www.tbyc.org • Edition 8 • Winter 2012

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Nick ElmoreCommodore

We have achieved so much, with so many membersgoing afloat in a variety of craft; from cadets asyoung as five in Optimists, to senior members intheir cruising boats. Over 300 members have takento the water this year so far, and we have seenmany of our club boats travel to Open Meetings,Nationals and World Championships.

Early summer was awash with rain and strongwinds, and this prevented many of the normal clubactivities and curtailed many who sought to learnhow to sail. However the weeks leading up to andaway from Cadet Week have seen a large numberof new and young members take to the water tobe taught by our ever-increasing number of willingvolunteers.

Behind the scenes, much work has beenaccomplished by the various committees ofvolunteer members. The Cadet Committee ran ahugely successful cadet week in August where thenumbers of children were over 150! The GeneralCommittee, whilst overseeing all, has set in motiona number of projects to better the club for thefuture.

We have installed CCTV to most areas of the club tofurther secure our premises and give us betteraccess to pictures of the dinghy park and foreshoreon our website www.tbyc.org. We have alsosecured the purchase of another 4.8m Ribcraftrescue boat, which comes to us after security work

at the Southampton Boat Show. This brings ourrescue fleet right up to date, with warranties foryears to come and giving us some of the best craftavailable to keep our waters safe.

We are looking at a general refurbishment of theclub’s first floor, which will bring the club very muchup to date and beyond. Our expert members ofplanners, engineers and builders have set aboutdrafting proposals and plans, whilst getting theviews of the members and staff of how best tomake the club better and more accessible to all.

All these tasks, and the wellbeing of all members isdue to a large amount of committed volunteers,without whom the club would not be the place it istoday. I would like to thank all of these volunteermembers for all of their contributions for thebenefit of all at TBYC.

Now that another AGM has passed, I am very muchlooking forward to working with the very dynamic2013 General Committee team. It is great to seesome new faces coming forward to fill vacancies inthe many roles required to oversee the club in all itsdepartments. After an initial meet, it is clear that2013 will be eventful with a great amount of workundertaken throughout the club.

Nick ElmoreCommodore

With another successful sailing season behind us,this is a good time to reflect on the last year’sactivities at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club.

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New Year’s Eve PartyWatch 2013 sail into view with TBYC! 8pm – 1am with buffet and disco by Groovy Tunes.

New Year’s Day Brunch Toast 2013 with breakfast at TBYC! Choose from our full English breakfast or lighter options to include scrambled eggs with smoked salmon

Family Quiz Night Our popular family quiz night returns!

Salsa Evening Learn to salsa and burn off those Christmas calories with a complimentary evening hosted by experienced salsa dancers!

Valentine’s Cocktail Evening

Wine/Champagne tasting evening

Summer Ball Back by popular demand!

Christmas Dinner Dance Book early to avoid disappointment!

More exciting events to be confirmed – look out for posters and leaflets around the club or keep an eye on the website!

DEC

31MONDAY

JAN

1TUESDAY

JAN

19SATURDAY

JAN

25FRIDAY

FEB

16SATURDAY

MAR

15FRIDAY

JUN

8SATURDAY

DEC

7SATURDAY

DDaatteess ffoorr yyoouurr ddiiaarryy iinn 22001133

To confirm bookings for theseor any other events in ourbusy and exciting socialcalendar, call your SocialSecretary Stephanie Bradleyon 07831 090816 or e-mailtbycsocialrep@aol.com

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The job of House Rep entails a lot more thanjust changing light bulbs, writes Barry DuceThere is an army of people behind TBYC, who you willnever see or hear of. Unlike me, they are shy of thelimelight, so I would like to make you aware of thosepeople behind the scenes who look after our club and

equipment, in their own time, with a skillset that any employer would be luckyto have.

