Club Cruise to Weston Bay YC - 7th-8th August 2010

[Camelot]

Visit Western Bay YC, Western Super Mare - 7th-8th August.

Western Bay YC is the closest club to us outside the Bay, their members regularly visit us, and all reports from our member's who've been suggest it to be a very friendly club; so it’s probably about time a few more of us visited them!

It’s only 10.5 Nm from the Outer Wrach buoy!

See their website:- www.wbyc.co.uk

The tides for the weekend are:-
Weston Super Mare - Sat 07/08/10 (BST)
0434 - 9.0
1058 - 3.2
1708 - 9.5
2332 - 2.6

Weston Super Mare – Sun 08/08/10 (BST)
0541 - 9.9
1202 - 2.3
1811 - 10.5
(0032) - 1.6

I intend to lock out at 14:00 on Saturday 7^th.

I've just spoken to the president of WBYC, who says the usual mooring arrangement there, is to raft off their pontoon, which dries. This is, I’m told, is suitable for both bilge and fin keelers on account of the mud being very very soft and very very deep (bottomless was how it was described!). The mud is in fact dangerously soft, if you're stupid enough to try walking on it! But it is basically like floating in very thick water for a boat.

The only downside is that whilst they will be open in the afternoon, their bar won't be open in the evening. That said there are a few pubs close by, for us to try. If anyone fancies heading over earlier their bar will be open Friday night.


If intending to come along please post a reply here, so I can give the club some warning of how many boats to expect.


It is the sole and inescapable responsibility of the skipper to decide whether to enter or continue participating in this event, especially with regard to prevailing and forecast weather conditions. The information here is not intended to replace the individual skipper's passage planning.

Please also ensure your vessel and it’s equipment is in a sound and seaworthy condition and that you and your crew are suitably experienced, properly prepared and clothed for adverse weather as required.

[Camelot]

There was originally a trip planned to St Pierre Pill on this weekend, but I think I made a blunder as the tides are not really suitable. Therefore this trip to Weston is the replacement destination.

[Wyndsong ( aka Kazzas1234)]

HI Huw/ all,

I would love to do the trip but as a complete novice with no experience of what lies beyond the barrage, would like to offer my services as a crew member on another yacht................or if some one would like to join me and help skipper mine that would be great.
I'll be down the club on Thursday if you want to discuss/ see my boat.
Also would you need a tender to get ashore Huw?

Karen

[Angie (Camelot)]

Hi Karen,
No need for dinghy/tender as be rafting against pontoons with other boats so just have to hop over a few boats. Huw will not be down on thursday as working in London at the moment.I will be keeping an eye on the forum and run any queries past huw and post a reply.

[allan]

I hope to be at the club on Thursday and and head for Weston on Saturday.
Allan

[Deleted]

I will definitely be going to Weston as I went to school there and so it will be something of a nostalgia trip for me. (Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. ha ha). Even more so as my best friend at school (Chris) lived in Uphill back then and we used to drink in both the Dolphin and the Ship from the age of 15! I have emailed him and he is going to meet me there for a catchup.

I have no idea what these pubs are like now, but back then the Dolphin was the 'posher' of the two and it is also the nearest to the beach, so I expect everyone will congregate in that one. Of course I will have to visit both, for obvious reasons!

Julian

[Deleted]

P.S. If the winds are light on Saturday I will leave earlier than 14:00 to make sure of reaching Black Rock a little before high water. I would rather be too early and hang around in Weston Bay for a bit than be too late. Enter the Axe too early and there is a serious risk of being shot past the pontoons by the current. Too late and...

...well ...don't even think about trying to get up the river Axe on the ebb tide. It is narrow and the current can be horrific. From experience I can safely say that you wouldn't make it.

Julian

[Deleted]

P.P.S. Karen, I am always sailing alone - so you would be welcome to join me on Katy. I'll try to be there on Thursday evening, but can't be sure yet.

Julian

[Deleted]

Hello all

Elaine and me hope to join you on Karen Rix's boat 'Cassandra'. Hopefully there will be four of us on it including Karen, but might be just Elaine and me?

What are people's plans for Sunday? I gather we've got about 2 hours each side of high water. I don't much fancy the early morning, so that means not leaving till mid afternoon?

weather looking reasonable at the moment. we might even see some sun

Peter

[Matt]

Myself and Dean on 'Sunbeam' might join you guys. We were going to go to Portishead but never tried Weston, could be interesting so if we are coming we will probably lock out Saturday around 13.00. Will confirm for definate by Friday.

