Thorpe Bay Yacht Club - Newsbuoy 10 - Spring 2014

www.tbyc.org • Edition 10 • Spring 2014

Mike ThomasonCommodore

Perhaps proud parents looking forpictures of their offspring, or justconsigned to the magazine rack to be

read on the odd rainy day; those historians amongst uswill no doubt carefully file them away for futuregenerations to review the past development andachievements of this great club.

Whatever destiny awaits your Newsbuoy, inside thisedition are a couple of flyers to pin to your noticeboard covering Sara’s social events as well as the Cadetand Pico activities under the watchful guidance andleadership of Mark and Tim. So before consigning themagazine to a dusty drawer, do please pin up thoseflyers.

I am delighted to introduce our new GeneralCommittee members for 2014. Paul Morgan has takenup office as Vice Commodore, Nick Cotgrove has takenover my previous role as Sail Training Officer – Nick waswith me at the start of the sail training in 2004 andcertainly knows what it is all about. Sara Speller is backfor her third shot as Social Representative so expect toreceive constant badgering about supporting the socialevents. Tony Padbury has stepped down as HonSecretary having completed three years in keeping theGeneral Committee to order and I am pleased towelcome Margaret Kennedy on board as our new HonSecretary. It is great to have a General Committeewhere everyone is involved with the on-water side ofthe club.

On the sailing Committee, John Laliberte has taken onthe role as boat park rep, and has been busy retaggingour dinghy and catamaran trolleys in readiness for thecoming season. Trolley tagging is essential, so we knowwho owns what and most importantly, just in case wefind the odd trolley on the beach at the end of a dayssailing.

2013 ended on a high note as Scott put on his first bigevent with the Xmas Ball which went very well and aswith any event there is always the fine tuning to belearnt for the future. New Year’s Eve and the NewYear’s Day Brunch were sellout events and I must thankmy fellow General Committee members for

volunteering to serve, wash up, clear and wait onthe tables.

What’s planned for 2014?

For the past few years we have invested heavily on thesailing side of the club which is great news, and hasprovided up to date on-water facilities. The attentionthis year whilst not to neglect the sailing is to spend alittle more time and money on the club house. Forstarters Nick Elmore set the ball rolling back in Octoberwith the task of the complete rewire of the club house.What should have been a four-week job has turned outto be 12 weeks, but at least it is finished. FortunatelyNick negotiated a fixed price contract and despite somedispute and haggling with the contractors we paid asper the contract and pre agreed deviations. Thestandard of work is excellent and a huge thanks toDerek Wellings and Steve Hopper who both kept agood watch on cabling and switch gear used in therewire.

The task now is to bring the clubhouse back into a goodpresentable order – but where to start? For one thereis little point in having the clubhouse redecoratedwhilst we have leaking balconies and damp walls, sothe starting point is to make the club watertight. Roof,gutters, downpipes and drain overhaul, balconies re-laid and potentially new balcony railings and then theceiling in both bars to consider. But there is anotherhidden asset or actually a liability – the hot air heatingsystem which needs some attention. The heatingsystem is a little old and may actually need replacing.The rewire brought to light that a lot of heat is actuallybeing pumped straight into the loft through brokenductwork. So this year club funds will be spent onputting a lot of the hidden infrastructure right.

The ladies’ changing rooms and showers needaddressing, and Alex Volokhov has come up with somefabulous wow-factor computer design images, some ofwhich are in this publication. This is an ambitiousproject and the next stage is to obtain quotes for theseimprovements.

Thanks to Toby Speller for putting together the clubprogramme. This is never an easy task, especially tryingto slot in the various race and trophy series oftenaround inconvenient tides. If only we had an outerThames barrier - which may well happen one day - 11o’clock starts every weekend and midweek races every

I often wonder what really happens to these Newsbuoymagazines when they land on our doormats.

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CommodoreMike Thomason

Vice Commodore Paul Morgan

Rear Commodore RacingJeremy Sandford

Rear Commodore CruisingDerek Wellings

TreasurerIan Murdoch

Cadet Rep • Mark Petty-Mayor House Rep • Rob Bailey

Sail Training Officer • Nick Cotgrove Social Rep • Sara Speller

Sailing Secretary • Tony Byrne Membership Officer • Will Daly

Honorary Secretary • Margaret KennedySecretary • Janet Willsmer

Dinghy Park Rep • John LaliberteSupport Boats – Ribs • Tony Clark

Support Boats – Displacement • Toby Speller Foiling Moths • Kyle Stoneham

Fast Cats • Struan Wallace Lasers • Rick Paxman & Wes Absolom

Slow Cats • Steve Healy & Paul MorganSandhoppers • Mark Robinson

Picos • Tim Allard

TBYC Magazine is made in Essexby Estuarine Design.

www.madeinessex.co.uk

Please send all articles, photos andcontributions to

[email protected]

Back issues are available todownload at http://issuu.com/tbyc

© Thorpe Bay Yacht Club 2014.All rights reserved.

MADE INESSEX

week. One can wish, although weshould be grateful for what we alreadyhave.