The club is maintained in the background by Simon Bown (all things glass,)Anthony Blower (all things building,) Rob Bailey (all things plumbing,) Ian Bradley(all things boilers,) Nick Elmore (all things construction,) Steve Hopper (all thingselectrical,) and Mike Thomason (all things boat park)

Toby Speller, Tony Clarke, Peter Thompson, Dave Gordon Saunders, Paul Farrelland Colin Goodman maintain, replace and repair Seasafes 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 in orderthat we can just turn the key. They even bail them out after heavy weather, keepa check on the moorings and ensure they are always ready to go. Refuelling?Just thank Toby Speller, Tony Clark and Peter Thompson. Yes, the magic ofpower doesn’t just happen - someone has to put it in!

Then there’s Polly, looked after and constantly maintained by Bob and Clive. Theradios are maintained, serviced and repaired by Mike Duce. Sail training boats arelooked after by Mike Thomason, Steve Hopper, Martin Swindon and Nick Turner.

Barbara Hervé turns up at every work party. I have had to stop her lugging boxesthat most would struggle to pick up. She makes super-human quantities of tea tokeep us all going, painting, scrubbing and always has a smile on her face. If wehad ten of her running the country, we would all be very lucky and better off.True Dunkirk spirit. Barbara, we love you, and long may your help and supportcontinue. We need more like you!

There are many other areas that all these fine people double up with, and helpour club run as the most successful club on the East Coast. The regularcontributors to work parties are very much appreciated, and you know who youare. The membership owes you one.

Two members who always go beyond and above the call of duty, and whom Iknow will be acutely embarrassed with the mention for all they do across everysection of TBYC in all capacities, whether it’s changing a light bulb, scrubbing thecommittee boat, paying the gas bill, checking the invoices, taking minutes,fending phone calls, racing, sailing, painting, slipway scrubbing, race officer duty,delivering post by hand, helping with social functions and so much more, areJanet Wilmsner and Tony Padbury. We are so lucky to have such good people.

Our club runs, survives and is successful because of the volunteer element. Bepart of it yourself. Let the committee know what your skill set is. Offer your help,or just turn up for the next work party. Help load the next fuel supply. AskBarbara, Tony or Janet how you can help. Just do a little bit, and it will make ahuge difference.

The more we put in the more we get out. Our weekends are so special. Helpmake the most of it and do your bit.

Well, that’s all from me. Rob Bailey is taking over as House Rep in 2013. Please givehim all your support.

See you on the water, and whatever you sail, enjoy every minute.

Barry

So, at long last we have two newRIBS to serve the club, hopefully forthe next ten years at least.

The first one was delivered back inearly October with the second onearriving on November 2nd, followinga long run from Yeovil. Thespecification for both Ribs wasundertaken by Toby and myself,bearing in mind that both boats willbe used not only for club and cadetracing but also for all the trainingcourses that are carried out withinthe club. It is hoped we have ensuredthat both boats will give us goodservice for the many years to come.

As many of you who were present atthe launch will know, our new smallRib was named Willis after Alan andSally Willis who generouslysponsored the Club’s first Rib. Thiswas after Alan realised that if wewere to continue racing throughoutthe winter months, the club wouldneed a safety boat that could belaunched and recovered and wasquick to respond to a casualty. Thiswould also allow our Displacementboats to be wintered ashore.

The new Rib is a 4.8m Ribcraft with a50hp Suzuki engine. Thespecification called for an integralfuel tank, which we are sure willeliminate the fuel contaminationproblems we had with the old one.This, in turn, means we have agreater deck working area. Williswasused at the Southampton Boat Showbefore delivery to us, in fact she wason show patrol duties and becauseof this use, was offered to the club ata much reduced price and with theengine already gently run-in, abonus! Her call sign will be “Seasafe7”.

Our other new Rib is a 5.85 metreRibcraft with a 90hp Suzuki and hasbeen named Olympia as she is partof the Olympic legacy, reminding usforever of a great summer of sport inwhich Team GB won many medals.Her call sign will be “Seasafe 8”. Shehas two seating positions whichallows for a large deck workingspace and a tow post for towingboats alongside. This ample deckspace will allow her to carry

inflatable race marks andSandhopper crews with ease,although not at the same time asSandhopper crews like to go forrecords that can be entered in the“Guinness Book of Records”! It isplanned that she will be used as ourmain powerboat training rib as wellas being used for all the other Clubactivities that have been mentionedabove.

