issue 18, autumn 2011 tiller talk - ullswater … 18...and cathy were able to round cape wrath and...

ULLSWATER YACHT CLUB! ISSUE 18, AUTUMN 2011

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We can exclusively reveal that mindful of the worsening economic situation, the team behind the new clubhouse are to propose a revised design which should minimise the financial burden on the club. We have obtained an exclusive picture; note the extendable modular design and al fresco catering facilities.

Juniper (a Hunter Ranger 245) was in harbour in Wales due to high winds when the last Tiller Talk went to press. Progress has been good since then and Gordon and Cathy were able to round Cape Wrath and sail along the top of Scotland to Scrabster by the end of July. They were still patting themselves on the back when they realised the next challenge was passing through the Pentland Firth, with its very

strong tidal streams and overfalls, including the infamous Merry Rocks of Mey. Good local advice helped them on their way and Juniper sailed triumphantly into Whitby on 15 August, 102 days after setting out, having covered 1581 nautical miles. Friends and family turned out to welcome her home and the full story can be read on their blog http://blog.mailasail.com/junipergb

UYC ANNOUNCE REVISED NEW CLUB HOUSE DESIGN

Juniper Returns!Gordon and Cathy Gledson complete their epic trip

TILLER TALKInside

Page 2James Cook 2011!Dear Auntie Foul...Page 3The Ullswater CamelPage 5Junior & CadetsPage 6Time to make a standPage 7Saturday Nights at UYCPage 8Joe & Murph’s Laser 3000 NationalsPage 9Latest news from POETS0Lord Birkett Trophy 2010Dear Auntie Foul…Page 11Sam Harding Writes….Page 12Site and Development Matters Page 13Welcome To Our Latest MemberDear Auntie Foul… Page 14Chris Brooks’ Top Sailing Tips Parents Please NotePage 15Club President’s New Television Role Page 16The Open Canoe Sailing GroupPage 17The Delights of a CruiserPage 18It’s Competition Time! Page 19Competition AnswersDear Auntie Foul...Page 20Finish Line

20 page bumper issue!


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JAMES COOK 2011!

By Katie Williams.

Sailcamp escapees of 2011, Katie ‘that’s the spe-cial place for special people’ Williams, Eve ‘sleeps a lot’ Melling, Sam ‘get in the kitchen’ Smith, Mat-thew ‘argh my hair!’ Golden, Michael ‘my parents eat me on my birthday’ Plasom-Scott, and Jenny ‘don’t be hasty’ Stephenson, escaped to Ocean Youth Trust NE and sailed the tall ship James Cook.

They set off from Newcastle on the Monday eve-ning, with plans to go straight to Filey on a night sail, but ended up in Hartlepool instead due to sea sickness, woohoo! On Tuesday they sailed to Filey, and did an-chor watches Wednesday night. On Wednesday the group and the rest of the shipmates went into Filey, then sailed to Scarborough that evening, with Katie at the helm and lobster pots everywhere, RISKY!!! (Al-though it turned out that they were all quite good at helming, once used to the wheel and not a tiller!)

We spent Thursday in Scarborough and set off back to Newcastle at 4 o’clock that afternoon. We then ar-rived in Newcastle at 11am Friday morning, NIGHT SAIL!! A week the whole group will remember for a lifetime, even though it was tiring for most, except for Eve. In the end, she slept through most of it.

The group!

The boat!

How responsible the adults you le! us with were…

Dear Auntie Foul,The new Clubhouse is a fantastic idea. But so was the Sinclair C5. Discuss...YoursSir Clive


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THE ULLSWATER CAMEL

A Personal View

There are many problems facing UYC at the moment. Some need immediate attention and others present issues and difficulties which re-quire forethought and planning for the medium and long term if we are to safeguard the future of the club. Following the floods in 2009, a com-plex debate has built up amongst the membership over the issue of a new clubhouse and that has front-loaded the agenda and diverted attention from other more immediate and important issues facing the Club. The time has come therefore to look at the Club’s priorities and put things in or-der.

First and foremost, it is the purpose of the Club to sustain and develop the sport of sailing on Ullswater. That said, our participation and support for Club activities is a commitment we all share, it costs us little and it is the means whereby the club has sustained its purpose over 50 years. All that follows in this personal view is with that in mind.

The most important decision that we have to take is ‘What sort of a club do we want to be?’ The choice lies somewhere between a small sail-ing club by the side of a lake to an international sailing venue and the challenge to the manage-ment is to bring the varying views of the mem-bership together and then set a direction. I would hope that some of the ongoing consultation with the membership will help in resolving this but not all members have expressed opinions and the final decision must rest with the Club Manage-ment. That decision will have to be acceptable to the membership.

