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This is the public version of the IYC Newsletter which is available for general

internet viewers on the IYC website:

www.islandyachtclub.org.uk

Anyone interested in the IYC Newsletter should be referred to this.

The members email version should never be forwarded or copied on as it is not edited for

personal information intended only for club

members.

Printing: Depends on Printer but start from Page 2 to remove this page. Intended for A4 printing or “Booklet printing”

(double sided) which makes an A5 Booklet.

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Dec 2018

IYC Newsletter

Page 2 Members notices since last Newsletter Page 3 - 4 Social Newsletter Page 5 Upcoming Events Page 5 – 6 Club Funding From External Sources Page 7 – 10 Transiting the Kiel Canal Page 11 - 17 Some splendid autumn sailing..

?? Somewhere in Holland ??

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The Best of the Festive Season to you all. Attached are few notices circulated since the last newsletter.

My apologies for not getting this out at the start of the Month but a series of calamities at an already busy period demanded my attention elsewhere.

Picture on front page “Somewhere in Holland” was once a Sea Port and still supports a large fishing fleet. Anyone recognise it?

In this issue our Ass.Treasurer describes the considerable efforts members have made to acquire funding for the club.

Bob and Gillian transit the Keil Canal and Nick Ardley describes so well the attractions of our local waters.

Compound Gate – Theft – Guest Book- Members Notice 19th Sept Dear Members

I would like to remind you when you are visiting the compound to access your boat or

mooring to kindly close the gates afterwards. We are trying to monitor the situation and

regularly see the gates open and nobody around. There have been an increasing number

of thefts from the compound and the club is spending a lot of money replacing important

equipment that has gone missing. Please be vigilant when on club premises and report

any suspicious behaviour.

It is also very sad to report that it appears that money has been removed from a charity

box on the bar. Hard to believe that one of our members would be guilty of such a petty

act.

It has also been reported that some members are not signing in their guests in the book in

the lobby. This is described in Rule 23 in the club book.

Many Thanks

Nick Wright Secretary

Island Yacht Club

Abandoned Tenders – Members Notice dated 11th October 2018 Dear Members

The Mooring and Compound group have moved all tenders from the staging opposite

Fishermans Creek. There are some which do not have stickers to show they are paid for

and do not have names on them.

In the main compound there is a white tender at the rear of the compound on a trailer

with no name or paid sticker. There is also one near the storage tanks at the front of the

compound again with no name or paid sticker on a trailer.

If you own any of these you should contact me. If you do not within 14 days of this

notice, the tenders will be taken as abandoned and disposed of either by sale or

destruction depending on the condition. If you are not sure and want pictures please

make contact with me now.

Malcolm K Hockett Assistant Treasurer.

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SOCIAL NEWS LETTER September 22nd was our monthly Quiz Night with 50 members and guests

attending, an enjoyable evening was had by all.

Saturday 6th October the Sea Scouts held and charity Quiz Night

It was very well attended (full house)

Saturday 14th was our 82nd Annual Dinner Dance held at the Island Yacht Club

with 62 members and 34 guests attending a good evening was had by all with

great entertainment from Karen Black.

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Saturday 27th October was our Halloween Dance (Fancy Dress)

with many members taking part in the Fancy Dress.

3rd November was our bonfire and firework night with BBQ (thank you to Teresa

and her team for arranging BBQ)

Saturday 10th November we held our annual Laying up Supper with 51 members

attending. Thanks to Gabby and her team for very enjoyable meal.

Saturday 17th November was our

monthly Quiz Night with 44 members

and guests making up 8 teams, the

overall winner were the ‘Half Nelson’

with a score of 115. We also raffled

off a Christmas Hamper and raised

£55 to go towards childrens

Christmas party, the Hamper was

won by Mrs Helen Davis.

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COMING EVENTS FOR DECEMBER

Saturday 8th Childrens Christmas Party

Saturday 15th Adults Christmas Dance (live entertainment from Neneth Lyons)

Monday 31st New Years Eve (with Disco)

NEW YEAR

We start off with our Annual Cockney Night with

on Saturday 12th January

Saturday 19th January is our Prize Giving evening.

…………………..……………..oooooo000000oooooo……………………………………..

CLUB FUNDING FROM EXTERNAL SOURCES

I thought members might find it helpful if I reported on funding activities carried out and ongoing for the benefit of the Club

Firstly, when I had a general discussion about the provision of a Defibrillator at the Clubhouse with Bill Dudbridge following a Committee decision that one should be installed outside the Clubhouse, Bill suggested that the Rotary Club of Canvey Island were open to approaches to help fund such installations. I made a formal application which resulted in a contribution from the Rotary Club of £500, with £500 from Club funds and £250 kindly donated by together with the plaque by Brian and Ann Keenleyside.

