Brightlingsea One Design

Rob Maloney has now finished working on the bottom of Janice and needs help to turn her back up the right way at the St John’s Rd, Wivenhoe workshop at 10.30am this Saturday 4 April. He has some helpers confirmed already, but we need another half dozen to make it safe to do the job. If you can come over please could you email Rob on robmaloney9@aol.com. As usual it will be fun gathering and will only take about half an hour of your morning so we hope to see plenty of you there.
Thanks

If you are looking for a fun spring adventure with your BOD why not join Mike Hempstead and Gelasma in attending the Semain du Golfe du Morbihan classic boat festival on the beautiful south coast of Brittany from 11 to 17 May.

This biennial event is quite simply one of the most spectacular and fun classic and working boat events in the world.  Based in the Golfe du Morbihan (a huge natural harbour in southern Brittany) the event is an extravaganza of stunning scenery, great sailing, fantastic food (particularly sea food), amazing wines, ciders, beers and calvados, traditional seafaring arts, crafts and entertainment and general all round fun.

And this year at least one BOD will be joining the fray for the very first time!

If you would like to find out more visit http://www.semainedugolfe.com/Home-1074-0-0-0.html and contact Mike Hempstead (also copied on this message) who can assist with logistics, etc.

The 2015 Bosham Classic Boat Revival will take place on 5 and 6 September.  Already several of the boats that attended last year, including Grethe, Storm Petrel and White Spirit, have confirmed they are going again and if anyone else would like to join in please put the date in your diary and make contact with Fi on fiona.brown@fionabrown.com, who can help with accommodation and logistics.

Those who attended in 2014 (see report here) had a fabulous time both ashore and afloat, and the event also provides an outstanding shop window for the BOD Class.  Now we have all the logistics sorted after our inaugural adventure it will be even easier to get everyone down there this year so contact Fi now if you think you might like to join in the fun.

Bookings are now being taken for the BOD Dinner 2015 which takes place on Saturday 25 April at the Colne Yacht Club.  There are a limited number of places available so please do book early to avoid disappointment.

To reserve your tickets please download and complete the BOD Dinner Order Form 15 and return it with your payment to Mark Wilby at 8 Spring Gardens, Brightlingsea.

Tickets are currently on sale to BODOA members and their guests.  Any remaining tickets will go on sale to CYC members and their guests from 4 April.  This is always a great night and Mark and Kirsty have a fantastic evening planned for us this year so please make your reservations today to be sure of securing your places.

The boys and girls of the Wivenhoe One Design Fleet have invited the Brightlingsea One Design sailors to join them for an evening of traditional tapas and live guitar music on Saturday 14 March from 7pm at Wivenhoe Sailing Club.

Tapas dishes to be served will include a cured meat and cheese selection, pardon peppers, gordal olives, gorilla, paella and “choripan” (traditional chorizo bread).  Vegetarian options will be available.

Tickets cost £15 per adult and £7.50 for children (wine not included).  To reserve your tickets please contact janine.ford@gmail.com by Sunday 9 March.

The BOD Fleet is invited to join legendary sailmaker and multi-class dinghy champion Mike McNamara for a presentation on sail trim and racing tactics at the Walton and Frinton Yacht Club on Friday 27 March. The talk is scheduled to start at 8pm and tickets will cost £5 per head.  The club restaurant will be open and Simon Hipkin would be delighted to welcome any BOD sailors who wish to go over early and eat first to make a night of it. If you haven’t had the pleasure of listening to Mike speak before we can assure you that he is both an excellent speaker and very funny, so it will definitely be an informative and most entertaining evening. With the start of the sailing season just around the corner and competition in the BOD Fleet hotter than ever this could be the perfect opportunity to learn a few new tricks! To reserve your tickets and book for supper please contact Simon Hipkin on Email simonhipkinboats@gmail.com  or Tel 07415 280213.

Firstly a big thank you to everyone who turned up to help turn C44 Janice over on Saturday morning.  It was great to see so many BOD friends for a good mid-winter catch up and to see all the work that Rob Maloney is doing on this restoration.  Owner Richard Austin anticipates that she will be back on the water during May.

Sue and Adrian Bouckely, who came to help with turning Janice, were able to confirm that work is also full steam ahead at Simon Hipkin‘s shed on the completion of C50 Eider.  Our photos below show some of the lovely work Simon is doing to complete this boat, originally started by John Mullins who also build Sarah Louise, Blue Peter and Grethe.

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We hear from Mark Wilby and Phil Holding that they are continuing to make great progress with C75 The Mike’s refit with deck fittings being figured out and fitted and the rig prepared.

Finally our spies tell us that Graham and Claire Bridle are have their newly purchased C31 Blue Peter upside down in the shed with work being done to sort out a leaky centre plate box and improve the bottom finish ready for the season.  We also understand they are looking at systems to help Claire, whose mobility is limited, maximise her sailing potential in the boat and we hope to bring you details of these soon.

Calling all BOD friends and family!  On Saturday 21st February at 11am please can as many volunteers as possible congregate at Rob Maloney and Malcolm Goodwin’s workshop in St John’s Road, Wivenhoe, to help turn C44 Janice over.  Rob is making fantastic progress with the restoration of Janice and now needs to turn her upside down to work on the bottom and extra manpower is needed. There will be tea and coffee and Fi has promised to bring cakes to fortify and reward the volunteers, so it will also be a good opportunity for a BOD catch up and to start thinking about the season ahead now the days are finally getting longer! Please email Rob Maloney on robmaloney9@aol.com to let him know if you can make it so he can be sure he has enough people available.

The minutes of the BODOA AGM held on 25 January 2015 are now available to read online.  Click here to view.