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Summer 2013 T h o r n b u r y S a i l i n g C l u b

TSC Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Page 3 Regatta News from the Sailing Sec

Page 5 Steve Webb MP visits Sail Training at TSC

Page 9 Why do a Navigation course? Martin Sully

Page 11 Jeremy & Phil’s latest dinghy epics: Flat Holm & RTI

Page 13 Social news, Regatta & Club Week from the Social Sec

Whatever happened to Eliza Jane? Page 8

Tim Parkinson at Dayboat Week 2013 Page 4

A few of the hundred or more members who made it to the Committee’s ‘Social Bash’ after racing on June 2nd

Dayboat Week 2012 www.ywdb.co.uk

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Commodore’s Report

Here we are - the beginning of June and a sky full of sun-shine and friendly clouds - summer is with us and there is

now three months of much to do.

Our annual picnic this coming weekend kicks off a busy

period. It has become a tradition to meet for the day in

Saint Pierre Pill and join with some of our friends at

Chepstow Sailing Club.

Start Racing courses also begin this coming Saturday and

will keep the youngsters who successfully completed sail training busy for a number of sessions.

Our annual Regatta is taking place at the end of this

month, and I see the Sailing Secretary assembling a team to ensure the weekend passes with success. In recent

years we have welcomed visitors from as far afield as

Kent and Essex and hopefully more the same this year.

July will take in some Free Sailing Saturdays and again

we hope the weather will be kind and allow the sessions to run perfectly - as last year the first two were blown out

- although when conditions were right those who joined in

had a lot of fun.

August and therefore Club Week; without a fulltime

‘Supremo’ (as yet) the Social Secretary has press-ganged

your committee and already a number of family/friend groups have come forward to organise a day and social

events for the week. One thing we are all certain of with

Club Week, irrespective of the weather, we all have a jolly good time. Now all this will be going on as well as

normal racing fixtures.

Looking back over the last quarter, despite some muddled weather, various events and races have been held success-

fully. Sail Training finished with a high number of stu-

dents taking away their well earned certificates.

It’s always a real pleasure to award the youngsters for

their brave efforts. This year I was able to impress upon

these young folk what can be achieved as an accom-plished TSC sail trainer.

Following Heoligan’s rousing success in the IYC Round Lundy Race where Tony Page - with a crew who had all

completed TSC sail training as youngsters - took 1st in

class and 2nd overall – quite a few of the locals there had noses moved a little! Well done Tony and Crew and also

well done TSC Sail training.

As a committee we are pursuing another round of funding

applications with Sport England with the Inspired Facili-ties grant of £50,000; if successful we could use this grant

to refurbish and improve the clubhouse.

To this end many of us met on the evening of Sunday the 2nd for a glass of wine (or beer) and participate in a

member’s questionnaire of what we individually would

like to see in our club now and in the future.

Those who came along had an opportunity to talk over

ideas and look at the challenges facing us. There will be a great deal of work to do and any member who can con-

tribute please make it known.

We hope also that those members who could not make the social bash evening will complete the questionnaire in the

next few days.

The award of £10,000 last autumn enabled the purchase

of our new Wanderer class dinghies; and was recorded

earlier in May by a visit from Steve Webb MP and photo-graphed for an article in the Dursley Gazette.

It leaves me now to wish everyone well, fair winds and

enjoyable summer sailing.

Paul

Commodore TSC

Editor’s Notes

Thanks once again for your contributions to the TSC

Newsletter. The next issue is due in September and arti-

cles, photos etc are welcome at any time.

Sarah

01454 850054 sarah.brankin@tesco.net

CASC Registration

Please use the link below to go to a government web-page which can be used to familiarise yourself with the

process of our application for CASC registration:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/complete-form-

CASCA1.htm#7

If you are reading the printed copy, enter the address in your browser’s address bar.

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Regatta 2013 29th & 30th June

For those that don’t know about the regatta, it is an 'open

meeting' meaning that the event is open to members of other sailing clubs as well as our own members. Its a

great opportunity for us to showcase our club and to have

great racing over the two days of the weekend. As is usual each day will be considered separately and prizes will be

awarded for each fleet.

