Brightlingsea One Design

The Colne Yacht Club’s Laying Up Supper takes place on Saturday 1 November and tickets can be booked using this Ticket Application Form.  The cost is £25 a head to include a delicious three course meal, so come along and join in the celebrations and applaud our BOD sailors as they receive their trophies.

All are invited to the joint BSC/CYC Laying Up Service at St James’ Church in the High Street, Sunday 26th October at 6.30pm. It is an informal service which includes hymns, readings, poetry and prayers, with music from The Motley Crew and St James’ Singers, followed by wine & nibbles.  Our very own BOD sailing Reverend Anne Howson will be officiating and all BODs sailors will be very welcome to join the congregation to give thanks for the wonderful 2014 season.

Don’t forget to book your tickets this week for the BSC Laying Up Supper which is fast approaching on Saturday 25 October.

Party Time people!  Get out your sparkly frocks and your dancing shoes and join in the fun at the Brightlingsea Sailing Club Laying Up Supper on Saturday 25th October as we celebrate a fabulous season of BOD sailing.  It’s an evening of great food, great company, great music and great craic so book early to avoid disappointment as this event always sells out.

If you would like to join one of the BOD tables please just book your tickets with Donna Bees on bees.donna@gmail.com or 07966 820953 or in person at BSC and confirm to her that you are joining the BOD tables.  Alternatively if you would prefer to put your own table together please note that tables are available for groups of up to 12.  Full menu and details are in the poster below.

The Final Fling certainly gave everyone something to think about.  Twelve boats came to the line on a gloriously sunny Sunday morning and made a delightful sight starting off Bateman’s Tower in a very light and fickly northerly(ish) breeze.

There was just enough wind to enable the boats to beat up to Number 15 against the tide before they turned downtide to Point Clear and then across to Inner Fishery and finally back up tide to the line. Sadly the light northerly was soon fighting with the sea breeze which was attempting to come in from the south west and the result was a big old hole in the breeze.

The majority of the boats got round number 12 just before it shut down completely, but sadly Ruff didn’t quite make it and found themselves struggling to fight back against the ebbing tide while the rest of the fleet set off down tide with pace and very little directional control. Those with a knack for spotting the slightest spot of wind gained, whilst the less experienced or observant lost.

The leading group eventually battled their way back up to the East Mersea shore and spent a good half hour tacking back and forth attempting to get round the corner and head for the line.

Meanwhile White Spirit and Gelasma had already given up all hope and headed for the bar for a pre-prandial livener before the Final Fling lunch.

Back out on the water Colin Willett in Bidi finally managed to find a zephyr of breeze to pull him up to Batemans and win the Final Fling with Danny Fox in Egret second and Malcolm Goodwin in Jean following him in for third. Back down tide Phil Rust in Dulcet, Jeremy Newman in Avocet and Alan Hicks in Storm Petrel were still struggling to get around Mersea Stone and decided to call it a day and join the others at the bar.

This left Celia Charlton in Sarah Louise and James Anderson in Wind Sprite duelling it out around Mersea Stone and Fi Brown in Grethe miles back barely stemming the tide off Inner Fishery.

Fi and her crew had decide to give up too when suddenly the sea breeze put in an appearance and they were once again underway and closing the finish and the other two boats.  The breeze held just long enough to bring them right up to about 50 yards off the line and directly abreast of Wind Sprite and Sarah Louise, before shutting down once again leaving all three boats stemming the tide just before the line.  Eventually the northerly filled back in a tiny bit to allow Sarah Louise to finish fourth with Grethe fifth and Wind Sprite sixth.

Back ashore the Colne Yacht Club had managed to delay lunch to allow the sailors to get their boats ashore but before long more than 50 people were enjoying a Sunday roast and the chance to look back on a fantastic season of BOD sailing.  Class Chairman Bob Richardson took the opportunity to pay special tribute to Nick and Pam Readings and Marilyn Hempstead and their various supporting crews who have given up so much of their time to act as our race officers this year.  Without their fantastic support our CYC racing would not be possible and the entire class is extremely grateful to them.