Olympia, we understand, was used inthe Serpentine in London for theOlympic swimming events and willhave been used only in fresh waterwhich is a big bonus as it is beneficialto the engine to work in fresh water.Again, as she is a used boat she wasoffered to the club at a greatlyreduced price. Both boats come withan “as new” warranty which gives usa full year of use as our usage isclassed as “commercial”, they haveboth been thoroughly checkedbefore delivery to the club.

As I write, we still have Seasafe 5 andI hope will hold on to her as long aspossible, providing the membershipare in agreement at this year’s AGM.For the Winter Series, all three ribswill have their part to play. Weshould not be dependent uponmembers to supply their boats forsafety cover; we are a growing clubwith greater demand being put onour resources on the water due tothe various club sailing and trainingactivities we do. If we are tocontinue to expand, then these threeboats together with the recentpurchase of our Committee Boat andre-engining of our two displacementboats puts us in good shape to bepart of that expansion .

Thanks must go to Martin Swindonfor all the work he has done in thebackground from placing the orderto chasing the manufacturer towhen they intimated we may haveboth boats for Cadet Week to finaldelivery.

Hope to see as many of you on thewater in 2013!

Tony Twoflags

I join you as Rear Commodore (Racing)in the middle of the Winter Series andwould like to start 2013 by wishingeveryone a Happy New Year,whatever your Winter Activities; from

Sandhopper maintenance, taking a rest over the coldmonths, or scraping off the iceand hoping the most recentpurchase of another pair ofwinter gloves to keep yourhands warm when getting outon the water on a Sundaymorning.

Winter is a season of sailing that Ilook forward to each year. It’s thetime of year we bought ourHurricane, under a foot of snow,buried on Nick Elmore’s drive.January is a time when the Sailing

Committee is working hard behind the scenes. There is theannual maintenance of our resources to be organised; Toby,coordinating essential repairs to SS2 and SS3, preparing themfor the months of hard service they will have to endure in2013, and Tony preparing our new ribs to ensure they arealways ready to provide a fast response to those in need.

Before the season starts, we will be making decisions aboutcourses, race buoys and classes for next season. Yoursuggestions from the sailing AGM included repositioningsome of the outer race buoys, Committee Boat training,discussions about the length of courses, number of races andrib recovery. These decisions are not taken lightly and if youhave any helpful suggestions or feedback, your class captainswill be glad to listen and represent your views to progress thesailing for all.

One of your Class Captains’ main roles to perform is that ofDuty Officer. Every race, the Duty Officer coordinates thevolunteers, manning the committee boats and race boats andis on hand to ensure you have an enjoyable race. You can doyour bit too; if you are down to do a duty, go online, click onDutyman and confirm you’re available, or if computers arenot your thing, let the Duty Officer or Graham Dare know inadvance. Graham has kindly agreed to continue the setupand running of this useful addition he introduced last year.

You can also help by hanging around in a wetsuit at the topof the slipway after racing, moving out of the way when yourhear Tony’s Landrover beeping and recovering the ribs thathave been ensuring your safety and enabling you to enjoythe great sailing area we all love in safety. Please volunteer.Don’t make the Duty Officer chase you round the Dinghypark, because without your help, it’s hard work.

In the coming months, take time to check your rigging,replace worn halyards, note your duties and read the sailinginstructions. Where is your course displayed, what do thoseflags mean and who keeps hooting before everyone sails off?

Anyway I’m off to Peter’s to buy some more gloves. Yes,Julian and I have most pairs available from last year to try.

See you on the water!

Jeremy Sandford

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There has been a loose formation of asmall Sprint committee includingmyself, Paul Morgan, HowardHawkes, Andrew Hannah, GrahamDare and Gary Burrows. Gary hastaken on the duty of sailing secretary,well done Gary. Paul and I are jointclass captains, Howard is our sailtrainer and is doing a sterling job ofraising the standard of sailing withinthe team. Andrew is in a consultancyrole due to his experience, and is alsothe man to talk to if you want to buyor sell a Sprint. Graham Dare is theRear Commodore (sailing), so whilst inthis role he has been invaluable to theteam.

