News, Views & Information from Weir Wood Club

Issue 18 Winter 2015 Featuring: Terms of New Lease Agreed New Sunday Race Format

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter Welcome to “Misty” 1 Commodore’s Cosy Chat Simon Davis

So another year draws to a close, our 47th, and my 4th as Commodore. It was a mixed year with great, great highs but, I’m sad to report significant lows as well. Ever the I’ll start with the best bits! In September we participated in ‘Bart’s Bash’ an event designed to, on the one hand, celebrate the life and the passing of one of sailing’s greats and on the other to perpetuate his name in the ‘Andrew Simp- son Sailing Foundation’. You lot got behind it big time! People started to register in June (the event was in September) and it very quickly gained momentum. We got onto the leader-board early and stayed there. We remained in the top 10 worldwide of participating Clubs and my most memorable sailing moment of the year was introducing more than 150 members congregating in the car park below the Clubhouse from the balcony to Peter Young’s video. This clip made up the climax of the Bart’s Bash corporate video! Nearly 120 boats of all sizes made a wonderful backdrop to a memorable day!

We had a super summer and were blessed with an almost full reservoir thanks in part to the very heavy rain in February and March and partly due to reduced pumping by Southern Water. Because last winter was so mild the water never really cooled down that much so we got a real flying start. We had an awesome year for new members: over 60 and I have mentioned before how important they are for the lifeblood of the Club as us older members loose not our enthusiasm but our energy!

Participation levels across the board have gone up and it is great to see so many people on the water. One of the issues sailing has as a sport is people coming on board with a new boat and great enthusiasm but equally quickly dropping out as the initial burst of interest dies down. We have addressed that in a number of ways principally by providing ongoing learning at very low cost for adults generally but specifically for people coming off RYA courses and the parents of kids in Youth or Oppi groups. We had 20 participants over the year and we will extend availability for 2015 so keep your eyes open for the Commodorograms!

Youth has always been a strong point in WWSC and that was never more the case than now. Not only do we have some of our young sailors in Zone and National squads we have sufficient numbers of quality young sailors to ensure that there is plenty of competition for places. One of the reasons why we have had such strength in depth is sadly leaving us after decades of services to the Club. Allan Jones has finally retired and I would like to add the Club and my personal appreciation for all Allan has done for the Club and its Youth over the years. We will be organising a celebration of Allan’s achievement in the Spring. Thanks Allan. Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 2 On the bad side my year and a significant proportion of the Committee’s year has been dominated by trying to resolve the Lease issue. In fact these negotiations have been ongoing since 2012 and much more heat than light has been generated over this time. We made all the running on this in trying to secure the new lease even going to point of issuing a Section 26 legal notice saying we definitely wanted a new lease. In the run up to Christmas it became clear that a critical situation required a solution otherwise WWSC would cease to exist and, at several points this was a distinct possibility. John delayed publishing ‘Afloat’ in case news was forthcoming and I’m glad he did. I’m glad because I, on behalf of the Committee, am very pleased to report that we have reached agreement with our landlords on the terms to be included in a new lease for the Club. Our solicitors have commenced drafting of the new lease, which we expect to be in a position to sign within a few months. In the meantime our rights at Weir Wood are fully protected. The new lease will secure the financial future of the Club for at least the next 25 years and will allow us to engage in a new business plan to develop the Club in a manner which has been denied us whilst uncertainty about the lease prevailed. This means you, as members of the Club, can have full confidence in the Clubs future and I would urge you to renew membership as soon as possible. A reduction in the overall lease cost has not come cost free and we have to give up access to certain pieces of land and areas of exclusivity that we had in the past. I will be writing to all members to detail the changes and we will be publishing an ‘Idiots Guide’ to the new terms, none of which I feel are too onerous.

The negotiations have highlighted that we have a large number of boats parked in locations to which we have no entitlement (like on the beach in Oppi Bay!) and large numbers of boats that are unregistered. It is necessary to remove these boats and to relocate them into our existing authorized boat parks. Clearly, because of the large number of boats involved, this is going to be a lot of work and your help and understanding is going to be needed. If you have a boat in the boat park that is not showing on your renewal invitation, please make sure that you’ve added it to your subscription for 2015/16 immediately. Unregistered boats will be removed and disposed of. There is many a slip between cup and lip and it may be months before the Lease is sealed, signed and delivered. But we have received written assurances from WWE that we feel we can rely on. I would like to thank the members of the Club and the Committee for their unstinting support for the line we have taken from the very start. For me to receive the unanimous support from the membership at the AGM was movingly heart warming at a point where my spirits were low. Thanks to the Lease Sub Committee, Dave Mason and Chris Fyans and, unusually, I will single out one person, Club Secretary Chris Daniels, for their unflinching support, crystal clear vision, commitment to the cause and steadfast constancy in the face of very difficult circumstances. If you truly value Weir Wood Sailing Club for its future both to you and those who come after you for the next 2 generations, if you love Weir Wood for its wondrous and unsullied beauty and our ability to play in it unmolested, praise and thank them for it is to them that we owe our future.

Simon Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 3 Sailing Secretaries’ Scribblings Martin Pascoe Ernie Hatton

The first Weir Wood Wednesday evening event was held on 28th January in the clubhouse. There was an excellent turnout in excess of 40 members and joint Sailing Secretary Martin kicked off the meeting with a talk outlining ‘Race Starting Procedure’ and pointing out some of the pitfalls a Race Officer can encounter, such as notrelying on the direction of the wind indicated by the flags on the shore line, theuseand meaning of race signals, avoiding the setting of a hook finish, keeping away from wind shadows when setting a course, using the committee boat, or a RIB, to start races, etc.

Some time was devoted to the principle of using Average Lap Times to calculate results, and the importance of recording each boats number of laps was emphasised as was the good practice of recording each boat’s elapsed time on each lap. Recording the time ensured that a fair result could be calculated if, as often happens ona Wednesday evening race, some boats are stopped whilst others are sent round again on a dying breeze. Should this occur the last lap time can be ignored in the calculation.

There was much input from those present and amongst the suggestions made was- • If a Race Officer wants to run a race from the committee boat, but is unsure about doing so, he/she should approach either one of the Sailing Secretaries, or one of the club’s experienced race team. This should preferably be done at least the weekend before the duty. • To encourage the use of water based starts there should be a grab bag available in the race hut which contains all the equipment necessary for a committee boat start. (This will be organised. Also it was pointed out that there is now a small signal mast available for use where a RIB start is the best option). • It was pointed out that some race officers were reluctant to enforce the Individual or General recall rules, also that the signal flags for these rules were either not available or very small, as a consequence the rule was often ignored resulting in unfair advantage being given to offenders. (Race Officers will be encouraged to enforce all starting rules and the necessary flags will be made available) (NOTE- The Racing Rules of sailing quite categorically state the visual signal determines the start of the race/timing and the sound signal is subordinate to this. Regarding starting procedure and recalls in club racing at WWSC it is tacitly accepted that due to the positioning Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 4 of the race hut with the flag pole and start line there is a strong tendency to use the sound signal as the pre-eminent start signal This we are prepared to accept but the relevant flag MUST be hoisted at the time of the sound signal to confirm the meaning of that sound signal).

Ernie introduced the second part of the meeting: “What do you want from your sailing?” by asking those present for feedback regarding the splitting of the handicap fleets into fast and slow as had been done in the past. The options offered were-

1. Separate fast and slow handicap starts. 2. A single start but split the fleet into spinnaker and non-spinnaker when calculating results. 3. As above but split the fleet by PN when calculating results.

In view of the relatively small size of the fleets item 1 was agreed to be an unnecessary complication to the starting procedure. The consensus appeared to favour item 2 above. The reasoning being that the disadvantage of starting in the wind shadow of a larger boat was transitory compared to the significant advantage enjoyed by spinnaker boats when, as often happens in Weir Wood’ downwind legs, they could carry their spinnaker in a direct line to the next mark. Item 3 was not pursued. (Starting in April results will be split as suggested in item 2).

The next subject raised was introducing a personal handicap system to run in parallel with the current PN handicap series. The computer based results package(HAL) as well as using the Class PN also calculates for each finisher the PN that they sailed to during the race. By taking an average of this number over a number of races a Personal PN (PPN) can be calculated. In order to be sure the PPN is truly an average, out of normal good or bad results will be discarded in the calculation. (The suggestion was accepted on the basis of running a trial in the summer season before integrating it into the club race system). The next major change to be proposed was the introduction of 3 races on a Sunday morning during the summer season. The proposal was-

• First race start time will be 10:00 hrs with further starts not before 11:00 hrs and 12:00 hrs • Each race will be scheduled to run for 40 minutes (approx) with the intention of finishing the last race at about 13:00 hrs. • The three races will each be in a different series. This will allow members to select the start time or race series they wish to enter. Alternatively they can of course enter all three races. • Allowing for Open meetings and Club whole day sailing such as WDO and Club Championships, the summer season will be split in two as far as the length of each series is concerned. This should give 10/11 races with 6 or 7 to count for each series, making a total of six series altogether. (Following debate it was agreed that the 3 race starts should be trialled this coming season). Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 5 Encouraging more youth participation in Sunday racing. The youth section represented at the meeting stated that they found it very daunting to race amongst season racers. They were intimidated, mainly on the start line, by the apparent angry shouts made by helms. Following discussion with this group they agreed that some kind of ‘L’ plate recognition could help by alerting others to the fact that they were novices and could not be expected to have the experience of cut throat starting tactics. They also thought that crewing in a few races with an established helm would both improve their knowledge of sailing and give them more confidence in the pre-start melee. (The outcome of this was to have a bright coloured patch stuck both sides at the clew end of the main. And come April when more youth are active they would supply the names of those wishing to sail with an experienced helm and we could pair them off)

It was agreed that buoy 7 be moved more to the centre of the lake away from the sheltered area it is currently in.

