Thorpe Bay Yacht Club - Newsbuoy 8 - Winter 2012

www.tbyc.org • Edition 8 • Winter 2012

Nick Elmore Commodore With another successful sailing season behind us, this is a good time to reflect on the last year’s activities at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club.

We have achieved so much, with so many members going afloat in a variety of craft; from cadets as young as five in Optimists, to senior members in their cruising boats. Over 300 members have taken to the water this year so far, and we have seen many of our club boats travel to Open Meetings, Nationals and World Championships.

Early summer was awash with rain and strong winds, and this prevented many of the normal club activities and curtailed many who sought to learn how to sail. However the weeks leading up to and away from Cadet Week have seen a large number of new and young members take to the water to be taught by our ever-increasing number of willing volunteers.

Behind the scenes, much work has been accomplished by the various committees of volunteer members. The Cadet Committee ran a hugely successful cadet week in August where the numbers of children were over 150! The General Committee, whilst overseeing all, has set in motion a number of projects to better the club for the future.

We have installed CCTV to most areas of the club to further secure our premises and give us better access to pictures of the dinghy park and foreshore on our website www.tbyc.org. We have also secured the purchase of another 4.8m Ribcraft rescue boat, which comes to us after security work

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at the Southampton Boat Show. This brings our rescue fleet right up to date, with warranties for years to come and giving us some of the best craft available to keep our waters safe.

We are looking at a general refurbishment of the club’s first floor, which will bring the club very much up to date and beyond. Our expert members of planners, engineers and builders have set about drafting proposals and plans, whilst getting the views of the members and staff of how best to make the club better and more accessible to all.

All these tasks, and the wellbeing of all members is due to a large amount of committed volunteers, without whom the club would not be the place it is today. I would like to thank all of these volunteer members for all of their contributions for the benefit of all at TBYC. Now that another AGM has passed, I am very much looking forward to working with the very dynamic 2013 General Committee team. It is great to see some new faces coming forward to fill vacancies in the many roles required to oversee the club in all its departments. After an initial meet, it is clear that 2013 will be eventful with a great amount of work undertaken throughout the club.

Nick Elmore Commodore

Dates for your diary in 2013 DEC

31 MONDAY

JAN

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TUESDAY

JAN

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New Year’s Eve Party Watch 2013 sail into view with TBYC! 8pm – 1am with buffet and disco by Groovy Tunes.

New Year’s Day Brunch Toast 2013 with breakfast at TBYC! Choose from our full English breakfast or lighter options to include scrambled eggs with smoked salmon

Family Quiz Night Our popular family quiz night returns!

SATURDAY

JAN

25 FRIDAY

Salsa Evening Learn to salsa and burn off those Christmas calories with a complimentary evening hosted by experienced salsa dancers!

FEB

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Valentine’s Cocktail Evening

To confirm bookings for these or any other events in our busy and exciting social calendar, call your Social Secretary Stephanie Bradley on 07831 090816 or e-mail tbycsocialrep@aol.com

SATURDAY

MAR

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Wine/Champagne tasting evening

FRIDAY

JUN

8

SATURDAY

DEC

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SATURDAY

Summer Ball Back by popular demand!

Christmas Dinner Dance Book early to avoid disappointment!

More exciting events to be confirmed – look out for posters and leaflets around the club or keep an eye on the website!

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The job of House Rep entails a lot more than just changing light bulbs, writes Barry Duce There is an army of people behind TBYC, who you will never see or hear of. Unlike me, they are shy of the limelight, so I would like to make you aware of those people behind the scenes who look after our club and equipment, in their own time, with a skillset that any employer would be lucky to have.

The club is maintained in the background by Simon Bown (all things glass,) Anthony Blower (all things building,) Rob Bailey (all things plumbing,) Ian Bradley (all things boilers,) Nick Elmore (all things construction,) Steve Hopper (all things electrical,) and Mike Thomason (all things boat park) Toby Speller, Tony Clarke, Peter Thompson, Dave Gordon Saunders, Paul Farrell and Colin Goodman maintain, replace and repair Seasafes 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 in order that we can just turn the key. They even bail them out after heavy weather, keep a check on the moorings and ensure they are always ready to go. Refuelling?

Just thank Toby Speller, Tony Clark and Peter Thompson. Yes, the magic of power doesn’t just happen - someone has to put it in!