If you are just completing sail training and want to get involved, then I'd suggest offering to crew for people (use

the forum). Hopefully we can get 60 plus boats out on the

water and racing.

Cost is £15 for singlehanders or £20 for doublehanders/

cruisers for the weekend, and half price if you can only do one day.

Off the water, feel free to camp on the site. The bar will

be open and he boatshed galley will be open both days serving bacon butties in the morning and food during and

after sailing. In the evening there will be a meal, tickets

can be bought when entering or throughout Saturday, £7 for adults and £4 for children.

Following the meal entertainment will be provided by the Chris Evans Radio 2 show featured band '5 second rule'

with TSC bassist James Warren.

These events don’t just happen so we will need volun-teers. We need 2 X RIB helms and 2 X crews for both

days who are comfortable and proficient at dealing with

assisting and recovering all types of dinghies.

We need a beach master to help get trolleys out of the

water to speed up launching and recovery. For this task a

roll of duck tape and a pen come in handy to write a num-ber on the trolley with the matching number on the boat.

Some assistance to collect entry fees (registration).

I trust Nigel will sort out cover for the bar, perhaps in

shifts.

For the race box, I will happily run the racing on both

days unless someone is keen to take a day, and will need a

couple of assistants. I need a flag operator and someone to help spot finishers and act as a runner to Alex who will

run the results through the computer!

The regatta will also form part of the Cherub traveller

series so there will as usual be a good fleet in attendance.

Prizes are on order and a poster is available on the mem-

bers area of the website, so anyone travelling to an event

in the next few weeks, please print a copy off and take it

with you.

Paul Craig

Sailing Sec.

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Dayboat Week at Torbay

It was something of a shock to establish from the web that

my attendance at this years week hosted by Royal Torbay

YC would be my thirtieth! Thus I resolved it was time to write a brief account for the Newsletter to give an idea of

what takes place in a Dayboat Week.

This year 27 DB came to Torquay for the event with a

third of the boats arriving on the Friday before the start of

racing on Sunday. There was no possibility of getting out

on the water on Friday as the wind was so strong that we could not even erect our masts.

Saturday was given over to scrutineering (anchors and 6' oars have to be carried for racing) and arranging the boats

along the pontoon. The sun and light wind was ideal for

giving new crews a taste of what was required of them. The RTYC hosted a reception in the evening in their

splendid Corinthian Room adorned with cups, flags and

photos from their 150 years of history.

The first Points Series race was scheduled for 16:00 on

Sunday to allow the power boats races to conclude and

the craft to be hoisted out of the water by an enormous mobile crane. Avocet, my 37 year old clinker DB, made a

good start inches to windward of Lyberty, who gener-

ously did not try any rapid luffing manoeuvres. Fifth around windward mark and kept that position until the

second and final rounding when I lost way in squeezing

round the mark and lost one place to finish 6th and well

satisfied given the level of competition. Sunday evening's social event was an indoor barbecue as the outdoor terrace

with its splendid views was exposed to the chill wind.

Monday's two races were postponed as the fleet showed

no enthusiasm for racing in the 5-6-7gusts wind. Most

participants opted for a pleasure boat cruise to Dartmouth

via Brixham with return by steam train to Paignton and bus back to Torquay. A real 'day by the seaside' The eve-

ning was spent enjoying a curry night at the club followed

by a fiendish quiz.

The 2nd and 3rd Points Series races were held back to back

in variable winds on Tuesday in place of the cancelled Long Distance Race to Brixham and back. By variable I

mean dying to nothing 1 minute before the start of Race 2

just when Avocet was starting a quick run out and back to

be on the line moving fast! Inevitable result was 18th at the finish. Got off to good start in Race 3 but ''variability'

was again the rule and despite a zephyr lifting Avocet to

third round the final mark the best we could do was 9th at the finish. The winner of Race 3 was becalmed on the

start line for 90 secs with most of the rest of the fleet sail-

ing away. The Midweek Prize Giving took place after supper in the Corinthian Room.

On Wednesday the first race was the newly instituted Op-

portunity Race for everyone except helm of the points series with 17 starters. Avocet with Diana Parkinson

helming managed a good third finish which meant she

won the Crews Trophy.

