THE RNVR YACHT CLUB

THE RNVR YACHT CLUB
News Update
Winter 2015
Christmas Lights
Drams in the Cockpit to celebrate sailing around Britain.
RNVRYC member Stan Jacobs has
worked hard to create Ramsgate
Christmas Illuminations on the boats
in the town quay and marina. You
may have heard his interview on
local BBC TV. His photographs provide our seasonal image and remind
us of our summer cruise and dinner
at the Royal Temple Yacht Club.
How does your logbook appear and illustrate the highlights of your cruise?
Thanks to Hugh Stewart for his contribution. This is an expressive illustration
of sailing around Britain.—More in future?
Contents:
Annual Dinner, HQS Wellington
Five Castles Cruise
The Baltic Revisited
Club Cruising Around The World
Some Reflections on Previous
Volunteer Yachts.
A notice from The Naval Club
Queen's Harbour Master Portsmouth
Committee:During the latter part of the season a
Rules Sub-committee studied the
present rules and have submitted
their recommendations which are
being discussed by the main committee.
There has been continuing consideration for recruitment of new members
from our main base of RNR. A decision has been taken to make all CO’s
of RNR units as Honarary members
and improve their knowledge of the
activities of the Club .
Secretary
1
Annual Dinner, HQS Wellington,
20 November
Boatswain’s Bell (for the most interesting article in the newsletter) –
Melvyn Newell
After a long absence, Club members
returned to dine afloat in the former
HMS Wellington, built in Devonport
Dockyard in 1934. Some 93 diners
enjoyed bubbly before an excellent
meal in the double height wood panelled former engine room. Our Guest
of Honour Vice Admiral Sir David
Steel (who was Second Sea Lord until
March) regaled us with a very wide
ranging speech, including a jovial explanation as to how a supply officer
could become Second Sea Lord. Formalities were drawn to a close with
the presentation of trophies and engraved goblets, as follows:
Commodore’s Cup (for leading the
Club’s entry to the Fastnet Campaign)
– Joseph Macdonald
Additional photos of the occasion by
Marcus Ware can be viewed on the
Club website at www.rnvryc.org/past
-events-and-photos-2015
Peter Culver
Joseph Macdonald could not resist
seizing the opportunity to give us an
illuminating insight into the team’s
preparation for and execution of the
race and the benefits of the yacht,
Volunteer; and he thanked Club
members for making it all possible.
Morton Smart Sextant (for outstanding service to the Club) - David Whitby.
Elizabeth Cup (for first Club Member
in The Round the Island Race) – Stuart Greenfield
Volunteer Cup (for the most enterprising voyage) – Patrick Marshall
2
Five Castles Cruise 22-31 August
2015
James Hanratty had worked his magic
and a most enjoyable buffet lunch
and followed by a tour of the Castle.
Five Castles, four dinners, three damp
pontoon parties, two casualties and
one fine luncheon not to mention
some challenging sailing were some
of the ingredients that went into our
third “Five” cruise.
A breezy and at times wet Yarmouth
was our first port of call but after a
damp welcome pontoon party, the
bracing ferry ride and fascinating visit
to our first castle Hurst on Sunday
followed by a splendid dinner at the
Royal Solent Yacht Club rounded off
the first week-end in style.
Monday morning dawned wet with a
very brisk easterly wind which tested
out our rafting arrangements in the
very full harbour prior to some hurried departures for East Cowes. After
wet passages, all our boats were
berthed close to one another to
make life easier for the pontoon party and Rotating Dinner that followed
in the evening. Again the rain came
down on the party which caused the
dinner to start somewhat earlier but
it did not dampen the party spirit and
Martin Alexander’s skilful organisation ensured the rotating dinner was
a great success.
Yet another damp start to Tuesday
was offset by club members smartening up for what turned out to be one
of the cruise highlights, a splendid
buffet lunch followed by a tour of the
hallowed ground of Cowes Castle aka
The Squadron. Past Commodore
The man who bathed from the
Squadron Steps
3
All were very content except for past
Commodore David Whitby who had
to make an unplanned visit to Newport Hospital for a medical emergency.
A further wet start on Wednesday
heralded the second casualty when
Rick Atkinson took a severe tumble
into the saloon on Volunteer. After
first aid rendered by Eileen Morgan,
Rick eventually had to be carted
away in an ambulance his bruised
loin strapped up with a frozen pack
of ham for pain relief. The ham, now
well defrosted, was eventually consumed as planned in Alouette!
