Gwennol’s Cruise, 2014

Members Articles, Sailing, Sailing Directions

Our boat, Gwennol, is a 23 year old, 31 foot Jeaneau Sun Odyssey, with Yanmar 2GM20 engine. The fuel capacity is 10gall, plus a 5 gall jerry can, say 70 litres in all.

The crew, with main responsibilities were Pat Tyson-Jones (sails and chef), Pete Bland (electronic navigation), Gwyn Jones (engine, and general worrying). Three is the ideal crew for  this boat- four would cause too much congestion on a long trip

On this trip, unless conditions were ideal, we preferred to maintain at least 5 kts » Read more

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Midsummer Cup Results

Sailing, Sailing Events

We had another good turnout for the Midsummer Pursuit Race last Saturday 14th of June.  The conditions started off as very light winds but a better breeze developed during the afternoon and we enjoyed some good sailing conditions.

The winds were NNW 1 and we sailed C2a to FWY and on to the Long outfall buoy and back to the FWY.  Two boat rounded the FWY and headed back to Long Outfall.

The winner for the first time was Mahalo,  crewed by Austin and Mary Goudge.  Congratulations to them.

Second place was Pinch of Thyme crewed by Mike and Sally Ousby.  Still looking for their first win but always in the mix at the end.

Third was My Cloud making a guest appearance crewed by John Broadhead.

The current positions for the Commodores Cup are now

Myfanwy 68 points
Pinch of Thyme 50 points
Joie de Vivre 40 points

The next event is the Cemaes Bay BBQ.

All the best and hope to see you on the water next time.

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Rock Channel

Sailing, Sailing Directions

The Rock Channel is a useful half tide access to Liverpool for small boats (which includes large yachts) as opposed to ships.  This route can cut 5 miles off the journey and can also be a lot calmer in my experience than the swell you can experience at the entrance to the main channel.

I’ve put the following two links in which you can choose between. The first link is older but has some nice chartlets and a historical article about the Rock channel.  I followed this route with success on the way back from the tall ships race and never had less than 4m under the boat 2 hours before high tide.  The depths were similar to our standard trip in and out of Conwy.

Liverpool Yacht Club Guide to the Rock Channel can be accessed from this link. Updated 2010.

Alternative guide at Chris Michael’s page on liv.ac.uk can be accessed from this link. Updated 2018.

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Puffin Picnic Rally and Evening Party

News, Sailing, Sailing Events, Social

Dear Members

Just a quick missive to let you all know what a great day we all had last Saturday. The Puffin Picnic Rally ran on schedule with the briefing on Friday evening at 2100 in the Club. Steve Gorst, our Sailing Captain, delivered the briefing to a good audience of boat skippers that intended to participate and took the names of volunteers! that were happy to host our Cadet Members that planned to sail with the fleet. The turnout of boats was extremely good with several new Members joining in which was fantastic to see. The bar take during the evening was gratifying to say the least although I am sure that any consequent thick heads the next morning were probably regretted. Saturday morning turned out to largely be as forecast, for a change, and the fleet got underway at approx 1130, as instructed by Steve, and made its way to seaward pushing a strong flood tide. Once out in the bay the breeze turned out to actually be fairly fresh from the east and although a number of us had contemplated the possibility of a wonderful cruising chute/spinnaker run over to puffin, none were actually hoisted. Irrespective of this we all made good passage in the stiff breeze arriving off Puffin at approx 1330. Several boats anchored as briefed on the Anglesey shore close to Trwyn Ddu Lighthouse for lunch with a few electing not to do so who made their way gently back to Conwy for a late lunch on their harbour berths. All in all a really good sail and an excellent check out for our boats prior to the longer passages ahead of us as the sailing programme really gets going in earnest with the Round Anglesey Rally on the Bank Holiday weekend 3 – 5 May. Well done Steve and thank you.