It is my hope that with these dynamicpeople in various driving seats, thingsare really going to start happening. Infact, they already have; so far we haveorganised a Sprint open meeting in2013 and the following year the 2014Sprint Nationals at Thorpe Bay. Notbad for starters, eh?

One of our aims at these events will beto get all the club Sprints out on thewater – if possible – and to this end Iwill be approaching Sprint owners asthe events draw near to find out (a) ifthey are going to participate and (b) if

not, whether they will loan their boatsto our cadets.

Now, I appreciate that not all willwant to loan their boats to cadets, butI am confident some will, and whenyou consider the fleet is 30 plus boatswith only 17 regular sailors, we shouldhave a few spare Sprints. So, all youcadets, let me know if you would beinterested in racing a Sprint for aweekend next year and the Nationalsthe year after.

2012 NationalsWe had an amazing turnout for thenational championships atBrightlingsea with 84 entries, 16 of

which were from Thorpe Bay, so welldone us! We were the biggestturnout from one single club. An 84-Cat start is a very interesting animal, Ican assure you, and nothing likeanything I have experienced before.The black flag was flying quite a lotand there was a fair bit of confusion tothe rules about the black flag. On thelast race of day two there were threegeneral recalls and twopostponements with seconds to go,when the race officer postponed therace until the next day. This alsomeant that several boats over the lineon the last start couldn’t race the nextrace. There was a lot of contentionaround the marks, with lots of

It’s been another good year in the sprint fleet, at the cluband on the national circuit. And this year we have had allsorts of weather; a really wet start to the summer followedby another Indian summer, and either howling wind or nowind, with little in-between, writes Steve Healy

77Get all the latest TBYC news and events www.tbyc.org 

collisions and boats hitting the mark. Itis quite tricky getting round the markswith ten other Sprints. There was onemark which I managed to get roundjust before the biggest pile-up I haveever seen; there must have beentwenty catamarans stuck togetherright on the mark! After giving thewhole fleet a dressing down, the raceofficer stationed guard boats at everymark with the threat of protestinganyone who did not do a turn after acollision. This did seem to make thingsbetter the next day. The wind wasvery flukey on the first couple of days,but a F4 on day 3 more than made upfor it. The fetch-out to the start areaon day three was awesome. Flat

water, hull flying, belting along witheighty-four other sprints. I rememberthinking to myself, “this is why we doit!” All in all, a fantastic event,brilliantly managed by BrightlingseaSC.

The top four Thorpe Bay boats wereHoward Hawkes (pictured above in14th), Martin Ellis (21st), Gary Sverdloff(25th) and Gerald Sverdloff (29th). Aspecial well done to Graham Darewho after one season in a sprintmanaged a respectable 33rd overall.Individual top ten race scores wereHoward 4th and 6th, Martin 4th, GaryS 3rd and Gary Burrows 7th. Which

shows that we can do it, we just needto do it more often!

Team Thorpe Bay – see photo – all hada great time. We had all our tentstogether – Camp TBYC had many amerry hour sitting around eating anddrinking, with a lovely meal organisedby Gary Burrows (below) on theSaturday night and the Sprint dinner

on the Sunday. We did manage tosqueeze in a bit of sailing in betweenall the eating and drinking. Actually,we spent about twenty hours on thewater over three days. A prettyawesome weekend overall; theweather was hot and the wind wasfickle, but boy, did we enjoy it!

Finally a special mention to DaringDarren of the Derring-Do whoattempted to sail to Brightlingsea onthe Saturday prior to the event withTheresa and was turned back by thehowling wind. Completelyundaunted, he set out again on theSunday morning with Gary Sverdloffand Theresa and had an amazingreach all the way to Brightlingsea.Well done, you loons!

