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Autumn 2004

T H O R N B U R Y S A I L I N G C L U B

TSC Newslet ter Inside this issue:

2 CASC issues—Gordon

7 Depths and the rising Severn bed—Mike Johnson

9 Navigating with Minch—Brian Leat

13 Flight of Grey Goose—Elizabeth Smith

16 A View of Sail Training from the RIB—Steve Hobbs

Club Week photos page 10

Club Picnic page 6

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Sitting at the helm As usual the summer has passed all too quickly. Once again we enjoyed a great Regatta and a fantastic Club Week attended by record numbers. Dave Cushing was in overall control of the Regatta and Sav was our Club-week Supremo, we are however very fortunate in having so many willing and able members to organise big chunks of these events and I’m sure Dave and Sav would wish me to thank you all….You know who you are !!! Racing has been well supported throughout the summer and it’s been good to see so many new members to sail-ing having a go. We introduced race coaching into the programme for the first time this year and judging by the attendance its been very successful. It has been good to see so many young people out in Toppers through the summer and I was particularly pleased that the club took three of our youth squad of to an RYA youth regatta to give them the feel for a big event….They loved it ! The new RIB shed is progressing slowly but very soon now we will be calling for work parties to help with the roof and the painting. We really do need to get it com-pleted before the Autumn weather sets in. The new RIB team is working well. All the new members of the team have passed “RYA powerboat level 2” and all now have first aid certificates. In the Autumn/Winter they will complete “RYA Club Rescue Boat” courses and will then be as certified as you can get !!! On the subject of the moving sewer, many of you will have noticed a bit of work taking place on land either side of ours near the big corner on the entry road. There should be no disruption at all to you as the new sewer will be horizontally drilled under our land in the next few weeks and carry on down to Aust. When its all con-

The Commodore speaks on CASC

Early on this year the committee decided that it should explore the ins and outs of registering as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC). Seemingly until now as long as you had the word “Club” in the name of your organisation your could try to claim discretionary rate relief from local authorities and CASC is the vehicle through which the government can ensure monies are directed to bona fide amateur sporting organisations only, of which clearly we are one. It works like this……….. (they save lots, we as bona fide claimants get a little extra). Following investigation it became clear that there would be immediate benefits and perhaps more long term ones. We could see no pitfalls and as the RYA were actively promoting clubs to register we decided that we should put it to a general meeting where the principle was over-whelmingly approved. There would need to be a few changes made to the club rules, the significant one being that on winding up, any assets should be either given to another bona fide CASC registered club or to the Sports governing body - The RYA (ie it should all be above board). In my search for efficiency I suggested that we tie the whole process in with a revision of the club rules and consult regularly with the membership before holding an EGM to make the changes. July was chosen as the time for two rea-sons: 1. Because we thought we would have completed

the basic work and had the opportunity to take it to general meetings twice before then for revi-

nected up the old sewer pipe will be removed and that should be the last of the TSC Sewer. No more excuses when you have the wind you’ll just have to own up !! I hate to remind you that winter is approaching but Les Harper’s winter talks programme starts next month. Les always organises really good speakers so its well worth getting along to them. The month after that is November and that’s when we have our annual prize giving, dinner & dance. Once again its in the swish Grange Hotel and Julie & Mo are already selling tickets so make sure you get yours. Don’t forget we sail right through to the Thornbury Freezer so don’t let the winter get you down……..GET OUT AND SAIL !!! See you on the water Gordon

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sions. 2. Because the committee needed to review the

clubs finances and decide on 2005 subscription levels by August and clearly whether or not we were to get a rate rebate would impact on that process.

Lots of work went in, much midnight oil was burned, all the deadlines were met, presentations were made at the general meetings, comments were made and all were acted upon, appropriate revisions were made and we duly held the EGM. I know that many of you didn’t come along because you thought that following all the consultation it would be a formality, however there were some members who had missed out on the consultation but did answer the call of the EGM. They put forward their traditionalist views strongly and the motion nar-rowly failed on the 60/40 rule. So where do we go from here……..Having considered various options I am of a view that registration with CASC is right for the club and really no big deal. My initial thought following the EGM was that those of you who supported CASC registration should jolly well have been there and by not turning up you got your just de-serts. Then when so many people said that if they had thought there would be a problem they would have been there I thought we should call another EGM as soon as possible. Now having had time to reflect I believe that we should take time to talk with the small band of ob-jectors and resolve any “real” issues first, so that’s what we’ll do ! We seem to have been talking about CASC for ever but in case you have missed out on the great consultation of 2004… here are some valid questions and answers. Q Why should we apply for CASC status? A Because we are a bona fide sports club and are enti-tled to have a mandatory 80% rate reduction, a discre-tionary 100% rate reduction, also to have the gift aid status that CASC registration confers on us so we can claim the tax back on any gifts given to the club by members and so that any company wishing to support us can claim the tax back on donations given. Q I thought the club got 80% discretionary rate relief from the local authority now ? A It does but we have had a letter advising that this will be the last year we get it unless we have CASC status. The rate relief by itself currently equates to around £5 on each membership and this will only increase as years go by.

