Update April 2008

We are a month into the new sailing season, and although some of the winds have been strong & the weather inclement, we have had some good sailing Sundays. The T15 year starts Wednesday 23rd, and already we have had our first open of the year, the Miracle northeastern Area championships. There is a full report on the Miracle open elsewhere, suffice it to say here that we had a total of 15 dinghies on the water, that included 4 local boats. The visitors were well catered for, my thanks to the support team, and the OD’s – Bert Taylor & Roy Smith.

The sailing and the open have been made possible by a lot of hard work in the off season:
Otter. The coxswain, Brian Warr, ably assisted by Richard Bowles have worked tirelessly on the pond harrowing, and have reported to the committee that some 80% of the bottom has been covered. As previously stated the plan is to ‘spot-clean’ further growth as and when it appears in the early growing season (now ‘till May- June) with the cutting tool. Hopefully we can now look forward to an uninterrupted sailing season. A secure permanent mooring has been laid for Otter off the eastern jetty, and a deep berth dug for her on the site of the old Queen boathouse.
Jetty damage. During the winter, the combination of high water levels (now fixed – see below) and strong winds caused considerable damage to the wooden facings of the jetty. As we had an open event to stage - an urgent call went out for some willing helpers to carry out some temporary repairs. The usual suspects answered the call. Brian Warr, Mike Gamon, and myself who were later joined by Richard Bowles & Eric Robinson. The result may not have been very cosmetic, but we hope it will see us through the season – some further work may be required on the vertical facing, as it is possible to sail a board underneath the 6-inch hose.
New Culvert as noted previously, the old brick culvert at the eastern end of the pond had partially collapsed and this had caused the high water levels. Rodney Clapson was tasked with planning a new drain, and it was put in place on April 1st, overseen by Roy Smith & Brian Warr (that name again!). The water levels have been considerably lowered, & this allowed us to carry out the jetty repairs.
New Supply A new electricity supply has been laid to the storage container at the eastern end of the compound.
Security we have installed a CCTV security system and also web-cams on site – you can view the result on the main page of the web-site.
Police Angling Association. At this time there has been no further contact with them – watch this space.
New Training Room Roy Smith has completed the work on the training room. This was made possible with the aid of a Sport Relief £5,000 grant. It was pressed into service as an emergency dormitory last weekend!

Winter Thoughts

Hi All:
Just thought it was time to bring you up to date with the happenings at the club., and this time I’ll start with the ………………. Bad news!
First – the return of the mindless idiots. The week after the incident with ‘Otter’ we saw more vandalism on the site. We suspect at least 2 further nocturnal visits and this resulted in damage to the security fence, a forced lock on the gents changing rooms, the theft of 4 large gas bottles and breakage of 2 South facing clubhouse windows.
We have the promise of Police assistance, and your committee has decided on a range of security measures to protect the premises & site.

The club has had an approach from the Scunthorpe Police Angling Club with a proposal to fish our pond. They propose to re-stock the water, and we are currently negotiating terms under the chairmanship of Eric Robinson. Your committee sees this possible partnership as an additional security measure, with anglers (plainclothes?) being present at times when there are no members around.

The work to combat the weed proceeds apace under the direction of Brian Warr & Richard Bowles. On this subject perhaps you will have see my begging letter of the 5th February requesting all members to search their outbuildings for some specialised spares for ‘Otter’
Just in case you missed it here is an extract:
Wanted.
Most urgent. Hand 2 speed capstan winch. Even a loan would help us.
Hydraulic pump. Power steering pump?
Possible winch to be built out of hydraulic forklift drive wheel motor.
Spools valves. Tank filters etc.
Please contact Richard (richard-bowles@btconnect.com) or Brian (brian.warr@tiscali.co.uk) if you can help.

The continuing bad weather is causing a fair amount of havoc. I hope you will have seen my mail to all members detailing damage to specific boats. However, even if your own boat is not mentioned, it would be a good idea to visit the club & check its condition. Generally: the cover, tie-downs and the attitude of the boat (bow high is best as it allows water to drain). Also, if you have left the mast rigged, perhaps you could consider dropping it & stowing along the length of the boat. Very expensive items are masts – and in falling they can cause quite a bit of damage at a distance.
Still on the theme of Weather. The water level is again very high, and coupled with the high winds, considerable damage has been caused to the wooden fronting of the jetty.
Rodney Clapson & myself have put together a proposal to control the water level in the pond. Briefly, we will abandon the old drain from the eastern margin (& block it) and a new drainage pipe will be installed. This will incorporate a flap-valve to eliminate back filling from the wild-fowlers pond and a slide valve on the club side to set the pond water level. The appropriate authorities have been approached and we have received no objections. The proposal was unanimously accepted by your committee. Rodney Clapson will arrange the works.
When this has been completed we will need a work party to carry out repairs on the jetty – watch this space.
Finally – as hardly anyone was able to identify more than 6 members of the committee (Vice – Commodores questionnaire) we will be posting mug shots on the website.

