Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Chat about CVRDA events
chris
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Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by chris »

Don't forget the last event of the year is coming up :
Baltic Warf, (Bristol harbour) 14th November first race 11.00 is a race to the head of the harbour.
A very historic and interesting place to sail.
To find it you can follow signs to the SS Great Britain but don't park there just go a little further and you will see a sign for the Cottage Inn and that's the place.
giles
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by giles »

I plan on coming, probably with Hit.
Giles
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azimuth
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by azimuth »

I'm planning on being there, plus the other classic Finn from my club will probably be coming too.
Keith.

Finn K60 'Sfinnx' Fairey
Zenith 74 'Azimuth' (rescued from the undergrowth 20yrs ago)
Zenith 61 'Bali Hai'... A family heirloom...
Pat
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by Pat »

Looking forward to it - can we pre-order wind this year?
(Half Cut and What a Lark Removals Ltd)
Spiderman
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by Spiderman »

Looking forward to it - can we pre-order wind this year?
If you look at the current forecast on XC weather for Saturday your wish may well be granted with 40mph gusts at midday!

A lot can change between now and then, however, so I will be monitoring things as the week progresses. I try not to allow myself to be put off by pessimistic forecasts as I know a lot of people who have missed good events where the forecast didn't quite match realityand the conditions were better than predicted. Is a South Westerly a good direction for the dock as that is the likely wind direction for Saturday?
Anyway, I hope to see a good few hardy souls at Baltic Wharf next week even if it is only in the Pub next door!

Best Regards

Ian
Pat
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by Pat »

I've spent the day in a 12th floor office on top of the hill at Clifton in Bristol and apart from a couple of short vicious downpours where the rain and hail was passing the window horizontally, the winds and gusts today were not as bad as the forecasts were suggesting.
Down in the harbour it is far more sheltered too. See you there!
(Half Cut and What a Lark Removals Ltd)
Pat
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by Pat »

Well my wind order didn't really arrive until the final race though there was more than last year. A small handful of visitors joined a couple of local boats for the Head of the Harbour morning race in light winds - I swear we were drifting backwards at one point. Alan Watson brought the scow Moth last seen at Roadford and down by the SS Great Britain, we thought he'd just stopped to chat to a neighbour on one of the narrowboats there, but actually his port shroud had lost it's clevis pin and they were holding the mast up!
Then the wind built a bit more after lunch and gave us two more races on a fishtail shaped course with a few gusts in the last one so we managed to get some speed up and I did get sat on the side a bit then. We entertained the ferry passengers sailing close to the boats - even closer when Giles didn't realise there was a second ferry behind- and we were challenged by the Matthew cruising through, keeping to the middle of the harbour due to the winds and particularly being course side of the pin end of the line as we were coming up to the finish!
Giles in the Hit took first place, Lyndon's Moth second, despite a quick swim at the gybe mark in the third race and Sandy & I third but we had some good close racing between us.
Many thanks to the Baltic Wharf team for a friendly welcome and for borrowing an extra safety boat as a precaution - we were well shepherded throughout.
(Half Cut and What a Lark Removals Ltd)
chris
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by chris »

Well, that'll teach me to look at weather forecasts! We decided not to go because we remembered the carnage last time there was a similar forecast. Oh well - win some loose some. Glad the people that went had a good time.
bornagainmothie
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by bornagainmothie »

Thanks to all at Baltic Wharf for an exciting and entertaining day. Its always a fascinating place to sail and with a bit of wild wind thrown in occasionally we had some challenging conditions even for a pond sailor like me. Well done to Giles for a consistently quick performance driving the HIT to its max dead downwind whereas i had to gybe about all over the place to avoid nose diving. Sandy and Pat demonstrated some excellent boat handling in the Albacore, a big boat on a very tight course.
Only Alan could think of using a 70ft Narrowboat to hold his mast up. I thought he'd just crashed into it on a bad windshift.
Shock of the day had to be when the safety boat crew at the windward mark shouted "look out for Matthew on your way down" huh Matthew who? I thought, as I bore away at full chat concentrating hard on keeping the foredeck out of the water. Got it stable, checked burgee and lined it up for gybe before the moored cruiser, all this in about 3 boat lengths, then I looked across to where I was heading for out of the gybe, Sh********t ,who parked that Galleon there???, THE Matthew was cruising up the middle of the race course and there wasn't much point calling starboard at it!
Look forward to seeing some pics
davidh
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by davidh »

Very....very...very interesting!
It's not so long ago that the notion of sailing an all GRP boat, one that was well nigh a SMOD, in an event billed as a classic meeting, would have given many of the Luddites fits of the 'vapours'. Today, we're all so much more aware now of the part that the GRP boats played in the story of dinghy development and events are far more inclusive. All congratulation therefore must go to Giles and his Peter Milne designed 'Hit' dinghy. The Skipper 12 and 14 aside, Peter had a lovely eye for a boat and the Hit is no exception - I thought that the boat looked sweet on the water. You could see at a glance the family resemblance to the Mirror 14/Marauder which anyone who has sailed one would know is not just a delightful boat to sail, but is rewardingly quick.

Of course, the Hit wasn't the only glass boat as Pat and Sandy were once again there in their no-wood Albacore.

For those who stayed away because of the forecast, it was a shame as the drizzle aside, the sailing looked to be great.

Indeed, with the forecasters talking of dire conditions, it is a credit to the classics that they got as many boats as they did.

Well done to all for making the trip and providing us with the entertainment.