Having said that, there are pressing priorities that have to be resolved if the Club is to find its direction. Many readers will be familiar with the expression ‘A Camel is a Horse Designed by a Committee’. Putting aside the satire implicit in this remark, it does convey one important reality, namely that the outcome of committee delibera-tions is sometimes a caricature of the intention. The UYC Management Committee is far too

large and unwieldy to take decisions in an effi-cient way. This is not a personal criticism but when the Club reorganized and became a busi-ness it kept the old committee structure which runs as a members’ parliament and I question whether that is appropriate to our changed cir-cumstances. No modern business is run by a committee; businesses are run by an executive which organises the legwork and makes deci-sions, and this is balanced by a non executive function which represents the interests of stake-holders. Both come together at board level. We need to move toward a system like this.

There is an urgent need to resolve the fi-nances of the Club and place them on a footing where we can plan better and devolve budgets at the beginning of the year to achieve better finan-cial control. Such a system would have greatly eased current problems such as the present crisis with safety boats.

As well as resolving the presentation of our finances so they are better understood, we need to sustain income and recruitment to the mem-bership. We can only do this if prospective mem-bers see us as a welcoming and happy club. Our present club manager is both welcoming and knowledgeable with a deep understanding of the club but if he retires, how will our facilities be managed and what steps can we take to inform prospective members and ensure we continue to be as welcoming as Bill makes us.

In the medium term, the Club Management has a duty to ensure a secure future for the Club. Following the flood in 2009, we were not in a position to replace the clubhouse with a new building and were obliged to undertake an expen-sive renovation of the old one. Rather than be caught out again by flood and also in response to a demand for more modern facilities, a group of members undertook a feasibility study for a new clubhouse and the Management Committee backed by the General Meeting in 2010 gave ap-proval for a competition which attracted many entries. The winning entry, selected by a jury of architects and senior club members has been

Continued on page 4...


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exhibited over the summer in the clubhouse and has excited considerable comment.

In the process of developing the New Club-house Project, there are three simple stages at each of which there is an undertaking to seek the memberships’ approval at a General Meeting. They are Design, Planning and Tendering for the contract. The present position is that we are at the first stage and members have raised major ques-tions about the design and its fitness for purpose. Whatever steps we take from here, the member-ship will be called to a General Meeting to ap-prove the detailed plan and at a later General Meeting to approve the tender. This is a process which must be led by our Management Commit-tee.

I am told from other architectural sources in the country that barely half of the successful competition entries nationwide actually get built and I think we are beginning to see the reason why. I doubt whether any of the designs submit-ted for this competition would have attracted support from a majority of the membership. If we are to get something agreed, we have to tackle it a different way and avoid making it an Aunt Sally and a focus for insults.

There are several reasons why some members are opposed to the present design. Putting aside aesthetic objections about which I doubt we will ever get uniform opinion, the more significant opposition revolves around the following points. There is a sentimental attachment to the old building. Some members question the costs. Some feel it should be sited elsewhere. Some ex-press concerns about the outline design and whether it is fit for purpose. Some feel that if built, it will change the culture of the Club and some have a mixture of complaints about detail.

Many of these points have been considered and external opinions sought by the project team and I hope that the detail of their research will be made clear to the membership shortly. However, given that they are valid, these objections have to be weighed against the possible advantages of having a new and larger clubhouse. Facilities in the present clubhouse are overstretched by big

meetings and that will not be acceptable to visi-tors in future, especially if the ambitions of our keen competitive sailors are to be met. The changing scene in the national sailing world of-fers opportunities that the competitive members and the training faculty value, in the Olympic year the Club would benefit if it had a project that attracted sponsorship. This raises the ques-tion of external funding and without external funding, or a marked increase in membership, the annual rise in membership fees to keep the Club afloat could well exceed the anticipated 5% per annum for the next 5 years. Inflation and rising costs will favour that and it threatens a down-ward spiral if people cannot afford membership. Finally and not least, a new clubhouse would of-fer members better amenity and space for social events.

Over a six year period between 2003 and 2009, Ullswater has experienced a 100 year flood and a 1000 year flood. My yardstick is the under-croft of David Ashton’s house close to the steamer pier at Pooley Bridge where in 2003, the water flooded beneath the floor and in 2009 came above. Think what you will about climate change, it has certainly been wet in recent years. Putting aside the inevitability of death and taxes, I would suggest that floods and interest rates are the two inevitable factors which have a bearing on any decision to build a new clubhouse; over the next ten years, we cannot predict either but we can prepare and if we can agree and can af-ford it, we should go ahead. We should remember that the present building will not last for ever and the lead time for a new build is many years.

Preparing for a new clubhouse is the first of the medium term priorities facing the Club. Maintaining sailing with the support it needs, making the management process and structure more efficient, attracting and keeping member-ship and achieving more transparent financial control with devolved budgets are the immediate priorities. If we face our problems in this order, then given proper leadership, the right decisions will be taken.

John Spivey.


