Commodore's Musings

Sailing Sec's Ramblings

Work Parties

New Club Committee

2012 Diary Dates

Final Fling Regatta

VHF Channels

Albacore Awards

The Simplest Things

Prizegiving Scenes

Sun 11th Dec, 3pmChildren's Christmas Party

Fri 16th Dec, 5pmMulled Wine Evening

Sun 1st Jan, 1.30pmNew Year's Day Brunch

Sat 14th JanAC/DC Tribute Band

Sat 28th JanBurns Evening

For more 2012 dates, see list below.

head-commodoreWell, here we are again, another season over, the boats all high and dry and the Festive Season rushing towards us. It’s been a difficult season at times from a sailing perspective, with either too much wind or too little on many occasions. The Frostbite series, when we’ve been able to sail, has so far seemed anything but! – must be the global warming.

Crane-out was a long day but all the boats were lifted without major mishap for which we can once again thank the Moorings Convenor and the teams organised on the day.

At the AGM, thankfully we did not have the difficult weather experienced last year. Paul Aslett was elected to the post of Dinghy Park Convenor, and Ann-Marie MacRury to the post of Training Officer. Keith Conway was elected back onto the committee as Treasurer, and Euan McBride back as Moorings Convenor. Calum Muir has kindly offered to continue as Bo’sun in the absence of any other nomination.

We still have a number of Committee posts to fill – Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore and Social Convenor. At the request of some of the membership I’ll be issuing an e-mail with descriptions of what the roles entail so that would be volunteers will know what is expected for each.

Helen Cameron has been hard at work again and presented us with a second, “75th Jubilee” embroidered crest. A lovely piece of work, the more observant of you will have noticed it hung above the bar. Thank you very much Helen.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the retiring Committee members: Dave Lines, Ron McCreath, Campbell Calder, Lawrie Elliott, and Sam Miller, for their hard work over the last three years – without it we would be in poor shape.

It just remains for me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and Good Health, Wealth & Happiness for 2012. Fair winds would also be big help!

Euan Drysdale, Commodore

Commodore's MusingsIn This Issue

The Journal of the Cramond Boat Club December 2011

Diary Dates

Action from this year's Novice Regatta

Commodore's Musings

Sailing Sec's Ramblings

Work Parties

New Club Committee

2012 Diary Dates

Final Fling Regatta

VHF Channels

Albacore Awards

The Simplest Things

Prizegiving Scenes

The lock has been removed from the kitchen door for a trial period.

This will allow all members access to use the kitchen at any time.

Please ensure you clean all your dishes and cups and wipe down work surfaces.

head-sailingPrizegiving was a well-attended event as always with a varied mix of winners this year amongst the well-kent faces round the tables. Thanks first must go to Debbie, Laura and Liz for the food to get the night off with a bang.

Carol Jones was on hand to hand out the prizes and a full list of all the winners is shown below. Thanks (I think) must also go to Euan Drysdale for presenting the wooden anchor to me for the incident with Lafter's anchor I had conveniently forgotten about.

The winter frostbite series has been affected by weather conditions – two races were cancelled and two others only just finished before the wind died and the dinghies had to be towed back in.

Congratulations to all who won an event this year, but as always it's the taking part that is themain driver and the biggest thanks always goes to those who turn out, win or lose, to support the events we run each year. Without this support we can't run any events so thanks always to everyone that attended an event this year.

The Sailing Forum will now take place in January 2012, exact date to be notified later.

Trevor Mackay2011 Prizewinners – Yachts

Regatta Yacht Prize Talisker Dave JamiesonLumley Bowl Talisker Dave JamiesonGarvie Shield Oystercatcher Karolina KolodziejczakGilroy Trophy Free Spirit Rob GarnerGunner's Trophy Kiri Hamish SutherlandInchcolm Plate Talsiker Dave JamiesonBelhaven Trophy Talisker Dave JamiesonDevlin Plate Lafter Euan McBrideLaidlaw Cup Talisker Dave JamiesonRose Trophy Talsiker Dave JamiesonPursuit Shield Talisker Dave JamiesonMaster Mariner Cup Peagsus II Jim DougallDrambuie Cruising Cup Seahorse Alvin Barber