The Post Puffin Picnic Party took place that evening commencing at 2000 in the Club. All I can really say is that if you were not there then you really did miss a musical treat of some considerable magnitude. Hazel Sopalthwaite was our principal artiste for the evening and entertained us with country/folk music and song of an extraordinarily high quality. Hazels voice is simply superb and her talent with her quitar of the highest order. Hazel was wonderfully supported throughout the evening by Big John Broadhead, whose music we all appreciate so much, and , Andy Gallacher who so kindly brought his guitar with him and performed a whole series of country songs for our enjoyment. Thank you all so very much from all of us that were there, we really did have a great time and truly appreciated not only your talent but also your generosity of spirit by giving your time to entertain us so very well. The evening was really well attended by over 40 members including the majority of those that had sailed in the rally earlier in the day and also by a considerable number of others that had not been able to do so but came in support of the event.

Nibbles, German sausage Rolls, prepared by Jean were served during the evening. Thank you all for attending in support of our club, it really does make the effort that our musicians and everyone else contributed to the evening worthwhile.

That’s all for now. Don’t forget to sign up for the Round Anglesey Rally 3-5 May. I look forward to seeing you all soon, be it either afloat, in the club or hopefully both.

Yours in Sailing

Tony Mead
Commodore.

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An Early Sailing Season Update

News, Sailing Events, Social

Dear Members

Since my last missive a lot has been going on both at the Club and onshore/on the water with us all getting ready for the season.

To start at the beginning we held our planned Cadets Evening on Saturday 15 March with invited young people from the Llandrillo College Marine Skills Course attending. The event was successful with 5 new Cadets joining the Club all looking for Sailing and Working on Boats experience, the evening was also well attended by Members and the Bar Trade was, to say the least, brisk. Thank you all for taking the time to support this new initiative.Following the event I have also received several other enquiries from the students who wish to join. To continue the development of this initiative we are planning to invite the new Cadets to sail with us on Members Boats during our Puffin Island Picnic Rally on Saturday 19 April, so if you are planning to participate in this event and would like to take a Cadet Member as crew then please do either let Steve Gorst (Sailing Captain) know by email or indicate your willingness to do so on the booking form that will be posted in the club.

Saturday 22 March was the date of our annual fitting out party and buffet supper. The evening was fully booked and without doubt thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. The supper was fantastic and John Broadhead entertained us in great style with his unique musical/vocal skills and literally had everyone (almost) dancing in the isles. Once again a very profitable and enjoyable night for the club.

Saturday 29 March was big Terry Hughes 75th birthday party and another great evening with an enormous bar take and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. A really big thank you to Terry for holding his party at the club and by doing so helping us to make it both busy and profitable.

As I have already mentioned above our Summer Sailing Programme kicks off with the Puffin Island Picnic Rally on Saturday 19 April so please do look out for the notices and booking forms for it and lets all go if we can and get the Sailing Year off to a good start. As the rally is a daysail event we are going to hold a social event for the entertainment of everyone in the club the same evening commencing at 2000, this is an open event so you do not need to book for it just come along and join in the fun! There will certainly be plenty of this because we are going to make it a Memorably Musical Evening. This will be based on a performance by a highly regarded lady country/folk musician/singer, Mandy, who has only recently moved to Conwy with her family. In addition to Mandy John Broadhead will also be performing and I am anticipating that perhaps Dave Pullan, Tony Barlow and Andy Gallacher will also play and sing for our entertainment. This should be some event! Don’t forget that with our new Bar Food facility you can also have your dinner at the club at a really reasonable cost. I look forward to as many of you as possible supporting the day either on the water, in the club, or both. Anyone can play or sing!

Finally, for now, please do all look at the ongoing Sailing and Social Programmes for the summer, both of which are on the website, they are organised for the benefit and enjoyment of you the Members. Come and join us in support of your Club as often as you can, you won’t be disappointed I promise.

Yours in Sailing

Tony Mead
Commodore

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January Newsletter

News, Social

Dear members

An update for you all to let you know what has been happening since my last message and, what is coming up in the near future.

