February 2006

COMMENT Welcome once again to our newsletter. Thank you to those people who sent me their

e mail addresses in order to receive a copy of each newsletter by e mail. The response was good but I would like to be overwhelmed! My address is above.

This is a busy newsletter, you will find much about racing further on. The comments last month about single-handed racing provoked a reaction but it is your actions and views that may make all the difference. See the plans suggested by Simon Markland. You may be in danger of losing the smaller races round the cans, so make your views known now , it will be too late by the time racing starts.

It was interesting to see what has been planned so far for the Jubilee Celebrations. When Joe completes the overall developments and events I will be happy to keep you informed.

An interesting series of Wednesday talks is planned starting on 22 nd February in the clubhouse. The last one was well supported and proved to be of great interest to most people who attended. Please try to get to the next talk, you will hear about The port of Liverpool and the latest plans for the development of a Coastal Defence strategy in our area and more. See notices later.

The following are some notes and reports from The General Committee Meeting held on the 14th Feb.

THE GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING

Apologies were received from the Commodore, Simon Markland and David Warren. The Chairperson was the Vice Commodore.

THE VICE COMMODORE'S REPORT on the Sailing Meeting. Tuesday, 7 February 06'

Present : Carole Fielding, Peter Williams, Ian Cowell, Phil Wright, Dave Ward, Alan Roe, Kieron Riley, Graham Cummins, John Newton, Simon Markland.

Apologies : Andy Lee-McGurk

Single-handed racing was again discussed following the change in the rules being held pending RYA training for O.D., as decided at the last General Committee meeting. S Markland thought we should be raising this and other issues more widely with the view to increasing participation in club races and presented an article for proposed inclusion in the newsletter. It was accepted and will be submitted to the editor.

Development of races was discussed and the following ideas suggested:

Class races with trophy for classes: Sadler

Caprice

Trident

Trophy for best newcomer to club races.

The actual terms for these awards will be decided once level of interest has been gauged,

The appointment of O.D.'s for this year's races will be held back pending completion of training; it was suggested that O.D.'s be appointed approximately one month in advance of the race and be made up of;

•  Race boat skippers

•  Interested parties

It is hoped that we can have as many boats participating in races as possible and would therefore be best if members who wish to be involved but not compete take the majority of O.D. duties.

An offer has been received from LYC of the use of their committee boat, RIB, flags and starting cannon on Altmouth Cup day, and further that they will act as O.D. for the event should we wish. The committee did not wish the club to lose control of the race and O.D. would remain the Commodore of BSC, however the acceptance of the use of the LYC equipment would be the Commodores decision.

The Rear-Commodore has asked for various pieces of information for the club diary, all will be provided with the exception of the O.D. list.

AR, who is stepping down from the sailing committee, listed the duties of the Club Captain as;

• Perching
• Moorings
• Slips
• Black Hut
• Dinghy Park

He further suggested; Fairway buoys - Ground tackle to be assessed.

Slips to be checked.

The uncertainly of the condition of the main slip is causing concern and immediate action needed as any problem has the potential of halting all launching. The approval of the general committee for immediate implementation will be sought;

•  Hire JCB to remove silt from bottom of main slip.

•  Wash-off and inspect slip.

•  Repair as required.

The date for the spring working party is set for Saturday 25 March .

Hoylake Sailing School are offering a VHF/DSC course for £80, it was suggested that we may be able to negotiate a cheaper price if we had sufficient members interested. SM will approach HSS and will publicise in the newsletter and notice board.

Maintenance of the boat yard winch has for the last several years been carried out by Ted McGregor, Ted is suffering from a bad back and may need assistance; it was also thought a good idea for others to be familiar with the process.

Concern was raised about the condition of the sea wall. P Wright reported that he is monitoring the wall and is satisfied that there is no increase in rate of deterioration, some further work to the groynes may be carried out at the next working party should time allow. PW will arrange.

