Setting the Record Straight
December 2010
When Bob Suggitt, veteran Endeavour sailor and Champion in 1970, took part in the Fiftieth Anniversary celebrations in 2010, he had a close look at the silver model and the base which bears the winners on engraved shields until 1974. He noticed that the shield for R Suggitt was not there; the record jumped from 1969 to 1971...
Annual General Meeting 2010
December 2010
An unprecented number of members attended the Annual General Meeting on December 12th. Some members had travelled considerable distances to support Commodore Stuart Munro as he embarked on his third year, supported by Robert Coyle as his Vice Commodore with Annie Reid and Peter Marchant taking the flags of Rear Commodores for House and Sailing respectively.
Corinthian Author To Take On Tolstoy?
Wednesday 1st December 2010
The RCYC has had sailing links with Russia for a while. Now those links are turning literary. A Russian publisher has approached Corinthian member Roger Taylor with a view to acquiring the Russian rights to his recently published book ‘Mingming & the Art of Minimal Ocean Sailing’.
The Dragons Celebrate Season 2010
Saturday 20th November 2010
After a cold but mercifully short race on Saturday 20th November, the Dragon fleet dusted down their dinner jackets for the annual Dragon Dinner, the key social engagement of the season, eagerly anticipated on so many levels.
Laying up and Prize Giving Dinner
Saturday 30th October 2010
The end of the season was celebrated in the traditional way with steak and kidney pudding, shiny trophies and congratualtions all round. With the cruiser fleet there in strength, more that eighty people gathered for one of the most important events in the Corinthian calendar, eager to sample the pudding.
Fiftieth Anniversary Endeavour Dinner 2010
Saturday 2nd October 2010
The scene was set for a Gala Occasion and that's what it turned out to be. The dining room was brim full with an extra party in the little library, the table decorations reflected the colours of Topper in red and black and there was the buzz that comes from old friends delightedly greeting each other and catching up on the latest news.
Just Acquired
October 2010
An exciting addition to our archives has just arrived, courtesy of eBay. It's a silver medal showing a scene of the clubhouse with a laurel wreath and crown on the reverse. It is dated 1872 but that refers to the creation of the club not the date of the medal, which must have been struck shortly after the opening of the clubhouse in 1931.
The Endeavour Honours Board
October 2010
For some years it has been agreed that RCYC needed a permanent and accessible record of the winners of the Endeavour Championship. The winning plaques on the actual silver trophy only reach 1974 and the half model, which records the full list, always goes home with the winner.
Merlin Rocket team wins 50th Endeavour
Sunday 3rd October 2010
Twenty-four-year-old Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club member - Stuart Bithell - and his 21-year-old crew, Christian Birrel, representing the Merlin Rocket class, have won the 50th Endeavour Championships convincingly, with a race to spare.
Visitors
Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th September 2010
During the weekend of 11th & 12th September RCYC took part in the Heritage Open Weekend as we have done in previous years. This is a National Event when members of the general public can get behind the scenes and visit places that are not normally available.
Quick Reflex
August 2010
"It's ok, we have half a tank of fuel" he said, "but we will fill up at Eastbourne...." Famous last words uttered by Graham King as the decision was taken to motor Quick Reflex towards Eastbourne with the wind on the nose. Then the engine started to lose power...
Burnham Week 2010
Wednesday 8th September 2010
The weather the week after Burnham Week has an autumnal feel to it and weather warnings from the BBC abound, but, no matter,as Burnham Week 2010 has been all buttoned up and put to bed. All that remains is for us all to consider whether improvements can be made for BW 2011 and a verdict on 2010.
Farleigh Hospice Regatta
Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th August 2010
All involved in this year’s Farleigh Regatta enjoyed an excellent weekend. The weather was not as sunny as last year, but the threatened rain did not materialise. On Saturday morning the signs were not good as there was no wind, but, just in time for the afternoon racing, the wind arrived and built steadily through the weekend without becoming too strong.