Then there’s Polly, looked after and constantly maintained by Bob and Clive. The radios are maintained, serviced and repaired by Mike Duce. Sail training boats are looked after by Mike Thomason, Steve Hopper, Martin Swindon and Nick Turner.

Barbara Hervé turns up at every work party. I have had to stop her lugging boxes that most would struggle to pick up. She makes super-human quantities of tea to keep us all going, painting, scrubbing and always has a smile on her face. If we had ten of her running the country, we would all be very lucky and better off.

True Dunkirk spirit. Barbara, we love you, and long may your help and support continue. We need more like you!

There are many other areas that all these fine people double up with, and help our club run as the most successful club on the East Coast. The regular contributors to work parties are very much appreciated, and you know who you are. The membership owes you one.

Two members who always go beyond and above the call of duty, and whom I know will be acutely embarrassed with the mention for all they do across every section of TBYC in all capacities, whether it’s changing a light bulb, scrubbing the committee boat, paying the gas bill, checking the invoices, taking minutes, fending phone calls, racing, sailing, painting, slipway scrubbing, race officer duty, delivering post by hand, helping with social functions and so much more, are Janet Wilmsner and Tony Padbury. We are so lucky to have such good people.

Our club runs, survives and is successful because of the volunteer element. Be part of it yourself. Let the committee know what your skill set is. Offer your help, or just turn up for the next work party. Help load the next fuel supply. Ask Barbara, Tony or Janet how you can help. Just do a little bit, and it will make a huge difference.

The more we put in the more we get out. Our weekends are so special. Help make the most of it and do your bit.

Well, that’s all from me. Rob Bailey is taking over as House Rep in 2013. Please give him all your support.

See you on the water, and whatever you sail, enjoy every minute.

Barry

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I join you as Rear Commodore (Racing) in the middle of the Winter Series and would like to start 2013 by wishing everyone a Happy New Year, whatever your Winter Activities; from Sandhopper maintenance, taking a rest over the cold months, or scraping off the ice and hoping the most recent purchase of another pair of winter gloves to keep your hands warm when getting out on the water on a Sunday morning.

Winter is a season of sailing that I look forward to each year. It’s the time of year we bought our Hurricane, under a foot of snow, buried on Nick Elmore’s drive.

January is a time when the Sailing Committee is working hard behind the scenes. There is the annual maintenance of our resources to be organised; Toby, coordinating essential repairs to SS2 and SS3, preparing them for the months of hard service they will have to endure in 2013, and Tony preparing our new ribs to ensure they are always ready to provide a fast response to those in need.

Before the season starts, we will be making decisions about courses, race buoys and classes for next season. Your suggestions from the sailing AGM included repositioning some of the outer race buoys, Committee Boat training, discussions about the length of courses, number of races and rib recovery. These decisions are not taken lightly and if you have any helpful suggestions or feedback, your class captains will be glad to listen and represent your views to progress the sailing for all.

One of your Class Captains’ main roles to perform is that of Duty Officer. Every race, the Duty Officer coordinates the volunteers, manning the committee boats and race boats and is on hand to ensure you have an enjoyable race. You can do your bit too; if you are down to do a duty, go online, click on Dutyman and confirm you’re available, or if computers are not your thing, let the Duty Officer or Graham Dare know in advance. Graham has kindly agreed to continue the setup and running of this useful addition he introduced last year.

You can also help by hanging around in a wetsuit at the top of the slipway after racing, moving out of the way when your hear Tony’s Landrover beeping and recovering the ribs that have been ensuring your safety and enabling you to enjoy the great sailing area we all love in safety. Please volunteer.

Don’t make the Duty Officer chase you round the Dinghy park, because without your help, it’s hard work.

In the coming months, take time to check your rigging, replace worn halyards, note your duties and read the sailing instructions. Where is your course displayed, what do those flags mean and who keeps hooting before everyone sails off?

Anyway I’m off to Peter’s to buy some more gloves. Yes, Julian and I have most pairs available from last year to try.

See you on the water!

Jeremy Sandford

So, at long last we have two new RIBS to serve the club, hopefully for the next ten years at least.

The first one was delivered back in early October with the second one arriving on November 2nd, following a long run from Yeovil. The specification for both Ribs was undertaken by Toby and myself, bearing in mind that both boats will be used not only for club and cadet racing but also for all the training courses that are carried out within the club. It is hoped we have ensured that both boats will give us good service for the many years to come.

