EDITOR Welcome to your August edition of clubhouse news. It occurred to me that in many ways we neglect our surroundings. When we sail somewhere the actual sailing is our primary aim, so missing out on much of what we can see and discover, even when cruising. For instance one of our old club members sailed to the Isle of Man several times in some years, over a long period. The only place he knew there was Port St Mary and then only the sailing club, never going ashore anywhere else.

Most of us are familiar with the day sail to the West Hoyle Bank and the Grey Seals. How many of us have been on to Hilbre Island itself. I would like to encourage you to try it. It is quite an experience and is reasonably easy to achieve, not by boat I hasten to add as the old lifeboat launching place is unsuitable and the island is surprisingly high. The best time to go is summer or autumn. You need to be aware of the tide times, they are crucial. Don’t think about it in winter, I can tell you from experience that even in early winter it can be a very uncomfortable and chilly experience. If you are fairly fit try it there is so much to see and discover. Read further on.

My thanks to all who have contributed to this newsletter by sending me reports of the committee meetings. Notes from those follow, Next month Claire Meadows will be telling us about her recent trip to Africa. I look forward to receiving it.

                                                                        Pat. H.

The Commodore told the committee that he had represented the club and acted as R.O for the Altmouth Cup Race. This was done from Gulmarin very kindly provided by Liverpool Yacht Club, making what was a long day more comfortable. Mark expressed his thanks to them for their help.  It was a successful day, marred for some by a lack of wind that proved very difficult for some boats. Ten boats started but six retired, leaving four tired finishers.

Mark will open the clubhouse at 7.30 am until 10. 00am on Thursday to house the children taking part in a film being made, using the dinghy slip and the boatyard for background before they then move on to film on The Rifle Range.

During the holiday absence of the Club Secretary Mark wrote letters and made phone calls to carry on the club business.

The Vice Commodore read the notes from the sailing committee.

1. Report by Vice- Commodore: P Wright reported that staff from the Liverpool Museum had dug trial holes on the shore in front of the Club House to asses the depth of the peat. In addition a plan of the Clubhouse and grounds had been drawn up. The rent on the Club House and Yard had increased from £1,200 to £1,450 per annum.
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 6.7.10: Approved.
3. Matters Arising from the Minutes:

1. Commodores Cruise to Conway and Ranzo Trophy: The Commodores Cruise was successful in that 5 boats had participated. Though the wind varied from nothing at all to F6 the Ranzo Trophy Race had taken place with the Commodore, Mark Meadows winning in “Mojo” and the runner-up being Ian Cowell in “Nimrod”
2. Commodores Cruise to Hilbre Island: There was considerable discussion on this subject with the consequence it was decided that, dependent on the wind, the race might be conducted on the return passage to the Alt with the finish line being between two buoys in the Mersey Channel or by one of the Windmills. Alternatively, again dependent on the wind, the outward passage from the River Alt using short course via the Yellow buoy then on to HE2, HE3 and HE4. The Rattray Trophy was won by the Commodore, Mark Meadows in “Mojo” in the time of 9hrs 1min and 46secs and as a consequence he missed the visit to Hilbre. The only other boats that participated in the race were “Kaol” and “Nimrod” both falling short of HE1 after 6 hours due to the complete absence of wind. The Sailing Committee recommends that the crews of “Kaol” and “Nimrod”, Keith Wilson and Nicholas Cowell, should each receive an inscribed tumbler at the Prize giving “For Persistence” as both spent a total of 13 hours on their respective boats during the event.
3. House Members Race: Due to the adverse Inshore Weather Forecast and the prevailing weather during the morning of the race the Race Office, Ian Cowell, consulted with those who had put down their names on the list and cancelled the Race. The House Members Race will now be held on Saturday 14th August 2010 with Bob Berks as Race Officer.
4. Arrangements for the Altmouth Cup 8th August 2010: I Cowell reported that the arrangements were in hand and that the Commodore would use “Gulmarin” as the Race Officer boat.
5. E Breen and “Josh”: Mike Kennan spoke briefly to this issue and it was decided that the matter was now in the hands of the General Committee.
6. Entering the River Alt During the Dark: I Cowell had written to United Utilities and they had responded by saying they would investigate the matter.

