Broadreach July 2014

Broadwater Club Affiliated to the RYA

A colourful fleet battled for the honours at the South Eastern area championships held at Broadwater in May.

2 A good competitive start by the miracles in a bit more breeze on the Sunday of the open meeting. Editorial

Welcome once again to members new and old. As summer sailing is in full swing and holidays are eagerly anticipated, Broadreach brings you loads of reports and pictures from the last 6 months at this lovely club. Articles cover a literally heart-stopping AGM, a shiny new changing room and of course up- dates from the commodore (Stuart), membership secretary (Catherine) and other regulars who help to make the club run smoothly.

Updates on HS2, our rollercoaster track and who the regular race winners are as well as our highly active junior sailing, and useful East Anglian and Chiches- ter reviews from our roving clubbers also make up this issue.

A major highlight has been the open meetings which started with an excellent 30 for the open, followed by good fleets in the Miracle and events. We have reports on all of these meetings.

I can proudly announce that Broadwater is also an official testing ground, with the new ICON (pictured on our cover) being trialled here in May. I was lucky enough to have a spin in it and would certainly agree with the Yachts and review - a simple and enjoyable high performance two-hander.

Turning to more formal matters, I’m sure that many who go sailing are possibly trying to escape a regulated (or regimented!) life but sometimes rules are a ne- cessity and so an evening talk on the racing rules held in late April was timely and well attended. Hopefully, this will be a regular slot in our calendar and on the water it should lead to exemplary rule observance and perfect behaviour at marks, rather than a rash of protests! I’ve been reliably informed that the last official protest held at the club was several years ago at an open meeting. It must have been a visitor!

Our juniors have been representing the club well - we have reports on both their racing and training exploits as well as an interview with two of them who have been particularly dedicated.

For those not so interested in the racing, we have a few lovely photographs of birds (thanks to Federico Nardini) to remind us of the other benefits of sailing on Broadwater. Have a great summer’s sailing.

Andrew Cooney ( 2086, Huey)

Cover photo (by Tom Gruitt) shows the ICON, which had a brief few weeks at Broadwa- ter—seen here being tested by it’s designer3 Mike Lyons (crewed by BSC member, Em- ma Turner). Mike owns Cirrus Raceboats who developed, updated and redrew the lines of the for UK sailing basing it on the Australian NS14 class. Commodore’s Gybes

Summer has arrived with a range of sail- ing conditions from lashing rain and gales through to the peace and calm of sunny Broadwater doldrums, and of course lots in between. So there really has been something for everyone. I hope that you’re all enjoying the natural beauty of the lake and the fine facilities that the club offers.

Stuart French, Commodore

It’s probably worth reminding everyone that the club does not look after itself and as I’m sure you know, there are some members who spend a huge amount of time cutting grass, fitting out and painting the changing rooms, or- ganising open and other sailing regattas, running junior sailing, maintaining boats, jetties, clubhouse etc. I extend our heartfelt thanks to you all. The club could not continue without these volunteers. If any of you feel that you could offer to join the committee we currently need a social secretary, publicity of- ficer and vice commodore. So please let me know if you’re able to help out.

Kevin Morgan has been running the club website for 6 years and has now moved west so wants to pass on the day to day website management. Thank you Kevin for doing such a great job and for offering to help the volunteers who have kindly agreed to take this on.

Another key issue is the access road which has deteriorated to a terrible state. The landlord’s agent has inspected the road and agreed that something has to be done. By the time this goes to press, I believe that the work should be well underway or completed.

HS2 (the high speed rail link passing near Broadwater) has received parlia- mentary approval and, barring a political U turn, is likely to happen. I’m pleased to say that there do not appear to be any plans to move us from the lake and although we have no written confirmation yet, we have had a verbal reassurance that access will be maintained throughout its construction.

That only leaves me to wish that you all an enjoyable summer’s sailing. 4 Stuart Membership News

It has been a busy start to our sailing year, with the club welcoming lots of new members.