As many of you who were present at the launch will know, our new small Rib was named Willis after Alan and Sally Willis who generously sponsored the Club’s first Rib. This was after Alan realised that if we were to continue racing throughout the winter months, the club would need a safety boat that could be launched and recovered and was quick to respond to a casualty. This would also allow our Displacement boats to be wintered ashore.

The new Rib is a 4.8m Ribcraft with a 50hp Suzuki engine.

The specification called for an integral fuel tank, which we are sure will eliminate the fuel contamination problems we had with the old one.

This, in turn, means we have a greater deck working area. Willis was used at the Southampton Boat Show before delivery to us, in fact she was on show patrol duties and because of this use, was offered to the club at a much reduced price and with the engine already gently run-in, a bonus! Her call sign will be “Seasafe 7”.

Our other new Rib is a 5.85 metre Ribcraft with a 90hp Suzuki and has been named Olympia as she is part of the Olympic legacy, reminding us forever of a great summer of sport in which Team GB won many medals.

Her call sign will be “Seasafe 8”. She has two seating positions which allows for a large deck working space and a tow post for towing boats alongside. This ample deck space will allow her to carry

inflatable race marks and Sandhopper crews with ease, although not at the same time as Sandhopper crews like to go for records that can be entered in the “Guinness Book of Records”! It is planned that she will be used as our main powerboat training rib as well as being used for all the other Club activities that have been mentioned above.

Olympia, we understand, was used in the Serpentine in London for the Olympic swimming events and will have been used only in fresh water which is a big bonus as it is beneficial to the engine to work in fresh water.

Again, as she is a used boat she was offered to the club at a greatly reduced price. Both boats come with an “as new” warranty which gives us a full year of use as our usage is classed as “commercial”, they have both been thoroughly checked before delivery to the club.

As I write, we still have Seasafe 5 and I hope will hold on to her as long as possible, providing the membership are in agreement at this year’s AGM. For the Winter Series, all three ribs will have their part to play. We should not be dependent upon members to supply their boats for safety cover; we are a growing club with greater demand being put on our resources on the water due to the various club sailing and training activities we do. If we are to continue to expand, then these three boats together with the recent purchase of our Committee Boat and re-engining of our two displacement boats puts us in good shape to be part of that expansion .

Thanks must go to Martin Swindon for all the work he has done in the background from placing the order to chasing the manufacturer to when they intimated we may have both boats for Cadet Week to final delivery.

Hope to see as many of you on the water in 2013!

Tony Twoflags

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It’s been another good year in the sprint fleet, at the club and on the national circuit. And this year we have had all sorts of weather; a really wet start to the summer followed by another Indian summer, and either howling wind or no wind, with little in-between, writes Steve Healy There has been a loose formation of a small Sprint committee including myself, Paul Morgan, Howard Hawkes, Andrew Hannah, Graham Dare and Gary Burrows. Gary has taken on the duty of sailing secretary, well done Gary. Paul and I are joint class captains, Howard is our sail trainer and is doing a sterling job of raising the standard of sailing within the team. Andrew is in a consultancy role due to his experience, and is also the man to talk to if you want to buy or sell a Sprint. Graham Dare is the Rear Commodore (sailing), so whilst in this role he has been invaluable to the team.

It is my hope that with these dynamic people in various driving seats, things are really going to start happening. In fact, they already have; so far we have organised a Sprint open meeting in 2013 and the following year the 2014 Sprint Nationals at Thorpe Bay. Not bad for starters, eh?

One of our aims at these events will be to get all the club Sprints out on the water – if possible – and to this end I will be approaching Sprint owners as the events draw near to find out (a) if they are going to participate and (b) if

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not, whether they will loan their boats to our cadets.

Now, I appreciate that not all will want to loan their boats to cadets, but I am confident some will, and when you consider the fleet is 30 plus boats with only 17 regular sailors, we should have a few spare Sprints. So, all you cadets, let me know if you would be interested in racing a Sprint for a weekend next year and the Nationals the year after.

2012 Nationals We had an amazing turnout for the national championships at Brightlingsea with 84 entries, 16 of

which were from Thorpe Bay, so well done us! We were the biggest turnout from one single club. An 84Cat start is a very interesting animal, I can assure you, and nothing like anything I have experienced before.

