HELLO EVERYONE,My name is Greg Dunn, and I

have taken over the helm of Windwardas editor. I am delighted to have beenable to take up this challenge, as I am aproud son of Tollesbury, and am finallyable to give something back to thevillage that shaped me.

My involvement with Tollesburystarted 9 years before I did, when myparents, Gerald and Maureen (knownuniversally in her latter years as‘Minnie’) Dunn, bought Great DownsFarm from Major MacMullen in 1950.Not only did the farm include thehouse and land at the bottom of StationRoad, but also Woodrolfe Farm,including the land that is now partiallycovered by the marina, so had lifeplayed out differently, I could haveended up editing the newsletter fromthe Cruising Club! Major MacMullenwas a principal founding member andfirst Commodore (see TSC Historyarticle) of Tollesbury Sailing Club, 75years ago this year, and he built manyfamous (and extreme) sailing dinghiesat Great Downs, including the Rocketand the Doodlebug.

So, being lucky enough to be bornat Great Downs, it portended well thatI should have a life-long associationwith TSC. I became a junior member of

the Club in the early 70s, but lapsed asI moved away to work on the Thamesbarges and then Prior’s sand barges(yes, Gooffie!) and then on toagricultural college in Nottingham.Since then, I have lived in Kent,Leicester, Somerset, Hull and latterlymoved to the dark side, that islandthree miles to your east. I’ll tell youwhy, if you buy me a beer sometime!

Whilst living away, I returned toTollesbury and Great Downs on aregular basis, never more than a monthbetween visits, and always kept myboat, the Natterjack, down the creek. Irejoined the Club in the 90s, justifyingthe annual membership cost bydrinking more Guinness at club prices!Sadly, when my father died, in 2002, wehad to sell Great Downs, so I needed abase in Tollesbury; enter the infamous‘Tollesbury Hilton’! I bought a 24' steelDutch sloop (a Wibo 2) off eBay for£205, laying in Faversham. David andMickey Weller towed me back acrossthe Estuary on the coldest day of 2003(February 15th, I and the Wellers willnever forget it!) and it has stood inMouse’s yard since and done sterlingservice as my second home.

That’s more than enough history,back to editing. What we are hoping todo is publish ‘Windward’ on a twice-

yearly basis, this May issue, anticipatingthe coming season, and an autumnissue, revisiting what went right, whatwent wrong and the if onlys. I havebeen well-supported for my first three-line whip, with some good reads fromEl Presidente, El Commodore, RonLaurie, Scott Edwards, Robert Laurie,Billy Whizz, Roger Palmer and Kim ‘NoTilt’ Stephenson, my thanks to all thesefor providing copy withoutthumbscrews. My greatest thanks go toAlex Saward, in anticipation, as Alexhas produced these pages, done thelayout and got it printed, by far thehardest task of creating ‘Windward’.

So please, if you would like tosubmit an article connected with theClub, sailing, cruising, racing or justplain messing about in boats, or even aletter, send it me at gdpdunn @hotmail.com (but remove the spaceseither side of @; writing it thusprevents webcrawlers harvesting myaddress and deluging me with yet moreoffers of Nigerian fortunes, Thai bridesor todger tablets) and it’ll go in, thelaws of the land notwithstanding. If youdon’t do email, please hand your copyto Maz in the Club.

Happy sailing, all!Greg Dunn – Editor

WINDWARDTHE NEWSLETTER OF THE TOLLESBURY SAILING CLUB MAY 2011

Sailing Clubeditor foundsafe & well!

Welcome to this spring edition of“Windward” and thank you very muchGreg for volunteering for the editorposition and making this edition happen.

As I am writing this I am sitting inthe cockpit of Colette in beautiful April(yes, April!) warm sunshine which hasnow lasted for almost two weeks. Justhope this lovely weather is going to last orat least come back when the summer issupposed to be upon us. It would not bethe first time that we had a great springand a decidedly iffy summer season...

Alex Saward has designed the newclub logo to commemorate the 75thanniversary and we are looking into thepossibility of getting badges made for themembers to sew on clothing etc. The logowill be used on badges, clothing andletterheads but not replace the stags-head-only logo on pennants, burgees and ties.Next year the ’75 years’ will be removedand the logo will continue to be used.