Due to low numbers the viability of Saturday PM series racing was questioned. It was agreed that the running of this racing be transferred to the youth, training and Oppy group. Any club member can still enter this series which it is hoped will have the effect of encouraging more youth to participate in a racing environment.

Do you sail a 2000? Rob Burridge is organising race training on Saturdays, dates as listed elsewhere in this magazine. Be sure to come along to support Rob and to pick up many hot tips in sailing your 2000.

Discussions continued during an excellent supper provided by Rachael and everyone agreed the meeting had been well worthwhile. Weir Wood Wednesdays are being held every last Wednesday of the month up to and including April. See separate advert for topics and speakers. Wednesday 25th Evening

We were delighted to welcome Megan Pascoe, an international 2.4 competitor and potential Olympic team member, to talk to us about the psychology of racing. Megan had come up through WWSC starting in Oppies and sailing with us until she went to University. She concentrated her talk on the rational versus emotional responses to situations that go wrong and don’t yield the outcome expected or desired. Her explanation of the Chimpanzee Paradox was fascinating and left many of us wondering why we got so cross and frustrated when with good personal discipline and self management can see us through.(The Ed got a sound talking to by his crew after this!)

Again many thanks to Rachael for preparing such a delicious supper: beef and beetroot goulash.

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter Please note that the next Wednesday is 25th March when our guest is Robert Owens, an 6 expert on the Racing Rules. Also note that the April date has been brought forward to 22nd April when the speaker will be Mark Rushall, top coach and tactician. Both speakers will tailor their talks to the needs of the audience so get in touch with Martin or Ernie and let them know what aspects of their expertise you want to hear about.

Martin and Ernie And Megan is not the only Pascoe at the top of her sailing career. Brother Sam has just won the Worlds at Geelong in Australia. With sailing partner Glen Truswell they bagged first place in the first 5 races. Not satisfied with finishing with a safe fifth place in the last race they stormed into first place and into the class history books. Look up the details on the International 14 web site.

The Ed Sam opens the trottle Ramblings Bill Stean Sad to say that this is the second report in a row where I start by saying it’s been a disappointing period for Weir Wood Laser sailing. There’s not much to comment on and it feels a bit as if most of us have got a case of winter blues.

The main event for me was Chris Fyans phoning from hospital the night before the Rooster 8.1 Nationals to ask me to look after things next day His GP had told him to go to A&E to have some (urgent) tests; he just might have had a heart attack (or maybe more than one). Typical Chris; he thought he would pop in, have the tests and then get his kit ready for the next day. Funnily enough the doctors didn’t see it that way. And fortunately Valerie wasn’t about to let him overrule them. Two months later and he’s got more bypasses than Blindly Heath, East Grinstead and Uckfield combined. The zip on my foil bag looks small and neat compared with the surgeon’s work on his chest. Anyway, he’s on his feet and progressing steadily but cautiously. He’s already signed up for the Masters’ Worlds in Ontario starting on 29 June but I rather suspect he won’t manage to do all of the SE Grand Prix Events. We had a reasonable Laser turnout for the club’s Christmas Dinner but were well down on our go-karting numbers the following weekend. I know no one is going to beat Simon Barrington but it’s worth coming along to fight it out with Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 7 the rest of us – and to have a pint or two and a good curry.

The winter participation numbers have been all over the place. So, for instance there were 3 Lasers on 9 November, 4 and 2 on 23 November but 15 on 26 October. I haven’t worked out the mean but it is around 8 or 9; which is 4 or 5 down on winter 2013/2014. Most of that can be blamed on regulars. Chris Fyans for obvious reasons; Rob Long and Dan Carter I haven’t seem for some while; Geoff Bush has had back trouble and his legs have been taking him elsewhere; I think Tony Boulton may have forgotten how to get to the club; Peter Meares has been overseas quite a bit and James has climbed far too many mountains and run too many races when he should have been sailing; Janet Wight doesn’t like falling in (who does?) and Stuart Richardson has been spending too much time in Cornwall. There are others – and I know who you are. Admittedly the winds haven’t been all that great but conversely the reservoir is full. It’s very easy to lose the incentive, so I urge everyone to get back into the habit and see if we can get the numbers up again.

To catch up on results: Mid-Summer 2014 Dave Binding Summer Bill Stean Alastair Ley Alastair Ley Pete Young James Meares Late Summer Pete Young Autumn Dave Binding Stuart Richardson Bruce Ramshaw Dave Binding Geoff Bush

Winter Warm-up Stuart Richardson Mid-winter Dave Binding Will Gatehouse Bill Stean Chris Fyans Simon Davis

Christmas Cracker Dave Goddard Icicle Chris Spencer-Smith Bill Stean Dave Goddard Chris Fyans Pete Young

I’ve circulated the SE Grand Prix dates for this year by email but I should check against the list that Simon Barrington has put on the Laser website:

Bough Beech 28 March Chipstead 26 April Weir Wood 2 May Pevensey 16 May Broadstairs 14 June Lancing 28 June Arun 11 July Hastings 22 August

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter Bewl Valley 26 September 8 Give them a go. We are usually the best represented club so there’s no shortage of people you’ll recognise or of helpers to get your boat to the event. Email me if you need assistance.

Jon Hamilton is clearly bidding to be the main Laser retailer in the area. How about updating your sail - £350 rolled for a standard or radial or £330 for a 4.7 - £300 folded; all from Hyde. He’s always pushing some offer for nearly new boats – currently they’re from £3,695. Or if you’re just about to cash in your pension, go for a new one @ £4,295. John virtually lives at the club at weekends – unless he’s away supporting the youth members. Alternatively get him on [email protected]

Lastly, 6 of the club’s Laser sailors went skiing in La Plagne at the beginning of February. We had a marvellous week. It had snowed for much of the previous week so conditions were great. I’m afraid that the Simons Barrington and Davis made the rest of us look rather amateur – and most of the other skiers around, too. Here’s Stuart Richardson “capsized” in quite deep snow. You might notice that he’s only carrying 1 ski. The other one is about 200m further down the slope, so he had to almost literally “swim” for it. There’s a good chance we’ll go again next year, so let me know if you want to opt in.

Now wheres that ski? Swim anyone? Bill Culinary News: The Ed has it on good authority that Bill Stean is an expert at cooking scrambled eggs. They are apparently the creamiest eggs ever. Do get in touch with Bill for the recipe. From the Ed’s wife’s diaries. (At the Ed’s expense). Part 1 One day my housework-challenged husband decided to wash his tee shirt. Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to me, “What setting do I use on the washing machine?” “It depends,” I replied. “What does it say on your shirt?” He yelled back, “ Weir Wood sailing Club.!” And they say blondes are dumb. Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 9 Cruising Notes

We Cruisers are a social lot, we don’t only Mike Summers meet on Sunday mornings to race, in fact racing is definitely not our passion; we like to use our boats for pleasure, sometimes on the Reservoir and often somewhere else. We like the idea of actually going somewhere, a voyage that has a beginning and a destination, even if we eventually have to come back to where we started, we like to know that we have been somewhere in between. Winter is the very best time to be thinking about the better weather, talking about getting out there and planning some serious cruising, and that’s what we did on 6 February when a whole bunch of we who call ourselves Cruisers met at The Chequers to have a reminisce about what we did last year and to talk about what we are going to be doing in 2015.

Last Year We got out a bit in 2014, although the weather didn’t so much as stop us as didn’t allow us to get where we wanted to go. Rather than our cruises being blown off by strong winds as happened in 2013, last year we were disappointed a few times by lack of wind. But even a quiet day on the sea is pleasant and we always enjoyed ourselves.

At the end of May we planned to go to Wootton Creek on the Isle of Wight but for lack of wind we only got as far as Meon which is on the mainland to the East of Southampton Water just before you get to Hill Head. It gave us the excuse to fire up the outboard and my Kez towed Martin Cragg and Jeff in their 2000 while Tony on Cameo, his Beneteau 323 yacht towed Jon Mellor and Nigel Skinner in their 2000. In the afternoon the sea breeze came up and we had a glorious sail back. Kez streches her legs! Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 10 In June we went to Chichester Harbour, Tony Fobat took his Wayfarer with Marc Jenkins as crew. Martin Cragg and crew and Tony with is son went along the coast to Bracklesham Bay where there is reputed to be an excellent fish and chip emporium. Personally I think they were heading for the pub…

In July three L2000s and Tony in Cameo dashed across from Warsash to Newtown Creek on the Isle of Wight on a blustery day. Richard Williams and Bill Stean set off from Wootton Creek and nearly met the fleet but time and tide wait for no man and although they waved to the rest of the cruisers there was not time to chat before Richard had to scoot back east to avoid a foul tide. Tales of boats emerging from Newtown Creek after lunch like champagne corks from the bottle abound. There were capsizes as Martin showed new member Kate Robb his almost perfected Spinnaker double declutch gybe with extra points for style. Geoff Bush and nearly his entire family were in their L2000 which sailed back to Warsash (fast) using just their jib. Jon and Tom Mellor had a great time thinking they were sailing back in a F5 but liitle did they know it was actually gusting F6.