Q Can we decide to leave CASC should we so wish ? A As we don’t join CASC but simply apply for CASC status there is no procedure for leaving. However if we were to break the rules big style such as selling off the ground to a supermarket and splitting the proceeds be-tween the members, CASC could de-register TSC. And they point out that given this scenario of course all you by then rich members would, CASC or no CASC be liable to capital gains tax on the spoils……….Fat chance of that happening eh ! Q Will we have to open our club to anyone who wants to join? A No, as a respectable and honourable club our current entry rules are perfectly fine. Q Can CASC come back at a later stage and ask us to change our rules? A No. Our agreement applies only to the rules agreed. Q Do we know of any other local clubs that have ap-plied for CASC status? A Portishead Yacht & Sailing Club registered 2 years ago..No problems. Bristol Corinthian hold their EGM to change their rules to register this month Q Is there any paperwork or form filling associated with registration ? A Once we advise the local authority of our CASC status rate relief is automatic Q Will we need to comply with any new regulations ? A No…. We already need to comply with lots. CASC status brings no more. Q Will CASC status make us more visible to state regu-lation? A No…. We are an upstanding club, we are and will continue to be totally law abiding and compliant with government and RYA requirements. If you have more questions to ask, please ask them. If there are pitfalls we have not found, help us find them. Then lets go forward “together” And if we have another EGM— Break your neck to BE THERE !!

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Editor’s Notes Well, I wrote an account of the picnic to go in here but then Jeremy’s excellent write -up came in (page 6). So here’s just the bits he didn’t say! Club Picnic—17th July The weather forecast for the picnic wasn’t brilliant —would anyone actually go if it threatened to rain? We didn’t want to get down to the club and find we were the only ones to turn up.....so I called Jeremy Warren, who was planning to accompany us in Tom Skuse, to ask whether he was still going. Silly question! He’d spent the afternoon packing all the gear needed to take the kids and, since Janet had left him in charge for the day, there was no way he wasn’t going —what on earth would he do with them all day if they didn’t go! Down at the Pill it was a rather grey morning and a bit blowy, but due to improve so we weren’t too worried. On Arcady, Derek and I had Cilla Farquhar and Louise Henley with us while Cilla’s husband Mike accompa-nied new cruiser owner Dave Cushing (and the turkey) on Adagio. Barry and Sue Smith went nine up in Bateleur with Christopher and Catherine, Louise’s daughter Maisie and the four Harveys, John and Julie, Sally and Sophie. Jeremy had Tom Skuse loaded up with small children: Laura and James, plus Fynn, Megan and Gil Nott. Louise’s son Joe was there to help dads Jeremy and Trevor keep all those ‘littlies’ in order. Ali and Sam braved it in a club Gull, the only dinghy to come along. Not bad for new trainees! Mike Ford and Tom Dockerty kept a close eye on them from Tango. It took just an hour to reach St Pierre Pill, mid-way be-tween the bridges on the other side of the river. It’s the home of Chepstow and District Yacht Club, a lovely setting with unbeatable views up and down the river. Nick and Sue Russell were already there, having sailed Grey Goose up from Portishead. By the time the cruis-ers had all tied up on the pontoon the Gull was sailing in, shepherded by Tango. Tom Skuse nestled in behind Grey Goose and unloaded its cargo of kids, toys, pic-nics, tents and all the million and one things you need on an outing with small children. After due carving of the turkey we had an early lunch followed by a game of rounders, then groups began to head off towards the village of Mathern and the pub. By this time it was warm and sunny and the day was getting better and better. At the gate of the village church of St Tewdric’s, a pony and trap awaited the bride and groom. To save the pony’s feet getting too hot, cool water was being poured over its hooves. We hung about for a few minutes too and were rewarded

Youth sailors 2004 Junior Top Club – event held @ Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club –Sat 3rd July 2004 34 Competitors 10 Teams Elliott Goodson – 9th overall Tom Chubb – 19th overall Thomas MacGregor – 21st overall TSC team – 5th The boys all coped extremely well in some very chal-lenging conditions (force 5-7) A big CONGRATULATIONS to them all, they did themselves & TSC proud – TSC’s very own YOUTH SQUAD!!!!!!

Keryn

TSC Talks

The first of the winter talks will be on Thursday 21st October at 8pm Restoration of the Stroudwater Canal Bruce Hall One more talk is planned before Christmas and that will take place on Thursday 18th November at 8pm. Subject and speaker to be decided.

Club Notice Board

Could members putting notices of items for sale, please add the month and year. This will aid maintenance of the notice board and let people know how old the ad-verts are. Thanks Tom Dockerty Hon Sec

Children’s photo competition

Several youngsters were spotted taking photos for Mary’s competition during club week —and I know of a few more—so don’t be shy, send them in and I’ll pub-lish them. Mary promises some great prizes!