The celebrate the anniversary we

will organise one water basedevent, probably a BBQ onOsea Island and one land

based event, probably a BBQ in the carpark. More detail to follow through theusual channels.

There is a great buzz around theClub with cruisers in the last stages offitting out, the dinghies having run thefirst few races of the season, the cadetssprucing up their fleet and everybodyenjoying the great weather. The ladies’changing room extension is coming alonggreat and on track with the completiontarget date of mid May. The new extensionis now showing up the tiredness of therest of the facility. In the interest of time(and money!) some repairs will be doneon a temporary basis with morepermanent improvements to be madeafter the season.

Most of you know that Maz Barnes,our bar steward, is cooking lovely andpopular food almost every Friday and alsoorganises some functions such as theMurder Mystery Night and the upcoming

Las Vegas Night. Not all of you know thatthe Club gets commission on the Fridayfood or that Maz also makes a donation tothe Club on the income from thefunctions. This gives the Club an extraincome of hundreds of pounds a year, notto mention the income from the increasedbar sales, so well done Maz and pleasekeep-on-cooking!

As usual there will be posters in theClub house and around the village toadvertise the activities and of course thereare always the emailed ‘Signals’ to keepyou up-to-date. If you don’t get them yet,you can subscribe to the Signals on theweb site www.tollesburysc.co.uk

All of us are looking forward to theseason to start in earnest and to theClub’s ‘flag ship’ events such as the GP14Open, Cadet Week, Wallet Shield, Smack& Classics Race, Anniversary Celebrationsso let’s hope for fair weather for all ofthem! Happy sailing....Kees Spitters Commodore, Tollesbury Sailing Club

Commodore’s Corner

A few years ago, when I held the office of Rear-Commodore, I had occasion to compile a listof the Club’s trophies whilst preparing for thepresentations at the Laying Up Supper.

With having nearly all the trophies inmy possession for a short while I set aboutrecording the information inscribed on eachtrophy, as well as photographing each one forpossible insurance purposes.

This task took me to further explore theorigins of some of these trophies. Fortunately,in addition to the donor, the year ofpresentation to the first winner has helped toidentify the date of origin.

The earliest trophies, being the TedHeard Challenge Cup and the West Cup, datefrom 1938. However, the first inscribedwinner of the Ted Heard Challenge Cup isfrom 1946, being R. Pewter in “Colleen”. TheWest Cup is clearly showing as presented tothe Club in 1938 but the first name inscribedis from 1939, being J. Lewis in “Ranger”.

In my opinion, the most elaboratetrophy is the Ocean Maid trophy, dating from1955. It is made from hallmarked silver,weighing 31½ ozs and was valued in 1981 at£800 (insured 1982 at £925). Coming a closesecond is the E.W. Gurton Memorial Cupdating from 1946. Also made fromhallmarked silver, weighing 27½ ozs andvalued at £700 in 1981 (insured 1982 at£790).

Currently there are 40 trophiesrecorded in the Club’s records. This number

has grown from the 23 that wereincluded in the insuranceschedule for 1982, with a totalvalue of £5000.

A “P.S. Taylor” working as goldsmithand jeweller, at “Edward P. Mayell” ofWestcliff-on-Sea, made a valuation of the 9silver trophies in 1981 at £2600. Within theClub’s records is a copy letter dated 12thDecember 1984, that reads as follows:

“Dear Mr TaylorIt is my pleasure to be writing to you on

behalf of Tollesbury Sailing Club.The committee were shown by our

Sailing Secretary Mr Adrian Thacker onMonday the very splendid trophy cup youhave presented to us. This came as a verygreat surprise to us all, and all the morepleasant for that.

We have not decided yet if it is to beawarded for a dinghy race or a cruiser event,and of course there is keen competitionbetween the two factions as to which it should be.

We understand that you will shortly beretiring from active business, all our dealingswith you have been very good ones, we shallmiss your efficient and helpful service. Wehope that your retirement will be long,healthy, and very happy.