The black flag was flying quite a lot and there was a fair bit of confusion to the rules about the black flag. On the last race of day two there were three general recalls and two postponements with seconds to go, when the race officer postponed the race until the next day. This also meant that several boats over the line on the last start couldn’t race the next race. There was a lot of contention around the marks, with lots of

collisions and boats hitting the mark. It is quite tricky getting round the marks with ten other Sprints. There was one mark which I managed to get round just before the biggest pile-up I have ever seen; there must have been twenty catamarans stuck together right on the mark! After giving the whole fleet a dressing down, the race officer stationed guard boats at every mark with the threat of protesting anyone who did not do a turn after a collision. This did seem to make things better the next day. The wind was very flukey on the first couple of days, but a F4 on day 3 more than made up for it. The fetch-out to the start area on day three was awesome. Flat on the Sunday. We did manage to squeeze in a bit of sailing in between all the eating and drinking. Actually, we spent about twenty hours on the water over three days. A pretty awesome weekend overall; the weather was hot and the wind was fickle, but boy, did we enjoy it!

water, hull flying, belting along with eighty-four other sprints. I remember thinking to myself, “this is why we do it!” All in all, a fantastic event, brilliantly managed by Brightlingsea SC. The top four Thorpe Bay boats were Howard Hawkes (pictured above in 14th), Martin Ellis (21st), Gary Sverdloff (25th) and Gerald Sverdloff (29th). A special well done to Graham Dare who after one season in a sprint managed a respectable 33rd overall.

Individual top ten race scores were Howard 4th and 6th, Martin 4th, Gary S 3rd and Gary Burrows 7th. Which

shows that we can do it, we just need to do it more often!

Team Thorpe Bay – see photo – all had a great time. We had all our tents together – Camp TBYC had many a merry hour sitting around eating and drinking, with a lovely meal organised

by Gary Burrows (below) on the Saturday night and the Sprint dinner

Finally a special mention to Daring Darren of the Derring-Do who attempted to sail to Brightlingsea on the Saturday prior to the event with Theresa and was turned back by the howling wind.

Completely undaunted, he set out again on the Sunday morning with Gary Sverdloff and Theresa and had an amazing reach all the way to Brightlingsea.

Well done, you loons!

Steve Healy Joint Class Captain, TBYC Sprint 15 Class Group

Get all the latest TBYC news and events www.tbyc.org

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2013 There are four Sail Training courses programmed for 2013.

Stage 2 in March / April Stage 1 in April / May Stage 1 in August – Mid Week Stage 3 in September / October Stage 1 is for Cadets aged 5 – 11, who start off in the Club Oppies. Picos are available for Cadets aged 12+ and adults.

Stages 2 and 3 all learn in Picos.

The Stage 2 course in March / April is open to any adult and Cadet who has already completed their Stage 1 and who are reasonably competent in helming a Pico around a triangular course. All Stage 2 entrants who have not raced before will be required to helm in one of the Pico Spring Series races or a normal club race to cover the racing part of this course.

It is not necessary to have your own Pico, although if you do, this will ensure you are on the course. The Club has three Picos for sail training, so space is very limited for those members who do not own a Pico. There are a maximum of 24 spaces available on each of these courses.

There is no charge for the sail training courses and log books; however, all entrants are required to turn up on all the days of the course including the briefing. If you are unable to make all the required dates, it would be appropriate to allocate your space to another member on the waiting list.

If you are interested in taking part then please contact me on: 01702 589075 (eve) 01702 391420 (day) Or e-mail mikethomason@btconnect.com Details of the times and dates as well as the application form can be downloaded from the Club web site.

Mike Thomason

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Windsurfing every day in the Caribbean has certainly been one of the most fantastic things I have ever done. And it all started at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club, writes Nick Binnendijk For me, Bonaire was the best place I could have been. I took my shoes off when I got there, but they didn’t go back on until the flight home five months later.

I mean, windsurfing with the top ten freestylers in the world definitely has its plus points, but whenever I landed a trick (not a lot of the time!) it wouldn’t take long before one of the professionals came past and did a triple version of what I had just landed!

But that’s probably the only negative, and watching these windsurfing gurus doing what they do best gave me the confidence and the ideas to try new tricks. If I needed to know anything, they were always on hand to give me a few tips and push me to finally get the tricks under my knee!