 Tom Hall & Niamh Moloney and family  Julia & Simon Gomersall and family  Richard & Many Barnes and family  Jim Bewsher & Liz Bestic  Steve & Louisa Rowlands and family  James Moncrieff & Pippa Crowther  Tony Fraser & Jean Potter and family  John Beaney  Ivan Thorley & Caroline Bowman Catherine Hunter,

Membership Secretary We hope that you all have a great sailing season this year.

We were sad to hear that Tony Beasley had passed away. He and Eve lived on a beautiful Dutch barge on the canal, just up from Black Jacks Mill.

Berth cutting It will not have escaped your notice, if you have a lawn of your own, that it is the grass cutting season. Members are allocated berth and road trailer berths on the express understanding that it is the member’s responsibility to keep them neatly maintained and to assist the club does provide two lawnmowers and some hand tools in the first large container.

Members sometimes find the mowers are broken. A recent email from a member hits the problem on the head.

“I think the issue with lawnmowers is down to basic misuse. If you walked into your garden after a period of absence and saw your grass over a foot high, I am sure you would not nip to your own shed and get the lawnmower out as your first choice! People seem to do just this at the club, without getting the worst down with the strimmer first. You would not risk wrecking your own tools but for some reason because they are "someone else's problem" people take a different view.”

Broadwater SC buys 2 new mowers each year, and keeping them in working condition is a weekly task, all carried out voluntarily by a couple of members. If berths are cut every couple of weeks this would not be such a problem. 5 CHANGE OF DATE. MENs "Sail & Ale" is now on 27th September 2-4pm. Contact Catherine Turner for details. An appeal to members …..!

Road Trailer Berths A limited number of road trailer berths are available, free, at the discretion of the club, on the express un- derstanding that the trailer is clearly named and the berth neatly maintained. During the last February Work Party, the road trailer area was completely cleared. Unfortunately, the undergrowth has returned and is once again virtually at head height.

With the exception of Tony Hall and Dave Leonard, if you have a road trailer berth, please cut it as a matter of URGENCY and leave the trailer, clearly labelled Andy Chaplin, Race with your name and the hitch facing towards the path- Committee Secretary way, on an individual berth. Please bring your own strimmer or shears, as the club lawn mowers are not suitable to use on vegetation this high.

At the end of August, any road trailers that remain overgrown and unnamed will be removed from the boat park and left in the overflow car park area.

Fast Safety Boat (FSB) and Race Officer (RO) duties In order to run safe and successful Racing at Broadwater SC throughout the year, additional volunteers are required for the Fast Safety Boat Rota and Race Officer and Assistant Race Officer Duties. Currently, more volunteers are required for the FSB rota as the current team are having to carry out 3 or 4 duties per year. If you aren’t currently on a rota and would like to volunteer, please contact Greg Hart or Andy Chaplin for further info. RO and ARO train- ing/refresher courses are arranged during the year and FSB training/ assessment can also be arranged. Remember RO, ARO and FSB duties for helms who normally race have average points gained in the series awarded, excluding DNC, for the duties carried out.

Club boats The club continue to make boats available for members to use. The latest addition is a new . Please look after them all and allow the club to monitor usage by informing the race committee secretary, by email, that you’ve used it. 6 The 42nd Broadwater Sailing Club AGM

40 club members attended the 42nd AGM on March 9th. In his first Commodore’s report Stewart French had a long list of members to thank who had been especially helpful during the past year and he also reviewed the activities in the last twelve months and outlined the plans for the coming year. Stewart noted that there were particular concerns over HS2 and the access road.

John Finnemore, Honorary Secretary

David Kinnerley presented his Treasurer’s report in which he noted that the club had a deficit of £2,436.97 in 2013 with income from subscriptions and berth fees of £29,140. We have £62,295.30 in total funds.

The Club Officers and Committee Members were elected as per the set agen- da with Sonia Cherkas joining the Committee.