All our good wishesYours sincerely on behalf of TSC

Committee and MembersM.W. Vinnicombe Hon. Sec.”By simple reasoning (for I am but a

simple person!), I deduce this trophy to be theMayell Cup, first presented in 1985 to R. Chalk in “Lady Verl”.

In 2004 I was presented with the“Mystery Plate” for winning the dinghySummer Points series. This large trophymeasures approximately 13/14 inches (I don’tdo metric!) in diameter. The words “MysteryPlate” are inscribed on the face, with winners’names and dates inscribed on the reverse.There are no other clues as to its origin.

Looking through some old records Icame across a copy letter dated 28th May1981, addressed to S. Harris, Esq. of Old HallLane, Tolleshunt Darcy, Essex, with thefollowing text:

“Dear SouterI am writing on behalf of the Committee

and Club to thank you for your most generousgift of a silver tray to be competed for bytraditional clinker boats. The trophy is a thingof beauty and a joy forever which is greatlyappreciated.

Yours sincerelyM.M. Gibson, Hon. Secretary”The first winner’s inscription is “1981

S. Harris Mystery”.Souter Harris was a club member from

1979 to 2007.Mystery now solved!!I would be very interested to receive any

information relating to any of the trophies thatthe Club has in its possession. It is knownthat much of the old club records have beenlost or destroyed, and now that we 75 yearsold it would be right and just to ensure thatthe history is recorded for those that comeafter us. If you have any records, recollections,anecdotes, etc., I would be most willing toformulate an archive for the Club.Ron Laurie

The Club Trophies

Thank you to all those that helped on the day, the support of thecadet parents was greatly appreciated.

Many of the 22 competitors at Tollesbury found theconditions quite a challenge! With the wind gusting to 25 knots,the beats were certainly hard work. However, the long reach fromthe windward mark was superb for those crews with enough bulkto fly their spinnakers. Race Officer Derek Burchell had to set thebeat across the strong tide and cleverly offset the windward markto allow for this. The line bias seemed to favour the pin end, butnevertheless there was a lot of bunching at the committee boat anda few collisions did occur.

Richard Lord and Norman Brown from Seahorse SC gave theirusual faultless display in all 3 races. Competition was much closerfor the lesser places. James Ward and Richard Whitehill wereimpressive in 2nd place and as a result of them overtaking theBeharrells right at the end of the final race, Ben Kaplan and RobertoSerra claimed 3rd place on count back. Steve Corbet and SteveBrowne finished 6th and won the Prize for Series 1 boats in spiteof breaking their jib halyard in race 3.

The youngest helm was Annabel Jones-Laurie, crewed by hergrandfather, who finished in 10th place, which was an excellentperformance in these conditions. After about 3 hours on the waterand having shortened the final race out to the main Blackwaterestuary to a single lap, the fleet returned to the club for some food.

Scott Edwards

It’s good to know that the Good Ship‘Windward’ is afloat once again. The newskipper, Greg Dunn, is to be commended,and thanked, for being responsible for there-launch, and I wish him all the best ashe steers a tricky course in the search for‘Copy’, the life-blood of any publication.

I have known Greg for many years,as have many of you. He is a man of manytalents and I am sure he will do hisutmost to make this re-launch asuccess, which will be difficultwithout our help, so I urge youbudding journalists to come up withthe necessary stories, reports,‘calamitous incidents’ while sailingor fitting out, views on anything‘sailing’ or the strange people youhave encountered during any of theabove. Greg will be most grateful foranything useful and readable.

Good to report that the Clubis functioning very well at present,thanks to all who give of their timeto make it so. We have enjoyedsome good social evenings andinteresting talks during the winter

months (thanks Garry), the last eventbeing the Fitting Out Supper, for whichwe thank Jill Atkins, our Chief Cook andBottle Washer, for the night, plus all herwilling (?) helpers and advisors!

Friday night has become ‘NoshNight’. Maz, our very able Steward, hasbrought this to a new level of excellence,with wonderful, reasonably priced meals,

served well in a very friendly atmosphere,and I take this opportunity to assure somecynics that the agreed percentage of whatsmall profit she makes does go into theClub coffers. Dave tends the bar very wellwhile Maz is otherwise engaged and theFriday night bar takings have increasedprofoundly.