4. Peel Holdings – Events Permits: All members had been circulated with details of the Events Permits together with a letter that had been sent on behalf of the Kindred Clubs to Captain Gallimore by the Hon. Sec. of the Royal Mersey Club. I Cowell updated the Committee with a conversation

he’d had with Captain Gallimore. (Nothing more heard)

5. Yard & Berthing Master’s Report: a) Winch, etc.T Robert’s reported that Lloyds British had tested the winch which was satisfactory. All the shackles and strops had been taken away by Lloyds British for testing, stamping and colour coding and the issuing of documentation approving the use of the said items. One shackle had been condemned and put with the scrap metal. Paul-Middleton-Jones had donated a new “Turfer” Winch to the Club that had also been checked and approved. The manual winch was inspected and condemned for further use as it was found the pawls were badly worn, the brake band had deteriorated and teeth were missing from various parts of the mechanism. T Roberts had spoken with the Commodore and it was decided to replace the manual winch with a back-up electric winch and to either scrap or sell the manual winch through the good offices of David Wren. The total cost of testing the winch and testing the shackles and strops was £500.00. b) Insurances:  are coming in though T Roberts still has some concerns.
6.   Tidal Gauge: T Roberts said that he and the Commodore were fitting a new tide gauge to one of the upright poles on the launching slip on 4th August 2010.
7. Club Captain’s Report: No report.
8. Any Other Business: a) Masts: P Wright said he was concerned at some of the safety aspects of raising and dropping masts in the Club boat Yard and suggested the provision of Lifting legs or an “A” frame might be useful. D Wilcox said a telegraph pole sited in the middle of the yard with some sort of lifting mechanism might be helpful. It was agreed this matter should be further explored. b) Filming in the Club Yard and Slipway: P Wright said there had been an approach made to the Club regarding a documentary film entitled “Army Kids”. A fee of £200.00 had been mentioned and the Yard and Slipway would be out of use during the day of the shooting. T Roberts said there was to be a reconnaissance of the Yard and Slipway the following day regarding the possibility of filming. c) Race Officer’s Pick-up buoy: There was a brief discussion on the installation of the anchors for the Race Officer’s pick-up buoy. P Wright suggested he would like the anchor and pick-up buoy placed in position before the end of this season. d) Rolling Handicaps: A Bridges, the Handicap Secretary, produced a list of handicaps for Club boats to apply to the races in the rest of the season (see attached). A question arose as to whether the 3% applied the difference between flying a spinnaker or not flying a spinnaker in the club Diary should be continued or to conform with the 2% or 4% as applied under the RYA PY Rules.  (Please note that this has been changed and will not apply this season)

Time and date of Next Meeting: Tuesday 7th September 2010 at 8pm

The Rear Commodore reported

HOUSE & GROUNDS COMMITTEE
Notes of meeting Wed 4 August 2010

Present: Rear Commodore Charles Lloyd, Kieron Riley, Trevor Mayers, David Warren, Stan Warren, and Steve Quinn.

1) Notes of June Meeting. Accepted.

2) Club maintenance plan. SQ will mow the lawn over the next few days.  DW will attend to the gutter on beach side of building.  Everything else is in hand.

4) IT.  The committee cannot agree as to what they are seeking here and to what purpose.  On one hand we wish to keep the club modern and up to date, yet on the other, not many members seem to use or submit articles for our website so it does not look up to date.  The discussion will continue.  Do any members have a view?

5) Galley improvements.  This project, much of which arose from the Environmental Health Department inspection, has been completed well within budget at less than £1000.

6) Bar     1) decoration – the beer store walls and ceiling have been repaired and painted.  Thanks to Kieron for help here.
                 2) wooden floor – thanks to John Rathe for a nice job.
                 3) cooling equipment – now fully refurbished after problems with recent replacement..

7) Beach Defence Works update.  Rear Commodore presented the committee with the latest briefing note from Sefton Council. This indicates the likely impact on the house and grounds as considered at this point in time.  The committee will be more involved over the next 6 months in preparation for the planning application and works in 2011. 