Under ‘Any other business’ the following matters were discussed:-

Impact of HS2 on Broadwater - Catherine Turner and Neil Parsloe were thanked for their hard work on setting up the HS2 objections, impact statement and lobbying of MPs. Catherine summarised the meeting they had with three people from HS2. The assurance was that there is no intention of preventing access and that HOAC (which will have to close) do not think our site suitable as they need a larger land area.

Reliability of Committee Boat - This has now been serviced with a new alternator and battery fitted. Graham Darvill is aware of the gen- eral condition of the boat and that it is in need of improvement.

Boat tie downs re stormy weather - We will be ensuring that all boats are tied down correctly.

Access Road - We are on the list for a crew to fill the holes. Trees etc will be done after nesting season. We have asked for a delivery of some ballast from Lafarge so that we can do minor repairs as and when needed.

After the break we were given an interesting and informative demonstration of the defibrillator by Rachael from Aylesbury7 SC. Prize giving rounded off the evening. Buildings update — the new changing room

The new cabin changing room project is now complete. The key is kept on a hook in the clubhouse ladies changing room. There are two locks on the cabin door, the same key fits both. There is a hook on the cabin front to hold the door in the open position. Just inside the front door is a small lobby with hanging rails for stor- age of the junior sailing clothing, please keep this tidy!

Brian Deacon

At the back of the lobby you will find the door into the changing room. There is a Ladies/Gents sliding sign to indicate how the changing room is being used for any event. Inside we have a shower, toilet cubicle and hand wash basin with towel and soap. Both the shower and the hand basin hot water is from electric heaters so not reliant on the clubhouse gas supply. There is also a heater on the wall opposite the basin. This must be switched off when ever the cabin is locked. The cabin windows have metal security shutters and each window has a notice detailing the opening and closing procedure. Thanks go to Paul Haywood and Neil Parslow who were instrumental in the completion of the plumbing and electrics.

8 You may have read last years ac- count of the cabin delivery, being nine inches too wide to get through the gates and the drama which ensued to get it on site. Well the completion was not without drama of its own. I had calculated that there was enough of a gap under the cabin to just about squeeze underneath to connect the soil and waste pipes.

Wrong! The bracing webs under the cabin meant that the available space was several inches smaller then required. Paul and I decided that we would jack up each corner of the cabin and extend the legs to give us the extra height that we required. This was going well until the two and half ton hydraulic jack we were using suddenly collapsed sideways.

The whole cabin lurched side- ways and came to rest with the car park side legs over- hanging the concrete base and longing as if they were going to drop onto the grass any minute. The jack was so twisted it was no longer safe to use, all we had now was a one ton jack!

With some inventive trial and error we managed to fit a length of wood be- tween the base of one of the fence posts and the cabin.

We then put a Mondeo scissor jack between the wood and the cabin leg and started to wind the jack out. Several times it shot up in the air, until we got the angle just right. With the small jack under the cabin taking some of the weight we finally managed to get the cabin to lurch back the other way and onto the concrete. 9 Great fun! Junior Sailing 2014

April 26th saw our first junior sailing session of the season. As usual, I was look- ing forward to getting out on the water with the juniors, but I should have realised that things weren’t going to be that simple. We had 33 juniors, including helpers, but the wind was too strong to allow us to sail. After some on shore activities, we had to abandon any idea of getting out on to the water. We had a very light breeze the following week, which did allow the children to sail, but made instruc- tion something of a challenge. Since then, we have had three more Saturdays with very strong winds, one Saturday where we had so little wind that the chil- dren had to paddle to get anywhere and, at last, perfect sunny weather with a lovely moderate breeze for our session on 14th June. We have had several new members, some of whom are complete beginners and some of whom have done a little sailing. Whilst some of our juniors have been concentrating on preparing for assessments with Andy Chaplin and practising racing with Richard Linsdale, Gilles, Katie, Will, Beth, Jonathan and I, together with parent helpers, have been working with the beginners. Other experi- enced juniors have been taking responsi- bility for demonstrating sailing techniques to new members on the water and it is pleasing to see everyone making such good progress. As well as preparing jun- iors for RYA assessments, we have also been cooperating with HOAC to improve our sailors racing skills. Some of our juniors sailed in the London Youth Games for the borough of Hillingdon (see separate report). Ben Vernon sailed for the Borough of Ealing. It has been good to see several of our juniors out racing on Wednesday and Saturday as helms and crews. Our juniors were in demand as crew for the Miracles when they held their Southern Area Championship at Broadwater Lake in May. Dave Cherril, with his crew Emanuele Nardini came first, closely followed by Tom Hewitson, crewed by his daughter Lucy Hewitson. Filip Kozlowski and Grace Constant crewed for John Green and Peter Joseph respectively. Sailing in events like this, where top fleet sailors are participating, gives our juniors invaluable experience. Congratulations to our juniors who passed RYA stages at HOAC on 7th June;

STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3 STAGE 4 James Hersee Chris Hersee Jamie Chaplin Grace Constant Emma Vernon Hannah Johnson Alex Johnson Marianne Kerslake-Williams Filip Kozlowski Emanuele Nardini Ben Vernon The juniors who passed Stage 1 went some10 way towards getting their Stage 2. We hope to organise another opportunity for assessment later this year. Thanks to Luke, who gave our children a very enjoyable day. The Fun Days will take place from Wednesday 23rd to Saturday 26th July. If you haven’t already signed up, it is not too late. During the Fun Days, the emphasis is on team games and simply having fun with new and old friends. Pam Hart, Organiser – junior sailing

London Youth Games 22nd and 23rd June This year saw the largest team from Broadwater selected to race with other lo- cal young sailors representing Hillingdon, Ealing and Harrow at the London Youth Games. 26 out of 33 London Boroughs took part with 117 entries compet- ing across 10 sailing classes. All 3 local Borough teams are organised by Sally Jones Chief Instructor at HOAC. Grace Constant, Emanuele Nardini, Filip Ko- zlowski and Marianne Williams- Kerslake sailed for Hillingdon and Ben Vernon sailed for Ea- ling. Preparation for the event had involved a combination of winter training at HOAC, Rich- ard’s start-racing course and training with Richard and Andy at our Saturday Kids Club, as well as being involved in a num- ber of Broadwater and Youth Traveller Light winds at the Youth Games Series regattas this year. The 2 day event was held at King George V Reservoir in Enfield in hot sunny conditions with a mixture of light to moderate winds. Each class sailed between 4 and 8 races in a single day completing half their races back to back with a break for lunch. All our young people did very well in the event with the Hilling- don Team finishing second place overall and receiving silver medals. On Satur- day the overall results saw Ben finish 15th in the class, Marianne sailing with Jack from HOAC finished second (silver medals) in the Access class, Filip sailing with Lauren from HOAC finished 6th in the Pico class and on Sunday Grace and Emanuele sailing together in the Feva class finished second (silver medals). Thanks to Bill Kerslake for this report.

JUNIOR SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION POLICY This policy has been drawn up with the help and support of the RYA. You will find it by clicking on the link at the bottom of the “Joining” page on the Broad- water web site. The policy and guidelines11 are there to keep our club a safe place for everyone. We urge everyone to read the policy, especially those of you who use the club on Saturday afternoons or if you sail with a junior crew. Solo Open Meeting - 9th March 2014

A breezy and warm day in the spring sunshine greeted the thirty six entrants to the first Solo open meeting of the year, held at Broadwater Sailing Club.

Following on from the new format in 2013 - 4 short races were again held (2 back to back in the morning / afternoon) with 3 to count and prizes for the middle fleet position and the most improved helm. The lake looked decep- tively calm but before the race started the southerly wind had increased to a steady force three with gusts of force four. This gave an opportunity for the com- petitors to use the full length of the lake for the beat followed by exciting reaches and a short run. Race one was won by Steve Corby (King George S.C.) in Solo 5324 closely followed by Simon Maskell (Hunts SC) in Solo 5339 and Patrick Ward (Chipstead SC) in Solo 4801.