Martin & Kate (pre capsize) In August we went to Chichester Harbour on a breezy day with plenty of tide. Dick and Ann Lankester came along for the first time to a cruise with their and we were joined by Nicolas and Christine Defranoux with their friend Jerome in their Nessie. Ken Burgess sailed with me in Kez and Richard and Chris came along in their L2000 Le Touquet. We visited Dell Quay after waiting for the tide to rise sufficiently to get us over the shallows just south of the sailing club, then while we ate our lunch at the & Anchor but had to keep running back to shorten the moorings on the boats as the tide rose. It got very boisterous on our return to Itchenor as wind with tide tried to sweep us back up towards Birdham Marina Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 11 and high-water compressed all of the boats and jet-skis and fishing launches onto a shrinking beach. We had to fight for space to de-mast and get the boats back onto their trailers.

September saw an attempt to sail from Warsash to the Beaulieu River but once again the wind failed to make an appearance and after painfully slow progress, Nicolas and Christine in their Stratos, Robin Grange in a Vareo and Ken and myself in Wayfer Kez struggled to get as far as Stansore Point. We tied up to Cameo where Tony and Bridget, together with Nic and Christine’s daughters had dropped the hook for lunch. As happened in May, the Sea Breeze picked up in the afternoon and we enjoyed a gentle sail back to Warsash.

Robin in his Vareo Nicolas & Christine Although not strictly Cruising, in October ten of us went to Cobnor Activity Centre for the Adult Cobnor Weekend, using the bomb-proof dinghies that the Centre operate. They did not trust us with their shiny new Mark 4 Wayfarers.

The wind was light to begin with but picked up and we sailed to Hayling Island Sailing Club on Saturday and Dell Quay on Sunday. Matt Oglethorpe joined us on his first taste of cruising with the club, his partial capsize on the way back from Dell Quay was a surprise for Matt and Chris Brunsdon and it is amazing the volume of water you can scoop up in a Bosun; I’m sure the level of the water in the harbour dropped a little until they had finished bailing out.

Just before their soaking Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 12 That was last year, what of 2015?

As always we have to research the tides to work out when the conditions allow us to sail and not get swept out past the Needles by an ebbing tide, or try to punch the tide to get to our destination.

The 30th May looks ideal for an expedition to The Beaulieu River when we generally visit the Royal Southampton Yacht Club’s Gins Lane clubhouse.

On 6 June we are going to try for an overnight stay at Island Harbour which is a marina up the Medina on the Isle of Wight, near Newtown, there is plenty of space to camp on the grass, showers and loos and a nice restaurant that serves excellent breakfasts.

On 13th June we plan to go to Newtown Creek.

Robin Grange has suggested we try a camping weekend at a site just south of Cobnor Activity Centre on the 18th and 19th July which gives us access to the whole of Chichester Harbour. Anyone interested in this should contact Robin soon as he has to book the space.

The 19th September looks ideal for a crossing to Wootton Creek there is a possibility of an overnighter at Bembridge leaving the boats on the beach and camping at a large campsite just behind the water.

Adult Cobnor this year will be held over the weekend of 23/ 24/ 25th October. Be sure to tell Tony you are interested early.

Finally, Martin Cragg urges us to join the Around the Island Isle of Sheppey Race on 5 September http://www.iossc.org.uk/islandrace/index.php#.VPTpnULejvh He and Peter Deeming have taken part in this 40 mile event several years running and tell us it is a lot of fun, it includes a mandatory capsize/ laying the boat down to pass under a low bridge and avoidance of numerous hidden hazards. Martin has a strange definition of fun.

Crewing Opportunities

Maybe your dinghy is not suitable to take out on the sea, not everyone has the hardware (road trailers) or the inclination to take their boats on the road. There are usually skippers in need of crew, so get in touch and we will try to put together people who have a boat but no crew and crew who have no boat. Get in touch through the email address below.

What about Cruising at the Reservoir?

Not everyone wants to sail on the salty sea, the Reservoir is a wonderful resource and there is Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 13 plenty of scope to make best use of our home water. In the past we have arranged Treasure Hunts and dinghy Orienteering. It is very pleasant just taking a picnic down to the far end of the reservoir and dropping a hook or tying up to a buoy and lazing in the sunshine.Let us know what you would like to do and I am sure we can arrange an activity to suit all needs and skill levels. So if any of this floats your boat, then get in touch through the cruising email address [email protected]. And when you come down to the Club watch out for people not racing, they’re probably Cruisers. Have a look at the Cruising Pages on the website where you will find the dates for our 2015 cruises plus logs with photographs and updateson arrangements. Above all get in touch through the Cruising email address so that we can keep you in the loop about what’s going in.

Mike The Social Scene Christmas Party Time Ken Burgess On the evening 6th December, just under 60 people, mostly club members filtered their way into the clubhouse ready to wine, dine, dance and party. Upon their arrival people were greeted with glass of Carver served by one of our Sunday juniors before taking their seats ready to enjoy a professionally prepared Christmas Fayre.

During the afternoon Mike Summers, Ken Burgess and three of our Sunday Juniors: Chloe, Glen, and Christopher changed the appearance of the clubhouse beyond recognition, glittering snowflakes adorned the ceiling, Xmas lights covered a large Christmas Tree, White linin tablecloths and Red napkins dressed the tables, WWSC was ready to party.

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter Three heroes: Sunday Juniors: Glen, Chloe, and Chris 14 Once the meal was over and the music started and it was party time and it soon became very apparent that WWSC members know how to party; I remember looking around the clubhouse at one point and there were just five people sitting at tables, most drawing breath, while everyone else was dancing away, Simon proudly wearing a Kilt, we just hoped some lead weights were sewn into the hem as he danced away. The two Laser tables were almost empty, had they disappeared for a midnight race, not at all, just about every last one of them were strutting their stuff on the dance floor. One thing for certain, there’s no ageism at our club; Vic Hopkins was bogging away most of the night as indeed most people were. Our DJ really enjoyed herself, telling me she had never seen so many people of mixed ages enjoying themselves, making it easy for her to keep those turntables spinning well past Midnight.

Table set Your Ideas wanted

Give me your ideas for club social events, I need your input. Ideas to: [email protected]

Ken Burgess Guess Who! INTRODUCING OUR NEW 2000 FLEET CAPTAIN, AMY HULLEY Amy will hardly need much introduction to many of us. She has been sailing at WWSC since she was very young in Oppy Club. She left to go to Uni and pursued other adventures, went up north to be with her partner, John, then saw the light and came back south bringing John with her and has rejoined along with John. She inherited her Amy & Dad love of sailing and other outdoor pursuits no Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 15 doubt from mum and dad, Linda and Tim, and it is great to see the whole family involved at WWSC.

First, on behalf of all the 2000s sailors at Weir Wood I would like to offer a big thank you to Michael Ramus for his commitment as2000 Fleet Captain over the past 4 years and for doing such a great job. We hope to see Michael out on the water with us in the future. I have since been nominated to take up the role of Weir Wood 2000 fleet captain I have been involved with Weir Wood Sailing Club for most of my life. I started sailing an Express dinghy with my Dad but I didn’t like getting my wellies wet. I then got involved with the Weir Wood Oppy fleet, which was much more fun because I didn’t have to sail with the fossils (parents). Once I grew too big for Oppies I played around in any boat I could get my hands on. My parents first bought a 2000 in 1998, I was encouraged (coerced) into a 2000 with a duck on a piece of string (but we had usually forgotten the string,) so it was on the end of the main sheet- which made sailing awkward for Dad).The 2000 is a great boat suitable for all sailing abilities.

I have been away from the club for five years due to university and a distraction/ attraction to mountain biking/ wakeboarding/ orienteering/ . I have recently rejoined Weir Wood Sailing Club with my partner John with the aim of sailing a 2000 together. We have had a couple of fantastic top tip sessions so far this year, kindly provided for us by Rob Burridge and the weather. We are all very thankful to Rob for his time, energy and endless patience! The aim of the session is to have lots of fun, to help each other improve and develop our sailing techniques for the 2015 sailing season. These sessions are open to all 2000 sailors and are such great fun. The next in the series is 7th March and 18th April. Rigged and ready at 13.30. At the last session we focused on a number of key points such as trying not to use too much rudder whilst Amy not sailing? turning the boat, communication between helm and crew, how much roll is required for roll tack/gybe. The debrief afterwards in the clubhouse supported by video and photographic evidence was enlightening and so helpful for us all. Our aim for the future is to encourage as many 2000s as possible out on the water, having fun and to offer any help and encouragement required to each other. We are looking forward to Weir Wood Sailing Club Championships on the 29tth March also the first 2015 2000 Open event at Dell Quay on 19th April. On 19th September Weir Wood are hosting their own 2000 Open event. Followed by Barts Bash 2 the next day. Looking forward to seeing everyone out on the water

Amy Hulley

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter ‘Jackass’ 2064 16 INTER-CLUB BOUGH BEECH 2014

Even though we were give less than ten days to organise a team Weir Wood entered a strong team for this year’s WSKSA Inter-Club event. The team were David and Emily Giles RS200, Tim and Linda Hulley 2000, Amy Hulley and John Dasey 2000, Matt Larkin Laser and Richard Cumming RS300. On arrival there was literally no wind and the lake looked like glass, a one hour postponement was signalled resulting in the usual scene of frustrated sailors wanting to get on with the racing. Eventually a light force 2 breeze filled in and the first race of the three race series got under away. The meeting was marred throughout by shifty winds and working out the way to go was, for all the visitors, David Giles & Emily almost impossible. As indicated by the results, local knowledge was at premium and not surprisingly the Bough Beech A team made a clean sweep of the racing and finished overall first with a creditable 15 points. The Weir Wood team were second with 42 points and the Bough Beech B team finished third with 50 points.