In my opinion windsurfing is a very positive and friendly sport which brings people with the same interest together. It is a very healthy sport, both physically and mentally. Whether you are someone trying to get fit, someone who needs to relieve some stress after work or someone who is looking to take up a new hobby, windsurfing could be a great option for you!

I feel that my windsurfing level has risen to a standard which I never thought I would have been able to reach! This is a great feeling and spending five months in Bonaire was definitely one of the best times of my life. I managed to meet a lot of new people and make a lot of new friends, which I never would have done if it wasn’t for windsurfing!

So how does all this relate to the TBYC Windsurf Crew?

And who exactly are they? continues overleaf

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Continued Meet the TBYC Windsurf crew!

When it is too windy to go sailing, these guys go windsurfing. As you can see, the crew is a made up of a mixed bunch from all sections of the club. All have a common goal - to go faster, jump higher and just have fun.

It doesn’t matter how good you are, or how good you think you are. We were all beginners at one point. No matter what you sail, everyone joins in. Thorpe Bay offers a fantastic range of windsurfers, from absolute beginners to professional level. You can even download an app to advise you how to front loop!

If you need any advice on new or old windsurf kit, speak to Peter Thompson or Rupert Snow who will be happy to help get you started.

Enjoy your day at the office - I’ll be enjoying the snow whilst doing another ski season!

Nick Binnendijk

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Surf’s up - even when the tide’s out www.tbyc.org

TBYC Windsurf Crew are (currently) Peter Thompson Jonathan Snow Peter Snow Max Duce Rupert Snow Nick Binnendijk Gary Haylett Peter Kane Chris Clarke Will Arney Ben Farringdon David Hopper Bruce Spratt Alex Bradley Will Shields James Arney Alex Gibson Mike Beresford Ollie Barnes-Dean Alex Watson John Glynn Mark Dell John O’Gillies Mark Petty-Mayor Miles Burrage (a Kitesurfer!) Oliver Hervé Robin Foster-Taylor Alan Clarke Seb Baucott Robyn Murdoch Athina and Isabel Duce

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Highlights from our summer season for younger sailors We decided to limit the size of the Stingray Group this year and ended up with five groups of nine children. This smaller number was partly due to the creation of the new Piranha group taking the more experienced and long serving Stingray veterans.

As always, the aim of the Stingray Group was to have as much fun as possible whilst learning the basics, such as wind direction, tide, knots, parts of the boat, balance and trim, hazards on the water, rigging optimists, sailing skills and confidence.

The five teams (with very competitive adult leaders and helpers) started as always with creating a compass rose in the sand, using whatever items they found around the beach. Points make prizes at the end of the week, and the Yellow team got off to a great start and took the maximum five points.

As well as the usual paddle races, Tug-of-War and cork races, the Cadet Committee decided to increase the amount of sailing time by providing two Oppies per group instead of the usual one, which benefitted the cadets enormously.

Thanks to Johnno Gillies for organising and picking up the boats.

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The weather during the week was a bit up and down. Tides were late, however the highlights of the week included an Oppie “Royal Tournament gun crew race” involving every team carrying a hull and then the equipment over the breakwater, rigging up and sailing back around a course and back to the beach, all in quick time! Jeremy Sandford’s Blue team took the honours.

The Treasure Hunt involved finding the hidden treasure by solving the various clues found around the beach.

One clue involved eating cockles, jellied eels and whelks before the clue was revealed. Yellow team’s Simon Steptoe started to retch and resembled a contestant in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here eating a witchetty grub!

Team leaders also had to endure being custard-pied in the face by yours truly, which revealed another clue on the paper plate. The event culminated in a final clue being sailed out to a message in a bottle, which contained the map revealing the treasure’s location.

feature continued overleaf

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A special race was held to celebrate the Olympics.

Cadets had to sail out to the outer buoys and find the Olympic rings which were cunningly placed over the buoys. Once brought ashore, the five rings were placed on the sand to create the Olympic flag! Yellow team were first ashore and first up the beach with their ring. Well done!

The big race of the week took place on Thursday. The Le Mans Trophy involves team pairs starting from the top of the beach, running down to their Oppies, sailing out and around a buoy then sailing back to the beach, running back to the top and tagging another pair. The race lasted for five laps and the winners of the trophy, after a great race, were the Yellow team.

