February started with two well attended, fun packed Work Parties, which successfully upgraded to pontoon and clubhouse and saw all sorts of cuttings, strimmings and loppings on huge bonfires. We now have room for plenty of boats. Next up, the ‘Fitting Out Supper and Barn Dance’ gave the opportunity to Do-si-doh off the water to the music of Raggle Taggle and calling of West Wilt’s very own Terry Lane.

The sailing season then kicked off with sailing through the ice, good winds and the coldest March since the club was 13 years old. Plenty of sailors competed in the races, although I spent most of my Sundays in the Race Box and Safety Boat composing a strategy for press releases in Somerset and Wiltshire. April has seen slightly warmer weather, more races and our massively attended Topper and Comet Open (see below).

Regards from the 2013 Commodore,

Peter Barnes.

Finally, here are some reports of the Topper and Comet open day:

Shearwater Topper Open

Good to see so many boats on the water, we had 15 toppers in total, 2 of which are Shearwater members, a strong showing of West Wilts sailors and it was good to see a couple of Bristol and Avon representatives.

Congratulations to Seb Howard for winning, but also cheers to all who took part, making the event what it was. Despite the weather being wet and not so windy everyone I spoke to felt that the atmosphere was warm, friendly and welcoming (just like our club).

Even our very own commodore (PB) got out on the water mixing with the other toppers and encouraging everyone to keep sailing and have fun.

Thanks again to all who took part from the OOD’s to Safety boat to the Galley everyone was positive, upbeat and helpful. Hats off to all of you who braved the weather and got out sailing.

See you all next year.

Fraser Jones, SSC Junior Liaison Officer.

 Shearwater The challenge

April 13^th 2013 was an interesting day for those who journeyed to Crockerton in Dorset to take part in the Shearwater Comet Open.

We had the coldest March for 50 years and April had not been much better.  However, the weathermen forecast warmer weather from the west but not only would temperatures soar to double figures (that’s centrigrade for you older folk) but it would be very windy.  Xcweather.com was predicting 18 mph with gusts of 28.  Not to be outdone with the wind, they also predicted heavy rain from about 10 am onwards.  Finally, Shearwater lake is in a east / west valley which is fine when they have westerlies or easterlies but a devil when the wind is north or south.  You may have guessed, the forecast wind was southerly!

We all arrived well before the start time of 11.00 and parked our vehicles in the usual places beside the road on the grass.  Rigging and launching posed no problems.  Come the first race, together with about 20 young Topper sailors, we proceeded down the lake in fine weather with about a 3 mph wind (which was probably southerly)  but, for those of you who know Shearwater, it came from every direction (and nowhere) but no direction lasted for more than 30 seconds.  This made the racing challenging and I know that in the first race we had at least 5 different leaders in a field of 11 Comets.  Halfway through this race at about 11.30 it began to rain just as forecast.

During lunch it rained harder but in the second race the wind continued to be light and unpredictable even during the extra heavy downpours.

Just as we were setting off from the jetty for the 3^rd and final race the wind suddenly gust to over 20 mph and those who liked stronger winds (not me) were rejoicing.  However, the “wind gods” had mercy on me and dropped the wind back to the 0–3 mph for the race.  However the rain continued unabated!

Having sailed myself back into last place and having hit the penultimate mark I decided to retire.  This was whilst I was closer to the clubhouse than the rest of the field so I hoped that this would enable me to be first to recover the boat and pack it away to trail it home.  You may have gathered that this is unlikely or I would not be recounting my tale of woe.

Recovery was OK and dismasting OK to get to my car through the trees but on arrival at the car and road trailer I discovered that the ground was very very soft.  No matter, I removed the sail from the mast with some assistance and rolled it onto the drainpipe in the mud.  It took a lot of cleaning the next day at home.  I am very lucky in having a double garage and a solid driveway to do the cleaning.

