Brightlingsea One Design

Penned by Bob Richardson on Saturday evening after Rowhedge Regatta – enjoy!

I do not wish to pre empt Roy Hodgson’s post match interview tonight but I feel it would be safe for me to say that I am a little disappointed with today’s result, but we can take away many positives….. and possibly a few other cliches. Let me talk you through it.

Callum and I arrived early in the morning to mend the plate cable system, tighten the running back stays and affix the cleats for both the main and jib halyards. The rain was falling softly and it felt like I would rather be at home watching the All Blacks v England, however we got the tasks completed just as Ros (crew member 3) arrived on the pontoon with Trevor and Jim.

A few minutes later we were hoisting sails and made a perfect departure from the mooring heading towards Bateman’s. We used this time to discuss procedures and agreed that Callum on jib should cross first on tacks to get the jib set, followed by Ros on runners. Perfect, a team equalling more than the sum of the individual parts.

There was some confusion at the start line with finishing smacks getting hoots during our starting sequence of 10 and 5 mins before the gun, however we got a reasonable start and were soon on a reach with spinnaker billowing, out to No 13. The fleet split, we followed the Mersea shore out and although we had taken the middle ground found ourseleves to have done rather well, rounding No 13 in about 5th with a number of boats behind us including Ruff, Gelasma, Jumbo Too and Grethe. We were delighted. Tom on Jumbo Too got to windward of us and pulled away, however we were pulling away from the fleet and held our place as we headed towards Mersea wreck.

The position was maintained until we entered the reaches going towards Wivenhoe where the wind was flukey and the fleet closed up. We were still in 5th and with decent binoculars you could see Ruff in the distance somewheer near Brightlingsea. We were congratulating ourselves on our efforts when we appeared to be being caught.

Disaster….we were on the mud in light winds. After some vain attempts to back the jib we jybed off and watched Grethe and Endeavour sail past. Our jousting with Jumbo Too for 4th was over but we felt we could perhaps catch those that had just passed.

We made inroads and attempted to go to winward of Endeavour to make an audacious pass and regain 5th with only some 200 m to go. Disaster again. We were on the mud. Having extracated ourselves from this most unfotunate predicament we could not fail to notice off our bow the the hitherto distant Ruff was sailing past. We could see how sorry they were to do so. We were now last!!!!!!

We gathered ourselves and thought, all is not lost as, although we will get some merciless ribbing during the lunchtime beer at the Albion there is a second race and retribution will follow. Nobody can be as unlucky twice in one day.

Or can they!!

Well prepared and after 10 mins of short tacks upstream we headed for the melee that was the start outside the Albion. We were off, just a couple of boat lengths behind the front runners. Through Wivenhoe the flukey wind again caused problems but we survived with fast boats behind us and some yards from Ruff which we believed we could catch. All seemed in control.

Out of Wivenhoe and a long reach with spinnaker to follow. We would surely catch our nearest rivals.

The spinnaker would not hoist properly. For some reason which I cannot fanthom it had swapped places with the kicker during lunch and was entangled. This was sorted by Callum, but in the meantime we lost a bit of ground. I aimed to leave a green channel buoy to starboard which I did. I did not intend to wrap the mainsheet around it. I thought we were about to capsize, however having halted our progress the buoy decided to lean over and release us. The notion of catching the boats in front was becoming remote, however on a positive note there were still two fast boats behind us.

We persevered. The boat felt strangely out of control in spite of the moderate winds. A little too late we realised that the miscreant spinnaker was indeed doing its worst and was flying far too high. It caused a huge broach. Water poured in over the leeward side. It was a situation when women scream and strong men faint. Callum nipped over the windward side as if on a Laser. I managed to release the main and amazingly we came upright. We then struggled to reaquaint Callum with the inside of the boat. Whilst we were dropping the spinnaker and bailing out the fast boats behind us breezed past.

Last again!!!

Nothing more could go wrong…….or could it.

