Brightlingsea One Design

Please note that the planned BSC/CYC Team Racing event scheduled for 31 May has been postponed and will be rescheduled for later in the year.  At the time this event was scheduled the full programme for Brightlingsea Town Regatta, which is taking place that weekend, was not available, however, its now clear that the Team Racing would be a direct clash with the regatta activities and so it makes sense to replay so that the BODs can enjoy both events.

The Brightlingsea Town Regatta will feature two races for the BODs.  On Saturday 31st May the BODs are invited to join the Three Creeks Crawl, an all in handicap race racing around marks in Ray Creek (behind Second Beach), Flag Creek and St Osyth Creek.  This is a perfect shop window for the class as there will be lots of people around the harbour and waterfront for the regatta activities so we hope to see as many BODs on the water as possible.  The start is scheduled for 14.30 from the BSC line (more details available from BSC). On Sunday the Hickley Tiller will start from the CYC line at 14.30 and again we look forward to a great turnout.

Further information about new dates for the BSC/CYC Team Racing will be published as soon as available.

Click here for a copy of the update programme.

A few months ago outgoing BODOA Chairman Adrian Gibbons received an unusual request from a lady in Paris.  She contacted him to say that she was looking for an unusual 90th birthday present for her father who loves classic boats and would it be possible to arrange for him to sail in a BOD.

Naturally Adrian said he would be delighted to set something up and so on 2nd May Adrian and BODOA Treasurer Dick Stephens found themselves sailing White Spirit with 90 year old Michael Connella in a day which proved to be a delight for all concerned.

Michael had been in the Navy during the war and then farmed in the UK.  He eventually sold the farm and retrained as a maths teacher, ending up as the headmaster of one of the junior schools in Colchester.  He kept Adrian and Dick entertained with stories and proved to be a very efficient helmsman as they enjoyed a couple of hours sailing around the Colne and Brightlingsea and Pyefleet Creeks.

At one point Adrian, who has injured his knee and was a bit restricted in his movements around the boat, joked with Michael that he was as stiff in his joints as Michael at the age of 90.  Michael politely explained to Adrian that he is normally as fit as a fiddle and very flexible, but had spent the previous day digging his potatoes which was the only reason he was a bit achey!  Needless to say Adrian felt somewhat sheepish and has vowed to up his fitness programme!

The trio topped off their day with a lovely lunch back at the Colne Yacht Club and a great time was had by all.  The following day Michael’s daughter Lise made contact again to thank Adrian and Dick for organising the sail and to tell them that her father had had a marvellous time.

Happy 90th Birthday Michael from all the BOD Fleet – we hope to see you out in one of the boats again soon.

Our thanks to CYC Commodore Graham Chasney for the lovely photos.

Last night’s BOD dinner, hosted by Brightlingsea Sailing Club, was declared a resounding success by all in attendance.  The turnout was superb with 71 guests present for an evening which opened with drinks at 7pm, accompanied by Jonathan and Cheryl’s delightful string duet, included a wonderful three course meal cooked by Tanya Bines, a rousing and highly entertaining after dinner speech by Class Chairman Bob Richardson, a slide show of some of the best BOD photography of the last few years (thanks to Tim Bees, Jo Hearn, Mike Rees and Alex Button for their amazing images) and concluded with a lot of vitally important BOD talk late into the night.

In his speech Bob paid tribute to Robbie Stone’s amazing design, to the friendly and inclusive nature of the class, which had warmly welcomed he and his crew and offered them endless help and advice, and to all the many volunteers who give up their time to run and promote the class.  In particular he highlighted the tireless work done by Malcolm Goodwin in bringing the class back from the brink of extinction a decade ago to the point where 20 boats were on the water for the 2013 President’s Race and we have a very real hope of 25 boats racing in the 2014 President’s Race.  He also thanked Alan Hicks and his team for the superb job they had done of organising the dinner.

Alan Hicks’ Storm Petrel was the only BOD to brave the very strong conditions prevailing on the second of the Thursday night series.  With a brisk force five gusting six from the north east and a course containing at least four big gybes the scene was set for plenty of drama, and drama was what they got.

The first gybe should have come at Stone where they were rounding to head down to Point Clear.  With the tide ebbing ever stronger Alan and his crew of Craig and Jayne Bond made the brave call to avoid gybing and instead run by the lee. Despite a few hairy moments they got away with it.

The second gybe was around Inner Fishery to head back to No 13.  This one went fairly well (or as well as any gybe goes in circa 25 knots).

Next up was a gybe rounding Mersea Wreck onto starboard to head to Gate.  It was a lovely rounding and the spinnaker hoist was textbook.  What followed wasn’t!  In trying to gybe before reaching Gate Storm Petrel headed wide of Creekmouth and then performed a gybe which could be described a lacking a certain control, resulted in a near miss capsize and left the boat heading on the wrong side of Creekmouth, thus needing to go by the lee again, this time with the spinnaker whirling around in the wind above their heads.