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Early on in the week, teams were given materials such as Sellotape, sticks, tin foil, balloons and cable ties to design and create a model sailing boat. Extra points were awarded for creativity. The boats were launched from SeaSafe 7 and had to sail past the breakwater finish line. After a very close race, Matt Rainbow’s Blue team were declared the winners.

Praise must go to everyone for keeping the violence to an acceptable level during the daily Cork Race this year, and thanks for all the kind donations of corks from various households within the club. We also enjoyed a visit from the RNLI hovercraft, and my grateful thanks to Gerald Sverdloff for organising this. The survival swim from the rescue boat was a joy to watch. What an achievement for children so young!

On the Friday, we once again captured the fantastic pirate rafts from the Barracuda group. Points were awarded for each race during the week and the overall Stingray winners for 2012 were Blue team, led by Jeremy Sandford.

Congratulations also to Yellow Team’s Rose Collis for winning the most improved Stingray Shield. Rose also received a special prize of a TBYC cap signed by Olympic Finn gold medallist Ben Ainslie, kindly organised by Allen Burrell. Star of the week and winning a “genuine” Oscar statue was Sam Ratcliff for being so helpful to me throughout the week.

Special thanks also to Toby Speller and David Edwards for providing safety cover throughout the week in Seasafe 7, all team leaders and helpers, caterers, cleaners, Bosun’s Hut ladies, crossing patrols, sponsors, bar staff and Lyndsey Swindon for taking all those marvellous photographs.

A massive personal thanks to Debbie Kilkelly, Mike Thomason, Rupert Snow and everyone behind the scenes who do so much unseen work to make Cadet Week run so smoothly.

Lastly, I must take this opportunity to thank the children for being so well-behaved throughout the week. They are once again a credit to their parents and to Thorpe Bay Yacht Club.

See you all next year, and thanks for your support.

Mark Petty-Mayor Stingray Group Leader

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While you were sailing, I did some sums, writes club treasurer Ian Murdoch By sheer serendipity, a few months ago, I became aware that ‘Sport England,’ the overseers of Lottery Funds for sporting allocations in England and Wales had a tranche of money allocated for the Olympic Year 2012. Called ‘Inspired Facility’ funds, these were targeted specifically at clubhouse development for every sport.

Now, we have been pretty progressive in the last few years at spending money to improve safety on the water, with new engines for SS2 and SS3 and committing to two new Ribs, one ex-Olympic safety boat and one ex-Southampton Boat Show security boat which are shortly to arrive (at huge savings on the new prices.)

But all of us venturing into the clubhouse can see that the venue is overly tired and slowly becoming a museum. Worse, there are infrastructure issues relating to the state of the electrical wiring, waste management and safety on the balcony areas. The general layout of the clubhouse is now struggling to support the growing numbers of members we have using the club. However, there was also an issue that TBYC had previously received a lottery grant for the development of the new Slipway, only just a just few years ago.

Undeterred, we formulated our responses to the on-line submission which was dictated by Sport England. One did not get to see the next question on the form until the previous question was answered. We had to supply a five-year ‘Club Development Plan’ based on a five year financial income-versus-expenditure plan and showing that ‘footfall’ through the club would increase by x percent per year, year on year, and support the local community, ethnicity mix and disabled access to the sport, but particularly the involvement of 16 – 25 year old athletes.

Thankfully, our regional area contact at the RYA revealed that 21 of 23 applications from sailing and yacht clubs in previous submissions had been successful - which was encouraging - and at the eleventh hour, Robbie Bell, the Eastern area liaison man, came up with the inspired comment that the prior slipway project showed that with a £70k grant, matched by other funding sourced by the club, that the £233k project was well managed, built on-time, within budget and to design requirements.

This shows TBYC can be trusted to deliver the improved clubhouse environment we promise if we are successful with our new bid.

The submission is now lodged. But I understand there may be up to a thousand clubs and societies across the nation applying for this round of funding. It’s a long shot, but hey-ho, fingers crossed.

Ian Murdoch Treasurer

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We are so lucky! writes Martin Swindon Having managed to find some free time between work commitments, TBYC commitments, family commitments and sailing commitments, I have sat myself down on the club balcony with a pint of Brewers Gold on a gloriously sunny day, looking out over the Thames Estuary.

I could be anywhere in the world at this moment, and it is a time like this that reminds me why being a member of TBYC is so special.

This year has not been kind to us on the weather front, with a number of sailing weekends being lost to conditions that only Ellen MacArthur would be happy to sail in, but saying that, a lot has happened since the last edition.

