Thorpe Bay Yacht Club

Tel: 01702 587 563

Congratulations to Annemeike and Martin who on squiffy won the sunday Sandhopper trophy, twelve sandhoppers took part in the light conditions and the close racing once again was great fun. Rupert and Linda in Zeus are improving each week and im sure my old crew will start to give me a run for my money next year, we missed Paul and Toby this weekend on Nemesis who in their last two races have lead from start to finish, hope to see you next week boys.

lets hope the remainder of the season is sailed in such glorious sunshine, only a few weeks left before lift out so lets keep the numbers up and remain the biggest single fleet racing at tbyc.

A number of TBYC Laser sailers have expressed an interest to compete in the above championships at Calella de Palafrugell in Catalunya, Spain. ‘Master’ is defined as 45+ but you can enter as an apprentice master at 35. Racing is from 20 – 26th April 2009 and having checked out the venue during the summer I’m sure that it will be a great week.

The drive down is 1400km and we do have a 6 boat trailer at our disposal, however, with Ryan Air flying into Girona, which is only an hour away from Calella, getting someone else to take the strain makes much more sense. I’ve been quoted £250 return per boat but the trailer is limited to 9 boats.

Would everyone interested in securing a place on the trailer please email me: [email protected].

Robin

PS The event is outside school holidays and it is unlikely that anyone competing will be accompanied by partners or familes. This is a serious event and there will be no time for sociallising or sight seeing.

“There is a tremendous spirit within this club in which everybody pulls together and I’m a very grateful beneficiary of that culture.  Many people have helped me at various times”

quote taken from Howard Hawkes article below.

now theres a man who has worked harder than most of us to pull together another fine season of sailing events unselfishly giving up his own sailing and social time for us all to benefit even in a year where the weather didn’t quite play the game fairly… thank you Howard.

the spirit of our club is further enhanced by the working parties that now attract 40+ of all ages which help keep the club in good order.

for me the main spirit/culture test of a club is that of renew. renew of members, renew of assets.

seeing 33 Cadet Pico’s out on the water in their race series on saturday afternoon was just great and shows just how successful the TBYC cadet training program is and has been in giving the opportunity of learning to sail to so many.

sunday witnessed another great turn out for a trophy race and two former pico sailors David Hopper & Tally Eyre literally flying about in their foiling moths, great for all to see and for the cadets to be inspired. TBYC has always led the way with state of the art sailing dinghies and this year is no exception.

alot of work has gone on behind the scenes to secure the renewal of our assets and one man linked to most of the above over many years and has been their driving force is Mike Thomason the man who sets the benchmark for the spirit and culture of our club.

in a world of uncertain times our club will hopefully continue to deliver the same spirit and culture for you and i to enjoy both on and off the water and our subscriptions continue to be invested for the future benefit of sailing.

Peter

ps if you’ve got a bit of spare cash personally or in your business then theres no better time than now to help TBYC and the slipway fund. Mike Thomason will be very pleased to hear from you…. don’t be shy…

Cadet 9631 Hammerhead
James Hayward and Alex Warrrington (Waldringfield/TBYC)

Well the pairing has now ended as James retires from the Cadet fleet to enter the world of 420’s. The boys had a great year all in all, with 3 Open meeting wins, UK Inland Champions and Selected for the 2008 British World Team. 31st in the Worlds and 8th at the Nationals. Would have been nice to have been higher in these events but thats boat racing for you! You never know whats going to happen next!

Cadet 9029: George Warrington and Angus Stone (TBYC/Waldringfield), had a great time in the Silver Fleets at Medemblik and Torquay, learning fast all about big fleet starts and the rules! They put in a commendable 41st in the Silver Fleet at the worlds and 81st out of 97 at the Nationals. Boat-handling and staying upright has been George’s biggest learning curve. In fact 9029 stayed upright all week at the Nats – well er.. except I managed to turn it upside down twice in the parents race!!- I blame the crew naturally!

Alex has now teamed up with his 3rd helm for the 2009 season. Jess Quinlan from Burnham with her boat; 8407 “Fantasy”. They have had a great start to their partnership. Stone Open Meeting earlier this month saw them miss out on a top 3 overall after a bad capsize on a very windy 1 day event, coming home 5th overall. Last weekend saw them clinch their first major win at the Parkstone Open with a 60 boat entry and winning the event overall!

So we’re all looking forward to another winter of National Squad Training and a busy year touring the circuit – Worlds in Argentina 2009…. who knows?

Dart 16, sail number 2654 for sale.

Includes road trailer, deluxe top cover, big wheeled launching trolley (cattrax). All good condition.

Reason for sale – time to upgrade!

£3750. Contact Mike on 07787 556042 or [email protected]

I would like to thank all those dedicated individuals who turned up on Saturday to help with the work party. The slipway recieved a thorough clean and a new coat of antifoul thanks to Chris Maloney and his team. The bosuns hut had a thorough clean and all the accumulated rubish thrown in the bin so you can now get through the door thanks to Struan, Barry and Paul. The guard boats were given some much needed TLC to see them through to the end of the season Toby and Faz to thank for that. As usual Mike Thomason and his Pico team cleared up the dinghy park and did the gardening along the bank. The gents changing room also recieved a clean up with Grahan Dare and his gang doing the mucking out. Finally Martyn Chas and Steve fitted the new television screen in the main bar, a job we have been thinking about for years that is now done.

