Sailing Club News – Thursday 09-Sep-21
The last weekend before the dreaded (or eagerly awaited, depending on your point of view!), return to school, saw the annual Barts Bash event on Sunday, coupled with the Family competitive fun afternoon.
Despite the marked lack of tree shaking stuff, there was a respectable turnout for the race, shortened to one lap for many. There was a familiar face rarely seen amongst the prizewinners, Rob Hatherell our erstwhile caterer now actually enjoying some sailing.
The prizegiving for the Bash will be held this coming Sunday the 12th alongside the Age Trophies and Anniversary Cup presentations.
An appeal from Rob Mitchell – Barts Bash Race Officer
Barts Bash attracted 40 boats onto the water last Sunday for our annual charity race raising money for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation and with an amazing variety of sailors involved from the ‘done it a lot’ to the ’not done much at all’ in variable conditions, an amazing lunch and sunshine in the afternoon. We have the club results published on the website and would like to upload the Barts Bash results but need everyone involved to register on their website with only 50% of the sailors having done so to date.
Please could you all register on the Barts Bash website as soon as possible so that we can post results that reflect the actual participation on the day and the charitable funds that we have raised.
News from the Sailing Committee
The summer seems to have flown by and already the Wednesday evening series is now just a distant memory. The series proved yet again to be a popular and competitive series: Caddie and Nick Stone placed first in the A handicap, closely pressed by Tim and Jo Johnson in their Flying Fifteens, with John Warburton chasing hard in 3rd. In the Lasers it was well done once again to winner Steve Smith, chased by Damian Boreham in second and Pete Sherwin 3rd. Finally the B handicap proved to be an all Solo affair, with Chris Meredith triumphing ahead of Dave Oakey and Toby Peacock.
With many of us away over the summer on our travels the recent Barts Bash event gave us a chance to regroup at the club and enjoy some slightly more relaxed racing over a balmy Sunday morning. Although entries were down on the bumper event of past years, a fleet of 40 boats competed in hot sunshine and fickle winds that saw visitors A and B Broughton triumph in their Mirror ahead of our own Chris Meredith, with Rob Hatherell no longer chained to the galley showing us what we’ve been missing with 3rd place in his miracle. Although the wind put paid to the afternoon fun racing, the Topper circumnavigation event (involving walking around the front of the mast and behind the sail at the transom) was mastered by Finlay and Josh, who demonstrated just how easy it was with multiple revolutions while other less nimble participants, myself included, ended up swimming in the lake!
Chew sailors on their travels:
Many of our sailors have enjoyed success on the circuit over the summer – it’s always great to see Chew represented at these events, showcasing the standard and variety of racing at the club. Some of the successes I am aware of to date are as follows (and apologies to those whose travels have not yet reached me, please let me know and I will add something into a future news):
RS200 travels
- Vicky and James Williams went to Llandeggfedd RS 200 Open in July (5th)
- Martyn Stubbs & Yvonne went to Parkstone RS200 Open in July (30th)
- James Williams and Sarah went to QMSC RS200 Open in August (9th)
- Callum Farnden crewed for Alex Smallwood at the RS200 Youth Champs last weekend at Itchenor. They were 1st Youth boat (3rd overall)
RS100 travels
- A small group travelled to Paignton for the POSH event last weekend, with Dave Smart placing 3rd and Steve Jones 5th
- The 100 squadron will be well represented at the RS100 nationals due to start this week, with Dave, Steve, Jon and myself all hoping to trouble the front of the fleet and bring back some silver
Lasers Nationals (or is the ILCA nationals)
- ILCA 7 – Pete Sherwin 26th & 1st GGM
- ILCA 6 – Oli Wilcox was 12th, Ed Baker 30th both in gold fleet, Adam Russ 2nd Silver Fleet
Also:
- Caddie and Ellie Devereux placed 18th in the Scorpion nationals
- Paul Croote and fast crew placed 2nd at the Cherub nationals, and could have gone one better from what I hear if they finished lapping when they were meant to!
Forthcoming events:
This next Sunday 12-Sep-21 sees the Melvin, Watts and Mercury Macklin age trophy races being competed for over two handicap races starting from 11am. The afternoon racing comprises the Anniversary Cup pursuit race, a 70% pursuit starting not before 1.30pm.
The following weekend 18/19-Sep-21 sees us host regional topper training on Saturday, followed by the Topper Open meeting on Sunday. While Topper numbers at the club have seen a bit of a decline over the last year or so, I believe it’s important that we continue to support these Junior events and I hope that as things return to more like normal we will see growth in the Chew Topper fleet over the coming year. Please note that due to this event, there is no club racing on Sunday 19-Sep-21 although general sailing will be allowed at the RO’s discretion.
Committee Boat
A small but important plea please to Race Officers – the lake is low and we have had to repair the committee boat prop recently so please take extra care to avoid the shallows. If you are at all unsure where the ‘danger’ areas are please ask!
News from Antonia’s Deli
This first month at the club has flown by and we have absolutely loved it! Thank you so much to everyone who has helped, advised, supported and made us feel so welcome. We have learnt so much and with no two weeks the same, we are still learning!
We hope you like the variety of food so far and we have had some great feedback. Please do keep your ideas coming, it really helps us to understand what you like and what you want.