ED

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Pirates of the Pill If down to the Pill you went last month you were sure of a big surprise. For Pirates were a landing, club members in disguise. There was Black Beard Sid, Long John, Dylan the Vil-lain and the lawn mower men. All fiercely dressed with cutlass and parrot but must have a buoyancy-aid said Ken. The canon roared with a mighty pop. Though the pillaging was a bit of a flop. Black Beard with a lustful leap boarded Tom Skuse. Held captive by a siren, well that was his excuse. They came for hidden treasure to seek. But had more fun getting wet and muddy in TSC club week. Andrew Smith

ourselves— not by a foot wash in our case, but by a glimpse of the happy couple leaving! Before we reached the pub we found another watering spot which a plaque proclaimed to be St Tewdric’s well where the prince Tewdric had reputedly washed his wounds after battle. The plaque also said he’d died soon after visiting the well— whether it was from the wounds or the washing we didn’t know but we decided not to stop just in case it was the washing. By the time we returned from the village the afternoon had slipped away and there was barely time for tea and some of Cilla’s famous fruit cake before we had to pack up and get ready to set off home. Tents, toys, chairs were loaded back on board and Tom Skuse’s comple-ment of toddlers safely reinstalled. It was Trevor and Ali Nott’s turn to sail the Gull back and one by one we all followed them out, with friendly waves goodbye from CDYC members aboard their boats to remind us to come back soon. Thirty of us had set off that morning but only twenty-nine made it home in one piece. In fact the other one did get back but he was mostly skin and bone by then......I expect you can work out which one! Club Week—23rd-27th August It was a terrific Club Week and everyone who helped has been thoroughly thanked for their efforts but I still couldn’t let the opportunity pass to say it myself too —what a good week that was, despite the weather, well done Sav and everyone involved. On a personal note, my thanks in particular to the mot-ley crew (and honorary motley crew members) for all their hard work on Pirates of the Caribbean day: Annie and Cilla for the very successful pirate flag making, Dave and all the scurvy crew for the super Caribbean meal (the West Indian roast pork was unforgettable) and Mike, ably assisted by John, for the excellent quiz that packed out the club room in the evening and brought high praise from Dorothy for pushing up the bar takings. And that’s before I even mention the highlight of the day, the pirate raid! Thanks to everyone involved in organising it: Jack, David, Rob and Janet (pirate ship), John (sailing master), and Sid (pirate captain) and his swashbuckling crew— it was inspired. Sav gave us the theme for the day, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Gordon suggested the raid. And of course you can’t have pirates without a treasure hunt and we had two— one out on the water from Nick for the sailing race and one ashore from Andy, just for

the kids, both giving great entertainment. One of the best things about the day though, and indeed every day of Club Week, was the way everyone entered into the spirit of the thing and people pitched in where they saw they could help— Mary who single-handedly peeled 10 kg of yams, Joan who helped us set every-thing out in the marquee (thank goodness someone knew where the other tables were), Gerry who saw an opportunity to make daggers with ‘real’ blood for the young pirate flag makers! To mention but a few. At the General Meeting on September 2nd Gordon again thanked everyone who helped during Club Week, with special thanks to people like Sav and Nick who took on the main burdens, and I’d just like to say, glad to hear Sav’s coming back again next year! Next Newsletter due in December Contributions are welcome at any time, by post, e-mail or in person. Sarah

01454 884712 sarah.brankin@tesco.net

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leisurely sail turned a little livelier. Here the water was far choppier than I expected and the Gull ploughed into the heavy waves. In addition a cargo vessel of about 50m enlivened things for Ali’s dwarfed Gull, as it turned to Port to follow the channel after the Hen and Chickens, which left the Gull crossing it at right angles as fast as could be, right under the bridge. Dry mouthed we made it; the freighter probably never got nearer than 200m but it always feels close with such an impersonal vessel. Meanwhile Tom Skuse rolled alarmingly up to her gunnels, I gripped on tight, the children shrieked with delight and most of the animals escaped from their LEGO zoo. Once ashore we were joined by Nick Russell’s big cruiser Grey Goose, just up from Portishead. All were berthed against the St Pierre floating jetty and the par-ties went ashore. So there we were, on a bleak and isolated river bank field, with at least 8 hours to kill. And how the time flew by! We set about building a fire and finding shel-ter as rain threatened. A large scrap metal frame and some plastic sheeting provided a serviceable wind-break, a substantial fire was built and the picnics came out. As is traditional, the Commodore had provided a cooked turkey as centre piece for these festivities. It was truly excellent: thank you Gordon, from us all. (The Commodore had explained he could not be with us as his daughter was taking part in a major rowing event in Nottinghamshire). Most adults set off on the forty minute walk to the pub whilst the children played rounders or prodded at a nearby decomposing cow carcass. The sail back was sedate: as the sun began to dip the Gull, now with Ali & Trevor aboard, slipped back under the bridge (photo). The Tom Skuse children lolled and yawned and 18 month old Gill slept on the floor boards by the engine box, his snores mixing with the launch’s familiar Lister chug. What makes a day like this so special, I find hard to pin down. It is humbling to be taken downstream so irre-sistibly by the river on the ebb. A day in the sun and the wind leaves a tired and contented mood, despite no real effort being undertaken. And a chance to sit and stop and talk and think is rare enough. So be there next year, pack your flask and sandwiches and join in this classic Thornbury jaunt. Jeremy Warren

