Dear All,
Since the season has been, well, a bit dull. I thought it would be a nice idea to get some stories together. We can laugh, cry and reminisce all together. If anyone would like to share some more tales just email me lynneheathermurray@gmail.com.
I hope you all enjoy the first installment. (Get a cuppa as it’s a long one)
Lynne x
Here we go, the long awaited second part of the soling saga……
Where were we,ah yes Roger, Ken and myself are trundling down the A1 to take part in the 50th Anniversary Soling Championships to be held on Rutland Water, way down south.Behind us is the lovely soling ‘Running Bear’ all polished, tweaked, repaired and ready to go.The journey is effortless thanks to Rogers driving and his posh Volvo doing most of the work.Tactics are discussed ,which pub will be open when we get there and should we prepare the boat first then sample the local hostelries or vice versa, it’s a hard decision to make.Our plan of action was to maybe get some early evening practise in, get the feel for Rutland water.Being an inland lake its bound to have its secrets, its vagaries ,where are the wind bends ?where might we find lifts ?where is the best pub? And to our utter amazement something else more bizarre unbeknown to us at this time, all those things you read about and some you don’t, and try to put into practise.The consensus was we’ll do it on the back of a beer mat in the pub.That nagging feeling had by now been forgotten, alls well another hour and we’ll be there. Odd… passing traffic is slowing down, is giving us some funny looks, obviously well impressed with the very professional set up heading south.Young kids pointing and waving we waving back. Are they pointing at, the lovely shape of a soling ,the highly polished finish that you can see your face in, the graceful mast lying atop the hull.One car pulls up alongside winds their window down and informs us the trailers on fire, anyone who knows solings knows that trailing solings have some legendary tales to tell, that’s for another time. It seems another tale is brewing.Roger looks in the wing mirror Ken and I strain backwards to see what on earth they are talking about and yes, sure enough there is smoke billowing in our wake.The A1 at this point just north of Northampton isn’t very wide and not a good place to stop, fortunately a pull off is coming up and we do. Now I know what that nagging feeling was, should have checked the bearings oops’.It’s one o’clock on the hottest day of the year and all 3 of us are looking at the 2 forward wheel hubs glowing red exuding a toxic miasma around the tyres.Yep definitely should have checked the bearings, reminder to self, check the bearings always ,I seem to remember saying that to myself some years earlier when 3 wheels dropped of Superos trailer.That’s another story. Supero was my first soling.God bless her and RIP
A must for soling trailing is a comprehensive tool kit which we had, but not comprehensive enough so it turned out.It being such a hot day it took ages for the wheels to cool down, eventually they were cool enough to get within a safe distance to put a jack under the axle, removing the first wheel dead easy as we found out ,there was no bearing left to support it. It just fell off Same with the other side.What to do? This was a first for me ,’Soling Trailing ‘ the bimonthly magazine for Soling owners, never mentioned this in the long liturgy of mishaps and accidents and sheer bad luck recorded over the years. Ken said he was a member of AA, apparently not that AA as both Roger and I enquired as to why that would help, he was still drinking copious amounts of Stella, was he losing it? No, the other AA, so he rang them up and was promised a visit within the hour. Good old AA.True to their word they turned up. What an admirable establishment, Knights of the Road little did they know …..da da da da dah.. to be continued. Not sure if they rescinded Kens membership after this as you will see.
Tony Freeth
MERCHANDISING
This is working as normal so contact me, Diane Carr, to process any requests for team gear. We do rugby shirts, polo shirts, tee shirts, jackets and hats. Club ties, badges, cufflinks, ensigns and burgees are in stock and can be purchased at the bar when open.
Christmas is coming soon so get your crew sorted for next year. (dont hate me for mentioning the C word in September)
Contact diane.carr@rnyc.org.uk
Sailing report from Roger
The sailing season got kick started on the 9th July, coinciding with the partial reopening of the bar and food services. We have been using the pursuit format, developed over the last two winter series to provide 5 fun race events since the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
The 5th race was a jumbled-up charge around four marker buoys which everyone managed to complete without losing their way.