This brings me on to the proposedflood defences including the proposedflood gate which our local Councilseem intent to impose upon us.

Some will say flooding from the seacan not happen along our foreshore,others will say it can with the rightatmospheric conditions. Recent newsreports demonstrates the devastationthat can be caused by the combinedpower of water, gravity and wind. TheSea is a powerful force and we are alltaught to respect the sea and to look atthe side of caution.

The council engineers have providedsite plans which show the proposedrealignment of the western part of theseawall to be in line with the easternpart. The present east-west gap ismaintained and the width at the topof the cobbled ramp is slightlyincreased due to this realignment. Thesite plan also shows the proposedsliding flood gate and associated seawall will be no more than one metre inheight off the existing promenadelevel and the proposed gate will retracton the southern side of the proposedwestern wall. With the existing floodrisk assessment, it is highly unlikely thatthe sliding gate would ever need to beshut.

Work on the proposed sea defences isdue to start in Oct / Nov 2014. With theforthcoming spring elections, there isthe real possibility depending on theview of the local electorate that the seadefence scheme and the flood gatemay not actually go ahead.

Your General Committee are innegotiation with the Council andworking on the basis that if theseproposals do go ahead we achievewhat is best for the Club and willoppose any sea defence works whichmay hinder or restrict our access to ourslipway and to the cobbled ramp andbeach.

During the last two weeks of January,the Council contractors have at ourrequest recycled a considerabletonnage of sand onto the upper part

of the TBYC beach. This has reinstatedthe raised platform of sand that is sovital to our daily activities bymaintaining a respectable dry areabetween High Water Springs and thesea wall. Our local Council are verysupportive of TBYC and the sportingfacility which we offer to our local andwider community.

A new initiative this year is theintroduction of the Members Skills Liston the club website. Any full membercan promote their individualskills/business for the benefit of clubmembers. Full details can be viewed onthe website.

On the sailing side, which is after allwhat we are all about, we have had arecord entry for the winter and Icicleseries with great prizes to be won.Rewind back to January 2013, wherewe were taking half an hour to clearthe snow and ice off our covers beforewe could even think about pulling asail up.

The main season is nearly upon us.There is still time to check out whatneeds replacing and fixing before theWarm Up Race on 30th March. Pleaseremember our nearest chandler TCShas relocated back to Grays. End of anera - from the early days of Shorelineunder the management of GordonSanders and now we find ourselveshaving to make a slightly longer dashto Boatacs in Westcliff for thaturgently-needed halyard.

Many of our sailors, cadets and adultsare on the campaign trail and touringthis year for which we wish themcontinued success with theirendeavours.

New volunteers are always needed forthe on water side to help out with therace officering and support boats. Ifyou are not listed for duties in the clubprogramme and would like to step upto the challenge of learning new skillswith race officering or support boats(full training will be provided) thenplease chat to any member of theGeneral or Sailing Committees.

Happy Sailing

Mike Thomason

YourCommittee

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Back in the winter of 2008, TBYC wasapproached by Jason Curtis of Fair HavensHospices, who had an idea of raising essentialfunding for the hospices by holding a longdistance open water swimming event in thesummer.

He came to us as he had little knowledgeregarding the byelaws of the river, and waslooking for guidance in starting this event.Toby Speller and I met with Jason in theClubhouse and listened to his idea. He wantedto organise a swim across the Thames fromSouthend to Allhallows.

“No,” I said, “the Port of London Authoritywould not allow swimmers to cross a busyshipping lane.”

“Alright then, what about from the pier headto shore, Jubilee Beach?”

“Sorry Jason, the Corporation has a byelawprohibiting people from jumping off the pier.”

“Can we swim along the foreshore then, fromJubilee Beach to the beach just to the west ofthe groyne by TBYC?”

“Yup, you can do that, but include the Pier andForeshore Department in your plans at all times- and beware of Club sailing!”

And so began ourinvolvement with Fair Havensfor all but one of their GreatPier Swims on the east side ofthe Pier; always subject to Clubsailing and approval by bothSailing and General

Committee, and we wouldsupply a Rib. In the summer of2013, the Great Pier Swimmoved to the west side of thePier, where there are fewermoored boats.

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The swim now starts at Chalkwell bythe Crow Stone, passes through thePier and finishes at Jubilee Beach. Inthe past couple of years it has beenrecognised by the AmateurSwimming Association as an OpenWater Event, and raises manythousands of pounds for the charity,with over £175,000 raised to dateand some 200 to 300 swimmers,both amateur and experienced,taking part every year.

From this came an idea from a friendof Penny Allard. He wanted tocelebrate his 40th in a special way -raising funds for a charity by doingsomething different, a swim in mid-winter in just your swimmers - nowet or dry suits allowed! Brrr! Sowith friends willing to participate,Penny’s friend and co. approachedFair Havens. Fair Havensapproached us for the usual Ribsupport and the Dare to Dip eventwas born. The first of these eventswas held was in March 2013, forwhich we supplied two Ribs, MartinSwindon in his own and Toby and Iin “Olympia” and £5,000 was raised.