Race two commenced after a general recall again in similar conditions. In this race there was one outright winner— Maskell ( Blackwater SC) in Solo 5455—who led from the first beat led without being closely challenged. Thereafter the theme from the first race continued with Simon Maskell (brother of Mark) in second and Steve Corby in third.

After lunch the fleet returned to the water with all still to sail for ! Simon Maskell took on the challenge with two firsts in both the third and fourth race. In race three he was closely followed by Ewan Birkin-Walls ( Graffam ) in Solo 5135 / Steve Corby in third and to his credit Steve's son Alex Corby (King George SC) in fourth Solo 5234.

In race four Mike Dray ( Littleton ) in Solo 4386 was second and Ewan Birkin -Walls third. The overall Open Meeting winner was Simon Maskell and he thanked everyone at the club for hosting a successful meeting. He was particu- larly complimentary about the delicious food and cakes.

Results 1 Simon Maskell, Hunts 14 Phil Sturmer, Royal Burnham 27 Dave Weatherhead, 2 Steve Corby, King George 15 Patrick Overs, Paxton Lakes BSC 3 Ewan Birkin–Walls, Grafham 16 Andrew Thompson, Chipstead 28 Nick Fairweather, BSC 4 Alex Corby, King George 17 Will Loy, RYA 29 Travis Benton, BSC 5 Mark Maskell, Blackwater 18 Bob Trend, Chipstead 30 Adrian Thomas, BSC 6 James Ross, Hamble River 19 Barry Longman, Fishers Grn 31 Mike Parker, BSC 7 Andrew Boyce, Papercourt 20 Alex Powell, Porchester 32 Rodney Steel, BSC 8 Mike Dray, Littleton 21 Claire Clark, Fishers Green 33 Mike Wiltshire, RYA 9 Patrick Ward, Chipstead 22 Andrew Cooney, Broadwater 34 John O Dowd, BSC 10 Tim Lewis, Littleton 23 Richard 12Linsdale, Broadwater 35 Andy Chaplin, BSC 11 Dave Walford, Broadwater 24 Richard Keefe, Hunts 36 Sid Quay, BSC 12 Paul Playle, Island Barn 25 Joe Rycroft, RYA 13 Alistair Roaf, Chipstead 26 Bill Hutchings, Tonbridge

A close start from the large fleet of solos

The solo fleet starting to assert a pecking13 order...

Marianne and Jack (HOAC) sailing in the Access class at the Youth games

14

Topper wars….or just time out for a chat?

Albacores in a drifting race..

15

Enterprises showing off their colours and goose-winging prowess.

Photos from the Miracle Southern Area Championships at BSC. Close racing throughout the weekend with16 the eventual winner being local helm Dave Cherril crewed by Emanuele Nardini in Miracle 4029, pictured here with a nicely set spinnaker. The Broadwater SC Miracle Southern Area Championships 2014

Saturday 17 May dawned bright and clear, but windless, at the start of the weekend marking Broadwater’s second year of hosting the Miracle Associa- tion’s Southern Area Championship. The home crews of 7 Broadwater Mira- cles were joined by 7 visiting boats, their crews and families, and all were re- warded with a fascinating weekend of sailing! Our visitors included returning friends from Redoubt, Wilsonian, Girton and Draycote sailing clubs; all were made very welcome.

Wind barely ruffled the lake for the 2 Saturday afternoon races but Greg Hart, Race Officer, managed to set courses that resulted in engaging and close- fought battles, which were occasionally enlivened by encounters with the Al- bacore fleet!

Experienced Miracle sailors Tracy Amos and Gemma Gibson, from Redoubt, won the first race. Broadwater sailors Dave Cherril, crewed by Emanuele Nardini, and Tom Hewitson, with his daughter Lucy, took second and third places setting a new, high standard for our club Miracle fleet.

Tom followed up with first place in the second race leading home Yvonne and Brian Mumford from Redoubt with Dave third. At the end of Saturday, Broad- water’s own Tom and Dave were leading the championship! Later we all en- joyed a fish and chip supper and were entertained to a ‘mini-concert’ thanks to Greg and Dave Cadd from BSC.