The next one involved a discussion with James Kellard the Chairman of the Trustees of the Furtherwick Park Legacy Fund to whom Ken Hawkins and I had been introduced by Bill concerning the construction of a new shower block for cadet use. As the fund is only to assist Canvey youth we did not proceed with the application as it was unlikely to be granted because it was not only for the benefit of Canvey youth. Shortly after it was reported to the committee by Kevin Turner that the main cadet RIB was becoming unusable and in need of replacement. It was over 10 years old. With the support of Ken, I made a formal application to the Trustees of the Legacy Fund through James Kellard. The application received immediate interest from the Trustees. After a formal interview and inspection by James which also involved the help of Neil Riches and Mark Mawditt an offer of funding was made by both the Legacy Fund to provide £7000 and the Rotary Club £3000. James also secured a further £250 from the new Co-Op. Ken and I collected the cheques at Rotary meetings and

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the Cadets now have a new RIB called “Furtherwick Park Legacy” for their protection and safety. The RIB cost £17,000 and the intention had been to part exchange the old one for £4,000. We received an offer from Bill that he was willing to buy the RIB for that sum and spend whatever it took to repair and restore it. He wished to retain ownership but it would continue to be kept in a container which he would provide, at the club for use by the cadets and by him.

Bill also spoke to another Rotarian Graham Cribb about the RIB “Fred Powell” which it had been found upon inspection required the replacement of the tubes. Following Ken and I also speaking to Graham, he very kindly arranged to have £5,000 donated for the cost of the repairs by T Cribb & Sons. It is anticipated that the repairs will be completed in a couple of weeks. The name will remain the same but there will be recognition of the support by T Cribb & Sons on the side of the RIB.

As many will have seen the club has the use of a new workboat “Fairway II”. It was and still is hoped that the Club would secure funding for the purchase of that boat. At present it has been purchased by Bill and will be sold to the Club when funding is available or when the club is required to purchase it.

The last item where I have made an application with the support of Ken, Bill, Dave Blackwell and Peter May is to the Communities Initiatives Fund to enable the club to construct a new shower block in what will be the new dinghy compound to be created inside the main compound. The new dinghy compound will be in the position so that via gates access is obtained over the public footpath and out to the floating pontoon. The shower block is for the use of Cadets with individual cubicles, Instructors and with separate disabled facilities. At the present time I am expecting to hear shortly if that application has been successful or otherwise. Sadly, there is a limit on the amount of any grant which is £20,000. The estimated cost on a commercial basis is over £100,000 having regard to VAT which we cannot recover. We will be seeking funding from other sources but we hope the costs can be kept down with help from members equipped in providing the construction services required.

I hope that members will find this information of benefit to keep you aware of the benefits we seek to help the club and our young members who are our future.

Malcolm Malcolm K Hockett Assistant Treasurer.

PS: Since this was produced I have heard that the application to the CIF has been declined, no reason has been given and this does not prevent a further application in the future.

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Transiting the Kiel Canal

After our quick “Trip around the Texels”, we sailed along the North German coast, visiting

some of the Frisian Islands (Borkum, Nordeney, Wangeroog) on our way to Cuxhaven.

There we refuelled, ready for the passage down the Nord-Ostsee Canal, leaving at 14:15 to

take advantage of a favourable tide for the last time for some months. The wind was a

pleasant NNW 3-4, so we

unfurled the genoa as soon as

we had cleared the harbour.

With the tide behind us and

the wind on our port quarter,

we had a lovely sail reaching

speeds of nearly 7 knots

before reaching the Kiel Canal

lock. Here we experienced our

first delay, as there was a

problem with the lock itself;

we had to wait for 2 hours

before eventually locking in.

According to our guide book “A confusing array of lights may be displayed from the

locks.” How true that was, especially as our guide book, the pilot book and Macmillan’s

Almanac all disagreed as to what the signals meant! However, it was immediately obvious

when the signal for pleasure craft to proceed was displayed - there were quite a lot of boats

waiting, and they all made a rush for the entrance as soon as possible.

By now it was quite late (19:00), and as pleasure craft are not allowed to use the canal after

sunset, we decided to stay at Brunsbϋttel for the night. Both the cruising guide and the pilot

book suggested that this would not be a comfortable place to stay, being right next to the

locks used by large ships: “This is rather noisy and can get very busy”; “(The moorings are)

subject to considerable noise from ships locking through, towering over the moorings”.

I must admit, the moorings were

very busy but we managed to find a

space to raft out, and enjoyed

watching the huge ships locking in

and out during the evening.