As we arrived at the mooring we were on a reach, but against the tide which would surely slow us down. We discussed our plan of how we would creep up to our buoy and drop the sails. At the last minute the wind seemed to increase and veer causing our plans to fail, thus we accelerated at a rate of knots towards the cowering buoy. Callum grabbed it and we spun round, narrowly missing the very smart yacht on the next trot. Unfortunately we did not miss the (well protected thank goodness) launch next to us.

Mike yelled “get your rudder up”. I had been pulling the rather stubborn centre plate up but quickly pulled up the rudder to securely jam it behind the rudder of the launch. I had to lie down on the afterdeck to use my feet to extracate ourselves. I know it seems impossible but we could not be pushed apart. This was because our now loose reefing line (Callum had managed to drop the mainasail) was caught round the tiller of the launch.

Eventually Callum or Ros released us. I don’t really know who did it because I was now in self-denial and could not hear myself think due to the hoots of laughter coming from Ruff.

On a positive note the Sun eventually came out and Thursday will be better… It couldn’t be any worse.

Bob

It’s all go in the restoration shed in Wivenhoe right now with Rob Maloney hard at work on some refit work on C75 The Mike for Phil Holding and Mark Wilby and Malcolm putting in over 1000 hours restoring C4 Cormorant.

Malcolm confirms that he is on track for an official re-launching ceremony for Cormorant on Saturday 19 July at 18.00 at BSC and the entire fleet is invited to join him for the celebrations so put the date in your diary.

The Mike will also be back on the water shortly and we look forward to welcoming her back to the fleet.

Check out the photos of the two boats below:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The new Pyefleet Week website is now live and includes all the information you will need to plan your regatta including an Online Entry Form.

Its going to be a fantastic week’s racing with at least 22 BODs already confirming their entries.  To help the organisers plan ahead please would you be kind enough to go to the website and complete your Online Entry asap.  You will not need to pay the entry fee until final registration on Saturday 9 August at the BSC Race Office and if you don’t yet know full details of your crew these can also be added later, but please complete the main parts of the form and submit them to the BSC.

If anyone needs any help in planning their attendance at Pyefleet Week please don’t hesitate to contact David Charlton, BSC Vice Commodore Sailing on E-mail vcsailing@sailbrightlingsea.com or Tel +44 (0)7710 046 865.

Sunday 8 June saw 6 BODs come to the line in glorious warm sunshine and a lovely sea breeze for the start of the CYC’s Andy Silk Salver.  It was nip and tuck from the first gun with the boats starting on the Mersea side of the Bateman’s line and heading out to sea on a beat that took them past the sunbathers on Mersea Stone and gave the spectators on Splash Point plenty to watch too.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In the final approach to the line C54 Storm Petrel, being helmed this week by usual middleman Craig Bond, standing in for Alan Hicks who had a back problem so couldn’t race, with Jayne Bond and Nicky Henderson crewing, and C27 Endeavour, helmed by Chris Matthews with Nicky’s partner Murray and her son Thomas crewing, got so caught up in the fun family rivalry that they both accidentally shut themselves out at the committee boat end and had to turn and make a second approach.  Although Storm Petrel found themselves on the tail of the pack, their positions as most windward boat turned out to be an advantage and within a few tacks they were right back in the fray.

Off the line C53 White Spirit, sailing two up with Mark White on the helm and Dick Stephens crewing, made a stunning start and led the fleet away in impressive style.  Close tacking down the Mersea shore gave everyone’s boat handling a good work out and the fleet was still closely packed as they made their way out to sea.

John Payne sailing his boat C11 Grayling with Lucy Hayden and Paddy Carr had been finding their feet on their first few sails but this weekend the team was on great form and got a fantastic start just to weather of White Spirit, before going on to show some impressive speed at times.

Phil Rust was back in C16 Dulcet with Mike Hare and Paul Mines and also made the front row of the start before going on to sail a very consistent race.  They are not yet showing the blistering pace they had last season but its early days and I am sure we will see them back in their usual form very soon.

Despite their problems at the start Storm Petrel took full advantage of being furthest right and showed impressive upwind boat speed and tactical smarts so were soon locked in a duel with White Spirit.  Whilst Storm Petrel had the advantage upwind, White Spirit, sailing one man down, were lighter and faster downwind and the two boats were vying for the lead right around the course.