The afternoon easterly tide saw most
of the fleet passing Southsea Castle
and heading into Gosport where in
the evening, a relaxed informal din-
ner was enjoyed in Hornet. Volunteer
in the meantime, sailed back to Port
Solent with her reduced crew.
Thankfully by the Thursday morning,
the weather gods started being kinder as most of the fleet headed eastwards for Chichester Harbour whilst
Alchemilla and Phantom Lady returned to Hythe and Lonk Avel remained in Hornet. Safely berthed in
Chichester Marina with its first class
facilities, informal dinner that night
was taken in the ever welcoming
Chichester Yacht Club.
Friday was designated a “Quiet Day”
with no planned activities so Kiano ,
Suvi and Flying Swan stayed in the
marina whilst Alouette slipped out
just before HW to explore some of
the creeks of Chichester Harbour
before anchoring in the Thorney
Channel in delightfully calm conditions. They were joined later in the
day by Blue Rider and both enjoyed a
very peaceful night in a delightful
setting. Spirit of Avalon, Bouzy and
Alana 3 in the meantime returned to
Gosport and the Hamble respectively. Nobody ventured out to seek
No.4, Chichester castle- they would
not have found much anyway as it is
barely a perceptible mound of earth!
rounded off the cruise on a positive
note before the Monday morning
rain stepped in to speed four boats
back to the Solent and Magic to Eastbourne.
Thus ended the Five Castles Cruise
which had attracted 14 boats and 48
members and guests. The two casualties were back in circulation before
too long and all boats returned to
their home ports safely with no reports of groundings or collisions!.
There are more photos on http://
rnvryc.org/past-events-and-photos2015
Tidal considerations meant an early
start for those boats heading for
Littlehampton and by midday
Alouette, Blue Rider, Blue Shadow,
Enigma and Magic were safely
berthed on the visitor pontoon nestling under the gaze of Littlehampton’s
Harbour Master’s Office. That evening another damp pontoon party preceded a run ashore by many to the
aptly named Mussel Row bistro close
by.
Port Officer Bob Helsby laid on a fine
day for us to explore Arundel and its
castle on the Sunday. Arundel was in
festival mode and the Bank Holiday
crowds thronged the streets making
for an enjoyable day despite the vagaries of the local bus service. Fortunately we all made it back in time to
enjoy our final dinner at the Arun
Yacht Club with the club kindly arranging for their boat to ferry us to
and from the club over the other side
of the river. We were joined too by
several shore parties some of whom
had left their boats in Chichester or
returned to home ports because of
the rather iffy weather forecast. This
4
The Baltic Revisited—
31st July to 10th August
2015
A sample of the views. See the
RNVRYC website for more.
5
Club Cruising Around The World
I have been posted to work in China
and am based in Beijing, from where I
serve as a Club Committee member on a
virtual basis. I have
taken leave on two
occasions for family
reunions since my
arrival last December,
the first in Hong Kong
for the Chinese New
Year and later this
year, in June, in the United States in
New York followed by Newport,
Rhode Island. This has given me the
opportunity to visit world-renowned
yacht clubs, the Royal Hong Kong
Yacht Club and the New York Yacht
Club. This article describes our visits
to both clubs and to the cities in
which they are located.
My thanks go to James Hanratty, an
overseas member of the Royal Hong
Kong Yacht Club, for kindly sponsoring the family's visit to the RHKYC.
Having enjoyed watching the colourful New Year's Day parade in Kowloon, the next day, we made our way
to the RHKYC clubhouse on Kellett
Island. On arrival, James and Marcus
explored the Clubhouse to find out
what it had to offer. They re-joined
us some time later with broad grins
on their faces - to their delight they
had discovered that the Club has a 10
-pin bowling alley. Could anyone im-
high quality and lasted all of 23
minutes. After the fireworks, we
admired the spectacular night-time
lighting of Hong Kong's dramatic
skyscraper skyline. We rounded off
a memorable evening with an excellent buffet dinner, and an inevitable
bowling match.
We enjoyed our first visit to Hong
Kong immensely. After two months
in Beijing, I welcomed the fact that
almost all the locals speak English
and there still seems a strong sense
of Britishness in the region. It was
good to be reunited again not only
with the family but with things connected with Britain - at one unguarded moment, I found delight in
the sight of double yellow parking
lines!
Four months later, the family was
reunited in New York, to attend the
wedding of the daughter of our long
-standing friend and Club member
Rob Trefny, with a superb reception
in the Boathouse, Central Park. After
agine a yacht club in the UK with a
bowling alley?
