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November 2016

From The Editor Because we had a “special” Mainsheet issued in October with the Commodore’s musings on his first six months in post, this month’s edition is a little later than usual and is not in-troduced by his regular piece. Staff holidays at the Mainsheet offices have also delayed this edition. We should be back to normal for December. On the following pages, there’s a section about Tom Bovington who sadly passed away re-cently. The rest of Mainsheet covers all the regular features (Recorder Notes, Catz Chat etc) but because the summer sailing on the sea has now come to an end I’ve produced some statistics for those who like that sort of thing. We also have a new feature. I’d like to introduce “Aunt Sailly” our new agony aunt who’s here to answer all your personal questions in a completely confidential fashion. See her column later in this edition where she answers some burning questions from members. I really think we should be covering more about cadets in Mainsheet. Is there anyone out there (adult or cadet) who would like to produce a monthly article on their exploits? I know they do great things on club sites and away but I need some input. I can do all the editing, and add pictures, but need some raw input to work from. Thanks,

Mainsheet Editor mainsheetnssc@nssc.org.uk

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One of our good friends was sadly taken from us far to early, Tom sadly passed away on the 9th of September aged just 29 due to an unknown heart condition. Tom's Mum Jane came up with a brilliant suggestion and one that Tom would whole heart-edly approve of; to try and raise money to purchase a defibrillator to be located somewhere public where it may be needed.

We felt it would be ideally and suitably placed at Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club providing a chance to anyone who may need it on the beach, the prom, tide mills and of course the sailing club.

This will be a public access defibrillator located on the outside of the sailing club, its location known to the ambulance service. Should you call 999 and need one they can quickly and easily direct you to it.

We hope that this small gesture of remembrance will one day save someone's life.

Tom Bovington

As most of you are now surely aware, Tom Bovington passed away in September. He was a cadet and learned to sail at the club. A JustGiving page has raised over £3500 to supply at least one defibrillator at the Seaford clubhouse. The JustGiving cita-tion is reproduced below. On the next page is a tribute to Tom by his father.

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The Hardest of Days, The Best of Days

Wednesday 5th Oct 2016, We all said our goodbyes to a truly good man. Walking into the cathedral behind Tom's coffin was the most difficult thing I have ever done. The service was a beautiful send off for Tom. A service which gave us tears, smiles and even a little laughter. Griff's poem read by Griff & Jeremy was a lovely moment. A few of us moved on to the crematorium for a lovely simple service. I was so proud of Vicky reading her tribute to Tom and this gave me the strength to also stand up and read mine which will share here.... We have 3 wonderful sons. Sons who have enriched our lives. Heartbreakingly, Tom has been taken from us at just 29 years old. Tom, a kind caring person always made a success of everything he tackled. From Sea cadet & Lifeguard to Outdoor activities instructor and of course as a Nurse in the Royal Navy. Tom married Vicky our wonderful daughter in law, and they have given us the 2 most delightful grand daughters. Tom died on 9th September, My birthday. My future birthdays will be filled with sadness. But they will be a celebration. A celebration in memory of a wonderful son, brother, hus-band & father. Rest in Peace..... Walking into the Wake at HMS Nelson, it was quite overwhelming to realise that the packed room was there for one purpose. To pay tribute to our son. Those 2 hours really warmed the heart. A cloud has lifted and the sun is shining. There will still be tears, but there will be many more smiles. Tom will continue to make his mark on the world in all the fundraising that I believe will be done in his name. a huge THANKYOU to every one of you for making yesterday a memorable day. Mike Bovington xxx

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Banking on the Future

A small group of people led by Simon Suter have recently been reinforcing the bank at Piddinghoe. This has involved adding new planking to the edge of the earth launching area. This has been held in place by metre long lengths of steel set into concrete in holes dug back from the edge of the pond.

The picture shows the work taking place. The new planking has been screwed to the rotting existing woodwork to hold it in place temporarily. The holes have been dug, and the worker on the boat is drilling through the earth to take the metal ties before they’re encased in concrete in the holes.

The holes have then been back-filled with soil and turfs and look like a long neat line of gerbil graves.