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Autumn series gets off to a calm start.The Cadet Spring series is now complete with Joss Noble in his Topper winning the series on the last race, from April & Jamie Whiteley in a Mirror. The first two races of the Autumn series, held on the Saturday after Sailcamp, had to be abandoned due to a lack of wind and will be removed from the Autumn Series. However, a cheating race was held, with a blind eye being turned to any form of illegal propulsion. The winning Topper of Ewan Hammond, Philip Brooks and Tom Carter, won after accepting a tow from a passing motor boat.Hopefully the future races will be held in better conditions, so please feel free to use those sailing skills learnt at Sailcamp and join in the racing.

Ullswater RegattaA low turnout of entries saw many established fleets fail to meet the sufficient six boats for their own class and associated start, including, the Cruisers, Tempests and Cadets. This meant a wide variation in classes racing together, with the Cadets racing in the handicap fleet and the majority of Juniors sailing.Fifth overall in the conventional fleet, and also awarded the Ward-Starlight Trophy for the first UYC 11yrs and under was April Whiteley crewed by her brother Jamie in a Mirror.The Anchor Trophy for the first UYC 14yrs and under went to Edmund Clarke, crewed by Zander Bairstow in an RS200 in the windward/leeward fleet.

Sailcamp 2011Sailcamp 2009 was nearly flooded out, Sailcamp 2010 was held on a nine to five basis; due to the limited facilities, and also saw David and Clare Clarke hand over the baton to Claire Neilson and team, including Nick Whiteley as the Senior Instructor.It was no surprise that with a wealth of centre experience in the team and past Sailcamp experience, Sailcamp was again an overwhelming success.

With the only dry week so far in the Summer holidays, Sailcamp could not have been scheduled for a better break in the weather, although the wind was a little light for the more advanced sailors.During the week, the RYA inspected UYC. They were very impressed with the set up and could not believe how much support and encouragement the club provides for our youngsters.

It’s fair to say that Sailcamp goes from strength to strength, with the RYA again providing a race training coach, Luke Shaw, who provided additional training to both students and instructors. Well done for another successful year.

The Lord BirkettIt’s great to see an increasing number of UYC Cadet and Juniors joining the Lord Birkett, from Lasers to RS200’s. Although the weather was sunny, the light wind conditions brought long races for all the competitors. The first UYC junior again for a second year was Tom Neilson in a Laser. Pictured is Sam Smith in his RS200 crewed by Eve Melling below.

Dates for the DiaryHere are the dates you need to reserve in the near future. For a full list of Cadet and Junior events see previous Tiller Talk or Race Programme. Cadet Summer 7,8 ~ Sat 10th Sep 11Cadet Summer 9,10 ~ Sat 17th Sep 11Mirror Open ~ Sat 1st Oct 11Cadet Summer 11,12 ~ Sat 1st Oct 11Nippers Nip, Radical Rip, Cadet & Junior Prize Giving ~ Sat 8th Oct 11

Annual Dinner DanceThe UYC Annual Dinner Dance on the 29th October 11 has been well supported by the Junior & Cadet Fleet in the past and I hope to see you all there again this year to finish off the year in style.

Sean BrooksJunior & Cadet Fleet Rep

[email protected]

Junior & Cadet Page

Float Your BoatBoats passing you downwind and you just can’t see why? Well, try a little kiting!

Top Topper Tip

That means heeling the boat over on top of you, and hey presto you go faster.

But don’t take it too far

[email protected]


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As the time for the Annual General meeting is rapidly approaching I feel that I must voice some of my concerns over the situation in which we find ourselves. It has in my view be-come clear that we have lost some of the confi-dence to drive the club forward that was appar-ent a few years ago.

There are many underlying reasons for this, but the sometimes heated debate over the club-house project, together with fears over the gen-eral economic position and static or falling membership have not helped. It is essential, in my view, that we are able to pull together and focus our efforts into ensuring that we have vi-able plans for the future to develop the club for the benefit of our sport, allowing us to enjoy the best sailing venue in the North of England.

Those of you who have been members for a while will know that I was lucky enough to be Commodore when we bought the site. Based on that experience I am certain that when the drive and expertise that already exists within the club is harnessed in a constructive way there is no limit to what we can achieve. Conversely when we question every decision that is made it seems that we have a tendency to self destruct.

We need a strong leadership team who can speak for the club as a whole. In the process of arranging to buy the club I got to know John Spivey well. He is a regular club racer in his Etap and an active poet on Fridays. He helped me significantly in pulling together the financial plan for the purchase of our site, together with gathering member support. He and I have

agreed to put our names forward in the forth-coming club elections as Commodore and Vice Commodore respectively, but as a team rather than as individuals.

If elected then we would intend to rational-ise the way that the club is run so that full man-agement information is available to the commit-tee and so that we can move to deliver the long term aims of the membership.

