About

Members of the Cruising Association and/or the Royal Harwich Yacht Club (we think that about a third of those attending belong to both organisations) met for what has become the traditional first event of the New Year, when members give accounts of their adventures Near and Far.

First off was Ewan Stamp, Commodore of the RHYC, who has recently seen the light and (partially) exchanged racing for the delights of cruising. He described a week long cruise from Woolverstone to St Katherine’s Dock on the London River. Ewan’s racing skills produced some very fast passages by careful working of the tides - Harwich to the Medway in one day and then on up to St Katherine’s Dock in one hop the next. His presentation covered the delights of an overnight mooring in Queensborough, tips on negotiating the Thames Barrier and a warning of the difficulty of picking up the waiting buoys off the St Katherine’s Dock Entrance (swirling currents, no pickup lines and tiny rings on top of the buoys).

For a complete change of scene, Ann and Dennis Kell took us on a tour of the Ile de Bréhat and nearby waters where they had attended an International Wayfarer Dinghy Rally. They showed fascinating photographs of the differences in seascape that occur with a tidal range of 12m. They had navigated Emma, their veteran wooden Wayfarer dinghy, with an international crew, through intricate passages among the rocks around the lovely island. Those of us who have been there in deep draught keel boats have only been able to inspect these channels from a distance through binoculars. It made me itch to return to the River Trieux, which I think is the most attractive of all the North Brittany rivers.

Brian Hammett was the next to capture our attention with a presentation entitled “The Elbe, a Challenge?” Starting with detailed pilotage information on the harbours along the North Friesian coast, Brian took us into the turbulent waters of the River Elbe, calling at Cuxhaven and the entrance to the Kiel Canal. There were two worrying features of the talk, firstly an account of an hour long Force 11 squall that they encountered in Avola when returning from the Baltic, and Brian’s and Lorna’s apparent reliance on charts from Erskine Childers’ Riddle of the Sands. He ended by insisting that the delights of the Baltic make up for all the terrors of the Elbe.

We returned to home waters for an account of Scarba’s trip to Falmouth and back to Woolverstone by section secretaries Colin and Elspeth Iskander, assisted, both on passage and in the talk by Mike Bell, who seems to have a custard fixation. They took advantage of the good weather and persistent easterly winds that we enjoyed in June last year to make some fast passages along the coast. The photographs showed that the cruising chute and Tilley hats were the order of the day. Lest we should think that it was all plain sailing we were also given accounts of lunch stops in Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight and at Lulworth Cove, and then of an inshore rounding of Portland Bill. Before the latter, the crew had made a bus pass funded reconnaissance of the Bill when it was blowing a force 6 south westerly. Colin took advice from local experts, the coastguard and the weatherman, despite this, all went well the next day as they rounded the headland in much calmer conditions and at very close quarters.

NEAR AND FAR PHOTO COMPETITION  30 January 2010

This year we organised a Photo Competition in conjunction with the annual “Near and Far” evening. There were three classes, Yachting, Stormy and Tranquillity. The competition attached 52 entries from 23 individuals. We were fortunate that Anthony Cullen, a professional photographer, and a sailor, agreed to act as Competition Judge. We also benefited from advice from Marjorie Carter of Pin Mill Sailing Club, who was our guest at the meeting. To view the award winning photographs go to the RHYC website. We have used several of the winning entries to illustrate the latest Newsletter, and others will appear in subsequent issues.

  Early Morning     Barrett Hart Photo Competition: Overall Winner:

Prize Winners

The March Issue of Cruising Magazine, due out very soon, will feature the winning shots. The display in the RHYC clubhouse attracted great interest throughout the following week. There are one or two lessons for the organisers to learn, but the success of the event has encouraged us to plan a repeat in 2011.

PYROTECHNICS           21 February 2010

A large number of CA and RHYC members gathered on a Sunday morning to listen to Terry Corner, who is very actively involved with both the RNLI and the RYA, talk about pyrotechnics and other safety equipment for boating. Cost and Health and Safety issues prevent the live demonstration of flares these days. However, Terry was able to show and pass round the audience examples of the different types of flares and position locating beacons and illustrate how they are activated. Bram van der Have had kindly arranged to collect out of date flares and transport them to the Thames Coastguard site at Walton-on-the Naze. He has provided the following analysis: “You may be interested to know that today we collected 143 pyrotechnics for onward delivery to the Coast Guard and ultimately for disposal.  I counted 46 people at the talk, but with a significant number being husband and wife, then I estimate there were 25 to 30 boats represented, say on average 5.3 flares per boat handed in!  Expiry dates of the flares were from 1991 to 2009, with 76 being from 2006 and younger i.e. expired 4 years or less. It shows how many of us keep flares which are well past their expiry date and to the point where experts tell us they are potentially dangerous.” In the course of Terry’s presentation it was apparent the question of disposal of out of date flares has been (is) subject to a certain amount of a buck passing between the various arms of government concerned, including the Army and Navy, who considered such flares to be too dangerous to carry in their vehicles!

