Brightlingsea One Design

The Online Entry System for Pyefleet Week will close at midnight on Thursday night so if you want to take advantage of the system and save yourself some time on Saturday please Click Here and complete your form.  You will still need to pay and pick up your info pack from the race office on Saturday.

Join us to get Pyefleet Week started in style with the BOD Fleet’s First Friday Sundowners this Friday 8 August from 8pm at Fi Brown’s flat, 13 The Colne, Waterside Marina, Brightlingsea (ground floor, facing the sailing club at the Fieldgate Dock end, just press 13 on the entry phone to gain entrance or call 07711 718470 if you have any problems finding us).

Enjoy drinks, nibbles and good company as the sun goes down. All BOD sailors, friends, family and groupies are welcome.

Fi says she has a wine lake that needs drinking so please don’t bring any wine with you,  but a few beers would be helpful if you really do want to bring something.

The races for the upriver regattas are always something quite special and this year’s Wivenhoe Regatta truly lived up to that reputation.  A dozen BODs came to the line at Bateman’s Tower in 12-14 knots from the south for what proved to be an excellent race.  The course took the fleet on a beat out to number 9 followed by a reach to number 8 and then a long run up river to 18 via 12.  From there it was back on the wind to 12 again before the final turn for Wivenhoe and a long run which tightened into a tricky and very shifty reach past Fingringhoe ballast quay and into the finish line at Wivenhoe.

Mark White and C53 White Spirit got the best start at the Mersea Wreck end of the line and led the fleet initially with Malcolm Goodwin racing C4 Cormorant hard on his heels.  Behind them Danny Fox sailing C8 Egret, Jeremy Newman in C34 Avocet, Chris Rust sailing C16 Dulcet  and John Payne in C11 Grayling were fighting for position on the first beat as the fleet began to sort itself out.  Fiona Brown and the girls in Grethe had been the only boat to opt for the Bateman’s Tower end of the line and lost out, as a result they rejoined the fleet off point clear near the back of the pack, but they went for clear air while the others short tacked up the beach and made up ground to round the first mark mid fleet and neck and neck with Grayling.

Up ahead White Spirit led Cormorant away on the run and the two boats gradually began to extend their lead over the fleet whilst at the same time enjoying a fantastic duel. Behind them Egret was catching up fast while Avocet and Dulcet battled each other and Grethe and Grayling traded places just behind them.

As they approached the drop at number 18 and prepared for the second beat a snafu on White Spirit allowed Cormorant past.  On the second beat the fleet was of two minds as to which shore would pay to keep out of the tide.  As it turned out those who picked the Brightlingsea shore gained on those who came up on the Fingringhoe side.  This allowed Egret to make a huge gain and move up into second, leaving White Spirit third, Dulcet fourth and Avocet fifth.  Grethe had made a big gain on the second beat rounding a few boat lengths behind Avocet, while Grayling had chosen the Fingringhoe shore and dropped back.

As the boats turned for the final long run to Wivenhoe the wind began to pipe up further making for an exciting run.  Cormorant, Egret and White Spirit led away for the line, but Dulcet and Avocet were still locked in a spectacular fight to the finish which Avocet finally won to take fourth in the closing moments of the race.  Grayling was fast on the final run and made up ground on Grethe, but there just wasn’t quite enough time to overhaul her so Grethe took sixth and Grayling seventh with the rest of the fleet powering across the line just behind them.

Ashore Wivenhoe had laid on a great welcome party with the quay thronged with spectators and the usual free beer and food for all the competitors.  As well as the BODs there were also 8 WODS racing who finished just ahead of us, and we were followed home by the ever spectacular smacks who swept through the narrow barrier under full sail and crossed the line with pace and attitude, before making a final hand break turn and dropping sails just below Rowhedge.

The organisers had kindly offered a down river race, but by this time the wind was up to over 20 knots and with a very tricky beat off the line and through the barrier the fleet decided that, with Pyefleet Week only days away, discretion was the better part of valour and a cruise home in company would be the safer option.

Many thanks to the organisers at Wivenhoe for a spectacular day.  We’ll look forward to being back again next year.

No formal results have been published yet, but we believe the final finish order was (please let Fi know on fiona.brown@fionabrown.com if we have any errors):

1. C4 Cormorant – Malcom Goodwin
2. C8 Egret – Danny Fox
3. C53 White Spirit – Mark White
4. C34 Avocet – Jeremy Newman
5. C16 Dulcet – Chris Rust
6. C51 Grethe – Fiona Brown
7. C11 Grayling – John Payne
8. C18 Gelasma – Mike Hempstead
9. C55 Wind Sprite – James Anderson
10. C28 Panic – Bob Richardson
11. C20 Ruff – Trevor Stone
12. DNF C40 March Hare – Dave Draper

Our thanks to Colin Spikesley (downriver) and Kate Button (in Wivenhoe) for the photos.

Our growing fleet is great news, but it’s putting a lot of pressure on the Park and Ride team to get all the boats in and out of the water in a timely fashion. To help ensure things run as smoothly as possible we need your help to avoid unnecessary delays or inconveniencing other regular park and ride customers.

Malcolm has put together some Instructions for the BODs which you can view here.  Please read them carefully and do as they ask so that the system runs smoothly and we can avoid anyone missing the start of racing.