Corinthian Old Gaffers Sweep the Board
Thursday 19th August 2010
Three small gaff rigged boats left the Crouch to take part in the 38th Swale Barge and Smack Race based at Harty Ferry - Roy Hart's Memory Greensleeves, Mick King's Memory Three Sisters and Harry Lymer's Itchen Ferry Gem with Ray Austin at the helm.
Roger is back, nursing disappointment and an injury...
Friday 30th July 2010
Roger Taylor arrived back in Plymouth 08:30 on Thursday 29th July after sixty-seven days at sea, having achieved one of his goals, to get to the west of Greenland, but deciding to abandon his second goal, to penetrate the Davis Strait as far as the Arctic Circle, after he sustained an injury when Mingming was thrown onto her beam ends by a rogue wave. Roger considered that the extra hazards of a broken rib made continuing his journey more than usually risky and turned for home on the 26th June at 60° 42’N 53° 29’W.
Packard Ladies' Cup
Sunday 11th July 2010
The inaugural race of the Packard Ladies’ Cup took place in near-perfect conditions at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch on the afternoon of Sunday 11th July 2010. Eight Corinthian lady helms came to the line in a fleet of 707s to celebrate Celia and Nina Packard, two determined Victorian ladies, who originally won this cup in Burnham Week 1899.
Packard Ladies' Cup - Racing Report
Sunday 11th July 2010
For the inaugural Royal Corinthian Yacht Club's Packard Ladies' Trophy eight 707s lined up at the start on Sunday afternoon for a great race, held in near perfect conditions. The helms came from various fleets within the Club and there were no rules about the sex of the members of the crew, either would do!
Burnham Optimist Open Meeting
Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th July 2010
We had forty-seven registered for the Saturday of our Oppie Open Meeting. The series was seven races and the fleets split between Race and Regatta.
Saturday was one of those balmy Burnham days with the land breeze from the west being countered by the ever increasing sea breeze. John Hardy, our Race Officer for the weekend, managed to get two races sailed before lunch.
GB Cadet World Championship Team
Tuesday 6th July 2010
The British team enjoyed their last chance to practise at Graffham before heading out to Poland for the World Championships. The team has elected both a Helms' Captain (Oliver Paliarakis) and a Crews' Captain, our own Scarlet Anderson. Scarlett is top left and Katie is bottom right.
RCYC Squibs at the Nationals
19th to 25th June 2010
The Corinthian Squibs gave a good account of themselves at the National Championships hosted by Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. In a fleet of 69 boats, Nigel Grogan (105 Helmut Shoing II) with crew Daniel Cripps registered his first ever championship race win in Race One when the arrival of the sea breeze allowed him to roll past Malcolm Hutchings and Andy Ramsey (819 Lady Penelope) who had led the race throughout.
RS Tera National Championships
Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th June 2010
This year there were seventy-four entrants at the Tera Nationals held at Netley Sailing Club in Southampton. Otters taking part included James Hutton-Penman, Hamish Eckstein, Flynn Davies and Zac Bikhazi in the Tera Pro fleet and Niamh Davies in the Tera Sport Fleet. There were two further sailors from the Burnham Sailing Club taking part, Josh and Jamie Aldridge.
Otter Cadet Open Meeting 2010
Saturday 19th June 2010
When scheduling an open meeting in June you expect to be hosting a beautiful, balmy sail on the Crouch. NOT TRUE. The 19th June was grey and blustery with black clouds building and passing through in big rainy squalls, with the wind shifting in as the rainstorms passed through and provided some very challenging conditions.
RCODs 75th Anniversary Regatta
Friday 18th to Sunday 20th June 2010
As you can see from the results, the racing during our Anniversary Regatta was close and hard fought, especially in the strong conditions. Corinna - Bobby Melville took the honours with Corpo Santo - John Heathfield, as runner up and Cormorant - Adrian Fluker in third place. There was a prize for the winner of each race but to spread the honours, no boat could receive more than one, hence while Corinna, Corpo Santo and Cormorant all got a bottle for their firsts, Coram - John Apps, also received one, coming third in Race Three and Corsair - we ladies, for a third place in Race Five.