This year’s event was held on Sunday12th January, with a watertemperature of 6C and airtemperature just above freezing,wind SE force 3-4. Brrr, indeed! Weagain supplied two Ribs, Toby inTornado (Seasafe 5) with SuzanneHellier as crew and me in Olympiawith Jeremy Sandford (RearCommodore Sailing) and LewisBrake. Another fine amount of£5,000 is on course to be raised forthe charity. As with any event, a fulland thorough risk assessment iscarried out by Jason and his team toensure the event is as safe as ispossible.

TBYC benefits from this as well. It isa good public relations exercise forus, puts us in the press and Jasonensures that we (and all the otherorganisations that help with theseevents) are mentioned in dispatches.Sponsorship for this event wassupplied by Ocean Beach with safetycover provided by ourselves,Chalkwell Lifeguards and St. John’sAmbulance.

Tony Twoflags

A chain letterI really can’t believe, nor can I quite fathom,that in the two years I’ve been treasurer, TBYChas spent a cable less than £2,000 on chain...chain! - a total of two thousand pounds inthat time on chunks of metal, meshedtogether, that are largely unseen for fifteenhours a day. Where is it? Where does it all go?

We are chained together, with the Clubhouse, with the BoatPark and with the common interest of enjoying sailing, beingblown along with the wind and the tide, in an enjoyable butcompetitive environment, east of the Pier.

I have been amazed, in my time as a member, how the seasonsshow us the way. The Cruisers empty the boat park, the Sandhoppers show us their skirts– and are whisked away to their moorings, the tidying up of the winter’s débris – a chaingang of earnest volunteers... the arrival of more of the younger folks, Picos, Dinghiesand fast Catamarans. It all happens in a seamless ballet (let’s face it, no-one cocks asnook to the backroom boys that make this all happen - yet without their work,we are all unshackled!)

Last year, all this was much harder to achieve.Who could have known that the averagetemperature in the UK in March 2013was 2.2 degrees and that resinpolymers won’t chain togetherand set at this lowtemperature. Working inthe boat park in araging blizzardbecame the norm,but it had to bedone tomaintain acorrectplace

in the chain ofevents.

A link to the past thatastonished me - in

compiling asubmission for yetanother SportEngland lotterygrant, this time torenovate theBosun’s Hut and

race control box,combined with work

on the flood defenceproposals - was that

the original building onthe Bosun’s Hut site was

”Mason’s Boat Yard”. Awooden structure at right

angles to the beach andapparently, with a slipway 45°

to the shore, pointing into theSouth Westerlies - I never knew...

What I do know is that, as TBYCmembers, we are linked together to

enjoy the facilities, comfort andexperience from what TBYC offers us

collectively – a chain reaction for thegood of all!

Ian Murdoch

Now please send this to five of your sailing buddies…

Fields to theeast of ThorpeBay from thesouth-west,1931, showingthe Mason’sboat yard

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I am glad there is already a stable GeneralCommittee as I enter my first term as ViceCommodore. I was soon to find out howmany members had done it previously andhow many issues have to be dealt with.Looking at the current status of the barshowed that Martin had built and left agood base to start from, although it hasn'tbeen a relaxed first months with staffchanges and the required interviews ofprospective employees.

Lorraine left us as Bar Manager, after manygood years and will be missed by many,although some people do still see her as shenow works in another local club. Donna,who has been working as our otherpermanent bar employee has now movedup to the role, as Lorraine had donepreviously. This also gave us a point to assesshow we can ensure a better workingcoverage of permanent staff and thereforehave been employing to put two BarSupervisors in place covering the same hoursas was previously completed by one person.This gives us many benefits. The first personto join us has been Natalie (happy to beknown as Nat) who will meet more membersas we head into the spring.

The quality of wines changes every year andtherefore we will probably see somealterations to the wine list in 2014. I hope toarrange another Wine Tasting Evening, anevent which has previously been verysuccessful. This will ensure by blind tastingthat our expected quality and variation isavailable.

In the restaurant, Scott has continued tobuild on his excellent Friday Night Diningand Sunday Carvery. A request from himwould be to please book early so he is able toplan the catering well. We are all glad that

the kitchen is now open morehours than it has for a while,although during the last fewmonth the winter quiet period hasmeant variations of the lunchtimemenu. This will return to normal asthere is an increase in membersusing and helping sustain thefacility. You may soon see anadvertorial that we have placed inthe Thorpe Bay Oracle whichhopefully will increase the membership andthe use of the restaurant.

Recently I purchased a TBYC SouvenirProgramme from the 1968 Little AmericasCup, an event that we held for many years.From this, I was introduced to years ofarchives that the club holds. I am sure thatmany of you are as interested as myself in thedetail. I would like to be able to make somecopies available on the website, but alsohave an evening where I can lay it all out andmembers can peruse and reminisce over thepast. It may give us a few ideas for the future.

One good thing about being ViceCommodore is that I now get to select theguest beer (I will let others also have thishonour!) Not suggesting any alternatives tovisiting the club, my first choice has beenselected from experiences of home brewing,and we now have on the pumps an excellentpint called Woodfordes Wherry.