Even though the points gap was significant our Matt Larkin team performed well with David and Emily sailing consistently finishing fifth in the races to count, Richard had a first and third although an infringement at the start meant he had to discard the third place, Matt even though he was sailing by far the oldest Laser he showed the others the way round and was consistently first in the pack, the 2000s of Tim and Amy, did not have the conditions on their side but Richard Cumming sailed well in managing to stay mid-fleet in the light winds which tend to hold the 2000 back. Having conceded the trophy to Bough Beech the meeting was something of a disappointment to our team who sailed consistently well but were up against a formidable Bough Beech team with a depth of local knowledge in the light conditions we could not match.

Even though we at Weir Wood have a thriving youth Tim & Linda Hulley section we were not represented by a team. Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 17 We were informed that next year Weir Wood are the hosts and we must ensure that we enter two full teams in both the senior and cadet categories, and make sure we regain the Inter- Club trophies which, over the years , have been consistently on display in our clubhouse.

Ernie and Martin WINTER DRAWS ON OPEN MEETING.- 20TH OCTOBER 2014

Forty boats entered for the 20th Winter Draws On which, when taking into account the weather forecast, was a very respectable turnout.

The first race got away sharply at 11:00 hrs, the wind direction was varying between South West and West South West and had eased slightly from earlier in the day. But a combination of a pin end bias in a shifting wind, eagerness on the part of the fleet and a relatively short start line for forty boats, forced at least ten boats to start early so there was a general recall. The race committee considered raising the ‘black flag’ for the restart but accepted some responsibility for the general recall so it was hastily put away the line length was increased and a lot of the bias taken out.

The wind direction, which was blowing down the lake and slightly off the south shore, enabled the race officers to set a long beat towards No 7 buoy , had the course been windward/ leeward this would have meant a long ‘sleigh ride’ down the lake to the leeward mark at No 2. However, to add interest, and introduce an element of competition ,the course was not set as windward/leeward but took competitors on a reach from No 7 across to No 6, a run down to No 4 with a very tight reach across to No5, this leg was put in to ensure that the spinnaker boats were not able to carry the all the way down the lake, thus giving them handling challenges and the non-spinnaker boats more of a chance. From No 5 there was a short run to No 3 followed by a fast reach to No 2. Then it was up the lake again and through the line to No 7.

The wind strengthened on the re-start of race one which caught out the unwary and there were a number of capsizes but the fleet generally handled the conditions extremely well. Paul and Peter Jenkins in a drew out a significant lead over the rest of the fleet but it was not enough to beat Rob and Sarah Burridge in a 2000 (ex Laser 2000) on handicap, a creditable third place went to the only visitor, and youth sailor, George Colcomb from Crawley Marinas sailing a Laser 4.7, with Jonathan Ching and Claire Pethean in a RS400 fourth. This result vindicated the Portsmouth Yardstick system by returning an excellent PN spread of 1100, 990, 1185 and 946 for the first four boats.

The second race was held back-to-back using basically the same course but due to the wind going more slightly southerly and increasing in strength buoy No 5 was taken out, this still gave a tight reach across the lake, this time from No 4 to No 3. Some boats tried to their spinnaker but had to carry out a hasty drop after rounding No 4. Rob and Sarah once again Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 18 showed their mastery of the conditions and won the race on handicap by a comfortable margin. Behind them the leader board changed , with Dave Binding Laser (and a Master at that) second, Jonathan and Claire RS400, third and Matt Larkin Laser in fourth, giving a PN spread of 1100, 1088, 946 and 1088. It was noticeable that due to the increasing wind strength out of a fleet of forty, 13 crews either did not start or did not finish.

Following two heavy weather races in the morning, and a weather forecast for the wind strength to increase as the day progressed, a decision was taken to shorten the duration of the Pursuit Race from ninety to sixty minutes, though even so the early starters would still have an hour of heavy weather sailing in front of them. The first boat away was the Laser 4.7 of George Colcomb from Crawley Marinas who managed a very creditable sail by staying ahead for 50 of the 60 minute race when a combination of a really vicious gust, constant heavy weather and fatigue caused him to capsize and lose the lead to Rob and Sarah Burridge in their 2000 , followed by a number of other boats who were closing in for the kill. Rob was being chased hard by Paul Cullen and Gina in the who did not quite manage to catch up but did display a mastery of the conditions. Third at the finish was Jonathan and Claire (RS400) who once again demonstrated that the ‘beast’ could be tamed in heavy weather. It was a very close call for fourth spot between John Ramshaw and Mark Harrington (RS200) and David Giles (Laser) with John being judged marginally ahead following David’s last minute capsize,. Edward Thorburn showing equal mastery of the , not seen since that other Finn sailor in the Olympics, was sixth.

There were twenty finishers (half the entry of forty) completing the Pursuit Race which gives an indication of how seriously windy it was. Apart from the clean sweep made by the Burridge duo, the Pursuit Race was a deciding factor in the overall result of the meeting – printed below.

At the prize giving the winner received the Winter Draws On plaque with a permanent memento and the second and third each received a prize. Following these awards the ceremony took a different approach to the usual ‘special’ awards. In an attempt to reward many more of the fleet ALL entrants names were put into a ‘hat’ and ten were drawn out- raffle fashion- to come up and select a prize from the table. This put a different slant on the ‘winter draw’s on’. As is traditional with the Winter Draws On meeting a £5.00 entry fee was charged and £200 was raised as a donation to the RNLI.

Next year will see the much loved Winter Draws On come of age as the 21st event is held, bear this in mind and make the effort to be there for a Bart’s Bash size turnout. It’s fun and one of the rare occasions when the whole club compete with each other.

First ten overall results-

1st Rob and Sarah Burridge- 2000

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 2nd Jonathan Ching and Claire Pethean – RS400 19 3rd Paul Cullen and Gina Modinis- Fireball 4th David Giles- Laser 5th John Ramshaw and Mark Harrington- RS200 6th Matt Larkin- Laser 7th Paul and Peter Jenkins- Merlin Rocket 8th Bill Stean- 9th George Colcomb- Laser 4.7 10th Martin and Julie Pascoe- RS200

Ernie and Martin SOUTH EAST ZONE TRAINING; WEIR WOOD 10-11TH JAN 2015

The South East zone squad is made up of 21 optimist sailors. For zone squad training we went to Weir Wood for the first session of the year We arrived early and saw waves lapping over the slip way because it was so windy!! The wind was pushing the waves up the fishing lodge slip way, the windiest i’d seen at Weir Wood. Therefore an easy decision not to go out straight away. Instead we jogged down the road to the Michael Hall school and had training from the coaches in a very well equipped classroom. When we came back we had lunch which was delicious and then went out as the wind eased. We did some races and then then came in to get warm. The next day we went out bright and early into about a SW force 3 and had a whale of a time. We then came in for some more fantastic food and with a fast turnaround we did a further 2 sessions in the afternoon with a break for some hot chocolate!! So thank you to John Hamilton and his team for putting on such a great event.

Sophie Dorrington REPRESENTING THE 2000 CLASS.

Rob Burridge and Katie Burridge report on the Battle of the Classes and the Endeavour Trophy.

The latter part of 2014 gave us the opportunity to represent the 2000 Class at the Battle of the Classes and the Endeavour Trophy. Battle of the Classes

The Battle of the Classes was held in our own boat and is a handicap based pursuit race. Single race, winner takes all. The event was based around the Southampton boat show on the same day as Barts Bash. This meant a single pursuit race for the Classes race, followed by a handicap race for Barts Bash.

The pursuit race was interesting to say the least. The windward mark was about 20m off the Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 20 boat show pontoons and 50m from an 8 deck high, massive, cruise ship that was docked! Access to the windward mark was tricky with gusts coming from above as well as both sides. This was followed by a reach down Southampton Water and back.

We were lucky enough to have a good race with minimal hold ups, and three quarters of the way round we managed to take the lead and prepared to try and hold off the faster boats coming from behind. As we headed into the last leeward mark with only a minute to go, we were level with 3 other boats, and as the finish time was reached we were 2nd, only to be pushed back to 3rd by the time the committee boat had reached us to officially record the places.