Dougal
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David H
giles
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by giles »

I think that all has been said. It was a lovely end to the CVRDA season with the last race having the biggest blow, here's to more big blows next year!! Thank you to all at Baltic Wharf for your organisation, you really must let us top up your coffers next year if only by a small amount.
Here's to an interesting 2016 with new venues??

Giles
Michael Brigg
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by Michael Brigg »

davidh wrote:Very....very...very interesting!
It's not so long ago that the notion of sailing an all GRP boat, one that was well nigh a SMOD, in an event billed as a classic meeting, would have given many of the Luddites fits of the 'vapours'. Today, we're all so much more aware now of the part that the GRP boats played in the story of dinghy development and events are far more inclusive. All congratulation therefore must go to Giles and his Peter Milne designed 'Hit' dinghy. The Skipper 12 and 14 aside, Peter had a lovely eye for a boat and the Hit is no exception - I thought that the boat looked sweet on the water. You could see at a glance the family resemblance to the Mirror 14/Marauder which anyone who has sailed one would know is not just a delightful boat to sail, but is rewardingly quick.

Of course, the Hit wasn't the only glass boat as Pat and Sandy were once again there in their no-wood Albacore.

For those who stayed away because of the forecast, it was a shame as the drizzle aside, the sailing looked to be great.

Indeed, with the forecasters talking of dire conditions, it is a credit to the classics that they got as many boats as they did.

Well done to all for making the trip and providing us with the entertainment.

Dougal

Indeed interesting...

I presume by this David that you are talking more about the broad church that should/does exist in this community than trolling a response from a Luddite such as myself? :wink: :mrgreen:

The Mr Green emoticon expresses my jealousy that I too am not / was not, on the water.

This is in part because I do not possess a suitable plastic boat. Like many on this forum, I do admit to ownership of a L***r, because it is robust, cheap to run (though not at a competitive level) and as it's name, "White Trailer Trash" suggests, it fulfils a purpose.

I own many boats, mainly woodies, and I love them all like my children. As you know love is an unconditional thing, so none of my children are favoured over others, but on the other hand, there are some of my boats where the emotion is of a more carnal nature. My Carl Douglas Scull, Torment K102 and others fulfil a different function, some of a conjugal nature and others, like WTT, of more concupiscent origin :oops: :twisted:

I suppose what I mean is that faced with the possibility of X-Rated weather many of our community may have decided not to bring the children!

The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.

Me, only cruel immortality
Consumes. I wither slowly in thine arms,
Here at the quiet limit of the world.

So in essence, a plastic boat perhaps must be more worthy, else it will populate, or worse haunt our "quiet limit of the world" for ever.

We currently stand between a world of craft that were made of frail flesh so to speak, whose population is dwindling and whose value increases more due to irreplaceability than true worth, and the evolving world of synthetic materials, lacking a past essence of life that wood possesses.
These boats must then possess some other quality to give them life. As you see it David, that lies in the quality of the design and I agree with that. To raise an old chestnut the time must come when The assotiation must acknowledge the need for a successor wing, the "Classic Class" with entrance decided by some kind of an invitational element. A flexibility would be needed, such as already exists in the concept that CVRDA criteria are not exclusive, but more of a guideline, to encourage and promote Classic sailing at all clubs. (and we are now in the close season so "Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him who first cries ‘Hold! enough!")

Peter Milne is a man that bridges this gap and as the 20th century generation of dinghy designers "Sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the Western stars" there is a need to re-establish a variety of dinghy design and that is perhaps another important part to be played by celebrating older designs of boat.

That old Fairey Finn, currently converted to a rowing / work boat is just one example of how speed alone is a poor substitute for class. The Aston Martin DB4 ws never the fastest or best handling car, and the Finn though slower by far than a 49'er, was a far more exciting class to view at the Olympics, just as the Perth series of 12M yachts doing battle with "The Doctor" made my hairs stand up a good deal more than the last AC (almost non-) event in San Francisco.

"Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods."
Michael Brigg
Rupert
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by Rupert »

Not sure I really understand David's post. The cvrda has been welcoming GRP boats since 1999, and fighting against the "it has to be perfectly varnished or we won't allow it" brigade ever since.
Rupert
roger
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by roger »

Rupert wrote:Not sure I really understand David's post. The cvrda has been welcoming GRP boats since 1999, and fighting against the "it has to be perfectly varnished or we won't allow it" brigade ever since.
That's how I have always seen it. We have had the plastic duck trophy for plastic boats at the Nationals since I have been coming along and Bosham has many more plastic boats in their spirit of tradition qualification.
I don't ever recall any negative comments to plastic boats.
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davidh
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Re: Baltic Warf, 14th Nov, Final event 2015

Post by davidh »

Who would be a journalist! You just can't win as you are never going to please everybody.

My post was happy, positive and constructive - I really did think that the Hit, being sailed by Giles, was worthy of mention. Given that so few boats had turned up, to me the Hit was my one chance of a story. But to get comments back refuting the negativity that has, at times, been expressed towards GRP boats is a bit rich. All I did was I express the views that I have heard first hand; if I said something it is because that is how it has been presented to me. A quick look at the boats that did bother to turn up showed that the two Moths were in a class apart, with Alan's scow looking lovely, whilst Lyndon's Stockholm Sprite was a work of art.

Hopefully, the next step will be when someone takes a GRP boat and presents it looking like the Moths - so you get a boat looking as much that 'work of art' as their wooden counterparts. That will be a story, one worthy of working on so that you can promote the text out to a wider audience.

I already had to be mindful of who I photographed at BW, if I cannot write about what I see and hear it really does question the value of travelling to Bristol to report on the event.

D
David H
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