We’re now waiting for the first cadet to roughly launch an Oppie off the edge and pull 50 foot of bank edge, 30 cubic yards of clay, and 20 lumps of concrete into the pond.

Mainsheet Editor

Tales of Mystery and Imagination

In 1959 the NSSC report and ac-counts show £1-10s-0p for removal of a piano. Perhaps we could improve attendance at the clubhouse on a wet Friday in February by getting someone in to tickle the ivories. But first we have to find where it went…..

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Meet the Director: George Cork, Rear-Commodore Seaford George has recently taken over as Rear Commo-dore for Seaford. He’s written a thumb-nail sketch of himself but says he doesn’t want a pic-ture to go with it. So, because last month’s piece about Nick Blackburn didn’t have a picture of Nick (since received) I’ve put a picture of him here instead. “Hello my name is George Cork, I have lived in Seaford most of my life and I learnt to sail on Piddinghoe pond in my school days. I still do now with a Enterprise (14ft). I have recently joined the board of directors as Rear Commodore of Seaford. I have also worked in and from Seaford most of my life. I've worked in the water indus-try as a mains and service layer, run pumping sta-tions at Poverty Bottom (Bishopstone) and Bar-combe Mills. I have also worked in logistics and security, I have my BII and NLC in licensing law and a diploma in business inn keeping. I have also worked in catering and have taken NVQ 1/2 in food preparation. I have been a breakfast chef, which involved also involved the ordering and stock taking of foods, also prepping for mains and the cooking of both main and breakfasts. Eighteen months ago I was in a position to semi retire and this giving me to give more time for the club. I took on this position as Nick moved to Piddinghoe as rear commodore, leaving Seaford vacant and which I was asked to fill. I'm very hands on and willing help the club, whether sitting on the board or helping maintain Seaford site. This I cannot do all by myself and so I'm looking for volunteers for help in many jobs that need doing weekly. So to earn your duty points this year, please contact me by phone or e-mail (as I understand 1 point for one hour worked ) My contact detail are on NSSC website and shown below. I’d like to thank everyone who turned-up for the work party in October at Seaford.” George Cork Rear Commodore, Seaford seafordnssc@nssc.org.uk

Picture of Nick Blackburn, (Rear-Commodore, Piddinghoe) with Lo-la, NOT of George Cork (Rear-Commodore, Seaford)

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News From The Galley New to our Menu New on our cake counter: Superfoods Fruit Cake

With winter nights drawing in we have added Baileys Hot Chocolate with whipped cream to our menu – perfect after a chilly walk along the seafront. Roast Dinners Starting 13th November and then alternate Sundays we will be offering Roast dinners on Sundays. We are pleased to announce that Chef Richard Collyer – voted “best roast dinner in Brighton “ 2 years running, will be joining the Galley team to cook your Roasts. Chef Richard has been cooking for 25 years, is classically trained and has cooked around the world. Booking is essential.

New to the Bar Draught Lager

We now serve draught Becks. The becks comes in 6 litre kegs and we serve it at 4 degrees. Yes there definitely is a difference in flavour

Old Speckled Hen are getting in the festive mood: Limited edition bottles available.

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October in the Galley The Cheese & Wine evening was well attended with lots of good feedback. The Harveys and Plumpton speakers were interesting and the cheese selection supplied by Curd & Cure caused much discus-sion. We sold out of the Harveys Port after the event. We have booked another evening in June, so there’s a date for your diaries. We catered for a wake held at the club and have another childrens party booked. With the lovely weather this month we have had lots of members popping in to watch the sunsets. Recycling @ The Galley We are keen to be environmentally friendly whenever we can. The Rubbish contract has been moved so that we now recycle glass and cardboard and the club is saving about £800 a year in waste costs. We have our sunflower oil collected by a company who converts the oil into fuel, and George is collecting our aluminium cans for recycling, thank you George. The club is also part of the Seaford Town Council’s Beach Clean project. This board sits on the beach by the winch and we have found that the litter pickers are regularly used especially by children. Working Party day A busy day was had by the volunteers helping to get the club ready for the Winter months. Plenty of Bacon sandwiches and tea were served to keep them going. Thank you. Bar Staff Volunteers The Club is looking for occasional bar staff to help behind and around the bar when the club has social events – no experience necessary we are happy to bring you up to speed and you will get duty points. Food during November Wednesday Evenings - eat off the menu by 8pm (or our Special) Fridays - eat off the menu by 8pm (or our Special) Saturdays – open till 10pm (steak, fish & chips, children’s menu available) Sundays – watch out for our Roasts