You may know that, after the club got dam-aged by floodwater, I was asked to join a small group to look at the feasibility of replacing the clubhouse. I eventually addressed members on our findings at Cliburn village hall. I had be-come convinced that we would eventually need to replace and improve our existing clubhouse and that we should work towards that goal.

I remain convinced that this is something that we must undertake as soon as it is viable. It is clear that the design proposals need to be revisited to ensure that when it is delivered it meets our expectations and allows the club to prosper. Having made my position clear I would add that this project should not be al-lowed to stop us developing and enhancing the sailing facilities which must remain our prime objective.

I hope that you are able to support John Spivey and myself both in this election and be-yond. It is a massive challenge that faces us but we need to construct a stable platform in terms of the club management and we believe that together we can go a long way to providing that.

TIME TO MAKE A STANDby John Robson


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Do You Enjoy Saturday Nights at UYC?

Do you remember the fun nights we had?

These can happen again with your help.

You do not have to take responsibility for the whole night. If we can get different volunteers to do the meal, others to help lay tables and others to clear

away it will be less arduous.

I have set up a buddy system where the regular meal providers will offer help and advice to those

new to being in the kitchen, or you could work with them.

Why not get together with some friends and have a go. It does not have to be a gourmet meal; pie and peas, bangers and mash. Why not baked potatoes, salad and provide burgers/sausages etc. for mem-

bers to cook on the barbecue. I am sure you will think of other ideas.

We also need volunteers to run fun nights.

Please help me to kick this off again and add your names to the dates on the attached or contact me to

discuss.

This is your club. Let us make it a fun one

Marion Marshall 01768 840459 or 07970 603622

Email: [email protected]


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JOE & MURPH’S LASER 3000 NATIONALS

The late May Bank Holiday weekend saw the Laser 3000 National Championships being held at Gra$am Water and we were keen to retain our hard won title from last year. The forecast was for moderate wind so we were looking forward to a good weekend’s sailing with hopefully the trophy coming back to Ullswater with us! We had pre-pared well and were both confident yet still nerv-ous in the run up to these Nationals... Lester very kindly lent us his lucky charm which had won 6 Birketts with him which made us laugh and feel more relaxed!

Last year’s Nationals had been amazing – we tried our very hardest with both the preparation and the sailing at the event. We’d had some great training from the URDP and Lester & Lee were our “gurus” answering our many points with in-credible patience. One of Paul Brotherton’s say-ings has really stuck with us and we still have it written on our boom for when we are in need – “Information in, decision out”. This for us is the mechanism by which our sailing does best, with the constant exchange of information between helm and crew maximising efficiency. All we have to do to give ourselves the best chance is just keep calm, collect the available information and make the appropriate decision on what to do based on that!

Once at Gra$am things were different from usual as many of our competitors kept peeking at our boat to get ideas which we hadn’t experienced before and generally put a bit more pressure on. We did our boat prep then got a restful early night in Murph’s van which has been kitted out with bunk beds.

Day 1 dawned bright and breezy, around force 4 as per the forecast. We put on our new set of sails and headed out to the course for the 3 races that were planned. Then just before the first start the wind freshened to force 7 making most of the fleet fall over. At our start we were the only boat in our fleet upright so had a lonely but busy time round the first lap. As we started the second lap we had a tiny breakage which had a massive effect – the outhaul came out from its clip on the end of the boom making the mainsail overly full and very difficult to control. The mainsail bullet then came out of the boom leaving the sail to just flog in the strong breeze. We tried repeatedly for around 20 minutes to re-attach the sail, both while on the boat and with it capsized (wonder how many Gra$am killer shrimps we swal-lowed...) to no avail and eventually had to head to the nearest land to fix it. With all the flogging our new jib had shredded and was now fit for the bin so it was with heavy hearts that we got the main back on (learning point – don’t trust the clip on the end of the boom, lark’s foot the outhaul se-curely instead!) and headed back out to the course. We thought we’d blown the first race and maybe the first day but were relieved to see the chef ’s trousers flag (abandonment) flying on the committee boat so headed back to shore. We re-paired all the various damage and put on our spare jib (old and Dacron...) ready in case of a re-start but in fact the wind never abated so there were no races to count from the first day.

Feeling disappointed but relieved we ad-journed to the bar where food, drink and a fine band had been put on. We made an effort to keep positive but I think we both knew in our heart of hearts that we had possibly made things a lot harder for ourselves by breaking much of our best kit...



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Day 2 saw force 3 wind and the RO trying to squeeze 5 races in to make up for the ones lost the previous day. The recent URDP Starting Ses-sion certainly proved worth its weight in gold as we found ourselves winning every one of the 5 starts! This put us in the dream position of being able to own every decision on the first beat and we rounded the windward mark in first or second place in every race! There were some good battles around the course in familiar gusty/patchy condi-tions and we were very happy to cross the line first in all of the first four races.