Brunsbϋttel itself is a pleasant town

although quite small and not

particularly exciting. We had a

quiet dinner on board, then went

for a drink on board another British

boat we had met in Nordeney,

followed by an early night ready

for an early start next day.

Leaving Cuxhaven

Leaving Brunsbϋttel with the locks in the background

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The Nord-Ostsee Canal (to give the Kiel Canal is real name) is 54 miles (98.5 km) long and

pleasure craft are only allowed to travel between sunrise and sunset. It is possible to cruise

the length of the canal in one day, but that means keeping up a speed of at least 5 knots

(maximum speed is 8 knots). There

could be some delays on the way, such

as waiting for ferries to cross the canal

or waiting for large ships to complete

manoeuvres, which could mean

needing to travel faster. The canal was

much wider than I had expected, with

a great variety of vessels sailing along,

always keeping to starboard.

It is compulsory to have your engine on whist sailing on the canal, although sails may be

used as well. But by now the wind had dropped to very light airs, ESE of course, so we used

the “iron topsail” for the entire passage. We planned to spend the next night at Rendsburg,

66 km from the entrance. (There are marker posts on each bank giving the distance from

Brunsbϋttel every km.) Rendsburg was highly recommended by our pilot book, which

claimed that it has the best facilities (which it probably does; other stopping places have few

facilities, or none at all). Our guide book described it as a medieval city with an old market,

16th century town hall and many ancient buildings. We stayed for 2 nights, in our first box

berth mooring, and found it a very

pleasant marina - it even had English

language books in the book-swap! The

town itself is very pretty, with a Blue

Line Walk taking you past all the main

sights, with a written description of

each available from the tourist office.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of road

repairs going on when we were there

which meant that we had to make

detours from the guided path and were

not able to see all the sights.

Our first "Box Berth" at Rendsburg

Large ships on the Kiel Canal

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The winds continued to be light, less than 5 knots and either ENE or NNE, so we continued

under engine for the rest of the way. Many different types of vessels passed us as we sailed

on towards Kiel

Paddle steamer "Freya"

Wind farm support vessel (note the Red Ensign)

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There were also many different types of birds; we could hear them singing all the way, even

above the noise of the engine. Large mixed flocks floated about on the water, scuttling away

whenever boats got too close.

There was a short wait at the locks at Holtenau, as working boats have priority over pleasure

craft. We just had time to brew a cup of tea before we were called into the lock. Once inside,

there was a big drop to the floating pontoon, which was at water level, but we managed to tie

up safely. On exiting the lock into the Kieler Bucht, we had a big choice of marinas. We

decided to go to Laboe to visit the Naval Memorial there. It only took 3 days, but we

managed to do so much and see so many things that it seemed much longer!

By Gillian Hough

Swans flying alongside

Black headed gull (in winter plumage)

Gulls on a large ship bollard

I think these are Egyptian geese. They must be lost!

German submarine museum at Laboe

Cormorant

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Some splendid autumn sailing…

One of the joys of ‘yachting’ when you keep your vessel afloat in the colder seasons of the

year is taking the opportunity of stealing a sail when others have laid up, gone to roost or are,

probably, hard at it working. Retirement has some blessings!

Back in the early days of the autumn we were blessed with a continuance of the blessed and

sublime summer experienced in the Thames Estuary area in particular. During that period

Whimbrel and her crew took part in the Queenborough Harbour Trust’s classic festival.

Unfortunately, this time, the festival was poorly supported by sailors from the Medway and

Swale basin. This prompted me to write about the event on my web site and comment on the

Medway & Swale Boating Association’s web

site (http://msba.org.uk/) against a draft paper

written by one of the area’s ‘elder brethren’…

See: http://msba.org.uk/?p=4716

Part of the problem was clearly poor

advertising. The other was a myriad of owners

who ‘talk the talk’, but failed to ‘walk the

walk’… This was a great shame for the event

has been growing in stature over the previous

three or four seasons.

Whimbrel at Queenborough for festival.

A little earlier, the end of summer really,

the club’s three Finesse 24s had planned a

run to Queenborough and Conyer. In the

event, only Whimbrel and Calluna went.

Gypsy’s owner was ill! The weekend was cut

short by threatening weather on the Sunday

… my mate had an eye hospital appointment

for a cataract operation on the Monday, so

we hightailed home on the Saturday. In the

event, the weather wasn’t so bad, but ‘stress’

evaporated!

Whimbrel and Calluna at Queenborough.

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Whimbrel has been used as often as the tide and conditions have permitted in between

nearly two weeks away touring the west country – by car. A ‘non-boats’ holiday, but it is very

difficult not to keep coming across stretches of water with boats upon it down in Cornwall!

