Good evening everyone
Have you missed my monthly chat?
I wish I could tell you that I’ve had an exciting winter but in reality I’ve spent my time hibernating from the cold or in the pub.
I joined Summer Wine for a sail at the start of the winter series but it was cold and apparently I talked too much haha! Half the crew rocked up late as they had been for bacon sandwiches and they didn’t even bring me one….the cheek!
To warm everyone up before racing Mary Murray provided a coffee at the Rum Shack….word on the street is some of them may have had a wee dram in.
On pancake sunday (yes that’s a thing in my world) there was a pancake flipping competition. Apparently Nik Atkinson is the best pancake flipper…. I could have phrased that differently but I’m keeping it PC.
A word from our new Commodore Mike Bradburn
The AGM in January saw the baton of Commodore pass from Peter Gay to myself so Lynne asked me to write something to introduce myself to those members who don’t know me. Some of you know me through the RYA training, some of you know me through racing (I am usually behind the leaders) and some of you may have spotted me around HY Tyne or on the pontoons.
Before I say anything about me, I must pay tribute to Peter who has steered the club safely and steadily for the last 3 ½ years, and is still there as a source of advice. I must also give my thanks to those past Commodores and the club stalwarts who are always there for advice and to provide the history behind past decisions.
Compared to many in the club, I am a relative latecomer to sailing, having started in 2005, and been severely bitten by the bug. I did my Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper at RNYC under the tutelage of Mike Bradley, and eventually joined RNYC in 2013 when I came into part ownership of Ruby Roo, a Legend 29, with my friend and colleague Chris Haigh. We have since moved on to Donati, a Comar Comet 375 which has been a step up in speed and luxury. In my professional life, I have always been involved in education, and the same has happened in sailing. I have helped with the RYA training since 2016 and took over as Principal Instructor in 2019.
My background outside sailing is in the medical profession, working as a Consultant Surgeon at Northumbria Healthcare for 27 years. I have been very much part time for the last few years and I finally retire completely in a few weeks and look forward to spending a lot more time on the water.
I am quickly finding out the complexities of being Commodore but I know I will enjoy the challenges ahead and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible over the coming months.
The new website and the RNYC communication strategy
A club is not a club without its members and RNYC is no exception. However, the faster paced life we all lead has led to challenges. We are all busy, with many demands on our time from work, family and friends as well as sailing and we all need ready access to information to let us make decision on how to spend our time best
We have 3 main sources of information which hopefully should all be the same
Firstly, there is the club public Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Royal-Northumberland-Yacht-Club-167498866611957 . This is the public face of the club and is open to everyone. It is not for comments or discussions, but simply posting news. All entries in this are shared to the club closed Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/189317991966 . This is only open to club members and all applications are vetted before entry is allowed. This is the “chat forum” allowing discussion and polite banter between members. However, it is moderated and all defamatory comments will be removed, so please use it with respect to your fellow members and the club. We do encourage people to join the Facebook group and follow the Facebook page, but realise that social media is not for everyone
RNYC has recently updated its website thanks to Adrian Park, (whilst in Dubai) with more recent tweaks by Ray McGinty. If you haven’t seen it, please visit https://rnyc.org.uk/ and take a look around. There is news on the front page, details of upcoming social events https://rnyc.org.uk/social/social-calendar/ and racing events https://rnyc.org.uk/sailing/sailing-calendar/ and a downloadable wall calendar. All events can be downloaded electronically into your own calendar
For last minute notices and emergency notifications, we also are using text messages to alert you to safety issues and social events.
Sailing Report 2022 First Quarter
The year started with a mass social sail on the 2nd January. All were treated to drinks at the Rumshack, which certainly was a good way to start 2022.
We have aimed to provide a sailing event once a fortnight, dodging the heavy winds which seem to have been battering the country recently. Each event has been well supported with between 9 to 11 boats joining each event. We must provide a big thanks to Mary Murray for providing hot drinks to all before braving the weather and 12:00 starts.
To date we have managed to sail eight pursuit races and whilst some folk are tuning their boats the Race Officer has been busy tuning the handicaps to ensure keen competition on the water. Currently the two sports boats are revelling in the stronger wind conditions. We are coming with a novel challenge to redress the situation!
We are hoping to continue this event through March, so please keep coming along and enjoying the series.
We have now prepared a calendar, so the season’s events are listed. We aim to provide a amix of sailing fun events along with racing. There are a few further themed events which we would like to hold during the season, but these will be published during the season.
Happy Sailing.
Wednesday night talks
Our next Wednesday talk is on the 9th March at 19:30 – Blyth Battery and our wartime defences
Wednesday 6th April at 19:30 – Race management with Ken and Tony (alias Morecombe and Wise)
Merchandise
Get your crew ready for the new season with smart new gear!
Rugby tops, polos, jackets etc to order
Please contact Diane Carr via merchandise@rnyc.org.uk
Sailing, Stella and the lash …
Cliff Lamb
In winter 2019 I was approached by a stalwart of the club racing fleet Ken Murray. Who having seen me lingering in my old Medway 26 Alchris at the rear of our erstwhile but enthusiastic club racing fleet offered his services to educate me in the ways of the sea and improve my rudimentary skills. His inimitable friendly, genial, paternal and empathetic manner saw me naively welcome him aboard.