Race 4 followed starting in a fair sea breeze. Avocet was

tenth around the windward mark and then the problems started when the sea breeze was being nullified by the

prevailing wind and Avocet's crew were happy to manage

9th.

So Thursday dawned with Avocet's crew determined to

turn in a reasonable result to remain within the first 10

boats in the championship. The fact that the wind was a steady force 5+ gusting well into 6 convinced most helm

to concentrate on recovering their boats. Avocet achieved

a splendid start on the line and after a while it was clear she was pointing higher and faster than boats 35 years

younger and with crews about the same age as that. Her

lead was never challenged all round the course and the

first place gun at the finish was exceedingly satisfying to helm and crew and gave them 6th overall. The final

Prizegiving Dinner concluded the week with thanks to our

hosts and farewells until the next one.

Tim Parkinson

Tim competing in the 2012 Dayboat week at Fishguard

www.ywdb.co.uk

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The two new Wanderers funded by Sport England /Lottery Photos from Ann Green

Quiet conditions for the race on May 19th Photo from Martyn Hall

Steve Webb MP welcomed to TSC on May 20th by Sail Training’s Tony Turnbull, Fergus Macgregor and Jon Everett

Personal Handicap (PH) Pursuit Series

Objectives

The aim of the PH Pursuit series is to provide racing which is inviting to members who have little or no racing

experience; yet challenging and competitive to those who

have been racing for years.

The planned dates are:

Race 1 – 10th August

Race 2 – 17th August Race 3 – 24th August

Race 4 – 31st August

Race 5 – 14th September

These are all Saturdays.

Format

The race format is a single-fleet, pursuit race.

Slower classes of boat start first with faster classes start-ing later. The race runs for a fixed duration of 90 minutes.

At the end of this time, the boat which is at the front is the

winner.

In addition, each helm may have their start time adjusted

to be either earlier, or later than the "scratch" start for the class of boat they are sailing. In this way, new racers are

given a greater chance of success while the fast helms are

faced with the challenge of working through the fleet.

Before the Start

There are a few things to do before the start of the race:

1. Check your start time. See below for more informa-

tion about start times but do remember to check them be-

fore each race. You will need this in order to...

2. Sign On. The signing on sheets are in the race-hut.

Please sign on clearly and ensure that your sail number is

correct.

3. Check the course. The course is displayed on the

board under the race-hut.

4. Launch with plenty of time. Especially for your first

few races, make sure that you have plenty of time. Don't

wait for the boats around you to launch as they may have much later start times.

5. Keep an eye on the time, as missing your start defi-nitely won't help.

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Start The start line will be between the race-hut and the limit

buoy.

The initial start sequence is a five minute warning signal (Flag H) followed by a four minute preparatory signal

(Flag P), then a one minute preparatory signal (Flag P is

lowered), When Flag H is lowered the 90 minute race commences.

Flag H

Flag P

At the start of the race, only the Mirrors actually get go-ing. All other classes wait until their start time.

All boats start when they hear the sound signal at their allocated start time.

Finish The best way to finish a pursuit race of this type would be

to take an aerial photo at exactly 90 minutes after the

start. The start times are calculated for a 90 minute race

so if we could freeze time then, we would have the per-fect finish.

Clearly, that is not feasible so we use the next-best thing: A finish line which is set where the front boat happens to

be after 90 minutes and then tracks back through the fleet.

The finishing line will be a line extending, perpendicular

to the course, either side of the committee boat. All com-petitors should finish reasonably close to the committee

boat.

Finishing a large fleet like this can be tricky for the race

officer. Here are a few things which everyone can do to

help: · Make a mental note of the boats around you so that

we can check positions later.

· Ensure that your sail number can be seen (if finish-

ing on a broad reach, for example, sheet the main in as you finish so that the race officer is not viewing your sail

from the edge.

· If finishing on a beat, stay near the middle of the course.

· Keep sailing straight on after the finish until you are

sure that you have been recorded.

Where there is doubt about finishing positions, they will

be resolved in favour of the slower boat. This is in keep-

ing with the theoretical "Instant Finish after 90 minutes" which is what we are trying to achieve.

After the Race

The bar is open and food is served - Enjoy!