The Hon Treasurer appeared to be quite happy with his state of monetary affairs, no doubt this will change! Dave will give us the completed figures for the Lifeboat Day next month.

The Hon Secretary had little to report this month as he had been on holiday.

The Hon Membership Secretary has put an application for new membership on the board. We also now have a new family member, Mr Kevin Murray from Maghull who owns a Halcyon 23.

A.O.B. The Y B M said that Patnor has finally gone into the water after extensive work has been carried out.

There is a snarl of ropes and black drums on the river that need to be sorted.

New pumps have been installed at the pumping station and pumping can be carried out at full capacity.

Social Events.  Mark reported that the Barbecue went very well. All tickets were sold. He thanks Bill Woods and Trevor for their work with the food.

The Murder Mystery Evening

September 11th.

There will be slightly restricted numbers for this event, as the people putting on the show need more space than a disco.

There will be a Social Committee Meeting on 20th August to discuss arrangements for the Murder evening and also for the Barn Dance to be held on 30th October

Distress Alerting www.rya.org.uk © Royal Yachting Association Updated: 24 May 2010

Cedric Loughran has a copy of this and will put it on display in the clubhouse.

Cedric also sent this for the newsletter.

For those who have I phones there is an application available called

HANDY GUIDE TO THE RACING RULES

available from the App Sore on
www.apple.com/uk/phone/appstore.

HILBRE ISLAND.

The name Hilbre is thought to come from the name of a saint. St Hildeberg.
Travel to West Kirby and the place to walk from is the slipway by the marine lake. There are toilets there and it may be worth visiting them, as there are NO facilities on the island. You also need to take food and drink, none available and wear wellies or sensible shoes. The walk across passing Little Eye on your right and then across to Middle Eye and on to Hilbre, three islands in all, will take about an hour maybe longer if you are a slow walker or have children with you.

Set out from West Kirby 3 hours before High Water maybe 3 and a half if the tide is very big (about 9.5). The tide times are displayed on a board by the slipway. This will give you 5 hours on the island before leaving. Allow plenty of time to get back. Remember that strong winds may bring the tide on a little earlier. All this sounds very daunting but it isn’t and given good weather it is very enjoyable. I have done it several times in the distant past and apart from one very cold trip have always enjoyed them. One word of caution, do not attempt to walk across direct or from Hoylake.

There is much to see. In the Triassic age 240 million years ago Hilbre was on the equator and all was desert. There is sea thrift and sea lavender. You may find what look like graves but they are Landmark footings that were made of wood and were about 5 metres high. There were however signs of early graves in the form of grave markers, either Saxon or Norman but they are now in a museum in Chester. There was a monastery where two monks at a time lived with their servants for about 400 years until the dissolution of monasteries by Henry V111.

There are quite a number of buildings and some private gardens. The lifeboat station operated from 1839 until 1939 in conjunction with Hoylake lifeboat station, which did not always have access to water. It must have been quite a dramatic event at launching time. There is a telegraph station built by the Trustees of Liverpool Docks in 1841 as part of a chain of signal stations, which ran from Holyhead to Liverpool. As you would expect there is an official bird observatory. Near to this is a tall mast, used for measuring the height of sandbanks in Liverpool Bay, now redundant in favour of satellite measurements. The latest navigation mark is a solar powered beacon, put there by Trinity House who manage the Lighthouses in England and Wales. The list goes on for you to discover.

I can’t finish without mentioning the bird life. For many migrating birds it is the first sight of land or resting place, some unusual ones that have been blown off course. Each winter the island is visited by a large flock of Brent Geese. There are innumerable waders which roost on the island during high tide, Oystercatchers, dunlin, knots, ringed plovers, turnstones and purple sandpipers. You can’t miss the redshanks as you arrive, yes they do have red legs, and many others.

Hilbre is owned and administered by Wirral Borough Council who manage and run it as a Local Nature Reserve. They also employ the resident warden.

LATE NEWS

Mr Lynch confirmed with me this afternoon that the United Utilities Navigation Lamp - near the entrance to the River Alt had been checked, a new bulb fitted and was lit up again last night. Apparently the lamp works on DC electricity. Mr Lynch is to set up an annual maintenance check to ensure it continues to work in the future. I Cowell.