2011 Prizewinners – Dinghies

Tulloch Bowl Boudica Campbell CalderCleland Cup Frodo Tim JonesCam Robbie Trophy Marengo Piotr WojtczukH K Brown Trophy Topper T1 Alfie HinchliffeBrass Monkey Trophy Pechtoot’s Precious Campbell CalderGogar Cup Hotscotch Liz EatonYouth Trophy Penguin Island Robert NimmoCrews Prize Tankard Marengo Ania Basista

head-work-partiesThe usual moorings work parties will take place during Jan, Feb and Mar, and the lucky names have already received their invitations to the parties. The first weekend will be concerned with replacing a section of ground chain outside the clubhouse. Later weekends will check the rest of the chain and when that is finished then there is always plenty of work to be done ashore.

This year we intend to install a new length of chain parallel to the dinghy park fence. This will be for 4 boats. It will not necessarily see an increase in the number of boats in the river, just a slight reorganisation of the existing ones.

The club slipway needs cleaned every 4 weeks to keep it safe to walk on, for members and the public. The club pressure washer makes this task reasonably easy and takes about 3 hours to complete. Again, I have issued a rota of names to carry out this task throughout the summer.

Euan McBride

Work Parties

Sailing Sec's RamblingsIn This Issue

Kitchen

Commodore's Musings

Sailing Sec's Ramblings

Work Parties

New Club Committee

2012 Diary Dates

Final Fling Regatta

VHF Channels

Albacore Awards

The Simplest Things

Prizegiving Scenes

head-committeeAt the club's AGM in November, the new committee was elected. Many thanks to Dave Lines, Ron McCreath, Campbell Calder, Lawrie Elliott and Sam Miller who are retiring, and welcome to all the new committee members.

The new club committee is listed below. Note that individual committee members can be contacted by email using their title @ cramondboatclub.org.uk, while the whole committee can be contacted using cbc-committee @ yahoogroups.co.uk.

Office Bearers email titleCommodore Euan Drysdale commodoreVice Commodore position vacant vicecommodoreRear Commodore position vacant rearcommodoreHon Secretary Alvin Barber secretaryHon Treasurer Keith Conway treasurerSailing Secretary Trevor Mackay sailing

Committee MembersMembership Secretary Debbie Pringle membershipMoorings Convenor Euan McBride mooringsDinghy Park Convenor Paul Aslett dinghyparkTraining Officer Anne-Marie MacRury trainingBosun Calum Muir bosunBar Convenor Colin Macartney barHouse Convenor Alastair Miller houseSocial Convenor position vacant socialCramond Sailability Rep Keith Barker sailability

Non-committee PostsRescue Officer Andy Lines rescueSeagull Editor Alastair Millar seagull

head-diary-datesThe following dates have been provisionally established for club events next year. Put them in your diaries/calendars/online schedulers now.

Month Date On Water On Shore

January 1 Ne'er Day Breakfast

14 AC/DC Tribute Band

28 Burns Supper

28/29 Moorings Work Party

February 11/12 Moorings Work Party

25/26 Moorings Work Party

March 3/4 First Aid Course

24/25 Moorings Work Party

31 Nautical Nosh

April 1 Lay Race Marks

7 Crane In

8 Work Party

21/22 Opening Cruise

June 23/24 Cruise to Limekilns

August 18 Family Fun Day

September 26 E.G.M.

29/30 Closing Cruise

October 12 Work Party

13 Crane Out

20 Lay Up Supper

November 17 Prizegiving

December 2 A.G.M.

16 Childrens Christmas Party

2012 Diary Dates

New Club CommitteeIn This Issue

Commodore's Musings

Sailing Sec's Ramblings

Work Parties

New Club Committee

2012 Diary Dates

Final Fling Regatta

VHF Channels

Albacore Awards

The Simplest Things

Prizegiving Scenes

Welcome to all our recently-joined members.

FullNeiliann Tait

AssociateGraham Cullen

JuniorAli Millican

SocialGary Hamilton

head-final-fling-regattaSunday 25th September dawned calmly and peacefully. Dabchick, the chosen regatta committee boat, lay securely tied alongside the clubhouse. The skipper however was roused from his morphean languor by the unexpected early arrival of some cars. Much too well mannered to complain, he joined them for an enjoyable breakfast of bacon rolls and coffee while watching Scotland thrash Argentina in the Rugby World Cup. Thrashed that is until the last minute. In the meantime the wind had got its act together and was blowing old boots, so Euan McBride, unusually short of crew, volunteered Lafter for committee boat.