I welcome comments and suggestions aboutthe bar and catering. Please talk or leave mea message and we will see what we can do.

Paul Morgan [email protected]

BAR & KITCHEN OPENINGTIMES FOR 2014

MondayClub is closed all day except for BankHolidays, which will be Sunday hours

Tuesdays/WednesdaysBar 11am–3pm & 7pm–11pmKitchen 11.30am-2.30pm

ThursdayBar 11am–3pm & 5pm–11pmKitchen 11:30am–2:30pm, 5.30pm–8pm

FridayBar 11am–3pm & 5pm–11pmKitchen 11:30am–2.30pm, 7pm–9pm

SaturdayBar 11am–11pmKitchen 9am–6pm

SundayBar 11am–7pm (9pm in Summer)Kitchen 9am–6pm

Kitchen opening times will be extendedduring the sailing season to encompasssailing times.

BAR HIREHire the main Bar for £100 or theCommodore Bar for £75 perafternoon or evening session. The Sail Training Room can also behired for a charge of £50 per dayor evening session. Scott can take catering booking on07763 511657. The club can becontacted on 01702 587563, and Ican be contacted on 07741 201052.

Don’t forget - 2014 subscriptions are now due!

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My last article includedan appeal to ‘sprinters’to qualify for thewinter series (no DNC’sto count.) I’mdelighted to say thattwelve boats achievedthis by starting at leastfour of the six races. So

well done to Chris Tillyer, Jenny Ball(Marconi), Steve ‘bit on the side’ Healy(more on this below), Colin Rigg (excellent4th), the Sverdloff triplets – Gary, Gerald &Keith, Alan Grant, Paul Morgan, NickCotgrove, Stefan Smith and Mike Taylor.An excellent achievement in some toughweather conditions.

The winter series was also notable for the25 cats that took part in the series,including 17 for one race - a superb turnoutand proof if any were needed that we’renot just fair weather sailors.

But that’s all in the past and we’re not onesto dwell on former glories. Onwards andupwards, I say, to: -

The Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace on1st/2nd March; come and see us on the ‘15stand;

The Spring Sprint Dinner at TBYCClubhouse on 8th March;

Marconi SC for the first TTevent of the year on 12th-13th April;

North Devon Yacht Club for theSport nationals on 6th-8th June;

The Sprint 15 nationals here atTBYC on 12th-14th July.

If you’ve not been to the open atMarconi, I can thoroughlyrecommend it. There will be threeraces on the Saturday followed by a longdistance race on the Sunday. It’s a greatclub, great fun and Daren Fitchew willprobably organise an armada to sail round(he’s got previous on this!)

Steve Healy enquired if I fancied dustingoff the trapeze harness, ironing thewrinkles out of the jib, re-attaching amiscellany of wires and sheets to the boatand sailing a series in ‘Sport’ mode. Ifyou’ve been trapezing, you know what ahoot it is! On windy days when you’requietly praying to the race office to endthe race after 45 minutes, you’ll instead behoping he keeps it going for at least acouple of hours. The sensation when youget out on the wire, fly a hull and slicethrough waves upwind is unbeatable, sowhy not join Steve and me ‘on the side’ forthe spring series, which by the way takes us

almost up to the Sport nationals in earlyJune. This could be a great target to aimfor.

Paul Morgan put out a request for peopleto help out with organising the Nationals.I think he’s looking for a few morevolunteers (willing or otherwise!) to comeforward before we start makingarrangements. Please do let him know youcan help out. Many hands, etc...

Also for the Nationals, the association hasa sponsor willing to provide embroideredcaps if we provide a design. How aboutdoodling something and letting meknow? It would also be great to organisea design for club polo/tee shirts or similar atthe same time.

Gary Burrows

Here we are in 2014,a new year andnew challenges...

The CruisingSection’s challengewill be to continueto alter and adaptto the new formatwe now findourselves in. Thismay impose some

restrictions on our operatingability, but with goodwill anddetermination this too is justanother part of the challenge.

There is no doubt that the rallieslast year were smaller than usual,but good sailing and good funwas at the top of the menu andall those that participatedimmersed themselves in thatchallenge, and we will continueto take up the cudgels this year.

Things can get interesting going into Bradwell...

There is a full programme of events being planned for the comingwinter nights, ranging from presentations through meals toquizzes – hopefully, something for everyone. The Cruiser SectionCommittee are always happy to listen to ideas and hopefully turnthem into a really good evening.

During these winter nights we can dream and plan for thosewarm summer days (let us hope we do not have to dream toohard) when sailing takes centre stage. A full diary of rallies is beingplanned and in addition, sail days are again planned again for thisyear. Again, your ideas for rally venues are welcome.

The manning of Polly has become an issue over the last year.Fewer Cruisers on the moorings means fewer duties available toman Polly, which may mean old ideas being scrapped and a newway of operating Polly found. We will not know the full answeruntil the current round of membership and mooring renewals hasbeen complete, but I am sure we will need to look at new waysthe duty is to be carried out, and with the current criteria for dutybeing having lifted out at TBYC and/or having a mooring at TBYCwe will need to rely on the goodwill of members to volunteer forthe vacant slots that will almost certainly occur.