Dates for November 13 November Roast Dinner – ring the galley to book 27 November Roast Dinner – ring the galley to book 25th November -Sky at Night 6.30pm (Let us know you are coming) Hosted by Wealden Astronomical Society with their telescopes, calling all Cadets & fami-ly (open to all members) – We hope to see Orion, Seven sisters and the Moon in detail, bring your digital camera and get guidance on deep space photos and maybe take photos through telescopes.

Club Events at The Galley 3rd December – Prize giving dinner (book at the Galley – email, pop in, or phone) 11 December Roast Dinner - – ring the galley to book 17th December – Club Christmas Party (Harveys Christmas Ale will be on tap) 24th December - Christmas Eve: 2 - 4pm pop in for Mince pies & Mulled wine Louise

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CATZ CHAT (AUTHOR 1919) OCTOBER Remember all Cat sailors, a number of us want to carry-on sailing until the end of Novem-ber, we will communicate on the Thurs & Friday before the weekend, so please ensure you share your best communication details, Mobile texts, E mail or if you want to be called, please confirm your phone number. (There will be no safety boat cover, just us !).

Sunday 2nd Octoberth Brief report only, as I was having a very enjoyable weekend on the Isle of Wight. Had heard the weather was windy with some waves and the Cats had the best of the weather and the Dart 18 beat the Fireballs to finish first in both races. (did say it was brief)! Sunday 9th October Nice wind from the North, saw a great course and the Cats finished at the front of the line, but what was more important to us all , was the close sailing between the 18 and Sprint 15, soooo much fun and lots of changing of positions, all depending upon the wind shifts and there were quite a few of those happening. Mike finished ahead of Terry, but trailed the 18 and the second race saw Terry finish a long way a head of Dave/Alan and then Mike. Howard at times was coming like a steam train (youngsters would not know what this is) but every time it looked like he was going to seriously hit the front, the wind disappeared…….he still had a huge grin! Now, it seems I have a bit of a leak in my starboard hull, as when I hit the beach when fin-ished, it would not move any further, after removing the rear hatch cover to discover water to the top ! Where and how did that get there…………….not a clue, but looks like some work to be done before the following Sunday. Sunday 16th October So how is it you work all week and look-forward to the weekend to be presented with wind….and a lot of wind – All sailing cancelled! Grrrr. I though I saw a few flat spots ideal for launching between the 6ft waves, yes I know, over optimistic and stupid as well. Sunday 23rd October What fab sailing for those who ventured out, particularly as the wind was building from the NE going E, at times on one of the legs, the wind was gusting a definite 6. Although sitting on the decking you would have thought it to be flat and nice wind, actually, it was high winds gusting and we saw a number of capsizes including Chaz, he was getting closer to the East Harbour arm but was finally able to right the Sprint 15 and then sailed back to the beach in one piece. We saw 4 Sprint15 launch with the Dart18 and after retirements only 2 Sprint15 finished, Terry decided he wanted to take the 7ft pillar buoy with him and be-came tangled, I was able to sail past with a very smug grin… to the finish line. Sunday 30th October Last official race What brilliant weather, sunny, warm and a very light breeze to finish the season. Close rac-ing and winds that were all over the place. There was even the odd “coming together” of the Dart 18 with Sprint 15 and Dart 18 with Laser, clearly a common denominator some-where, no persons were hurt, but damage to the Dart 18 which will be good as new for next season. This will be the last of the Cat reports until next season. So those who are packing up to move to the pond, enjoy the winter season. Mike Godwin

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Recorder’s Notes

The Autumn Series, in which only five of the ten sched-uled races took place, is now over(see results below). On the first Sunday of the series only one of the two races was sailed due to the deteriorating conditions. In that race only 3 of the 7 boats finished but all of the sailors participating did remarkably well not to have capsized considering the strong winds and large waves.