Collating the results can take a little while so please allow

the race officers some space to get the job done. When

they are done, feel free to take a look and check that you are in roughly the right place. Mistakes are easier to rec-

tify straight away.

No promises, but we try to get the results up on the Web

by the next day.

Personal Handicaps

Personal handicaps are used to make the racing more

even. We do not want the fast sailors to get bored by al-

ways winning or the new comers to get frustrated follow-ing them around.

In order to make the personal handicaps completely ob-jective, they are solely based on each helm's previous re-

sults in this series. We run a small program over the re-

sults and this calculates an adjustment for each helm. This will be in terms of a number of minutes either before (a

negative number) or after (a positive number) the start

time for their class.

Note that we run this program after every race so your

start time could change after every race. In general terms,

if you finish in the front half of the fleet, your handicap will go up (you will start later), if you finish in the back

half of the fleet, your handicap will go down (you will

start earlier). The exact amount of the adjustment will

vary depending on your actual position and the size of the race. Winning a race of 50 boats will adjust your handicap

by approximately two minutes.

Your start time is decided by a combination of the handi-

cap for your class of dinghy and your own personal

handicap. Simply add them together. For example, take an experienced Enterprise sailor with a personal handicap of

+2:

This sailor would then start 19 minutes after the first race

start.

Personal handicaps and start times will be displayed on

the Results page and on the notice board upstairs in the

club house. In addition, there is a more detailed set of re-

Enterprise 17

Personal +2

Start Time 19

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sults which shows the progression of the personal handi-caps, in seconds, throughout the series.

All results count towards the personal handicaps, even

those which are discarded from the series. There will be a prize at the end of the season for the person which the

highest personal handicap.

Complicated?

Well, it may seem so but actually it really isn't. Here is

the bit which you wish had been at the top: 1. The first time you race: Look up in the "90" column

for your start time.

2. For subsequent races: Look in the "Personal Start"

column against your name. 3. Start at the time provided (there should be a sound

signal).

4. Stop when the finish line drives past. 5. Above all: Please ask if you are not sure.

Enjoy That's the key, have fun with the sailing. If it isn't fun,

please let us know.

P.S. For those people who are interested, the exact details of

the formula used to calculate the personal handicaps is

given below. This is not required reading but I strongly believe that this information should be public knowledge.

We take the distance of your result from the midpoint of

the fleet as both a count and as a percentage of the fleet size. These are then multiplied by a couple of constant

factors and added together to give an adjustment in sec-

onds.

The factors, or magic numbers, were agreed by analysing

a large number of possible combinations. Weighting the factor applied to the count means that the fleet size has a

large impact, weighting the factor applied to the percent-

age means that the fleet size has less impact. We chose 7

and 1.5 respectively as this should give a reasonable spread and give approximately a 2 minute adjustment in a

15 boat race.

The formula includes a factor to ensure that all time ad-

justments are relative to the length of the race for the boat

in question. This has been done to address the fact that 1 minute is very significant if you are sailing a 35 minute

race but has a smaller impact if you are sailing a 70 min-

ute race. See the end of the formula below.

Anyway, down to the nitty gritty, the exact formula is as

follows (this is simplified slightly in an attempt to keep it

clear):

Let F = No of Finishers

R = Result (finishing position in race)

A = Adjustment (seconds)

M1 = 7 M2 = 1.5

Then D = Distance from midpoint

= (F/2) - R

P = Percentage from midpoint

= 50 - (R/F * 100)

A = (D * M1) + (P * M2)

So, as an example, take a sailor who finishes 2nd in their

first race of 15 boats:

F = 15

R = 2 A = Adjustment (seconds)

M1 = 7

M2 = 1.5

Then

D = Distance from midpoint (rounded)

= (F/2) - R = (15/2) - 2

= 5.5

P = Percentage from midpoint = 50 - (R / F * 100)

= 50 - (2 / 15 * 100)

= 36.7

A = (D * M1) + (P * M2)

= (5.5 * 7) + (36.7 * 1.5) = 38.5 + 55.05

= 94

The following is then applied:

Let

L = Length of the previous race for this boat T = Length of a race for a boat starting on 35

= (90 – 35) * 60 (seconds)