Derek Wellings

...and also whenwaiting for the tide intoConyer Creek! Thissequence shows ThamesBarge "Mirosa" cuttingthings fine whilst tackingher way upstream in theSwale. 99

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I’m looking forward to a brilliant 2014 sailing season, whichstarted for me by winning the Frozen sheets on my A-Class. It’sbeen a long time since a fast cat captain reported in the magazineand I will try to keep you all up to date on coming events.

This time last year we had a real mixed bag ofweather. The high winds and snow kept many ofus off the water until the spring and summer series.Only the diehards and lunatics need apply to sail afast cat in really windy conditions - and that’s whereJeremy and Julian on their Hurricane, Weird Fish,excel. They won the Nore race, Class One multihullin 2012 and again in 2013, and keep on winningvarious races at the club.

The selection of Hurricanes, A-classes, Spitfires,Dave King’s Tornado or Dave White’s F18 make forclose racing, and I’m sure if any member or cadetfancied sailing on one of these fast multihulls, it canbe organized and put a smile on your face. I knowDave White is looking for a crew to sail his F18 atTBYC this year, so don’t miss out on an opportunityto sail and learn with one of the top UK F18 sailors.

Last year, due to work obligations Dave spent more timesailing at F18 events. He writes: “Last year was quite a goodyear sailing wise; I mostly remember it been windy at nearlyevery event! The first event was Datchet, were Paul and Icame sixth (the less said about that event the better, I think- I managed to sink an A-Class... oops!)

The next one was Eurocat, where we came fourteenth outof 67 boats, which was quite a good achievement; we werethe fourth GB boat and our best result was a sixth in onerace! Next up was the Minnis Bay cat open, where we camethird. Then it was the Worlds in Grossetto, Italy, where wecame 54th out of 81 boats in the gold fleet. That was a reallygood event, and a fantastic place to sail! After that we didthe nationals at Weymouth where we came third - that wasa windy one - and the last event was the Weston Cat Openwhere we came fourth. It was a good year but looking atthat list now I think I need to get a few more events in this

year! So the plan is do as much as I can, and this isthe schedule so far!

I think it would be good idea to mention the F18Worlds, which this year is been held at BallyholmeYC, which is where Adam and I delaminated yourhurricane mainsail! It’s the closest the Worlds willbe to home for a while, and as it’s a UK event wehave an unlimited slot allocation, whereas wenormally only get about 10 to 15 for a normalWorlds. So if anyone is interested in sailing at theWorlds then this is the year to try it (see panel, left)

There are a lot of boat chartersavailable for brand new boatsand there are a lot for sale at themoment.

See you down the club verysoon!” Dave

Hurricane sailors: the future looks bright as the classkeeps getting strong support with a regular turn out ofthree or four boats and soon Simon Steptoe is looking tojoin in the class racing now that he has sold the Narca 20.The UK Hurricane Association has put together aprogramme of events around the UK which cross overwith many other Catamaran classes. If anybody fanciesdoubling up, let me know. The event schedule is listedbelow.

As you can see, the reason fast cat captains don’t appearmuch in the magazine is that we are busy working hard toafford our amazing sport, or off sailing!

Look forward to seeing you all on the water in 2014.

Struan WallaceFast cat captain

PS I know where there’s a lovely White DNA A-class for sale,ask John Glynn, it’s in the boat park close to his new VisionA-Class.

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Last year I changed my A-class to the Grey DNA, which yousee out on the water most weekends, unless I’m off at A-class events around the UK or Europe. The boat wasbought to sail at the Europeans in Barcelona; sailingagainst 110 worldwide competitors was a real eye opener.The start line alone was several hundred metres long andone mistake put you at the back of the fleet. If truth betold, on the very first start of this weeklong championshipin Spain I managed to get a black flag. Just too keen, butI have learnt my lesson. In the end I finished mid-fleet butreally need more time on the water and from that eventrealized I had the wrong sail for my weight and mastconfiguration. The A-class is like the F1 of catamarans andthe wrong engine or in my case, helm. Makes the boat goslow.

I have a pretty packed programme this year, starting at theRYA Dinghy show on the first weekend of March at AllyPally. As Chairman of the BACCA, I have managed to gethold of a Foiling DNA boat, to show where the future ofcatamaran sailing is going. Then see the list of UK A-Classopens I’m looking to compete in!

tbycsocialtbycsocial

I took over as Social Secretary in November of lastyear and well and truly hit the ground running, withthe Christmas Ball, New Year party and New Year'sDay Brunch on the go. For those who are relativelynew to the club and don't already know me, I havebeen a member for over 15 years now and this is my3rd stint in this particular role. I never learn!