On the 23rd October we were due to hold the Burfoot Cup and the Cup Winners Cup races. However, there were insufficient entries for the Cup Winners (min 5 boats required) so they decided to have an impromptu race instead.

8 boats started in the Burfoot Cup but due to the very gusty conditions leading to several capsizes, only 4 fin-ished. Nick Bush’s Fireball won with his brother helming.

In the Impromptu race Rupert and Chris won with Terry Jones second, while the other two boats in the race re-tired.

For the last race day of the season we re-sailed the Seahaven Cup which was blown out earlier in the season. Weather conditions were good with warm sunshine and a F3 but fluky offshore wind. Laurence Venus won both races on handicap sailing his Streaker closely fol-lowed by Ed Thorburn who came second in both races sailing his Finn. Rupert Smith and Chris Turner although first boat to finish came third on handicap sailing their Fireball, while Jazz Sayed sailing her Farr 3.7 came a close fourth overall. (see results below)

After the race many of us took our boats and trailed them over to Piddinghoe ready for the Winter Series which starts on the 6th November

Lastly, please return all the trophies that were awarded last year so that I can have them engraved for the next dinner and presentation on 3rd December. You can do this either at Piddinghoe on Sunday mornings or at the Seaford clubhouse or at my home (6 Rother Rd, Seaford).

That’s it folks, the season’s over at Seaford, get your dry-suits ready, here comes the Winter Series.

Good sailing ,

Laurence.

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RECENT RESULTS

Autumn Sunday AM Series :-

Overall .................... 1st Laurence Venus Streaker

2nd Rupert Smith & Chris Turner Fireball

3rd James Cuxson & Neil Arnott Fireball

4th Ed Hall Laser Radial

Laser Class ............. 1st Penelope Duncan Laser Radial

2nd Ian Johnson Laser

3rd Richard Beal Laser Radial

Multihulls Class ...... 1st Terry Jones Sprint 15 Sport

2nd Mike Godwin Sprint 15 Sport

3rd Chas Humphries Sprint 15 Sport

Menagerie Class ..... 1st Laurence Venus Streaker

2nd James Cuxson & Neil Arnott Fireball

3rd Rupert Smith & Chris Turner Fireball

Burfoot Cup .......... 1st O Bush & Nick Bush Fireball

2nd Mike Godwin Sprint 15 Sport

3rd Tim Cox & Kingsley Cox Fireball

Impromptu ............ 1st Rupert Smith & Chris Turner Fireball

Instead of 2nd Terry Jones Sprint 15 Sport

Cup Winners

Seahaven Cup ........1st Laurence Venus Streaker

Re-sail 2nd Ed Thorburn Finn

3rd Rupert Smith & Chris Turner Fireball

4th Jazz Sayed Farr 3.7

Laurence.

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Sea Racing Statistics 2016

Now that sea sailing has finished until 2017, we can do some analysis of how the season went. Firstly, let’s cover how the planned racing programme turned into reality. The table below compares 2016 on the sea with 2015. There are a couple of facts that jump out. Firstly, and most significantly is the enormous rise in the number of races not held. This has leapt from about 25% to 50%. Most of these are due to weather but there are some that didn’t happen because of the lack of interest in the afternoon race programme. How-ever, that effect was probably there last year as well so we must put most of the in-crease in losses down to weather.

Is there anything we should be doing about this? The weather cannot be controlled but our programme can. Should we be more flexible in when we hold races so we can adapt our programme to the weather forecast rather than, Canute-style, trying to fit the weather to the programme? Weather forecasts are getting better, the communication-channel with potential sailors can utilise modern technology far better, and perhaps we’re not be-ing flexible enough with the type of safety boat we use. You could imagine a race being called at 24 hours’ notice using WhatsApp (or similar) to gather sailors, with some co-opted to take a jet-ski off the beach as safety, and using small buoys (permanently laid?) as marks. Nobody says a race has to start into the wind. I’ve sailed yachts in the Solent where the start is dictated by permanent buoys and by the tides and where large fields career headlong through the start gate on a run.