We have had a number of very successful events at the club including the Summer Ball, a cocktail-making evening, a street party and our own regatta, all of which took a great deal of time and effort to arrange, organise and execute. A big thank you to Stephanie Bradley for giving up so much of her time to ensure that these events were sold-out and profitable.

We also had an Open Feva Event which attracted over thirty boats from all over the south, and what a pleasure it was to hear these visitors compliment not only our facilities but also our members.

I must admit that it is a little bit frustrating to find the same people volunteering for tasks throughout the club and on the water. As you are aware, the club runs on volunteers and without these people putting themselves forward a lot of things would not get done. We had over a hundred volunteers during Cadet Week, which once again was a fantastic success, but this is just one event that requires the input of the members to make it work.

Please be mindful of the work that goes on behind the scenes and try and give up a little bit of your free time to help.

May I take this opportunity to thank all the members who put themselves forward to work both in the bar and the kitchen. Without you, these facilities could not operate fully.

Keep warm over the winter!

The beginning of summer also saw a change in the caterers, with Fuud Ltd currently offering food six days per week. Richard James, the proprietor, is happy to discuss your catering needs for private parties as well as any suggestions you may have on the current food offering at TBYC.

Martin Swindon

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Well, well, well... three holes in the ground! What a strange time it has been for the Sandhopper fleet, writes Rupert Snow

We have enjoyed superb racing in the intergalactic competition that is the Sandhopper Nationals (and yes, we know there are members of alien races sailing in the club...) Add to this some quizzical ‘banter’ courtesy of Barry and a fantastic celebratory meal (thanks go to Mick and his crew) in the company of great friends. Not a bad way to invest one’s free time.

place, with the wizardry assistance of Mark Dell. The rumours of the two of them buying an old Renault 4 with the intention of entering it at Monaco are clearly grossly exaggerated. It is a Fiesta!

All four races sailed were won by different boats, and everyone enjoyed great personal races in which they beat old rivals. In first place, following a slightly more traditional boat-preparation was father and son team Paul and Bruce Spratt; very popular and well-deserved National Champion winners following a comprehensive year of great results. In third were the enthusiastic newcomers to the fleet, Allen Burrell and Paul Beasley, showing a massive learning curve from earlier contests and emphatically securing a well-deserved first in the third race.

It was by the skin of their teeth, however and only on count-back that they beat Chris Clarke and Ollie Hervé into fourth, despite these past champions securing a first place in the final race. The fleet was full of experienced and talented sailors, and it was a real battle wherever you found yourself at the windward mark. Huge thanks to Colin Goodman, Charles Devenport, Lisa Farrall and everyone else on the race committee (and rescue boats) for making it such a great weekend.

We all enjoyed the many different methods employed to bring boats up to fighting speed for such a prestigious nautical event, and were all humbled by Peter’s ability to sail ‘No Expense Spent’ (as she shall now be known) into second

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We followed up recently with an evening debrief, studying videos from the Nationals weekend and manoeuvring paper boats round beertankard buoys, with good-humoured and extremely valuable explanations of tactics

and mark-rounding being offered from the chaps at the front of the fleet.

We hope to make this a regular event at Sandhopper nights, which have now moved to the first Wednesday of each month. If you fancy a convivial drink and a bit of light banter, sprinkled with some top racing tips from some extremely capable sailors, why not drop in?

The winds have been a little fierce recently and the Sandhopper windsurfing team have been enjoying the conditions immensely. Peter has some new kit and thanks to some top tips from Barry, who with Chris Clarke can often be seen getting some air in front of the slip and posing for anyone with a camera. On quieter days, several are now venturing out onto the estuary on paddleboards and if you have not tried this yet, you really are missing out on seeing the wonderful environment we have on our doorstep from a wonderfully new perspective. The sight of strings of huge bass under your board and the clear water sliding beneath you is truly tranquil. After all, we all love the water and being able to get on it and enjoy its many moods is a real and tangible privilege.

We really appreciate that the fleet is much more than the collection of (albeit very precious) boats.

Rupert Snow Class Captain (Zeus SH14)

Thanks to Peter Robinson for continuing his innovative approach to getting boats on the water and encouraging people to attend the wonderful social events.

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Happy New Year to all TBYC members present and future - we’ll be back at the start of the 2013 season!