The sailing season has started wellwith some agreeable weather, let’s hope itcontinues. The rescue craft are all in goodshape, ready to perform their ongoing

duties, including during the GP14Open Meeting this year. For thatevent, efforts are being made togive the female crews betterfacilities than previously. Morethanks to all those who crew andmaintain our rescue craft allseason, we could not functionwithout you.

This has been a hurried fewlines as Greg is anxious to get AlexSaward operational once more. Gofor it, Alex! I wish you all goodthings for the season, andthereafter.

Graham ElcockPresident – Tollesbury Sailing Club

Letter addressed to M. Bell, Esq., Hon. Secretary, TollesburySailing Club, dated 20th November 1974

The narrative read as follows;-THE ORIGIN OF TOLLESBURY SAILING CLUBIn 1936 a meeting of interested parties was called at Mr. Jim

Chaney’s electrical shop at 8 High Street, Major McMullen wasappointed President, Capt. Sam Heard (father of Frank Heard) waselected Commodore and Walter Bibby, owner of “Firefly” one ofthe first 18 footers, was nominated Secretary, but owing to hisabsence at college, Norman Brand acted in that capacity for theinterim period. The list of founder members was most impressive,including among many others, the names of the Countess de laChapelle, Edgar Heard (brother of Sam), also Capt. Ned Heard of“Endeavour” fame.

The newly formed Club was unique inasmuch as the greaterparts of its members were professional yachtsmen or fishermen.The annual subscription was agreed at 2s/6d per annum and theemblem of a “Stags Head” was adopted as the Club’s badge, thusensured the continuity of the crest previously used by the old-timeTollesbury Regatta of pre Great War days.

Permission was obtained for the erection of a “starter’s hut”on the saltings near the Gridiron at Rickett’s Hard, and was readilygranted by the Tollesbury Yacht Berthing Company. Races becamea regular weekend activity. From the start the Club was recognisedby the old established Clubs of the Colne and Blackwater, also the

Y.R.A., now the R.Y.A. Mr. T.O.M. Sopwith (laterSir Thomas) donated a handsome silver trophy;local firms and members followed suit; and the

Club today possesses a valuable and handsome array oftrophies for all races.

The Club prospered and under the able and strictguidance of its Commodore, and the valuable andmeticulous care of the Secretary, Walter Bibby, became aninstitution to be reckoned with in sailing on local waters. Itis stated that some of the fishermen members were so keen,that after spending a week or so on the “Cant” off Sheppey;they would return to Woodrolfe but before proceedinghome would launch their craft for a trial spin.

Alas by the end of autumn 1939 there was acurtailment of activities. Peter and Hubert Heard wererecalled to the Royal Navy Reserve, as was also FrankPettican. Frank lost his life with two other Tollesbury menin the armed merchant cruiser “Rawalpindi”; Hubert waslost in the “Jervis Bay” and Peter suffered a similar fate ina R.N. trawler. Hubert and Peter had been two of thekeenest members of the Club.

By 1946 most of the surviving younger members ofthe Club had been demobilised and activities were re-started. An old paint shop and boatshed together with aportion of the Little Marsh were purchased and with theable and willing help of members was established as theheadquarters of the Tollesbury Sailing Club. TheCountess de la Chapelle, who for many years hadresided and taken a great interest in the village, donateda magnificent Stag’s Head mounted on a plaque andother items of club furniture.

Membership of the Club widened and embracedmany in surrounding parishes in all walks of life. Thenew incumbent, Rev. Leigh B. McCarthy recentlydemobilised from the Forces, took up sailing in hisleisure, and several yacht masters also plied their skills,notably Capt. William Drake Frost in “Agatha” andCapt. George Brand. Under the auspices of the Clubthe ancient ceremony of “Gooseberry Pie” festivitieson St. Peter’s Day, linked with the annual fair, and

visits by Brightlingsea and West Mersea sailing club members wererevived, and the first Fishermen’s Service was held at Rickett’s Hard,later to be held in the Parish Church. With the decline of fishing inthis locality these services were discontinued, but seafarer’s servicesare held periodically at the parish church usually supported by achaplain from the Missions to Seamen.