= 3300

Continuing our example from above. Let's assume that the boat in question was an RS700 which has a class start

time of 34 and that their personal handicap prior to this

race was -1, so in the previous race they sailed for 57min-utes. Their handicap was changed due to doing well in the

race and so they now start this race with a personal handi-

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Eliza Jane

If you have read Ron Blakemore’s book about the history

of Thornbury Sailing Club written for our Golden anni-versary in 1999, you’ll have heard about the Eliza Jane, a

full-sized barge that was brought upriver in the early days

of the club and berthed in the Pill with the intention of

converting it to a clubhouse. Unfortunately the project did-

n’t work out and eventually

the bottom had to be blown out to prevent her drifting

away and becoming a hazard.

In the 1970’s a deck winch

and part of the hull was still visible on the bend on the far

side of the Pill, but sadly Eliza

Jane has now sunk completely into the mud. Ron’s book also

has an aerial shot of the Pill

taken by Walter Gibb in the 1950’s and in it you can just

make out Eliza Jane.

These pictures were provided, via Rob Lindsey, by Paul Bar-

nett who is an expert on the

Purton hulks and is happy to come down to the club and

give his talk at any time. ED

cap of +1 so they start at 35mins, giving them a race time of 55mins.

L = (90 – (34 – 1)) * 60 (seconds)

= 57 * 60 (seconds)

= 3420

A' = A * L / T

= 3420

= 94 * 3420 / 3300

= 91

Which means that their personal handicap is +91 seconds.

This is converted to a start time by rounding to the nearest

minute (2, in this case) and adding it to their start time. For the next race, a similar calculation is performed and

then added to this result. So, although the fact that 91 sec-

onds has been rounded up to 2 minutes, reducing a mere second in the next race will take the start time down to +1

minute.

Paul Craig Sailing Sec.

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Why do a Day Skipper or Yacht Master Theory course? People sailing at Thornbury are somewhat spoilt, the tide

comes in – the flood - and then turns at high water and goes the other way; quite simple really, we get used to it

and live with it.

Most other places this is will not be the case, most other

places use Dover as a guide to tidal direction, times &

heights; this also includes sailing in Scotland too. Once

you leave estuaries high tide does not always tell you which way the tide is flowing, i.e. tide coming in at Dover

is the opposite to tide coming in at Weymouth.

The RYA courses help you to understand this and how to

allow for tides and working out differences in tidal times

between various ports, for example Avonmouth and Old-bury.

Another important element to learn and one you should

learn will be the COLLISION REGULATIONS (col regs for short). These are not racing rules, these trump racing

rules. These include understanding what lights mean on

tankers for instance as they go by, understanding what and why they are constrained.

The following means:

I am constrained by draft.

In day light it would look like a black tube. As skipper of

a boat you are required to know your COLREGS.

At the moment the UK does not require you to have a

Day Skipper practical certificate, but France does and

more and more European countries require a certificate to

go sailing. A lot of my work last year was teaching peo-ple who had just bought a boat only to find their insurance

company insisted on a qualification before they took it out

of a Marina. Chartering a boat in this country will usually need a Day Skipper certificate, and these days on the

South coast some companies are asking for the Yacht

Master qualification.

I am running Yacht Master and Day Skipper theory

classes over the winter again before and after Christmas

this year if anyone is interested.

For any further information or questions you may have

concerning this subject please contact me - Martin - on 07966036525 - anytime; happy sailing.

all red

Quick Theory Quiz

A If you saw these lights what would the vessel be telling you? (top and bottom lights are red)

B When does a motor vessel not have to give way to a sailing vessel?

C (a) What is the difference between under way and making way?

(b) how would the lights on the vessel at night let you

know what it is doing?

D If high tide at Dover was at 12.00, which tidal hour on

your tidal diamond would you look at if your trip starts at

10.30?

E How can you tell the difference between a fishing ves-

sel and a trawler at night?

Answers A Restricted in its ability to manoeuvre.

B Over taking boat always keep clear, so if the sailing

vessel is over taking it keeps clear.