Through the 2019 winter series whilst not making any great positional gains in the results table, the degree of by which we finished last improved by multiples of minutes with an occasional reasonable, by my standards, placing.
Tuition and guidance came forth in a multitude of forms, a nod here, there, and an encouraging word. As the season progressed suggestions as to how my fair but elderly craft may be brought back into true racing trim came thick and fast
SELL IT and buy something newer being the most common.
A compromise was made with me buying a new suit of sails, some new cordage and blocks etc… this was accepted with an air of initial disappointment that was easily tempered by our all too welcome post race visits to the club ship bar. In fact by 18.00 on a Sunday evening ideas of buying newer craft had largely been dispensed with and an air of jovial alacrity and renewed optimism toward the next race was achieved. In fact we even finished the season in a reasonable position, more due to the fact we went out in all weathers rather than a few races with premier finishes.
We started the 2020 season with renewed enthusiasm but a combination of poor weather and the Covid epidemic saw our dreams and aspirations laid to waste.
So roll on 18 months I have a newer craft, a faster pocket cruisier Gib Sea 312+ with a good fractional rig and deep keel and in it’s younger days a good racing history in capable hands on the Clyde and around the Scottish race series.
2021 Winter season beckons … Ken is fired up with enthusiasm for the competition ahead…. but unfortunately crippled and severely compromised with a double herniated disc.
He claims to have bent over in execution of his professional duties. Rumour has it he had been seen leaving a local purveyor of fine beers namely Stella Artois with several twenty four litre can cases of the said brew under each arm. A load, obviously too great for an elderly, statesman of the sea.
Like many others within RNYC we sympathise and empathise with his predicament. Advice given, anecdotal remedies offered.
One unkind suggestion to walk into the North Sea with a well-known Captain Oates quote being involved was thankfully ignored and Ken soldiered on with the aid of a considerable amount of opiates and Stella ameliorating his dilapidated former self. It was a long voyage to recovery … … and no doubt a longer one for the intimate close members of his family and social circle….. time was the remedy with a gradual improvement seeing a return to sailing in the late autumn. Admittedly an almost prone one until medical science and a skilled team came up with a solution, an injection, not the one some had seen as the final solution but one has got our Ken back on his indomitable feet pain free!
With a philanthropic attitude and a view to silverware at the end of the season…. I WELCOMED Ken back as helm on my new boat.
Three races in and we are back in business Kens back on full form one might even say turbocharged.
Race one ……..saw the two of us find our feet with us having a grand first sail.
Race two …….saw an ingenious technical idea from our brilliant helm being deployed with the spinnaker being flown sideways high up to catch the light airs of the day. A full crew!
Sadly though the fore deck crew and me, zimmer frame and cockpit crew failed to accurately follow precise and clearly given instructions, ultimately costing the race.
Race three No despondency on Double Scotch onwards and upwards … supposedly ….but not for the new and larger spinnaker kindly supplied by Ken to improve our downwind performance.. well it went half up … down … port … starboard and through most points of the compass with and without the necessary or as it turned out redundant spinnaker pole.
On the plus side the enormous volumes of hot and fast flowing air from our masterly helm at the rear of the boat saved us from complete disaster giving us a 7th out of 12.
As boat owner I realise now several mistakes were made and unlike our current Prime Minister I feel it necessary to take full responsibility and make an honest admission over a series of major misjudgements.
- If only I had fed our helm a Stella on boarding and one further for each nautical mile completed all would have been more controlled and calmer.
- If I had issued ear defenders to the other members of the crew I would not currently being subjected to a barrage of legal claims for industrial deafness by them, the main fleet and two fish wives’ in Cullercoats following the high decibel noises emitted from Double Scotch during the last race.
- There is no place for sadomasochism on a boat .. as to who holds which position on the boat I leave to the more qualified observers to decide !
- I have spent £XXXXX and find myself in the same position as I was when Ken joined the boats in 2019
Asking for a friend Does Ken have shares in the local chandlers and yacht brokers ?
Roll on race four….spinnaker repaired and safely locked in the vaults of an unnamed bank!
Throw back from Frank
Yacht club HQ arrives by sea.
After a two-day voyage the former lightshi
p Calshot Spit, now the new floating headquarters of the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club, was towed into Blyth Harbour on Sunday night. The Calshot Spit, a wooden vessel specially built to withstand all kinds of weather, will replace the headquarters’ ship Tyne which overturned and sank in a storm in the South Harbour in October 1949. She was towed from Harwich by a Tyne sea-going tug. Club members were on board the Blyth tug Seasider, which left the harbour to assist with the towing operations when the Calshot Spit was sighted off St. Mary’s Island. The members transferred to the lightship at sea and helped the Blyth towage crew to secure cables to the Blyth tug and with the tying-up operations in South Harbour.
When the ship is reconditioned and furnished, club members will be able to vacate their temporary headquarters in what was the wartime quarters of the Blyth R.A.F. air-sea rescue unit. At present moored between the Middle Jetty and the main wharf in the South Harbour, she will be removed to the club’s private jetty when the wreckage of the Tyne is salvaged.
Blyth News Ashington Post, Tuesday 5 August, 1952.
That’s it from me. Hope to see you all in the warmer months ahead.
Lynne x