Over the years changes in the hierarchy of the Club inevitablytook place, but tribute should be paid to those who played such agreat part in the establishment of the Club, principally MajorKenrick McMullen, Sam and Edgar Heard, Walter Bibby, SydHarrington, Charles Pewter, B.E. Wilkinson, Dr. G. James, NedHeard, Derek Leavett, Dick Frost, Jack Farthing, Laurie Hardy-King,Capt. Nelson Rice, and many others too numerous to mention.

Today sees the Club on the threshold of a new era, instead ofhandicap classes with the exception of the “cruiser class”, there arethe three recognised classes of “Flying Dutchman”, “Fireball” and“Enterprise”, also efforts to construct a new Headquarters more inkeeping with similar sailing clubs. In these projects the Club is ablydirected by Capt. Lance Hill, Commodore, and an enthusiastic andcapable band of helpers on the various committees.

It is regrettable that over the years old records of the Clubhave been lost, and the writer of the foregoing narrative apologisesfor any omissions.Douglas J. GurtonNovember 1974

The Presidential Address Tollesbury Sailing Club – Origins

Tollesbury Open – 11th September 2010

“Dear Michael

Sometime ago I was asked to set do

wn the

history of the Tollesbury Sailing

Club, but

as you know the old records of the

Club have

been lost over the years, and memo

ries have

had to suffice.

However, I have received valued in

formation

from Walter Bibby, Reg Pewter and

Sid Frost,

and have been able to produce the

enclosed

narrative of the origin of the clu

b, not to

be confused with a “history” as I

realise

there are a number of omissions.

From my records it would appear th

at the

following were respectively Commod

ores of

the Club from its inception:-

1936 Samuel Heard

1946 Edgar Heard

1950 Charles Pewter

1957 Sydney Harrington

1968 Walter Bibby

1970 John K. Locke

1973 Capt. Lance Hill

The Commodores served for a number

of years,

but there may be omissions in the

above.

Signed (Douglas J. Gurton)“

I had looked at a few, one had been sunk,another had had so much stuff added andtaken away that there was not a lot oforiginal boat left. One gentleman purchasedfrom new and now considered himself tooold to sail, so was buying a motor boat. Itwas this boat that I eventually agreed tolook after for posterity, and parted with vastsums of cash for the privilege. Noss Mayo(down Plymouth way) was the location ofthis fine example of a Fairways Fisher 25,ketch-rigged with small sails and a heavy,robust hull and a shed sorry, wheelhouse.

I borrowed the work’s Volvo estateand loaded gear. Extra anchors, rope, sparesails, fire extinguishers, starting batteries,water and food, to name but some. Alongwith the gear, two crew were loaded along,with a driver to bring the car back. So, onedark February night, after work, the four ofus set off for the ferry pontoon under theYealm hotel. Typically, the M25 and roadswest were busy and the winterish weatherwas wet and cold.

The long drive left me tired before I’deven organised the crew to unload the gear.The idea was to leave two to unload, andme and James to inflate the dinghy and findTutak and bring her back to the ferrylanding for loading. I had only been twicebefore, both in daylight. Now it was black,very black, in between the sides of theravine but we found the rotund form of theFisher eventually. It was one of the lastmoorings before the bar and sea and, withJames as look out on the bow, I fired up theengine to return for the Hotel landing. Mostof the moorings had been vacated for thewinter and little was there to show us theway, except for a port hand mark whichsadly appeared to starboard, which Jamesspotted as we felt the bottom of the sandbar off Warren point. We were going to bethere for a while until the tide returned tolift us off, so we put the anchor out andreturned cap in hand to the others.