A cruise was organised to Berwick in August to investigate the new pontoon facilities in the old dock. Juno and Fingal have even returned to the most northerly port in Northumberland, so popular was the trip.
We must mention a recent trip to Hartlepool, in which Summer Wine competed in the NECRA “Around all the Cans” Race. A very creditable 3rd place was achieved although this may have been even higher if the boat had only one navigator rather than three!
Finally we are looking forward to the Winter Series. The sailing committee is aiming to start this popular event using the same format as the previous series on the first Sunday in November. We will keep you posted.
Operation foredeck
This summer after asking for volunteers, 27 members got involved at some point with a hardcore of 8 and Tony Freeth and Frank Highman being the very hardcore. Protective skirts have been fitted along the Port side and most of the external Clubship repainted. Jaqueline Tooes kindly painted the Club Burgee on the side of the upper deck which looks great, “thanks Jackie”
All was going well until I thought “I’ll just remove the loose flaking paint on the foredeck” hundreds of Man and women hours later we now have an exposed, re-chalked teak deck.
A big thank you to all who got involved, for the most it’s been a good laugh, we’ve eaten donuts, sang and drank beer along the way, not forgetting making new friends and somehow not losing any.
Ken Murray
Lady Hazels lockdown life
Two of Lady Hazel’s crew have adapted to life after the coronavirus lockdown.
Clive and Phil have reacquainted themselves with the mammoth jigsaw,Clive’s very much “work in progress “ (1st attachment) but Phil’s magnificent completed jigsaw of VE Day (attachment 2)bought for the princely sum of £1.
The last two photos are of Clive’s small model railway (OO guage) still in construction in the garage.
I need figures ,engine drivers and firemen, passengers etc plus benches.
The station is Skaville as in the Skalites song “Train to Skaville”.
There is a firm that will make a 3D model from a photo to scale(1 in 76 for 00 gauge) so some members in RNYC may be in the frame for the fat controller and other members of the station staff!
(sorry you will have to tilt your heads to look at this one)
“Thar she blows!”
Or whales in the Little Minch.
Caol ila’s log 5th July 2004
“Cleared Loch Scresort, Island of Rum at 0600, a pure blue morning, turned North West towards The Uists and Berneray……light breeze with mainsail and no. 2, boat speed about two knots, trolling for mackerel “
Narrative –
“No bites but crew see flock of gulls over to starboard towards Skye, SSE off Glen Brittle Bay. Turn towards the birds, Meraidh fiddles in the cockpit. Genoa eased, to slow the boat. Jimmy recalls calculus and reasons as follows, the birds are feeding on small fish, where there are small fish there will be bigger fish, etc..
Whales! Minkies, one, two, three, no! no! six! Climbing harness on, Jimmy is winched to the crosstrees and looking down into deep clear water can see the shoal. The adults are herding the fish towards the calves!”. We sailed alongside the pod for more than half an hour, while Meraidh played Breton Tunes and a set of Irish Jigs ( “ diddly diddley” ). The whales dived beneath Caol ila and swam with us towards the Western Isles. Then suddenly, they turned away and sounded.
The whales were feeding on a shoal of sand eels, although Balenteens, Minkies do also eat fish! In the North Pacific, the minke whale feeds on euphausiids i.e krill. In the North Atlantic the minke whale is known to feed on krill, sand lance, sand eel, and even salmon, capelin, mackerel, cod and herring! Whilst in the Antarctic they feed predominantly on krill. The shoal of sand eels was like a tornado of fish around which the minkies took turns at herding, whilst one swam through the middle feeding!
We have often had brief glimpses of minkies in this area, especially in the Sound of Harris and off the Island of Rum or near Eigg and Ardnamurchan. They usually simply surface two or three times, blow, and then disappear. Whale spotting conditions are best in little or no wind with a smooth sea. You simply need to be looking in the right direction at the right time but it is clear that birds feeding on the surface are worth investigating and that a boat under sail is less disturbing and possibly even more interesting if a pretty girl is playing a fiddle on board!