Amazingly they got to Creekmouth and rounded with the kite still filling in the air off the side of the boat as Alan repeatedly yelled “Control the guy, control the guy!” to Craig who had chosen to wear his high collar coat and wrap it firmly round his ears so he could hear nothing at all. Jayne was doing a passable imitation of a language translator as she attempted to relay messages between the agitated Alan and the blissfully unaware Craig.  After sailing Alan (with his tongue firmly in his cheek) explained “At this point, expert seamanship saved the day and from then on a more cautious Storm Petrel completed the race.”  That caution was well placed and they went on to finish in third place overall.

We are trying to locate the Double Diamond Cup which is presented to the winner of the Rowhedge Regatta upriver race.  We understand that it is missing and has not been presented for a couple of years so please would everyone who thinks they might have won Rowhedge Regatta at some point in the last decade be kind enough to have a look in their trophy cabinet, mantlepiece, downstairs loo or where ever you keep your trophies and see if you can spot it.  We understand it is a stainless steel cup shaped trophy.  Anyone with info on its whereabouts should email Fi on fiona.brown@fionabrown.com .  Many thanks.

The Deputies Cup saw three BODs join a handicap fleet of almost thirty boats for a lovely sunny bank holiday Monday afternoon sail in a moderate breeze on a flooding tide. It was clear that conditions were not in the BODs favour, but the three boats enjoyed fantastically close racing, crossing the finish line only a few boat lengths apart.

First BOD finisher was Mark White’s White Spirit, crewed by Steve Merrell and Georgina White, Alan Hicks’ Storm Petrel, with crew Craig and Jayne Bond, took second, and hard on their heels was Colin Willett in Bidi.  Although conditions were far from ideal for BOD handicap success they nevertheless put in a creditable performance with White Spirit 9th overall, Storm Petrel 12th and Bidi 14th.

Also out for a test sail but not racing was John Payne aboard C11 Grayling which he purchased from Alan Hicks at the end of last season.  She is now sporting a new white hull with turquoise boot top and cove line and is looking very smart indeed.  We’ll look forward to seeing John and his team out racing soon.

FULL RESULTS

Huge congratulations to Alan Hicks, Craig and Jayne Bond on their victory in the first Thursday night race, for which they also win the John Barry Cup.  It was an extremely tricky race with an exceptionally low tide and very light airs.  The tide was so low that the boats were grounding at many of the marks and some of the fleet spent almost as much time aground as afloat.  The race was so long that it was almost dark by the time they finished so well done to everyone for sticking it out.

Four BODs were out and off the line they were so closely packed that it was almost impossible to tell them apart as they headed out of the creek.  Alan’s 20+ years experience in the BOD came to the fore and with his new boat C54 Storm Petrel showing impressive speed in the light airs he managed to sneak ahead of the opposition after the first mark.

Also out were Mike Hempstead’s C18 Gelasma which was helmed for the evening by John Saker with Mike crewing, Mark White’s C53 White Magic, which was also two up with Dick Stephens in the front of the boat, and Fi Brown’s C51 Grethe with guest helm Dave Charlton and crew Georgina White and Sally Hare.

On the finish line Storm Petrel had a nice lead over Mike Bees and Martin Worth in a Scorpion with Gelesma third and White Spirit fourth.  Grethe had a couple of unlucky groundings but still finished the race 8th overall and 4th BOD.

Several more boats are expecting to be out next week when we will have the benefit of a higher tide!

Artist and BOD sailor Kate Button has created a wonderful BOD lino cut which can be printed in your choice of colour and with your own sail number (our example photo shows it printed in navy blue to match C51 Grethe and some of you will have seen the version in green which she created to welcome Storm Petrel to the fleet when she launched at Easter).

Each print is individually made to order with your choice of colour and sail number.  Unframed prints cost £40 each and Kate can also arrange framing at additional cost (price depends on your choice of frame style).  To find out more please contact Kate on kate.button@btinternet.com

Mike Hempsted has been in touch to let us know that he is all set to race this Thursday night 1 May but his regular crew Eddie is away on holiday so he needs a stand in.  If anyone could sail with Mike please call him on 07851475590.

This week sees the start of Thursday night racing (1st May) and it looks like we can expect a bumper crop of entries.

Already Grayling (John Payne), Blue Peter (Adrian Gibbons), White Spirit (Mark White), Grethe (Fi Brown), Storm Petrel (Alan Hicks) and Bidi (Colin and Dan Willett) are ready to roll from park and ride.  Gelasma (Mike Hempstead) is on her mooring, and Dulcet (Phil Rust) will be launching shortly and joining Gelasma on the trots.

With just over two weeks to go until the first official BOD race – the Eric Dent Cup on Sunday 18 May at 14.30 from the CYC line – there’s plenty of time to see those numbers grow and we are expecting to see double figure entries for the majority of this year’s events.

Don’t forget the BOD Dinner is coming up fast on Saturday 10 May at the BSC.  There are just a few tickets left so if you aren’t yet booked in but want to attend please contact Alan Hicks on email alan.hicks@btinternet.com urgently.

Its going to be a great season so get your boat ready to race as soon as possible and we’ll see you on the water and in the bar!