Application for S14 was approved for "Camellia".

A reminder is to be placed in the newsletter with regard for the requirement for an insurance declaration to be completed and returned to Kieron prior to launching.

I Cowell reported that he has established a handicap committee, comprising himself, Peter Williams and John Hall (none of whom would participate in decisions regarding their own boat). IC has registered with the RYA and has received data disks containing PY's. Handicaps for 2006 will be issued based on the RYA PY; any alteration made to this by the committee will be given to the boat owner in writing along with a handicap certificate.

Next meeting will be at 20:00 on Tuesday, 2 March at the clubhouse.

THE REAR COMMORE'S REPORT

House & Grounds Commmittee Report

Clubhouse .

Bar General.

Monthly Bar Report - The annual bar takings monthly report up to the week commencing 6 th February 2006 was circulated to the General Committee Members.

Projects.

Due to member's private functions and the Club's Annual Fitting Out Dinner in January and the first part of February, the House & Grounds Committee have held off commencing any work on the interior of the clubhouse.

Porch/Foyer - Outstanding work to be completed so that this area can be finished off.

Mains installation.

•  Electric cable - The newly laid electric cable to the clubhouse is now operational. Thanks and appreciation are expressed to Mr George Williams and Mr Trefor Roberts for all their work on getting this connected up.

•  Water pipe - Work is in hand to get this connected up.

Central heating system - A central heating engineer came onto site during the week commencing 13 th February in order to sort out a problem with one of the radiators not working. The system is now working correctly, but will continue to be monitored. If any other problems arise, the engineer will be called back on-site.

Central metal support beam ceiling area - This area of the ceiling to be fully finished off in the wood cladding as per the single side, which was laid prior to Christmas. The intention is to varnish the woodwork once completed and see how this appears before commencing work on the main beamed area.

Grounds.

Front Area of Clubhouse - This has been tidied after the recent works and the rubbish left lying around removed. The fence has been temporarily repaired.

Thanks are expressed to Mr David Forsyth for relaying the flagstones and carrying out repairs to the road in preparation for the Fitting Out Dinner.

Road - 10 tons of stone has been ordered and delivered to enable the Club to maintain the road during the year.

Club Talks

Talks at the clubhouse have been arranged on the following dates.

•  Wednesday, 22nd February at 8:30pm by Mr Brian King on "The Port of Liverpool - Past, Present and the Future" This will cover the area from the Pier Head to the Seaforth Container Base.

•  Wednesday, 8 th March at 8:30pm by Mr Graham Lymbery on "Coastal Defence - Past, Present and the future.

•  Wednesday, 22 nd March at 8:30pm by Dr Bryan Barrass on "All aboard the QM2". Dr Barrass was involved as a consultant in the building of the QM2.

Please note for your diaries that the Clubhouse will be open from 8pm with a view to commencing each of the above talks at 8:30pm.

Club Private Bookings

• Mr Michael Bentley, Saturday 24 th June 2006 - Wedding Reception .

200 Club. Prize winners of the January draw :

1 st Prize of £30.00 - Number 106, Mr David Wilcox

2 nd Prize of £20.00 - Blank cork drawn

( Prize money carried over to February draw - 2 nd Prize £40.00)

3 rd Prize of £15.00 - Number 151, Mr Robert Branigan

The draw was kindly carried out by Mrs K. Hogarth on Friday, 3 rd February.

Date of next scheduled draw Friday, 3 rd March 2006

THE HON SECRETARY'S REPORT Martin has sent letters of thanks to those members who have done the woodwork in the clubhouse.

There were three invitations to events from kindred clubs for the Commodore and his partner.

There is an invitation for one person from the club to attend a Seminar and Conference of the RYA, which is held in Alexandra Palace.

Post for the Secretary will be redirected to his home address. If you have any correspondence for him it will arrive more quickly if you send it direct to Martin's address rather than to the clubhouse.