In early November, on one scintillating morning, my good ship-mate, Christobel, enjoyed a

gorgeous sail with me up through the saltings to the Benfleet Barrier and back. I have produced

a collage of the short, but enjoyable trip.

Sailing up Benfleet Creek. The

colours in the autumn are superb up

this stretch of water and often no

other craft are met!

Since her cataract op … Christobel

found she can see buoys again!

Passing Benfleet YC with a large

power-cat approaching (on

trials).

Back out in the ‘open’…

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Soon after slipping into our berth,

soup appeared…

Then, as a piece de resistance of an advancing autumn towards the approaching winter, I

slipped away for two consecutive late afternoon sails. The tides were neaps - no matter,

Whimbrel was afloat just short of two hours before high water.

I got away and set off up Hadleigh Ray and tacked in longs and shorts up Benfleet Creek.

The light across ‘Bird Island’

caught my eye and I snatched for

the camera, tiller resting against

my thigh.

Bird Island is the growing patch to

the north of Marks Marsh Island. It

has reached the height at which

grasses will grow on it before too

long. It covers around 4.9 metres

(Southend).

Tacking past Bird Island.

The light was fantastic. It

shimmered ‘white’ in the west turning

to deep blue above. I was tempted to

keep going, but as I sailed westward,

the breeze took off. The sun too was

dropping fast, and it seemed opportune

to spin the boat round and ‘run’ out.

Second picture was taken from same

spot with the setting sun ‘over’ the

trees seen through shrouds in previous

one.

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Glorious light…

I later slipped into the creek after stowing sails outside as the indomitable Jack motored for

home in his sloop too…

The second of those consecutive sails was, I must say, sublime. High water was timed at

1630 … a little after sunset. I got away around fifteen minutes past three. The tide seemed to

take forever. I sat with set sails,

sipping tea … until eventually

Whimbrel lifted. The wind was a

southerly with a touch of east in it,

soft and gentle, so with a burst

astern we slowly slipped over the

sluggish flood.

Awaiting the tide…

Gently sailing out…

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A distant Canvey Island – this

picture I dedicated to the

thousands of merchant

seafarers who died in the 1914-

18 conflict … if you haven’t

seen the memorial across the

road from the Tower of London

– make a point.

Over near the Crowstone, I turned and headed for home, filming for a few minutes during this

manoeuvre and after as the boat sailed ‘through’ the sun. A few members will have spotted

this on my Facebook page!

(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=976311855912415&set=pcb.976324002577867

&type=3&theater)

Sailing down the

setting sun…

My abiding memory for this jaunt was the constant chatter of gulls, almost unseen, bobbing

on the water’s surface. The flocks were huge and they gently paddled around and arguing.

Distant skeins of geese were seen too, as were the dancing ballerinas of the sky – dunlin and

knot – whirling around the point saltings.

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Entering the creek…

Inside the creek…

Having turned before high water, it took a lot less time to reach our creek’s entrance. I sailed

on, in constant awe at the sunset colours on display – one of nature’s gifts. Whimbrel’s pace

slowed under the point saltings as the wind ‘took off’ and high water was reached. I ghosted

past darkened creek buoys, their shadowed backs to me.

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Nearing my mooring, I slacked the sheets and Whimbrel glided into her berth. I could

distinctly hear her sigh of satisfaction…

Gliding into her berth…

Now, this past year has been a

difficult one for me and all my

family. I have got used to the

realities of life and all that it can

throw one’s way. Many people

have far worse problems and a

prostate cancer isn’t the end of

the world – even in my case,

which was described as severe.

So, with Christobel’s staunch

love and support, I have remained positive (with odd periods of ‘gloom’). Our ‘boy’ Alexander

(Alex or ‘Ginger’ to most of you) has been a brick too…

I had good news from my oncologist a few weeks ago – my cancer has been ‘stopped’ and

the PSA level has dropped to ‘2’. In early March the real treatment begins. I’m not looking

forward to it!

Many fellow men (sailors on the whole) have reported to me that they’ve had tests – two

were found with problems with heightened counts, but, thankfully, no cancer. Another is

undergoing tests for a probable

early stage growth … he reacted to

my blog … which was what it was

all about. He also has had no

symptoms…

See:

http://nickardley.com/ditch-

crawler-asks-of-his-male-fellow-

sailors-have-you-been-tested-yet-

prostate-cancer-up-date/

A glorious autumn peace amongst

our moorings…

One thing is certain, Whimbrel and her crew will continue to sail on…

Nick Ardley

Whimbrel