The information below is taken from the RYA website:

The Coastguard arrangements for the disposal of out of date flares are in the process of changing. A new contact is in place for this service which is being phased in between December 2009 and March 2010. From 1 April 2010 the collection and disposal service will have transferred from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to Ramora UK Ltd of Portsmouth, which will operate the collection and disposals service from 18 MCA locations. The 18 locations selected by the MCA are well spread across the country and have been selected as they are reasonably accessible. They should therefore meet the majority of the public demand. Not all of these sites are manned 24 hours a day, but full details of locations, contact details and opening times can be confirmed on the MCA web-site www.mcga.gov.uk.  The sites include the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres at Walton-on-the Naze – telephone in advance to confirm that they have sufficient temporary storage space available. (Tel: 01255 675518). During the transition period of January and March 2010, reference should be made to the MCA web-site for the latest information on how to arrange to deposit out of date flares.

With only 60 out of 9000 RNLI call outs in 2009 being initiated by the sighting of a flare it may be that the need for a large arsenal on board most cruising yachts will diminish over the years, to be replaced by a combination of DCS VHF radio and a set of mini-flares for location by the Search and Rescue teams over the “last mile”.

Historic Harwich             24 February 2010          

Left: The Pier Hotel, an early RHYC meeting point Twenty-two of us gathered outside The Pier Hotel, on Harwich Quay for a conducted walk around Historic Harwich on a day which, although continuing the winter weather and providing a shower of rain, did manage to give us a brief glimpse of almost warm sunshine. Our guide was Brian Woods, who is an experienced local historian. Two themes were followed:   

“The Changing Scene” – with Harwich’s history stretching back many centuries there was plenty to look at, including a Tudor hall house, the house that may (or may not) have been the home of the Captain of the Mayfair and innumerable present and former pubs. We heard of the coming of the railway and the effect that it had on the town, the origin of some rather regrettable municipal developments, the brutalist Trinity House building and plans for the future of the waterfront. Our second theme was “A quest for the Royal Harwich Yacht Club”. In its early days the Club seemed to pursue a rather peripatetic existence, meeting in most of the hotels in the town from time to time. Despite the combined efforts of Brian and the Club Archivist Bruce Moss, who had organised the event, no very firm conclusion was reached regarding the site of the Club’s first permanent home, the favourite area now being occupied by a rather unprepossessing brick storeroom.

Right: The Former Great Eastern Hotel, another early RHYC meeting point.

SAILING TO IRELAND    27 February 2010

Jill Trew is the chair of the CA’s Sections committee and puts in an enormous amount of work to help the local Sections. She has also developed the practice of “Slow Sailing” to a fine art. In essence, this is the philosophy the “Sailing should be Fun”, and that being cold, wet, frightened or seasick is not fun and should be avoided if at all possible. Jill expounded this theory to us as put into practice during two cruises to the South West of Ireland, illustrated with some wonderful photographs. She gave us a wealth of useful pilotage information on many delightful anchorages, inlets and intricate passages. The further west she and Frank went in Den Njord (the Norse sea god) the better the cruising became.

EAST COAST RIVERS   7 March 2010
Chris Woods publishes the invaluable leaflets on the Rivers Ore and Deben, and also the Walton Backwaters These contain aerial photographs as well as chartlets of the entrances and rivers. He told us about how he conducts the surveying process from a small boat using a portable GPS linked to an echo sounder, and how he lands on the shingle banks to walk round the shorelines to determine their exact position. Many at the meeting have years of local knowledge and joined in lively speculation with Chris on likely future changes to the bars. The 3D representations of the River Deben entrance were most illuminating. Chris also showed us aerial photographs to illustrate the changes which have occurred and explained the problems of obtaining clear photographs at Low water Springs, due to the unsocial hours that these usually occur on the east Coast. On a serious note, we were reminded how quickly the entrances to the Rivers Deben and Alde can change, especially after an onshore gale. Although the printed chartets are based on spring surveys, early in the season, it is important to check the latest information on Chris’s website: www.eastcoastrivers.com for the latest update. Chris hopes to have completed a new survey of the River Deben entrance by the time that this Newsletter is published – check and see.

