Admiral's Club Reports - Burghfield Sailing Club

Moveable Feast 24th July 2010

A great fun Admiral's Club event, really helped by F2-3 westerly winds and plenty of warm sunshine! We started with a briefing at 13.30 then 14 set sail on 11 boats for an hour of free sailing, before landing on One tree island. This had been pre-prepared with an evening of scrub bashing to create a great nettle and weed free central area giving access to two 'landing beaches', each kitted out with carpet for boats to lie on.

Our picknickers were greeted by the shore party who had travelled out on the Pioneer to help them berth, then were delighted to see that the island had also been kitted out with gazebos, parasols, rugs, chairs and picnic table laden with food allowing them to relax and enjoy the savoury part of the picnic.

After 45 minutes or so of socialising on island, the cake course was announced - but there was a twist - it would be on the Pioneer, and that would be moving around the lake! So, the shore crew set people off to sail again then headed out on a cake delivery mission. This was a fantastic opportunity for people to practice their coming alongside and hove to techniques as well as sailing whilst eating chocolate brownies, flapjack and other goodies.

As we had so much cake left over after all had visited the pioneer a few times, it seemed only right to tour the lake offering cake to others out on the water including the rescue boat, one of the BSTC classes and the commodore.

The event was deemed a great success by all who took part, and we were delighted to be able to publicise AC to a few other recreational sailors who we hope to see out on the water with us soon. This was our first Moveable Feast, but we hope it will become a regular feature in AC calendar. Many thanks go to Alison Buchanan; Jasmine, Chloe and Ian Baker who designed the event, and did so much work before and on the day to make it such a great success.

For more pictures, see our Facebook album and click here to see the response we got when we went round the lake delivering cake!

Admirals at Sea: 10th and 11th July 2010

For the second time, a number from Admirals Club and the wider club ventured further afield this summer to spend a weekend sailing at the home to the 2012 Olympics in Portland Harbour. The sun shone, the wind was perfect, the setting and facilities at WPNSA fantastic – allowing 20 sailors from Burghfield to enjoy two days recreational sailing in Weymouth harbour. Thanks to Syd and Alan Beeton and Barry Baillie and the loan of ERIC, we had our own rescue cover on hand. This made all the difference for those of us with less experience of sailing on the sea and their organisation and help was second to none.

Having picked our way through a couple of hundred Toppers who were holding a National event and rigging up at the same time, we started with a briefing at 10.30am. Beribboned with purple streamers so we could be identified, we spent the morning getting used to the enormous sailing area – but never did quite all manage to congregate in the same area as intended! After a welcome lunch we returned to the water with similar boats paired up to give an element of competition and/or mutual support as the inclination took us. Chris and Harry Webb in their RS200 and Trevor Stallwood and Alison Buchanan in a Laser 2000 ventured out of the harbour walls into the wide open waters of Weymouth Bay. Michael Harris and Alastair Gillies sailed in stately manner in their Drascombe Lugger whilst a cluster of Lasers and a Supernova enjoyed racing each other around a triangular course. The remainder of our little flotilla made up of a Wanderer, Wayfarer, Merlin, Enterprise and Pico made the most of the space and near perfect conditions. The only blot on the landscape of a very successful day was that Steven and Andrew Trigg managed to hit what must be the only rock in the harbour and sadly smashed their Vareo’s daggerboard putting an end to their sailing for the weekend. We came off the water around 5pm and after clearing up, spent a very enjoyable evening at The Boat that Rocked restaurant on the quayside.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny and a slightly smaller fleet of sailors this time took to the water around 10.15 – we picked our way over the Toppers again, chatting to a few Burghfield members who were down supporting their family members en-route and headed ‘out to sea’– most of the two handers ventured out of the main harbour for at least part of the morning and the single handers enjoyed more perfect sailing.

All in all, another great weekend at Weymouth, highly recommended for all. Watch this space for next time!

Ducks and Hounds 3rd July 2010

16 AC members made up three teams, each with four boats. Each team had a "duck boat" (two hander) which towed behind it rubber ducks attached using collars with velcro tabs. The aim was for opposing teams to steal one of 5 ducks from the duck boat, whilst avoiding being hit by rubber balls which meant a 360 penalty.

