Commodore’s comment – July 2018

 
For the more mature members of the club, could this be the year that beats the summer of 1976? During most summers, we get excellent weather until the schools break up for the summer holidays, then the rain sets in.
You might have noticed that the progress being made by the Thursday Work Party has all but come to a halt. This is intentional as it is just too hot to be doing any heavy physical work outside, which is being made worse by the ground being so dry and hard. As we are now coming into the main holiday season, not a lot of change will occur until the end of August.
We have tried to achieve more seating in front of the club house so that families can come and watch the activities going on out on the lake. We found new picnic benches which match the ones that we already have but have only managed to install one and the table top of the other so far as the supplier sent the wrong brackets for attaching the seats. We hope to have this resolved before Junior week.
One of our members has also kindly donated the club a six burner barbecue which is currently sat on a pallet in the boat shed, so please be careful if you are moving the club Toppers on or off the rear boat rack. The intention is to permanently build the barbecue into a solid lockable frame when time permits.
David Greenfield joined FOSSC in 1980 and has been a very active member during the last thirty eight years. He was also responsible for starting up sailability in 1999 and making it the success within the club that it now is.
Each year the RYA recognises people who have made a significant contribution toward sailing and this year David Greenfield was selected to receive the Francis Elkin Award, the selection panel wanting to “recognise David’s contribution to enabling people with disabilities to experience and enjoy sailing”.
Please join me in congratulating David on this great achievement.
 
Work Parties are back on the agenda with two being scheduled during the second half of July prior to Junior week. These will take place on Saturday 21^st and Saturday 28^th. The two work parties are being run by Andy Crofts and Jim Bennett. The two surname groups are O – Pe and Pi – Rin. If you have missed your scheduled Work Party, your assistance at one of these would be much appreciated.
FOSSC Junior week will be run between Monday 30^th July to Friday 3^rd August. Diana Heming has been beavering away in the background sorting all of the administration out for this event.
Please remember to bring the necessary medical forms on Monday 30^th and hand them to Joy Morris when you sign your children in for the day. Joy will also take any medicines that have been identified as required, These should be in a sealable plastic bag with a label attached stating who they are for.
The barbecue will take place on the Wednesday evening, starting at approximately 18:00. We will not be able to take food bookings on the night, so if you want to come along and have not already done so, please let Diana Heming know or Joy Morris on the Monday morning.

The new junior club was held on Saturday 14 July and was well attended despite England playing in the World Cup that day.

Please note that due to summer holiday plans, the Junior Club meeting scheduled for Saturday 11^th August has been cancelled.

FOSSC site security continues to be of some concern, particularly during the current period of warm sunny weather. We can all do our bit to contribute to deterring unwanted visitors by ensuring that boats etc. are wherever possible locked onto the chains coming out of the ground at each berth. Also, please ensure that the gate is closed at all times outside of scheduled FOSSC events and locked. We will be working with Frampton Estate to install additional signage around the buildings and boat park to re-enforce that the lake is not a public place.
 
Happy sailing!
 
David Coates.
Commodore.