PIZZA WEDNESDAY 4-7pm – we have decided to give ‘Pizza Wednesday’ a go! Starting from next week (15-Sep-21) we will be serving freshly made sourdough pizza (and other meals!) to eat by the beautiful lake or to takeaway. We would love to see you there!
All the menus are posted weekly on the clubs Facebook page, however please feel free to follow us on @antoniasdelibristol or get in touch with us directly on antoniasdeli@protonmail.com should you have any questions:)
Boat Park Update
A full audit of the boat park was undertaken on 31-Aug-21 as planned. Of the 627 boats recorded in the boat register, 326 were found to be displaying the correct orange plaque for 2021/22. 167 were still displaying last year’s green plaque and 75 were found to be displaying a plaque from 2019 or older. 59 boats were found to be displaying no plaque at all.
A huge thank you to all those that were able to get their new stickers in place ready for the audit, but as you will see from the results, we still have many members whose boats are not compliant with the club rules. Please can I ask that you ensure that any boats that you store and sail at the club are displaying an up-to-date orange boat sticker. If you have any problems complying with this request, then please contact the Boat Park Team or Membership Secretary and we will be happy to assist.
The pile of loose trailers and trolleys gathered from around the boat park is continuing to grow. If you suspect yours might be amongst the pile, then please make sure you collect it and store it appropriately within your boat space. At this stage we still have a number of stacking trailers that need to be moved and we will be contacting the owners of these in the coming weeks.
If you have any queries, please get in touch.
Boat Park Team (Jon Elmes & Allen Marsh) boatpark@chewvalleysailing.org.uk
Lake & Cake (5) – Saturday 04-Sep-21
Was the penultimate lake cake this year. It was a gloriously sunny afternoon with a stable north-easterly which came & went… and came & went. The afternoon was so lovely it didn’t matter.
4 Lasers, 2 Toppers and a Vago joined in follow my leader around the lake, and they also came & went as they pleased it was very relaxed. Although, no one went when the cakes came out and numbers quadrupled for a very social late afternoon tea & cakes in the sun.
The next and last 2021 lake & cake is Saturday 25-Sep-21. Contact for more information is: rosie.bowers@btinternet.com.
(Sailing is optional, cake is mandatory!)
Lunch on the Lake #2 – Simon Conway
Following the successful inaugural attempt at this, and following requests to hold it again, I have pencilled in both 02-Oct-21 and 16-Oct-21. Hopefully you can make one of those dates. This time we will not raft up but instead will anchor in very close proximity. Fenders will still be required and I have 6 extra ones now (thanks to a very generous donation from Nigel Carson ) for anyone to use on the day. There is also one spare plough anchor if anyone wants to use that. (email me s1m0njc@icloud.com)
Weather permitting, I will be discussing the next stage of Lunch on the lake, and we will have the entire winter to make the preparations – Intrigue – excitement – adventure! You get it all here for the price of a year’s membership 🙂
I will bring my home-made galley box with a cooking stove to show the type of stove and fuel used onboard that is considered safe to use when afloat. I will also bring back some nuggets of wisdom having completed a 3-day advanced cruising excursion courtesy of Liverpool Sailing Club on a very tidal Mersey estuary.
There will also be an additional, but important, map pinned on the noticeboard in the galley regarding our floating luncheon activities, maintaining our compliance with Bristol Water. Please take a moment to view it. A PDF copy can also be requested from me via email.
Thank you for your support.
CVLSC “Pay & Play” Scheme Update
https://www.chewvalleysailing.org.uk/training/payandplay/
The club’s popular Pay & Play scheme was paused during lockdown, and as lockdown eased pent up demand resulted in a rapid, exceptionally large number of requests for sessions. By July, a very long waiting list resulted in many potential sailors and members being frustrated and disappointed in not being able to get out on the water.
A big shout out was made to our instructors and experienced club helms (particularly Simon Conway) who have over the last couple of months stepped up to get people out. We haven’t quite cleared the P&P waiting list yet, but it does at last seem like we will before long.
However, experience shows that we will continue to receive requests for P&P sessions even as the nights are fair dra’in in, and the air and water cool. So help will still be needed out towards and into 2022.
I administer the scheme but P&P is not RYA Training in any way, shape or form – so no instruction is offered or expected, hence the scheme is open to experienced club helms. If you are a current or lapsed instructor, or an experienced helm who would be interested in sharing your experience and love of the sport with prospective club members please drop me an email. I can provide further information, details and reassurance with no obligation!
Sessions are arranged with customers to suit you, and you can offer to do as many or few sessions as you’d feel comfortable with. For your time and help to the club you can claim £35/session: that fee is paid by the P&P customer, not the general membership.
Thanks
Dave Orme, Chief Dinghy Instructor, training.cvlsc@gmail.com
There have been too many picture contributors to mention this time – thank you all!. Wherever you have escaped to over the summer, please send me any interesting articles and pictures to share with everyone.
John Smalley – commodore@chewvalleysailing.org.uk
Barts Bash Winners
Barts Bash
Barts Bash Still More
A familiar face!
Chris Goldhawk in his racy canoe…
The gentle Bash breeze!
Spotted on Bank Holiday Monday
Could only be a Bank Holiday!
An overloaded K1!
The Goldhawk/Jones challenge racing round a Topper!
It ended badly for our brave Vice Commodore!!
Where is Errol sailing his Dragonflite?