Clydesailing
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photo: Alan MacLeod
The Sonar
There have been some rather derogatory asides about the aesthetics of the Sonar on this page and from the recent YL issue it is clear that oor Andi is not a fan. To even the balance somewhat we thank Neill Ross from RNCYC (he with the camera) who has written the following to update us on the Sonar scene. Whatever you may think of the boat, the ownership/financing model makes huge sense and I hope to get out from a trial ride on one before too long.
" There has been much chat on the forum about OD. You will have seen the Sonars doing the rounds -these are all associated with RNCYC and their shared ownership model is one that is worthy of consideration.
There is a fleet of 9 boats co-owned by the club and members. The club owns half (of each boat-ed)and members the other half. This half is in most cases further shared by two. The deal is that the club has entitlement to use the boat for up to 28 days a year, with a maximum of 5 weekends, for training and team / match racing events. The boat is available to the member owner at all other times. The member owners use their own sails and the Club have suits of general purpose sails and 8 matching suits for team racing.
The Club provides a mooring and insurance but the general upkeep is the co-owners responsibility. Initially, when the boats were bought, they required a bit of tlc but now they are generally in good order and the running costs, ex sails, are probably £500 - £600 a year. If you were to form a syndicate of four you could buy into the scheme for £1k each and have running costs of £150 - that, my friends is exceptional bang for your buck. A full suit of sails can be bought from as little as £2200.
In addition to the 9 club boats there are currently 4 privately owned ones with possibly one more coming in the not too distant future. The privately owned boats are newer but the difference in performance is not huge and class racing is very close. The class has attracted a very strong contingent of experienced and successful helms and crews. They have been more than willing to share their knowledge and on club nights the emphasis is on inclusion. The more hardened sailors have ample opportunity to slug it out at regattas and specially organised class racing days where the format is usually a large number of short races.
The Sonar is a fun but easy boat to sail and has provided a great platform for youth involvement, training and competitive one design racing. There has, of course, been some negative discourse because of its adoption for disabled sailing but it should be remembered that it was not designed as a disabled boat, but adopted as one because of its qualities as an easily handled boat with a large cockpit that could be adapted to include aids for the less able bodied sailors. The Sonar was designed by Bruce Kirby (of Laser fame amongst others) and he is on record as saying 'The Sonar may well be the best boat I've ever designed'
There are opportunities for whole or part shares in boats so if you are interested please contact RNCYC. The boats are also available to outside organisations for corporate events, team racing etc at very attractive rates. "
yes that's the venerable Saint Joan hoicking on the jib sheet - both photos Neill Ross
CCC Bangor Race
John McMurtrie sends a phonecam pic of Carmen II on her way to Bangor. Anyone like to say how it was or are they all carrying on to Dun Laoghaire?
You Can Help Disabled Sailing With Your Computer Mouse
able2sail (www.able2sail.org.uk) offers anyone affected by disability and their families the unique opportunity to sail on a specially adapted yacht. The charity plans to take over 200 people sailing this season, ensuring that each and every person onboard during one of its trips has the same opportunities to enjoy the open water.
able2sail operates from Kip Marina in Renfrewshire and offers its services to any disabled young person from any part of Scotland. Once onboard, everyone is supported and encouraged in helping in all aspects of the boat, from pulling up the sail and steering, to plotting the route. There is an electric hoist which ensures that everyone gets on board safely, and a newly installed chair and joystick steering control which allows people with limited strength to control the yacht.
able2sail has reached the semi-finals of the National Lottery Awards 2009 in the Best Sports Project category . They have made it through to the public voting stage which starts on 22nd June and finishes 10th July. able2sail is the only Scottish Charity and indeed the only sailing project, in this category.
Able2sail needs your votes - Click on the icon below to vote now - before 10th July. It's painless and takes seconds
Jane Campbell Morrison, Development Manager. RYA Scotland
And if you're ever in Helsinki......
We assume the bread with coldsmoked horse tartar is like tartare sauce with cold smoked horse in it...
CCC Arran Trophy / Ailsa Craig Race
We decided to eschew the pleasures of the Friday night race around Ailsa Craig and instead took Troikka for our first time on the rather more civilised Arran Trophy Race which turned into a bit of a processional Kip -Wee Cumbrae to starboard -Rothesay thing but an enjoyable sail for all that with weather which turned out to be pretty benign. There was an entry of about 20 boats on Saturday with quite a few in restricted sail. I don't have any pics from Saturday but here are a couple from the Ailsa Craig race taken by Neill Ross on Prime Suspect. There were 6 contenders for Ailsa Craig and the next picture
Neill Ross
shows how close Salamander (the Elan 410) and Tanit are after a night's racing as they head back northwards in the vicinity of Ardrossan. Tanit were the eventual winners with Salamander 2nd and I think Prime Suspect 3rd. The X332 Celtic Spirit took class 2.
