Tidal Diamond No. 331
Chris Whadham Trophy, Sunday 14th July
Perhaps this is a lesser known fact, but the Chris Wadham Trophy event is a team race between TSC and Locks SC. This year the race starts at 13:00 on the start line at Eastney Cruising Association, right in the mouth of Langstone Harbour. Are we going to turn up or will it be a walkover for Locks SC?
This handicap event is open to both dinghies and cruisers*, so it’s a rare opportunity for both classes to work together on the water for the honour of Tudor Sailing Club. We must field at least 6 boats to be in with a shout – will YOU sail one of them. (*looking at the time of high tide, cruiser participation may not be feasible and in any event there is a separate race for cruisers scheduled to start from the club line at 13:00).
TSC has to provide the race officer this year and that has been a challenge which is why, as Dutyman Administrator, I have had to learn more about the event. So, “let’s be ‘aving you” – I would be really encouraged if you would email duties immediately to pledge your support this coming Sunday. You will need to get down to the clubhouse in good time, to sign on before 11:30am. The RIB will ferry our Race Officer to ECA for 12noon and can come back to escort you down harbour if need be”
Alan Saunders
Sailing Committee
RNLI Nab Tower Race
This years RNLI Nab Tower Race is scheduled for this coming Sunday 14/07 with a 1300 start at the ECA line. A signing on sheet is now on the cruiser notice board, please find attached the sailing instructions for this race only.
I also have a number of updates for your diaries.
- Gales series 9 added to the calendar, Friday the 13th of September. Will take the place of the earlier cancelled leg at the beginning of the season.
- Third leg of the forts and fairways added to the calendar, will be a low water race on Saturday 28th of September. 1121 low water, 2.3m, 1000 start.
- Gould Trophy re-run scheduled for the weekend of 14/15th of September. Start times and mooring details are still to be confirmed.
Andy Healey
Sailing Committee
Cruiser Update
Summer Cruise Planning:
The main reason for the choice of destination is the Paimpol Sea Shanty Festival on the 9th, 10th, 11th August. As well as traditional working songs from around the world, in good French style there is lots of food & drink and the harbour is full of traditional boats.
Tide highlights: (All Times in BST)
Saturday 3rd August:
High water Portsmouth: 1005
High water Dover: 0946
Tide runs south in Alderney Race: 0930 to 1430.
Two options for first leg:
1. Overnight crossing planning to reach Alderney around 1400 (ie leaving around 0200 in the morning on Saturday, depending on your planned crossing time) – Stopping in Braye which is a bit wind direction dependant.
2. A more leisurely start to get into Cherbourg (choose your tides to give the best advantage, but no big restrictions). I favour this route, anchoring in the Petite Rade and moving off to the Channel Islands on the Sunday morning.
Jersey is a good next stop from either of the above and puts you in easy range of the French coast (St. Malo in the East or as far as Morlaix if you want to start off in the west.
Tides along the north Brittany coast run east for about 6 hours from 2 hrs after HW Dover, are slack-ish (close in) for around 2 hours between about 4 and 5 hrs before HW Dover and then run west for around 5 hours from 3 hrs before HW Dover to about 1 hr after. There are quite a few back-eddies and odd places along the coast where there is not that much east or west going tide at any time. The main thing you need to remember is that quite a few harbours are not accessible until closer to high water than we are used to – some not really accessible during neap tides!
Saturday 10th August:
High water St Malo: 0902 & 2112, low water 1550.
Tides run west along the coast between about 1000 and 1500.
Tides run east along the coast between about 0400 and 0830 and again from about 1600 to 2000. They are slack-ish longest around HW St. Malo and strongest west going around low water St. Malo.
Saturday 17th August:
High water Dover: 0818 & 2051
High Water Portsmouth: 2104
Roger Smith
Cruiser Captain
Dinghy Cruises 2013 – High Water Cruise Saturday 13 July 1415
I thought I should give a quick update on the Dinghy cruise programme for 2013. But first I have to give a very large vote of thanks to our Patrol Boat crews who shepherded 16 dinghies with some 28 crews safely around Hayling Island on Sunday 30 June. Ian Silk, Mark Brain, Tom Forrester and Chris Knight certainly had their work cut out as the forecast wind filled in just as the gaggle of dinghies arrived at Chichester Bar Beacon about two hours after Low Water. I’ll leave the detail for later Ebb and Flow piece (if one of the intrepid band fancy giving a few hundred words I’m sure the Editor would welcome it). Suffice to say after an eventful (for some) entrance into Chichester Harbour we all arrived safely just beyond HISC for well deserved Sandy Spit sandwiches. The calm run up through Chichester harbour and under the Langstone Bridge was a welcome respite from the heavy seas off Chichester Bar. Finally the Hayling Billy Gap had a benign tide and we got through unscathed and returned safely to the Club after what can only be described as an awfully big adventure.
The Hayling Dinghy Cruise by numbers: I’d given Ian my Garmin GPS and it was left running in the RIB just for information so for all of those who asked how far did we go here are some numbers from the GPS trip. Total distance run: just over 19 nautical miles. Run time: five and a half hours. Max Wind Strength: Chimet Archives 17kts. Dinghies: 5 X Wayfarers, 4 X Family/Sport double handers, 3 X Lasers, 2 X Toppers (great sailing from Xanthe Gould), 1 X Heron and 1 X RS 500.
The future: We have a rescheduled HW Cruise this Saturday 13 July with a start time of 1415, with a briefing for 1400 followed by a swift departure. Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend and your Cruise Leader will be Alan Saunders so come on down and give the club the support it so richly deserves the weather forecast looks Mediterranean so what’s not to enjoy. To look at the longer term planning, you might have seen that the dinghy calendar showed Around Hayling Cruise 2 due on Saturday 17 August. As the original event was run successfully this was only a fallback date in the calendar and will not be going ahead – it’s now been removed from the online calendar. The final cruise of the year will be the Priory Bay Cruise on Sunday 15 September and I won’t be able to attend that one either but I know we have a lead volunteer at present.
Phil Bryant
TSC Dinghy Captain
Missing Handheld Radio Icom M23
Whilst we were running the Tudor Regatta the other weekend all of our five handhelds were in use from on-water backups to slipway management. We’ve been unable to locate one of the older Icom M23 models and are looking to club members to see if it had been inadvertently taken away or stowed somewhere safely (much as I put something away at home and then can’t remember where I put it – age!). We’re sure it’s out there and it has just been mislaid. Any sightings please let me know via email.
Phil Bryant
TSC Dinghy Captain