Steve HealyJoint Class Captain, TBYC Sprint 15 Class Group

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There are four Sail Training courses programmed for 2013.

Stage 2 in March / April

Stage 1 in April / May

Stage 1 in August – Mid Week

Stage 3 in September / October

Stage 1 is for Cadets aged 5 – 11, who start off in the ClubOppies. Picos are available for Cadets aged 12+ and adults.Stages 2 and 3 all learn in Picos.

The Stage 2 course in March / April is open to any adult andCadet who has already completed their Stage 1 and whoare reasonably competent in helming a Pico around atriangular course. All Stage 2 entrants who have not racedbefore will be required to helm in one of the Pico SpringSeries races or a normal club race to cover the racing partof this course.

It is not necessary to have your own Pico, although if youdo, this will ensure you are on the course. The Club hasthree Picos for sail training, so space is very limited forthose members who do not own a Pico. There are amaximum of 24 spaces available on each of these courses.

2013

There is no charge for the sail trainingcourses and log books; however, allentrants are required to turn up on all thedays of the course including the briefing. Ifyou are unable to make all the requireddates, it would be appropriate to allocateyour space to another member on thewaiting list.

If you are interested in taking part thenplease contact me on:

01702 589075 (eve)01702 391420 (day)Or e-mail mikethomason@btconnect.com

Details of the times and dates as well as theapplication form can be downloaded fromthe Club web site.

Mike Thomason

For me, Bonaire was the best place I could have been. I took my shoes offwhen I got there, but they didn’t go back on until the flight home fivemonths later.

I mean, windsurfing with the top ten freestylers in the world definitely hasits plus points, but whenever I landed a trick (not a lot of the time!) itwouldn’t take long before one of the professionals came past and did atriple version of what I had just landed!

But that’s probably the only negative, and watching these windsurfinggurus doing what they do best gave me the confidence and the ideas to trynew tricks. If I needed to know anything, they were always on hand to giveme a few tips and push me to finally get the tricks under my knee!

In my opinion windsurfing is a very positive and friendly sport which bringspeople with the same interest together. It is a very healthy sport, bothphysically and mentally. Whether you are someone trying to get fit,someone who needs to relieve some stress after work or someone who islooking to take up a new hobby, windsurfing could be a great option foryou!

I feel that my windsurfing level has risen to a standard which I neverthought I would have been able to reach! This is a great feeling andspending five months in Bonaire was definitely one of the best times of mylife. I managed to meet a lot of new people and make a lot of new friends,which I never would have done if it wasn’t for windsurfing!

So how does all this relate to the TBYC Windsurf Crew? And who exactly are they?

continues overleaf

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Windsurfing every day in the Caribbeanhas certainly been one of themost fantastic things I haveever done. And it all started atThorpe Bay Yacht Club, writes Nick Binnendijk

Continued

Meet the TBYC Windsurf crew!

When it is too windy to go sailing,these guys go windsurfing. As youcan see, the crew is a made up of amixed bunch from all sections of theclub. All have a common goal - to gofaster, jump higher and just have fun.

It doesn’t matter how good you are,or how good you think you are. Wewere all beginners at one point. Nomatter what you sail, everyone joinsin. Thorpe Bay offers a fantastic rangeof windsurfers, from absolutebeginners to professional level. Youcan even download an app to adviseyou how to front loop!

If you need any advice on new or oldwindsurf kit, speak to Peter Thompsonor Rupert Snow who will be happy tohelp get you started.

Enjoy your day at the office - I’ll beenjoying the snow whilst doinganother ski season!Nick Binnendijk

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TBYC Windsurf Crew are (currently) Peter Thompson Jonathan Snow Peter Snow Max Duce Rupert Snow Nick Binnendijk Gary Haylett Peter Kane Chris Clarke Will Arney Ben Farringdon David Hopper Bruce Spratt

Alex Bradley Will Shields James Arney Alex Gibson Mike Beresford Ollie Barnes-Dean Alex Watson John Glynn Mark Dell John O’Gillies Mark Petty-Mayor Miles Burrage (a Kitesurfer!) Oliver Hervé

Robin Foster-Taylor Alan Clarke Seb Baucott Robyn Murdoch Athina and Isabel Duce

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We decided to limit the size of the Stingray Groupthis year and ended up with five groups of ninechildren. This smaller number was partly due to thecreation of the new Piranha group taking the moreexperienced and long serving Stingray veterans.

