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Visitors
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November
2004
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News of our wandering members is that Carl Salkeld is in Portomao. He sends best wishes to everybody in the club and is planning to visit England in the summer. Mike Ascot is now living in Wigan. His boat is for sale, as he would like to buy a smaller one. He promises to visit the club some Friday evening. It was good to see Derek Carrier in the clubhouse last week looking fit and well after his operation. He said that a few bits had been cut off that he was attached to! Stan Warren goes into hospital this weekend for a knee operation. Best wishes to them both. The end of the year is in sight. The General Committee held a fairly short, penultimate meeting last Tuesday with all members present. The following are a few notes and notices from that meeting. THE COMMODORE told the meeting that the lease has now been sorted out. Mike thanked Trevor Mayers for all his work getting the new pipes and delivery and cooling system for the beer sorted. It is working well and proving popular. THE VICE COMMODORE reported that the sailing committee had met and had approved the new insurance declaration form, which HAS TO BE completed by ALL boat owners when they receive it. The Cruising Log Trophy has been awarded to J & G Coady and the Travellers Trophy to Carl Salkeld. The emergency mooring is in need of work and the strong points in the laying up yard will be fixed during the spring working party. Phil Wright has been appointed by the LBSA as BSC representative, whilst Jim Connell is still involved with LBSA all matters should now be referred to Phil. From the last LBSA meeting, Phil advised that their prize giving is on 25th November. The LBSA handicap formula will be reviewed. There will be more news about the LBSA sent out with the subs for membership. The updated, new members' pack is nearly completed and should be ready for publication and distribution soon. It will also be on the club website. THE REAR COMMODORE told the meeting that the number for the lock on the gate will be changed on the 31st January. The new number will be made available before that time. Carole asks anyone helping to put the shutters in place after closing time on Sundays to please make sure that the padlocks are fastened properly. Thanks were given to Giles Fielding and Kieran Riley who have started refurbishing behind the bar. D. Warren has been in touch with the builder concerning the leaking roof. The builder thinks that it may be a matter of the rain being blown in. THE
HON SECRETARY has dealt with correspondence received.
The 200 club draw Tom
Williams drew out the prize-winning tickets as follows: 2nd prize to G Coady 3rd prize to P.Heyworth.
THE HON TREASURER gave the meeting a statement about the club's finances. David is busy sorting out everything for the year-end and for his hand over to the new treasurer. THE HON MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY has four applications for membership but the interviews will not take place until the New Year, as Stan will be out of action. Stan has arranged with Rita Gilbury and Bill Woods that the Christmas decorations will be put up on the weekend of the 28th November. Rita and Bill always make a huge and attractive display that transforms the clubhouse. THE SOCIAL CHAIRPERSON. Maggie reported that the Hotpot supper was very successful. Maggie and her committee have provided the new curtains for the clubhouse, one more positive step in the refurbishment.
THE
CHRISTMAS PARTY THE
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
C. The flag is Blue, White, Red, White, Blue, (horizontal stripes). Single
flag = YES CAPTAIN Lowly position on any vessel, only responsible for victuals, repairs, fuel, fitting out, financing, insurance etc. See also: Figurehead and Supernumerary COMPETENT
CREW Adjective and noun (or past tense of the verb 'to crow') 1.
The ability to tie knots which look unsafe but are actually unable to
be untied. COMMODORE noun, inactive, tends to sit on his rear and indulge his vice. Recognisable as he/she has no balls on their burgee. My thanks to Mr Anon, who passed this to me in the clubhouse. Who will do D please? Ed.
DR BRYCE STEWART. I have
received a message from Roger Myerscough via Joe Coady telling of the
sad death of Dr Bryce Stewart on the 15th October. He was a keen dinghy
racer in the sixties with an Enterprise called Manx Maid. Vera, his
wife was a guide leader for a number of years with Marion Clarke. At
the end of the sixties they moved to Poole where they bought a Westerly
Centaur called Autumn Leaf, which they kept at Parkstone Yacht Club.