It was good to get the 2000 noticed with a number of complimentary comments about the new LDC 2000. The event was tracked using GPS trackers, so for those interested, just go to the Battle of the Classes website and view the tracker to see how it unfolded. Endeavour Trophy

The Endeavour Trophy is ‘the’ UK dinghy event to take part in. It is invitation only for National Champions of the top classes. In 2014 there were 25 entrants who were all supplied with new ‘Argo’ dinghies from . The ‘Argo’ is a double hander of very similar proportions to the 2000, albeit with a slightly larger asymmetric and lowers to support the lower mast and make rig set up interesting.

The event started on the Friday with boat allocation. The boats were all brand new and still in their wrappers. It took a good few hours to unpack and rig everything before heading out for some training starts and to play around with rig set up. Boat set up and adjustments went on as long as daylight allowed and started again at first light before racing on the Saturday.

The forecast was for a light start with wind building all weekend and becoming wet and windy on Sunday. This prompted the race officer to aim for 6 races on Saturday and 2 on Sunday as there were concerns about whether any racing would be possible Sunday.

The event is held at the junction of 2 rivers and the restricted area means boat handling is at a premium. As is to be expected the racing is incredibly close with starting, mark roundings and short tacking often either gaining or losing many places.

Our day started off rather slowly in the light breezes as our settings were optimised for the expected stronger wind, and although we do alter rake on the water, the setting of the lowers meant there was no way of on the water adjustments.

After our initial 16th and 12th, we started to get more up to speed as the breeze gently increased. Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 21 The next race result was 10th, and by now we were sitting out upwind, and competing in the boatspeed stakes enough to be able to attack the course and hear the sweet sound of the winning gun. 1st place in an Endeavour race was a very satisfying feeling!

We were in the top few of the first run in the next race when our short gybing down the shore to avoid the tide, created a very messy problem. We got stuck in a bunch of boats where nobody wanted to gybe away from the shore and we embarrassingly planted the boat on the soft mud with the spinnaker up! After a rapid jump out and reorganisation, we got back into the race and finished 7th with a very muddy boat and crew! By now we were enjoying the freshening conditions and had one last push in the sixth race of the day to finish 4th and head in for a well earned rest.

All night the wind howled and it looked like no racing would be on, but it eased slightly at 9am and the fleet was sent out for two final races. Our good form in the breezy conditions continued and we circulated around in the top group in the thick of the fight for the Championship between the Osprey and Merlin sailors and finished 5thwhile trying to keep out of their way! It was getting pretty windy for the last race with the downwind legs becoming great fun with the crossovers becoming very quick! It was essential to have your wits about you at the leeward gate as boats approached at high speed from all directions. 2nd place in the final race was a satisfying way to finish. We posted a 7th overall and kept the 2000 Class on the map. I would like to thank the 2000 Class for the opportunity to compete in the event, and for all those who wished us luck, sent messages and came along to support, as well as my super crew whose commitment and effort was 100% all weekend (although Katie was not best pleased when standing up to her thighs in mud half way through race 5!). A quick add on from Katie’s perspective:

2014 has been by far the most challenging but brilliant year in all the sailing I have done so far. Being able to compete within the class against great sailors but also being able to represent the class and meet so many more top class sailors has been fantastic. The Endeavour Trophy event in particular is definitely the most demanding event I have competed in, especially with 6 races in one day and a very breezy 2 the next. The Topper Argos are interesting boats with all the controls at the front so I was kept busy. It was interesting to set up a boat completely from scratch with no known settings. Plus, being a relatively new class the Argos had never been raced in anything above a force 3 before so it was great fun testing them out in some big winds. We had a few interesting moments (some of which dad mentioned!) but it’s all part of the fun and learning how to improve. This year has enabled me to learn so much and I am very grateful for all the opportunities I have been given. I feel particularly proud to have been able to experience all of this with my dad; it is very rarely that a family duo can work so well as a team, training together, planning together and winning together. I’d like to thank him for everything. I hope that all the work that dad and I have done this year has helped to demonstrate why

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter the 2000 class is brilliant. 22 A NEW ARRIVAL Phil Ireland introduces “Misty”. Some of you, at least, will have recently Phil Ireland noticed a blue and white object on a mooring just off the west jetty. This is ‘Misty’, my Skipper 17 trailer-sailer. The Skipper 17, also known (particularly in the USA) as the Mariner 17 and, latterly, as the Eagle 525, was originally designed by the late Peter Milne, of Fireball fame. After unsuccessfully experimenting with bow blister cuddies (which were very ugly and generally disliked) the first full-cabin single metal drop-plate Mark 1 models were produced in 1972, at a price of £595 – those were the days! Mine is one of these and, presumably, dates from the 1970s or early 1980s, because, in 1985, a twin drop-plate Mark 2 version was produced. I have no history on her, and the previous owner was not particularly forthcoming either.

Misty @ home Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 23 She can, theoretically, sleep four, although you’d all have to be very good friends and not at all claustrophobic! As the name implies, ‘Misty’ is 17 feet LOA, has a beam of 7 feet, and weighs a 1,000 pounds, so launching and retrieval are not exactly single-handed operations. When there is no wind, I have a Bison electric outboard trolling motor to get me back to the jetty/mooring. If the Club is ever ‘relaxed’ enough to permit ‘Misty’ to take part in a mixed handicap race, her displacement sailing handicap is 1197 – whatever that means!

I had intended, originally, to coastal sail her out of Shoreham but, for various reasons, that didn’t work out, so I looked around for a stretch of inland water that was big enough so as not to feel ‘cramped’, which was accessible from where I Live near Horsham, and which was, finally, an attractive location with friendly, helpful people. I have to say, on all counts, Weir Wood scores 11 out of 10. I have been made so welcome! As for me, most of my sailing experience – with a mixed bag of Graduates, Enterprises, 420s, and the odd Merlin Rocket or two – was pretty much “ a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” in my misspent youth, although I did spend a couple of summers crewing in a Hilbre Island One-Design, sailing out of their sole base of West Kirby on Wirral.

For those of you unfamiliar with this class, the HIOD is a 19ft 9ins clinker-built dayboat (with open cabin), with a flat bottom to sit on the Dee Estuary sand/mud when the tide is out. Because of the unforgiving nature of the tidal regime, race starts could be horribly early in the morning.

The best technique was to time things so that Downwind you walked out from the foreshore just as the tide was coming in, just giving you enough time to put your four-pack of Higgies bitter on the shelf and rig the boat, before you floated off on your way to the start line. In similar fashion, after the race you needed to get back to your mooring just in time to down the final can, de-rig the boat and walk back across the drying sand. That was the theory.

If you mistimed things, or the wind died, it was an ignominious tow back to your mooring from the support boat. Mind you, if the support boat hadn’t been there, what with the fearsome Dee tidal race, it would have been “Uh-oh, hello Llandudno!”

Finally, what I have been saying to all the Members I’ve spoken to so far and what I would now like to highlight is that, by prior arrangement, I am perfectly happy to take people out for Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 24 a sail, to provide them with, possibly, their first experience of trying something with ‘a lid on’.

Phil Ireland

You can get in touch with Phil by email: [email protected] BRITISH KEELBOAT ACADEMY: DO YOU HAVE TO BE A GOOD SAILOR TO BE PROFESSIONAL? (FROM A VERY AMATEUR SAILOR) Rory Davis The British Keelboat Academy (BKA) is a joint initiative between the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and UK Sailing Academy. It is designed to encourage young, talented sailors into keelboat racing and is split into One Design, Offshore and Onshore racing. I feel privileged to have been invited to join what is the cream of young keelboat talent in the UK. This year I’m driving an http:// www.etchells.org a 22ft at the waterline one Rory Davis enthuses about his keelboat design with an incredibly competitive one experiences. design fleet. I can’t wait to race as we are training in Weymouth already.

Etchells in action This is my third season being part of the BKA (British Keelboat Academy) and looking back on where I have come from the progression has been gigantic. Last season I was part of a 12 man crew on-board their Farr 45 competing for the chance to win some national championships. Where we fell short (just) on some silver wear was because of gear failure when a crack in the mast was discovered and brought our season to an abrupt end. This gave us a chance to sit back and see what we really had achieved that season. Not only had we been very competitive against some of Britain’s fastest and best-funded teams, we all had a great time and made lifelong friends along the way. Testament to our success, out of the 12 strong crew that sailed on the Farr last season, over half of the crew are now either sailing professionally Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 25 or full time in the sailing industry. These seven guys are not necessarily the best sailors; they have just taken the big step in dedicating their lives to sailing. What the BKA teaches you over anything is to put yourself out of your comfort zone and sell yourself. What these seven guys have done in the sailing world, can be used outside and where I personally don’t necessarily see a life in professional sailing, the skills and confidence I have learnt will help me progress in what even I choose to do.

I am very proud to be part of the BKA, and it is probably not as hard as you might think to become part of the programme. In next two years they are encouraging 18-24 year olds to cross over from dingy racing to . Selections open once again in September and I hope to be sailing with some Weir Wood sailors next year! If there are any young sailors who would like the chance to sail with the BKA their website is http://www.rya.org.uk/ programmes/bka/Pages/BritishKeelboatAcademy.aspx also feel free to email me, Rory Davis [email protected]

Rory

AGM REPORT AND ELECTED OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS

The Club AGM was held on 6th December 2014 and was attended by some 50 members. It took the usual format with reports from the Commodore, Treasurer, Sailing Secretaries, Social Secretary, Youth and Training. Full details can be read in the Minutes book held in the club house. Some of the main points that were covered included: Update on the lease (covered elsewhere in this Edition). Subscriptions for 2015-16 (covered elsewhere in this Edition).