As always, the aim of the Stingray Group was to haveas much fun as possible whilst learning the basics,such as wind direction, tide, knots, parts of the boat,balance and trim, hazards on the water, riggingoptimists, sailing skills and confidence.

Highlights from our summer season for younger sailors

The five teams (with verycompetitive adult leadersand helpers) started asalways with creating acompass rose in the sand,using whatever itemsthey found around thebeach. Points make prizesat the end of the week,and the Yellow team gotoff to a great start andtook the maximum fivepoints.

As well as the usualpaddle races, Tug-of-Warand cork races, the CadetCommittee decided toincrease the amount ofsailing time by providingtwo Oppies per groupinstead of the usual one,which benefitted thecadets enormously.Thanks to Johnno Gilliesfor organising andpicking up the boats.

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The weather during the week was a bit up anddown. Tides were late, however the highlightsof the week included an Oppie “RoyalTournament gun crew race” involving everyteam carrying a hull and then the equipmentover the breakwater, rigging up and sailingback around a course and back to the beach, allin quick time! Jeremy Sandford’s Blue teamtook the honours.

The Treasure Hunt involved finding the hidden treasureby solving the various clues found around the beach.One clue involved eating cockles, jellied eels and whelksbefore the clue was revealed. Yellow team’s SimonSteptoe started to retch and resembled a contestant inI’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here eating a witchettygrub!

Team leaders also had to endure being custard-pied inthe face by yours truly, which revealed another clue onthe paper plate. The event culminated in a final cluebeing sailed out to a message in a bottle, whichcontained the map revealing the treasure’s location.

feature continued overleaf

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A special race was held tocelebrate the Olympics.Cadets had to sail out tothe outer buoys and findthe Olympic rings whichwere cunningly placedover the buoys. Oncebrought ashore, the fiverings were placed on thesand to create theOlympic flag! Yellowteam were first ashore and first up the beach with theirring. Well done!

The big race of the week took place on Thursday. The LeMans Trophy involves team pairs starting from the top ofthe beach, running down to their Oppies, sailing out andaround a buoy then sailing back to the beach, runningback to the top and tagging another pair. The racelasted for five laps and the winners of the trophy, after agreat race, were the Yellow team.

Early on in the week,teams were givenmaterials such asSellotape, sticks, tinfoil, balloons andcable ties to designand create a modelsailing boat. Extrapoints were awardedfor creativity. Theboats were launchedfrom SeaSafe 7 and had to sail past the breakwater finishline. After a very close race, Matt Rainbow’s Blue teamwere declared the winners.

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Praise must go to everyone for keeping theviolence to an acceptable level during the dailyCork Race this year, and thanks for all the kinddonations of corks from various householdswithin the club. We also enjoyed a visit fromthe RNLI hovercraft, and my grateful thanks toGerald Sverdloff for organising this. Thesurvival swim from the rescue boat was a joy towatch. What an achievement for children soyoung!

On the Friday, we once again captured thefantastic pirate rafts from the Barracudagroup. Points were awarded for each raceduring the week and the overall Stingraywinners for 2012 were Blue team, led byJeremy Sandford.

Congratulations also to Yellow Team’s RoseCollis for winning the most improved StingrayShield. Rose also received a special prize of aTBYC cap signed by Olympic Finn goldmedallist Ben Ainslie, kindly organised by AllenBurrell. Star of the week and winning a“genuine” Oscar statue was Sam Ratcliff forbeing so helpful to me throughout the week.

Special thanks also to Toby Speller and DavidEdwards for providing safety cover throughoutthe week in Seasafe 7, all team leaders andhelpers, caterers, cleaners, Bosun’s Hut ladies,crossing patrols, sponsors, bar staff andLyndsey Swindon for taking all thosemarvellous photographs.