Martin is thinking of holding a " Brainstorming Night" about matters such as future membership of the club. Notice will be given when he has planned it. Get thinking! The members at the meeting thought it was a good idea.

THE HON TREASURER'S REPORT Dave reported that all is well on the financial front and that subs are beginning to trickle in early. This time of the year always makes the finances seem good.. All loans for the building fund have been repaid and the Committee wish to thank all who lent their money and especial thanks to those who gave the interest earned to the club funds.

THE HON MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY'S REPORT There are two applications for house Membership, a ballot at the next meeting. Stan reported that the Fitting Out Dinner was very successful and thanked those who helped with the tables and seating. One of the best ever!

SOCIAL NOTES The commodore also enjoyed the Fitting Out Dinner. In his speech he told the members that there have been many complementary words about the newly furbished clubhouse and the membership. It is pleasing that buckets no longer have to strategically placed, when it rains. He also pointed out that Ladies had been asked to put their names down to attend the dinner but strangely, none did! I have a copy of the jokes Dave told but I think they would lose much if I put them in here. Dave finished his speech by asking for a toast to Absent Friends.

The Comedian proved to be very entertaining and the food was excellent. In all it was a very good night, with probably a few sore heads the next day.

Where were the ladies? Some of them met at Kathrine Hogarth's house and it proved to be a very pleasant and fun evening, so much so that they all declined to join the gentlemen in the clubhouse towards the end of the evening. A big thank you to Kathrine for her hospitality.

A.O.B. Phil Wright attended the Forum held by Sefton concerning the future of the shore. He found it to be strangely unbalanced in that the concentration was on Conservation. Oddly no mention was made of the fact that a section of the River Alt is set to be returned to flood plain and work will start on this in the next few months. Phil has given me an excellent article about it. I will put it on the notice board for those amongst us who would like to know more about what is going to happen. There will be a staged refurbishment of the Altmouth Pumping Station; the pumps will be changed from diesel to electric, which will produce cleaner air and create less noise. Look on the notice board for the whole article.

EVENTS IN JUBILEE YEAR 2007. I asked Joe to keep us informed about the planning for the year in case anybody wanted to do any forward planning. The Vice Commodore asked for suggestions from club members for other activities during the year, if you have any please let Carole know. Ed.

Dear Pat,

Just to give members some early information regarding the "Celebration of a hundred years of sailing on the Alt" next year.

There will be a formal cocktail party on Sunday 8th April, with a small number of V.I.P. guests,

including the mayor and mayoress, and the Commodores and wives of Kindred Clubs. The balance of numbers will of course be Club members.

On the 22nd September, there will be a ball, at Formby Hall Golf Club. Tables will be available for 6,8, 10 or 12 people.

It is intended also to repeat the successful  "Walk across the sands" of Morecambe Bay with the Queens Guide- Cedric Robinson towards the back end of the year, with a format similar to the last occasion vis. transport from the Club, and a full day out. Dates for these walks are not fixed until the start of the year, but members will have plenty of notice, as this will appear in the 2007 diary.

A history of the Club is in the course of preparation, but this will take some time.

It is not necessary at this stage to go into further detail on these events as the overall programme is still being developed, but I hope the above will provide two important dates at this stage.

Joe Coady

RACING IN 2006

In last month's newsletter the debate regarding single-handed racing was raised. I believe this is an important issue and is one of a number of ideas that the sailing committee are looking to introduce this year.

I think we should start by pointing out why changes are needed and what is hoped to be achieved. I see the primary role of the sailing committee being to facilitate and promote safe and enjoyable club racing for all members, included in this is the setting of handicaps, race organisation and work in maintaining the yards, slips and river. While previous committees have done an excellent job we must now do more to encourage racing within the club. Over the last two years the number of boats regularly competing has reduced, in 2004 there was an average of 5 boats racing, down last year to 4.5, though take the popular RNLI race out of this calculation and we had less than 3 boats on average taking part in our club races. Put this against the number of boats in the club, somewhere over 50, and we are clearly failing.

