EDITOR

As I write this I see from the window that it is raining once again but we are promised that tomorrow, Wednesday we will start to experience one of those elusive things which have been absent for much of this year, A High Pressure! We all moan a bit about the weather but I mostly feel glad that I live in an area where we have four seasons and plenty of variety. There is something about the relentlessness of constant heat and sunshine that is very wearing and I really dislike extreme cold. However the strong winds we have been experiencing have made a huge difference to the racing calendar. With much juggling Ian Cowell has managed to get in more than expected. There are still two races to be sailed. The Gallon Ale (a popular race) 19th September and the aptly named Last Chance Race on the 20th September. Do try to enter if your boat is still in the water, or crew for somebody else.

I said last month that most of the swifts and swallows had left us but I was challenged on that. They do however move in groups, not en masse like geese and the last of that type of bird to leave is usually the House Martin. If you are on the shore you are by now lucky if you see any terns. We have the Common Tern nesting locally, Little Terns, colonies of them on Anglesey, Sandwich Terns and Arctic Terns some of which come from Africa for the summer to nest. The Arctic Terns tend to leave together and many fly as far away as Antarctica and Australia taking the young ones with them, an extremely long journey to make if you imagine taking a plane to fly to Australia. They are credited with; the birds that get the largest amount of daylight. Terns are the smallest of the gull family and are very graceful and beautiful birds. Now we have a sure sign of Autumn, the pink footed geese have started to arrive for winter.

Have you had a cruise from the Alt this summer however short? Why not produce a log of your journey? The cruising log must start and finish from the Alt but the Travellers Log can be to and from any area. They do not need to be elaborate efforts full of facts and figures. One Travellers Trophy winner gave in a single page and it was handwritten. I have also seen logs from other clubs, which consisted only of photographs with captions, but they told a story in pictures. Do give it a try however short your trip. The closing date is the 30th September. Please give them in to Ian Cowell. You may be surprised at the result.

I was unable to attend the General Committee Meeting this month but the following are some notes from the meeting e mailed to me.  If you have anything at all for the newsletter, adverts, moans, praise or just interesting, please let me have it either by e-mail, by telephone or by post. Address in the diary.  My thanks to Bill Woods and David Warren for their contributions.       

  Pat

Notes

The Commodore went to Liverpool Yacht Club and sailed in a Commodores race, which he said he greatly enjoyed. However Mark was not the winner.
There is a social event to be held on Saturday, I’m sorry that I won’t be there. (It will be over by the time you get this newsletter).

Ian Cowell informed me that the winner of the Ladies Race was Sarah Meadows. Well done to her. He also reported that there had been several thefts from the Black Hut, including some of the contents of the Box of Equipment used by the OD. Since then there have been other thefts reported. What can be done?
Two races will be sailed next weekend and looking at the weather there should be some perfect sailing.
Whilst on sailing notes, after fifteen years I have resigned from organising the cups for Prizegiving and therefore a new person is needed. It is actually made much easier if two people do it. All the notes are with Ian Cowell. If Phil Wright has not approached anyone yet please think about offering to do it.

Dave Flynn informed me that the bank balance is quite healthy but I’m sure that it won’t be long before there is a bit of a spending spree. I have heard that more electric shutters may be in the offing, which can only be a good thing for the locking up and opening of the clubhouse, especially in wintertime.

Stan Warren sent me the news that a new member was voted in at the meeting last Tuesday. He is Stephen Quayle of Rose Cottage Blundell Rd.  Hightown. Stephen has become a Family House Member. Welcome to the Club Stephen!

My thanks to those committee members who sent me the notes.

MITHRIL MISHAP

            Having just spent a very pleasant week in the Menai Straits Ann and I set off for home on Wednesday 12th August, leaving the Gazelle at 07.00hrs. The forecast was:
Wind               West or North West 3 to 4 occasionally 5
Sea state          Slight
Weather           Fair
Visibility         Good
Conditions, which should have been perfect for Mithril.

We motored out of the Straits rounded Puffin and set a course to the Alt via the West Constable Buoy, aiming to keep clear of all the windmills. At this time the wind was light – F1 or less, sea state slight, visibility moderate, conditions that were not going to allow us to sail, even motor sailing was not an option, so nothing for it but motor and hope for an improvement in the weather conditions.

Everything went well for the next five hours or so with the weather improving and the wind showing signs of increasing, we were set to arrive at the Alt at HW-1. We had just finished lunch in the cockpit and were in a position to the north east of the Rhyl Flats Wind Farm, the weather had improved and there was a nice north westerly breeze so I decided to take advantage of this and hoist the sails. Before doing this I went into the wheel house to check our position and I noticed that the ignition light was on - broken fan belt – no problem had a spare which I duly fitted, not a simple operation as it involves the removal of the raw water pump – time taken about 25 minutes. I was pleased with this and asked Ann to start the engine to check everything was OK while I still had my head in the engine compartment, but nothing happened, when I asked her when she was going turn the key the sharp reply came engine, suggesting to me that the batteries were flat. I put a voltmeter on the batteries and they showed 12.6 and 12.7 volts, indicating that the fault lay elsewhere. I resorted to the usual desperate action – hit the starter with a hammer – no success, with time running out and there being so many different possible causes for the problem e.g. poor connections etc. I decided the only option was to try and reach the Alt under sail and with the wind increasing all the time I felt we had a good chance of making it. At this point Ann asked if we should call Liverpool Coast Guard for help, I said no, we would only do that if it developed in to a proper emergency.