A massive personal thanks to Debbie Kilkelly,Mike Thomason, Rupert Snow and everyonebehind the scenes who do so much unseenwork to make Cadet Week run so smoothly.

Lastly, I must take this opportunity to thankthe children for being so well-behavedthroughout the week. They are once again acredit to their parents and to Thorpe Bay YachtClub.

See you all next year, and thanks for yoursupport.

Mark Petty-MayorStingray Group Leader

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By sheer serendipity, a fewmonths ago, I became awarethat ‘Sport England,’ theoverseers of Lottery Funds forsporting allocations in Englandand Wales had a tranche ofmoney allocated for theOlympic Year 2012. Called‘Inspired Facility’ funds, these

were targeted specifically at clubhousedevelopment for every sport.

Now, we have been pretty progressive in the lastfew years at spending money to improve safety onthe water, with new engines for SS2 and SS3 andcommitting to two new Ribs, one ex-Olympic safetyboat and one ex-Southampton Boat Show securityboat which are shortly to arrive (at huge savings onthe new prices.)

But all of us venturing into the clubhouse can seethat the venue is overly tired and slowly becominga museum. Worse, there are infrastructure issuesrelating to the state of the electrical wiring, wastemanagement and safety on the balcony areas. Thegeneral layout of the clubhouse is now struggling tosupport the growing numbers of members we haveusing the club. However, there was also an issuethat TBYC had previously received a lottery grant forthe development of the new Slipway, only just ajust few years ago.

While you were sailing, I did some sums, writes club treasurer Ian Murdoch

Undeterred, we formulated our responses to theon-line submission which was dictated by SportEngland. One did not get to see the next questionon the form until the previous question wasanswered. We had to supply a five-year ‘ClubDevelopment Plan’ based on a five year financialincome-versus-expenditure plan and showing that‘footfall’ through the club would increase by xpercent per year, year on year, and support the localcommunity, ethnicity mix and disabled access to thesport, but particularly the involvement of 16 – 25year old athletes.

Thankfully, our regional area contact at the RYArevealed that 21 of 23 applications from sailing andyacht clubs in previous submissions had beensuccessful - which was encouraging - and at theeleventh hour, Robbie Bell, the Eastern area liaisonman, came up with the inspired comment that theprior slipway project showed that with a £70kgrant, matched by other funding sourced by theclub, that the £233k project was well managed, builton-time, within budget and to designrequirements.

This shows TBYC can be trusted to deliver theimproved clubhouse environment we promise ifwe are successful with our new bid.

The submission is now lodged. But I understandthere may be up to a thousand clubs and societiesacross the nation applying for this round offunding. It’s a long shot, but hey-ho, fingers crossed.

Ian MurdochTreasurer

Having managed to find some free timebetween work commitments, TBYCcommitments, family commitments andsailing commitments, I have sat myselfdown on the club balcony with a pint ofBrewers Gold on a gloriously sunny day,looking out over the Thames Estuary.

I could be anywhere in the world at thismoment, and it is a time like this thatreminds me why being a member ofTBYC is so special.

This year has not been kind to us on theweather front, with a number of sailingweekends being lost to conditions thatonly Ellen MacArthur would be happyto sail in, but saying that, a lot hashappened since the last edition.

We have had a number of verysuccessful events at the club includingthe Summer Ball, a cocktail-makingevening, a street party and our ownregatta, all of which took a great deal oftime and effort to arrange, organise andexecute. A big thank you to StephanieBradley for giving up so much of hertime to ensure that these events weresold-out and profitable.

The beginning of summer also saw achange in the caterers, with Fuud Ltdcurrently offering food six days perweek. Richard James, the proprietor, ishappy to discuss your catering needs forprivate parties as well as anysuggestions you may have on thecurrent food offering at TBYC.

We also had an Open Feva Event whichattracted over thirty boats from all overthe south, and what a pleasure it was tohear these visitors compliment not onlyour facilities but also our members.