The popularity of the RNLI race demonstrates that there is interest in competition and we must seek ways to encourage and develop that interest. The prevention of single-handed racing would seem to go against the stated aims and limit the number of competitors. The fact is, single-handed racing has significantly higher risk than otherwise and it is our duty to promote safety, and feel if we necessitate the involvement of other members in the races, albeit through a restriction, we will hopefully start to bring new faces on to the race scene, members who will then go on to compete in their own boats. Naturally we do not want produce an adverse effect on competitor numbers and will reverse or amend any decision should it be needed.

The race setting, timing and control is also being developed this year with a training day open to all sailing members being arranged. An Officer of the Day course will be run by the RYA in May, this again with the aim of involving more of our club members in the races. We see this as a way of introducing others to racing, and we also wish to bring in other members to help us run the races, who wish to be involved and to help but without actually taking part. Over the last few years, with one or two notable exceptions, it has usually fallen on the members who are participating in races to take turns as O.D. which of course means that they are unable to compete, a great pity when, as we had on a couple of occasions last year only two boats taking part in a race. There will be more about this in future newsletters and on the sailing committee notice board nearer the time.

Ian Cowell has taken responsibility for management of the race handicaps and will be making amendments to handicaps, as needed, to make it as competitive a racing season as possible. While PY will continue to be the base number, Ian and a small sub-group, will make amendments, as needed, over the course of the season to arrive at the correct figure for the clubs races. This, to give the newcomer as good a chance as the experienced racer.

The committee will be looking to award a trophy at the end of the year to a member who we feel has shown the most promise in joining the racing fleet, this would be decided on the number of races competed, an accrued score or a combination of factors, over the next couple of months we'll draw up and publish the criteria. As the number of similar boats has increased, we'd also like to introduce class racing for Sadler, Trident and Caprice boats.

We have a fantastic atmosphere within BSC, both on and off the water, this is carried on to the races which are always competitive but without personal rivalry, while we take it seriously we don't lose sight of the fact that we are there to enjoy ourselves; the truth is the more boats there are the more fun it is.

Hopefully we have demonstrated our wish to bring on the racing scene in the club and in outlining our ideas shown how we aim to achieve this, but we need your help, feedback and debate is what we need to ensure that we are heading in the right direction and I would encourage all members to communicate their ideas, opinions and suggestions either through these pages or to myself or any other sailing committee member. Tell us what we would need to do to get YOU regularly taking part in the races.

Simon Markland.
Hon Sailing Secretary

THE SPRING WORKING PARTY

will take place on

25 th MARCH 2006

Watch the club board for further details.

WORK ON THE LAUNCHING SLIP The work which has become necessary, as discussed in the Sailing Committee Notes was brought to the notice of the Gen Committee. Phil Wright has been in touch with Kevin Pope who can carry out the work and will put Trench Sheeting in place. There was a unanimous vote by the Committee that the work should be carried out along with any other work, which will facilitate launching.

THE YARD AND BERTHING MASTER reminds all boat owners to present him with a Certificate of Insurance before they wish to launch. If you have not received and insurance form with your subs notice you can get one from Kieron or he will send you one.

UNCHAINED MELODY

On Wednesday 8 th February, Peter Grocott rang Liverpool Coastguard to say that he had spotted a small dinghy near the mouth of the Alt and that he was concerned that children may come to harm if they were tempted to play in it.

This was mentioned to Cedric Loughran who is known to be a member of BSC so he went to see if it belonged to one of the members. It was difficult to get close because of the mud on the rocks, however it was seen to belong to one of our members.

On Saturday 11 th Feb Oliver and Cedric Loughran rowed down to retrieve the dinghy which was in a sorry state, having no towing point. But with some effort it was returned to the dinghy park.

