Burbo Bank Wind Farm Information

April 2008

Welcome once again to our newsletter. These seem to be fairly short but that is partly due to lack of activity on the river and apathy on the part of contributors. For the last few months we have had only one constant contributor and could do with more please.

Preparations are under way in the yard and on the moorings as sailing members are preparing to launch. Things haven’t quite reached a state of frenzy but no doubt it will happen fairly soon. The weather today is not conducive to working in the yard, very cold with snow showers and the promise of an unsettled week to come. Nothing new there!

In spite of the cold weather my pond is full of tadpoles that seem to be very hardy. No doubt the numbers will decrease as they begin to devour each other. My neighbour said that he found a number of frogs in his garden. I think he may have been complaining but I am quite happy to contribute to the frog population! Blue tits are showing interest in my tit box and there are some great tits but I haven’t managed to find where they are nesting.
The sparrow hawk continues with his daily visit, hoping to decrease my large sparrow population, but he isn’t often successful. Is it my imagination or have the birds been less hungry this winter than usual? That excludes the starlings, they seem to be perpetually hungry, I wish they ate moles; we have them in abundance,

The Cocktail Party held last week to herald the season was enjoyable. Thanks are due to the ladies of the Social Committee for all their hard work. The next Social Event is already advertised in the clubhouse, it will be a curry evening later this month. I’m not sure what entertainment is planned, but it will be good. See you there.

NOTES FROM THE GENERAL COMMITTEE

Four members were absent, the Commodore, the Vice Commodore, Bob Lorentz and Bob Chamberlain.

Arising from the last meeting a date was set for the extraordinary general meeting. It will be held on the 1st Wednesday in May, ie 7th May. Letters will be sent out soon. There is no proxy voting and at least 30 full members will be needed. The evening will be combined with: -
A PRESENTATION BY MATTHEW DOOLEY ABOUT HIS EXCITING ADVENTURES ON THE SOUTH ENDURANCE EXPEDITION.

There was no Commodore’s report.

Ian Cowell gave the sailing notes on behalf Mark Meadows as follows.

The Kindred Clubs Regatta Conference will be at Royal Mersey Y. C. on Wednesday, 9th April and is being attended by the Club Secretary.

The proposed 2009 Altmouth Cup dates in order of preference :

1. Sunday 21st June 09 9:31 AM BST/8.64; 10:50 PM BST/8.92:
2. Sunday 19th July 09 9:06 AM BST/7.90; 9:37PM BST/8.19:
3. Sunday 5th July 09 10:35 AM BST/7.68; 10:57 PM BST 8.07.

The V. C. has also passed on the following dates to Secretary for the 2008 Prize Giving Dinner and 2009 Fitting Out Dinner.

1. 2008 Prize Giving Dinner – Saturday, 8th November
2. 2009 Fitting Out Dinner – Saturday, 7th February .
(As this meeting actually clashed with last night’s meeting Martin Dooley had sent the dates by telephone and we will hear which have been chosen later Ed.)

DSC Radio’s - Mention was made of the number of DSC Radios now owned by the boat owning membership and it was suggested that individual MMSI numbers be catered for in future editions of the diary or made available for circulation. The Sailing Committee to discuss this in more detail at a later date.

River.
Perching -The perching of the river has gone well with all work scheduled to be carried out so far actioned.

There will be a further perching working party on Saturday, 26th April at approx 3pm concentrating on the area of the river between the outfall just past the Clubhouse slipway and the outfall (prior to rocks on landward side) leading to the leg exiting the river. The starboard perches are going to be tidied up and re-aligned in order to make the river channel easier to identify.

We are in need of additional perches and the Sailing Committee has agreed to purchase more.

(At the meeting last night Mike Kennan said that he is having difficulty getting the necessary poles but he will notify those concerned about his progress Ed)

River Entrance Port/Starboard Buoys – The decision of the Sailing Committee is that these are to be replaced as the starboard hand buoy has been punctured and no longer fit for purpose and the new red buoy purchased at the beginning of the season AWOL. VC to action.

The Inner Corporation Mark – This is reported as being down and has been reported to Graham Lymberry. The Sailing Secretary is going to follow this up with an official communication from the Club.

