S.O.I.A. Anglia Group newsletter - June 2003

Ahoy there, Crew!

Here I am at last, mangled brain, Repetitive Strain Injury in my mouse-hand... Sorry for the silence but I’ve been on another planet. But it’s good to be back on earth and, hopefully, sea.

In the meantime we went to Rutland Water and the Anglia team of Omebac and Sula brought home the trophy again. The weather was great, but not a lot of wind, which suits us fine, but wasn’t so good for Omebac, who flies in a stiff breeze.

Sula, however, was in a ‘go fast’ mood, sailing with minimum weight on board. For instance, the conversation went a bit like this:

Me: Can we have the radio on to listen to ‘The Archers’?

Brian: Sorry, no battery, too heavy.

Me: Where are the baked beans?

Brian: Sorry, left them in the car. Too heavy.

Me: Are there any more mooring ropes?

Brian: No. Too heavy.

Me: Where’s the anchor?

Brian: No anchor, no chain, too heavy.

Me: What are you doing now?

Brian: Taping over the reefing cringles. They let the wind through.

Me: How embarrassing. Couldn’t you have done it when no-one was looking?

The funny thing was, it worked!

Now we are looking forward to Brightlingsea, and battery, mooring lines and anchor and chain will all be on board this time. (Probably baked beans as well!)

BRIGHTLINGSEA MEETING, Saturday July 12th.

We are not competing with other events this year so there will be plenty of room for us in the Colne Yacht Club, and we will eat from the Carvery. (Veggie alternatives).

Boats will be arriving from Thursday as far as I know – it’s those renegade East Midlanders making up all their own rules as usual. [STOP PRESS – see below] They intend launching at Tollesbury. Other boats will be sailing down from the Orwell, weather permitting, and from the Blackwater. The idea on Saturday is for everyone to converge on Brightlingsea by land or sea and eat together at the yacht club at 7.30pm, arriving at around 7pm (1900 hours for you purists). The Harbour Master will direct boats to spaces on the pontoons and the water taxi will ferry us ashore. Some boats will be staying on for a day or two so we can be spontaneous about fun on Sunday.

Tide times are as follows:

HW Harwich BST LW Harwich BST

Thu 10th July: 0911 2131 0239 1539

Fri 11th July: 1022 2244 0345 1609

Sat 12th July: 1124 2348 0436 1711

Sun 13th July: 1217 0541 1806

Add 15 mins for Brightlingsea, for Tollesbury a few minutes more. (The tide doesn’t clock-watch, so vague is OK!) Tides are making.

N.B. The Brightlingsea meeting replaces the usual monthly Meeting at the Orwell Yacht Club.

Other Sailing Dates

Plymouth Rally: August 16th – 22nd

Broads Meeting: suggested date - September 13/14th

 

STOP PRESS: E-mail from Tony Eden re Brightlingsea meeting:

Morning all

Just to let you know what the East midlands fleet are doing for the Brightlingsea trip.

We are launching at Tollesbury, we plan to arrive Tollesbury Wed 09/07/03 ready to launch Thurs morning, high tide is 09.00 hours, depending on weather, we might go up to Wivenhoe Thurs night before going to Brightlingsea.

Weather and tides will decide what we do for the rest of the weekend, we plan to pull out Tues 15/07/03 when high tide will be 14.00 hours, look forward to seeing you all. Regards Tony Eden

 

E-MAIL from ‘E-MALE Mike Atkins:

Nautical word of the month - bar (n).

Looking up the noun "bar" in an online dictictionary gives 16 different meanings. Numbers 6 and 16 are of particular relevance to SOIA members:

No 6: "A ridge, as of sand or gravel, on a shore or streambed, that is formed by the action of tides or currents."

No 16: "(a). A counter at which drinks, especially alcoholic drinks, and sometimes food, are served. (b). An establishment or room having such a counter."

I'm sure that the Woodbridge Cruising Club has a very nice (no. 16) bar. There is also some useful recent information on how to get there by crossing the Deben (no.6) bar on their website. Its address is http://www.woodbridgecruisingclub.co.uk and you click on on the "Notice Board" link on the left hand side.

FREE TO A GOOD HOME....

Dave Northrop, one of our longstanding members, has a partly restored SII, Seajay 1507, which he has decided might be better completed by somebody else, and is offering it free to a good SOIA home.

The deal consists of the stripped out hull with all the plywood and patterns for the rest. All the ‘wet’ part of the hull is completed and glassed over, with the keel on (bigger and stronger than the original) and with new keel bolts. Also included is a brand new Yanmar 140 single cylinder diesel outboard – Dave was planning to use the bottom half of the engine for a saildrive. I hope I have got these details correct as I doodled over them a bit (dreadful habit!)

If you are interested, ring Dave on 01255 860879. (Essex no.)

 

More Stop Press -Three Peaks challenge

I have just heard from my brother David, back from skippering a Westerley Fulmar in the Three Peaks Race. His team were competing for the Tillman Trophy, awarded to the team of runners that included one of the sailors running up one of the peaks. David valiantly accepted the challenge and ran up Ben Nevis, with survival pack. This took him seven hours. (The pundits do it in four.) The view, he says, was wonderful and he is just beginning to walk normally again!

The fleet left Barmouth, heading for Caernarvon, on Saturday June 22nd, and the race finished the following Thursday. All boats were equipped with oars for the quiet spells, but mainly to help them through the Swellies! There was no handicapping and the Fulmar was one of the smallest boats. The largest was a Reflex 38.The winds were mostly light so the big boats didn’t get that much of an advantage, and Dave’s team were second in their class.

There were a few casualties; a classic boat called ‘Marion Maid’ went aground on Caernarvon Bar (how embarassing...), and at Whitehaven a climber/runner from the RN boat ‘Hedonist’ got lost and suffered a broken ankle on the mountain. Also, two competitors from the yacht ‘Tactic’ got lost while mountain biking from Whitehaven to Scafell, and when they did get to the mountain one of them passed out with exhaustion. So didn’t our David do well, like me from the other side of fifty?

Apart from a rough force 5 beat from Whitehaven to the Mull of Galloway, conditions were benign, and the anti-seasickness patches David had procured for his runners did the trick for them (they had been ill on a trial trip to sea.) So the lovely weather and scenery was a big bonus, and they saw two pilot whales in the Sound of Jura.

What an adventure! I’m just waiting for Brian to come up with an idea for competing from a Silhouette next year. Any volunteers for running up mountains??

Not included – Brian’s account of his junk-rigged sail to Scotland, which is written at last (with a bit of nagging) but in long-hand – very, very long hand! So next month, with any luck.....

LAST GASP. Hope to see lots of you at Brightlingsea; good weather applied for.

Best Wishes

Elizabeth Letzer, June 2003.