Last Saturday, 25 January, was of course our Burn’s Night Dinner at the Club. Needless to say it was very well attended with 31 bookings. We all had a great time with a fantastic Dinner provided by the Clemenence Restaurant. A real live Highland Piper played for our entertainment and piped in The Haggis and, we all enjoyed all the usual Burn’s Night Poems, Songs and fine Scotch Wisky. Sadly Dave Howard had an unfortunate accident a couple of days before the event and he and Sylvia were not able to join us on the evening. I am very happy to inform you all that although Dave’s accident was serious and involved him having surgery to fix a damaged muscle in his leg, he is now back at home and recovering. I understand from Sylvia that this will unfortunately take some time and has resulted in them having to cancel a planned cruise. Get well soon Dave, we are all thinking of you and look forward to seeing you back in action soon.

Our next planned event is the RAF Mess Night Valentines Dinner on Saturday 15 February. Harry Thompson our Vice Commodore is in command for this function and it promises to be yet another splendid evening with us again dining downstairs in the bar area with the Clemence providing the catering. I know that Harry will have the whole evening planned meticuously and that it will include “novel” aviators entertainments! Definitely one to look forward to.

On Saturday 15 March we are holding an evening aimed at introducing young persons to the Club and, hopefully recruiting them as Cadet Members. As a starting point for this I have invited all the Students on the Llandrillo College Marine Skills Course to visit us for the evening as our guests, I would also wish to extend this invitation to any and all the young family and friends of yourselves, so please do consider bringing along your own circle of potential Cadets to the evening. The event will be very informal and should be both good fun, informative to youngsters with an interest in sailing and good fun. I have attached the outline schedule of the event for your information.

Saturday 22 March is the 2014 Fitting Out Party Night. The detailed plan of this event is not yet finalised but as always it is an important date in our calender because it heralds the end of winter and the start of our long awaited sailing season. Without doubt this will be a Buffet Supper evening and it will include both entertainment and fun activities. Look out for the event notice and book early to avoid disappointment!

Finally for now an item of news! Sadly the Blue Launch has suffered a failure of its gearbox and is out of service for the time being while we await the delivery and fitting of a replacement new item. Needless to say this is an expensive part to replace and I am, as always, very conscious of the need to do our utmost to balance our books financially to ensure the future stability of our wonderful Club. For this reason it is my intention to run a special raffle in the near future to help fund the new gearbox costs. This will be called “The Gearbox Draw” it will be run over several weeks and offer a really attractive prize to the winner. Please do buy a ticket to support this initiative, who knows? You May be the Lucky Winner!

Thats all from me for now, I look forward to seeing you all soon, both in the Club and on the water.

Yours in Sailing

Tony Mead
Commodore

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December News

News, Social, Training

Dear members

For your information the Annual Dinner Dance at the St Georges Hotel Llandudno last Saturday (23rd) was a great success in every respect. 80 of us attended, the Dinner was of a very high standard and the Disco kept us all dancing away until early morning. We had a fantastic and entertaining mix of Members and Guests including a really good turnout from the Conwy RNLI. Our Principal Guests were Captain Matthew and Lesley Forbes (Conwy Harbour Master) who replied to The Commodores speech on behalf of the guests with amusing “Tales of the Sea”. The Commodores Cup for the NWCC Yachtsman of the Year was presented to Tony Brooks, and his Yacht Amethyst, and acknowledged Tony’s amazing involvement in our 2013 Sailing Programme. Tony was so pleased with his success that his post award celebration is rumoured to have resulted in him having to be lowered into Amethyst by rope at the end of the evening. Well done Tony and Amethyst.

Thank you all for attending and making the whole evening so much fun, your support is truly appreciated. A very special thank you to our President Terry Worthington and his lady Dot who both worked exceptionally hard to ensure that the evening was successful.

Please don’t forget that our next Club event is the Christmas Fayre on Saturday 7 December, this day is always great fun with Father Christmas arriving by boat at 1200 followed by all the usual festivities at the Club. The proceeds of the Fayre are always donated to a worthy charity cause. This event is followed on Thursday 19 December by our Special Christmas Quiz Night and Grand Raffle Draw. There is no booking list for either of these events, just come along and enjoy yourself and, bring a plate of food if you are participating at the Christmas Quiz on the 19th.