Chris Wilson announced that he would be standing down as Hon treasurer. Officers and Committee members were voted in and they are:

Simon Davis Commodore Chris Fynes Vice Commodore Chris Daniels Secretary Ian Alderman Membership Secretary Chris Wilson Treasurer Martin Pascoe and Ernie Hatton Joint Sailing Secretaries David Whensley Publicity Peter Hargreaves RYA rep Dick Lankester Duty Officer John Chisnall Magazine Editor

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter Mike Summers House and Grounds 26 Ken Burgess Social Secretary Chris Hopkins Youth Chris Moir Boat Park Marshall

Post meeting we are pleased to announce that Gordon Reece-Davies has agreed to take on the role of Hon Treasurer

New Club Trustees have recently been appointed and they are Simon Davis, Ernie Hatton and Chris Fynes. Mike Long

It is with great sadness we have report that Mike Long died following a cycling accident in which he was hit by a car that was out of control. The accident happened on 30th December at Nutley on the A22.

Mike had been a member of WWSC for many years, was a passionate sailor and latterly sailed a Vareo. He was always cheerful, had a great sense of humour and was always ready with a ready quip.

Our sympathy and thoughts go out to Mike’s family. He will be greatly missed.

The Ed WWSC subscriptions for 2015-16 The fees below were approved at the AGM on 7 December 2014:

Current Year 2014/15 Approved for 2015/16 Fees (£) Fees (£) Cadet member 85 90 Single member 150 160 Family member 190 205 Couple (See below) - 190 Senior citizen 110 115 Senior citizen family couple 130 135 Winter racer 85 90 Single sailboarder 125 130 Affiliated club 350 370 Social member 50 55 Country 36 40 Joining fee (new members – see below) - 50 Firstt boat 110 115

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter Second (& subsequent) boats 65 70 27 Optimist boat fee 40 45 First Boat – Cadet (other than Optimist) 70 75 Sailboard 70 75

Other agreed changes

We’re introducing a couple’s membership category for 2 adults with no children To attract partners of young singles to sailing and to retain couples whose families have grown up. About 15% of the current family members are couples. The fee has been set at £190.

Introduce a joining fee To enable discounting of membership fees at Open Day without loss of income to the club. The joining fee will be set at £50 for 2015/16.

Payment method surcharge As some payment methods require a lot of administration effort for the club, the AGM approved the introduction of a £5 admin surcharge on payments by cheque and standing order.

Direct Debit For 2015, we’re encouraging all members to pay by Direct Debit using WebCollect’s direct debit solution, which is provided in partnership with GoCardless. The solution is fully integrated, which means that during the checkout process, members are transferred to the GoCardless site to set up their direct debit and then come back to WebCollect to complete their order. The whole process is very simple (much better than the traditional Direct Debit mandate forms) and takes only a few minutes.

At renewal, you first need to check that the details we hold for you are correct and that you’re renewing the same subscriptions (membership category and boat/s) as last year. If you’re changing anything, now’s the time to do it. On the checkout page, you’ll see Online Direct Debit listed as a payment option. When you click on Enter Payment, you’ll be taken to a page where you will have the option of allowing the direct debit to cover potential future payments to the organisation, which we recommend as it will make things even easier in future years. The initial payment will be the amount of the order.

From there, you’ll click on a link that takes you to the GoCardless site. Here you can sign in, if you already have an account with GoCardless. If you’re new to GoCardless, you’ll be asked to provide your:

• name and email address • bank details: Account holder name, sort code and account number

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter • home address 28 You’ll then be asked to set a password, so that you can login into your GoCardless account in future. Next, you’ll be redirected back to the WebCollect site to check and confirm your order. (Note: If you change the items in your basket, you’ll be asked to go back to GoCardless to reconfirm the order amount again.)

When you click on place order, the WebCollect system will automatically send confirmation to GoCardless to complete the payment and you’ll see the checkout success page. Note: Payment by direct debit is not instant; it takes about a week. Once your payment arrives with WWSC, WebCollect automatically updates your subscription and notifies the membership team so your boat stickers can be issued. It’s that easy! OOD reflections

I was OOD on Sunday 25th January. It was a chilly start first thing with no wind. But by 10 am the sun was shining and there was a steady force 2-3 westerly wind. Janet Wight was race officer and Linda Hulley stepped in as timekeeper.

There was a great turnout for the handicap fleet; just under 20 boats including the Jenkins in their newly acquired RS800, Peter Clifton in his new RS Aero and five 2000’s including the MacGregors from Grafham. They have joined WWSC for the winter to specifically to join in with Rob Burridge’s 2000 training sessions. They drove down from Grafham for this Sunday’s racing. How’s that for dedication. James and Jenny McGregor, you are very welcome!

For the second race the conditions were just right to send the fleets up to No8 for the second race. The racing was very competitive for both races and we had to go to 3 decimal places to sort out the results. It was WWSC at its best.

I thought I was in for a short day as there was no Youth activities in the afternoon and it had clouded over and the wind had strengthened. But at about 2.15 three young and in one case tiny Oppy sailors were not going to be beaten by the winter recess and took to the water with their dad’s supervising. At first I was a little fed up. My early escape was thwarted. But seeing these three going through their paces around a set course for an hour and a half cheered me no end. Speaking to them afterwards they had clearly enjoyed themselves and their only disappointment was that they couldn’t get any hot chocolate when the session was over.

John Chisnall (The Ed) From the Ed’s wife’s diaries. (At the Ed’s expense). Part 2 I yelled up the stairs the other day to the bathroom. “Did you find the shampoo?” He answered “Yes but I’m not sure what to do with it. It’s for dry hair and I’ve just wet mine.

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter Affectionately your crew 29 UPDATE OF WWSC RULES AND BYELAWS, NOVEMBER 2014

Introduction The club’s Rules and Byelaws were last updated in January 2005. This update, approved at the AGM on 7 December 2014, simplifies rules wherever possible, uses current terminology and clarifies some rules.

The main changes are:

On membership • the membership year has been changed to align with the club’s financial year – 1 April to 31 March, • we’ve introduced a new class of membership for couples, • we’ve future-proofed the age requirement for Senior and Senior Couple memberships from 60 (this had previously been changed in practice to 65 several years ago) to ‘of state pensionable age’, and • clarified the age qualification for student membership (18-25 if in full-time education) and that honorary membership does not include boat fees.

Club Management • Wording amended to combine Management Committee, Main Committee and Committee under the one word, Committee. • The requirement for two committee members (not being Officers) to retire each year (Clause 11) has been removed.

Admission of members Simplified and brought up to date to recognise the club’s online membership database and payments system.

Fees and subscriptions Simplified, and dates aligned with the club’s financial year so that, for example, subscriptions are now due by 31 March, rather than by 1 March as previously.

Duties The clause excusing members over 75 from doing duties has been removed. (In practice, members over 75 will not be asked to do support boat duty.)

Abandoned boats This section already included the provision, where boat fees are three months or more in arrears, for the committee to move a boat to the boat pound. This has been clarified to state that all rights to a particular boat parking space are forfeit even if payment is subsequently made. Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 30 Byelaws • All references to safety or rescue boats changed to support boat. • The recommended qualification for unsupervised sailing changed from RYA Level 3 to Seamanship Skills, being the nearest modern equivalent in the current RYA National Dinghy Scheme. • Buoyancy aids now described as 50N minimum buoyancy in line with modern standards.

SECURING THE FUTURE OF YOUR SAILING CLUB HOW THE LEASE WAS RENEGOTIATED.

You will all have heard by now that we have agreed the terms of the new lease in principle and now have to turn the agreement into a formal lease. That work has begun. Securing the future of WWSC has dominated the work of your committee for the last 3 years and this year it has been almost the sole focus of attention. In order to manage the process effectively we formed several sub groups who were tasked with dealing with specific aspects of the process.

Firstly there was the Lease Negotiating Goup who addressed the terms and conditions, the legal aspects of the process and provided the face to face contact with our landlords, Weald Water Enterprises. This group was chaired by Simon Davis and included Chris Fyans and Chris Daniels supported professionally by Dave Mason, our lease and estate expert and James Partridge, our solicitor. We owe these two a great debt of gratitude for the unstinting professional advice they have given at minimal cost.

They were supported on the financial side with the Business Planning Group. Their task was to model various financial scenarios in order to determine what the club could afford in terms of rent over given periods of time. In addressing this they assumed various scenarios such as rates of change in membership, essential expenditure, subscription levels and other income etc. This established the level of rent WWSC could afford to sustain the future of the club. This group was chaired by Simon and included Chris Wilson, our treasurer, Dave Mason, John Chisnall and Chris Fyans. Pete Young was co-opted and his astute analysis coming in and seeing the situation from a new perspective was invaluable.

The membership group considered membership trends over recent years, cause of a declining membership and what could be done to maintain existing numbers and over time increase those numbers. This group was led by Mike Summers and included Chris Hopkins, David Whensley, Ken Burgess, Dick Lankester, Ian Alderman and Glynis and Peter Hargreaves.

