Barts Bash

On May 9th, 2013, Andrew 'Bart' Simpson tragically died in a training accident in San Fransisco Bay while preparing for the America's Cup competition.   There was shock across the sailing world at the loss of this truly great and selfless man and there were clearly many, many people whose lives had been touched by him in some way. A charity in memory of Andrew, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation, was set up by Sir Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy OBE and Andrew's wife Leah to honour Andrew's life and legacy to inspire the next generation through the use of sailing to help young people to develop the personal skills to succeed in life and improve access to jobs and careers within the maritime sector.
The inaugural Bart’s Bash is a sailing race that will be run by sailing clubs all around the world on behalf of the charity, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. On Sunday 21 September 2014 each sailing club will sail an individual Bart’s Bash race at their location with certain set requirements to meet the criteria for a Guinness world record of the largest sailing race ever .  It is the major fundraising event for the Foundation which is asking people to raise money to support our charitable work.  It is for this cause that they are suggesting people should pay a £5 donation to take part.
In support of this, Clyde yacht clubs are combining to join up for one yachtie Barts Bash at Royal Gourock Yacht Club as their site combines a reasonably central venue with good shoreside exposure. Royal Northern, Cardwell Bay, Royal Gourock, Holy Loch, Fairlie, Largs and Serpent yacht clubs have all signed up to race at Gourock on the 21st September. The race promises to be a fairly straightforward tour of fixed marks in the Rosneath-Gourock-Holy Loch patch and it would be wonderful if a turnout coming close to Scottish Series Gourock starts of old could be achieved. Every yacht taking part in the race must have race insurance but it is possible that with sufficient interest it may be possible to run a Barts Bash Cruise around the course for non racers after the race proper has started. Cruise entries will not however be eligible for inclusion in the Guinness Record attempt. All participants must be a member of a yacht club but participating clubs will be able to offer temporary membership to non members who wish to take part and those clubs can be contacted through the BartsBash website. There is loads of further information on the BartsBash website and in something of the spirit of the Commonwealth Games it is a great opportunity to bring participation in a truly global event right down to the Gourock seafront.  

Autumn Muster - From the Race Secretary

The Autumn Muster is on 6th-7th September 2014.  As in previous years this involves, for those who want to race, a race to Rothesay from Kip, ideally by way of the Cumbrae.  The harbourmaster in Rothesay is always welcoming and space has been reserved.  Seamus our Commodore has arranged dinner in the Victoria Hotel which if nothing else has the obvious advantage that no bus is required.  And of course there is the Pursuit Race back to Kip on the Sunday.
Hopefully the entry form will be emailed out in a newsletter soon but in the meantime the entry form and instructions can be downloaded here  .as a Word document. 
Furthermore there is an additional download available - this is an Excel results spreadsheet which was originally devised by Tom Hutchison. In the downloadable form it is ready populated with the usual Serpent suspects complete with handicaps and only requires the OOD to fill in the elapsed time to the finish for each boat. It is very easy to use for anyone familiar at the most basic level with Excel and if interested you are invited to download it and have a play. Excel calculates the results to decimals of minutes but since Serpent racing is so close (!) and everyone wants to know their time differences in actual seconds, the third last column has been added and that is where you enter the decimals of the minute - For example say the corrected time in minutes is 55.47. You would enter the .47 in the 3rd last column (headed 'decimal seconds') and in the second last column this will automatically appear as actual seconds. You then enter the final time in the last column by putting in the whole minutes from the corrected time column and inserting the whole seconds that you have just had calculated.  Much simpler to do than it is to describe but email me if you have any questions about it. I have found that the spreadsheet works fine on an ipad running Quickoffice and thus is usefully portable for on board use. My thanks to Tom for making it available.

It would be nice to get some more pictures on the website so please email your best cruising photos to serpentyachtclub@googlemail.com  and we can have a little gallery - perhaps with some commentary if you provide that too.  Ideally it is best if you don't email full camera resolution shots at 8Mb a pop or whatever. For those au fait with these things a .JPEG image (not RAW!) 1920x1080 pixels is more than plenty fine but this is by no means critical.
 

Croabh Muster and Shuna Race

There were some notable absences from the Croabh muster this year but this was made up for, arguably, by an influx of non members. Jim Berry and his team had done a great job to dress up the boatshed with spinnakers, flags and large Visit Scotland banners and had even provided a makeshift gazebo to shield the barbecue team from the persistent rain. Steve and Susan Pickles assisted by Graham and Colin had the barbecue expertly in hand but were perhaps a little unprepared for the unexpected guests. 

While the dancing was underway, courtesy once again of Stewart's ipod, there came a request from a group of young French visitors to use some of the space in the shed for, it was thought, 4 to 5 minutes. Catherine agreed to this on condition that the visitors took part in some dancing beforehand. This they did with no little gusto, entering into the spirit but with even more hilarious incompetence than some of the locals.  Then they disappeared behind the screens to the workshop at the back of the boatshed to conduct a Mass, complete with priest in robes and which went on for about 45 minutes oblivious to any health and safety issues (well they were French after all). This was far too long to postpone Serpent activities so their mournful droning was easily drowned out when the dance music was cranked up again.  When eventually they all reappeared they were happy to continue dancing and it turned out that they were a group on a pilgrimage to Iona on three chartered yachts and had just arrived that night from the airport.  Certainly it boosted the numbers on the dance floor and the barbecue was once again decreed a success, albeit a somewhat unconventional one.