Anyway those are a few of my personal views, not those of the sailing committee.

The second key statistic is that where we do manage to race, there seems to be a pent-up desire from the sailors to get out there. That’s shown by the slight increase in the aver-age number of boats per race.

I’ve done some analysis of sailors as well as races. Now this data comes with a strong health-warning. It comes from Laurence’s results which are accurate, but I’ve done some fairly evil automatic collection of data and that’s been followed by a good amount of manu-al manipulation which could easily have gone wrong (especially if something exciting hap-pened on the TV while I was doing it). There will be mistakes but no silverware hangs off this. I’ve not counted events like Cat Opens or Impromptu races. I’m simply trying to show what club sailors have done. Where a boat got a DNF I’ve simply given them a last place score. Where a sailor is both a Helm and a Crew they’re counted as two different people. Crews of boats such as Arf ‘n’ ‘Arf are difficult to manage. One of three people can sign-on as helm and it’s not known who actually helmed. For them I’ve simply taken who is down on Laurence’s results so their statistics should be taken with a pinch of salt. This data re-lates to sailors only, not boats. “Class” results are not included, only “Overall”. No similar statistics exist for last year so I cannot do comparisons.

Firstly, there have been 102 different people racing this year of whom 12, such as Chris Turner, have doubled-up as helm and crew so we have 114 different race entries, such as Bill Wates (Helm), Chris Turner (Helm) and Chris Turner (Crew). Between those 114 en-tries, 910 sailings were made (that’s higher than boat sailings because some boats have more than one sailor).

2016 2015 Total races planned 116 109 Held 58 82 Not held 58 27 Number of boat sailings 737 1004 Average boats sailed per race held 13 12

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Here is a list of the top 20 “busiest” sailors:

Now let’s do some “fun” rankings. Firstly, I’ve “normalised” race positions by basing them all on a virtual entry of 100 boats per race. So, in a 10 boat race, first scores, 10, second 20 and 10th 100, while in a four boat race, first scores 25 second 50 and fourth 100. I’m trying to get rid of anomalies such as the third boat in a three boat race getting 3 points while 10th in a 20 boat race gets 10 points. Then, I’ve excluded all sailors who’ve sailed less than five races. They can skew the figures by racing only once and having one good score. Those sailors can often not be members anyway. Finally I’ve ranked the average scores. Here are the top 20:

Helm/Crew Name Number of races Best position:

Worst posi-tion:

Helm Mike Godwin 36 1 27 Helm Laurence Venus 33 1 6 Helm Rupert Smith 32 1 11 Crew Chris Turner 32 1 11 Helm Richard Beal 31 3 29 Helm James Cuxson 28 1 28 Helm Jazz Sayed 23 2 18 Helm Chas Humphries 23 5 24 Helm Dave Edwards 21 5 25 Helm Zoe McCaig 20 3 17 Crew Alan Oatway 20 5 25 Helm Tim Cox 19 2 17 Crew Penny Springall 17 2 24 Helm Howard Minto 17 4 23 Helm Jonathan Vernon 17 4 15 Helm Matt Springall 16 1 16 Helm Terry Jones 16 2 22 Helm Chris Turner 15 1 11 Helm Anne Bush 15 3 17 Helm Jamie Lynch 14 1 19

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The first thing to say is that the two lists do not align at all well, suggesting that raw ef-fort and results are not linked. That raises a serious question, are we coaching our sailors enough? If they’re going out week after week and constantly being beaten by people who rarely turn-up, perhaps they’re not learning enough (or perhaps simply beyond redemption).