RCYC dominates Medway Eastern Area Championships
Saturday 29th to Monday 31st May 2010
During our Easter Regatta in Burnham, several visitors from the Medway invited us to their 'patch' on the second May Bank Holiday weekend, and set us a challenge to beat their entry number to us. So, first blood to us, twelve Dragons from Burnham travelled over to the Medway for the three day event and we had a blast.
Otters at the Volvo Musto Inland Championships
Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th May 2010
A dozen Otters trailed their boats to Grafham Water for the Volvo Musto Inland Championships over the weekend of the 15th/16th May. It was an exciting experience for everybody; the conditions were tricky and the fleets were large - 90 entrants in the Regatta Fleet and 220 in the Main Fleet with the starts in flights of 45 boats.
Latest News of Roger Taylor and Mingming
The Jester Challenge 23rd May 2010
Roger and Mingming are off on their annual voyage and expect to be at the Plymouth Breakwater at 1400h on Sunday 23rd May, to take part in the latest Jester Challenge. However, he is liable to make other plans! "If conditions are right I may very well divert to make my landfall at Cape Dyer, Baffin Island instead, thereby getting into the Arctic Circle to the west of Greenland, via the Davis Strait, and mirroring last year’s voyage into the east Greenland ice and the Denmark Strait...
Justin Waples wins Grafham in Bright Sparks
Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th April 2010
Justin Waples enjoyed a satisfactory weekend over the 17th & 18th April. He launched his new Flying Fifteen Bright Sparks on the Saturday and, together with his crew Ian Stowe, went on to win the Flying Fifteen Open Meeting at Grafham Water on the Sunday - that's champagne two days running!
The Gold Cup
Saturday 1st to Monday 3rd May 2010
The first major event of the season for UK Squibs, the Squib Gold Cup, was held May 1st to 3rd hosted by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, attracting a quality field of nineteen boats including five visitors from Yorkshire, Norfolk, Suffolk & Romford. Eight races were scheduled but this programme was severely curtailed by the weather.
Laura reporting on the Cadet Inlands
Thursday 8th & Friday 9th April 2010
With a forecast of light winds on the second day of racing, the Race Committee ran four races on the first day of the Inland Championships. With a fleet of 82 boats, everyone knew the competition would be fierce and the title of Inland Champion would be hard to achieve. The course of a triangle followed by two sausages (windward-leeward loops) was put into place and not long after the first race began.
IRC Thames Estuary Shield
Sunday 2nd May 2010
A goodly fleet of eleven boats crossed the start line for the Thames Estuary Shield, the return leg to Burnham after the Jane's Cup of the previous day. Although the weather was benign enough at the start, the wild, wet and windy conditions of this second day of May gradually whittled the fleet away to just three finishers, two in Class One and one in Class Two.
Congratulations to Katie and Scarlett!
Thursday 8th & Friday 9th April 2010
The week following Easter the Otter Cadet Squadron visited Rutland for two days training followed by the National Inland Championships, which were also an indicator for the British team to go to the World Championships in Puc, Poland at the end of July.
Easter Regatta
Friday April 2nd to Monday April 5th 2010
March 29th, and it is the week of the Dragon Easter Regatta. I am fielding questions from entrants, " Will we be sailing? The forecast is looking so bad!" I begin to pray, if not for a pleasant weekend, at least for winds to allow us to take to the water!
The Packard Ladies' Cup
Saturday 27th March 2010
The Fitting Out Dinner was an eminently suitable occasion to introduce the Packard Ladies' Cup. The presentation of a new trophy is always special, particularly a trophy with such an interesting provenance. It is purely because of the cup's history that it has taken on a new life as a true Corinthian Trophy.
Roger Receives the Jester Medal
Friday 26th March 2010
On March 26th Roger attended the Awards Ceremony of the Ocean Cruising Club at the Royal Thames Yacht Club to receive the Jester Medal which was awarded to him by the unanimous decision of the Awards Committee, for “an outstanding contribution to the art of single-handed sailing”.