We then watched the fascinating traditional Chinese lion dancing laid on
by the Club, followed by a fantastic
New Year firework display in Victoria
Harbour. The view of the fireworks
from the Yacht Club is unequalled
and the display was of exceptionally
the United States Navy over many
years. From 1952 to 1973 it was the
home of the Cruiser/Destroyer Force
of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet before it
moved to Norfolk, Virginia. With this
move and the closure of a nearby
naval air station the local economy
collapsed but, with subsequent revitalisation of the downtown area,
tourism has now become the primary
source of income and the city and its
environs are sought after for summer
vacations. The US Naval War College
is still located there and Newport also
serves as the centre for Surface Warfare Officer training and as the home
for a large division of the Naval Undersea Warfare Centre. In terms of
4 days together enjoying the Big
Apple, Jill and I took an Amtrak train
to Newport, Rhode Island for three
additional days of R and R.
Newport is an impressive small city.
It has had strong connections with
6
size, Newport is roughly the size of
our Dartmouth and Cowes when put
together, with an ambience similar to
both. The city itself has no marina
and provides little berthing alongside
its jetties and wharves for pleasure
craft, but there are abundant moorings. We noticed that the vast majority of boats in and around Newport
are yachts rather than power boats.
Whilst wandering around the harbour front Jill and I came across the
International Yacht Restoration
School, which, as a world-class institution, provides professional training
programmes for 115 international
students at a time on wooden boatbuilding and restoration, composites
materials technology, computer aided design and manufacturing, and
marine systems. The School claims to
have an impressive 90 per cent job
placement rate into industries such
as aerospace, manufacturing, construction, automotive, energy production and, of course, marine. Several IYRS graduates were engaged on
building the Oracle AC catamaran,
which won the last America’s Cup
challenge thanks to our Sir Ben
Ainslie. We had a fascinating tour of
the School’s boatsheds, which provide the students with state of the
art facilities. In a shed nearby we
came across Coronet (pictured), the
world’s only remaining, late nineteenth century, luxury schooner
yacht. With a LOA of 192 feet, she
was built in 1885 for a New York
Yacht Club member.
Following our IYRS visit, Jill and I enjoyed a cracking 90 minutes sail
around Newport harbour and into
Narragansett Bay in a modern 72 foot
schooner, Madeleine, which proved
herself in a Force 6 with all sails up
apart from a modest reef in the main.
She was handled easily by the skipper
and just two crew.
Jill and I had intended to make the
most of the long sandy beach by our
hotel but we spent a disproportionate amount of time instead visiting
the mansions built in Newport's Gild-
ed Age. In the late 19th/early 20th
centuries, Newport became the US
equivalent of what Monaco has become to the rich set in Europe today,
and was sought after by American
multi-millionaires like the Vanderbilts, the Astors and the Dukes as
their summer resort. Jill and I are
confident that we have found several
possible locations for a future Club
Autumn Meet and Dinner/Dance
with a difference (including as to
cost)!
Unfortunately, we did not gain access
to the New York Yacht Club premises
in New York, but our evening in their
clubhouse at Harbour Court (as pictured), Newport was special, and a
fitting venue to celebrate my imminent birthday, which was to occur
shortly after my return to Beijing. The
building, the summer home of a former NYYC member, commands a
magnificent view across the harbour
rivalling that of the Royal Yacht
Squadron in Cowes. It contains a fine
library of books on sailing and other
nautical subjects and some first-class
pictures and scale-models of yachts,
including that of Corsair, the 302
foot motor yacht of a former NYYC
Commodore, J Pierpont Morgan, in
the early twentieth century.
We thoroughly enjoyed our two trips,
but they were made even more special and memorable by our visits to
the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and
the New York Yacht Club and the
splendid dinners we enjoyed in both.
Tim Ware
Some Reflections on Previous
Volunteer Yachts.
Volunteer in June 1965:- do you
remember?
Does this tweak the memories? Do
you have copies of Newsletters? Peter & Ann Bernard set off on a
‘typical’ Cross-Channel trip from
Folkestone to St Peter Port and beyond in Volunteer. Their crew included Reg Briggs and Alan Howland.
They missed L’aber-Wrach but they
made Lesadrieux.
We have details of dinghy and dayboat activity. The cruisers had small
accommodation but still stretched
themselves over distance and
weather.
Bits of contemporary Newsletter
There seem to be limited record of
older yachts and their activity. A
Sample shows John C Dunn the son
of his father of same name and erstwhile Commodore, with reference to
Rambmowe in 1949. In addition he
was referred to as a monotonous
winner of the Interservices Gold Cup.
A significant recollection to confirm
the RNVRSC as a Services Sailing Club
of the time.