I have a great Social Committee to support me thisyear, with members from many different sections ofthe Club to ensure that we try to cater to all tastesand pockets. These are Sharon Hadley, Alix Dell,

Theresa Ryall, PennyAllard, Barbara Hervé,Gaynor Thompson andFiona Strachwitz. I wouldjust like to thank theseladies for their help andenthusiasm in advance. Ifany members have asuggestion for an event, orany comments to make,please feel free to speak toone of these ladies ormyself direct.

We have a really fantastic programme of eventsplanned for you this year, which are detailed in thisnewsletter and on the panel opposite.

In addition, the increasingly popular, reinvigoratedFriday night dining has really taken off in a big wayand Scott and I have decided to give these somestructure for the coming year. Roughly once amonth there will be a fine dining night with an á lacarte menu and once a month a themed food nightwith a slightly cheaper fixed price format. The only

change we've had to make is to hold the onescheduled for 28th February instead on 27th

February as the RNLI have their annualdinner on the Friday night in the Clubhouse. We held the first of the theme

nights in December (Mexican) and it was a greatsuccess with a brilliant atmosphere and manysombreros!

Where Friday nights fall on mid-week sailing dates,we are putting on something called the HungrySailor so that everyone can join in. Food on thesenights will be something like a curry or fish & chips.It will be available from 7.00pm until late so thatspectators can eat whilst watching the sailing, andthen those 'hungry sailors' can finish the eveningwith a hearty meal as they come off the water.

Also, don't forget that on Thursdays (cadet night)food is now available from 5.00pm to accommodatethose with younger children. All sections of the Clubare welcome, not just cadets.

As ever, all events will be advertised on the Clubwebsite and on posters around the Clubhouse. Theonly change this year, due to increasing pressure onthe bar and office staff, is that ticketed events will behandled by myself or one of the Social Committee.Details of how to purchase will be advertised foreach individual event, but you will still be able to payby cash, cheque, card at the bar or bank transfer.

Happy New Year everyone! I hopeyou had a wonderful Christmas break;the Club was certainly buzzing duringthat period. So lovely to see such apositive, busy atmosphere!

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Margaret Kennedy writes: “I thought you might like to include this etching I made of waves, inspired by the recent storms, andthought you might like it for the magazine.”

I hope you will enjoy the exciting, sociable year we have plannedand look forward to seeing as many of you as possible with yourparty hats on!

Sara SpellerSocial Secretary

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We start the seasonas we ended the last -wet and windy.However theconditions have notput off TBYC dinghyand cat sailors, withgreat turnouts for thewinter and icicle

series which have provided competitiveracing and great sailing on somebeautiful winter days. Unfortunately,conditions have put off my Hurricanemaintenance programme, and with anever-lengthening list of gel coat repairs itis going to be a busy end to March(nearly as busy as owning aSandhopper!) but at least the gel coatwill be paid for by the lasers whocontinue to park across the start line onport!

This year we have put together a busyprogramme for all to enjoy. We start theseason with a warm up race on March29th followed by the Spencer cup on theSunday. The spring series then starts onthe Saturday and Sunday of the firstweekend in April.

On the last weekend of each month wehave included last year’s popularaddition of a weekend mini series. Wehave kept the format from last seasonand these events will comprise of fourraces over two days with an informalsocial event on the Saturday evening.Points from each day of the weekendseries will also form part of the Springpoints series.

Competition for silverware traditionallydraws the biggest crowds, whether it'sthe pot hunters after the cup or sailorsrelishing the excitement of 40 boat startsand large fleets. Last year we introducedTrophy Winner polo shirts, and this year

we are doing the same: recognising theachievement of winning a trophy notonly with the prestigious awarding of thetrophy at prizegiving, but giving eachwinner a one off personalised TBYCtrophy winners’ polo shirt. There aretwelve members proudly sporting darkblue 2013 trophy series shirts with thetrophy image on the back, so if you seethem around - they are the guys to beat!

The courses and starts for this seasonremain unchanged, as do the mainclasses, however we have decided to jointhe Windward Leeward Cats and Monostogether to increase the numbers andcompetition within the class. The Fastand Slow Monos, Slow Cats andSandhoppers will continue to take theircourse from the four marks displayed onthe rear of the Committee Boat and racea trapezoid course, with theSandhoppers doing the first and last ofthe four marks. The Windward Leewardclass will race around the two marksdisplayed on the front of the CommitteeBoat.

Trophy races will be a mass start, racingthe usual trapezoid course displayed onthe rear of the Committee boat.

The TBYC sail training programme hasbeen the starting point for many of theclub’s active sailing and racing membersand has been for ten years by MikeThomason. With Mike nowCommodore this year, Nick Cotgrove hasstepped up to run the trainingprogramme that has long been admiredby other sailing clubs and the RYA. Nickwill start the year with the first stage twocourse at the start of April, a chance forall those members who have beenpractising since stage 1 last year toprogress further before the summerarrives. Then, at the end of April, it's the

return of stage 1, when those new to thesport get the finest introduction to sailingthey can when Nick and his loyal team ofhelpers answer the first question of ‘willit be cold?’ with a unanimous ‘no - ofcourse not!’