Club Picnic to St Pierre Pill: A Big Down-Stream Day-Out A super day out: unanimous agreement! A rarity in a club whose members make any Big Brother house look uniform, but this was indeed the shared view of those who spent a summer Saturday on this quirky TSC ad-venture day. So, if it was such a good day out how come only one dinghy made the trip? I’ll put it down to newer members not having a clear idea of this wondrous offering, and so I will address that issue here with a full description. There are 2 sorts of dinghy picnic trips out from our base at Oldbury. Both go with the flow of the tide: up-stream is a three hour affair whilst down stream is a big day of perhaps eleven hours. A jaunt up stream takes off as soon as the incoming tide reaches the jetty, and goes up and back on that same tide. In this manner one can reach Lydney or Sharpness, with not much time ashore, or a whole hour ashore if the destination is the nearby Windbound Inn (on the far side of the reservoir of our neighbouring Power Station). In contrast, a down-stream trip starts early, leaves soon after high water, and requires that the voyagers berth up at their destination, and watch the water go away then come back, before setting off back home. This club picnic was one of these big downstream days out. A handful of cruisers, rescue boat Tom Skuse and club RIB Valiant set off with a solitary dinghy for company. The intrepid dingy skipper was Ali Nott, newly-graduated from sail training, having cajoled her sister-in-law to come along in club Gull. This had taken promises of epic adventure plus a string of salty Severn sea-dog tales she had heard from her instructor Sean (who probably got them from somebody else?) Ali’s husband Trevor came with me in Tom Skuse, turned as she was into a people-carrier for the day. Whilst we were still loading up, our compliment of about 6 children under 7 spread a big box of LEGO out under the cuddy and the crèche facility was running. The sail down to the bridge was relaxing and calm with a gentle uneventful and the wind only force 2 luring the boats towards the imposing Severn Bridge. The desti-nation, St Pierre Pill, requires a smart turn to the right after the first bridge and before going under the second. It’s a little inlet reminiscent of our Pill but smaller, and is home to around a dozen cruisers of Chepstow and District Yacht Club. Under the bridge and our hitherto

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As we all know, there is a substantial rise in the bed level of the River Severn over the area in which we sail, there being a change of some 16 feet between Avon-mouth and Sharpness, with a further 25 feet between Sharpness and Gloucester. The change in the bed level compared to Ordnance Datum (OD) is reflected in the varied Chart Datums (CD) to which the soundings and heights shown on the chart of the river are related. An appreciation of how the datum changes over the area in which we sail may be of help in avoiding contact with obstructions such as the Oldbury Power Station reser-voir wall or realising why the burgee snaps off (or worse) during a capsize over Oldbury Sands. The stepped diagram given by the Hydrographic Office on chart BA1166 does not provide a ready clue as to the extent of each chart datum area. These areas are clearly shown on the diagram below. Although the figures given are in metres below Ordnance Datum (BOD), it will be clear that they are metric conversions of the one-foot intervals determined during the 1962 HMS Shack-leton survey of the river.

When used in conjunction with the predicted tide heights for Avonmouth (related to 6.5m BOD) or Sharp-ness Dock (related to 1.33m BOD) it should be possible to determine just how much water is likely to be avail-able at a particular location and for how long. Diagrams showing observed heights of typical spring and neap tides at Avonmouth, Inward Rocks and Sharp-ness Dock (above the respective chart or dock datums) are also provided on the next page. The tidal predictions published in the annual Club sail-ing schedule give time of high water at Oldbury, but use the height of tide predicted for Sharpness Dock. The height of tide in the immediate vicinity of Oldbury Pill will be at least 3m more above local CD than that pre-dicted for Sharpness Dock. Narlwood Rocks and the Power Station reservoir wall are clearly places to avoid on a neap tide. For example, we know that the highest point of the reservoir wall is around 4’ 8” (1.43m) above OD. The diagram shows that at the western extremity of the wall, CD is 4.27m

River Severn – Chart Datum variations and water depths

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BOD, thus the wall at this point dries 5.7m. If it is as-sumed that the height of tide here is 2.5m less than at Avonmouth, the most water that could be expected over the wall on, say, a 9.2m (Avonmouth) tide would be 6.7m which equates to a depth of only 1m of water at

high tide……. not much for a dinghy with the plate down, and probably some trouble for a cruiser. Happy Sailing! Mike Johnson

