Summer Cruising 

The next events coming up at the club and further away. You can always find the latest events on the year planner

• July 20/21 - Tidal Diamonds @ Lymington/IoW
• August 4 - Club Champs Pt2
• September 2 - Banbury Chaser & Dorset Triangle @Lyme

For the Lyme event be aware that if you are there early enough you can park in the harbour car park for £10 - this is only £2 more than at the top of the hill and saves a hard walk at the end of the day.

There is also a whole lot of training going on so please be aware and give those learning to sail space and room.

From the Secretary - Phil Godfrey

Occasionally there are circumstances where a member has to pull out of a duty at the last moment. This could be due to accident, illness or other unavoidable circumstance. If an OOD fails to show, then the other duty officers may need to find a replacement at very short notice. In the past, a list was posted, on the notice board, of members that are prepared to step in at short notice, if they are able to do so. Over the last couple of years, that list seems to have disappeared and it would be helpful to recreate such a list. If you live within 20 minutes of the Club and are willing to undertake a duty in an emergency, it would be really helpful if you could indicate your willingness by having your name and contact number posted on a list in the Clubhouse. A fee of £40 will be paid to all those undertaking emergency duties. Please send a message to secretary@suttonbinghamsc.net and I will add your name to the list.

PLEASE NOTE - this arrangement is only to cover emergency situations and does not absolve members of their obligation to undertake duties as part of their membership.

Make yourself a ‘somebody’ at the Club

Like many similar organisations, the Club is run by its members and relies on folk pitching in to help with all the tasks that need doing to keep things running effectively and safely.The only general operating activity we pay for is clubhouse cleaning – which is a big reason why our subs are so low. Some members assist by joining the committee, but, for all sorts of reasons, not everyone is in a position to make that commitment. It is, however, reasonable to expect every member to do at least a little bit to help out occasionally in some way or other. It might be just picking up some litter (but why do we have any litter?), or by doing a bit of weeding. For the more energetic and committed, we have one or two working parties every year, and a small group of people who can be called upon to do odd jobs: a bigger group would be even better! 

So then, if you are at the Club and you see something broken, missing, not working like it should, in the wrong place, or needing some sort of attention and you think to yourself,even unconsciously, ‘somebody should do something about that’, can I suggest that you decide to make yourself that ‘somebody’? The committee can be relied upon to authorise the expenditure of any necessary funds for materials: you have only to ask.

For myself, I find our spot at the reservoir a great place to visit at any time of year – but especially in the summer. I find the scenery and wildlife is good for my well-being, and it is very satisfying to feel that I am doing something useful to make our Club even better.

So then, please, make yourself a somebody.

Merv Clark

PS: I’ve mentioned weeds. Can I remind members with a boat space that it is their responsibility to keep it tidy. Weeds are a massive problem for the Club, made worse by the fact that the majority of boat owners make little or no effort to keep them under control on their own patch.

Dorset Triangle at Castle Cove

The Triangle took place at the very picturesque Castle Cove sailing club in Portland Harbour. Not only beautiful, but the weather was too. A good force 3-4, sunny and warm meant we couldn’t have had much better conditions.

Our team consisted of Chris Jones (RS Aero), Pete Barnstable (Laser), Howard Frear (Streaker), Ian Jay (OK) and James Harcourt (Streaker). 

Chris was consistently fast finishing 3rd overall. The rest of us? We enjoyed the sailing and in the case of Ian, a nice swim too in race one when not quite geting the mainsheet out of the jammer quick enough during a tack.  We didn’t win but it was fun and I suspect most were aching the following day and well worth it considering the near perfect sailing conditions. The next leg of the event is at Lyme Regis on September 2nd. Please keep this day free and come down to it, whether to sail or support (you can always have a bucket of chips, an ice cream or a beer from the club bar).

SBSC Tera's

Ollie Wilson finished a brilliant 7th (out of 47) in the RS Tera Sports at the Start of Season RS event at Burton SC recently. Brother Jack finished 17th (out of 35) in the RS Tera Pro fleet. 

RS Tera's at the Start of Season event at Burton SC - photo : Bruce Wilson

Congratulations to Sally & Matt Weale

Well done to Sally & Matt who recently completed their day skipper theory & practical in something a little larger than their usual Albacore, a Beneteau 40.7!

Poole Harbour Cruise - 9th April (by Lee Harper)

2 boats and 6 sailors arrived at Baiter Park for the first cruise of the season, a day sail in Poole Harbour. We were greeted by lovely spring sunshine but a chilly NW breeze.

We set off at around 10am destined for Rockley Point. Sailing conditions were lovely with a moderate breeze, although the mysteries of the Poole tides somewhat puzzled us and saw us beat against tide up to Rockley on what we thought was approaching high water. It was a struggle to enter Rockley with the wind direction and shallow water outside of the main channel, but we all got in safely under sail power alone and moored up to the pontoons for refreshments and to warm up in the sunshine.

Next was a downwind run to Shell Bay, the air had warmed up by now and we had a pleasant run all the way, passing south of Brownsea Island. We beached the boats and took more refreshments at the lovely cafe there and had lunch on the beach.

Final leg was rounding Brownsea and back to Baiter. We were becalmed temporarily in the main channel area abeam Brownsea Castle and wafted along very slowly, but luckily the wind filled in again for the sail back to Baiter.

All in all a great day out was had by all and we covered around 15Nm. It would be great to get a bigger fleet out for the next one!

Osmington Mill Portland sail 7th and 8th May 2022 - (By Mick Ayles)

The Saturday sail at Portland was only taken up by Helen and Steve who had a good sail, staying within Portland harbour.

Sunday sail had more of an interest with three boats, arriving bright and early at Portland sailing academy for a 10 o clock launch. With a weather forecast of 10 mph from the west and an easterly flowing sea, a forecast of the wind strength dropping. We then decided to set our sails for Osmington Mill, as we thought that would be the safest option rather than ending up drifting around Weymouth Bay on our return.

After negotiating around a couple of Portland races, we set our sails for a very pleasant sail straight across the bay to Osmington Mill. Once we arrived, we had to check out the safest place to land the boats. The west side of the beach looked the safest due to rocks poking up to the east.

Helen, Marcus and Steve ventured up the cliffs to the pub and brought back coffees for the rest of us. We had lunch and set sail back to the harbour. Luckily the wind remained a Westerly 10mph, which gave us an easy sail back. We finished the day sailing round the harbour, with coffee and cake in the the Academies cafe. The wind did finally drop to zero, so we made the right decision not to venture to Lulworth Cove.