In order to facilitate the transfer of themountain of gear on the landing to theboat, we conscripted one of the tenders thatwere tied up. With three in the smallinflatable and James on the heap of gear inthe tender, we set off again for Tutak. Poorloading made the towed boat veeralarmingly but the water was calm and welost no gear or crew. Tutak was alreadystarting to swing to her anchor as weswarmed over the sides like a “cutting out”party. All of a sudden, there was a pop,closely followed by a loud hiss. Barry, in theinflatable, started flinging gear into thecockpit like a man possessed. Alan was

salvaging as much gear as possible beforethe craft foundered. The only person doingnothing during the panic was James whostood motionless in the rigging of themizzen mast. With the boats empty and stillafloat it soon dawned that the hiss was notthe compromised tubes of the inflatable butthe life-jacketed James. He was pinnedquite firmly with his body and inflatedjacket on opposite sides of the wire, thefiring lanyard having caught on something,leaving him pinned in the mizzen lowers.

Keen to take what was left of the eastgoing tide, we were now rather late, Jamestook Barry and the borrowed tender backto the landing whilst Alan and I made ready,well, sort of. When James returned, welifted the outboard aboard and double linedthe tow, and weighed anchor. Frombetween the steep sides of the river Yealm,the bar opened out somewhat and gavelight from the stars for the bar. Avoiding therocks and shallows, Tutak felt her way intothe deep water and took the east going tidetowards her new home. Once enough offinghad been made to avoid the dangers offPrawle Point the course was set eastwardsand I turned in, slaughtered after the hassleof grounding the boat in the first fewminutes and the drive down.

I left word for the crew to wake me atsix in the morning. I woke to one of thecrew retching into my favourite bucket, nota pleasant first sight of the day. Greeting thecrew I said “first one, eh?” “No” was thereply, as the other crew rushed out of thewheelhouse to prostrate his body over thelee rail. Puke, an empty stomach and stillpretty tired, despite a few hours sleep, Iwoke up not feeling too well myself. By midmorning, one crew was dehydrated andvery ill and confined to quarters, the otherwas getting on that way, leaving me to steerclutching my (now cleaned) favouritebucket. I began to wonder if this was theboat for me with its rather rolly hull form. Ihad taken off my nice watch and put it toone side so it didn’t scratch me as I wipedmy forehead dry from beads of sweat. Wewere well offshore, in the middle of LymeBay with a gale up the chuff. Tutak wasmisbehaving like trawlers do, heave up toport, whip roll to starboard and drop like astone leaving your stomach in the lastcentury it you’re lucky. The long threemetre swell made me feel very ill but I hadno choice but to carry on as I was on myown. One particular wave caught me up-chucking whilst trying to broach me. Outof the corner of my eye I noticed my (lovely)watch bounce off the ledge and fall below,

strangely into the sick bucket of thecomatose crew in the quarter berth. “I willsort that out later” I said, making a mentalnote to sift the carrots for the sunken watch(that does sound like an ‘off watch’! – ed)

I was on course for the Bill ofPortland, laying well offshore to avoid theoverfalls. I was in no state to work out tidesor strategies for rounding close inshore toavoid the race. I went round the bank andheaded back northwest for Weymouthtaking hours longer than I should.Amazingly, upon reaching the breakwatersof the harbour the crew suddenly, as thoughredeemed, made a recovery. By the time thetown quay was reached both of them wererunning about with fenders and warps asthough nothing had happened. After I hadplacated the harbour master with wads ofcash, I enquired after the sick bucket withmy watch in it. “Oh, I emptied that whenwe entered the harbour,” a sad loss. Inreality, one of the crew was sent home onthe train, he was really too weakened by theexperience, despite having recentlyreturned from Iceland on an Open 60racing yacht. The other one was consideredto have some use, being younger andplumper.

After some food and a short rest,Weymouth receded into the distance andthe outside of the Isle of Wight was layed,Dungeness passed along with the NorthForeland. It was dark by the time Tutakreached the Outer Fisherman’s in theThames Estuary. The wind had gone roundto the Northeast and was puffing a bit. Icouldn’t get a bearing on the buoy, oneminute it was ahead and the next it wasalmost behind. Totally confused I decidedto call it a day and run back to Ramsgate.The shallow water of the estuary waskicking up some nasty little seas. Out of thecorner of my eye, I could see the 6kg drypowder fire extinguisher break loose fromits bracket and roll about the saloon floor. Iwas making a 180 degree turn in awkwardwaters and could do nothing to sort it out.In a flash there was a crack and a fizzfollowed by mist. Realising what hadhappened, I rushed below to capture therecalcitrant extinguisher. Once caught, Irushed up the companionway and tried toopen the wheelhouse door. For somereason, this was jammed, the white powdercontinued to gush forth. James, asleep inthe quarter berth, thinking the boat wasafire, exited with remarkable dexterity for aplump bloke. I breached the wheelhousedoor and deep-sixed the cylinder, despitethe monetary cost.