Final Fling Results

1.  C9 Bidi – Colin Willett
2. C8 Egret – Danny Fox
3. C1 Jean – Malcolm Goodwin
4. C30 Sarah Louise – Celia Charlton
5. C54 Grethe – Fiona Brown
6.C55 Wind Sprite – James Anderson
Rtd – C20 Ruff, C53 White Spirit, C54 Storm Petrel, C32 Avocet, C14 Dulcet, C14 Gelasma

It’s time to book your tickets for the amazing BOD Mexican Fiesta Night being hosted by the Colne Yacht Club on Saturday 22 November.  Tickets are going to be in big demand for this event, but are on exclusive sale to BOD sailors via Mark Wilby until this Sunday 5 October.  To secure your tickets call Mark on 07803336960 or see him in person at the Final Fling lunch this Sunday!

Great news everyone – we will be at least 10 boats on the water on Sunday for the BOD Final Fling (start 10.30 at Bateman’s Tower) and the weather forecast is looking OK too.  Sadly the very hot weather will not last that long, but it should still be dry and bright with a SW breeze in the mid teens and temperatures in the mid to high teens.

The official deadline for booking lunch tickets with the yacht club was today but if you didn’t already book and want to join us for the carvery lunch at 1.3opm you can probably still get a ticket if you call first thing tomorrow (Thursday) morning. Call Sue on 01206 302594 or book at the bar.

Its been a great season so we look forward to racing against as many of you as possible and to seeing everyone (whether you have raced or not) in the bar and for lunch afterwards!

Conditions for the R Stone Chalice on Sunday 28 September were wonderfully warm and sunny with a light and often shifty easterly wind, making for challenging racing and plenty of place changes.  Eight teams came to the line at Bateman’s Tower where our trusty team of Pam and Nick Readings and Marilyn Hempstead got racing underway from the RIB.

With a strong flood tide running and a first mark of Hills, the choice had to be made between starting near the committee boat and fetching straight to the Mersea shore or starting near Bateman’s and holding up on the Brightlingsea shore before crossing the tide.  It was a close call, but Jeremy Newman’s C32 Avocet took the Mersea side to establish an early lead by the first mark.

As the boats came hard onto the wind for a beat across to Beach Avocet began to eek out her lead, whilst Danny Fox and the boys in C8 Egret established themselves in second place.  Behind them the rest of the fleet jostled for positions.  Mark White in C53 White Spirit and Phil Rust in C16 Dulcet didn’t get a great starts and then struggled a bit on the first leg, but both found some form as they came onto the wind and began to pass boats.  Alan Hick’s C54 Storm Petrel and Fi Brown’s C51 Grethe initially looked pretty good, but were amongst the boats who struggled to get into phase with the tricky conditions.

Mike Hempstead sailing C18 Gelasma had stuck with the Brightlingsea shore off the start and it paid off nicely for him.  But his first beat saw him drop back down the fleet, before recovering a little on the second.

As the leaders stretched away, the rest of the pack continued to vie for positions.  By the start of the second lap Avocet’s lead looked unassailable, but Egret sailed a superb second short lap making up a lot of ground.  Egret must have been hoping for a third lap to give them time to pass Avocet, but it was not to be and on the line Avocet took victory a minute and sixteen seconds from Egret.

Behind them White Spirit had been working super hard and pulled up into third place to lead Dulcet and then Storm Petrel across the line.  Gelasma and Grethe had a lovely fight for sixth place with Gelasma just managing to hold off the girls on the line and Trevor Stone and C20 Ruff team following them in to completed the rankings.

Post racing the entire fleet retired to the CYC Balcony for a well deserved refreshment and to look back on a wonderful afternoon of BOD racing.

With the Final Fling coming up next Sunday 5 October (start from Bateman’s at 10.30) and the forecast looking promising for a lovely final fleet sail of the season we hope to see as many BODs as possible on the water and joining us for a carvery lunch at CYC at 13.30.  Don’t forget to book in for the lunch at the CYC by calling 01206 302594 by Wednesday 1 October latest – tickets £14.50 each for main course, pudding and tea/coffee – all BOD friends and family welcome.

