluctantly convinced that refurbishing our boat was a good idea. The misguided fool!”, writes Steve Hopper I started the project with a boat weight of approx. 755kg and at the final weigh-in after adding the final blocks, it was an amazing 701kg. With a class minimum weight of 700kg, that’s not bad for a boat of over 40 years old!

The time had finally come to refurbish Sandswan, AKA “ice and a slice”, AKA “ultrasonic works”, AKA April Fool but always S35. As you can see, I’m not superstitious about boat names!

Like all projects, it starts with immense enthusiasm, followed by mild interest and then comes the war of attrition - the actual work. It’s a bit like refurbishing your kitchen - you start by having immense fun with a big hammer, then when you are standing in the rubble that used to be the kitchen it dawns on you how much work is ahead. D’oh!!

So, with this hammer analogy, the first major work was to refurbish the hull and deck.

26

I approached this in my usual over-thetop way and looked at the fact that the boat had had years of paint and antifoul applied in its life. So, I took the plunge and sent it to a sand blasting work shop in Laindon. There we had all the paint and antifoul blasted off. The result was quite dramatic, with the boat back to the original GRP finish and centre keel almost back to iron.

The big decision after taking the hull back to bare glass fibre was what colour to paint her. As we were working together on a marine ultrasonic antifoul system ,this decision sort of took care of itself. The corporate colours were lime green and grey. This is an acquired taste, and has been described as a “Marmite� boat.

Personally, I love the colour, however it’s made it impossible to sneak up on the line at race starts. And you are very visible during racing, especially when you are at the back!

Colour decided, it was off to the local car paint shop in Shoebury and after lots of cursing from the guy painting the boat, the finish was incredible, finished as it is in a twopack epoxy paint to ward off osmosis, which polyester-gelcoat boats are plagued with due to the product being porous.

When the boats first came back, we fitted our ultrasonic antifoul system and used her to test various frequencies and wave patterns to get some useful data on what might work best in the market. She was fitted with one of our clear hull transducers, bonded to the inner hull in the front tank close to the centre of the boat.

We achieved a lot of data from those early tests, much to the amusement of the other Sandhopper sailors, when we picked frequencies that had little effect or when the battery ran out, as the fouling in our area in the summer can be particularly bad (International Paint Test Locally). Many times, you could find either me, David or Alex on the mud wiping her off.

27

Testing over, and realising that we could not get enough power to the hull for this to be a permanent solution, we reverted back to good old paint. However, this decision again was not as straightforward as you think, no no no!

Again, being the person that I am I wanted the fastest paint around! So we went back to our research...

What do the top big racing boats use? The answer was not obvious, as a lot of big boat owners seem to drysail them, but we finally settled on International VC Tar 2 undercoat with International VC17M Extra Teflonbased antifoul. It’s very fast, but rubbish at keeping good old Thames fouling at bay in the height of summer. But then again, what is?

With her newly painted antifoul and the corporate name removed (it seemed to offend some of the older Sandhopper sailors, I can’t imagine why) she was relaunched and ready to sail.

You would think this would be the end of the story.

“Oh no it isn’t!”

“Oh yes, it is!” Sorry, could not resist!

The outside of the boat completed, out sailing she went, with some success with a variety of helms and crews. It was during one of the nationals, sailed by David and Bruce Spratt that Bruce managed to put his foot through the floor during a tack (only Bruce, ha ha) but it was pretty evident that the floor was rotten.

I had decided that I would replace everything inside the boat - the floor, the front and rear tanks and internal stringers. Back to the old kitchen analogy. Do I never learn? Apparently not!

So, armed with a plethora of power tools I hacked, gouged and cut out the interior of the boat. Very satisfying, until you have to put it all back...

28

After the cutting came hour upon hour of sanding, to get rid of the immense quantities of polyester resin and glass mat used originally to bond in the floor, tanks and stringers. This done, the decision was made to pimp my ride. She couldn’t just have any old floor. We decided on a teak floor with holly inlay, much to Spratty’s horror, as it left no margin for error.

Spratty, S p as always, came though with a perfectly cut-out floor and tanks, d e despite being the Wingersurous Rex o off wingers (Sorry Spratty!) We then ccoated all the wood sections with co W West epoxy resin to make it waterttight ti ig and futureproof the job. Now tthe only job left was to fit it. th

Fo F Following a year or so of ccontemplation, my long-term sailing co pa partner and friend Matt Rainbow ffinally fi in came around. “Right, “ he ssaid, “we are going to finish this sa ** ***** boat!”

W With his skills and ability to fold into ttight ig places and my ability to stand b y and supervise, the vast majority of by tth h installation was completed over the on one very long weekend.

W What then followed was the fit-out a n the big reveal. How much and w weight has she lost? With this in m mind, and conscious that I had cch h changed pretty much everything ((Trigger’s broom springs to mind) I (T en enlisted another friend - sorry, victim - into doing a new complete class m measurement for the boat.

En E Enter, stage left, drum roll please C Ch Chris Henderson. Not just any m measurer - a fresh-back-from-the-Rio O Olympic Games measurer. So, Chris k kindly pulled some strings and w waved his wand, being the iindisputable professional and o organised a trip to Petticrows boat b builders in Burnham who are geared u up to do this sort of thing.

Once there we carefully positioned tthe boat and furiously studied the rrules. What should and should not b be in the boat for measurement?

The rules under Chris’s eye were carefully followed and up she went on the load cell and strops (cell zzeroed after strops added) The result was amazing!

