Brightlingsea One Design

Scuttlebutt Europe is Europe’s leading daily sailing e-news update and we are thrilled and delighted to tell you that the BOD was featured as their number four story in the 25 April edition!  Click here (and scroll down) to read for yourself!

We also made Yachts and Yachting and a number of other online outlets too.  Stand by for print coverage in Classic Boat and Anglia Afloat soon and can you keep an eye out for a piece in the Gazzette and Standard too (if you see it can you take a photo and email it to Fi on fiona.brown@fionabrown.com).

The eagerly anticipated launch party for Alan Hicks’ new Brightlingsea One Design C54 Storm Petrel more than met expectations, with more than 100 friends, family and BOD supporters present at The Hard in Brightlingsea on a blustery but sunny Easter Saturday afternoon to observe Storm Petrel’s launching and maiden voyage.

Alan kicked off proceedings by thanking those who had been involved in building and preparing the new boat.  In particular he highlighted the contributions of Rob White of White Formula, who moulded and assembled the fibreglass hull and tanks, Simon Hipkin, who fitted the wooden decks and all the joinery elements, and Malcolm Goodwin – the man largely responsible for the current revival of the BOD Class – for all his sage advice and technical input.

Alan then handed over to Alice Davies, Commodore of Brightlingsea Sailing Club, and Graham Chasney, Commodore of the Colne Yacht Club, whose entertaining double act highlighted the ongoing importance of the BODs to both of the clubs and to the community as a whole.

Alan then introduced his daughters Laura and Sarah who were to name the boat, and his son Rob who would help with her inaugural launching before inviting everyone to help push the boat down onto the hard.  With the boat duly in position and hooked up to the tractor Laura and Sarah performed the traditional naming and blessing before spraying Storm Petrel in champagne as the crowd raised their glasses to toast her. Rob then helped the Brightlingsea Park and Ride team to launch her.

Once afloat Alan and his regular crew of Craig and Jayne Bond rapidly made sail and executed an elegant departure from the dock to three rousing cheers from the crowed.  With the sun gleaming off the varnish and the spray flying in the brisk breeze she made a lovely sight as she sailed away down Brightlingsea Creek.

Joining Storm Petrel for her first sail were two further BODs, C53 White Magic and C52 Grethe, whose crews were made up of people keen to try sailing a BOD for the first time. The three boats looked spectacular as they sailed up and down the creek, calling into the Colne Yacht Club pontoon periodically to change crews.  By the end of the afternoon Alan had sailed not only with his regular race crew, but with all three of his children too and the grin on his face said it all.

Whilst the boats were careening up and down the creek the non-sailing guests enjoyed a wonderfully relaxed afternoon sitting ashore in the spring sunshine from where they had a birds eye view of the sailing and could enjoy a celebratory glass of fizz or two.  There were BOD balloons for the kids and plenty of opportunities for visitors to speak to the builders, suppliers and other members of the BOD fleet about the boats and their activities.  All in all the day was declared a resounding success for Alan and everyone else involved.

The onboard photographs accompanying this piece were taken by Craig Bond and the other photos are by official photographer Tim Bees, whose full gallery of images can be viewed at his online gallery.  Thanks to both Tim and Craig for such wonderful shots.

We have two more big launchings coming up this year of which more news shortly.  Malcolm Goodwin has confirmed that he will be relauching C4 Cormorant after her full restoration on Saturday 19 July at Brightlingsea Sailing Club at 18.00 when all fleet members and anyone interested in the BODs will once again be welcome.  We are also looking forward to the launching of this year’s second brand new fibreglass boat, James Anderson’s C55, which will be afloat in time for Pyefleet Week (launch date will be published here as soon as we have it).

Don’t forget that Alan Hicks’ beautiful new BOD C54 Storm Petrel is launching from The Hard this Easter Saturday 19 April. Come and help Alan celebrate and don’t forget that if the weather is good there will be opportunities to test sail a BOD too aboard Bidi, White Spirit and Grethe.

The BOD Dinner will be held on Saturday 10th May 2014 at Brightlingsea Sailing Club. With so many exciting developments and new boats in the class for the coming season, this year’s dinner is going to be really special as we look forward to a great season ahead. The organising team is already hard at work and there will be both pre and post dinner entertainment as well as great food and great company to ensure a truly enjoyable evening for all.

The evening will start with pre-dinner drinks from 7pm with dinner served at 7.30pm. Dress is smart casual. Tickets are excellent value at £20 a head and can be reserved individually or in tables of 8 (a small number of larger tables will be available on a first come first served basis – please contact Alan Hicks as below if you want to book a table for more than 8 people).