So going into the final race we were in a good position but our nearest competitor had finished 2nd in most of the races so there wasn’t much of a score difference meaning that we still had to do well against them. At last year’s Nationals in a similar position guru Lester texted saying “it’s just another race, just do exactly the same proc-esses as you’ve done for all the others and don’t think about it too much” which worked great. The final race followed a similar pattern to the others and despite keeping one tactical eye on ‘them’, we found ourselves leading on the final run. About 100 metres from the finish line it was clear that the boat in 2nd wasn’t gaining and al-though we don’t like to prematurely celebrate in case of a last minute hole etc, the wind was pretty steady and we finally relaxed as it looked like we’d done it! So a pair of moist eyed Ullswater sailors crossed the line laughing, cheer-ing and hugging!

Then at the prize giving we got another nice surprise - Julz turned up just in time to cheer us on and take photos while delivering her Moth for use at Gra$am while she’s down there

After a seemingly disastrous first day we had bounced back to get a scoreline of all wins and retain the title; moral of the story – never give up!

It’s been an incredible couple of years which we never dreamt possible, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the help and support of UYC. The more we travel around to events at other clubs the more we realise how perfect Ullswater is. We feel SO lucky to have it. Thanks all!

Joe and Murph

LATEST NEWS FROM POETS - AUGUST 2011 Poets have had a busy Summer, and not only on Ullswater! Master’s week, organized by the Brad-

leys, was a great success and much enjoyed by everyone who took part - not only sailing, but socializing, with Tiffin every day coordinated by Kathleen Adams who made the most delicious scones.

Besides those who have had holidays - some sailing in foreign (and sunnier) parts - two of our sailors have circumnavigated England,Wales and Scotland.

Cathy and Gordon Gledson completed this magnificent feat on Sunday 7th August ,when they came into Whitby after being at sea since June. We shall be celebrating their safe return at the POETs supper on September 2nd.

The last two races of the series will take place over the next few weeks and with five races to qual-ify; the results are far from a foregone conclusion.

We welcome cruiser sailors new to the Poets, both for casual sails and for racing, so if you are free on Fridays, do join us!

Liz Spivey


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LORD BIRKETT TROPHY 2012

Next year is not only important as an Olympic year, but July 2012 will be the 50th Anniversary of the running of the first Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy.UYC Marketing Team is already planning a very special Birkett for next July so watch this space. Details will also appear on our website.If any members have any old photographs or information on previous Birketts, could they please let either Pauline Thompson or Sue Giles know. We plan a special souvenir booklet on the history of the Birkett which will be available next year.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: 7th and 8th July 2012

Pauline Thompson

Dear Auntie Foul,If I saw full milk bottles standing on my neighbour’s front door step for several days, I would

feel something was wrong and call to see if she was OK. On a recent visit to UYC, I was dismayed to see several cruisers which have been standing on the top field, unlaunched, all season. Has anyone called round to see if the owners are OK?YoursFarmer Palmer.

Auntie Foul replies,Dear Socially Concerned Member

Firstly can I commend you for your concern for some of our potentially more vulnerable members. Can I also assure you that as part of our commitment to ‘Cameron's Big Society’ our cruiser reps. make regular visits to all our ‘elder’ members and are able to provide a range of aids and assistance where necessary..


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SAM HARDING WRITES….I would like to thank all the team that put together a

great week at Sailcamp. This is the first time that our family have been involved and I could not believe how much work goes on behind the scenes and the number of people involved. Everyone I met was incredibly friendly and helpful and really supportive towards Charlie. Charlie really enjoyed himself!

Charlie won the regatta in light winds and it is thanks to the instructors and support that he received that he has gained so much confidence in a relatively short space of time. So from all of the Hardings a BIG THANK-YOU

Arthur Read 14th Jan 1942- 30th March 2010

The Regatta Trophy has been donated to Ullswater Yacht Club in memory of Arthur Read by his family.Arthur Read had been a member of the club for over 30 years sailing the Hunter Europa, Suki, for many of these years. He was introduced to sailing through his business partner Tom Ker-shaw of ‘Kershaw's Chemists’ and quickly de-veloped a passion for it. He commuted regularly from our home in Manchester to compete at weekend events. He loved the lake and really enjoyed competitive sailing, moving closer to the lake in 2000. It is because Dad gained so much pleasure from being out in his cruiser rac-ing that we wanted to give something back to the club. One of Dad's final achievements at the club was winning the UIlswater Regatta in August 2009 with his close friend Richard Sealby after 2 days of hard sailing. He would be pleased that there is a trophy in his memory!

Arthur Read sailing Suki

Robin Barratt has asked me to forward you some information regarding the Regatta Trophy that was donated to the Club last year in memory of my dad, Arthur Read. (There was a mishap with the first trophy where it got damaged beyond repair at the presentation dinner last October, so now there is a more robust trophy that I presented recently to Robin Barratt who won the Regatta in August 2010).