C Under way means it is moving but not making it self

move i.e. drifting it would not have its navigation lights on (red green and stern light but would have it not under

command lights on, two vertical red lights)

Making way means it is sailing or its engine is on

D It is in the minus 1 hour range

-1 hour = 10.30 to 11.30 0 hour = 11.30 to 12.30

E Trawler has green over white light

Fishing vessel has red over white light

Martin Sully

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RS200 Fleet Update

At the end of last year the RS200 fleet tripled in size and we now have 3 boats in the club which are sailing fairly

regularly. The first sail was a baptism of fire for Julie we

sailed in the Charity pump in a fairly windy northerly, on the reach over to White House we put the spinnaker up

had to leave it up since the water over by Counts was

fairly rough and Julie wasn’t sure how to get the spinna-

ker down.

This year has been fairly windy but we have regularly had

2 or 3 boats out for several races. The racing within the fleet is getting closer particularly on the odd occasion we

have had winds below 20 Knots.

Recently the committee agreed to promote the RS200 as a fleet within the club and as an incentive to anyone buying

a boat this year the boat park fee will be waived. If any-

one would like any more information or a trial sail then please get in touch with any of the current fleet.

In April we took part in an RS200 Open meeting at Bris-tol Corinthian (Part of a SW series of 1 day open meet-

ings). 23 boats turned up from all over the South West but

unfortunately the wind forgot to. Adrian Garland crewed

for me and it was the first time he had been in an RS200 and we found the light winds a real challenge, though the

second race was better being in the top 10 at the first

mark before the wind dropped again. However it was good to sail against a good fleet of boats.

In May Julie and I went to Poole for their open meeting. 38 boats turned up to be welcomed by free bacon butties

being cooked in the boat park. After a short sail to the

start the races started on time. As the first gun (yes gun not hooter) went Julie jumped in the boat. (She was still

doing the same as the last start happened). Starting in this

fleet is very different from the normal starts at the club

and almost the whole fleet is close to the line at the start. By the last start we had a perfect start on the line by the

committee boat as the gun went, only for another general

recall so back we went.

For the next start we tried the same only there wasn’t any

room and we nearly hit the committee boat, tacked away

and came back and crossed the line fairly quickly and

seemed to be in a good position going up the beat as the wind had shifted a little. Despite starting late we got to

the 1st mark in 4th place.

As we approached that mark for the last lap

the wind started shifting and a couple of boats

capsized in the gusts just before the wind dis-appeared. The top 8 got away and then the

wind filled behind and we slipped back to our

usual place around 23rd.

We were happy with 26th especially since we

had hardly sailed the boat in light winds like

that and the distance between boats is close. As we came ashore we were given burgers and

beers also included in the entry fee. It was a

great way to finish 5 hours of sailing.

This summer we are off to Cornwall for the

nationals. It will be interesting to see how we

cope with the expected fleet of 120 boats.

John Harvey

Parkstone Open Meeting

11

Round Flat Holm and Threading the Needle

Round Flat Holm

After Jeremy Warren and a friend undertook an epic pas-

sage from Thornbury to Minehead and back I got the

chance to sail his new boat with him to Flat Holm and back.

We set off from Thornbury at high water with mostly a

beat towards Flatholm. On this 5-hour beat we enjoyed

several cups of tea made on Jeremy’s home made gim-balled stove.

We took in a reef and

furled a third of the jib

as the wind increased. With the increasing

wind and with the

wind against tide the

sea state was bumpy and spray was regu-

larly soaking us.

After a total of 6 hours we landed on the beach at Flat

Holm. It was 7:30pm. As we had a return tide to catch we only stopped long enough to take some photos.

On the return trip the change in tide flattened the sea and with the wind behind us our progress was good. We

cooked dinner, cheese and ham sandwiches followed by

rehydrated meals. After a filling ‘sweet and sour chicken tika’ (yes we mixed two together) eaten with a spoon

fashioned from a plastic container because we couldn’t

find the spoons in the boat.

We shook out the reef and put up the spinnaker. There was enough light from the towns on either shore that we

could see the jib tell-tales. Off Portishead the wind eased

and headed us. Fearing another beat we headed up to steer direct to the bridges even though this took us out of

the channel. A mistake as we briefly touched the bottom

next to Denny Island. It’s amazing how shallow it can be that far away from the shore.

