Tidal Diamond 915
- Social Update
- Keeping our Clubhouse Looking Good
- Rowing by Moonlight
- Ebb & Flow
- Useful Links
- Diary Dates
Social Update
Firstly a big thank you to all of you who attended the talk on Friday, and to Jenny and Rob from the SSAC who kindly explained about the work of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue.
This is the website https://bdmlr.org.uk/ if you wish to find out more.
As there is no requirement to be a diver, I am very tempted to take a marine mammal medic course…. I shall probably wait for the warmer weather though!
Recovery food options – 14th October
Hi Cruisers, could you please pre book your food for the recovery weekend.
https://webcollect.org.uk/tudorsc/event/recovery-food-options
Turning The Tide – 27th October
We’re delighted to be welcoming John Bearman back to the club to speak. John works for the Hampshire Police Marine Unit and is also a RYA yachtmaster instructor.
Join us for a look at how the tides work in our harbour, and what affects them. Plus some basic training on all those floating buoys out there and what they mean.
Although this evening is developed for newer members, our seasoned sailors, rowers, and paddlers are very welcome, as the more advice and guidance in the room the better.
We will be serving a vegetarian/sausage hot pot at around 6.30pm and the talk will start at around 7pm. You don’t have to eat to come along, but pre booking either way would be appreciated so we know numbers to expect/cater for.
https://webcollect.org.uk/tudorsc/event/turning-the-tide-1
Tudor Christmas Party – 16th December
Please save the date, we will be rocking around the Christma tree with a live band.
Sue Elson
Social Secretary
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Keeping our Clubhouse Looking Good
Autumn already but hopefully you’ve had a chance to enjoy yourself out on the water and use all the facilities our club has to offer. You may have noticed various improvements around the club, the patio area is almost complete and the repairs and decoration above the workshop door, new padlocks on the gates, etc. Lots of regular checks are carried out each month to ensure things work as you would expect but we need you to report problems, please email me at maintenance. If you still need to complete some duty hours here are a few jobs we would like to finish this year.
- Replace wooden threshold on the race box door frame.
- Repaint blue panel on race box door.
- Re-stain all wooden thresholds and barge boards.
- Fit curved Tudor Sailing Club sign above dartboard.
- Re-fix panel to door in bar cellar and paint.
- Repaint doors and frames in bar area.
- Check paintwork in changing rooms and touch up where needed.
- Check gutters and clear as necessary.
- Rehang fairy lights at the south end of clubroom.
- Re-paint start line racing triangles.
There are probably more jobs and improvements around the club that you may have noticed that we may have missed, please let us know. If you can help please send me an email including a mobile and I’ll call and explain in more detail what needs doing.
Bill Jones
Maintenance Officer
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Rowing by Moonlight
Unlike other forms of boating our gig rowing continues all year round without a break due to its immunity to cold temperatures, wind, rough sea and lack of daylight.
It is this last point “lack of daylight” that I highlight here.
Currently several boats venture out every Wednesday evening, one week to the pub and the other back to the club bar which means that for several months we row in the dark, except that we don’t row in the dark, within 10 minutes of launching ones night vision builds up and even with a heavy cloud cover it is relatively easy to “see”.
I have done thousands of miles of night cruiser sailing but never bore of the special pleasure of being afloat at night, removed from the comfort zone of daylight, the senses are heightened and even in the safe waters of Langstone a sense of adventure pervades the atmosphere.
Different phenomena such as a large full moon or the glory of the Milky Way add yet another layer of pleasure to the activity and it is the very physicality of rowing that not only keeps the cold at bay but due to the extra blood flow seems to pump up the pleasure level.
Attached is a pic. taken in 2019 which reminded me of a past winters night, the water was glass smooth, not a ripple, the air was crystal clear without a hint of cloud and each and every star was reflected in the sea, it was if we were rowing through the night sky with stars above, below and all around, one of those small experiences in life that has the ability to plunge deep into the psyche and lodge there forever.
The level of winter activity after dark is generally very low, however occasionally we come across groups of sea Kayakers, their huddled group of lights traversing Langstone, they don’t respond much to our greetings, perhaps like us they are buried in the experience which chatter can spoil.
There are great benefits to young sailors by being able to safely go afloat during the hours of darkness, the experience dissipates any trepidation that they will “blindly crash into stuff” and along with this positive realisation is the equally useful lesson in “Navigating by lights”, the novice sailor can be forgiven for thinking that navigating at night must be far more difficult than during the day, but in a lot of of ways navigating by lit bouys and lighthouses is easier because the light patterns can be read from a far greater distance than any painted name. I am in no doubt that conning a boat at night brings the young sailor an increase in both confidence and seamanship.
For a gig rower all the seasons bring their pleasures but rowing under a “Winter Moon” takes some beating
Ian Ducane
Ebb & Flow
It was nice to see a good number of Tudor members at the Open Forum tonight, which was very well attended and had some interesting talks. The Vice Chair, Mark, stood in for me as I got caught up in the football traffic (not because I was at QA as I thought may be the case), and then continued as there was no way I was going to be able to leap around getting the microphone to people while walking with a crutch. There are a lot of interesting things happening, or possibly happening in the future, in and around Langstone.
For anyone interested in the Forts in the Solent there’s an interesting article from the Island Echo on them at: https://www.islandecho.co.uk/palmerstons-4-follies-stuck-in-the-middle-of-the-solent/. If you are particularly interested you may find the Palmerston Forts Society website or Facebook group of interest, which can be found at: https://www.palmerstonfortssociety.org.uk/ and https://www.facebook.com/PalmerstonFortsSociety.
As ever, feel free to drop me an email at this address, it is always nice to hear from members. Any ideas of things to include in the Tidal Diamonds always most welcome.
Let’s be careful out there.
Paul Tansom
Tidal Diamond Editor
tidal_diamonds
Useful Links
- WebCollect: dinghies for more details.
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