Endeavour was also up in the chocolates for most of the race until they went for the wrong mark due to a course card mix up and ended up sailing to Stone and putting in much greater distance than the other boats, loosing out big time in the process.

Out for their first sail of the season were BDAOA Chairman Bob Richardson aboard C29 Panic with Alistair Burt crewing.  They had only just launched the boat and were also missing a course card, plus they spent a bit of time aground and had a main halyard clutch failure so had more then a bit to contend with.  But the boat looks wonderful and its clear that once they find their feet again they will be well back in the fray.

As the boats came to the line Storm Petrel snatched victory from White Spirit by just 17 seconds with Dulcet third and Grayling fourth.

Full Results

1.  c54 Storm Petrel – Craig Bond
2. C53 White Spirit – Mark White
3. C16 Dulcet – Phil Rust
4. C11 Grayling – John Payne
5. C27 Endeavour – Chris Matthews
6. C29 Panic – Bob Richardson

Sunday’s racing revealed that a number of people (including our race officers) were using old editions of the BOD CYC Course Card.  There are two BOD specific course cards – a buff coloured card for the BSC run races and a blue card for the CYC run races.  To check you have the most up to date versions please look on the side that has the list of the courses and at the bottom right corner you should see MG 5/13 (both cards were last updated by Malcolm Goodwin in May 2013).  If your card has anything else on it you need to obtain an updated copy.

You can download the course cards from the Course Cards page on the website and print and laminate them yourselves, or alternatively obtain a ready laminated copy of the cards from Fi Brown (tell 07711 718470 to arrange to collect).

We’re an interesting bunch in the BOD fleet and its always fun to find out what members of the fleet get up to when they aren’t out racing their BODs.  Last week Anne Howson, who crews for Mike Hempstead, undertook a very special task during the regatta weekend.  Anne is actually the Revd Anne Howson, Chaplain to the Cinque Port Liberty, and in this role she found herself in charge of the blessing element of the  Blessing & Reclaiming of the Waters ceremony.

The ceremony dates back more than 650 years and originated to settle a dispute with Colchester over the boundaries of fishing rights on the river – a matter of vital commercial importance to the fishermen of the day.  The modern version is rather  more symbolic, but was none the less a spectacular sight as the assembled dignitaries made their way onto the water aboard the Brightlingsea smack fleet and completed the ceremony in front of the assembled regatta crowds.

Rowhedge Regatta is fast approaching on Saturday 14 June and the organisers have now sent us the Sailing Instructions which include details of both the traditional upriver race and the new downriver race which will be sailed for the Ian Brown Trophy.

As you can see from the Instructions the start time for the downriver race will be announced over the PA in Rowhedge so listen out for that when you are there.  If the wind holds up the plan is to finish on the BSC line, but if it is dying there is the option to finish at Bateman’s instead so look out for a shorten flag and sound signals as you come to the Bateman’s line.  If we are using this line the full width of the river will form the line.

The new downriver Ian Brown Trophy is currently in production and is to be a lovely specially commissioned watercolour painting of the BODs preparing to start from Rowhedge painted by local artist Paula Webb.  Below is the initial sketch of the painting so you can see what you will be racing for!

Would all BOD sailors please note that the start time for the Andy Silk Salver, starting from the Bateman’s Tower Line under the CYC on Sunday 8 June 2014, will be 13.45 (not 14.30 as published in the sailing programme).

This change was agreed by an informal meeting of the currently active BOD fleet held on Sunday 1 June at the CYC and is an experiment to see how the fleet find using this earlier start time.  A proposal has been put forward by several members to bring all CYC start times forward to 13.45 so the outcome of this weekend’s experiment will be evaluated and a possible permanent change will be considered.  More information will be published on this in due course.

Please save the date in your diaries for “It Will Be All White On The Night” on Saturday 12 July.  Mark and Marianne White have invited the entire BOD Fleet to join them for an informal summer gathering at their home that evening and further details will be published soon!