We passed under the new bridge in the dying breeze and

paddled in to Chepstow Sailing club to wait for more tide.

At 12:30 we set off again sailing mostly on a tidal wind. After passing the old bridge we aimed for the bank not

wanting to drift past the club and managed to sail out of

the breeze. We finally reached the slip at 2am having paddled the last ½ a mile.

Jeremy Warren Extreme tea maker!

Phil Kirk ashore at Flat Holm

12

Round the Island Race

The alarm went off at 2:30am. You have to be up before

the birds to make the start of the round the Island race.

We were rigged at the public slipway at Calshot by 4:30am and were passing the end of the Round the island

race start line 20 minutes later on a reach towards the

Needles.

Soon the race started with ICAP

Leopard looking powerful as she

left the open 60’s and class 40’s in

their wake. The catamarans started next with Ben

A i n s l i e ’ s

AC45 storm-ing along

from the off.

We kept to windward of

the yachts keeping out of their way.

We were passed by the TP52’s and the gaffer Jollie Breeze as we ate

our bacon rolls.

As we approached the Needles we converged with the

fleet and were being chased down by the Sports boats and

Sunsail fleet. Not wanting to ruin anyone’s rounding of

the Needles or be taken out by a broaching yacht we de-

cided to cut the corner. Being near to high water still, we knew that there was sufficient depth between the stacks of

the Needles and so we sailed through the gap, ‘threading

the needles’.

On the other side we planed off in a strong gust. It soon

became apparent that the gusts were not isolated and we

had a solid F5-6 with a building sea-state. We put in a reef trying the new reefing lines for the first time and

quickly decided that the second reef was needed too. We

were still planing and surfing down the waves but in a more control. We were able to shake out the reefs before

St. Catherines but took one back in as we met the over-

falls and the wind freshened at the headland.

We were within the fleet by this point catching some surfs on the wake of the yachts. We rounded the headland and

half way point at 8:30am and headed up close to the shore

to keep to windward of the yachts. The wind was very

shifty close in shore and slowed our progress.

Once into Sandown bay we had a steadier breeze and

were sailing close hauled to fetch Bembridge. It was low

Let’s go through that gap

Needles threaded!

13

News from the Social Sec.

Social Bash American Supper - 2 June A great evening at the club, which was attended by well

over 100 people. Many thanks to all who contributed to

the American Supper: a wide choice of food was enjoyed by all. My personal thanks to Sue Leat, Julie Harvey,

Carole Leat, and Annie Green for helping to lay out the

food, and many more who assisted and cleared up at the

end.

Regatta 29/30 June

Arrangements are well advanced, Paul Craig is organising the sailing side of the event. On the social side, Sue Leat

is organising the daytime galley, a full range of refresh-

ments will be provided during the day for everybody. If

you can volunteer to help or bake a cake, please contact Sue.

Julie Harvey and Mo Grieves are doing the evening gal-ley.

Menu:

Chicken in BBQ Sauce

Jacket Potatoes

Assorted Veg

Dessert (to be confirmed on day)

What I Like About TSC

Thornbury Sailing Club has meant many

different things to me

over the years. After I met John and spent a

holiday on the Isle of

Wight watching him

sailing I decided to learn how to sail and

bought a Topper.

At this time (1988) as

the “youngsters” in the

club we got involved

in social events at the

tide as we passed that point at 11:30 but we still had enough water to cut inside the buoy being used for the

race.

Staying close inshore we beat against the tide tacking out each time the centreboard touched. It was reassuring to

have the GPS Chart plotter which showed us when there

were hazards to avoid in the shallow water.

We contemplated crossing Ryde sands but while we could

sail over some of it there was only 0.3m of water over the shallow parts. Instead we tacked out to join the yachts on

the edge of the bank. From here it was an upwind slog

against the strengthening tide to Cowes and the race fin-

ish.

The passage had taken us 10 hours to complete, eight of

which were sailed against the tide. We stopped in Cowes for a beer to celebrate and found that you can moor a

Wayfarer for free. Finally we sailed back to Calshot to

pack the boat up and head home for a sleep.

Phil Kirk

Adult Price £7.00 Child £4.00

Tickets will need to be purchased by 12.30.

