VAGB NEWSLETTER 44 Dec 2007 Webpage - www.albinvega.co.uk Letter from The Chairman..... Hello Fellow Vega sailors andfriends 2007 is nearly finished as far as my sailing programme goes, I can't pretend it's been a vintage year , at least not for 'Jenavive' and me. It started well, we launched quite early and the Easter break saw us exploring the waters of the Swale, (the channel between Kent and the Isle of Sheppey for those unlucky souls who are not East Coast sailors). We had four days of sunny weather with light to moderate winds and another big plus for me was that my wife Veronica joined me on board for the first time for several years a most relaxing and enjoyable mini cruise. One more mini cruise that was OK and after that every time I went near the boat the wind would pick unto Force 6-7 or alternately die away completely and sailing became a very frustrating business. To add to my woes 'Jenavive's' exhaust system started to rot away leaking into the bilge. I should really have replaced it when I fitted my Beta 7 years ago but at the time I thought I was economising by making do. A new water trap, several metres of exhaust hose and a handful of pipe clips later and I was once more underway. I was amazed how small the cockpit lockers had become since I last did the job. The boat must be shrinking. Just when you think things can't get worse my fuel tank in the keel developed a leak, luckily Steve Birch had a replacement stainless steel tank which I have fitted in my Port Cockpit locker complete with fuel tank gauge The first time I've had a fuel gauge in the 24 years I've owned the boat, the original cork float device has given up before I bought the boat. One of the few disappointments I've had with the original design. The VAGB's year has been a bit of a disappointment as well. The excellent venue where we held our Fitting Out Lunch and Laying Up Supper are no longer available to us due to change of policy. They served us well for many years and we are finding it extremely difficult to locate a suitable alternative at a reasonable price. Di Webb stepped heroically into the breach Page 1 Vega Association of Great Britain Newsletter 44 by hosting us in her home in the Spring but we cannot continue to impose on her, so if any one has ideas on how to solve this problem please let me know. In the Spring we set up a committee to organise the 2008 International Friendship Rally at the Royal Harwich YC, an excellent and very welcoming club on the River Orwell near the road bridge at Ipswich. Early indications are that we will have between 30 and 40 Vegas at the rally. We want to encourage as many owners as possible to support the event, VAGB only hosts the event every tenth year and the Rally is a chance for the more competitive to measure themselves against the rest of the fleet and for others simply to enjoy the company of fellow Vega sailors, swapping ideas and stories, meeting old friends and making new ones. The organisation of the rally is making good progress but of course we need an indication of final numbers as early a possible to complete our planning and costing. You will find a booking form in this newsletter or on our website, please return to Steve Birch who is doing his usual excellent job on the administration. On the Sailing front Steve with the help and support of the Fareham Sailing Club organised a rally on the Solent at the end of August. Unfortunately I couldn't attend myself as I was wrestling with effects of foot and mouth on our local agricultural show, but that's another story. By all accounts the Vega Rally was a most enjoyable and popular weekend. Just to round off a vaguely disappointing sailing year I tried to get my boat ashore for the winter the other week and at a time when all the press were talking with complete authority about tidal surges, we had whatever the opposite is and had to give up with 20cms less water than we needed. I'm going to try again at the end of the month. Now to look forward to 2008, I have complete faith that 2008 will be the sort of sailing season we will remember for years, hot sunny days, gentle to moderate winds from abaft the beam, we will be needing more suntan oil than engine oil. Well perhaps it won't be quite that good but I will settle for at least a couple of weeks of that sort of weather in the Harwich area in late June to early July, but whatever the Gods give us I am sure that we will have a tremendous rally at Harwich and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible there. On behalf of the officers and committee of the Vega Association of Great Britain I wish you and your families a Happy Christmas and good health and prosperity in the New Year. Mike Freeman - Chairman VAGB Page 2 Vega Association of Great Britain Newsletter 44 Mast Steps I've got maststeps on my Vega (the previous owners put them on, so I can't say much about installation). They're fantastic and make climbing up the mast a lot easier and more comfortable if you have to work at the mast head for a long time. We have folding steps up to the spreaders, and fixed steps from the spreaders up. There are advantages to both. The fixed steps feel more secure as your foot is encased and can't slide off sideways: great if it's at all swelly. But, they do tend to catch and hook halyards, which can be annoying. The folding steps solve this problem, but don't offer such secure foot holds and you have to unfold/fold them as you climb up and down the mast. My one tip would be to put the topmost steps at the same height and in a position where the top of the mast reaches just below shoulder level. With the steps any higher and you feel very insecure, with nothing to wrap your arms around when at the top of the mast, but much lower means that it's difficult to get on top of the mast head to do any work. I hope this helps! Isla Reynolds Vega Beowulf VAGB Emails I've been meaning to get in touch with you for a while to thank you for your assistance in selling my Vega. Having advertised it twice in PBO, once in Scotland's local Yachting Life mag and having entered it in the Inverkip 2nd hand boat sale - all to no avail, the VAGB web-site did its work and Lyra now has a proud new owner (I've given him your details). As I say - thanks! My 20 years as a Vega owner were well spent and Lyra probably looked better at the end of the period than at the start. I'm now enjoying my Westerly Fulmar, which strikes me as a 'big Vega' in a lot of ways and which I hope will see me through the next 20 years. Good luck to VAGB and all Vega owners. Andy Scott. Vega “Lyra” We've now finished working and are back in Wensleydale; currently house/farm-sitting for my younger brother whilst he takes his family to France skiing, whereafter we fly back to Greece, next Friday morning. For the coming summer, rather than send lots of long rambling e-mails that perhaps not everyone is interested in reading; we’ve set up a blog site, which you can log onto and see what we’re getting up to. If you’re interested, log on to: - www sailblogs.com/member/ springfever Page 3 Vega Association of Great Britain Newsletter 44 There’s not a lot on there yet, but if it works we hope to post a diary and photos as the summer cruise progresses; the biggest question at the moment is where/how far we actually go. I managed to get a new mainsheet slug made up by a local engineering company who were doing some subcontract work for me on a project in Bradford; it looks very pretty but the test will come when I try to fit it into the track; I hope it’s ok as I know from experience that filing down stainless steel’s no fun at all Have you seen that Jester Challenge website? Looks perfect for a Vega; I’ve no chance for 2008; put who knows, I might be back to the UK by 2010. Bob & Lesley, Spring Fever. Long Distance Single-Handed Tips Your best friend for those long single-handed offshore passages (my longest was 12 days, 1300 miles) is a windvane. It is a must, and I dont think I could have made the 9 months without it...it almost became a survival gear!!! Another big must is sun protection: I really under-estimated it when I left with my Vega and once in the tropic, I was terribly looking for shade...it is almost impossible to stay out in the cockpit during day if you don't have a good dodger or bimini or those removable tarp with battens.