Big Boat Sailing

Normally when I talk about Big Boat Sailing, I  mean a 30 to 40 foot yacht, but this time I mean a really big sailing machine of 85 foot and 61 tons; a Thames Sailing Barge! For a significant birthday in March, the family gave the 2 of us a weekend on the Thames Sailing barge called “Centaur”.  This incorporated the “Pin Mill Barge Race” on Saturday June 23^rd and a cruising day on the Sunday.
We arrived in Ipswich on the Friday evening in time to join many of the crew in the Lord Nelson pub by the docks for an evening meal.  After a good meal of fish & chips and a pint of Adnams, we retired back to the Centaur to go through the safety drill with of the mates. Normally when trading under sail, the barges were manned by a Skipper and a mate.  For the Pin Mill Race we had 2 skippers and 2 mates.  One skipper was in charge of the barge, and the helm and course.  The other skipper was in charge of the sail trim and the lee boards.  We had the normal mate and also a trainee mate.  There was a full complement of 16 on the barge, with 8 of us assisting with running of the barge.
After a good English breakfast, we had our race day briefing and followed several other barges on our way down the River Orwell to Pin Mill.  The route took us under the Orwell Bridge with top of mast looking very close to the bridge deck.  The Start was at Butterman’s Bay just below the Pin Mill Sailing Club.  The original forecast leading up to the race day look at a good breeze from the NW, but it was just a very light breeze.  There were 3 starts for the barges, Bowsprit Class (A) 10.30am, Fast Staysail Class (B) 10.45am and finally our start for Slow Staysail Class (C) 11.00am.
We watched the other classes start and made our way down to the line.  With tide under us we were making slow progress, but just as we approached the start line, the wind dropped and we started to slew sideways towards a moored craft.  The skipper on the helm yelled at the mates to quickly drop the anchor.  We drifted around the fixed anchor with the tide; backed the jib to bring the nose round, smartly raised the anchor and back down river over the start line chasing the Ardwina in front of our race.  It took us 2 hours 20 minutes with the tide under us on broad reach/run to get to the outer mark in the Medusa Channel called Stonebanks.  We were 7 minutes behind Ardwina at this stage.
Once we turned round the southerly mark of Stonebanks, we were tacking up against the freshly flooding tide.  The ability of a Thames Barge to tack can only be described as trying to tack a very badly set up Mirror Dinghy, taking at least 10 times as long to go about.   The sideways movement of the hull is only tempered by the use of large pivoting lee boards.  As the barge goes through the tack, the new leeward board is lowered.  The leeboard on the new windward side is a different proposition.  It weighs 1300 Kgs, is 5.5 m long and has a fan of 2.4 m at the bottom.  It takes two men frantically turning the winch to raise the board.  In order to help the badge turn, the jib is backed, held by a rope which is let go once on the new tack.  In the meantime the new windward back stay has to be tightened and the leeward one released.  You might think that it was easy to with plenty of space to tack the barge back up to the River Orwell, but it wasn’t. The wind was very fickle so we doing lots of tacks to make ground; just like tacking up to the green mark in a North East wind.  Once we approached Felixstowe, the sea breeze picked up with a run up the Orwell to the finish at Pin Mill.  By the finish we were only 2 minutes behind Ardwina, which was thought very good as we were the slower barge.  We anchored amongst all the barges opposite Pin Mill Sailing Club.
In the evening we lowered the small boat, which ferried us in to a good buffet meal and the Prize Giving in the Sailing Club.  With all our efforts, we received the cup for second in our class and the Skipper won the prize for Seamanship, voted on by all the Skippers and the race committee.
After a full English breakfast next day we awoke to a lovely sunny morning with just a little more breeze.  We left the mooring under sail for a gentle cruise down the Orwell. We turned to Starboard up the River Stour.  On the starboard side is Shotley Point which used to house the Royal Naval boys training unit of HMS Ganges.  There is still a fully rigged main mast, which when Ganges was still working, there was an annual ceremony of Topping the Mast where a selected recruit had to scale the whole mast and stand right on the top. He was known as the “Button Boy”.  The mast is 143 feet above the ground and on the top is a wooden disk 1 foot across.  The “Button Boy” had to stand to attention on the top saluting, with just a lightning conductor between his legs to keeps his balance.
After a gentle drift past Parkstone Quay, we returned to the Orwell to make our slow way up to Ipswich.  During this, we spent our time washing down the decks and making everything ship shape.   Once at Ipswich we were waiting around for an hour to get into the docks with 3 other barges.  Once we were moored we worked making the inside ship shape before we all departed.
It was a lovely experience and when you consider that a barge that size was only originally manned by a Skipper and a Mate, I can only have the greatest respect for the seamanship of those sailors.  To cap off an excellent weekend, I have a lasting memory to bring back, when I won the first prize in the Pin Mill Sailing Club Raffle of a Pen and Ink Drawing of barges “In Trade, Ipswich Bound” by Anthony Osler.
Ken Elsey
 
 

FOSSC Photo Competition

With so much activity going on at the club just now, this is a reminder that there is a photo competition for pictures for the 2019 FOSSC calendar.  The theme is 'What makes FOSSC special?'  Entry details will be sent out later in the year.  Get clicking!!  The photo below was the cover for the 2018 Calendar.