Happy Birthday Sail Mail!
Tuesday 23th March 2010
If you subscribe to RCYC Sail Mail, you will have received Edition 51 in your inbox last week, marking a complete year since Edition Number 1. (The Christmas 2009 edition covered two weeks.) We hope that you welcome its arrival and do not consider it in the junk mail category.
Mothering Sunday
Sunday 14th March 2010
This was the weekend given over to the youngest members of RCYC. The Otters filled the clubhouse at lunchtime on Saturday as the sailing groups all moved on and met their new trainers whilst the Sunday was set aside for Mothers and Families. The dining room was filled to overflowing with the table posies bringing a welcome hint of spring to the occasion.
Useless Unless Worn
Friday 26th February 2010
'Useless Unless Worn' is the simple legend on the posters pinned up in strategic positions around the clubhouse after the Safety Demonstration on Friday 26th February. They will act as a simple reminder to the members who were not present when David Bowton, a sector Officer from the Coastguard, and Chris Waterman, from Ocean Safety, gave a very good demonstration of modern safety equipment, including features of the latest lifejackets. The demonstration was wide ranging, including EPIRBs, AIS and liferafts as well as lifejackets.
Walking on Wallasea
Saturday 20th February 2010
Yesterday, under the wing [!] of Edwin, twenty-one of us visited the RSPB site at Wallasea Island to take a closer at the plans for the area, look at the progress so far, and also to peer through our binoculars and spot the birds who are already visiting or resident on the site.
Three Jester Skippers...
Sunday 14th February 2010
RCYC was honoured by the presence of not one, but THREE skippers who had all taken part in the Jester Challenge of 2008. Corinthian member Roger Taylor, who was ready to tell of his latest exploits of Summer 2009, was joined by John Apps and John Margarson who had both come to hear of them.
The Wallasea Project
Tuesday 26th January 2010
The Wallasea Project, a development of Wallasea Island by the combined efforts of the RSPB and the Crossrail Project, continues. The Liaison Committee attended a meeting in South Woodham Ferrers on 26th January, designed to keep the various interested parties up to date with the latest developments. Edwin Buckley's report of the meeting follows.
Cadet World Championships, Argentina
22nd December 2009 to 4th January 2010
Wow, the Worlds in Buenos Aires were an amazing, once in a lifetime experience for everyone and which, for me, will be remembered as one of the best! The training began on the 22nd of December, the winds were light and the team did not go out until midday, which seemed to be the pattern for the whole event. This late start to the day reflected the entire atmosphere of the Worlds, off the water, relaxed and calm.
Jester Medal for Roger!
Monday 25th January 2010
Roger Taylor, single-handed sailor extraordinaire, has been recognised by the Ocean Cruising Club for "an outstanding contribution to the art of single-handed sailing" for his recent voyage, Summer 2009, from Scotland to the Arctic on Mingming.
Burns' Night
Saturday 23rd January 2010
Burns' Night once again lived up to its reputation as one of the most enjoyable Club evenings in the Programme. The Lounge Bar resounded to strains of a Piper playing in the Entrance Hall and to the excited chatter of diners as they greeted one another. Proceeding to the Dining Room the Selkirk Grace was given and fifty members and guests sat down to an excellent dinner of traditional fare prepared by Chef Dean.
Battle of the Classes
Sunday 17th January 2010
The Battle of the Classes was held at the London Boat Show on the 17th January in the dock outside the ExCel. The event is a pursuit race involving as many dinghy classes as possible. This year the variety of boats ranged from a Mirror dinghy to a Thames A Rater whose rig is so tall that it only just made it under the bridge that spans the dock. There were 51 entries in all from 41 different classes.
Cadets shaking out the Cobwebs
Sunday 17th January 2010
Several hardy Cadets, together with some visitors, braved the January weather for a day's training with Michael MacNamara, the UKNCCA national coach on the 17th of January. Suprisingly, conditions were near perfect, bright sunshine and a consistent 10 knot breeze allowed the participants the opportunity to shake out the cobwebs and work with some new crews.