The Pico series, run by Tim Allard and theFeva Training run by Nick Alston bothreturn this year with the first seriesstarting with the main points racing inApril. Mums and Dads, it's time to see ifthe kids’ wetsuits still fit, visit WetsuitOutlet and prepare to race, becausecadets this year will be busier than ever.There will be lots of volunteers needed tohelp run the Pico events, so get involvedand talk to Tim. There will be somethingfor everyone from organising trolleys onthe beach to assisting the race officerwith running the race from the race box.Race officer training will be available forthose willing to help, so just give yournames to Tim.

We have a full fleet of displacement andRibs to provide safety cover for our busyschedule, thanks goes to Toby Spellerand Tony Clarke and their helpers for alltheir hard work this winter to ensure westart the season up to speed, which withTony at the helm of Olympia is prettyfast!

Our fleet of safety boats and willingTBYC volunteers will be stretched to thelimit again with the club putting on theOpen Club Regatta on 3rd – 5th May, theSandhopper Nationals on 28th/29th ofJune and the Sprint Nationals on 12th –14th July, so put the dates in your diariesand be part of it.

Happy sailing,

Jeremy SandfordRear Commodore Racing

There has been no rest for the RS Feva Fleet thiswinter. Sam Laliberte and Jacob Allard, andMillie and Vicki Little have continued to race,fine-tuning their skills ready for the comingmonths. The rest of the fleet have joined themat our Cadet Evening Training sessions coveringFleet and Team Racing skills; tactics, tuning andeven some navigation. Their participation is acredit to them and you cannot get a morefriendly and enthusiastic bunch!

While looking forward to nextseason, in addition to the TBYCprogramme of races, we havethe opportunity to attend theRS Feva National Championshipsat Weymouth this year, maybe alocal Open meeting, two BritishSchools Team RacingChampionships (Thames Valleyand Midlands) and a friendlyteam racing match against EtonCollege (if there is any suchthing as friendly!) We also haveeight dates in the programmewhere we have a dedicated ribfor some focusedtraining/racing.

The RS Feva is an ideal class for 11to 16 year olds. We arecommitted to developing thefleet at TBYC with training andsupport, and hope to be joinedthis year by more keen

youngsters. You will love sailingthe RS Feva and are mostwelcome to join in the manyorganised events and activities.

Furthermore, I wish to extendthe RS Feva training to all Cadetsfrom about 11 years old,including those in other classes(e.g. in your Pico etc.), who arefairly proficient sailors, to attendand benefit from our CadetEvening training sessions andon-the-water training, aspublished in the 2014programme. If you have anyquestions, please do not hesitateto call me on 01268 774604, chatto me at the club or contact meon the e-mail address below.

Nick AlstonRS Feva Fleet Officer [email protected]

The electricians are finally finishedand our rewire is now complete. Abig thank you to Nick Elmore, PaulMorgan, Mike Thomason and alsoAlan Burrell who with Mike’s helpre-plastered the ceiling in the men’schanging rooms.

We are hoping to upgrade thewarm air heating boilers subject to quotes, as theyare very old and inefficient, I hope to start gettingthese by the end of the month. At the momentwe are receiving quotes for the balcony flat roofreplacement. We are also looking intomodernising the ladies’ changing area due to thedamp problem, and as you can see from AlexVolokhov’s CGI pictures, the plans are lookinggreat!

Please, everyone - be aware we are on a watermeter and the bills we are receiving are huge! Weare hoping that everyone could be a little morewater-conscious and turn off any taps or showersthat are left on. The key code for the backdoor isgoing to be changed on 1st March 2014.

The first work party this year is going to be on the9th March at 10am, and I hope everyone will beable to come along, as many hands make lightwork.

Rob BaileyHouse Representative 1155

The traditional Sandhopper Quiz night on25th Jan normally marks thebeginning of a flurry of activity in theboat park leading up to the Lift-In onSunday 23rd March. And with thepredicted exceptionally mild weatherwill provide perfect conditions forpainting, epoxying, anti-fouling andjust doing stuff on our boats to ensurea sleek, preened race tuned fleet are

afloat for the warm-up race onSaturday 29th March. Of course,all this work on your boat takes itout of you so Janet will beorganising the Lift-In Supper onSaturday 22nd March to ensurewe are all fully nourished, readyfor that first race.

The 2014 Sandhopper Nationalswill be held at TBYC on 28-29June this year, with the usualNationals dinner on the Saturday

evening along with the usual banter andreview of the first day. We are alsoplanning two other Sandhopper racingweekends this year (with sponsorshipfrom the Wetsuit Outlet and Primo) toprovide more enjoyment and to ensure

anyone missing out on the Nationals canstill enjoy the “Nationals”experience – watch this space formore news on these soon. Ofcourse all these activities will alsobe held in perfect weatherconditions!

This year will see the launch of“Primo”, the Sandhopper acquiredby TBYC Sandhoppers last autumn.This will provide trainingopportunities for members thatfind the club Picos a little crampedand for anyone thinking of buying

a Sandhopper it will give them the chanceto sail or race one first. Of course thedownside to this is that there may not beenough Sandhoppers to go round, witheveryone wanting to buy one! So if youwant to try a Sandhopper or would like tocrew on one in the fleet, let me knowASAP so we can sort something out. Youjust need to make sure you have enoughsuntan cream for all that gorgeousweather!