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sition, and also more importantly see the loom of the light at night time at a greater distance while keeping clear of the rocks. “You are far too near those rocks” said Minch, “I want to be 20 miles south of them.” ”But you will not see the loom of the light at that range and certainly not the lighthouse” I said. “I want 20 miles south” said Minch, so 20 miles it had to be. Much later I came on watch about 4 am and took the helm. Course to steer had been set at 140 degrees if my memory serves me correctly. It was blowing about force 4 to 5, the boat was well heeled over and we were hard on the wind. I immediately noticed that the compass card was pitched at an acute angle. Making a radical change of course the compass card never moved. It was stuck solid; there was no fluid in the compass. Calling Minch again from his “pit”, we discussed the problem as we had been sailing on the wind for many hours. I did not dare say that we should have put some gin in the compass prior to leaving Oldbury, not that it could be achieved with the boat heaving about. By this time it was light, we were out of sight of land, the sea had gone down and the wind had dropped. It was a beautiful summer’s morning except we had this prob-lem. We had no accurate idea of our position or the di-rection we were going. Somewhere in the approaches to the Bristol Channel; no GPS in those days. The three of us sat rather quiet, worried but thinking, still sailing hard on the wind. Radio was virtually unheard of on small boats in those days and no fishing boats were around from whom we could ask directions. Situation not good. “Minch” I said, “I have a small Sestrel hand bearing compass in my bag on a bracket, we can screw it to the cabin hatch cover then at least we can head hopefully in the right direction.” I had learnt from previous experience that it was best if a few ‘extras’ were added to my kit. “Good idea,” said Minch, “Let’s do it.” Now we were headed somewhere towards England and the situation was improved by Minch serving up his leg-endary gin and tonic in half pint beer tankards accompa-nied by fruit cake after 11 am. A little more thinking and checking that the compass was not totally inaccu-rate, by referring it against the sun which bears due south at midday, we realised that we should sight land somewhere in a very large arc, be England or France; sometime. We were not about to sail off into the Atlan-tic as we were heading generally south east. Situation

Navigational Position Fix

Now a Navigator is never lost but he may be uncertain of his position. Such a situation occurred many years ago on a trip returning from Ireland to Oldbury in Minchin’s 24ft Kestrel sailing cruiser named “Lady Anne.” We had a ship’s compass, chart and the Admi-ralty pilot book and not much navigational experience, but knew how to point the boat generally in the right direction. Inspecting the compass on “Lady Anne” prior to depar-ture from Oldbury, I pointed out to Minch that his ‘new’ compass included a large bubble that made the compass card hang at an angle and difficult to read. The compass was the latest new technology addition to the boat, namely a bulkhead reading compass marked in degrees that Minch claimed had seen service in a WW2 battle tank. Much better than the compass indicating the Car-dinal Points that I normally used to on another Thorn-bury boat, and illuminated by an oil lamp for night sail-ing.

I suggested to Minch that I could ‘sort out’ his compass by pouring a little gin through the filler screw on top, hence removing the bubble and floating the card hori-zontally. Minch was known for the quantity of gin car-ried on the boat and I thought, foolishly, that he could spare a drop. This suggestion was quickly dismissed with the reply from Minch, “Waste of good Gin.” His son John agreed. It was no use arguing, that was the end of the matter. We set sail from Oldbury bound for Cork, southern Ireland reaching the Royal Cork YC in the Owenboy River in four days. Planning the route from Cork on our return, I set a course to take us 5 miles south of the “Smalls” rocks lighthouse off St. David’s Head, Milford Haven. We should see the lighthouse at that range for a landfall po-

“Minch was known for the quantity of gin carried on the boat”

“a bulkhead reading compass marked in degrees that Minch

claimed had seen service in a WW2 battle tank”

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was improving. After an hour or so, Minch said “Turn on the echo sounder”. Another modern technology addition to the boat that we had forgotten about in our anxiety. The reliable Seafarer unit much better than the lead line we usually used. Fortunately the battery was not flat and the Seafarer indicated 19 fathoms. A little further thinking and a look at the chart brought the suggestion that if we continue southeast we should find the edge of the St. George’s Channel where the depth suddenly increases to 33 fathoms. So it proved. We had a position line. Situa-tion much improved. Shortly afterwards a light aircraft flew very low over-head going in a straight line. Having recently learnt to fly this was another piece of useful information. “Minch” I said, “I think that aircraft is flying from Cork to Swansea or Brawdy.” Another position line, and we now had a ‘possible’ fix albeit with a large circle of uncertainty. I was also aware that the Airlines pass over Almondsbury to Shannon in a straight line and they all seemed to be heading in the same direction in the clear sky. More information to show that we were heading in the right direction. Situa-tion improving again. I suggested that “If we go east we should sight the Welsh coast sometime, or go right up the Bristol Chan-nel.” Plan agreed, we let it run and awaited develop-ments. Early evening John said “I can see two chimneys.” Now John has extraordinary long distance sight. Even with binoculars, (another extra from my kit) I could just make out two chimneys sticking up over the horizon but they were not smoking, and bearing about 060 degrees. We agreed to change course to 060 degrees and headed towards them to investigate and also started to smell land. The chimneys proved to be the tops of the distillation columns of the oil refinery in Milford Haven when land came up over the horizon. We sailed straight into Mil-ford Haven entrance in the dark with heavy misty rain obscuring visibility. We were glad to have ‘fixed our position’ again after an anxious day. I have been uncertain of my position in a large sand sea, a more frightening experience, but that is another story. Brian Leat

Club Week 2004 First some photos from Jane Buckels.