The second implication is that our multihull sailors are just not trying enough (that’s a joke, honestly). They’re scattered through the list of “busiest” sailors but only one of those turn-up in the rankings. The only multihull sailor there is Jamie Lynch. If you go lower down in the rankings, the next multihull sailors are Terry Jones at 32, Mike Godwin at 40, and How-ard Minto at 49. What’s going on? Their handicaps have already been locally adjusted to bump them up but it doesn’t seem to have much of an effect. No multihull sailor won any cup this year (except within their own class) except for Jamie and that was within the anarchy of Sailing Week and the vagaries of the Pursuit Race. Others must have a better analysis than me but the only thing I can put it down to is that our courses are skewed against them, or the particular conditions of Seaford Bay don’t work for them, or they’re too keen to go wide at marks to protect single-hulls (and they’re all terribly well-behaved in that re-spect), or the split-starts don’t work for them. If the weather is going to continue its cur-rent trend of getting windier we’re likely to want to expand our multihull fleet and that is unlikely to happen if they’re being penalised.

I thought I’d produce one more list called the “Beating your head against a brick-wall” rank-ings. This is a multiplier of number of races undertaken and overall rankings, crudely re-flecting who just doesn’t have a clue when out at sea but is so dumb they don’t realise it and come back week after week for the same punishment. I think it only fair to declare the winner (only):

Helm/Crew Name Rank where >4 races

Helm Laurence Venus 1 Helm Rupert Smith 2 Helm Andy Rychlinski 3 Helm Matt Springall 4 Helm Yves Horent 5 Helm Chris Turner 6 Crew Chris Turner 7 Helm Alice Smith 8 Helm Jamie Lynch 9 Helm James Cuxson 10 Helm Nia Hall 11 Helm Julian Dobson 12 Crew James Dandridge 13 Helm Anne Bush 14 Helm Ed Hall 15 Helm Graham Hardy 16 Crew Neil Arnott 17 Helm Ed Thorburn 18 Crew Roan Briggs 19 Helm Andy Hamilton 20

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When interviewed about that glorious result Richard could only declare that he wished he’d started sailing at age 2 rather than 62.

I don’t really want to publish complete lists above because, as I said before, the data is dubious and we really do want only to celebrate success. However, if anyone wants to see more of their data, just let me know.

Richard Beal Mainsheet Editor mainsheetnssc@nssc.org.uk

Helm/Crew Name

Number of races

Rank where >4 races Rank * Races

Helm Richard Beal 31 50 1550

Relay, short sprint or marathon runners?

I love stats so decided to have a look at club Directors 1989-now.

One Director stands out, Paddy Turner who managed 16 consecutive years, well done Paddy. Or maybe somebody just forgot to delete him off the list of directors

There are directors who have over time served for separate periods of years total-ling 14, 12, 10 and then four served 8 and three served 7

One director has been a director 4 different times

There have been a total of 80 directors

There have been 13 women directors of which 8 did one year.

5 directors have served less than a year

15 directors have been directors more than once, ie with a break

23 directors only served a year

3 years is the average term for a director

4 of the current direc-tors have served 40 years between them and 12 times

63 directors only did it once.

Ian Johnson

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SOCIAL NEWS

Louise Easton and I have taken over the role of joint Social secretary as Carissa has moved to Sailing Secretary.

We are setting up a committee and meeting on 11th November to discuss future social events. If there is anything you would like to see on the calendar please message me on my membership email. We will welcome volunteers who may like to help at Social Events and earn some duty points.

We have several events coming up that include,

The Sky at Night

Presentation Dinner

Christmas Party

Mince pies and Mulled wine Christmas Eve

New Year Party

Additionally we are hoping to have a Children's Christmas Party. More news on this af-ter the meeting.

All events can be found on the NSSC calendar: http://www.nssc.org.uk/cms/index.php/calendar

We hope you will support social events at your club, they are lots of fun and raise funds which help keep membership fees realistic.

Keep your eyes open for more news in Mainsheet and the weekly bulletins.

We look forward to seeing you at Social Events, and any time you feel like popping in for a drink/meal and or chat on Friday evenings.

Gilly Jones

Social Secretary

socialsecnssc@nssc.org.uk

to this. From this….

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Mainsheet Agony Column

Each month we get our own agony columnist, Aunt Sailly, to answer some of those more personal issues that might be affecting you. Complete anonymity is assured (unless the problem is particularly juicy), Aunt Sailly has years of experience getting to the bot-tom of sailors’ problems.