Sunday’s three races took place in fantastic conditions of bright sunshine and a fresh wind and Brian Deacon, R.O. managed to expertly guide the Miracle fleet between the regular Sunday morning club races. Overnight we had been joined by Miracle expert sailor Neal Gibson with crew Keith Macey – a pairing who have won this championship before and have had several suc- cesses at national level.

Tussles emerged throughout the field in all three races and each one resulted in position changes in the fleet. Ominously, Neal and Keith won races 3 and 4 and it looked like the trophy was going to go to them for another year.

Race 5 followed a superb lunch and proved vital to the overall result. Dave Cherril built an unbeatable lead and was followed home by Tom Hewitson. On a points reckoning of the 3 best results, each of these Broadwater boats had 5 points. If Neal Gibson finished third in the final race he would also have 5 points and would win the Championship17 on account of his two first places.

Crucially, Neal was pipped for third by Tracy, sailing with Neal’s wife (!) as crew, giving him 6 points and third place overall - Dave and Tom, from Broadwater, would occupy first and second places in the Southern Area Championships! On inspection the Broadwater pair had identical race rec- ords with a first place, two seconds, a third and a seventh each. Dave Cher- ril clinched the title because he scored higher in the final race, his 1st against Tom’s 2nd, the narrowest of winning margins!

This fantastic result for Broadwater SC was cemented by John Green with crew Filip Kozlowski winning the non-spinnaker prize with 9th place overall. It is significant that Filip, along with Dave’s crew Emanuele and Tom’s crew Lucy were the youngest taking part in the event and they each came through from Broadwater’s Junior sailing.

Congratulations go not just to these prize winners but to all the Miracle sail- ors who took part for their good humour and persistence throughout the weekend, proving that the Miracle is, indeed the family friendly boat. Thanks go to the many Broadwater club members who contributed towards the event directly and behind the scenes, in so many ways. Let’s hope next year’s event will continue to enhance Broadwater’s well-earned reputation as a great place to sail.

Results 1st Dave Cherril / Emanuele Nardini BSC 2nd Tom Hewitson / Lucy Hewitson BSC 3rd Neal Gibson / Keith Macey, Redoubt 4th Tracy Amos / Gemma Gibson, Redoubt SC 5th Yvonne Mumford / Brian Mumford, Redoubt SC 6th John Tippet / Kathy Boulton, Draycote 7th Jack Turnbull / Hannah Mumford, Redoubt SC 8th David Reed / Jean Reed, Girton 9th John Green / Filip Kozlowsk, BSC 10th Clare Medcalf / John Finnemore, BSC 11th Colin Lown / Maureen Lown, Wilsonian SC 12th Pete Joseph / Grace Constant, BSC 13th Barry Mellor / Joe Mellor, BSC 14th Richard Anstey / Mark Joyce, BSC 18 Broadwater Albacore Open 2014

Sharing the water with the miracles, nine Albacores, including five visitors, battled it out in very light conditions with the eventual winner after three races being Brian Wicks winning both race 1 and 2. Graham Darvill was the highest BSC boat in 4th place. Rank SailNo Helm Crew R1 R2 R3 Total Nett 1st 8069 B Wicks H Duncan 1 1 (DNC) 12 2 2nd 8192 N Herbert M Fowler 2 (3) 2 7 4 3rd 6812 T Coleman J Snakey (6) 6 1 13 7 4th 7990 G Darvill M Bowers 5 2 (RET) 17 7 5th 8007 B Deacon J Moon 4 (5) 3 12 7 6th 8129 P Tindall R Box 3 4 (6) 13 7 7th 7525 A Pearce I Simpson (8) 8 4 20 12 8th 8156 A Turberfield M Turberfield (7) 7 5 19 12 9th 7426 T Gruitt M Turner 9 (DNC) DNC 29 19

Mayhem at the mark!