I must admit that it is a little bitfrustrating to find the same peoplevolunteering for tasks throughout theclub and on the water. As you areaware, the club runs on volunteers andwithout these people puttingthemselves forward a lot of thingswould not get done. We had over ahundred volunteers during CadetWeek, which once again was a fantasticsuccess, but this is just one event thatrequires the input of the members tomake it work.

Please be mindful of the work that goeson behind the scenes and try and giveup a little bit of your free time to help.

May I take this opportunity to thank allthe members who put themselvesforward to work both in the bar and thekitchen. Without you, these facilitiescould not operate fully.

Keep warm over the winter!

Martin Swindon

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We are so lucky! writes Martin Swindon

Check out our videos!www.youtube.com/sandhopper39

Well, well, well... three holes in the ground! What a strange time ithas been for the Sandhopper fleet, writes Rupert Snow

We have enjoyed superb racing in the intergalacticcompetition that is the Sandhopper Nationals (and yes,we know there are members of alien races sailing in theclub...) Add to this some quizzical ‘banter’ courtesy ofBarry and a fantastic celebratory meal (thanks go toMick and his crew) in the company of great friends. Nota bad way to invest one’s free time.

We all enjoyed the many different methodsemployed to bring boats up to fighting speedfor such a prestigious nautical event, and wereall humbled by Peter’s ability to sail ‘No ExpenseSpent’ (as she shall now be known) into second

place, with the wizardry assistanceof Mark Dell. The rumours of thetwo of them buying an oldRenault 4 with the intention ofentering it at Monaco are clearlygrossly exaggerated. It is a Fiesta!

All four races sailed were won by different boats, andeveryone enjoyed great personal races in which theybeat old rivals. In first place, following a slightly moretraditional boat-preparation was father and son teamPaul and Bruce Spratt; very popular and well-deservedNational Champion winners following a comprehensiveyear of great results. In third were the enthusiasticnewcomers to the fleet, Allen Burrell and Paul Beasley,showing a massive learning curve from earlier contestsand emphatically securing a well-deserved first in thethird race.

It was by the skin of their teeth, however and only oncount-back that they beat Chris Clarke and Ollie Hervéinto fourth, despite these past champions securing afirst place in the final race. The fleet was full ofexperienced and talented sailors, and it was a realbattle wherever you found yourself at the windwardmark. Huge thanks to Colin Goodman, CharlesDevenport, Lisa Farrall and everyone else on the racecommittee (and rescue boats) for making it such a

great weekend.

We followed uprecently with anevening debrief,studying videos fromthe Nationalsweekend andmanoeuvring paperboats round beer-tankard buoys, withgood-humoured andextremely valuableexplanations of tactics

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and mark-rounding being offeredfrom the chaps at the front of the fleet.We hope to make this a regular eventat Sandhopper nights, which have nowmoved to the first Wednesday of eachmonth. If you fancy a convivial drinkand a bit of light banter, sprinkled withsome top racing tips from someextremely capable sailors, why notdrop in?

The winds havebeen a little fiercerecently and theS a n d h o p p e rwindsurfing teamhave beenenjoying the

conditions immensely. Peter has some new kit andthanks to some top tips from Barry, who with ChrisClarke can often be seen getting some air in front of theslip and posing for anyone with a camera. On quieterdays, several are now venturing out onto the estuary onpaddleboards and if you have not tried this yet, youreally are missing out on seeing the wonderfulenvironment we have on our doorstep from awonderfully new perspective. The sight of strings ofhuge bass under your board and the clear water slidingbeneath you is truly tranquil. After all, we all love thewater and being able to get on it and enjoy its manymoods is a real and tangible privilege.

Thanks to Peter Robinson for continuing his innovativeapproach to getting boats on the water andencouraging people to attend the wonderful socialevents.

We really appreciate that the fleet is much more thanthe collection of (albeit very precious) boats.

Rupert SnowClass Captain (Zeus SH14)

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Happy New Year to all TBYC members present and future - we’ll be back at the start of the 2013 season!

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