Emma and Ryan

Oppie fun for all ages

Toppers in the pill

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Here come the pirates!

Dressed to kill

The Viking pyre

Next some Club Week photos from Jack Sherrat

The pirates spot a likely threat to their plans—Club Week supremo Sav on his windsurfer

Sunset in the pill

Topper again

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The youngsters are always the stars of the show

Oppies gang up to fight off pirates

Toppers and Oppies in the pill after racing

Lots of hands to help get everyone out in a boat —that’s what we do at Club Week

The lovely Severn seas

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A bit of swashbuckling as the pirates move in on Tom Skuse

Tom Skuse puts up a brave fight to repel boarders

A blowy day, but a reefed Gull goes well

Lastly, these Club Week photos from David Oldham.

Things brighten up...

...but not for long

There’s always something to watch at Club Week

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Flight of “Grey Goose” An account of a TSC cruise in company in June this year. Andrew and I were invited by Nick and Sue Rus-sell to join them and John Allen on their 43 ft. concrete hulled ketch “Grey Goose”, for a weeks cruise down channel. The hope was of reaching Tenby, before turn-ing for home. Ourselves and John arrived early evening at Portishead marina on Saturday 26th, stowing our kit and food for the week, after a welcome mug of tea. We had a useful boat safety talk, Nick reminding us never to try to “push off” our 20 ton weight. Our intended lock out from the marina was 0200 hrs. After an excellent chilli, prepared by Sue, and lots of chat we didn’t bed down until 2230 hrs. So it was barely 3 hours later when we awoke to digital alarms and the smell of frying bacon. This was the first night-time sailing for Sue and myself. The dark waves and F4 wind of the channel felt like another world after the quiet calmness of the marina. A double reefed main was hoisted and we turned South-West in a moderate sea heading for Cardiff marina. The once Naval College at Portishead loomed ghost-like through the darkness. Dawn gradually showed a cloudy sky, as we each be-came more accustomed to steering our big boat, which tended to veer to windward if concentration lapsed for a moment. Our fellow cruisers had left TSC the previous day, and happily we spotted “Arcady” and Cutty stark” on an inner pontoon as we arrived at Cardiff Yacht Club at 0730hrs. Greatly in need of sleep we got our heads down, know-ing we were to lock out again at 1300hrs. It was blissful to lie down in peace after an exhilarating sail through dark to light. Suddenly, surely only a moment later, noise and voices. I opened an eye, Annie Green, crew-ing for Sarah on Arcady was peeping at me, and Nick was shouting “everybody up, we’re locking out at 1100 hrs.” No one moved, mutterings of “is he serious”....he was. Sarah and “Cutty Stark” skipper Gordon, on hear-ing the forecast of strong South-Westerlies had decided to head across to Watchet on an easier beam reach. “Grey Goose” just caught the lock out. While his crew had slept, indefatigable skipper Nick had partaken of an excellent breakfast, courtesy of Cardiff Yacht Club, during which Gordon had obviously teased him about Grey Goose’s relatively slow progress from Portishead. Not a phlegmatic man, Nick’s cautious con-

sideration for his new crew was thrown to the F6 wind and rough sea as we left Cardiff with dozens of square yards genoa, mainsail and mizzen flying. She’s a heavy boat, but even so the plate full of sandwiches I heroi-cally prepared down below nearly came to grief several times as we heeled acutely. After an hour and a half battling, we reduced to a work-ing jib, dropped the mizzen and put two reefs in the mainsail. This is gorilla work, the men did very well, Sue and I could only cope with the mizzen. Wolves Rock became an unwanted companion for too long as we lost ground when the shackle on the jib clew ripped out. The engine helped us clear Wolves against the strong flood tide. The day had been bright and visibility good, but a squall hit as we neared the shore and the entrance to Watchet marina was not so easy to spot. Nick negotiated the big Grey Goose well through the tricky entrance and recov-ered control quickly after a close shave with the wall. Even Harbour Masters can get their Port and Starboard confused when giving instructions! We berthed comfortably near water and electricity sup-plies at about 1430hrs. Watchet gave a strangely pro-tected feeling, even the threatening clouds seem to keep outside the harbour walls. Hot showers followed by a delicious meal of kidneys in paprika (was this really only the first day’s dinner), revived us for a wander to the nearest hostelry for drinks and chat with our cruising companions. Luxury! A full 8 hours’ sleep. After a leisurely break-fast, Sue, John, Andrew and I went in search of top up provisions and plastic sheeting to prevent spray and rain coming into the forward berth through the hatch above it. A good hardware shop satisfied our needs and, hav-ing watched the steam trains for a while, we found our land legs with a nice walk along the coast. Seeing the “For Sale” signs we discussed the investment prospects for TSC members of buying Watchet marina! Our trio of boats intended leaving around 1300 hrs. to catch the last lock in at 2130 hrs at Swansea. Arcady and Cutty Stark were away prompt at 1315 hrs. Grey Goose lingered longer enjoying John’s excellent lunch of Alveston ham. Still we were away at 1430 hrs with mizzen, working jib and full mainsail raised in a SW F3. Close hauled on this clear bright day the sailing felt good, and passing flocks of Manx Shearwater seemed to think so too. The strengthening wind reached F5/6 by 1730 hrs and the main was reefed. Our exciting ride became more bumpy with wind against the ebbing tide. Although