It was very satisfying that some 40 or so members turned up and achieved so much in just a couple of hours. The next working party will be some time later this autumn when all the winter jobs get underway so please dont be shy in volunteering as it is a very sociable occasion where you get to meet members from other sections of the club whilst all working together to achieve some very worthwhile results.

Thanks again to all for your efforts on Saturday.

Gordon.

What is Club 14:18 ?  

It is for Cadet members that are 14 – 18 years old.

When do Club 14:18 meet ?  

On the middle Friday & Saturday of each month.

What do Club 14:18 do ?  

Friday Nights: 7p.m. – 8p.m.   Meet in the Clubhouse for pizza & pasta then from 8p.m. – 10p.m. Activities like cinema, bowling, badminton, swimming.

Saturday: Club14:18 sailing – try out new boats like RS Feva’s, 29er’s, Lasers and help new Club 14:18 members with some basic sail training.

How much will Club 14:18 cost ?  

We will try to keep the Friday night activities to approx. £10, including the buffet.

Who will be organising Club 14:18 ?  

Club 14:18 members will be, so we need to get a committee together. If you are interested then get in touch. Speak to Shaun Christian.

Can I bring my friends from outside TBYC to Club 14:18 ?  

No this is for TBYC Cadet members only.

How can I find out more about Club 14:18 ?  

Come to the launch party on the 24th October 2008 when Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” comes to TBYC. Learn the “Thriller” dance moves with the help of a professional dance team. Tickets are £10  – See James Christian (mob 0784 659 3016).               

Dresscode: Zombie

See the cadet notice board for more details and other Club 14:18 activities for the rest of 2008.

The “summer” season is coming to an end and with it arrives the annual migration to the boat park of the cruisers, which is scheduled for Saturday 18^th October. As usual, those who are NOT sailing in the Winter Series need to remove their boats on or before Sunday 12^th October, whereas those who will continue to sail should move their boats to the western half of the boat park.

It is noticeable that some owners take a rather disinterested attitude to the reorganisation of the boat park, leaving it to others to move their boats on their behalf. Please bear in mind that if your boat needs to be moved because you’ve not bothered to comply with the above request, it might not be treated with quite the same delicacy that you would apply – why should it? So if you care about your boat, either take it away OR BETTER STILL, move it to the west side of the boat park and JOIN THE REST OF US in the Winter Series.

The more efficiently we dinghy and cat sailors clear the space for the cruisers the more compactly they are installed, leaving us more space for our boats, so it’s in our interests to co-operate as fully as possible. Not only that, but the Master Recruiter for the Sprint 15 class and Keeper of the Boat Park – none other than Andrew Hannah – has sworn severe retribution for any boats not complying. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Those stalwarts joining us keen Sprint sailors for the season of PROPER sailing need to enter by Saturday 25^th October.  Unfortunately the Sandhoppers won’t be with us – Barry is feeling his age and it is said that this year he may hibernate.

Finally, I’m bowing out after an interesting year. There is a tremendous spirit within this club in which everybody pulls together and I’m a very grateful beneficiary of that culture.  Many people have helped me at various times. My successor is that Contender sailor and master-fixer of broken Sprints, Chris Boshier. I wish him well in the post and hope you will all support him as you have me.

Don’t forget the Winter Series.  See you there!

Howard Hawkes.

We will meet on Thursday 18th Sept to look at entries to the Autumn Series.  Come along and register you interest even if you have no-one to sail with at present.  We may have people interested in taking a crew as the Autumn series is traditionally fairly breezy and it is always more fun with two anyway.

Make sure you are there to register even if you are an old hand, but if for some reason you can’t make it it will be possible to sign-on as usual in the Bosun’s hut on Saturday 20th for a race start time of 2.45pm  (try to get ready in plenty of time please), briefing at the top of the slip at 2.20pm.

On Thursday, at 7.15pm we will look at various aspects of the start sequence and mark rounding to familiarise those who may well be taking their first steps into racing following a successful cadet week.  Turn up even if you are a seasoned pro and ensure i mention everything needed, in order to help newcommers get aquainted with the way we run the series at TBYC.

On a seperate note, please could we get a list of willing volunteers to help run the race box with Lisa and Linda (needed for this Sat as Linda is on rescue duty, and on Sat 27th Sept and Sat 4th Oct).  It would be great to confirm who can help asap.  Please give me or one of the aformentioned ladies a ring if you can.

Cheers,

See you on the water!

Rupert

great fun race yesterday and fantastic to see so many cadets taking part in the windy conditions, the sandhoppers were out in force with Nemesis taking first place in our class, well done Paul and Toby.

I would like to point out that one of the sandhoppers was taking part in a different race, Sand  Star helmed by our commodore and crewed by a man with his own fleet of boats thought it was the Queenborough race and headed for the kent shore, yes messers saunders and Hopper made a massive school boy error and went the wrong way, to make matters worse, upon rejoining the pursuit race all be it a country mile behind, they decided to retire and go fo an early bath.

with all the experience that hopper has sailing around the Uk and the commodore who has just returned from a sailing holiday in Greece, you would expect them to be able to navigate to mark Y.

next time boys follow the cadets, they seem to have better idea of where to go.

Fellow members, when you see either Steve or Gordon dont forget to talk to them about their school boy error.