Sandhopper social nights will continue onthe first Wednesday of the month and weplan to do a few more formal events thisyear covering the Rules of Racing, SailTrim, weather etc and of course DavidJohnson’s ever popular Epoxy talk - if hecan fit us in with his busy internationalschedule!

If you would like to know more aboutSandhoppers at TBYC, please visit ourother web site atwww.sandhopper.org.uk or give me acall.

Happy New Year to all and I wish you anenjoyable 2014 sailing!

Mark Robinson

PS Has anyone found the instructions Imislaid for my weather forecastingseaweed? I’m pretty sure I’m reading itright but you never know…

1166

Great news - the forecast for 2014 is fantastic, withperfect wind conditions, warm sunny weather andonly the odd shower (which will always be at night!)

Check out our Youtube channel!www.youtube.com/sandhopper39

1177

Please note: Cadet evenings start at 1730hrs for food. Free sailing willstart as soon as a rescue boat is on station at the slipway. All

activities could be subject to change due to weather conditions. Allclubhouse activities will start at approx 1900hrs.

Mark Petty-MayorTBYC Cadet Rep

Please check the main race programme for start times.

Tim Allard

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A very happy new year toyou all.

As you will now all beaware, Mike has steppedeffortlessly into his newrole at the club, and I havetaken on the sail trainingside of things for thisperiod.

The existing application form and generaldocumentation framework that exist areexcellent, fit for purpose, and I am now inpossession of these. I intend to make no majorchanges to this blueprint; the aim of thesethree Start Sailing courses is to warmlywelcome new members to the club, developexisting skills and ‘de-mystify’ sailing andrelated activity at TBYC.

There are currently 25 candidates registeredfor level 1, and five for level 2. This number willincrease over the next two or three months.Mike has held on to level 3 for the time being.

Kind regards

Nick CotgroveSail Training Officer

As I write this on a miserable wet January evening, it seems agesuntil there is a chance to go sailing again. However, many of youdo sail throughout the year and the turnouts for the winter andicicle series continue to be strong.

Fiona and I did get an opportunity to get out on the water forthe Frozen Sheets, albeit in a Rib. We were so lucky to have aweather window which enabled a large fleet to have a greatrace. Well done Struan for winning, and a big thank you for allthe members who assisted in the running of the event.

Work continues on the winter maintenance of the twodisplacement safety boats, whilst the Committee Boat is safelyashore on Canvey. If you can assist in any way with the work onthe club boats please contact Toby Speller or myself. There willalso be some work parties prior to the season.

The 2014 sailing programme is, I hope, in its final draft as I writethis and once again a big thank you to Toby for all the hard workhe puts into this. When you receive your copy please check yourduties. If you are unable to cover those rostered please ask forswaps on Dutyman as early as possible. It does make the DutyOfficer’s job a bit easier knowing that everything is covered.

Enjoy sailing in 2014.

Tony Byrne

A total of 15 boatsentered the Winter Seriesin the slow handicapfleet, 9 of which wereLasers.

The series was won byKevin Iles in his Streaker

with Laser sailors Doug and Nick Rivers tiedon points after 6 races for joint second.Doug was the sole fleet representative atthe Leigh-on-Sea Brass Monkey this year,where he sailed an almost flawless racewhich would have seen him on the podiumhad he not been OCS.

The Laser class is the largest mono-hull fleetat the club and we are anticipating a coupleof additional boats for the forthcomingseason. We are having very close racingwith no one winner every race, see thelatest video. A good club Laser is availablefor use by anyone who may be interested inracing this great little one-design boat. TheSolos and RS Fevas have also had somegood turnouts during the season with closeracing, but we are hoping that with bettercommunication within the slow handicapfleet this season we will see numbers startto increase.

Rick Paxman

CAPTION COMPETITION

Whose legs are these?Answers on a postcard to the usual address. Prize is a

drink bought by the person who owns the legs. 1199

Dear Teras, Oppies and Picos,

I hope you have all had a great winter and you are lookingforward to the new season.

We have made the decision to return to the original namefor the race series, so please do not be surprised to find

Pico series in your programme for 2014. We continue to support all the‘training’ boats at the club and we welcome boats with a handicap of 1300(Pico) or slower.

I plan to hold some basic boat set-up sessions on the green early on in theseason, this will cover the sail controls and what they do; how to set the boatup for wind strength and sail settings for going round the course. These basicsessions will lead nicely into some on-water training. I plan to buildconfidence and get as many people sailing round a triangle course. Bothsessions will act as a refresher for some, or a confidence booster for others. Ihope these basic sessions will lead to a greater participation in the Pico series.

For our more confident sailors, I will be working with some of the other fleetcaptains to establish a pathway plan to help develop sailing skills and makethe next steps in sailing clear.

See you all very soon.

Tim [email protected]

SLOW HANDICAP

PICOS

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