Next day the rain had ceased although there was very little wind to begin with. Alan Faichney with extended family on board kindly agreed to act Sapphire as start boat which relieved Out of the Blue of their duty and allowed them to participate properly among the two other starters.The fickle wind held up and the trick was to find the patches on the leg to the south end of Shuna at which point a pleasant breeze picked up allowing a period of faster sailing on the west side.  Troikka with the advantage of a light furling No1 managed to sneak ahead from the start but always conscious that Ataraxia was within a dangerous distance, never mind Out of The Blue. However Troikka's time was sufficient and Out of the Blue managed to hold Ataraxia on handicap by a mere 46 seconds.  By the end of the race the sun was out and the fantastic weather which the following week was to bring was on its way. Click on the results below to see the full thing.

Troikka went on to have a splendid week of cruising, not venturing very far in the light to absent winds but having a most enjoyable time in mid Argyll.

  

Summer Muster at Croabh

Do come and  join the Serpent Yacht Club for its annual barbeque on the 19 July 2014 by the Boat shed in Croabh Marina and for the Round Shuna Race on 20 July 2014. Race instructions and entry will be available from Charles Sutherland on the evening. Expect delicious food, great music and a chance to catch up with fellow members. Please bring your crews and anyone you know that may be interested in the club. Please contact Steve Pickles by Saturday 12 July if you will be attending to help with catering. 01555 666348 07981443362 stephen.pickles@btinternet.com

Portavadie Race & Muster

Report by Tom Hutchison: 

 Saturday morning started with a trip out to the start line off the Island of Bute Sailing Club around 9:00 where Aquaholic was on duty to start the SYC Portavadie restricted sail class race at 10:00. The winds were light and after the Isle of Bute SC Round Bute Race start at 9:30 Aquaholic attempted to lay a start line, only to discover that the Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club were laying a line for their race starting at exactly the same time.

A cunning plan was hatched and the Serpent Yacht Club line was laid inside the Clyde Corinthian’s line. This resulted in a fairly short start line which the racers attacked with the precision of an America's Cup start. 

All yachts crossed the line cleanly and the fleet, followed by Aquaholic ten minutes later, sailed in light breezes towards the Burnt Islands.

 To describe the course as challenging was an understatement as the light winds came and went. The boats in front gained ground only to stop several time while the boats behind caught up. Camus Bosta and Kelpie D were left in areas where the wind simply disappeared and were forced to retire.

At the Burnt Islands Aquaholic and Exody managed to creep through and leave the fleet behind. Winds were looking favourable at this point, however they quickly disappeared. 

Aquaholic made the decision to finish the race off the Carry Buoy to enable the fleet to reach Portavadie where the Commodore was waiting with snacks and refreshments. Results below show Pondskater the last to finish and the winning boat.

 There is no available account of the Ladies Race but apparently it was again a drift with only four finishers and with Aquaholic the winner. . 

Spring Muster at Tarbert

As had been previously decided, Serpent yachts gathered for the start off Rothesay on the morning of Saturday 17th May. In view of the weather forecast, race officer Charles Sutherland opted for the course through the Kyles in order to spare the fleet an arduous beat to Garroch Head.  It was to be a running start towards the Ardyne buoy and the six starters, (to be joined by the committee boat 10 minutes later) crossed the starting line in a reasonably orderly fashion.

Keen sail trim concentration from Don Gillies on Black Pepper -(click photo to enlarge)

Martin Yuill on Pondskater issues instructions to his crew

Commodore Seamus exhibits steely determination on Emma Louise

The female crew of OOTB get into action

As the fleet, in the very light breeze, slowly drew closer to the first mark, the separation between boats decreased  leading to an interesting mark rounding. 

We're not sure what the human spinnaker pole on Emma Louise is attempting to do here (illegally) but there is clearly very little space between Emma, the mark and Aquaholic. It is impossible to judge from this viewpoint whether or not Seamus has an inside overlap but from his account he called for room, did not receive sufficient and had his boom touch the mark.  This resulted in the almost unprecedented ( in recent years at least) call of Protest which, in the best spirit of the club, Tom accepted and duly performed his turns shortly thereafter. We heard later that those on Out of the Blue were concerned that Aquaholic had rudder failure but presumably they were just winding up their novice crew.

 Emma Louise and Aquaholic went on to lead the fleet up the East Kyle until they were overtaken by Troikka. Further back there was some spirited luffing by Pondskater, determined to repel anyone attempting to pass to windward. At the Burnt Isles the rain and wind appeared giving us all a good one sided beat down the West Kyle into ever freshening wind off Ardlamont at which point Kelpie D was spotted making her way from Loch Riddon.  The race finished with a fast broad reach to Tarbert during which Aquaholic claimed to be reaching 9-10knots in the 30kt gusts. Troikka, disappointingly, did not exceed 9kts but then she only had her small delivery jib and the helmsman was in no position to take any more photographs even if the rest of the fleet had been visible.
All in all it was a good day's sailing in a mix of conditions and lacking only a bit of sunshine. This was the first event for some time in which there was no Class 1 spinnaker entry - due to crew shortages.

  After some on-board whistle-wetting, recovery and general drying-off, the party gathered in the 'Marquee' which, along with a good supply of fizz,  had been arranged by the Commodore in order to promote social interaction. Despite the almost continuous downpour this proved a success and thereafter all 33 or so members and guests proceeded on to the Starfish for the event meal during which the race results were presented and Tom Hutchinson appointed Vice Commodore.

 Overnight the rain battered incessantly and continued into the morning by which time, especially in view of the F5/6 southerly forecast, there was little enthusiasm among the Ladies for their race. The cunning suggestion was then mooted and immediately accepted that the Ladies' Race be postponed until the Portavadie Muster on 14/15th June.    

Late Launch

Here's Pondskater ready for the drop at Ardrossan, soon to be followed by Emma Louise. Good to have a sunny day for it. The Commodore reckons that's a good omen for the Spring Muster. Nevertheless this is probably the last time you see Emma Louise without her Wendy house erected.