Thorpe Bay Yacht Club

Tel: 01702 587 563

It is with great regret that we have to inform members of the death of Peter Blomfield.  He was a long standing member of TBYC, sailing his Sandhopper, ‘Talitrus’, for 31 years.  Peter was a founder member of the Sandhopper Association undertaking the roles of Class Captain, Treasurer and class measurer for many years.

An enthusiastic supporter of the club and sailing in general, his sail achievements were numerous including a passage across the Channel with John Evans in ‘Talitrus’ in 2005.

Peter’s funeral will be on Friday 31st July, at 12.40 pm, at Southend Crematorium.  Family flowers only.  Donations would be most welcome on the day, or c/o Guivers of Southchurch Road or direct to Havens Hospices whose care of Peter was wonderful.

The use of Ribs to supplement our displacement Safety craft SS2 and 3 has become a common sight at TBYC.  Our Ribs provide excellent speed of response in an emergency situation, allowing the easy laying of the Start buoy and use of Special marks as well as taking the Race officer and displacement crews to their boats.  In order for us to enjoy use the Ribs they need Launching prior to the race and recovering after every one is ashore.

The task of launching and recovering the Ribs has now been added to Dutyman for the rest of July and August to keep track of who volunteer to do this essential job.  At the end of this time the Sailing Committee will review the situation going forward.

Treating launching and recovery as two separate duties we have 44 duties to cover over the next two months.  Rob Baily has kindly volunteered to cover this Saturday Launch and Recovery, with Toby Speller taking 18 of the duties straight away.  The remaining launch and recovery duties need covering if we are to see Ribs supporting our Weekend Racing.  If you can help, please volunteer through Dutyman, or email Janet, Graham and I to get your offer of cover added on to Dutyman.

Thank you all for your help and support in enabling the use of Ribs to continue at TBYC.  Without your help it won’t happen.

Jeremy Sandford

(Rear Commodore Racing)

The final pieces of the history archive for the metal found on the beach have come from Brian Sandford.

It demonstrates how sand can cover the beach one month and be cleared another to show parts of a 28 year old boat. What other artefacts does it hold ?

I thought I had seen the obstruction the boys removed yesterday. it is on a picture I have  from the Hurricane in 1987

Click on the picture to see in a larger format.

This object has now been found and removed, thanks for those involved.

Will anybody entering the water or sailing from our beach be aware that currently there is a large metal obstructions in the sand approximately 10 feet away from the West end Breakwater. This maybe visible during early tide but is covered during higher water.

Southend Council have been advised as people have tried to move by hand. Please therefore assume that it is still present until I can advise you otherwise.

TBYC Commodore Bar SAT MAY 9TH 2015

Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.  Gill

Yesterday a small number of volunteers met on the slipway at 08:30.  Their task was to lift and recover all 15 race marks, using the SS2 and SS3 that have been freshly serviced and maintained and painted by Toby Speller, John Casson, Paul Farrall and their team of helpers. We then had to unload the rescue boats and move all the marks, chain and concrete blocks to the top of the slipway.  After a quick well earned cup of tea and a hose down, the second job to remove all the chain from the buoys and blocks, end to end the chain, checking it as they went, then to re shackle it all up, replacing marks 2, 4, 7, 9, 12 and 14 with orange buoys (a response to discussions at last years Sailing AGM, course cards with orange buoys).  If that was not enough the buoys, chain and blocks were then loaded into SS2 and SS3 before being re-laid using 2 handheld GPS in a slightly condensed version of last years positions.

You may not notice the subtle change, but the west side of the mark grid is now closer to the Roslin Hotel rather than the Halfway house.  This huge, dirty and demanding task was completed in 6 hours by me and my team of Struan Wallace, John Casson, Alan Grant, Paul Beasley, Paul Morgan and Jack Morgan.  If you see these guys this weekend, give them a big thank you and buy them a drink.  Without them we would have not fixed buoys to start the season.

Enjoy the long Easter weekends racing and the start of the season.

Click on “continue reading” for pictures and GPS files to download.
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Due to poor weather and a very high low tide on Sunday the Cruiser Lift in has now been rescheduled after club racing this Friday.

Will all sailors and members (the Warm Up Race scheduled for 11:00 this Friday) try to ensure that they are clear of the Dinghy Park by 15:00 to allow this work to take place. Be aware that this work also affects the Slipway and Beach.

Thank you to Rupert for a fantastic Rules night on Wednesday.

It was great to see so many people there, from past National Champions and experienced club racers to those new to racing at TBYC, all joined in.  Rupert’s knowledge and engaging delivery or each different scenario made for great discussion with some surprising results and answers.

Everyone engaged in the evening and took away something to progress their boat positioning and awareness around the course.  If you weren’t there, watch out on Sunday, you could find yourself being called!

The evening was a great success and we will be looking to run another later in the season.

Comments and Questions for next time always welcome. Jeremy

Winter prize giving will be held in the bar after racing Sunday. Come and gather in the bar around 3pm to support and celebrate this years winners.

If you have completed any of the winter race series and are scoring finishes in your results (you can discard one DNC) then you to could be winning a prize in the new prize draw.

Enjoy todays racing (12:00 start), see you in the bar for prizes at 15:00.