Please note that on the Pyefleet days when we race in the morning C54 Storm Petrel will be given priority to haul out as soon as she is ready regardless of her place on the haul out list.  This is because her crew of Alan Hicks, Craig and Jayne Bond are the Race Officers for the other half of the racing day and must get ashore ASAP to start their duties.

Don’t forget that we will be 14 boats launching and recovering from Park and Ride during Pyefleet Week and even with both tractors running at maximum capacity it is going to take over an hour to launch or recover us all.  Please do everything you can to arrive early and launch right away.  If need be you can always tie up to the CYC or Public Pontoons for a little while to complete your preparations.

Thanks everyone for your help to make this happen.

Just four days after we first posted the advertisement, Sarah Louise has been sold to Celia and David Charlton who hope to have her ready to race in Pyefleet Week.  Celia and Dave got the BOD bug earlier this year after a few sails in Grethe and when Sarah Louise came on the market they couldn’t resist the opportunity.  David and Celia are already well known to many of us in the fleet as they are long time members of the Sailing Club and Dave is currently the Vice Commodore Sailing at BSC.  They have been long time and very successful members of the Merlin Rocket fleet so we are thrilled that they have joined the BOD fleet and look forward to welcoming them to the family and to racing against them. Welcome Celia and David!

Even if you can’t do the whole of Pyefleet Week please would all BOD sailors answer our clarion call to race in the President’s Trophy on Sunday 10 August.  As always, we want this to be our biggest turnout of the year and with luck we will make it to 25 boats – possibly the biggest number of BODs ever to race together in the history of the class!

The start will be from the committee boat (located somewhere in the Colne between Bateman’s, Point Clear and Mersea Stone) at 14.36.  Please double check the exact time at the BSC Race Office just in case they have added any extra classes into the sequence ahead of us, but currently we will be the third start after the Cat Handicap and the Fireballs.

If anyone needs help getting their boats afloat, finding crew or generally getting sorted for the race please let Fi know on 07711 718470 or fiona.brown@fionabrown.com and she will fix you up with the help you need.

And don’t forget that there is a good warm up opportunity on Saturday 9 August with the Carole Cruickshank Pursuit Race starting at 14.00 which many of the BODs will be racing in too.

SORRY FOLKS – THIS BOAT IS NOW SOLD Jack Wills has been in contact with us to ask us to list C30 Sarah Louise on our For Sale Page.  Sadly Jack has not been able to sail her for the past couple of years due to work commitments and so he is putting her on the market.

The boat was fully restored by Malcom Goodwin in 2007 and comes with two suits of sails, one little used, plus all the usual kit and caboodle.

Some small repairs are needed to the centre plate and casing, but Malcom advises that these are very straight forward and he would be happy to talk any prospective owners through what needs doing (call Malcom on 01206 823223).

The boat is stored locally so if you are thinking of buying a BOD and want to make a last minute entry for Pyefleet Week here is your big chance to secure a very nice boat.

Click here for the full details.

Next weekend (Sat 2 August) is Wivenhoe Regatta and the NOR and Entry Form for the event are now online Here.

The start time is 1330 at Bateman’s Tower and they will be operating on VHF Channel 77.

It will be an old fashioned 10, 5, go start sequence and they have a choice of 6 courses given on the notice of race.  Finish will be at the Old WSC Start Hut in the middle of the village.

Please make sure you enter in advance using the form at the bottom or by contacting Phil Thompson on 077602 83960 or email phil.thompson@thls.org as this will get you a free beer for all your crew.  When putting in your entry don’t forget to mention any interesting facts about your boat and crew (boat recently refitted, brand new boat launched this year, first BOD ever built, in the same family ownership for 9 million years, etc) so the commentator can use them as we arrive.

They have offered us a start back down river so if enough of us want to do this we can get it arranged.  Please email Fi on fiona.brown@fionabrown.com and let her know if you would like to race home too.

NOR and Entry Form

We just heard from Dan King this morning that he and his sons have got Nan rigged and been out sailing in her and are well on their way to being ready to race in Pyefleet Week!

Welcome to the fleet team King/Nan – we look forward to racing against you very soon!

Yippee – Only two weeks to go folks and Pyefleet Week will finally be here!  We have two special BOD social events for you during the week so please make sure you have the following in your diaries and don’t miss out on the fun.

To get the week off to a good start we have a BOD Fleet First Friday Sundowners on Friday 8 August from 7.00pm at Fi Brown’s Flat at 13 The Colne, Waterside Marina (ground floor overlooking the Sailing Club).  All BOD sailors, family and friends are welcome for sundowners to start the week as we mean to go on!

But most importantly of all we have the BOD Bavarian Extravaganza at the Club on Monday 11 August from 6.30pm.  This is the Fleet’s Big Night and Mark Wilby and Marianne White have done a great job of pulling together a German Oompah band, plus German food and beer.  To get everyone in the mood the entire fleet is asked to come in fancy dress – see our pictures to help you find the right look when rummaging in your dressing up boxes.  To finish everyone’s outfit perfectly you can buy your first beer and a German Hat for just £5, so even if you are struggling to find your lederhosen or dirndl you can still look the part!