We had a lot of fun, in F2-3 conditions on a bright sunny day, and got to practice close quarters sailing in a friendly environment. Many commented that they were prepared to do manoevres that they would not do under normal circumstances.

Thanks to Andy and Kate Wells for designing and organising an excellent new event - we hope to run it again in future years.

Admirals Club Weymouth Trip July 2009

During the last weekend of July, 23 sailors from Burghfield headed down to the coast to sail at the 2012 Olympic site at Weymouth. For many of the group, a mixture of Admirals club and non Admirals club members, this was their first ever experience of dinghy sailing outside of the relative calm of an inland lake.

We enjoyed plenty of wind and sun, and over the two days got used to the bigger waves and sea spray in our faces – lots of us had to reef our dinghies for the first time ever, whilst others experienced their boats ‘turning turtle’ – not usually a problem for us here at Burghfield! It was however great being able to set a course and sail with consistent winds for much longer distances, and on the Sunday, we set out on a longer trip to explore the boundaries of the huge harbour area. Thankfully, help was generally close at hand from Jeremy and George, in Eric the rib, to deal with the odd broken halyard or booms falling off!

WPNSA facilities were excellent, especially the non stoney launch area, and Sail Laser, from whom some of us chartered Lasers, Picos and Laser 2000s could not have been more helpful. Many of us stayed at Boscowan house, which provided hostel style accommodation near to the sailing facilities and a large group of us enjoyed dinner at one of the new restaurants that is springing up near this great sailing facility.

Many thanks to Nik and Hilary Bratton for their excellent organisation, and to Jeremy and George who gave up their weekend to drive the rib and provide us with safety cover and some structure. It was an excellent weekend that is definitely to be repeated next year, so keep an eye out for the publicity in January 2010 and get your bookings in early!

For photos see here

2009 Treasure Hunt a sell-out!

Thanks again to Nik and Hilary for organising another fantastic start of season Treasure Hunt on 2nd May. We had well over 20 boats competing and the queues to register for the event stretched the whole length of the upstairs bar area of the club house.

This time all boats had to sail to the Oppie pontoon behind pylon island before they could even find out what the treasure hunt was to involve - a challenge for some as the wind dropped quite early in the afternoon. Once at the pontoon, we picked up a copy of the nautical alphabet, in the form of the 'signal flags' and instructions to sail round some bouys and identify a well known BSC Committee member on the way, as well as picking up a few 'treasures' such as mussel shells and stones with holes.

A good number of clever participants worked out that flags on the 9 labelled bouys spelt 'TREASURER' and turned up back at the club house with their treasures in time for the time honoured 4.00 prize giving of chocolates. Some of us were a little slower in getting back to the club (not enough wind!) but had a great sail anyway!

2008 Treasure hunt

At the start of the 2008 season, AC run our second annual Treasure hunt. After a briefing, a good number of crews headed out onto the water armed with a riddle to solve, that suggested they should collect letters from some of the bouys round the lake.

In my boat, after getting R, E, U, C, there was a strong belief that the next letter would mean clue would lead to Rescue 1 (or 2). Unfortunately, an H as the next letter put paid to that.

Faced with REUCHTA, many teams worked out that this led to the RACE HUT. Others just followed the teams in front of them.

Inside the race hut, we were faced with a confusing array of boat bits to identify. I think everyone got "Centreboard", but several others weren't so obvious.

Team members then rushed off to collect a variety of items - stones with holes in, mussel shells, bird feathers, and making a daisy chain.

After a drink or two in the bar, the organisers were left sorting through damp pieces of paper, daisy chains and scribbled descriptions of obscure bits of boat hardware, and determined the winners.

At 4:15 the announcement was made: three teams were equal first, with all items found and all boat bits identified! This meant prizes for the top 3 teams, and chocolate for all the kids - even the grown up kids!

Winners were:

Anna & Douglas Calder
Sarah Thake
Ian, Chloe & Jasmine Baker (for 2nd year running!)

The boat bits were:

1) Double block with swivel and beckett
2) Jib tensioner
3) Pully with jam cleat for kicker
4) Gooseneck
5) Cleat
6) Rowlock
7) Centreboard

Thanks to Nik and Hilary Bratton and the other Admiral's Club members who organised this, and looking forward to future Admirals' club activities - check the calendar.