Matt

[Camelot]

Good to see plenty of interest.

One thought that's occurred - we may need to see some common sense applied when rafting - if the likes of sunbeam or katy arrive first, we may need a re-shuffle later, as with the likes of chausey on the other end we'd be asking for trouble! (her displacement is pretty hefty, especially with her skipper aboard!).

[Matt]

Thanks for the update Huw. I was also worried about rafting to what looks like a single pontoon.

Small change of plan - I am now coming on Alan Medfords Beneteau 31 (Light displacement fin keel and less chance of a bad back!)

Another boat 'Molian' from Cardiff Bay YC is also coming, theirs is a 22ft sailing boat. They are locking out at 1pm.

Weather is looking to be lovely.

Sounds like it will be fun.

Matt

[Deleted]

hello all

just to let people know that we (Karen, Julie, Peter and Elaine sailing on "Cassandra") have decided against Weston in favour of Portishead.

It will be Karen's first night away on her new boat and with four of us on board and no working loo, I can't say that I blame her for choosing the easier, luxury option!

Hope we'll catch up with the rest of you somewhere in the future

cheers,
Peter

Ps. must change my avitar - Sandpiper is now sold / (can't decide which smiley is more fitting)

[Deleted]

Hi there folks!
Sorry not to be joining you all but we ( I've ) decided to give Weston a miss on this occasion and go for the reliable access to a comfy toilet at Portishead for our my first overnight trip on Cassandra. Yes - as we will have 4 adults on board my little Westerly and as it has an unreliable loo at present....it will be far too undignified to be bucket and chucking when we're all strung together in the mud............so its access to showers and flushing water that comes up trumps - so to speak!!!!
Hope we all have a lovely trip........
k

[Matt]

Thanks Huw for organising this trip. It was one which I had never thought of doing before due to never having dried out before on the mud but am encouraged to do it again soon. Sorry you had to leave so early.

We had an exciting journey over with 20-25 knots going past the Ranie, the waves were good fun. Went around the western side of Steep Holm and into Weston Bay. On the VHF 'Molian' skipper asked if they needed to head for the 'lumpy bit in front' (Breen head)
where the waves were like you have on the beach and rolled us in directly down wind. Settled into the mud at high tide nicely. The crew of Sequel (Alan, me, Dean) and Katy (Julian) did a small tour of Weston Super Mare eating and drinking and then had drinks on Chausey on Saturday night joined by crew of Molian (Rhian and Chris) from CBYC watching the stars and devouring the contents of Alan's cheese board.

In the morning the tide had gone out and 'Sequel' had tipped at weird angle making cereal and tea quite interesting. It was like climbing a small mountain. Had a ice cream (with flake of course) on the front on Sunday and a beach BBQ in the afternoon. Alan's burn sausuages went down well although one dog came along and turned its nose up. It obviously wasn't a sausage dog! Crew of Molian did us proud and brought along an array of mediterranean dishes like cous cous, fried onions, fetta, olives, salad, etc...

The trip home was stunning with all the yachts keeping within sight of each other and showing that 'Chausey' was faster in middle to strong winds and 'Sequel' good in light to moderate winds. We had to wait an hour for the dredger 'Sospan Fach' to do some work in the outer harbour but locked in at about 8pm together with Katey and Chausey. Molian had to get the next lock in.

Thanks Alan for a great sail in a great boat and everyone who made this a wonderful weekend! Dean is still going on about the cod (somebody stop him!!).

Photos posted on the 'Cardiff Yacht Club' facebook page if interested (for those that are on facebook).

Matt

[vikingsmb]

I watched you guys coming in last night about 7-8pm ish, as I was down the sea front with parents and sister, as I'm on annual leave this week , some of you guys were tacking, quite a few times as well, glad you enjoyed it
matt I will see u on weds eve
Rob

[Deleted]

What started out as a ;asr minute 'fill in' for the originally planned trip turned out a wonderful weekend. Not only did I get to see my old school friend (who is responsible for introducing Dean to the cod 'n chips he won't stop raving about!) but on the low tide on the first evening us fin keelers where upright and the bilge keelers leaning over, for a change. After Appledore, boy did I gloat!! We were all sitting on Allan's boat having drinks on Sat night with it heeling over on the mud, so I suggested he put a reef in. chuckle chuckle.