We have record of Marabu entering
the Fastnet Race under Hornet in
1953 & ‘57 with the RNVRSC as a
service sailing club in 1955, winning
the Inter-Services Cup that year skippered by the Commodore, Rupert
Thorpe.
About this time this most distinguished of the Windfall yachts was in
the ownership of the Royal Navy and
allocated to Hornet. John Illingworth
made recommendations of a larger
jib and coach roof so that she would
be sailed to N America and back.
throughout this heavy sailing load
she then was the first Naval entry to
the Tall Ships Race in 1956. Abut this
time her sweet competitive lines fell
to the more modern post war designs
Rambmowe - c.1949
Rambmowe
There is a further note of a yacht
with a long career with RNVR prior
to going to BRNC. The implied name
is Capella, previously Borkum? Does
anyone have a record to support this
story?
We do not as yet have any record of
Rambmowe or Tachia, both owned
by RNVRSC.
7
Marabu
W Storm 33—A point of sail.
The photo is not as ‘bright’ as I would
like but it was taken on the Storm’s
last channel crossing.
The Storm was one of the best ‘sea’
boats at that time (my logged mileage aboard was 1074).
Joe Wright
Tom Cunningham was in my crew
and on the helm when we were experiencing a 45 knot wind mid Channel (not forecast or we would have
remained in Cherbourg).
Marabu
A point to note is that many manufacturers, at that time, were increasing the boat length by a foot part way
through the few years of production.
The Club boat was 33 feet long. Earlier I had sailed a Storm 32 feet long.
In 1997 the Storm was sailed to
attend the Club’s 50th Anniversary
Dinner at Dartmouth Naval College. I
took over as skipper, as the only one
aboard with an ensign warrant, with
Tom C and Don Riggs aboard.
Tachia
Due to weather conditions we ended
up at Brixham. My wife had driven
down, bringing Tom’s wife, so
transport was available and we were
staying overnight at an hotel. Another crew taking over Volunteer for the
return passage.
“The Club took delivery of its new
yacht, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 36.2,
on 10 April 1999. Following preparation of the yacht for Club use, the
first “acquaint” weekend for potential skippers took place on 24 & 25
April. A “Fitting-out & Commissioning Party” was held at the RAF Yacht
Club on 2 May, when a naming ceremony was graciously performed by
Past Commodore Robert Paice’s wife
Rosemary. The photograph of Volunteer was taken on 30 May during its
passage to the Hornet Sailing Club for
the yacht’s first Club event afloat,
namely the “Family Meet”. On board
were the skipper Commodore Mike
Elton and wife Carole, Past Commodore Sid Ward and wife Harriet together with member Tim Williams
with his wife Jacquelin. “
“The replacement of the previous
Volunteer, a Westerly Storm 33,
which was made possible by raising
£16,465 from members in response
to a “New Boat Appeal”, resulted in
an immediate increase in annual
charter income of 35% to £12,953 in
1999. In the following years that income dropped steadily, which led to
its ultimate sale in 2004 and the decision on economic grounds to not replace it with another.”
W Fulmar
W Storm
Jeaneau 36.2 - 1999 to 2004
This detail gratefully received from the Club’s
Sailing and Charter Secretary from 1996, Mike
Elton.
W Storm
8
We have not unearthed
any material on the acquisition or sailing and
photos of the S & S 34.
these are library shots. I
am hoping we may do
better from the photos
of members shortly.
S & S 34
These race cards separated by 10 years
demonstrate the active
competitive sailing that
members maintained in
association with other
historic yachts and the
other Services.
S & S 34
Impian - Owned, Jeremy Donne
By Ed: the following has come to notice for Solent
sailors:-
A notice from The Naval Club:Rnvryc members have been offered reduced rates for the
first 3 months of 2016. This means that the Naval Club is a
very competitive rate at the centre of Town. The accommodation rates will be the same as for full members.
http://www.navalclub.co.uk/docs/default-source/prices/
room-rates.pdf?sfvrsn=10
Queen's Harbour Master Portsmouth
LNTM No 107/15
Portsmouth Capital Dredge
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Queen’s Harbour Master
Portsmouth that the Portsmouth Capital Dredge programme has commenced and will continue until Summer
2016.
The first phase of operations to remove seabed obstructions has been underway for some time from the spudleg barge “STREKKER”, with a further barge moored to it.
Operations will continue around the clock, and will also
include diving operation.
From approximately 16 December, dredging operations
will commence in earnest, with the arrival of the Trailing
Suction Hopper Dredger “SHOALWAY”.
chart showing approach channel dredging areas - darker
colours represent the major work areas.
9