BCYC SAILING

2012

2012 looks to be a very exciting year for competitive sailing, with a host of regattas taking place in the exciting waters of the Solent. 

Panerai British Classic Week will once again provide a magnificent spectacle of classic yacht racing with entries from the UK and Europe taking part.  With the 12mR World Championships happening the week before and the 8mR World Championships taking place afterwards we are hoping that a large number of these beautiful boats will also be participating in Panerai British Classic Week.

There will be a five-race series, plus a race around the Island following the original clockwise course of the first America’s Cup - racing will be demanding and competitive but will still retain that Corinthian spirit synonymous with classic boat racing.  In addition to the exciting racing, there will be whole host of social events held in the sailing clubs of Cowes, including the prestigious Royal Yacht Squadron.

The regatta, which is part of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge, has been held every year since the America’s Cup Jubilee was held in Cowes in 2001.  Entry numbers for the regatta have steadily risen each year, with over 70 boats entered in 2011. This made for a beautiful sight in the harbour and out on the water, and in 2012 we expect many more to take part.

Entry forms will be available early April, so if you are not already on the mailing list please contact the Regatta Office (h/l to Contact Us page) to ensure you are kept up to date with all the latest news.

Panerai British Classic Week is part of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge.

Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta ♦ Les Voiles d’Antibes ♦ Panerai British Classic Week ♦Marblehead Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta ♦ Nantucket Opera House Cup ♦

Mahon Copa del Rey ♦ Newport Museum of Yachting Classic Yacht Regatta ♦ Vele d’Epoca a Porto Rondo ♦ Régates Royales de Cannes

The BCYC 2012 calendar will be sent to all BCYC members in early December, with another fine selection of images taken by Chris Boynton at various Club events.

Additional copies can be ordered whilst stocks last, at a cost of £5.95 including postage by

e-mailing your order to: r.plant60@ntlworld.com

…….some Boat News

3.11.2011

Oh No! It’s Winter:

With the clocks going back last weekend and November 1st turning up on the calendar, it would normally initiate a shudder of gloom. Luckily I found it tempered by the wonderful picture of Foglio serenely marching through the lee of Jap (and a couple of other boats by the look of it) somewhere on the mainland shore of the Solent last Summer. What a lovely sight. I like the little staysail pulling away inside the yankee and the air of calm which seems to be aboard.

Foglio epitomises a wonderful era of British yachts, designed by Dallimore in 1936 and built on the Crouch – I think we are really lucky to have such a lovely yacht amongst us. She joined the club really early on. Listed as No 11 on the “Yachts” list and the owners Barry and Lorraine have been stalwart members all the way through, always supporting events and enjoying the get togethers.

Back in the 1980’s I was lucky enough to own the first Laurent Giles “Brittany” Class called Bettine, the fore runner of Droleen II owned by Tim and Ronnie Bennett and listed as No 19. At the time I lived in Sevenoaks my children were aged 3, 6 and 8. We kept her on a swinging mooring in Gosport which was serviced by “john the ferry” and the first trip out to the yachts was at 08.45. By getting up at 05.00 on Saturday morning, doing a lot of preparation and packing, I could get the family in the car by 06.30, and be on the Hard at Gosport for that first lift out to the boat, and by 10.00 we would be hardening up round Gilkicker Point, heading for the destination of choice – Yarmouth.

If the tides were right, we would be there early afternoon, and the children would muck about on the beach and play in the dinghy – and fall into their bunks at 20.00 hrs exhausted. And then on Sunday, sail back again and drive home. They loved it (not sure my ex-wife did particularly!)

Anyway, the point is that I had to sell Bettine with the collapse of things in 1989, and in 1990 (ish) I saw a lovely yacht for sale. She was in Ireland, painted red, designed by Dallimore and built in Southampton in 1936. Her name was Marchwood Maid. Strangely the phone number was local to Sevenoaks. I rang Ric to discover she had just been sold and was on passage to Holland, but tomorrow she would be resting overnight in Dover. My yachty inquisitiveness overcame me, and I skived off work, drove to Dover and was soon sitting on the quay gazinging at the boat which I very much thought of as “the one that got away”. As it happens I ended up going to Marthas Vineyard a little later to find Undina – and the rest, they say, is history!

But I still get a bit of a twang when I see her sistership Foglio as it transports me back to those times. If you would like to see Marchwood Maid then go to her website www.marchwoodmaid.com and if you haven’t been for a sail for a few weeks and need to get back on the water, play the video of her North Sea crossing – if you have a strong stomach!! I think I will contact them and see if the fancy coming to Cowes next year.

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the AGM and End of Season Dinner Thursday 17th November, and if you haven’t booked yourselves in for the evening, contact Ray Plant straight away.

Finally, we took the Girls to Lunch a couple of weeks back – read about it at www.britishclassicyachtclub.org.