Sailing Instructions had been issued a little on the late side and referred to a beginner’s dinghy course. This was the subject of some light-hearted banter between competitors (it is pleasing to note that the bruises are fading) and the race officer finally chose an Olympic course. Meanwhile frantic efforts were being made to start rescue boats, inflate marks, rig dinghies and find gear – In other words normal preparations.

On board Lafter, once on station, duties were allocated: Euan -timing, horn and secretarial, Phil Chester- knots, flags, anchoring and blame. There being not much else to do, Ian Hellewell hung about watching the line and passing the time chatting on the radio and generally interfering with the Sea Scouts' RIB which was doing sterling work laying and relaying marks. A steady southerly force 6 prevailed but the wind god was spraying bursts of force 8 like an AK47-wielding Libyan freedom fighter on speed.

Kiri, Exilse and Lucinda made it to the line and had a most enjoyable if energetic time waiting while the start was delayed to allow dinghies and rescue boats to arrive.

It looked like the dinghies were having too much fun acting like skittles so reluctantly the dinghy race was cancelled. However Tim and Carol Jones on Seejay (a Laser 2) did make it out and showed how it should be done reaching effortlessly back and forth with a backed jib. Sorry they couldn’t be given a race.

At the start Kiri with Hamish Sutherland helped (is that the right word?) by Dave McKay narrowly pipped Andy Walker’s Exile, crewed by work colleagues, and for the rest of the race stayed ahead by the narrowest of margins. What fun they were having with a broach here, an uncontrolled rounding up there. Aboard Lafter the crew almost left their coffee and biscuits to watch.

At the final leeward mark it was still neck and neck, Kiri rounded and tacked on port while Andy held on starboard. Hamish tacked back onto starboard when he judged he could make the line. At first it looked as if he would but sailing's a cruel game and he got headed at the last moment. Andy turned onto port and the gust that headed Kiri freed him and he was blasting along in fine style. Exisle needed to duck Lafter's stern and as he rounded up for the line he luffed and Hamish had him on starboard. Or he would have, but just at the moment Exisle appeared underneath Lafter, Hamish had started his tack back onto port. Exisle crawled over the line and for a while it looked as if he wouldn’t be able to clear it but he slowly gathered way and was just clear when Kiri crossed. A terrific finish with Exisle winning by only a few seconds.

For sheer guts and determination, the “Man (or rather boat) of the match” went to a deserving Kay McBurney and her crew of Joe and newcomer Gavin representing Sailablity in Lucinda.

Ian Hellewell

head-vhf-channelsLike most yacht clubs, we tend to use channel M1 (previously known as 37) for club-related communication, such as race control. This can cause a problem when many clubs have events running at the same time. The Edinburgh Regatta took place at Granton at the same time as our Family Fun Day, so anyone listening in on M1 heard all kinds of interesting information such as the sandwich order for the committee boat and the password for RFYC's computer system.

To avoid this, it has been suggested that we should use the second marina channel, M2 instead (also designated as P4 on some VHF sets). One problem is that older radio equipment may not have M2.

Note that both M1 and M2 are intended for communicating between pleasure craft and marinas or yacht clubs, and should not be used for inter-ship communication.

VHF Channels

Fast, Furious, Frantic, Frenzied,Frenetic Fun at the Final Fling Regatta

In This Issue

New Members

Commodore's Musings

Sailing Sec's Ramblings

Work Parties

New Club Committee

2012 Diary Dates

Final Fling Regatta

VHF Channels

Albacore Awards

The Simplest Things

Prizegiving Scenes

Former CBC member Eric White has written an entertaining account of his epic voyage from Cramond to the Mediterranean and then into the Black Sea in 1990/91.

Eric found himself in Russia, Bulgaria and the Ukraine at the exact moment that communism was collapsing and new states were arising from the ashes.

It is a fascinating story and is available from Amazon.

head-iaa-awardsWe were almost ready for our trip west in Jester. We planned to go through the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Crinan Canal, sail on the west coast, then return to take part in the "Forth & Clyde 10" flotilla to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the re-opening of the canal. The boat was ready, provisions were purchased and the transit booked.