Sequel.
But what about coincidence? Sailing south from Ardrishaig towards Loch Ranza 2nd July 2005. On this occasion, we were investigating diving gannets off Skipness Point, They were racked up in squadrons of 12-15 birds, (“Red Leader to squadron, Follow me!”) barrel rolling and then diving in sequence from a height of some 50 metres before flying off with fish! We caught maybe 12 mackerel, whilst hove-to amongst them and kept the 5 best fish for supper! Pan fried with a fresh, home made salsa! As we sailed away Meraidh was fiddling again in the cockpit when close-to on port side a minkie whale and calf, surfaced and then ran with the boat for 10 minutes or more before diving. That girl on the fiddle has only ever been sailing twice!
Lee Ho! John Harris,
Caol ila.
Pilot Verses for RNYC, Blyth.
My first introduction to the sea was with the “Old man” (my father) and one of his WW2 comrades in an even older, sailing coble on the North East Coast of England. It was a pure blue summer day and he and Johnny were fishing. I was five, frightened and a wee bit sea sick! On returning to the harbour, my mum scolded them for not looking after me and for returning home empty handed. To which my Dad replied “We were fishing, not catching! And anyway, I’ve taught him something he will never forget!” That was almost 70 years ago and this is what he taught me:-
“First the Dudgeon, then the Spurn,
Flamborough Head is next in turn,
Filey Brig as you pass by
Whitby Light bears northerly
Huntley Cliff the great highland
Is five and twenty from Sunderland
Our Old Man says, if wind holds right
With luck we’ll be in Shields tonight” an (Old Collier Rhyme or Pilot Verse.)
As a result of this early indoctrination I have always been fascinated by pilot verses, which were used by mariners all over the world from the North East of England (Collier Rhymes) to the Southern Ocean (Star Songs) as a means of remembering essential navigational information. They echo in Homer’s Odyssey, which is possibly an ancient pilot book for the Aegean Sea.
Often-illiterate Collier skippers would con their “Whitby Cats” from London to North Shields with rote, lore and experience. Soundings and samples brought up by the tallow on the lead were used to establish position. One can imagine the conversation in the chains as the leadsman informs the master “Smells like Skinningrove bottoms!” rather than the romantic “Mark Twain!” or “By the deep nine!”
Captain James Cook leavened his intellect with this learning as he served on Whitby Colliers. As a master’s mate in the Royal Navy, he wrote pilot verses of his own to navigate the St Lawrence and this helped bring General Wolfe’s army to Quebec. As a reward, General Wolfe promoted James Cook and put him on the ladder to the quarter deck.
In the Pacific there were “Star Songs” to navigate canoes across the ocean to distant islands. Much of this wisdom is now lost and will never be re-discovered, it owed its existence to a time before printed charts, magnetic compasses, chronometers, radar and GPS. There was a time when “navigators” were the aristocracy and the “knowledge” was passed from father to son or more often, uncle to nephew.
There is a profound satisfaction to be had in bringing your ship home using old-fashioned skills and seamanship. It can also be an insurance against power failure or GPS “closedown” at the whim of President or Pentagon. So, to keep tradition alive, should we not write pilot verses for the approach to Blyth. I have a unique bottle of 13 year old, single cask Bruichladdich Malt whisky at 50% which I would offer as a prize for the best pilot verse for an approach to RNYC pontoons at Blyth harbour.
John Harris. Caol Ila.
All Marks Event
Saturday 19th September
Race or cruise, sail or motor, no one really cares.
Limited edition labelled cans of Stella up for grabs
Categories are;
Best cake baked whilst afloat
Best dressed boat
Quickest and slowest boat
Happiest dog on board
Youngest and oldest crew on board
Treasure hunt/quiz
Most fouled up boat
Anything else we can think of.
Start at 12 noon.
I hope you have enjoyed your Wednesday afternoon reading. If I have not shared your stories, don’t worry, I’m sure there will be a sequel.
Hope to see you all for Saturdays all marks event.
Stay safe, Lynne x