The heavy rain continued but I was not able to tie down all the spars onto the boat and load the foils into my car whilst in my all weather sailing gear because calls of nature have no respect for anyone so it was off to the clubhouse to change into street clothes and prize giving.  (I came 4^th so no prizes for me).  Now it was time to return to the boat to finish off the process which I managed without getting too wet but nearly fell over more than once on the very slippery grass / mud around the car.  I parked only 2 yards off the road with the trailer wheels still on the tarmac.  I hitched up and prepared to back out when the people carrier beside me started to spin its wheels into the mud.  This will not be for me, I thought, but the first attempt to back out moved me one inch before my wheels spun.  I jumped out and unhitched the boat and tried again.  No luck.  OK I thought. I am on a very slight slope and so if I can get a bit of speed can turn and run parallel to the road and pick it up that way.  No such luck.  I did move if forward but I could not steer it well enough to control the direction.  I was in an even worse position than before with both shoes and trousers covered in mud.

By now we had 5 cars in trouble including a 4 wheel drive SkodaYeti.   All sorts of methods were tried to get these vehicles out of the mud.  We, pushed, we attached a rope to the tow ball and pulled, we put the rubber mats under the wheels, we put sticks fallen from the trees to fill the holes made by the spinning wheels and some of these actions worked on a couple of the vehicles.  By the way it continued to rain heavily and it was approaching 5 pm.

Now we had 3 cars bogged down and unable to move.  Then we were lucky, as a passing local resident with a big 4 x 4 truck stopped and was persuaded to help us although he did admonish us for not having a tow rope in any of the cars!.  He produced a very nice yellow rope from the back and very soon pulled all three cars out.  I never did get his name but “thank you”.

By now all those involved in the pulling, pushing and driving were in a sorry state from the mud but we did leave happy that no real harm had come to our boats or cars.  Shearwater always offers up some interesting events and on that day the incident above was probably not the most difficult one.  One of the Comet helms arrived towing his boat behind a small camper van which had a engine problem just as it arrived.  After calling the Green Flag Assistance the man from the RAC confirmed that it was a head gasket and would not make it back under its own steam.  Luckily, they had “get your vehicle home” cover and were waiting for the truck to come to take the camper and the boat back to Sussex as our last hope of rescue.

Brian Welham C711

Shearwater Comet Open Saturday 13^th April

A local helm’s view.

The weather forecast SSE, winds to 18mph. 9 visitors and two Shearwater boats took to the water. The wind was rising so I thought I’d remove my burgee before a capsize did. Shearwater Lake is a shifty lake in regards to the wind because it is in a valley surrounded by conifer forests. I was sure my local knowledge would hold me in good stead.

1^st race I had a port flyer 2^nd up to the windward mark and just edged out with an overlap on the reaching mark. Disaster followed the chasing pack arrived at the mark and I came out lying in eighth place. The Shearwater swirl had taken its toll. This was to happen to most sailors over the meeting with large swings in the positions. By the end of the second lap Ian Stone C152 had worked his way up from 4^th to lead the rest of the fleet round to the finish closely followed by Brian Welham C711 and Malcolm Underwood C821 in third place. In the meantime I had worked myself into last place. The wind had stayed light and was coming from the west!  (All the clouds were going SSE)

Before race 2 I put my burgee in and then hoped as a result I could spot some of the shifts we were all experiencing. Another good start I was just behind Ian at the windward mark. Brian was just behind me. John Coppenhall C532 was lying in sixth position and Bob Dodds C869 was in eighth place. For three laps Ian led the fleet around but John who had started to chase him caught him just before the line and Bob secured third place. With a gust of wind favouring my side of the lake I managed to slide in fifth.

Race 3 the wind was just as light and it was pouring with rain. Disaster hit me again I was over the line at the start and had to go around the ends to restart and it took ages! In the meantime Brian was first up to the wind ward mark. Followed by Ben Palmer C597 and then John.  He knew that only a first place would win him the Open. Likewise Ian needed a first as well but he was lying in seventh position. It was an exciting race. Brian was overtaken and eventually retired. By the third lap John had fought his way to the front overtaking Ian and Bob. It was neck and neck on the last lap. A blast of wind favouring a corridor of the lake could have propelled anyone of them into the lead. John however held on and was first across the line followed by Bob then Ian. I came in seventh never getting close enough to challenge.

It was an eventful day well run by Nic Cross and his team. My local knowledge was of little use and I was well beaten into eighth place.

Homemade cakes and a cup of tea softened the blow and I now look forward to being a visitor at the next Open.

Clive Chapman C704

Results

1^st John Coppenhall             Hunts SC

2^nd Ian Stone              Maidenhead SC

3^rd Bob Dodds                        Crawley Mariners SC