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Site

As the season changes, so comes the time for us on the Site Team to look ahead to the end of our sailing season and beyond. To this end we have been making some preparations and catch-ing up on more routine site maintenance to en-sure that we are able to operate in as safe an en-vironment as possible.

This year has proved to be the worst for a while as far as clearing the site of cruisers is con-cerned. My apologies, but the most of the owners of those remaining on site currently have good reasons for not moving them – some quite dis-tressing. So please bear with us – and them. When members need our understanding I hope you will do so. By the same token I have to re-mind all cruiser members of the need to have your boat off the site by the end of April 2012 as our activities for the year assume that the site is free for our busy Club life. Please help us with this. It has been suggested by one or two that we charge for storage, but that defeats the object – which is not to have them on the site after the end of April!

So what does this Winter hold for us in the way of weather? Who knows – we don’t have a crystal ball – but we can protect ourselves a little more and we now have a moulded plastic flood protection panel to fit in the Bar Store doorway which will give us another half metre of protec-tion at this key place if the water rises a lot. (If it exceeds the half metre at this point it will be in through the main doors.)

Development Plan

As all of you know, we are now in the proc-ess of collecting the views of as many members as possible on how they would like to see the Club develop. As one of the group of eight in-volved in this process at present, I would like to thank all of you who have taken the opportunity to complete the on-line questionnaire, or come to a SWOT members discussion meeting, or com-pleted a SWOT sheet, or put some suggestions in

the box in the bar area. All of this information is now being collected for analysis and will form the basis of the draft plan which will be prepared by this group.

So who is in the group and what happens next? The Club Development Group is com-prised of four committee members – Roy Hulse, John Robinson, John Easterby and Kathleen Ad-ams, plus four members – Rob Watson, Robin Stanley, John Lyons and Nick Stewardson… What happens next is as above and then it will be costed out to form a financial plan which will help to determine priorities and provide a sound basis for budget setting and control for a period of up to 5 years. We plan to present as much of this information as possible at the October Gen-eral Meeting. Afterwards we will then proceed to prepare the Plan for Management Committee amendment/approval and on completion we will distribute it to you all in the spring of next year.

On a personal note, it saddens me very much that the subject of the possible new clubhouse is causing so much acrimony between some mem-bers. I suppose that bad/contentious news travels faster than positive/good news in life. As one of the small group who managed the repair of the clubhouse after the flood of 2009 I am very con-scious of the damage sustained and how much effort it took to do the repairs. I am also very aware of the power of the flood waters on Ullswater and the difficulties in protecting one-self from them. Not knowing what the weather holds for us each season makes it almost impos-sible to asses the risk. As a result there is no doubt in my mind that we must have a plan for a new clubhouse in case it is needed. This plan, however, can only be implemented when we can finance it, as has often been said (but forgotten by many it seems).

I am not part of the New Clubhouse Group, but as this is comprised of experienced professionals in their own fields of architecture, finance, project management and corporate

SITE AND DEVELOPMENT MATTERS



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governance I support their work 100%. I also support the new design – I understand the design rationale. My queries have been answered and my suggestions (together other people’s) have been incorporated into the concept. This is a building for now and for our future. As far as funding is concerned the group has used a very powerful financial model to look into the financ-ing of the project and when it may be feasible – if we want it. When we want it of course is a differ-ent matter – it will have to fit into the Develop-ment Plan, several years in the future.

The group are planning to have further up-dated information in the clubhouse soon, so I hope you will take the opportunity to study it and

ask questions of them – as you have done since the information first went on display at Easter.

Which takes me back to my main subject of the overall Development Plan. As I help with the plan, I am influenced in my thinking by remind-ing myself that we belong to a ‘members club’, which happens to be a Limited Company (not the other way around – if you take my meaning). It will take some considerable skill and understand-ing for the incoming management team to incor-porate all the practical needs of our Club and their funding requirements into the Plan.

John EasterbySite Safety Officer

22.8.2011

Dear Auntie Foul,I would like to report that some entrants may have been cheating in the Stig Challenge - several

times I have seen a large green boat going between the Howtown and Pooley Bridge piers, but missing the club jetty. And also using its engine. I didn't get the sail number, but I believe she was named 'Raven'. Should they be disqualified?YoursB. Collins

Auntie Foul replies,The Stig challenge has been somewhat slow to start this year and the organisers are now

allowing members any means of propulsion. However missing out one of the landing stages is not in the best spirit of the event. Neither of course is attaching your vessel by the shrouds to one of the piers and attempting to tow it away., thus preventing any other competitor from completing the round. Thankfully the piers are more firmly attached than the average Tempest shroud.

Billy King!