Just before dawn, exhausted and veryhungry, Ramsgate Port Control wascontacted. “Enter” they said, so I entereduntil a darkness, blacker than the night we

Tutak Comes Homewere in, enveloped us. I crashed toemergency astern and held off, not knowingwhat was going on. The shore lights hasdisrupted any sense I may have had left, Ihad nearly hit the outer mole. Not wishingto try again in my hallucinogenic state, Icalled up and said I would hold off fordaybreak. Dawn saw us into the harbour fora welcome slumber before we set off in a fitstate on the next tide for the estuarycrossing and a home berth.

Extract from “Bill and Doug’s most excellentadventures”Bothy Press.©Bill Brannan 2010.

Why a tri? – ‘cos my tea will sit level whenI tack!

That’s probably the only logicalexplanation I can give when people ask meabout the boat at the Club bar. As a fewpeople know (actually, anyone who isstupid enough to ask), I bought a wreck ofa multihull in August 2009 and at the time,I had a lot of helpful advice:-

“a match and a gallon of petrol”“what’s she called -----Sponge BoB?” “wouldn’t the Pilot Jack be easier?”Well as time has gone on, attitudes

have changed from “Can I help you burnit?” to “If you need a hand, just call” to now“I would love to come for a sail!”

I suppose looking back at thepictures, I can now see what other peoplecould see, but being pig-headed andskint, I bought a mast, boom, ashape and a lot of compost. She wasfloating in the creek more by habitthan anything solid.

Well, she is not as classic likeCharlotte Ellen, but she does have apedigree of sorts; she is a Hartlydesign Lively 28 plywood trimaranand was the first multihull design tocircumnavigate Australia. Monksfoot(that’s the name carved into thetiller) was built in the docks atTilbury in 1970 and finished in1971. She was then sold in 1972 tosomeone I know from Bradwell. Shedid the Round the Isle of Wight in1974 then sold in about 1982 andhad a succession of owners, whomanaged to bolt on more metal thancan be seen at a gothic wedding.

She turned up in the creek 6years ago and sat there waiting for

the owners to rebuild her as they wanted to.Like a lot of things, this never came aboutuntil I managed to contact the owners andbought her for the scrap value of themetalwork. Well, 20 months later andhaving replaced approx 75% of theplywood, I have hopefully given this oldlady a new lease of life.

OK, let’s get things straight, she is anold design, which means she is a deep vdesign. This means her wetted area is quitehigh so in light weather she will suffer. Shedoesn’t have dagger boards, so again lot ofwetted area, so NO she won’t be that fast,just comfortable cruising UPRIGHT! See------ tea cup remains in place when I tackand the stove does not need gimbals!

Now I can hear you all thinking-“ahhh, but she won’t point. Multihullsdon’t go to windward. They capsize.Dangerous things” – well, you will have to

wait until the next newsletter to read abouther sailing performance as she is now in thewater, but time and the small fact I don’thave proper sails for her (minor point, Iknow) has conspired against me so far.

Some people are suggesting that Ihave a trimaran, as really it’s a mono hullwith training wheels bolted on. Well, whenI get good at this sailing lark (Is this likely?– Ed), I will take them off!!

Last thought, if the UK had beencolonized by the Polynesians, we would allbe sailing multihulls. So just imagine, stoodat the bar of the yacht club with a jug ofmead and one chap says“ Hey guys, I havehad a brilliant idea, let’s take off theoutriggers, and to keep the boat upright, wewill add a huge lump of metal so we leanover and go SLOWER “hmmmmm wonderif that would catch on?Kim Stephenson

Why a tri?

The new logo commemorating Tollesbury Sailing Club’s 75th Anniversary

(see Commodore’s Corner)

Party in the Park 29th April 2011 These days, getting kids away from the TV,

laptops & Facebook or the games consolecan be as hard as removing superglue,especially during a very cold and longwinter; to get them to want to sail duringthis time, well near impossible.