With the Spring and Summer seasons fast approaching, get truly prepared with the RYA theory courses offered at CA house. See below for details:

COURSE PROGRAMME SPRING 2010  

Yachtmaster Offshore (Intensive) YM/2Dates & Time: February 6^th/7^th, 20^th/21^st, 27^th/28^th (3 weekends) 09.30 – 18.30 Cost: Members £265 Non-members £310 

Yachtmaster Ocean (Intensive) YMO/1Dates & Time: March 13^th/14^th, 27^th/28^th, April 10^th/11^th (3 weekends) 09.30 – 18.30Cost: Members £265 Non-members: £310  

Two Day Shorebased First Aid SFA/2Date & Time: 20/21 March (Saturday & Sunday) 09.30 – 17.30Cost: Members £100 Non-Members £118 

Diesel Engine DE/2 or DE/3Dates & Time: 20^th March (DE/2) OR 24^th April (DE/3) 10.00 – 17.00Cost: Members £90 Non-Members £105 

Marine Radio MR/3 17^th April  09.30 – 17.30Cost: Members £95 Non-Members £112 

Radar RDR/2 (fully booked)

Dayskipper, Sea Survival  and many more courses will also be available in the autumn. To apply for a course, contact the office or fill in the form attached and return to CA House.  

Courses by arrangement:If there is a course you need that is not listed here, tell us and we may be able to arrange it for you and your group, subject to availability. Want to do a course in your area? Let us know where you are and we can help you find something suitable for you.

Materials:All training materials are included in the course fee except for: Yachtmaster & Dayskipper for which you need a course plotter and divider (these are available to purchase from CA.)Also for Sea Survival you will need your own foul weather gear and anything required for a visit to the pool. 

Refreshments: Refreshments are not included in the course fees except for those attending the Shorebased First Aid course includes Tea & coffee and the Sea Survival includes refreshments and a suitable meal prior to the visit to the pool.  

Cancellation Policy:A full refund will be given if places are cancelled by the applicant up to one month prior to the course start date. If cancelled within a month, a 10% cancellation fee will be incurred. If places are cancelled within 14 days of the start of the course, there will be no refund of fees paid. In the unlikely event that courses are cancelled by the Cruising Association, a full refund will apply.

The Cruising Almanac 2009-10 comes with two year's worth of tide tables. If you bought your Almanac in 2009 and would like to claim a set of 2010 tide tables, please tear out the LAST PAGE of the Almanac, which has on it a form to claim the tide tables with.

 Please send this form DIRECTLY TO IMRAY at the address provided in order to claim your tide tables. Do NOT send the form to CA House, as you will not receive your tide tables.

 If you have bought the 2009-2010 Almanac this year, and so already have your 2010 tide tables, you can use the form in the back of the Almanac to claim 2011 tide tables next year.

 The address to send the claim form to is as follows:

 Imray, Norie and Wilson Ltd

Wych House

The Broadway, St Ives

Cambridgshire, PE27 5BT

England

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Our in-house magazine, CRUISING, is published four times a year. It is supplied free to members, and is not available to the general public. CRUISING includes news and features on all aspects of cruising under sail or power, as well as covering he activities and work of the Cruising Association's various groups and committees. It is pulished in full colour and is also posted on the members only section of this website.

The editor, Fred Barter always welcomes submissions for consideration. He can be contacted on 01932 242436.

A sample issue can be inspected online.

Members (only) can download the latest issues.

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Looking to Sail?

Fancy a trip on a Motor Boat?

Or just in need of crew?

The CA Cruising Service can help!

Crew Seeking Skippers

• Everyone over the age of 18 welcome
• New to sailing? Give it a try – novices welcome
• Gain experience under sail or power

Skippers seeking crew

• Open to members of the CA only

Sail further, share watches, lighten the load

With details of crewing service members always on-line you are no longer limited by the lack of crew or boat – have fun, meet great people and discover the pleasure of sharing life aboard.

Meet before you cruise!

The Crewing Service holds informal meetings from February to May at CA House on the 1st Thursday of each month starting at 1900 – where you can enjoy a meal,a drink and excellent company. In addition you can explore the CA library with its superb cruise planning facilities.

How the service operates

• Membership of the Crewing service is for one year from the date of joining (for non-CA members).
• During the season you are required to update your records every three months, either online or by contacting CA House, to remain on the list.
• Skipper and Crew details can be accessed and printed out from your own computer using MyCA, the CA members' users area.
• The service is not for those seeking paid work of any kind or for skippers running charters.
• Please read the Advice Notes fpr skippers and crew.

Cost:

• Free to CA members, skippers and crew

Non-members – Crew only

• Annual cost £20
• Couples at the same address who want to crew together – £30 for their first year only.

If you decide to join the Cruising Association, the relevant Crewing Service fee will be deducted from your first year's membership.

For more details contact the Secretariat on 020 7537 2828 or email us (select Crewing Service on the contact form).

How to apply

CA Members should fill in the Skipper or Crew Details forms following the instructions.