Eddy "Kingfisher", please chain up your dinghy and repair it so that it is seaworthy. £5 in the Lifeboat Box please, for the successful retrieval.

The Shore Bosun. (Received by e mail)

HIGHTOWN VILLAGE BEACH CLEAN
SATURDAY 1 APRIL 2006

All villagers, sailing club members, ornithologists, dog walkers and lovers of the dunes and beach are invited to attend.

Please come and give an hour or so, to remove the plastic debris.

Start time is 1030 at the sailing club finishing at 1530.

We look forward to seeing you. Cedric Loughran

MORE N's IN THE ALPHABET FROM CEDRIC TO ALL OLD SALTS WHO HAVE SERVED WITH THE ROYAL NAVY. "TO HELP REPRODUCE THE SIMULATED RESONANCE OF YOUR ILLUSTRIOUS PAST" !!

•  Build a shelf in the top of your wardrobe and sleep on it inside a small sleeping bag

•  Remove the wardrobe door and replace it with a curtain that's too small

•  Wash your underwear every night in a bucket, then hang it over the water pipes to dry

•  Four hours after you go to bed, have your wife whip open the curtain, shine a torch in your eyes and say, "Sorry Mate".

•  Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the centre of your bath and move the shower head to chest level. Store beer barrels in the shower enclosure.

•  When you shower, remember to turn the water off while you soap

•  Every time there is a thunderstorm, sit in a wobbly rocking chair and rock as hard as you can until you are sick !!.

•  Put oil instead of water into a humidifier and then set it to high.

•  Don't watch TV, except for movies in the middle of the night.

•  For added realism, have your family vote for which movie they want to see, then select a different one.

•  Leave a lawnmower running in your living room 24 hours a day to re-create the proper noise levels. (Mandatory for engineers)

•  Have a paper-boy cut your hair.

•  Once a week blow compressed air up through your chimney. Ensure that the wind carries the soot over onto your neighbours house. When he complains, laugh at him

•  Buy a rubbish compactor, and use it once per week. Store up your rubbish in the other side of the bath.

•  Wake up every night at midnight and make a sandwich out of any thing you can find, preferably using stale bread. Optional - cold soup or ravioli out of a can.

•  Devise menus for your family a week in advance without looking in the larder or fridge.

•  Set your alarm clock to go off at random times through out the night, when it goes off, leap out of bed, get dressed as fast as you can and then run into the garden and break out the garden hose.

•  Once a month, take every major household appliance completely apart then re-assemble.

•  Use four spoons of coffee per cup, and allow to sit for three hours before drinking.

•  Invite about 85 people who you don't like to come and stay for a month.

•  Install a small fluorescent light under your coffee table, then lie underneath it to read books.

•  Raise the threshold and lower the top sills of all the doors in your house. Now you will always either hit your head or skin your shins when passing through them.

•  When baking cakes, prop up one side of the tin whilst it is in the oven. When it has cooled spread icing really thickly on one side to level it out again.

•  Every so often, throw your cat in the bath and shout, "man overboard". Then run into the kitchen and sweep all the dishes and pans onto the floor whilst yelling at your wife for not having secured for sea

•  Put on the headphones of your stereo, do not plug them in. Go and stand in front of the dishwasher. Say to nobody in particular, "dishwasher manned and ready Sir". Stand there for three or four hours.

•  Say once, again to nobody in particular, "dishwasher secured". Remove

•  the headphones, roll up the cord and put them away.

•  Nickname your favourite shoes "steamies", then get your children to hide them around the house on a random basis.

FOR SALE

TAO, 26ft EVENTIDE

Several kind members have enquired about my intentions concerning Tao and the time is now approaching when obviously she must be sold. Tao is of course well known in the club. We have no reservations about where she goes, locally or further a field, what will make all of us happy is that she sails again and is cared for. There is quite a lot of equipment with her, which ideally, would be sold with her if possible. Anyone interested please ring me on 01704871727. Pat.

WHAT'S ON ?