Cheers for now

Tim

Infanta

Girls Doing Lunch at RVYC

The BCYC rally at the RVYC Sunday 16th October

I can’t quite remember whether I needed to speak to Rear Commodore Ray Plant about something in particular or just needed to speak to somebody about something, but one evening in mid September, Josephine and I ended up having a drink and a chat with Ray in the Royal Victoria Yacht Club at Fishbourne of which Ray is a member. The RVYC has a wonderful “sailing club” atmosphere and a long history. When Queen Victoria spent most of her time at Osborne House on the Island she founded the RVYC in a beautiful colonnaded building on the front in Ryde because (being a woman) she was not allowed to be a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Being a queen just wasn’t enough!

Now located in Wootton Creek which dries out at low tide, we sat in the late summer sunshine at high water looking out over the oak tree covered point across the creek. The club has a splendid big long mooring pontoon and we mused how nice it would be to have John Dory and Infanta there, and the idea came to have a BCYC gathering in a few tide cycles time to enjoy the RVYC Sunday carvery lunch.

We knew that the tide would deliver and be high at 14.00 on Sunday 16th October, but would the weather perform equally well? As it turned out, despite threats by the forecasters for it to be unpleasant, as Sunday arrived they had obligingly postponed the bad weather until Monday, and it was sunny and warm,

Infanta left Cowes rather behind schedule after picking up some friends off a later Red Jet than expected, and with a light SW breeze, to make progress we had to keep the iron mizzen staysail set. As we altered course to head in towards Wootton Creek, the breeze obliged and Infanta picked up a good pace heading towards the RVYC race starting dolphin. My eye sight is not quite what it used to be, and the flock of white geese on the water we were heading for turned out to be Optimists gilling around waiting for their start, but luckily Infanta was going fast enough for the bow wave to swoosh them out of harm’s way as we passed through and we were left with hardly any dangling off the dolphin striker.

Infanta joined Droleen II, Foglio and John Dory moored abreast on the pontoon which all made a rather lovely sight. After checking the depth sounder (0.9m under the keel) we jumped ashore and joined the others in the club house for some Sunday roast – and rather good Rioja. In addition to the expected boat owners and their crews it was lovely to meet up with Pazienza, Zoom and Thelma VI who had come by road, which is very easy from England as the Portsmouth to Fishbourne car ferry arrives nearby. 

After a hearty lunch and much merry banter, emerging from the clubby atmosphere of the RVYC into the warm and fresh early autumn afternoon sun, we joined the group of others on the pontoon marvelling at the lovely sight of four classic behinds of the girls doing lunch, obviously enjoying some R and R together. After a discussion as to the varied shapes of their behinds and with the depth sounder now showing 0.7m, we shook off the Sunday lunch fug, and all set sail home in about 8 knots of SW breeze to round off what was a really perfect day out.

Thanks to Ray Plant for inviting us to his Club and arranging a great day out. If you ever find yourself sailing up the eastern Solent at high water, pop into Wootton Creek and visit the RVYC, it’s great.

Tim

Infanta this Weekend:

I suppose that sending out an email at 09.16 on Friday morning with a proposal to meet up on the Saturday afternoon was never going to solicit a tumult of response, but a) not having managed to do much sailing this year, due to shortage of time and weather windows and b) suffering from a pent up urge to be aboard in a quiet place with some like-minded chums, it was worth a try. I suppose I thought that anyone else in a similar state of mind would be keen to respond.

Sure enough at 09.23 came a response from Cetewayo (our Commodore) and a plan was set to rally our boats together in the lower reaches of Beaulieu late Saturday afternoon.

I’m pleased to say that I did receive a number of other replies from Aeolus, Erida, Tiger C, Dirk II, Droleen II, and Camelia of Rhu who were all doing other things, together with a few “Out of Office Replies” – always a good sign I think.

Even with just a short time elapse between making the plan and actually having to get on Infanta and leave Cowes for Beaulieu, it was really surprising how much stuff seemed to pile up and put the whole plan at risk. At around 16.00, David rang to discuss the tide and getting over the bar into Beaulieu. High water was at 15.49, and with Cetewayo drawing 2.55 metres he cheerfully announced that as he was setting off shortly from Mercury Marina, that he would be safely over the bar by 17.30, and would I be there already? I was starting to sweat uncomfortably as I still had stuff to do, was still at work and unlikely to get to the boat much before 18.00hrs, let alone over the bar by 17.30. Was I already beginning to regret making this optimistic commitment?? Would we even get in the river at 19.00 hours??

We actually cast off from our mooring at 18.15, about two minutes after getting aboard, and as Jo steered Infanta past Cowes Yacht Haven, I hoisted the mizzen, unfurled the yankee and hoisted the staysail, and as we came around the Squadron Haven, Infanta heeled in the still stiff SW breeze and shot across the tide towards the entrance of Beaulieu. I did a tidal curve recky and thought we should have nearly a metre over the bar, but the ebb seemed to be well established. Approaching the bar I furled the yankee, started the engine and let it idle in neutral. If we were going to hit the bottom, I certainly didn’t want to do it at speed. The wind was fading, and at a couple of knots of boat speed we watched the depth sounder drop to a steady 0.7 metres – and then we were clear.