They also raced an Enterprise until well into their seventies. Bryce
was in his eighties. On a personal note I remember Vera well as she was one of the first people to call and welcome us to the area when we moved here in 1961. I was invited to her home and met some of her friends. Pat.
Catch 32 J. Myerscough. Having taken part in these races foe the past twenty something years, I must say that this was one of the hardest. It was rough. (We were three weeks on one wave!!!) Only joking. The race started without a hitch, with a stiff North westerly 4-5. Twenty-two boats started with a forecast of overcast 5-6, gusting 7. With this forecast in a N W direction I realised that this was going to be a hard race. We tacked out of the River Mersey with 1 reef in the main and a full headsail. Our headsail is 135%. Around the Formby mid channel marker we noted one or two boats heading back. Quatro a ,Sigma 33 (LYC Commodore) Steve Harrison being one of them. During the night I thought that we should have turned back as well, with two of my crew being quite sick, the boat being tossed about I thought, "Yes, Steve made the right decision". Then I thought of the skimming machines out there with us and my boat weighing in at around six tons, I supposed we were quite comfortable. My plan was to sail on past the bar on a starboard tack for about 5 miles and then tack and head north to Ravenglass on one leg, then tack back on S/Bd for Douglas Bay. This is just what we did. At around 06.30 hours of Saturday 12th we thought we could make out St Bees Head, Ravenglass on our starboard beam. Bruised, battered wet and weary, with the crew available, as two were still quite sick we put a tack in. This enabled us to lay a course of about 265 degrees, fingers crossed; I hoped this would make the finishing line in Douglas Bay. We arrived in the Bay at about 16.30, slightly low of the finish. We
tacked back on to port as there was still two hours of flood and it
was taking us low of the line. I could make out two other boats in the
area, Billy Whizz and Skukusa. At this stage the wind had increased,
we were getting gusts of 40 knots across the deck. I decided on a second
reef in the main and a few tucks in the jib. This made the boat handling
a lot easier without loss of speed. Crossing the line at When Catch 22 was made tidy and gear put out to dry, we had an hours rest, then set off for Douglas Bay Yacht Club for a few pints, the usual Tranmere buffet and the results. A good night was had by all thanks one again to Tranmere Sailing Club for another great Isle of Man Race Sunday
13.06.04. We arose at about 06.05 put the kettle on and prepared for
the voyage home, only to find that Billy Whizz was down to the Skipper
and his wife. He was going to leave his boat in the Isle of Man and
take the ferry back home, collecting his boat in a week or two when
he could get crew. I offered one of my crew Ian Butler to help Pete
to get his boat home and he gratefully accepted. Ian transferred his
gear to Billy Whizz. We slipped Douglas at 06.35 hours along with a
few more yachts. It was a wonderful sail back home on a starboard reach
and sunny. Just great! Now I'm not saying that Billy Whizz was keeping
down to weight, but they didn't seem to have much aboard!! Catch 32
ended up as mother ship for the whole trip back. We would come alongside
and give them tea, coffee, chicken, pies, sandwiches etc etc. during
the whole of the trip. Fine, not a problem until we were by Formby,
mid channel and with Billy Whizz being one of the Skimming dishes mentioned
earlier, he was away. This was not a problem but as you may recall,
my engine died on the finish line and we had no engine, so consequently
we had to sail into the lock. The question was asked on Catch 32 as
to whether Pete's mum and dad were married. Still. We managed, we tied
up alongside and all went home very tired but very John Myerscough Skipper Catch 32.