Then, suddenly an invitation arrived from Canada. There was to be an Awards Dinner at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club on 18th September, during the International Albacore Championship. It was the 40th anniversary of the International Albacore Association, and to celebrate this the Albacore Associations from Canada, USA and UK had been asked to nominate those who had given outstanding service during its 40 years. David had been chosen as one of the nominees from the UK. At first he thought, pity we can’t go, but after briefly reconsidering, decided we could go a bit further west than originally intended!

We arrived in Toronto on Friday 16th September, and on Saturday we had been invited down to the Outer Harbour Centreboard Club to meet John and Alastair Martin (formerly Alastair MacDonald who had sailed Chipichipe at South Queensferry). We went afloat with them in the Club’s “crash boat” (a 20ft hard chine GRP rescue boat with a Honda 150 outboard engine!) to watch the racing. Watching 70 Albacores on a beautiful sunny day on Lake Ontario with the Toronto skyline behind was already worth the trip! We spent the day afloat watching keen racing in an increasingly strong wind, and even ended up towing in a boat which had a broken mast. There were unfortunately lots of ‘black flag’ starts due to the strong current which pushed the boats over the line.

The Royal Canadian Yacht Club is situated on an island off Toronto, so on Sunday afternoon we boarded the RCYC ferry to the Club for the 40th Anniversary Dinner. From the start, we began to meet up with so many people we knew from past championships. The Albacore Worlds, as they were originally known, were held every second year, and David had only missed 1971 and 1987 then organised the eleventh at Cramond in 1991.

Returning to RCYC after 28 years brought back many memories, and it was wonderful to meet friends who had come to Cramond Boat Club in 1991 when the Internationals were held here.

After the meal, the prizes for the Canadian National Championship were presented (won by our friends Barney Harris and David Byron) then the IAA presentations took place.

There were representatives from Canada, USA and the UK, each of whom spoke briefly about their involvement with the International Albacore Association. They were each presented with a personally engraved glass tankard to mark their “Outstanding Contribution” to the IAA.

David’s contribution began with the Steering Committee meetings in 1971, followed by 6 years as Secretary, then two terms as President. This covered a period of 16 years in total.

Anna Innes

International Albacore Assocation AwardsIn This Issue

Holy Smoke

Anna and Dave (with his presentation tankard)with John Duncan (USA and founder member of IAA)

and Peter Duncan (USA).photo by Lisa Niblett of Toronto

Part of the fleet off Toronto

Commodore's Musings

Sailing Sec's Ramblings

Work Parties

New Club Committee

2012 Diary Dates

Final Fling Regatta

VHF Channels

Albacore Awards

The Simplest Things

Prizegiving Scenes

Except where stated, all photos are by club members and reproduced with their permission.

Seagull Editor:seagull@cramondboatclub.org.uk

Club Committee:cbc-committee@yahoogroups.co.uk

Club Members Email List:cramond@yahoogroups.co.uk

head-simplest-thingsI decided to go down to my boat to take advantage of the lovely warm weather we had in late October. When I arrived there was a car in the dinghy park which I did not recognize, and being a curious type I went across to see who it was. It was a surveyor who had been commissioned to do a survey on a boat which was for sale. We introduced ourselves and had a quick chat about the usual things. I offered my services if he needed a hand for anything.

About an hour later he asked if I would like to come and see a fairly major problem he had found. He showed me the plastic shaft of the speed impeller. It was cracked almost right across on the inside of the hull. The cause of this was that the internal tube had suffered a fairly hefty knock. If another knock had happened when the boat was in the water the tube could have sheared from the external flange, causing both parts to separate and serious flooding to occur.

It's amazing how potentially disastrous problems can happen from the simplest things. The surveyor recommends that a layer of fibreglass matt is applied round the base of the internal tube which then seals it to the hull. This means if the external flange is knocked off, the tube is still sealed to the hull. It also gives the tube greater strength to withstand knocks from the inside.

I have already rectified my fitting with two layers of mat and one of cloth. It took me about an hour. Well worth the time to give peace of mind.

Euan McBride

head-prizegiving

The Simplest Things

Scenes from Prizegiving

In This Issue

Contacts

Acknowledgements