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skipper kept up a good supply of tea and nibbles, Sue sadly succumbed to sickness as the sea grew rough in a good F6 an hour later. By 1900 hrs it seemed unlikely we could achieve Swansea in time. No other ports of refuge suggested themselves to us, so a decision was made to press on to Oxwich Bay. Grey Goose was now scouring her bottom as she thumped though the heavy seas. Sue was rolled up in a duvet and ensconced, with bucket, on the leeward bunk in the saloon. Dark clouds now rolled across the blue-green luminescent sky and short sharp showers mixed with the spray. Andrew and John, working on the jib, disappeared totally from view, I held my breath, two red clad bodies rose up as the bow reared to crest another wave. “ Were you frightened” I asked Andrew, “Um…. It’s quite exhilarating really”. At 2055 hrs we tacked onto starboard to clear West Nash and put on the navigation lights. Night is dark, night is very, very dark at sea, under cloud. Distances are so difficult to judge. A light on our port side flashing 4 at 15 second intervals confused us. Nick radioed an enquiry to the coast guard, they replied “ You are look-ing at Foreland Point light” !! Intermittent beams of moonlight lit silver waves as the wind abated a little. Although still devouring Pringles, my staple sailing diet (even though John had trodden on them in the process of tacking) by 0000 hrs on Monday I was tired, rather wet and quite cold. Our speed over the ground was neg-ligible against the incoming tide, so with mizzen only we motored at ¾ throttle to reach Oxwich Bay at 0330 hrs. The headland of Oxwich Green loomed very dark and close, but we dropped our anchor under the cliffs in 6 meters of water. Several fishing boats on moorings in the bay were just discernible, and all seemed calm in the shelter of the cliffs. The crew crawled gratefully into their bunks and fell into oblivion. Nick anchor watched through dawn and awoke us a few hours later with what sounded like World War III as he shifted chains around the deck and dropped anchors in lockers. A grey, misty morning showed us to be nestled safely, but closely to rocks at the cliff foot. The wide sweep of beach looked inviting, so Nick ran Sue and I and An-drew ashore in the inflatable dinghy, while John anchor watched. There were numerous rock pools from which we collected some lovely shells, as we made our way towards the sands. Back on board we settled ourselves with a good breakfast; a much recovered Sue managed some toast.

Nick was pleased to have photographed the resting Grey Goose, but by 1245 hrs she was flying again under full sail before a F3/4 towards Swansea.. The sea was mod-erate, but felt more comfortable on a run. Sue helmed, finding her sea-legs again. The sun broke through mak-ing the smoother sail enjoyable, as we watched several gannets wheeling and diving and saw a solitary red-throated diver. An hour and a half later we dropped the sails and en-tered Swansea fairway, remembering Gordon’s advice to head for the stern of the Ireland ferry before turning to port. The large marina surrounded by modern apart-ment buildings disappointed me a little after the unspoilt wildness of the Gower coast. After a short wait we locked in and Nick manoeuvred the boat into her rather restricted berth. We hailed Cutty Stark and Arcady, al-ready well settled since the previous evening, on nearby pontoons. The warm shelter of the marina overwhelmed me with sleepiness and I happily bunked down for a few hours. After a refreshing shower we tramped round across the lock gates to visit Arcady. A cormorant was in the lock looking very pleased with a huge eel he’d caught. Wedged two stories high in Arcadys saloon we supped tea. Mike Farquar, Sarah’s second crew, saw his wife’s delicious fruit cake disappear, everyone tucking in, in-cluding Gordon and crew, his brother David and Mike Belston. All the skippers decided we should take Wednesday as a relaxer, so as David started preparing a pasta feast we returned to Grey Goose for chicken cas-serole. Much later as we took an evening stroll, we heard our commodore’s infectious laughter echoing across the ranks of deserted decks. On my morning visit to the facilities, I stopped to chat to a nice young man hosing down an impressive orange RIB. He explained it was a coastguard vessel normally based at Milford Haven. During the summer months the boat spends a few weeks at different ports and had sailed from Aberystwyth to Swansea the previous day, a pretty uncomfortable 9 hour trip. With a top speed of around 32 kn. it had still been outrun by the Greenpeace boat at Avonmouth earlier in the year. Dave Jones was keen for us all to visit and spent a good while showing us around, and encouraged Nick to register his boat with MCA. There is an industrial and maritime museum at Swansea, sadly closed for refurbishment when we were there. A disused lightship is moored on the quay, so we took a look free of charge. Manoeuvring and anchoring these powerless vessels must have needed great skill. Olga is moored nearby, a 1909 Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter. Gaff rigged with a length of 56 ft. and draft of 8 ft 6 ins.

