S.O.I.A. Anglia Group newsletter - July 2002

Me Ducks,

Much water has flowed under the hull since you last heard from me! Avocet carried us across the Irish Sea from Morecambe Bay to the Isle of Man, where we were weather bound for a few days but had a lovely time. Then it was on to Northern Ireland, where we explored the coastline from the Mountains of Mourne to Belfast Lough. We returned to Lancashire via The Mull of Galloway and the Isle of Man again, finally leaving Avocet in Fleetwood Marina. Some networking has found us a free berth for her so Brian is off to have a last sail and tuck her up for the winter.

MEANWHILE…What a brilliant Broads trip we had, with ten boats and plenty of wind. We were even able to -er- mingle with the annual Yare Navigation race – maybe fifty or so classic Broads racing yachts and cruisers travelling at high speeds, with massive bowsprits, sometimes tacking in little more than their own length. We witnessed a dramatic incident at the Reedham swing bridge; it swung open into the rigging of a racing yacht jostling to be first through. The yacht was only able to disentangle itself by disconnecting the back-stay from the boat. Luckily the bridge operator had the presence of mind to stop the bridge while this was going on. The incident was watched and applauded by a large crowd of onlookers in the adjacent pub garden.

I’m glad to say there was no physical contact (that I know of) between Silhouettes (all reefed) and racers, but we did manage one or two pile-ups while tacking in gusty conditions in narrow waterways. At least two boats went home with holes in and another broke it’s boom; repair work after the Broads weekend seems to the norm! Sula just had a few scrapes, a lot of earth on the foredeck and quite a bit of greenery scattered over the boat. I don’t think the paddles have ever been so well used for heaving us off lee shores and out of reed beds! (We call this activity ‘nature study’…)

We spent Saturday night in Loddon, where we were entertained by the activities of four cruiser loads of sea-cadets, the first of which charged into a berth on full throttle after failing to switch the controls from the inside position to the bridge deck, damaging neighbouring boats and provoking some noisy wrath! This was highly embarrassing for the officer in charge who was dressed in navy with gold epaulettes, but riveting stuff for the rest of us. It wouldn’t have happened if you had been in charge, Capt’n Bob!

I haven’t totted up the ratio of drinking to sailing hours yet but I suspect the sailing might just have won. The East Midlanders did stay for another night though after their boats were out of the water, so they probably tipped the balance.

As well as the four East Midland boats (Allegro, Polly, Misty, Blessim) and four Anglia Group boats (Antares, Omebac. Golden Moon, Sula), we welcomed David Kuschel and Joanna from the Solent Group, and Colin and Rosemary Campbell with Sea Urchin from the South-West Group.

NEWS FROM THE PROVINCES: Roy Sporne achieved his ambition of touring Normandy and the Loire by bike instead of boat, and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He did find the land more restrictive than the sea though when he ventured on the Caen ring road (bicyclettes interdites!) and got a police escort off again! He cycled over 400 miles altogether, visiting the Normandy beaches and war cemeteries, and staying in youth hostels. Although he has done more cycling since he came back to Milton Keynes I got the impression that he is hankering just a little for some salt-water adventures…

Mike Dacey finally got his boat launched at Heybridge for some autumn sailing after having to do extensive deck repairs - a familiar story – so didn’t feel like retrieving it again to come to the Broads meeting. Hopefully he will have had some good days on the Blackwater these last couple of weeks.

OSAILING DATES…

N New Year’s Day Boules match on Gunfleet Sands. Bring a French pique-nique, only French to be spoken, and rename your boat in French. (i.e. La Lune d’Or, Alorsmondos, SouLaLa, Serenite [how do you do accents on a computer?].

Low Water Harwich 1.1.03 is 15.15. Better bring une torche. (Roy can bring his bicyclette)

Plymouth Rally 2003 – Saturday August 16th-Friday August 22rd.

NTHE EXTRACT: from ‘The Art of Coarse Sailing’ by Michael Green

describes another incident at Reedham Swing Bridge! Mike Atkins lent us this book, saying that he saw absolutely no similarity between Beaver and Brian…..

"The bridge was open as we came round the bend and very pretty it looked in it’s white paint. It had an odd air of Victorian gracefulness. Beaver sprinted for the gap, if one can say that of a yacht. Through turning, however, the wind was against us and partly blanketed by the bridge, so we didn’t approach it very swiftly. When we were a few yards away the signalman opened the window of his box, shouting a warning and started to close the bridge.

We had the choice of swinging round and retreating or trying to tack through the narrowing gap before the bridge closed. Beaver, as might have been expected, decided he could beat the bridge and we watched in horror as a collision between it and our mast became inevitable. Beaver’s mind works in an odd fashion. It didn’t occur to him to give way; he decided the bridge ought to retreat, and stood up in the well making winding motions at the signalman. Mercifully the bridge beat us to it, and it’s vast bulk swung past the mast, missing the forestay by perhaps two inches. As it did so the wind dropped away and we paid off into the piling posts beside the bridge where Harry jumped off and made us fast. I don’t think Beaver noticed we had stopped. He was still making winding motions at the signal box."

The next meeting at the Orwell Yacht Club will be on October 12th at 8pm. Come with bright ideas for the Christmas meeting.

LAST GASP

Sorry about the erratic nature of this newsletter in recent months. I’m now a full-time student with lots of 5000 word assignments to write, so don’t watch your doormats too avidly. Brian is being trained as a stand-in in case I sink into a mire of words, but if there are any other budding newsletter writers out there who would like a turn, then Opportunity Knocks!

Au Revoir… Elizabeth Letzer September 02.