In parallel with these activities a great deal of effort was put into cleansing and validating basic club data including membership details, who were actual members, who had not renewed for the year, boat ownership and parking details, etc. This was undertaken primarily by Peter and Glynis Hargreaves, Chris Moir and Dick Lankester. It involved days of painstaking work

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter on data bases as well as working through the whole of the dinghy parks cataloguing boats 31 and following up with owners who had not paid their subs. In addition it turned out that many had paid but hadn’t bothered to put their stickers on leading to another exercise in identifying and marking them. As a result of this exercise the Club has been able to secure several thousand pounds of unpaid boat fees.

As Simon has said it is slightly unfair to single out the effort put in by certain individuals but some have borne the brunt of the efforts and deserve mention. First of all Simon Davis, our commodore. Simon is serving his 4th year in the post and undertook to stay there to see the lease renewal through. It has been virtually a full time job which he has undertaken with enthusiasm and consummate leadership throughout. And this alongside running his own business. Not only has he done that but he has also introduced various sailing training initiatives with schools and beginners which required him to give up some of his business commitments. His long suffering wife, Annie, also deserves special mention. All of this puts considerable strain on family commitments requiring great understanding and we are very grateful to the Davis’s for their unstinting efforts.

Another key player has been Chris Daniels, our secretary. He took the job on several years ago having been persuaded on the basis that it wouldn’t take up much of his time. It didn’t work out like that! Chris has been at the forefront of just about everything that has been going on; suggesting, cajoling, grumbling (in the nicest way), planning and evolving negotiating strategies. He and Chris Fyans conducted much of the negotiation with WWE. Unfortunately Chris Fyans was incapacitated at the end and Chris D had to do the final negotiating on his own. Chris has huge commitments particularly with his family and we are grateful to them for putting up with us.

The Hargreaves, apart from being hugely involved in Training, have been unstinting in their time in sorting out all the admin of the club and putting it into better shape thanithas been for many years including fine tuning web collect, our on-line membership system and generating invaluable data about membership trends which informed the Business Plan. All of this, apart from their front line commitments has taken weeks of work.

And finally we have to acknowledge our vice commodore, Chris Fyans. Chris is literally everywhere at once doing anything that needs to be done to keep the club running whether on the water, with the support boats, jobs around the club house as well as contributing to every aspect of committee work.. Nobody asks him; he is a self perpetuating workhorse. And he has been central to the lease renewal process. Chris has recently undergone major surgery and we are pleased to see him back in circulation on the road to recovery. It will be a while before he is fully back to strength and he must not over do it in his enthusiasm to get back “stuck in”. So best wishes to him and Valerie whose job it is to manage his recovery.

There are of course two parties to this negotiation, us and Weald Water Enterprises. Although it would be true to say that we have had our differences WWE have been very co-operative

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter and understanding over our position and have made many suggestions which have helped 32 bring the discussions to an acceptable and workable conclusion. For a number of years it has been apparent that with our falling numbers our exclusive use of the water at weekends has not been sustainable and we occupy too much land which has denied others its use. WWE have expressed an interest in capitalising on the underused assets and as part of the negotiations we have conceded some of our holdings and have agreed different and more accommodating arrangements with the fishing rights. In return WWE have agreed a level of rent that is sustainable and secures the future of the Club. We will be advising members of the detailed terms of the lease in due course.

John Chisnall The Ed SAILING AND CAMPING WEEKEND IN CHICHESTER HARBOUR 18TH AND 19TH JULY

Robin Grange has returned to WWSC with his Vareo. He and Janey have enjoyed weekend camping at Cobnor and using the sailing facilities to launch their Wanderer and explore the Chichester estuary. This area is very familiar to many WWSC members.. We run youth and adult courses from the Activity centre there. Robin has suggested that members might be interested in joining together at Cobnor for a communal camping and sailing weekend. A number of other clubs in the south east have done this with great success and it has become a tradition for them. Here are the details:

Location: Cobnor Estate, Chidham (launching from their hard)

As this would not be an official club activity you would be responsible for your own safety and that of your crew (no support boats). Sorry no unaccompanied children allowed. Camping would be in a field on the Cobnor Estate (no electric) but toilets & showers are available.

Cost for the weekend: (arriving on Friday 17th in the afternoon/evening)

Adult camper £12 per adult Child camper £6 per child (Accompanied by adult) Dinghy: Up to 14’ £9 Up to 16’ £11 Harbour Dues £4 If you would be interested please contact Robin on 01403 734430 or send an email [email protected] as soon as possible (latest by April)

Chichester Harbour Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 33 Youth News Weir Wood SC Youth Report Winter 2015 It’s certainly been an interesting few months Chris Hopkins in every possible sense of the word for all our Youth activities. We have been drafting our programme for 2015 but this has been challenging in light of the on-going lease negotiations. In short I have been reluctant to enter into anything that will commit the club after 31 March 2015, hopefully by the time that you read this we will have good news and be able to press ahead full steam.

Practically we have organised our normal programme, the only unresolved item being Spring Cobnor – unfortunately the dates that we wanted were not available, we have been offered some alternatives which all present some challenges in terms of clashes with other events or important events for our volunteers. Currently we are continuing to try and work something out.

Our plans for 2015 are to build on the successes from previous years taking into account a number of lessons learned. We intend to separate Youth Camp from Oppy Camp and revert to the old format for Oppy Camp of starting on Sunday. The reason for both these changes is Child Protection – last year we did not feel that we had sufficient control over who was on site on the Saturday night as many parents also decided to stay over. Yes it was a great evening but for Child Protection we must be sure that everyone on site has been screened and approved by the organising team. Hopefully we will be able to provide an equally fun weekend for parents and children where parents retain responsibility for their children which reduces the Child Protection problems. Watch this space for details.

We will be running a “CPD day” for the clubs instructors and coaches to refresh skills and update you all with recent changes in the RYA programmes. Whilst serious in intent we also aim this to be fun and to help foster team spirit amongst all our instructors and coaches. All RYA qualified instructors and coaches (including AIs) are encouraged to attend.

Groups this year will be the same as for last year:-

Optimist beginners Optimist intermediates Optimist racers Youth progression Youth racers Sunday Youth (non racing) Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 34 We will also aim to attend open meetings and championships at other clubs both locally and nationally. We already have groups going to the Laser Nationals at Mounts Bay and the Optimist Nationals at Pwhelli. Our aim is also to encourage groups to attend local open meetings as an introduction to sailing away from the club – these will be publicised by e-mail nearer the time. By going as a group we can help with transport (boats and children) and generally have a good time.

Despite the winter break things have still been active. What has been notable this season is the impact that the weather has had on us. At Cobnor strong winds meant that on the Saturday we were unable to sail. Many thanks to Cobnor for laying on raft-building, climbing and archery to keep the crew occupied. Typically Sunday produced no wind what so ever – we did however demonstrate the effect of the tide by making it the whole way to Birdham just drifting!

That same weekend coincided with the first of two training events hosted by Weir Wood for the UKLA 4.7 fleet. By all accounts they were slightly better off than those of us on the coast and managed a successful weekend attended by boats from as far away as Cornwall. The UKLA weekends are restricted to about 20 – 25 boats and, at all of them, Weir Wood has been the best represented club by some margin with up to 8 boats attending.

The weekend past we hosted a second training event for the 4.7s. Due to a small oversight (!) we managed to double book with an event we had already agreed to host for the Optimist SE Zone squad with another 20 boats. True to form the weather produced strong winds with Saturday morning being unsailable even for the Oppy superstars! The rest of the weekend however provided first rate conditions. It was impressive to see 42 boats on the water in addition to the normal contingent of club racers. All we need now are bigger changing rooms and additional class rooms and we will be well set. We do have to thank the various parents who lent RIBs allowing us to run this double weekend – whilst we had enough RIBs in the club the smallest ones just aren’t big enough when it’s that cold and windy.

We have been running a series of monthly coaching sessions for our youngsters bringing in Andy Kerr as coach to give our youngsters a fresh viewpoint. The first one was the weekend after Christmas and needless to say that on the Saturday the weather was foul and we were forced to cancel. On the Sunday we had much better conditions and had 14 Laser Radials and 4.7s attending. This coincided with a shorter refresher for some of the progressions group, Sunday youth out in Toppers and several Optimists out training so the club was buzzing on what could have been a dead weekend.

I have set out below the provisional programme for 2015. As usual we will send details of forthcoming events through regular e-mails and the calendar on the club website. Please note also Ernie and Martin’s Wednesday evening events which should be interesting and a chance to get together over the winter. Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 35 31 January: Laser Radial coaching 1 February: Laser 4.7 coaching 28 February: Laser Radial coaching 1 March: Laser 4.7 coaching 7 March Instructor CPD day 28 March: Racers and Progression groups restart 2 May: WWSC Laser Open 16 May: WWSC Open day August 9 – 13 Oppy Camp November 7 – 9 : Youth Cobnor

Chris Hopkins From the youth reps Jacob Hamilton & David Haw Now that 2015 is upon us, youth sailing and training is just starting to get going again. Andy Kerr - a highly regarded RYA coach - is now leading monthly sessions over the winter for the 4.7 and radial sailors; the first one, (December) got off to a very good start with all the attendees enjoying themselves whilst learning new things. The Saturday and Sunday youth groups are currently on their winter break, take a look at Chris Hopkins’ write up for any information on that. Gail Bryne is now overseeing the smooth runnings of the Sunday youth group; they will be back on the water on 19 April. After coordinating a very successful DI (dinghy instructor) course last summer, I thought to myself that we must be one of the most qualified youth section in any of the sailing clubs in the south. We have a vast number of youth sailors with qualifications ranging from assistant instructor, first aid, all the way up to DI. This is something that the youth section should be very proud of as it stands them in good stead for the future with the chances of summer jobs and more.