29

Steve and Ian’s Guide to Rigging Sandswan Step 1 - check rig is central Level boat then setup tripod to stern above deck, picking up centre of transom where it meets the hull and the centre of the bow anchor fairlead fitting. This should now shine a line down the inside of the front buoyancy tank where the mast foot is fitted. Ensure the laser line is centre of the mast foot. At this point mark the centre of the deck where it joins the transom. Then, just to be sure that the shroud points are equal and the bulkhead was not set in the mould askew, take the tape measure and measure from the centre line on the transom just made above to the same point on the shrouds either side of the boat. If uneven then you will need to pack the shroud chain plate on one side or other. I would suggest do not shorten this measurement.

Now the boat is level and the shrouds have been checked, tie the 25m tape to the main halyard and hoist up to the top of the mast cleat off with tension on the halyard. Measure to the shroud point level with the deck on both sides keeping equal tension on the 25m tape (use a metal tape if possible to ensure there is no stretch measure several times and in lulls if it’s windy)

Tools required to complete the task

Adjust rig until central on shroud adjusters ignore lower shrouds at this point they must just be loose.

Use the rule to ensure you are consistent in your height to deck measurements (see diagram) Step 2 - set the mast foot

First check the tension with the loose gauge; they should be the same if the rig is centre. If not, minute adjustments will get them even.

Then loosen your lock nuts on both shroud adjusters using either the 2 x 6mm spanners or grips, then turn on or off to get the required tension on the loose gauge.

Measuring from the transom at deck level to the rear face of the mast by the heel plug level and set. I have an Excel spreadsheet you can use for this. Ensure the tape is not obstructed in any way. It is best to use a conventional steel tape measure for this.

Always measure with the loose gauge at the same height

Step 3 - set the rake

Step 5 Lowers slackness

I would use the numbers I have for SandStar to start. However, its very subjective as mast heights are different, even though there are guides with the black bands; there are tolerances and errors as to where they have been placed. To get a real idea I would take the 40m rope and tie one end to the shroud of the boat you are going to photograph. Run out the rope at right angles to the boat and set yourself at the far end by the knot you have tie at 40m. Take your picture and make ti tied sur the same person takes the shot and sure t e camera is not zoomed in! Repeat this th the f r all fast boats. Print out your photos fo for on overhead projector film (clear plastic) an assess the rake by overlaying the and ph photos.

Finally, measuring from the same position on the deck either side of the boat, measure how slack the lowers are by pinching with your finger and thumb the lower to the shroud and sliding them up until all the slack is taken up and the lower is now taking tension. At this point the measurement should be as the Excel spread sheet, and even both sides approx. 650 0mm – 800mm

- Water level - 25m Tape - Loose gauge - 2 x 6mm spanners - 2 x grips / pliers - Chocks to balance boat - Straight edged ruler (to lay on deck to make sure your measurements are even) - Electrical tape - Selection of shackles to adjust forestay - Sharp knife to cut off any excess electrical tape - A bucket to carry everything on to the mud is - If possible, laser and tripod to check mast foot

central - 40m rope, measured off with a knot in both ends - Phone camera, pad and pen

30

Step 4 - Tension

Mark rotation on the deck with indelible marker with + and – for tension, on or off each side of the boat.

Some useful tips: - Buy a Landrover to drive out in - it keeps your feet clean - Make sure the tide is out

Seriously useful tips: - Pick a day that is not windy - Turn the boat in to the wind if possible - If it is windy and you have no choice then do the measurements with tension on the rig - say 20 on the loose gauge. This will ensure you do not get false measurements due to windage on the rig - Always measure twice at least and confer with your crew if possible - If you do not have chocks, then just balance the boat on its centre keel, making sure the rig is balanced centre as it passes through the deck

692.5Kgs! Not wanting lead in the boat, I shouted to Chris to wait, as I hadn’t finished fitting the blocks and the main traveller. More furious checking of the rules ensued, followed by a handful of bits being tossed in the boat and BINGO!! 701kg! Whoopee - no lead, and only 1kg above minimum weight after over 40 years. Shame the owner can’t lose that much weight!

Now for the final bit. The fitout, name and how she sails. The current name I can not take credit for; it came about in the dinghy park one day during the year of contemplation whilst talking with Richard Barnes S154 Bluejacket who, upon admiring pictures of the teak and holly floor, declared that it looked like a swan yacht, and we should christen it Sandswan. This, for many reasons, seemed the perfect name, not least because during this process I had made her into an ugly duckling.

So here she is in all her glory, with a lot of final help from Dave Hall fitting lots of final bits, painting the entire interior and adding more coats of International Perfection Plus varnish than I care to remember.

Then, with hours to spare, it was off to the race course! Nothing like thorough preparation.

With my long-term friend and fantastic sailor we put her through her paces in the 2018 National Championships, where she performed beautifully, securing 3rd place overall, despite the overweight unfit crew! And with a little fettling, a bit more practice and 10 – 15kgs off the crew, who knows what we can achieve next year.

One thing is for sure - DON’T DO THIS AT HOME, FOLKS! But seriously I look forward to racing her in 2019 and need to just give a few thanks to Ian Homan, Matt Rainbow, Spratty, Chris Henderson, Dave Hall, Richard Barnes, my neighbours, Angela, the cat and everyone else that knows me.

Happy sailing, and see you on the water in 2019. unfortunately, are white, but then again, she is a swan.

Her new sails,

Steve Hopper

31

#lovetbyc www.tbyc.org

Newsbuoy is made in Essex by Estuarine Design.. www.madeinessex.co.uk

Back issues dating back to 2010 are available to download at issuu.com/tbyc.

MADE

IN

ESSEX

© Thorpe Bay Yacht Club 2019. All rights reserved.