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Sail Training 2004

A view from the RIB Photos by Steve Hobbs

Valiant

She was crewed by two men, only. The boat was strong and comfortable enough to remain at sea for 10-14 days at a time and the sailing rig could all be operated from the cockpit; not such a modern idea then! Numerous visits to the harbour master’s office to check weather bulletins interspersed our day, but a faulty com-puter meant none were available. We lingered over tea in a nearby Italian restaurant, encouraging Mike Belston to join us, and even dragging our skipper away from work when the ice creams were being bought. Nick had spent the afternoon bolting down the centre main track, which had lifted with the pull of the big sail. Andrew’s chicken tikka was tonight’s delicacy, but Ja-maica ginger cake and custard had held us in anticipa-tion all day. This became the mystery of the voyage, it had disappeared. Anxious sailors searched high and mainly low, since most items had ended on the floor during Tuesday’s rough passage. It was not to be found. We eyed each other suspiciously, said nothing, and sat-isfied ourselves with Golden Syrup cake instead. Our convivial, evening gathering at the pleasant Swan-sea Yacht Club revealed that Arcady and Cutty Stark crews were returning by train next day. Learning of a very rough passage from someone newly arrived from Watchet, and Gordon needing to chair the EGM at TSC on Thursday, they decided not to risk sailing. Next day was sunny and peaceful in the marina. With low water at 1200 hrs we needed to make an early deci-sion about leaving. Finally getting a forecast of SW F5/6 increasing F7 later we went for the 1000 hrs lock out intending to try for Cardiff. Careful navigation was needed out into Swansea bay, on the falling tide, with much foul ground. Into open waters with a fresh F5 on our tail and full genoa with mizzen, Grey Goose flew off alone. We tucked in reasonably close and enjoyed the coastal scen-ery on this bright sunny day. Passing the dunes and beaches of Kenfig and Porthcawl, we sailed for Tusker rock, keeping the buoy well to port. Nick was keen to try the Nash Passage. With the tide now flooding the channel gave us an exciting sail. Visible breakers on our starboard side became increasingly audible. The Welsh coast formed our port side barrier as we were funnelled towards East Nash. Many different combinations of sails were tried on this leg, including twin head sails and goose wing to make downwind helming easier. At about 1515 hrs we de-cided to carry on for Portishead, the weather and sailing were good. We tacked downwind to keep the genoa fill-

ing and reached 11 kn near Welsh Hook. At 1720 hrs Grey Goose locked into Portishead marina and settled into her home berth. While the rest tided the boat, I prepared corned beef hash, our last meal of the trip. Amazingly, we ate din-ner, made a dash for Thornbury and arrived in time for the EGM ! Elizabeth Smith

High tide

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Wanderer Topper

GP14 Hazard to shipping

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At rest

(Wouldn’t it be nice if) We all raced the same boats? In our club and others, fleets of boats come and go. In past years Thornbury has seen some really good boat-for-boat racing in Dayboats, Solos, Fireballs, Dart 18 cats, Isos and now RS800s, to name but a few. And what great racing this is. The limitations of handicap numbers are obvious to all. The assumption that the per-formance of 2 different designs remain in the same pro-portion across a range of winds is just daft. Consider an RS800 in 12 knots of wind, planning upwind at 7 knots, vs a Dayboat making 4 knots: how do these fare against 3 knots of tide? Or a Gull and Nigel’s flash cat in no

wind: both drift at the same speed. So handicaps rarely work. It was good to see that this year’s Sharpness Race saw 2 Spitfire cats and 2 Miracle dinghies share the top 4 places (despite a 40% difference in handicap numbers), but this is an exception to the norm. So I would like to encourage new and existing members to consider getting the same boats and I propose that we hear the case in this magazine in favour of your fa-voured choice. I want to champion the Laser 2000. Here is a hiking boat for 2 with an asymmetric spinnaker. On the plus side, the Laser 2000 is: • Racy yet a good family platform, that you sit “in”

rather than “on” • Well built • Strongly one design so you do not need to shop

around for sails etc. • Light enough to make handling ashore easy with

two • A good carrier of varied crew weights • Can be reefed and performs like a thoroughbred

when it is really windy. On the downside, it is slow in light winds and its ex-pensive at £3,000 for second hand boat (although it does hold its value well). A close contender is probably the RS200; same superb designer (Phil Morrison), great build and healthy market. Prices are similar but I see it as much more tippy and less family. Your view (Rob)? And the boat I would most like to avoid growing? Oh dear, I’m afraid it’s the Albacore. Here is fast, classic planing dinghy, which is really cheap to buy. My prob-lem is it is demanding brute when its really windy, com-petitive only with 2 big guys on board, heavy to handle ashore and not competitive without a great deal of time spent on rig and sails: buy a more expensive one and you can win. What do you think? So, let’s hear your case, whilst I develop a decent argu-ment as to why we should all get RS700’s, like mine!..... it would be really cool and we could at last turn sailing into a spectator sport! Jeremy Warren An analysis of the last three years of the slow handicap fleet indicates the Albacore is the boat to be in. It must be the boat, it couldn’t possibly be the helm. Andy Sides

Power

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As the sun dips Ali and Trevor coast under the old bridge—TSC picnic page 6