The evening entertainment will be '5 Second Rule' who

went down a storm last regatta.

So all we need is wind and for the sun to continue!

Club Week 12/16 August As we have no Club Week Supremo this year, the com-

mittee will be coordinating club week. I as social secre-

tary will be responsible for activities and entertainment,

Paul Craig will be for sailing, Rob Wallis will be for the budget, Nigel Goodson will be for the bar, and Adrian

Maddison will be for the rib teams. We are already get-

ting volunteers for various activities and duties. In the near future I will be putting up a provisional programme

on the website. If you would like to volunteer to organise

an activity please contact me.

Further Social Events

Please note the Dinner Dance has now been confirmed.

Dinner Dance and Prize-Giving 15 November 2013 at

Thornbury Golf Centre (confirmed)

Laying Up Supper 30 November 2013

Father Christmas & Cards 22 December 2013

Dave Cushing

Social Sec.

14

club like the Laying Up supper pantomime and with Mar-tin, Sarah, Mark & Rob sailed in Cowes Dinghy week for

a couple of years.

After we bought a Dayboat (1992) we competed in sev-

eral Open Meetings and Nationals and there was always a good contingent of Thornbury members at all these

events.

The annual visit to Chepstow Regatta (1990’s) was a

popular event as well. At this time there was a dinghy

fleet there as well as the cruisers so many members would go down from both the dinghy and cruiser fleet and as

well as a good sailing event it was a great social event

with most people sleeping on cruisers or in tent. The sight of Jack and Brenda Sully getting into a tiny one man tent

there will stay with me forever.

After the children arrived the sailing club was a great

place to go where they could run around and let off steam and there was always someone to talk to or help look after

them. We still went to several venues now watching John

sailing rather than taking part and one highlight was a

Thornbury visit to Lake Garda for an RS European Re-gatta (2002) where 2 RS800’s and an RS600 took part.

Sorting out getting boats there as well as the support team

of children, parents and grandparents was a challenge but

we all enjoyed ourselves and I have fond memories in-cluding watching Sarah run into the lake on the way home

from an evening meal after Sophie decided a midnight

swim would be a good idea even though she couldn’t really swim then.

As Sally and Sophie grew up (1998-) they were intro-

duced to sailing at a very early age and they really en-

joyed sailing the Oppies up and down the Pill in club week.

We joined Frampton so that they could learn to sail prop-

erly earlier than was possible at Thornbury and then the

travelling around the country started as Sally took part in regional and national training in Optimists and Toppers.

Once again we ended up having Thornbury social gather-

ings at various venues around the country which included a visit to Ireland for the Topper Worlds (2008).

I took over running the Dinner and Dance and became Social Secretary for three years. Both of these gave me a

great opportunity to work with lots of different people and get to know many more people than you do when you are

just a member as well as realising how many different

parts of the club there are :-

· The keen racers can come down and race and then chat about the results or the rules over a beer after the rac-

ing.

· Joining a fleet like we did with the Dayboat, Con-

tenders, Isos allows you to sail in a group of similar boats

and travel to open meetings and have people there to help you. Hopefully we will be able to achieve something

similar with the RS200 and it was great going to an open

meeting in Poole recently and meeting up with people that we had known from the time when Sally was sailing Op-

pies and Toppers.

· There are many opportunities for cruising whether in

Dinghies or Cruisers and just as we have travelled in the dinghies to various events as a group the cruiser fleet of-

ten do the same for various events (ie Lundy race recently

or the Holms race) or just meet up at locations on their

trips away from the club.

· The frostbite series continues to prove very popular

for a lot of members but at the same time the clubhouse is

full of people watching and just coming down for a chat.

· Sail training is very successful at introducing people

to sailing but it takes a huge commitment from the Sail Training team.

· The club seems to be a second home for many re-

tired members who come down, when the rest of us are

working, and look after the club facilities, boats and the grounds. It is rare that you will visit the club and find no-

one there.

· At weekends you will often find people camping at

the club taking advantage of the relaxing atmosphere watching the sunset over the river.

So the club has lots of different things to offer to people,

it isn’t just a club for racing and all of these different

groups of people help to make the club the sociable friendly place it is.

Julie Harvey