14/10/2014

October Newsletter

Commodore's Message:
The season is rapidly drawing to a close, finishing with the Frostbite on 18 October from Kip Marina. Our annual dinner and prize giving is not far away as well and will take place on 14 November at our new venue in the Central Hotel. Our speaker for the evening is Jim Pollock, who will be entertaining us with highlights from his recent circumnavigation. I am also pleased to welcome to the club new members Elizabeth and Kenneth McCartney. For our entertainment this winter, Martin Yuill has put together a curling event on 25 January - this will be a first for me! I look forward to meeting up with you at our annual dinner, the details of which are in the newsletter. Please book as early as possible so that we can make arrangements with the hotel. Thank you.
Séamus Lalor, Commodore

Annual Prize giving and Dinner
The Committee is delighted to announce a new venue and date for our annual dinner and prize giving. This year the dinner will take place in the Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow on Friday 14 November 2014. We hope you will join us to celebrate another great year. In keeping with tradition there will be a photo competition and this year the theme is ‘Serpent Fellowship’ and judging will take place on the night. There will also be a charity raffle in memory of Alan Robertson with donations being made to the RNLI and Heart, Chest and Stroke Association. Please email your photograph entries to Roisin Harris by Friday 7 November 2014 to allow for printing and display on the evening. We would also welcome log entries.
Tickets for the dinner are £40 per person and include a delicious dinner and a welcome drinks reception. The evening will commence at 19:00. We are also delighted to announce that Jim Pollock will be entertaining us with some great stories from his world cruise.
Seamus and the rest of the Committee look forward to welcoming you and your guests to the dinner.
The hotel is offering a 15% discount on room bookings enter the code "FUNC15" in the booking form promotion code box on the hotels Internet booking form
If you have not managed to return your cups yet, please do so asap so they can be engraved and prepared for the dinner. Cups can be passed to Catherine Toy at the Frostbite. At the very latest please return your cups to Seamus by noon on 1 November.

Download the form for the Annual Dinner here

Forthcoming Events
Frostbite – 18 October (instructions circulated in last newsletter)
Annual Dinner – Friday 14 November 2014, Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow
Curling Bonspiel – 25 January 2015

Serpent Curling Bonspiel   - Martin Yuill writes:


A convivial afternoon of curling and repartee is being arranged. For those who have not curled before, this is your chance to come and try our country’s most famous sport.
Two sheets of ice have been booked at Hamilton Ice Rink for Sunday 25th January2015 at 2.30 session duration approx. 2 hours. This is normally enough for 16players, but we can cater for more for those trying curling for the first time. This ice rink is easy to find and is owned and run by curlers. Direction will be sent out nearer the time, but the rink is close to the M74 Hamilton exit. It has a good viewing area and I envisage an afternoon tea for the non-curlers with drinks, tea and coffee from the bar and homemade cakes and biscuits supplied by the club.
There seems to be a hidden pool of curlers within the Club. Only people who have sailed on club boats may curl so I will accept entries from teams but as it is a social event I will either match two strong teams together or reserve the right to reorganise the rinks to make them more balanced. Teams will play for the Serpent Rock ( Unless someone already has a previous Serpent curling trophy ? phone me ).
Scoring will follow the traditional pattern of shots up then ends up. The “on frozen water” umpire will be Founder Commodore BobbyCorbett, a member of The RCCC Area Standing Committee, whose decision in thecase of protests will be final. The alternative penalty rule will not apply!! Protest flags are not required for question about the rules.
Individuals are welcome to enter and I can accept up to four non curlers who must be prepared to attend at 1.00 p.m. on that Sunday for basic tuition before stepping onto the ice. If there are many more non curlers interested, then an early entry is needed, so extra ice may be requested.
The dress code is warm clothing and a clean pair of trainers. All equipment is supplied by the Hamilton Ice Rink. Costs will be £10.00 for the curlers plus for them a £2.00 temp membership to the ice rink. Those not curling are free.
I plan 8 ends or the bell but if the session is massively oversubscribed I will split the time and have two sets of four ends. Please submit your entry now, along with your cheque for £12 payable to Serpent Yacht Club. This will give me a chance to gauge the numbers and try to book extra ice if available. Entry form below. A reserve list will operate so only early applications are guaranteed to play. Please let me know if you plan to attend outwith a curling group to allow me to assess numbers for afternoon catering. The food and hospitality at Hamilton is really rather good and has an excellent reputation. The ice rink has a contracted out restaurant facility who can supply a good quality high tea, more details to follow in the next newsletter. I propose to have the prize giving after the curling supper, which will be booked for 5pm. 

Download the application form for Curling here

Member News - by Richard Harris of 'Tanit'

The Round Ireland Yacht Race was the first big offshore event of 2014 for Tanit and the first time the crew had sailed together as a team – although between us we’ve had great experiences in offshore races such as Sydney-Hobart, Fastnet, Middle Sea to mention only a few. Mainly Scottish, we did have home nation representation from our Northern Irish navigator, and the boat was smoothly delivered from Southampton by two members of the crew and settled into Wicklow for final pre-race preparation. The Skippers were briefed to anticipate a slow race due to the light winds forecast.


On the start line we found a good position and reached away across the line heading south. We were soon spinnakering all the way to Fastnet Rock but then became becalmed. It was a strange feeling to be so still at such an iconic point which is infamous for its ferocious weather!
Eventually we did break free of Fastnet and were treated to a spectacular sunrise as we passed the stunning scenery of the Skellig Islands. The West coast was a very pleasant leg of the race but the pressure was building by the time we approached Rathlin Island as the boats behind us compressed our lead in a freshening wind, which reached up to 20 knots as we beat and fetched all the way down the final stretch into Wicklow, finishing at around 10am.
We completed 705 miles in just under 5 days but had to wait until the early hours (sampling a local brew known as Guinness and the great Irish hospitality in order to stay alert!) for our final position to be officially confirmed – there was still a chance that we could be beaten on handicap by our closest rival until then. Celebrations started in earnest once the Commodore announced our overall first place!
As a Skipper/Owner, I enjoyed a truly fantastic, very tactical, race which has been one of my favorites in the offshore classics and I look forward to returning.

04/10/2014

Wood Farm Rock

Wood Farm Rock in the Kyles of Bute has long been a place of grounding and expensive keel damage. The positioning of the buoy which moves with the tide has often been misleading.  The CYCA has coordinated its replacement with a North cardinal perch secured to the NE corner of the rock and this has been completed with much thanks to Jamie McGarry of Gareloch Support Services. The full story can be read on the CYCA website or on clydesailing.  The photo below (looking roughly North) shows the new perch in position with the old buoy, just before it was lifted, lying to the tide.