Just an early reminder that it would be great to more youth sailors at Wednesday night sailing which will start sometime in early summer. Furthermore, there will be a race coach course, along with a DI course and a safety boat course running in the summer. Lastly, somewhen in March, a CPD (Continuing Professional Development) will take place to ensure that everyone is kept up to date with the latest RYA teaching standards. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the winter sailing season.

Jacob & David Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 36 Introducing the Youth parent team 2015 Overall

Chris Hopkins: Youth Development Officer

Chris has been sailing at Weir Wood for some 40 years and is part of one of the club’s 3 generation families as his father, Vic and 2 daughters, Verity and Mille all sail. He has been an instructor and a committee member since he was 18. Currently he holds Level 2 Race Coach and Powerboat Instructors tickets.

Chris’s main interest is racing,– usually at Weir Wood, But he does like to attend open meetings when allowed a weekend off! Chris is known for his fleet of boats named after sweets. He has a , Solo and .

Richard Haw: Youth Bosun

Richard undertakes the thankless task of trying to keep on top of maintenance of the Youth Group’s extensive fleet of training and support boats. He is also responsible for building much of the infrastructure such as the racking in the Oppy Garage. Unusual amongst us in that he is not an active dinghy sailor he holds a Powerboat Instructors Ticket. Optimists

Will Gatehouse: Optimist Flotilla Leader

Will has only taken on the role this year after a year of helping Richard Baker to re-establish the Optimist Racing Group. Will is an instructor and sails a Laser. He can often be found out on Sunday afternoons coaching small and noisy groups of budding Oppy Racers.

Richard Baker: IOCA Training Officer

Richard came back to the club actively last year to help reinvigorate the Oppy Flotilla. Since then IOCA have reclaimed his services as National Training Officer but he remains a key member of the Youth Parent Team. Currently he is spending most of his time supporting children sailing Optimists, Laser 4.7 and 420s where he clocks up an amazing annual mileage.

Sailing qualifications, Yacht Master, Dinghy SI, Race coach level II, Powerboat instructor,

He has sailed since he was 11 in Mirrors, GP14, Fireball, then many yachts from small to large, fast offshore racers. More recently he has been failing to find time and energy to sail his RS400 at the club. New Year’s resolution is to at least do Wednesdays evening’s in the 400 Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 37 even if supporting son and daughters’ sailing takes up his weekends.

Tim Taylor: Oppy Beginners Coordinator

From Oppy parent and occasional sailor to RYA Dinghy and Power boat instructor looking after the clubs Optimist Beginners. Tim is currently working to develop links between the club and West Sussex Scout Sea School with a view to promote club membership as a Scouting activity.

Robin Bennett: Oppy Intermediate Coordinator

Robin is a software engineer and foster parent, and once worked as a charter yacht skipper in the Whitsunday Islands, Australia. His qualifications include a senior instructor, yacht-master and (very) lapsed windsurfing instructor. He is not really into racing but he hopes to take a few days off from Oppy club this year to join the cruising group.

He shares an elderly with his wife, while their 4 girls sail a Laser 4.7 and Optimists. He is currently building an outrigger sailing canoe. Saturday Racing and Progression Groups

John Hamilton

John started sailing a in the early 1970’s and then moved on to Lasers, Merlin Rockets, National 14’s and Fireballs. He joined WWSC in 2002 and sailed an RS400 with chum, Mark Chester... John has two teenage children that sail Laser 1’s: son Jacob sails the Laser Radial rig and daughter Caitlin in the Laser 4.7. He is a RYA senior sailing instructor, aa RYA Dinghy instructor, a RYA Power Boat Instructor and RYA coastal skipper He is proud to be a part of WWSC junior and youth parent team, helping to promote sailing to our junior and youth sailors.

Mark Harrington

Mark started his sailing at Weir Wood in his late teens in a Topper mainly at club level. After a short break he concentrated on keelboat racing in the Solent as a helm and has competed in the usual range of Solent based events, with an equally wide range of successes! More recently he has been part of youth development at WWSC working with other members of the parent team across the Optimist and Laser fleets to help develop their racing skills. Mark also competes regularly at club level, crewing an RS200 with helm John Ramshaw. John’s two girls, Fiona and Louise, have both come through Oppy Club Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 38 Sunday Youth Sailing

Review of Youth Sailing 2014

The first event was a weekend at Cobnor Activity Centre. We had good winds of force 3-4 which were ideal for the Bosuns and Fevas. On Saturday we made a day trip to Emsworth and Pilsey. As the tide receded we practiced our mud management skills, towing techniques and how to sail against the tide. This was rewarded after Sue’s spectacular pasta bake supper with classic night-time hide and seek in the grounds at Cobnor. Sunday provided similar winds which allowed time for the obligatory picnic and beach games at East Head.

The youth enjoying Cobnor

In April we started our Sunday afternoon sessions under the leadership of Allan Jones and we regularly had up to 20 teenagers on the water each week, using Fevas and Toppers.

Another memorable sailing day was Bart’s Bash in September. This was the largest record breaking 24 hour race in history in which the whole club participated, along with thousands of clubs from around the world. Twelve Sunday Youth sailors took part on a very crowded water in this friendly event. We shall be doing the same again in 2015.

Raft making @ Cobnor Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 39 To finish the year in November, another trip to Cobnor .This was disappointing due to wind conditions. There was too much wind to sail on Saturday and not a puff on Sunday. Rafting, archery, the climbing wall and other activities took over. Everyone had a great time.

Zac wishing he had his sunglasses Allan Jones After many years of massive support for the club and Sunday Youth in particular, Allan Jones stepped down from running the group early in the season. All of us at Sunday Youth owe him a huge debt of gratitude and wish him all the best for the future. He is probably reading this from some peak in the Dolomites as he will now have time for his other love of walking. Many thanks also to all the Senior Instructors who helped support us though 2014 following Allan’s departure. Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter 40 Youth Sunday Sailing 2015

With the new season approaching a new team of four has been formed. Introducing;

Gail Byrne, youth mum, sailor-in-training and will co-ordinate the group. Andrew Barns is the Senior Instructor for the group. Heather Cerowski (neé Pavitt) is our Dinghy Instructor and will be training towards Senior Instructor.

Mark Lee is our trainee Assistant Instructor working towards Dinghy Instructor. Most importantly we have a large number of wonderful and enthusiastic youth Assistant Instructors who help us every week.

The Sunday Sailing Youth Group meets on Sunday afternoons and is for 11 to 18 year olds of any sailing ability from beginners upwards. We are a mixed ability group with an emphasis on enjoying sailing and working towards RYA levels 1 to 3. We mainly sail Toppers and Fevas but occasionally use other boats such as Wayfarers, 2000s and Oppys.

If you want to learn and improve your sailing and aim to gain an RYA award at the same time, then this is for you.

Parents are very welcome to come and join in with their children. This can involve helping with rigging, launching and recovery, but you can also get involved whilst the teenagers are sailing. We are keen to encourage parents, especially those new to sailing, to get on the water, and after some initial training you can help provide support cover in RIBs, or to gain the experience of sailing under the supervision of our team of AIs in larger boats such as Wayfarers.

Duke of Edinburgh Awards For those that are undertaking the D of E award scheme, the sailing club can offer the opportunity to complete some of the award through volunteering for various roles within the sailing club both on and off the water. We are setting up a D of E group based on the Sunday afternoon youth group and it is for those that have partially completed their award as well as those just starting it. If you would like the opportunity to complete any part of the D of E award please contact Gail Byrne, who is the Sunday Youth Group co-ordinator, who will arrange a meeting at the start of the season to discuss the various options available.

Dates and Times The first Sunday will be Sunday 19th April 2015 We meet at 1:00pm in the clubhouse, and everyone should be changed ready to go on the

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter water. 41 There will be a briefing at 1:30pm in the clubhouse prior to going on the water. We come off the water at 4:00pm, depending on the time of year and weather, ready to finish at 5:00pm. There will be a cost per session of £10.00 to cover boat hire, and Rib use with a reduced fee when using your own boat of £2.50

For more information and to book your place please contact Gail Byrne via email at [email protected]

Andrew Barns AND NEARLY FINALLY: PUNS FOR EDUCATED MINDS

• Venison for dinner again? Oh deer! • I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest. • England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool. • They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O. • Jokes about German sausages are the wurst. • I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me. • When chemists die, apparently they barium. • I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words. AND REALLY FINALLY Who’s the funny guy at the bow of “Cabrach”

COPY DATE FOR NEXT EDITION: 30TH APRIL

Afloat Winter 2015 Afloat Winter Published by Weir Wood Sailing Club ©2015 42