That said, two Tollesbury Cadets havebeen busy sailing and training throughoutlast winter, even during that lovely snowand ice. Surely ‘Child Abuse’ I hear you say– far from it, they did so of their own freechoice, dragging us poor parents away fromthe warmth of bed.

Having competed successfully during2010 at both local and national eventswithin the Topper Class, Richard Bettlesand Annabel Jones-Laurie were bothselected to be members of RYA TopperSquads for 2010/2011. It is this grass rootssquad system, which having been set up forsome years now, is successfully producingsailors who are competing at both nationaland international levels, and ultimatelybecoming world beaters.

Richard joined the Topper openmeeting circuit last year, initially at localclub events in Essex, Suffolk & Norfolk,and from the training he has received viaour own Club’s dedicated Saturday team ofcoaches, he immediately made an impactand gained good results. This led him tobeing selected for the RYA’s Eastern ZoneSquad, the first rung of the squad system.

With his other squad members, they havereceived high level coaching at various clubsacross East Anglia throughout the winter.

Annabel, having competed for anumber of years in both the Oppie andTopper classes, has been part of the squadsystem for a while, and this year wasselected for the RYA’s National YouthSquad. This has allowed her access to topquality coaches, and as a national squadhas meant training during the winter atvarious venues across the UK, including thenew Olympic Sailing Centre in Weymouth.

As well as coaching on boathandling, race techniques, studying thefiner points of the rules, all the Squads arealso taught about mental tactics, fitness and

nutrition, helping them to be athletes aswell as sailors. In addition to sailing, theymake many new friends from differentbackgrounds and places, and being part ofa Squad is a goal for the majority of kidsracing at events on the open meetingcircuit.

Whilst there are plenty of positives forthe kids, for the long suffering parents itdoes involve many weekends away,travelling many miles around the country,and all the expense that involves.Ultimately, you do have a choice on how faryou are prepared to support your child inprogressing with their sailing, and achievingtheir goals.

Having completed a tough winter’straining, both Richard and Annabel havealready started to put their well-practisedskills into action at regional and nationalevents, and competed at a very, very coldDatchet Water in January at the TopperWinter Championships – Annabel finishing61st and Richard 116th in a fleet of 221boats.

So for our GP14 senior citizens, awarning; when these two cadets are wipingthe floor with you in the next club race,now you know why!

There must be some moreundiscovered gems within our Cadet fleet,and if you want to know more about thelocal or national Topper events, or how thesquads system work, have a look at theClass website www.gbrtopper.co.uk or callSally Dugdale, the regional class rep, on07786 085518, or speak to Richard andAnnabel when you next see them at the Club.Robert Laurie

So what didyour kids dolast Winter?

Earlier that day the real breakfasttook place.

Light rain, crack of dawn start(well it felt like it). An armada of threeboats and support vessel headed out toopen sea.

Nerves failed and we turned leftinto Mersea Quarters, breakfastcalling.

No queue at the cafe, no sailingboats to avoid on the water, all peacefulfor a bank holiday. Picture shows ourabsolute pleasure (not sure about thedodgy sunshade though!)

My crew, ‘Irish Dave’ was heard tomutter on the return leg that he“should live here”. He is spot on!

Thanks, Will & Kate, for a RoyalSailing Breakfast.

Brekkers on Mersea hard

TSC cobbled together a dynamicteam of waifs and strays. Most of themdid not turn up, so the likes of Graham,Alex and Roger were press-ganged into give the opposition a chance.

Bloody Hell! We won our openingbout against a Tollesbury ‘fighting’team! Our collective age was too muchfor them to calculate, but years ofhauling mainsheets paid off.

Best of three? 2-0 to TSC!Getting serious now and fresh

blood appeared (see pic) Someweightier members took their chancesbut flip-flops and bad backs were nomatch for heavy booted psyched-upFiremen.

Oh well, at least it was nodisgrace.

The semi-final of the Tug of War against the TollesburyFiremen (eventual winners)

Roger Palmer