A BIG UYC WELCOME TO OUR LATEST MEMBER


! PAGE 14

Going from single handers to double handers is always difficult as you either have an idea of what you want to go into and who you want to sail with, or you don’t. When I grew out of a Topper none of my mates were ready to move up or had already paired off. So with a bit of encouragement from my par-ents I went down with my kit and wrote on the board that I was free to crew. The only experience I had by then was from Sailcamp or training, so to say I was inexperienced was an understatement. I am so grateful to all the people that let me sail with them as I gained so much confidence and experience. I would also suggest to anybody to give it a go as you

will get to sail in so many boats. When I did it, I sailed a range of boats from RS800 to Tempests. I would say another big factor that helped me become a better sailor is cadet rac-ing as it is one of the closest and enjoyable forms of racing. There are so many young-sters out there sailing, it is one of the biggest fleets. I think Cadet racing is more competi-tive than the adult racing as you race your own age group. This means that the people that have just started to sail race against peo-ple they will have a laugh with. So I would encourage all the kids that have started their Start Racing or about to do that course to give one of the races a go.

CHRIS BROOKS’ TOP SAILING TIPS

PARENTS PLEASE NOTE

The club would like to bring to your attention that it is your responsibility to take your children home with you at the end of the weekend. The club manager’s duties do not include collecting up your forgotten offspring and posting them back to where they belong!!!!

So if you find yourself travelling along the A66 and are surprised how quiet the kids are, check on the back seat, in the boot, on the roof or wherever else you normally stow them.

One of the U"swater forgotten children ready for posting home.


! PAGE 15

CLUB PRESIDENT’S NEW TELEVISION ROLE

Above: Robin ‘Pudmeister’ Barratt and fan club during filming

Club President Robin Barratt will be soon coming to our screens as a judge in the world’s largest sticky toffee pudding competition. Teams from the Sharrow Bay and The Inn on the Lake went head to head in an attempt to win this prestigious prize. After much deliberation (scoffing) the Inn on the Lake was declared the winner.

The programme is called Monster Munchies and is hosted by ex rugby star Matt Dawson. It will be screened on The Good Food Channel later this year.

Rumours that the UYC entry was described as ‘tasteless’ and ‘unpalatable’ by the judges were described as ‘half-baked’ by a club spokesman. Further investigations have revealed that in a ‘mix up’, an architect’s 3D model had been delivered to the wrong competition...

Right: The winning entry (pudding not clubhouse…)


! PAGE 16

THE OPEN CANOE SAILING GROUPNo doubt many UYC members will have

seen us in our sailing canoes on the lake, most often in July when our club holds what has long been an annual meet. For many of our members Ullswater is one of their favourites with the lake providing ideal waters for sailing canoes and the club site and premises providing all we could wish for in terms of facilities.

Just to clarify and avoid any confusion we sail canoes, some standard open canoes (Cana-dian canoes if you must!) adapted for sailing, some decked and built specifically for sailing and there also are a few unusual craft that do not fit neatly into a category; but they are all small, light(ish!), easily transported, often on top of cars and use a relatively modest amount of sail. They are clearly not ICs or ACs! but it can be argued that they and all the other din-ghies sailed today are derived from much the same origins of recreational small boats – namely from the late 19th century where the exploits of John “Rob Roy” MacGregor, sailing and paddling his “Rob Roy” canoe on various expeditions around Europe, fired the imagina-tion of many others and prompted many boat-ing clubs to be established around the UK – such as the Clyde Canoe Club (now Loch Lo-mond Sailing Club), Royal Canoe Club on the Thames, Humber Yawl Club and the Mersey Canoe Club. Boats have evolved over the years for lots of reasons and the IC10 is a direct de-scendant of those early sailing canoes; in fact its governing body is still the British Canoe Un-ion rather than the Royal Yachting Association.

Our meet on Ullswater is one of many we hold through the year from April to October and we try and spread the meets around the country because we are a national club and like to sail on a variety of waters. Inevitably the Lake District provides several ideal venues and we invariably visit Coniston. In recent years we

have been going to Rutland Water, Southamp-ton Water, Loch Lomond, the Norfolk Broads and Bala amongst many others. At some of our meets we have a little light-hearted racing but it is not our principal activity like it is for many sailing clubs. A few of us who especially like the competition side of things have got in-volved with the Birkett Trophy weekend and we are grateful to UYC again for making us welcome. Our little boats are not particularly speedy and provide a similar performance to a Topper – but we can carry more stuff and/or a passenger when required.

Many of our members are interested in us-ing their canoes to explore and camp from, so we have at least one weekend each year for just that – sailing the length of either Ullswater or Windermere and camping overnight, before re-turning to the start point the next day. Some of our crowd undertake more adventurous coastal cruises, often on the west coast of Scotland. During the first week of this June, five of us cruised and camped around the waters south of Oban, visiting Seil, Luing, Belnahua and Mull. Over the Easter weekend a couple of us joined a Dinghy Cruising Association rally on the So-lent and even threaded the Needles. Our little boats are capable of a lot more than many peo-ple, even experienced sailors, realise. The usual safety precautions, planning and choice of con-ditions obviously apply, and even more so, given our small freeboard and overall size.