More Good Stuff (& Some Not So Good)

The Otter became operational today in her main role of weed control. The harrow pictured above was delivered yesterday Friday 11th January, and today we tried to test the theory with a scratch team consisting of Brian Warr, Rodney Clapson, Richard Bowles, John Bushell & yours truly.
After a shaky start, I am pleased to report everything worked as advertised - that is, Otter pulled the heavy harrow with gusto, even leaving something in reserve. The electronic package (echo sounder & GPS) looked serviceable and easy to see & operate, thanks to Richard Bowles. We still need to program the GPS with enough waypoints to ensure that we get complete coverage when we begin the work in earnest – Rodney & Richard have this in hand.
Our other tack is the cutter, which we received today, & for this we have to thank our Vice-Commodore, Eric Robinson. There is some further work before it is fully operational – Brian Warr is looking after this.
Now follows my traditional sombre item:
Otter dragged her mooring in the gales of Wednesday this week and ended up in the reeds near the N/E corner of the pond. Brian Warr, with assistance from Richard Bowles & myself recovered her Thursday morning. We planted 2 scaffolding poles to the right of the small slipway as a temporary mooring and Brian & Richard continued working on her throughout the day (electrics, and welding) near the starting box. She was on the temporary mooring overnight.
Between 16.30 10th Jan & 0900 11th of Jan, we had a mindless idiot on the club premises. We are unsure how access was gained, but with nothing obvious, it is similar to the incident last year when 2 televisions were vandalised – perhaps a key was used? This person(?) broke one of the roadside windows of the games room and then removed the battery from the Otter, and closed the sea-cock. This last bit is just vandalism, I guess in an attempt to wreck the engine, but was thwarted by Richard & Brian being alert after discovering the theft of the battery. Today we have also discovered that the new container to the N/E of the clubhouse has had its securing catch forced, At this time we are unsure that anything has been removed, but an inventory will be carried out tomorrow.
I have reported the incident to the police, so if anyone can add anything, the incident number is BE1547666

More Otter stuff

We had a committee meeting Monday 7th of January, and quite a bit of time centred on our new asset the Otter.
In the following weeks we will be testing ways of combating the dreaded weed, and to that end we would like to form a pool of willing volunteers to help out with the work. Brian Warr will lead the team, and with your help he will write the book on how we should keep the pond clear for our sailing and windsurfing activities. If you can spend some time please contact Brian – his Email is brian.warr@tiscali.co.uk, and his landline 01469 530283. Please indicate when you could be available.
On a more serious note, all sailors and windsurfers should be aware of the danger of sailing too close to the Otter while she is working. She will be towing various types of heavy submersed cutting or harrowing tools, and perhaps marker buoys on the surface. When she is on task she will be displaying a prominent signalling device (perhaps a black triangle) while this signal is displayed there will be a 50-meter exclusion zone around her which MUST be strictly adhered to.
Sorry about the sombre tone but lets be safe out there!
Cheers, ----------- Stan

Otter Arrives

Happy New Year!
Welcome to the Commodores Blog, This is intended to be a rambling, newsy type of feature that will keep us all in touch with the happenings in the club. If the feature proves popular I will regularly (or even occasionally!) post items of interest as and when they happen.
You are welcome (indeed invited!) to comment on any of the articles, but please remember that your comments will pass by a moderator before being posted to the blog, and his decision as to inclusion will be final.

So, to my first report………
Today, 4th January 2008 we took delivery of our new boat, the ‘Otter’. Until recently she had service as a rope-runner on the Clyde, carrying heavy mooring ropes between the great ships on the river and mooring buoys or the dock.
She is 27ft long with a 9.5 ft beam and draws about 3 ft. She is powered by a 72hp Ford engine driving a 19 inch prop.
Otter will primarily be used in our efforts to control weed which plagued us during 2006 (and therefore safeguard our future sailing and windsurfing). To that end we will be building a cutter with which we will use to drag the bottom, hopefully to make a start early February. We also will test other options, for instance an agricultural harrow.
Brian Warr has been co-opted by the committee in the position of Coxswain, and will assume full responsibility for Otter, his duties to include day to day running and maintenance, servicing, and arranging teams to carry out the weed control.
Otter will also see service as committee boat, and that will mean that we shall need to bid farewell to the venerable ‘Queen’
Good sailing an windsurfing for 2008
Cheers ----------- Stan

New blog 03/01/08