Pontoons – The VC is conscious that there has been an amount of debate amongst the membership with regard to the Club possibly purchasing some pontoons and where they might be sighted etc…

Until the Sailing Committee puts a proposal before the General Committee, which has the support of the Sailing Committee; nothing is being purchased or installed anywhere!
For the record, the Sailing Committee are aware of a couple pontoons that are currently available to the Club if we want them at a cost of £50.00 each, total £100.00 to purchase. This was discussed at the last sailing committee and carried forward to the next Sailing Committee Meeting.

In the interim period the VC is going to have a look at the pontoons and take some pictures for feeding back into the Sailing Committee.

2008 Diary – The VC has a draft copy from the printers, which is currently being checked for corrections.

Yard & Berth.

The Boat Forms are coming in well so far.

Launchings have commenced with
Martin Dooley and Mike Parker.

Many thanks to the volunteers at the working party. Eddie Chatterton with his employees, ably assisted by Trefor Roberts, shored up the river bank. A house member, Steve Doran cut up TAO's old launching trolley with his oxy-acetylene gear,
A team have prepared the base for the gear store in the yard. Concrete will be poured when there is good access later in the season.

Anybody travelling up to Formby during the day - please take a bag of rubbish to the tip.

RECCOMENDED MOORING ALLOCATIONS

19 South GEOFF WELCH
20 South CHRIS WILLIAMS
21 South STEVE QUINN
22 South JOHN WILSON

To locate the Race Office mooring chain a treasure type metal detector would be useful. The emergency moorings are still to be checked.

An unnamed vandal has cut down the hawthorn hedge to within a foot off the ground to the West of Cirrus. This represents 7 years growth. David Warren has expressed his chagrin about this selfish and idiotic behaviour to the appropriate individual who was remarkably quiet on the matter. The miscreant should be expected to replace the bushes at his own expense and receive the admonishment of the General Committee.

As yard space is at a premium, action will be taken about un- launched boats.

The Rear Commodore. Phil was disappointed with the turn out for the working party. It means that there are 64 members who did nothing.

Bar improvement work has gone ahead. Thanks to Dave Warren, Dave Forsyth, Bill Woods and George Williams.

The padlock on the black container has been replaced and also the one on the gate. Because of the numbering, the entry number has to be changed. You will be notified by post about the new number. Meanwhile you can ask a member of the committee or bar staff. If you can’t get in please do not destroy the lock in your impatience, always lock the gate after use. It is there for your benefit. When you get the number, there is a button on the underneath to release the lock.

The water main excavation has been left open whilst awaiting a plumber and excavator.

The tap on the black hut will be sorted out with an isolator, to prevent wasted water.

The large shutter on the front needs replacing. Prices will be obtained.

The quotes for the boundary fence and other work are proving to be expensive. Other ways will be found of dealing with the problem. The seawall danger signs have disappeared and must be replaced. They warn of a steep drop.

Adverts will go out for a bar person to replace Phil Blundell. Do you know of anyone?

Tom Williams’s weather station will be brought into use. John Newton has volunteered to make brackets for it.

The Hon Treasurer said that we are in a healthy position. The cocktail party made a profit and thanked everybody for his or her hard work and for those who attended.

The Hon Secretary has dealt with correspondence, he has received confirmation that one lifeboat will be in attendance on lifeboat day. There is still one to come.

The Hon Membership Secretary reported that there are still some subs outstanding. He recommended two new members to the club.
1. Jan Oudman of Formby to be a Full Sailing, Family member.
2. Michael Neep of Hightown to become a Family House member.
A ballot was held and they were unanimously accepted. Please welcome them as new members.

Stan said that we now have 201 members. The Family House membership is proving to be very successful. Membership will be discussed later in the year.

A O B. Dave Flynn asked if it was possible that the car to be raffled by the RNLI could be brought down to the club for display. A question was also asked if there was anything organised in the clubhouse when the Tall ships arrive. If so the two could be combined. A poster will be displayed.
There is a BBQ planned in July, it may be possible to combine these events. The Social Committee will be consulted.

Kathleen Stephenson

I am sad to report on the death of Kath in March. She will be missed around the clubhouse, always cheerful in spite of her difficulties. Kath was an active member of the club until her stroke more than thirty years ago. Peter has sent the following letter.

“I would like to thank the Commodore, Flag Officers and members of B S C for their kind condolences at the loss of my dear wife Kate.

Before she had her stroke Kate was a very keen sailing and social member. I did a lot of work for the club especially during my six years as a Flag Officer.

I am sure many members will have happy memories of her. Peter.”