Final Results

C32 – Avocet – Jeremy Newman – 15:22:45
C8 – Egret – Danny Fox – 15:24:01
C53 – White Spirit – Mark White – 15:26:15
C16 – Dulcet – Phil Rust – 15:27:05
C54 – Storm Petrel – Alan Hicks – 15:28:24
C18 – Gelasma – Mike Hempstead – 15:30:07
C51 – Grethe – Fiona Brown – 15:30:22
C20 – Ruff – Trevor Stone – 15:32:50

During this summer some of you will have met Richard Austin who has been guest crewing on various boats to gain experience of BOD sailing.  The reason Richard has been such a willing volunteer crew is that he became the proud owner of C44 Janice earlier this year and wanted to learn all about the BODs in preparation for her restoration and sailing her next season.

BOD restorer Rob Maloney has had a busy year helping Malcolm with Cormorant and also doing some jobs on C75 The Mike, as well as restoration work on several of the Wivenhoe One Design Fleet.  But a couple of weeks ago he brought Janice into the workshop ready for her restoration and work is already proceeding at great pace.

Rob sends us this report:
Restoration is well under way on Janice C44. I started her at the end of August, the whole boat has been stripped out and is now back to bare wood, uncovering all sorts of nasty surprises!  It turns out she had a lot of new planks fitted at some point, mostly mid-ships. The remaining original planks are in need of attention and are being dealt with at the moment. I have had the stem out and also fitted a new transom. We have left some of the ribs in as they are perfectly ok.  I am going to make a start on the centreplate case next week and hope to get the new ribs and floors in followed by the case by the end of october.

And here are some photos showing progress to date:

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Party Time people!  Get out your sparkly frocks and your dancing shoes and join in the fun at the Brightlingsea Sailing Club Laying Up Supper on Saturday 25th October as we celebrate a fabulous season of BOD sailing.  It’s an evening of great food, great company, great music and great craic so book early to avoid disappointment as this event always sells out.

If you would like to join one of the BOD tables please just book your tickets with Donna Bees on bees.donna@gmail.com or 07966 820953 or in person at BSC and confirm to her that you are joining the BOD tables.  Alternatively if you would prefer to put your own table together please note that tables are available for groups of up to 12.  Full menu and details are in the poster below.

The two part Osborne Cup series brought a total of nine BODs to the start line.  Race 1 on the 14 September saw just four boats out to race, but it was to be an extremely close race with David Conlon, helming C55 Windsprite taking victory by a narrow margin from Alan Hicks in C54 Storm Petrel with Celia Charlton helming C30 Sarah Louise third and Mark White in C53 White Spirit fourth.

The second leg of the event was combined with the Bart’s Bash Race and eight BODs took on a handicap fleet of almost 50 boats as part of the world record breaking race which honoured British Olympian Andrew “Bart” Simpson, who was killed in an accident aboard the America’s Cup multihull Artemis Racing in San Francisco Bay last year, and raises funds for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation.  It was a blustery race with some heavy squalls

Danny Fox and C8 Egret were the first BOD in seventh overall, with Colin Willett sailing C9 Bidi second (10th overall), then Mark White third (13th overall) and Alan Hicks fourth (15th overall), despite the fact that they had broken their jib halyard on the first lap and had to use the spinnaker halyard for both sails for the rest of the race.

Geoff Gritton made his first ever appearance on the helm of a BOD in Bart’s Bash at the helm of C51 Grethe.  He acquitted himself well and held fifth place for much of the race until a mark rounding incident forced them to do a penalty turn which allowed Celia Charlton to slip past them.  Geoff had to be content with sixth, just ahead of Mike Hempstead in C18 Gelasma with Trevor Stone in C20 Ruff eighth.

In the overall results for the Osborne Cup Alan Hicks took victory from Mark White with Celia Charlton third.

This coming weekend its the R Stone Challis starting from Bateman’s Tower at 13.45 on Sunday 28 September.

Don’t forget we have the Final Fling the following weekend starting at 10.30 on Sunday 5 October from Bateman’s and that the race is followed by Sunday Lunch at CYC at 13.30 (tickets must be purchased before Wednesday 1 October either from the CYC Bar or by calling the club office on 01206 302594).