Neill Ross
On the Saturday race we fetched off from Kip in about 12knots and Playing FTSE proceeded to perform a a winning horizon job in Class 1. Grand Cru and Sloop John decided to take the outside line to avoid the majority route down the Largs channel but when they emerged from the Tan they hadn't really gained anything. Meanwhile, in the Largs channel, there was a bit of spinnaker broaching going on with Hoo Ha making the most energetic performance in that respect. Round the island it was a straight fetch back up. Either Sloop John or TS2 were second or third, Animal 4th, Troikka 5th and Grand Cru and Xanadu in 6th or 7th. Enigma won class 2 and I don't remember what the Class 4 results were.
It was the first time we had been back in Rothesay since the inner harbour was opened up and we were well impressed. The pontoon fingers seem particularly short but space is tight though well utilised with a fairly safe minimum 2.5m depth. We were able to enjoy some of the rum from our goodie bag in the sunshine while we waited for the social event to kick off which it did with a magnificent barbecue at the Galley restaurant in the Winter Gardens. Sausages and burgers it was not but huge lumps of real meat, fish and seafood and at £5 a plate and all drinks at 2 quid, quite the most astonishing value.
It was possible to pig out quite comprehensively and here is a rare pic of Troikka's co-owner in benign mood with the corpses (collected corpses- she didn't eat all those) of some massive langoustines and a half pint of white wine.
The event is generously sponsored by Colin of Chard Construction (above right) with all proceeds from bar, barbie and raffle going to the Yorkhill Children's Foundation charity. This seems like a win-win for everyone - a you get to enjoy a really well run event with a great social scene (which carried on late via the Black Bull and the Gluepot) and a worthwhile charity benefits too. What's not to like? It should be noted that this is not a closed CCC event but is open to all so remember that for next year. We'll certainly be back and many thanks to the sponsors and CCC for all their efforts which were much appreciated by all.
Cove Regatta
On Saturday racing was delayed for about an hour while wind filled in to a F1-2 patchy southerly breeze. There was a reasonable attendance for Pipers and LLs, a few FFs & Garelochs too with attendance for handicap about 40 boats all in. Highlight of the day was mid afternoon when Clydeport scheduled the arrival of 'Romantic' a 275m Crude Tanker which proceeded to cleave the Loch Long fleet in two. Duncan Farquhar in Sula no.84 was the first to bite the bullet and drop his spinnaker to get round the back before rehoisting.
Sunday was generally 2-3 SSW with some holey bits. 10 Loch Longs, 10 Pipers, 4 FFs and 2 Garelochs with 3 short races back to back in the loch. Nice racing apart from the odd calm spot. Pamina won LLs and we think Pibroch might have won Pipers but no doubt accurate info will appear in due course on www.covesc.org.uk
Family Cruising
They look like they're having a good time, heading home.
Future Clyde One Design?
As I recall, the design brief for the Hunter 707 came about following consultation with potential buyers and was then given to David Thomas. So it was never going to be cutting edge but then the same could be said for many of the other one-designs which have been successful on the Clyde. Pipers, Snotties and Sigma 33s spring immediately to mind and you can think up the rest. However they're cheap, relatively plentiful and perhaps not quite so awkward looking as the Sonar. A small syndicate would have a minimal outlay and none of the maintenance issues attached to the furniture classes. Any advances on that? Did I hear a guffaw from the direction of the Holy Loch?
DRB Marine Cove Regatta
After Kip Regatta when everyone went all whimsical and dewy eyed for the good old bad old days of racing round navigation buoys and such, well here's your chance to try it in the form of Cove's so-called 'Coastal Scenic Race.' Re-acquaint yourself with old friends such as Kilcreggan Red and the Gourock Swimming Pool. Very civilised start time on Saturday (13:00 first class start) and good value for money at only 15 of your British pounds (even for IRC entries) including a complementary glass of fizz ashore for participants. Head over to Cove Sailing Club for more info.
And if you're in a Loch Long this might be the one to beat. Pamina gets wet (no not a porno video) for the first time this season.
Old Pulteney Scottish IRC Championship
Neill Ross
This is one of the incidents referred to below. I think that's Wizard behind Micky's bow. I suspect Troikka had tacked off by that time. Also another update - Charlie Frize advises that the crew member on Prime Suspect did in fact lose his index finger from the first knuckle. Ouch! Pink bunnet or not congratulations to team Salamander on taking the overall trophy. I wish I had been sufficiently awake to think of Marineblast's take on that although I did think at the time that the sailing amendment was rather strange! Pop over there and take a look.