The wind was NW2-3 occasionally 4, at this point we could have sailed up the Dee and anchored there, which in hindsight was probably the safer option, but I decided against it and was now committed to making the Alt. Mithril was making a little over 4 knots and we soon passed the Burbo Wind Farm. As we approached the Mersey Shipping Channel I contacted Mersey Radio to explain my situation and get clearance to cross the channel, which was duly given, plus information of the traffic in the channel. Part way across Mersey Radio called me and offered a tow up the river; I thanked them and declined the offer, (Ann was all in favour of accepting but I didn’t fancy being towed up the River Mersey to goodness knows where when so close to home).

We cleared the channel safely and arrived at the entrance to the Alt. We negotiated the bend just inside the entrance and proceeded to sail up river, we managed a little over 200 yards up river when it became obvious that the combination of wind direction and Mithril’s lack of windward sailing ability, we were not going to get any further so I decided to drop anchor. This put us just inside the entrance to the Alt (the scene of many mishaps for BSC boats) on a lee shore, not a good situation but not one I could do anything about, the River Dee now looked as though it would have been the better option, too late, we all make mistakes. We anchored successfully.

Still suspecting the batteries were the problem I rang our son Andrew who with help of a friend provided a petrol driven generator and a battery charger which I collected from them at club dinghy slip and took back to Mithril in the dinghy, I put the batteries on. I then rang my daughters partner (Dennis) – a motor mechanic – who then applied the lateral thinking that I failed to do and came to the conclusion that the starter motor was at fault. Having diagnosed the problem he insisted on trying to find a replacement starter the next day, which he did, in Stone in Staffordshire (he lives on the Cheshire Staffordshire border at Mow Cop).

When the tide had fully ebbed I realised what a precarious position we were in. We were very close to the rocky landward bank, which would become a very hostile lee shore when the tide made in the early hours of the next morning. The next job then was to try and improve the situation, I inflated the dinghy and lowered it into the Alt, put on my best swimming shorts, lowered myself into the dinghy and then into the inviting waters of the Alt, I took  the main anchor over to the seaward bank and then placed the kedge anchor on the same bank, I shortened main anchor chain and as soon as we floated on the incoming tide used the kedge anchor to Mithril across the river into a safer position, thankfully it worked and all we had to do was sit out the tide until we dried out again. Unfortunately this meant a 4-hour nail biting vigil with life jackets on and dinghy inflated, hoping that the anchor held, it did and we were safe again. If the situation had become dangerous I would have conceded to Ann’s wishes and call the Coast Guard for help.

With Mithril now safe once again dried out on the seaward bank I put Ann ashore to try and organise a help team. Thank goodness we live in Hightown. She managed to get a team together, Joe Coady with Bob Chamberlain as crew offered to use his boat, Cirrus, to tow Mithril up to her mooring. Kieron Riley came to our aid in his inflatable acting as a “fend off” boat to ensure we did not hit any boats on our way up the river. A very special thanks to these three club members and also Alan Roe who was on standby just in case.

Dennis arrived around 13.00hrs and Ann guided him through the sand hills to where Mithril was, carrying a very expensive starter motor and a gallon of petrol. Once on board it didn’t take him long to fit the new starter, which worked beautifully proving his diagnosis 100% correct. The reason the starter motor failed appears to be diesel contamination to internals, caused by a quite severe leak from the injector pump, which is located immediately above it. I was aware of the leak but never dreamt it would cause any damage to the starter. In view of this it was decided to carry on with plan A and use the rescue team rather than risk damaging the new starter.
The tow up river was expertly carried out by Joe, aided by Bob, only requiring Kieron to carry out one fend off manoeuvre.

Mithril is now safely moored awaiting haul out for mechanical repairs. Grateful thanks to everybody who helped, which defines the excellent club spirit when you need help.

Bill Woods.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY

This article could have been a lot shorter!  At the first sign of trouble at the Rhyl Flats we should have called the Coastguard who may have launched the Lifeboat and called the helicopter.  (I quite fancy being winched up by a strapping young man).

Job done – sorted!!!

I was told that this action was only for real emergencies.  As far as I was concerned this was a real emergency.
 I think this was a macho thing or male pride, Bill not wanting to admit he could not control the situation.  In fact he did, very well, and I am very proud of him and we do have a tale to tell!!

Ann Woods.

LAND ADJACENT TO THE LAUNCHING SLIP

Members may have been a little at a loss to understand why, for the past 12 months or more, I have been trying to persuade Sefton MBC to lease the BSC the land by the Alt Centre and the slip.

The club has for many years (50+) used the slip and adjacent land to launch boats, temporarily moor them in the mud berth and store trailers during the peak times.

From experience I was uneasy about the present arrangements. As many of you will know, the ownership of the land on the riverbank is complicated and only recently the road over which we exit the river and yard, was owned by the Ince Blundell Estate. Then about 2 years ago this was purchased by the RFCA (Altcar Range). In fact some of the slip runs over the boundary between this land and Sefton’s.

In view of this, we need to maintain our use of the land in front of the Alt Centre and the uncertainty of the future of this building caused me, with the General Committee's agreement, to investigate the conditions for leasing this from Sefton MBC. After a long drawn out series of letters, visits and re-negotiation, the Club now has a form of agreement on which the Committee has agreed to proceed.

The view held by most General Committee members that this action would help to preserve and protect the Club from uncertainty in the future.

I hope this will help to clarify any questions you may have.

David Warren