After Christmas our next event is the New Years Eve Party at the Club, the details of which will be posted this week both on the website and on the club notice board. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Finally, for now, I have attached for your information our updated RYA Winter Training Programme, now is the opportunity to book up for any of the array of training on offer after christmas in the run up to the 2014 Sailing Season. Why not book either yourself, or a member of your crew, a course as a christmas pressy!!!

I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Yours in Sailing

Tony Mead
Commodore

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Faulty EPIRBs

Safety

Standard Communications Pty Ltd designs and manufactures a range of Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) that are marketed globally under the GME brand.
As a result of market place feedback Standard Communications Pty Ltd has become aware of a small number of instances where GME EPIRBs have failed the self test procedure. A consequence of such failure may mean the EPIRB will not operate in an emergency situation.

Read the full report here:

adobe-acrobat-pdf-file-512Epirb safety alert

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Whats Up Next Nov-March

News, Social

Dear Members

Please see below synopsis of our social programme up until the end of march 2014.The list does now include “by popular demand” a New Years Eve Party which I can promise you will be well worth attending should you be in town on the night!

The next two events in the Club are the Christmas Fayre on Saturday 7 December, guess who is Santa competition included, and the Special Christmas Quiz and Club Prize Draw on Thursday 19 December – Definitely not to be missed, members will be talking about being there for years afterwards!

Full details of each event will be posted on the website as soon as possible and on the Club noticeboard as each event draws near.

In addition to the above please don’t forget that Des Owen hosts the Music Night on the first wednesday of every month and that the Club Quiz Night is every Thursday come rain or shine.

I, as always, look forward to seeing you all as often as you can make it to the Club.

Yours in Sailing

Tony Mead
Commodore

 

Programme Details are:-

  1. Saturday 7 December – NWCC Christmas Fayre and Visit by Father Christmas. – Fayre 1100 onwards, Father Christmas arrives at 1200 on Conwy Jetty then moves to his Grotto in the Club. Open to all. Always fantastic fun this one. Santa and his Little Helpers, Children, Visitors, Club Members and who knows who else may call in!
  2. Thursday 19 December – A Special NWCC Christmas Quiz and Prize Draw. – A party to get the Christmas spirits coursing through the blood!!! This evening will incorporate the Grand Draw for the Club Christmas Booze Hamper (should you neither have seen it nor bought a ticket, it is on display in the bar tickets £3 each ), The Bling Raffle ( also on display in the bar, tickets £1 each ) and other spot prizes with a Christmas theme. The evening will feature a Novel, Fun and Unusual Challenging Christmas Quiz. Everything gets underway at 2030 and all are invited. Supper will be served during the evening utilising the famous “Jacob’s Join” principal – bring a plate of food that you would like to eat but don’t mind sharing with others!
  3. Tuesday 31 December 2013 – New Years Eve Party. – This will now definately happen by popular demand. 2000 until late, Supper Provided ( menu and cost TBD ). The theme for the evening will be 1960’s Rock and Roll, so dust of that old Beatle Jacket (you know you kept it) and Winkle Pickers, get out your Mary Quant Frocks. This is going to be some serious fun! Dancing, Witty Conversation/Anecdotes and good old Rock and Roll Music. Look out for the list on the Noticeboard.
  4. Saturday 25 January 2014 – Burn’s Night Dinner. – A Traditional and Stylish Burn’s Night Dinner 1900 for 1930, Kilts or Plaids desirable.
  5. Saturday 15 February 2014 – A Traditional Royal Air Force Mess Dinner – Dining downstairs in the bar area to celebrate both our Courageous Aviators and Valentines Day. 1900 for 1930.
  6. Saturday 22 March 2014 – The 2014 Sailing Season Fitting Out Party/Supper – A Wales at Sea themed evening-daffodils compulsory!

Thats all for now. I hope to see you all at the events planned.

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Unsticking an Etap 26 Keel

Maintenance, Members Articles

Early in the season my keel decided it had had enough. It wan’t going to move no matter how hard I pushed the handle or how much grease I packed around the gears. Frantic research on the internet revealed that there was a set of bearings lurking within the crown wheel that eased the motion of the crown wheel on the supporting steel plate. My mission is to get access to the bearings and replace them if necessary.

Removal of the mast steps cover plate » Read more

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