FOSSC Design Challenge!

Frampton is a lovely lake to sail on, although with it being so shallow we are all familiar with the weed which readily attaches itself to our rudders and centre-boards.  This is not too much trouble for most boats as the foils can be raised and lowered relatively easily.  However, the Access dinghies (which are used by Sailability members) have centre-boards which fill with water when lowered.  This is a great design for avoiding capsizes, but they are very heavy to lift up. (A pulley system is used to lift the centre-board when a boat is being taken out of the water.) 

Can you design and build a device which can be used to easily remove weed from the centre-board without having to lift it? 

If you would like to see an Access dinghy, please come down on a Saturday morning (30 June to mid September) when the Sailability sessions are held.  Gold star would be a device which can be easily taken out in the dinghy and used while out sailing; if that is not practicable, then something which could be left on the jetty and used when the boats tie up, or used from a rescue boat.
The prize is the gratitude of those who try to lift the Access centre-boards while they are full of water, plus the satisfaction of helping others!  If any of our junior members want to use this as a design project for schoolwork, I will be quite happy to give a review/assessment of their work.  Rhonwen James

2018 Laying Up Supper and Prize-giving

This year's event will be on 17th November.  All members welcome (not just racers).  Save the date now!  Details to be confirmed nearer the time.

Sailing Matters - July 2018
 
Firstly to catch up with a few oustanding points from the sailing committee discussions:
 
The outstanding Club Championship event - West Country Breweries – to be rescheduled on 21/10/18 - 3 races at 11.00/13.00/15.00   Races 2 & 3 to count in Winter Series.
 
Laser Open – Cover levels were queried  – agreed that Solos will provide additional 2 staff to allow for 2^nd rescue boat, but to be used at discretion of OOD. Likewise, Laser class to provide 2 for Solo open.
 
There has also been discussion at the main committee with regard to the weed problem. As fas as sailing is concerned, it was concluded that we continiue to stage formal racing, as per the programme. However it must be stressed that the current level of weed does represent an increased
risk when sailing. Not only does weed impede progress and affect a dinghy when sailing, especially if the wind picks up but it could affect the sailor's ability to recover their boat, AND DOES ALSO AFFECT THE OPERATION OF THE SAFETY BOAT(S). Members are advised to consider this before taking part in sailing, until the weed subsides. Remember it is the responsibility of members to decide on the ability and safety of their crew.
 
In turn, the continuation of racing means we look forward to the Personal Handicap series, for which rules/handicaps will be available for the first race.
 
We also have the first running of the Pro/Am series. This is intended to give our newer, less experienced members an opportunity to join in with the racing which so many of us enjoy. The rules have been posted on the noticeboard in the wet bar, along with a sign up sheet. Whilst it's not essential that participants sign up, it would be helpful if you could, if only to gauge support.
Please also remember to allow time to find equipment, and rig your boats well before the time of the first race. Also allow time for assigning pairings if you are not pre-entered. It is not necessarily essential to have a fixed pairing, each pro and each am will count their scores irrespective of partner.

 PLEASE TAKE THIS NEW OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE PART. Regular sailors are foregoing their normal racing to stage this event.
 
PRO'S, PLEASE SIGN UP TO HELP MAKE THIS INNOVATION WORK; we want to share our enjoyment from racing, with the up and coming future of the club.
 
Everybody – don't sit back and let this pass by, JOIN IN and make it happen.
 
Tony Latham - Sailing Secretary