I'm not sure what happened on the second low tide, but us fin keelers did lean a bit. Nothing compared to Appledore and as it was late morning we weren't sleeping on the boats so it didn't matter.

Weston (or rather Uphill, as that is what that area of Weston is called) seems to be largely ignored by the yachts of the CYC, but I can highly recommend it - especially to fin keelers. Drying out with a fin keel was simplicity iteslf. The two fin keel boats (Katy and Sequel) remained perfectly upright for sleeping and I didn't have to spend an entire visit worrying and keep going back to check. I had as much peace of mind as I would have had if we had been in a Marina. Thumbs up!

So come on guys and gals more of us should visit there. The navigation up the axe is a bit windy, but well buoyed so not a problem. The only negative thing I could say is that access to the Axe is very close to the rocks of Brean Down and Weston Bay must be one of the only places where it is rougher in the bay, where you would expect shelter, than out in the channel. I was not very happy abandoning the helm to get the mainsail down so close to rocks in such rough conditions - but it isn't always that rough and the locals do it all the time, so don't let that put anyone off.

We all had a really good time while we were there. As Matt said, the crews of Katy and Sequel went out on the town and Alan (with one 'l') almost pulled. A rather tasty young lady came up to our group and asked for a light. After Matt and I had a hurried 'quick draw' contest to find our lighters (Matt won!) she looked at Alan and said, 'I like him. He's lush'.

Then it was back to Chausey for drinks and cheese (yeah, definitely in that order!) and then to beddybyes on a dried out fin keeler that was perfectly level. Wow!

Sunday turned out to be partially sunny, warm and without any wind. Huw and family had left at an ungodly hour that morning and I believe had to motor all the way home. The same crew that had been into town the night before walked back in to get the necessary and we all had a beach BBQ with the obligatory cremated sausages and beef burgers, followed by a lazy afternoon on the beach waiting for the tide. We left around 16:30 and the wind picked up just beforehand - it couldn't have been better if we'd pre-booked it!

There was North in the wind, so a close haul tack combined with an incoming tide meant that we were all heading for Newport rather than Cardiff. I hatched a cunning plan (Baldrick) and put in a tack in the middle of the channel. The thinking behind this was that the tide was due to turn at around 18:15 and so if I was further out when it did the outgoing tide would actually help my COG in the direction of Cardiff. So, despite having to punch what was left of the incoming tide in mid channel I wouldn't have to tack as far as I would if I went further across, and the tack itself would fill in the time before the tide turned. Unfortunately I didn't really have the courage of my convictions and so didn't keep up that tack for long enough. Even so the bigger boats didn't overtake me as they usually do, so that was a result!

All in all a great fun and very successful trip. I urge more people from CYC to go there. I will see how much my friend would charge as a tour guide. :-)

Julian.

[vikingsmb]

did you guys have a problem with the tanker coming out of cardiff? as she cut between a small yacht and the rest of you guys, that was the view from the sea front anyway

[Deleted]

I had completely forgotten about the ship coming out of Cardiff, so it couldn't have been that much of a problem! I had been much more concerned by the ship coming in which was on a converging course for ages and I had been watching closely. It eventually veered to starboard and cut right across the bows of Katy and Chausey, who was hot on my heels.

Now you come to mention it, whilst waiting for the dredger to finish I did notice a ship bearing down on me from behind while I was drifting somewhere around the outer wrach cardinal and engaged gear to motor out to sea a bit to get out of the way. I suppose that could have looked like a near miss from a distance, but it wasn't an emergency by any stretch of the imagination, just prudent not to stay in that area!

Julian

[Matt]

Your right actually Rob from a distance a large black ship seemed to be chasing Julian who we were worried had not seen it.

[vikingsmb]

because from my point of view on the sea front, she was moving at a good rate of knots,
anyone have a different viewpoint with r.e. speed?

[Deleted]

Yes, that ship was moving very fast compared to the norm for a big 'un in the Wrach Channel and I did have one of those, 'Where the Hell did that come from?', moments when I first saw it, as the whole Cardiff approach was completely clear what seemed like 2 minutes before.

But, as I said, I was around the outer Wrach cardinal and when I spotted the ship behind me it was roughly level with the cutting to the barrage, so it was about half a mile away - but closing fast. Not exactly an emergency, but a good idea to get out of there!

Julian