The menu is:

• Prawn Cocktail or Caramelised Onion and Goats Cheese Tart
• Mediterranean Beef Ragu or Mediterranean Bean Casserole with jacket potatoes and seasonal vegetables
• Strawberry Pavlova or Caramel Apple Cake
• Cheese and biscuits
• Coffee

Tickets/tables can be booked by emailing Alan Hicks on alan.hicks@btinternet.com. Please confirm the number of tickets you require, the guest names for each ticket, and if anyone has special dietary needs or has any mobility/access issues which need to be taken into consideration on the seating plan.

Cheques (£20 per ticket) should be made payable to Brightlingsea Sailing Club and sent to Alan Hicks, 77 Hurst Green, Brightlingsea, CO7 0EH – please ensure you include a note confirming the names associated with the tickets you are paying for to avoid confusion.

Only approximately 80 tickets will be available and they will be allocated on a first come, first served basis so do please book now and secure your places.

If you have any questions or need more details please contact Alan on 07719 899880 or alan.hicks@btinternet.com

Our roving reporter had a quick chat with Malcolm Goodwin this week who advises that good progress is being made on the full restoration of Cormorant.  Following the big lift to get her into the upstairs workshop (thanks to everyone who helped with that), Malcolm has been working almost full time on her and is delighted with progress.  He confirms that he expects to relaunch the boat in July from Brightlingsea Sailing Club and further details of the launch event will be posted here in due course.

With C54 now only days away from launching, its the turn of James Anderson’s C55 to undergo the Simon Hipkin fit out treatment.  The hull and tank mouldings were moved from White’s to Simon’s yard recently and Simon is already making great progress.

James went over the yard to see for himself how things are going and sends us the following photos.  He also report that Simon is taking a slightly different approach to fitting out this boat as he plans to complete as much of the interior work as possible before fitting the decks, as he found on Alan’s boat that having the decks in situ made some jobs more tricky.  They are still on target to have the boat in the water in good time for Pyefleet Week.

Alan Hicks invites you to celebrate the launch of Brightlingsea One Design (BOD) C54 Storm Petrel at 2.30pm on Saturday 19th April (Easter Saturday) 2014 at The Hard, Brightlingsea, Essex.

Storm Petrel is the first new BOD to be built in several years and is number one in a series of four new boats that will be launched during the coming year, a year which will also see several more restored BODs return to racing.

As well as an opportunity to inspect Storm Petrel guests will be able to meet representatives of the BOD Class Association and the builders and key suppliers involved in Storm Petrel’s construction including Rob White of White Formula, Simon Hipkin Boatbuilder, and representatives of Sailspar and One Sails. BOD restorer Rob Maloney will also be on hand to talk about his current restoration projects, along with Malcolm Goodwin whose personal commitment to the survival of the BOD has been the driving force behind the class’s revival success.

Weather permitting several other BODs will be joining Alan for his inaugural sail and any guests or members of the press keen to try sailing a BOD will be welcome to step aboard for a short trip around the bay. To RSVP and reserve a sailing place please e-mail fiona.brown@fionabrown.com

The eagle eyed among you may have noticed that we’ve just updated the number of boats in build in the side panel to the right to 4.  This is because in addition to C54 (Alan Hicks) and C55 (James Anderson), which are currently nearing completion, White Formula has confirmed that two further boats will go into production later this year.  One is being built for a client whose details we hope to be able to bring you shortly and the other will be for a “stock” boat.

Stand by for more news on these boats as we get it and for a formal invitation to the launching of C54 on Saturday 19th April which will be coming your way shortly!

Both Brightlingsea Sailing Club and the Colne Yacht Club have now published their full sailing programmes for the year.  Click here to view the BOD and club programmes.

The sun and warm weather has brought everyone out of the woodwork and Park and Ride has been a hive of new BOD activity over the past couple of days. On Friday Alan Hicks and Craig Bond spent the day fitting the rig for Alan’s new boat C54.

And on Saturday James Anderson’s new C55 made her first appearance out of the mould as she prepares to transfer to Simon Hipkin ready to have her joinery fitted. As you can see from the images below she is a lovely smokey blue colour with a white bottom and her tanks and main bulkhead have already been fitted by Rob.

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Rumours also reach us that C56 will go into construction shortly and that C57 will follow hard on her heels! More info will follow on these as soon as we can get details.