Neill Ross
It seemed to me like a pretty good entry and I thought the last minute change to the class splits with the creation of a Class 4 was very sensible. We certainly had quite close boat on boat racing in Class 2 as you can see here in this excellent pic by Neill Ross. Saturday came with much less rain than might have been expected but gusty NE wind from 10-17kt and topping out around 28kt in one particularly awkward squall. The weather made for some quite high pressure sailing with injuries to both gear and crew. FTSE and Hoo-Ha were heard to retire on Sat morning with gear problems and the first injury was in Race 1 when Rob, the bowman on Hobbes Express !!! bashed his forehead with the spinnaker pole. That one was easily fixed and he was none the worse. A more impressive injury occurred on Micky Finn IV in Race 3 on Sat. At that point we (in Troikka) had just rounded the leeward mark and were about to settle into the beat when we found our path blocked by the mighty Dufour, beam on to us, dead in the water and with Cap'n Forbes shouting his head off and waving arms for all he was worth. We know the Cap'n is fond of fishing but this was spinnaker trawling at its finest with the spinnaker out the back completely filled with water and acting as a massive drogue. In the ensuing chaos young John Mills had his leg trapped by the guy and his head bonked by the boom resulting in an excess of blood in the cockpit and the immediate retiral of MFIV on medical grounds. However after the statutary 4 hour wait at A&E in Inverclyde Royal he was stitched up and seemed ok. Neill Ross has a photo of the trawling and we would very much like to display it here irrespective of whatever bribes the Cap'n may offer him. Also circulating were gruesome tales involving the loss of a finger of a crew member on Prime Suspect who were offering a tow to Tanit. The unfortunate individual apparently had his finger under the tow rope as the engine was gunned with painful results but we are told there was no bone loss and even the fingernail survived so it seems the story grew in the telling.
all photos by Neill Ross and used with permission
I though tthe race management was very good - it was Johnny Watson again as PRO supported by a fine array of Mudhooks. There was not much delay between races and the worst was before Sat race 1 when the RIB laying the windward mark had gearbox failure. Possibly the worst incident from the race management poin tof view was a late amendment to the sailing instructions for Class 3 stating that they were to use the oputer leeward mark instead of the inner one. Obviously boats pitchig up from elsewhere straight to the start line would be disadvantaged and in the evcent only A Neet DJinn sailed the correct course resulting in the rest of class 3 being awarded DNF. The committee, when protested, accepted some degree of blame and the DNFs were altered to a scoring penalty.
Salamander walked away with Class 2 and in this picture the crew look like they're about to sail into something terribly unpleasant. Notice the head popping up from the coal hole to see what's what. Surely that's grandma Corson with the pink bunnet peering through from the back end.
On Troikka we were going upwind pretty well on Saturday and then demonstrating serious downwind boat handling deficiencies. In Sunday's lighter winds and with a motley assembly of crew most of whom had never sailed on the boat it was the reverse. We couldn't find our upwind pace but kept things more or less together downhill. A disappointing scoreline but I suppose we're still on the steep bit of the learning curve.
The Castles on Arran are lloking good in this next shot with the King juxtaposed and it was good to see Charlie Frize's Prime Suspect as seen above fully on form and only one point behind Argie in the final score.
This must be some kind of Class 4 study in grey and black. Misjif pulled the title from BDSS runner-up Antix while Farr E Nuff on her home territory took a creditable 3rd. Half tonner Chia Chia is in the middle here with Antix to leeward.
We didn't expect much in the way of apres sail activities organised by the Mudhook but the band on in the Sailing Club were excessively loud and managed to chase most people away to Regattas. We had a good meal at Regattas which is now owned by the same crowd who run the restauraunt at Troon Marina and it would be really good if eventually they would take the trouble to stock some real beer, in bottles even, as an upgrade on the fizzypop that is presently flowing from their taps.
Many thanks to Neill Ross for these excellent photos. He'll have many more on his own site.
Also many thanks to the Mudhooks for achieving their stated objective once again by running another quality event and also to the Old Pulteney sponsors.
Radar Reflectors
We're supposed to have one for ISAf Cat 4 so I thought I'd investigate which one to buy for the new boat. It turns out they're all pretty rubbish and the new active transponders are the best route to go if money is no object. I wonder if the RNLI inspectors have read this report:
http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources/Radar%20reflectors%20report.pdf
Chas, the author of this site, is owner of Troikka, an Elan 37 (and also has his much loved SJ320 Troika for sale) which along with his family and mates he races and cruises from the Clyde. I'd be interested in any comments on the site and will respond to any questions. If you are new to sailing on the Clyde and have any questions or interest please email me. I'll either try to answer them myself or point you to someone who can. You can use the reply page to email me.