Dear Aunt Sailly, I'm sure I must have a serious problem with "dressing". For years I've been a member of the club and have worn normal clothing (figure-hugging wet-suits with my ass hanging out, daft hats, gloves in the summer, long-johns, neoprene bootees). But lately I've found myself, in secret, putting on jeans and a shirt and a pair of trainers and parading around the house when no one’s there. Please don't mock me. I just cannot help myself. I'm worried that soon I'll start to wear these weird clothes in public and just dread the derision from other sailors. “Worried” of Newhaven

Dear Worried, you really mustn't worry about this but you do need to be careful in pub-lic. There are more people that like to dress like you than you think. There are special places (called "pubs") where like-minded individuals gather in total safety dressed in the same sort of clothes as you, talk about football, and, as an added bonus, don't bitch all the time like they do at the club.

Dear Aunt Sailly, I'm worried that my sailor-friend is cheating on me. Last Sunday she hit a mark so hard it moved ten foot but she didn't do her 360. She then collided with, and sank, a cadet in a Topper. Instead of doing a 720 she screamed "Get out of my life you snotty-nosed brat". Should I confront her with my fears of her cheating? “Concerned” of Seaford

Dear Concerned, be very careful you don't make matters worse. After all, she might be ARO next Sunday and give you a bad time. Far better would be to quietly remove her bung on the beach.

Dear Aunt Sailly, I'm concerned about a habit I seem to have developed. A friend told me it could make me go blind. What I seem to be doing is "volunteering" too much. It started off with me volunteering once or twice a month but now I just cannot seem to stop myself. “Anxious” of Lewes

Dear Anxious, don't listen to those people who tell you that this behaviour could make you go blind. That's an old-wives' tale. This is just natural behaviour that most people go through at a certain stage in their life. I'll guess that you are recently retired and have lots of time on your hands. You'll soon grow out of it when crippling diseases start to strike.

Aunt Sailly

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Dear Aunt Sailly, recently I've found myself digging holes at Piddinghoe, filling them with concrete, and replacing the turf. I've even moved on to digging-up old concrete and replacing it with fresh concrete. Should I be concerned? RB

Dear RB, you've totally lost it. I'll refer you to Dr Freud who's likely to have a lot to say. Keep away from cement mixers.

Dear Aunt Sailly, is streaking a crime? I just cannot stop myself each Sunday from streaking around the bay after visiting the changing rooms. JV

Dear JV, don't worry about this behaviour. Because you're always at the back of the race, nobody will see you.

Dear Aunt Sailly, I think I've got a drink problem. I normally like the odd glass of wine. Recently, in the clubhouse, I asked for a medium glass of Pinot, only to be told that everyone here drinks wine by the pint and that I should seriously address my drink prob-lem. What should I do? “Sober” of Seaford

Dear Sober of Seaford, perhaps you should just try to conform with the norms of the club. Buy those pints of Chardonnay, have a good Brexit argument, and keep the cof-fers of the club full.

Dear Aunt Sailly, I’m in a dilemma. I was in the club the other evening and there was this animal rolling on the floor, growling and leaving hair everywhere. At one stage the animal was on the seats looking as if it wanted its belly scratched. Should I complain to the Galley management about animals out of control, or just accept that that’s the only way we at-tract enough people to keep the club going? “Animal lover” of Brighton.

Dear “Animal lover” of Brighton, I’m afraid that you’re just going to have to understand that some of our club members behave like that after “relaxing” in the bar. Try stroking them but don’t get your hand too near their mouths.

Dear Aunt Sailly, I seem to have got myself into a dreadful financial state. I used to be able to pay my way but I've now had to take out pay-day loans and the bailiffs are cir-cling. What's gone wrong? “Hard-up” of Eastbourne

Dear “Hard-up” of Eastbourne, this one’s simple, you must have recently renewed your club membership at 2017 rates.

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Laser 203084 For Sale

Very good condition, stiff hull, Full XD spec, GRP foils and combi bag, Launching trolley, C2 carbon tiller and extension, Top cover, Top section used twice, Ready to race at any level, Plenty of spares available.

£ 3,000.00 ONO

Call Clive on 01323 893125 / 07702 103115