THE MORECAMBE BAY PRAWNER OR NOBBY

East coast smacks, Itchen Ferry Cutters, St Ives luggers, Scottish Zulus and Fifties, every part of the coast of Great Britain has its local type of fishing craft. Designed to meet the particular requirements of the method of fishing, trawling, long lining or potting and also suitable for the waters of the area.

In the North West of England the local type was the Morecambe Bay prawner or “Nobby”. Although called “Prawners” they were in fact mainly used to catch shrimps, which the Victorians enjoyed at tea-time.

The design evolved about 1880 from earlier straight stemmed, long keel boats. Marine engines were still in the future and Nobbies were intended to sail. The beamy shallow hull with a pronounced reverse curve in the midship section made them fast and handy in the shallow waters of Morecambe Bay.
Gradually as engines were fitted, the midship section filled out and by 1938 had disappeared. Compare the shape of a typical 32ft Nobby with that of Lassie of Chester, built in 1938.

Crossfields of Arnside were the most prolific builders. Later branches of the family started yards at Hoylake and Conway.

Many were constructed by Gibson at Fleetwood, later taken over by Liver and Wilding. One name always associated with the type was that of William Stoba (1855-1931) He was a foreman shipwright with Fleetwood builders and developed the design, even experimenting with centreboards.

No satisfactory explanation for the word Nobby has ever been suggested. In the Morecambe Bay area they were referred to as ‘half deckers’ to distinguish them from the larger, deeper smacks.

As the type was adopted by fishermen from the Solway down to Cardigan Bay hundreds of Nobbies were built. There was no standard design. Alterations were made to suit the ideas of the original owners, Two racing classes , The Royal Mersey Rivers class and the Fleetwood Jewel Class, were built by Crosfields on Nobby lines. The only difference between the two being that the Jewels were cutter rigged, just like a nobby but the Rivers class were originally designed with a single headsail.

After World War 1 men returning from the services preferred to ship aboard the steam trawlers from Fleetwood rather than going back to the uncertain life in the nobbies. Hence many Nobbies were sold off cheaply and converted to yachts. Some yachts were built on prawner lines and never fished. There were even those that fished, were converted to yachts, then fished again in WW2 and were converted back at the end of hostilities.

Because of the shallow hulls many of the smaller boats were given rather high sides to gain headroom when converted, though the prewar yacht owner was far less concerned with space below decks than his modern counterpart.

There were a couple of Nobbies in the club before WW2. Foam owned by Percy Norris and Phantom, brought from Appledore by Bill Rogers. There were also two of the RMYC Rivers class Severn and Clwyd.

The Ellen although looking like a nobby was a Dee Jigger boat that had had a counter grafted on to the original transom stern. After the war ended in 1945 there was only one converted nobby which was occasionally kept in the Alt. That was Galatea belonging to a Dr Hargraves. I believe she made cruises to Ireland and Scotland in the 1950’s.

There were a couple of fishing nobbies that worked from the Alt in 1945 but they did not stay for very long. One went aground in the entrance in a blow, finished up getting foul of he Hall Rd beach mark and was finally towed over to Mostyn for repair.

There is now a Nobby Association that organises races in the river Mersey and at Conway. For those members who would like to read more about these boats I suggest the following books which should be obtainable from the local library:-

The Lancashire Nobby
By J J Lloyd. ISBN 0 95304082 8

Southport and North Meols Fishermen and Boatbuilders. By L J Lloyd IBSN
0 9534083 6
North Western Sail. A Lockett. IBSN
0 86157 002 2

Chatham Directory of Inshore Craft.

ISBN 1 86176 029 9

Mark Miller.

Once again I am indebted to Mark for this interesting contribution. As well as being informative it gives us an
different aspect to the River Alt and the history of BSC.

Mark also sent drawing of the Nobbies, if anyone is interested ask me for copies. Ed.

A
Curry Evening
In
The Clubhouse

26th April

As I write this, we have a number of helicopters from the Range whizzing around for long periods.
Looking at activities to come The Range seems to be very busy during May. You may like to look at the dates on the Secretary’s Board in the clubhouse.

Live Firing between 8 am and 4.30 pm on
May1st, May3-8, May 10-15, May 17-22, May 24-29, May 31, 2008.

Night Firing. May 1 ,May May 5-8, May 12-15, May 19-22, May 26-29, 2008.

Some of these may be extended.