The club was founded just over twenty years ago and has about a hundred members. We get about twenty boats turning out at most meets and we’ve had a website for many years, which has recently been completely revised so if you’re curious take a look at www.ocsg.org.uk

Keith Morris – CommodoreOpen Canoe Sailing Group

Ian Priestley has asked us to include this article that was sent to him by the OCSG. It may help to explain why the safety crews were late to work on the Monday a!er the Birkett...


! PAGE 17

THE DELIGHTS OF A CRUISERThis magazine often shows the delights of sailing a full-blown racing machine with no transom, skimming faster than a RIB, like some giant soap-dish across the surface of Ullswater. As the photograph below shows when you own a cruiser a different aspect of sailing becomes avail-able The photograph was taken on Good Friday this year and shows the cockpit table on Samaritz, our Pandora cruiser, set for a quiet dinner whilst anchored with 5 metres of water under her keel just outside Blowick Bay, opposite the Inn on the Lake Hotel in Glennridding

During a breezy afternoon Samaritz had given us a cracking sail to this idyllic spot. Now in but a few moments she becomes the best lakeside Restaurant and Hotel you could wish for, complete with lakeside views, an excellent wine list and late bar. We all take it for granted, but this photograph and the day it reminds us of epitomises the wonder-fully multi-faceted experience that sailing a cruiser on Ullswater can be.

On a more practical note, if any other Pandora owners want details of how to use the standard saloon table as a cockpit table please feel free to ask.It is a simple job, the parts cost around £20 and the table remains usable in the saloon.The same approach can be taken with most other cruisers with a saloon table which fits to the side of the cabin and has a folding support at the other end.


! PAGE 18

THEN AND NOW - IT’S COMPETITION TIME!

These five likely lads were snapped on a recent celebra-tory cruise on the lake. Ques-tion is, who are they and can you spot them in the picture taken below at Sailcamp 1990?

Thanks to Pat Priestley for these. Pat points out that she was in the kitchen when the picture was taken at Sail-camp.

No prizes, just the satis-faction of knowing that you can still remember 1990...

Answers on the next page...


! PAGE 19

The likely lads:Jono Shelley - top row 2nd from the leftOwen Modral - top row 3rd from the left.Graham Priestley - top row 4th from the left, next to OwenBen Shelley - middle row 3rd from the leftJames Walker - middle row, far right.

Also in the picture:Tom and Jo Giles - front row, both kneeling and wearing blue T shirts.Mathew Hulse - front row, seated 3rd from the right wearing a green and navy striped rugby shirt.Rebecca Hulse - top row, far right in a purple top.

The adults:Ian Priestley - on the bottom row left, then Carolyn and the John Modral Roy Hulse - front row.Keith Walker - between the flower potsJoan Walker - next but one to Keith

Have you spotted any others? Pat would love to know.

THEN AND NOW - THE ANSWERS

Dear Auntie Foul,During Sailcamp, I thought the entire Tempest and Flying Fifteen fleets should be thanked for

graciously moving their boats to allow a large, old and rather tatty scout tent to be erected for the week. However, I subsequently found out that the boats were used as a trade-in to obtain the tent. Was it a straight swap, or did the club have to pay additional money (plus the boats) for the tent? YoursD. Dickinson

Auntie Foul replies,The tent you refer to was in fact a circus tent not a scout tent. This was erected as part of the

entertainment for Sailcamp. No extra money was involved, although to make up for the shortfall in the amount due, the Fifteen fleet agreed to put on a nightly act of skill and daring, whilst the Tempest fleet continued in their normal role of clowns.


! PAGE 20

Sorry girls but Maddie’s mum sent us this photo she’d taken during Holiday Week and insisted we publish it. The trouble is she seems to have missed off the caption. So folks what was going on? Answers please to the usual address.

We’ll publish selected captions (read the small print below first!) in the Winter issue.

Dates for your diary

Deadline for contributions to the Winter issue

November 30, 2011

Publication date

In time for Christmas so Santa’s got something to read after his rounds. The actual date remains flexible to accommodate the unforeseen effects of Christmas parties etc...

Finish Line

The Small Print...

As editors we take the view that Tiller Talk is the members’ magazine written for the members by the members and we maintain a neutral editorial stance. We publish what the members choose to send us. As a result it contains an eclectic range of articles and pictures from the serious to ridiculous with the occasional hint of satire. If somebody wants to start a discussion within the membership through their contribution that's fine. As long as it is attributed, not insulting or defamatory and suitable for a family readership we'll publish it. (Auntie Foul is exempt from these conditions of course…)

Please keep the articles coming in. If you’re organising an event how about asking someone to put together a piece on what you’ve done?

E-mail contributions to us at [email protected]

Many thanks, Angela and Robin Day - ‘The Editors’

issue 18, autumn 2011 tiller talk - ullswater … 18...and cathy were able to round cape wrath and...

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