Bonfire, Fireworks & BBQ

This years’ event will be on Saturday 8th November

There will be a pre bonfire work party19 at 9.30am on Saturday 18th October organised by Dave Tonge Please come along and help Member Spotlight An interview with Emanuele Nardini and Grace Constant

As reported earlier in the newsletter a team of juniors recently made their way to the King George reservoir for the London Youth games. Two young sailors had put some extra preparation in for this event. Broadreach was keen to learn what they gained from their training , the event itself and to find out a little more about these two excellent young sailors.

What was the best bit about the London Youth Games?

Emanuele : The LYG experience was competitive and fun at the same time. No one complained about anything or other boats and everyone had a nice day out and enjoyed the races.

Above : Flying the nicely and often Grace : I would say the best bit leading the way. was collecting our medals and coming first in one of our races. Top : Emanuele and Grace very happy to be wearing their silver medals, joined by their20 proud coach Richard Linsell. What was the most useful piece of advice you received as you prepared for the Games?

Emanuele Everyone from BSC and HOAC gave me a lot of help- ful tips and advice. It has been very important to check and to prepare the boat and the equip- ment the previous night and early in the morning before the races. And do not forget: start well and sail clever!

Grace : To concentrate, to move your body regularly to keep the boat balanced and ,when the spinnaker is up, to keep looking at it all the time ...which is difficult!

Do you have any sailing ambi- tions?

Emanuele :To improve my sailing skills, and longer term to find a crew and qualify for the next The Fevers had lots of close America’s Cup ... as a helm. tacking in light airs. It was clearly great experience of fleet Grace : I hope to go to other countries racing for Grace and when I am older and then sail Emanuele. around them. Also I’d like to do more sailing competitions and try to win one!

What's the best thing about sailing at Broadwater?

Emanuele : All the people are very friendly and help each other out. The land- scape and wildlife around the lake make the sailing wonderful. Within just one year, thanks to the Club and its members, I was able to move from sailing in an Oppy, passed on to the Topper and then was able to sail an RS Feva.

Grace : The best thing is meeting new people through the club and learning new things from one another and helping each other out. 21

What got you into sailing in the first place?

Emanuele : I like water and speed so WATER + SPEED = SAILING. Also when I was little I used to watch the America’s Cup and I was fascinated by the amazing races between those boats. And I re- member very well when I sailed with Dad for the first time at sea on board a Hobie Cat, but I don’t remember how old I was!

Grace : A family friend asked me to go out on his boat with him about 9 years ago and I really en- joyed it , so started junior sailing from there.

Grace and Emanuele worked hard for their medals and we wish them well as they continue with their sailing and racing.

22 OUT CLUBBING...with Brian

Chichester

For the last three years Karen and I have been competing in the Chichester Yacht Club (CYC) winter series. How did that come about? Let me tell you a story. Three years ago at the end of the summer 2010 there was a conversa- tion one Sunday, after racing at Broadwater, about the CYC Snowflake se- ries. Several of our regular helms said they were thinking of taking part that year. Karen and I talked about this later and decided that it would put our Kestrel dinghy to good use. We used to compete in the Kestrel open circuit, but as each open meeting is a two day event and Karen suffers with a neck problem that means it is difficult to compete in more than two races a day, we no longer went to those events and the Kestrel was unused. I contacted CYC and found that it was a reasonable price to enter for all of the Snowflake se- ries (two handicap races back to back on alternate Sundays due to tides). We could also pay for a temporary berth and keep the Kestrel rigged at the club. The series runs from November to March and the fleet are split into slow, me- dium and fast handicaps starting five minutes apart. The race start time vary according to the tide, the earliest being 0930 and the latest about 1300 to 1400.