This is for uninitiated members of our club BSC, who, hopefully, will one day take up the cudgel and follow in the footsteps of George Butler, Mark Meadows a few others and myself and proudly fly the burgee of BSC in this classic of a race. 1.The
first race was in June 1907, apart from the two world wars it has been
held each year. 3. The fastest time ever recorded was the 1922 race, The Yacht Capella, a Morecambe Bay Prawner made the passage in 8hrs 09mins 40 secs. And for all the fancy lightweight go-fast skimming dishes that record has never been beaten. The race was held in a WSW gale gusting 9 at times. 4. The winner this year was a Prima 38, Another Nods owner/skipper Richard Booth, Top Yachter. He completed in 12.20.33secs. 5. This year 2004 out of the 22 starters, 8 retired, one being Mark Meadows in Mojo. As stated this was one of the roughest races I can remember, so Mark, in the smallest boat in the fleet, did very well to get as far as he did. The longest passage for this race was Quilla, a Starlite 30 that took 20hrs.02 mins and 36 secs. I bet they were glad to get in! Anyhow
members, we BSC must have the largest fleet in the LBSA, 40 plus boats
I believe, so next year let's show the other clubs what we are made
of and let's all have a go. John
Myerscough
More than a dozen of our members grouped around an Irish Sea Situation table and were asked to consider the following problem. A yacht with two competent crew aboard had departed from Liverpool to go to Douglas in the Isle of Man. It was now overdue and the anxious shore contact, the wife of the owner had called the Coast Guard to report this. She was concerned because the owner was always most reliable about contacting her. The B S C members were asked to give opinions on where the yacht may be and what action could be taken. This exercise was a part of a visit to the Coast Guard station on the 20th October by a group of our members. We were all deeply engaged in the event, suggesting possibilities and actions. It was a penetrating exercise that involved every one of us. The eventual outcome of the exercise was a simulated helicopter rescue of the crew from a capsized vessel in the early hours of the next morning. The exercise was followed by a visit to the operations room where we were shown the excellent equipment available for the Coastguard to deal with day-to-day events as well as minor and major rescues. This
was a most worthwhile visit and we are grateful to Paul Parks and the
other coastguard personnel for giving up their time to make it such
an excellent event. Many thanks are due also to Mark our Hon Secretary
for arranging the visit
Trefor Roberts gave me this very witty article. He thought some of you would find it amusing. It is a reader's letter sent to Yachting Monthly. I thought I should let you know about a new mystery illness; SABABBS. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is an ailment acquired by soldiers in the Gulf, but not so, it is a disease, which selectively attacks mariners in the more developed countries, and it mostly targets the male of the species. It is never fatal, but like malaria there is no permanent cure. It tends to manifest itself during spring and autumn, when conditions are ideal. Symptoms generally consist of hyperactive bouts of frenetic searching, similar to squirrels looking for nuts. These are frequently accompanied by mood swings, sometimes quite violent, and alternating between euphoria and depression, depending on whether or not the patient believes he has found what he is looking for. This may be something that has presented itself during a dream, or which has been discovered by reading advertisements in the media. Married men who fall victim to SABABBS can involve the entire family in these searches- often in corrugated sheds and derelict waterside buildings. The syndrome has been known to cause divorce and child protection orders in extreme cases. Normally symptoms can be kept under control by a sympathetic ear and the frequent presentation of bank statements. I, myself have been suffering for some months, and my GP, who himself sometimes suffers, can offer no hope of a cure. He tells me that symptoms fade with age and rarely appear beyond the age of 80- small consolation! Apparently some researchers have discovered that relocating sufferers a long way from saltwater can dramatically improve the situation, but at risk of long-term depression. Overall, it appears that we should all do our best to avoid spreading infection by careless talk in bars and re-circulating old copies of yachting monthly. I do hope your readers will heed this timely warning, as this disease can strike quickly, requiring only a few days incubation. SABABBS = Seasonally Acquired Buy a Bigger Boat Syndrome. Robert
Tompkins. What
is there left to say except, who do you know to be suffering
WANTED WHICH COULD BE PRINTED AND SOLD TO RAISE CLUB FUNDS. TO DO THIS I NEED YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS. IT WOULD NEED AT LEAST 50-75 RECIPES WILL YOU HELP BY SENDING ME ANY OF YOUR FAVOURITE RECIPES, USED AT HOME OR ON BOARD? SWEET OR SAVOURY, SIMPLE OR COMPLICATED. THE ADDRESSES ARE
ON THE FRONT COVER.
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COMMENT.
The year is rolling by seemingly at breakneck speed. By the time you
read this letter the Prize giving will have taken place. It is always
an enjoyable and fun evening, not only for the prize winners but also
for those members who choose to attend for the pleasure of a meal in
good company. There is much to talk about.
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