Relaxing now, we motored into the ever quietening river in the gathering gloom. We expected to see Cetewayo anchored at Needs Oar Creek, but she was not there. We then spotted the unmistakeable mast towering over the marsh just around the next bend, and in a few minutes we could see her unique, sleek, classic profile against the dark background of the marshes and on a lovely mooring buoy (one of half a dozen available). In a few minutes we were alongside and greeting each other. There were already G ‘n T’s waiting in Cetewayo’s cockpit where we sat for a long time and marvelled at the beauty of the silence of the creek and listened to the calls of the Whimbrel and Oyster Catchers.

Nearing the bottom of the Bombay Sapphire, we repaired to Cetewayo’s saloon for a superb dinner by lamplight and by Rioja talking about the Club and reminding ourselves that this was how our yachts would have been enjoyed fifty years ago, in a quiet timeless and magical waterway.

The night wasn’t very warm, not as warm as it is this week, and when the breeze picked up at 03.00 I was faced with that ever familiar dilemma of whether to go on deck and move the noisy halliard or try to sleep through it. While trying to make my mind up, it started to rain of course which made the prospect even less attractive, but the decision easier. Luckily, it continued to rain until 09.30 so there was no need to get up which made up for the lost sleep – what a luxury.

I started grilling bacon, frying eggs, and David brought over his big cafatiere full of rich coffee and we all sat around Infanta’s  saloon table for a leisurely breakfast.

With stuff still to do on the domestic front at home and the weather now dry with some sunshine, we waved goodbye to Cetewayo, slipped over the bar and headed home.

Now back home, I sat and wondered in amazement at how this very special 18 hour interlude could do so much to repairing my soul and revitalising my enthusiasm for life in general………………..it may have even kick started …………………….some Boat News again!!

So if you have some comments, observations, news, jokes, information or indeed anything you wish to share with us all, then do please send it to me so It can contribute to compiling ………….some Boat News.

Thanks

Tim, INFANTA

12.09.2011 

Please note

The Annual General Meeting of the British Classic Yacht Club, will be held at The Royal Thames Yacht Club on Thursday 17th November 2011. Full details will be sent to all members in due course, but please make a note of this revised date in your diary and make a special effort to attend what is traditionally a very enjoyable evening.  

The tenth SYH Classics Regatta sailed in some of the liveliest conditions in the history of this every-growing annual event.

Photography  Sarah Kelman

There were more than 50 boats entered, and despite gale warnings in the weather forecast, only a small minority elected not to venture out on to the race course.

In what regatta organiser Jonathan Dyke described as “challenging” conditions, the decision was made to race in the river, rather than out at sea.

“What a great job Bob Browne, the race officer did!” said Jonathan. “There were a few thrills and spills in three fantastic races.” But despite the odd mark-rounding incident, a couple of broken spinnaker poles and, sadly, a dismasting, nobody was hurt. Indeed everybody said what great racing they had enjoyed in “a long and hectic weekend.”

Two races were sailed on Saturday, the fleet divided into three starts, fast handicap, slow handicap and a separate start for the evergreen local Stella class.

Perhaps racing in the river suited the smaller, more manoeuvrable Stellas better than some of the bigger, more powerful boats, but it was the Stellas who dominated the overall results. Tom Taylor Jones in Estrella, a previous winner of the event, took the overall title.

The runner up was Andrew Gilmour’s Timoa, which was launched a couple of days before the regatta after a six month restoration project. Jonathan explained that Timoa had been Andrew’s father’s boat, and he felt the story of her rescue and return to the East coast racing scene illustrated the passion and history which inspires the classic yacht racing scene.

As well as the racing prizes, two special trophies were awarded at the prize-giving. The Spirit Flask, awarded at the discretion of the organisers to the entrant “most in need of a strong drink,” was awarded to Polaris, the Stella which lost its mast.

The Safir Trophy, for the Concours d’Elegance, was presented to Kismet, the beautifully restored 48-foot Fyfe yacht entered by Richard Matthews.

Jonathan thanked all the competitors for bringing their boats to the regatta, many being delivered in conditions as challenging as those on the race course, and he congratulated everybody for “sailing magnificently and sailing safely.”

RESULTS

Fast handicap:

1 If, Peter Wilson

2 Flight of Ufford, Sean McMillan

3 Cereste, Jonathan Dyke

4 Linette, Glen Sampson

5 Clarion of Wight, Brian Turner

Slow handicap:

1 Woodwind, Roger Jarrett

2 Rising Hope, Simon Cowlin

3 Lora, Robert Townsend

4 One Bamboo, David Wells

5 Scorpion of Wyke, Tom Dennis

Stellas

1 Estrella, Tom Taylor Jones

2 Timoa, Andrew Gilmour

3 L’Etoile, Tim Wood

4 Rollicker, Neil Pitman

5 Stardust, Philip Waring

Overall

1 Estrella

2 Timoa

3 If

4 L’Etoile

5 Flight of Ufford