To save having to rig the Kestrel before the first race I had towed it to Chich- ester during the week before and rigged everything and found a semi decent berth. It was about a two hour drive from home to CYC but this has improved now the Hindhead tunnel is open on the A3. We duly arrived for our first CYC race, but did not see any other Broadwater sailors, nor have we since then, but we are grateful that it prompted us23 to sail at CYC. The Kestrel handicap puts it as one of the slowest in the Fast fleet. So we get the first start, but quickly get left by some of the fast asymmetric classes. We are never going to win amongst the class of helm competing at CYC but the racing is fantastic. Large fleets and long course legs, we can set the spinnaker and keep it up for long enough to enjoy it! There have been no other Kestrels competing but we have close racing with some of the Merlins, , RS200s, and Fireballs. The racing is always well organised and there are three rescue boats out due to the size of the water and the num- ber of dinghies taking part. “Apres” sail at CYC is also good. The dinghy section is alongside the Yacht club bar and dining room so we get access to that for lunch. There is now a very good Marina café which opened last year. Sometimes we stay overnight in a B and B so that we can take part in social events at the club or if it is an early start time. We have also been helped greatly by Kevin and Mary who keep their yacht at Gosport, so we can stay overnight with them and occasion- ally sail from Gosport to CYC in style to then race the Kestrel.

In conclusion we have enjoyed our CYC sailing, and intend to compete again in the 2014 series. But it is a very expensive club to join as a full member, and it’s a long way away so will never tempt us to leave Broadwater. Brian Deacon

24 The Green Book: a guide to racing on the Norfolk Broads

The Green Book contains all essential information about open meetings on the Norfolk Broads. Produced by the Norfolk and Suffolk Association it is a mine of detailed information on sailing clubs and their racing pro- grammes.

The NSBA originated in 1894 when a small number of local clubs formed a loose association to co-ordinate their sailing programmes. This resulted in The Green Book which was first published 80 years ago. At present the NSBA has around 50 affiliated clubs and organisations with a combined membership of 9,000 and 1,000 individual members (including me).

A good way to start to use the book is to begin at the calendar of NSBA open meetings which also includes events for broads cruisers and yachts. This combined calendar spreads over four pages with around 50 events per page.

David and Sandra Wilson competing25 on the Norfolk Broads Looking at the from March to 18th May there are several events which could be interesting.

13/4/14 two man dinghy open at NBYC (Wroxham Broad) 03/5/14 Coldham Hall two day regatta. This is a very friendly club with a close association with the pub next door, however launching can be tricky. 04/5/14 Hickling Broad spring regatta. – a big Solo club and four races a day for Allcomers dinghies. Separate starts for Lasers and Solos, Well rec- ommended. 10/5/14 Horsea regatta – Martham Boating Association. An old event re- vived and we have never sailed in this. 11/5/14 Beccles Amateur Open Day – An opportunity to sail on the river near Beccles – a great little club with a long history on the narrow river. 17/5/14 Open day at Waverly and Oulton Broad YC (They have a good open regatta – Oulton Week – 27th August).

Just a taster from a big programme detailed in the Green Book with start times of races, phone numbers of clubs, how to get on the websites, and briefing times – in fact all you need to know.

Hickling Sailing club on the river has some interesting events which we have sailed in and exciting and scary because of the presence of gin palaces sharing the river with the dinghies.

There are more than 30 pages about boat class information with 18 fleets mentioned and all boats and their owners listed. For example there were 51 Bittern dinghies built and 36 are still listed as sailing.

Finally on the broads is covered with all dates, locations and re- strictions listed with tidal information.

All this for £5. If you are interested I have a copy in my car. If you see me you are welcome to have a read!

Ruby Tuesday G3010 David Wilson

Final note from the editor NB : As I’ve only recently taken over editing Broadreach from Don Kyle I’d welcome ideas / input from any of the members regarding what you’d like to see in your newsletter. If you have any ideas or feedback please don’t hesitate to give26 me call or send me an email ([email protected], 07919 840688).

Let’s not forget the beautiful wildlife at Broadwater

COMBINATION NUMBER CHANGE

Members who have paid their annual subscription will find the new combination number on the front of this issue together with the date on which it will change. Please remember to scramble all locks, do not to leave them with the combination number revealed, we do not want 27 uninvited visitors stealing our equipment.

Flying solo ….maybe not such a good idea!

28 Travis Benton also getting to grips with a solo...and posing nicely for the camera.