What a difference on Mersea!

Today I had a cause to visit Mersea and found quite a few differences since I was last here, which was less than a month ago.

The weather had certainly changed. In fact it had changed considerably since I wrote my blog 13 days ago when much of Essex was still covered in snow. Today, I walked in short sleeves in bright sunlight and a temperature of 17 degrees Celsius. Less than 2 weeks ago, the very same spot recorded -5. Bloody hell, I'd better get the boat launched before the summer is over!

17 degrees C on 23rd Feb

With a spring tide, high just after 1pm and the strood covered, I timed my visit so I was kept on the island over lunch. This meant that I had to take a walk around and chat with a few folks to catch up on the goss. Oh yes, and take the obligatory drink at the Coast Inn. 

Whilst sitting on the bench savouring the Doom Bar watching the packing shed dip its gravel boards into the sea, a solitary boat put on a show, sailing in and out of the vacant moorings for the spectators sunning themselves for the first time this year on the lawn of the West Mersea Yacht Club. It was a perfect, light airs day, enough to make any wintering sailor hanker for those coming months.

Shiny New Building

Walking along the coast road towards the Victory pub a new landmark has risen up on the foreshore right next to the oyster tanks where the Thames barge is moored. You'll have walked passed the building many times. I remember it as not much more than what looked like a 2 bay garage, balancing on stilts with its front face pressed hard up against the edge of the road. Not any more, now its a smart looking boarded building with a glass apex roof and a vastly enlarged deck area hanging over the water at high tide. I have to say, I like it, although I'm sure there'll be many who would have preferred to see the old building fall into the water and disappear rather than have it replaced by this shiny new one.

Final Resting Place

When over on Mersea I always like to walk beyond the Mersea Marine yard to see what else has been dragged ashore and positioned in its final resting place on the mud. I find it fascinating to see the result of the hundreds of man hours and mini fortunes that are spent on turning these old hulls into habitable spaces. Well, to be fair, there are quite a few that look as if they've hardly had any money spent on them, and I for one, who has previously claimed that, 'I could live in a garden shed', wouldn't occupy them.


There are quite a few though, that make you think that perhaps the money spent on them, could infact have been used to kept the old girls sailing.


OK, I'm off. Time to stir that antifoul I think.

Cruiser Racing in Essex

Here's a round-up of selected cruiser racing series that are taking part in Essex waters through 2012. Looking at the list, there's plenty of opportunity to go racing both for the hardened racer types as well as the cruising types who'd like to test their speed sailing skills against others on their river.

If you'd like to get involved in cruiser racing, but don't have your own boat then checkout the Essex Sailing opportunities on this website their aim is to help newcomers to start cruiser racing.

Colne Cock of the River series

Handicap: Local handicap based on PY and previous results

Type: River races round the cans. Expect races up to 2 hours long

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Yes. They even have special handicap rating for beginners. And there's another series only for newcomers to racing, but check dates.

Series: Points series 7 races, 1 discard.

Cost: Varies, Check website for details http://www.colneyachtclub.org.uk

Contact: Colne Yacht Club. Waterside, Brightlingsea, Essex,  CO7  0AX

tel: 01206 302594

Dates: 21/4, 5/5, 2/6, 16/6, 1/9, 15/9, 13/10

Haven Series

Handicap: IRC and local handicap

Type: Coastal round the cans IRC points racing and Offshore Passage Racing. Expect a full days racing

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Yes if your crew has extensive cruising experience

Series: Points series 10 races, 3 discards.

Cost: Varies, Approx £100 for series and £45 per passage race, see website for details

Contact: Fiona Meikle, 17 Beach Lane, Alderton, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3BU Tel: 07778 010580

Dates:

IRC Points Series 12-13/5, 9-10/6, 8-9/9, 22-23/9

Passage Race Series 26/5, 1/6, 27/7, 18/8

BJRC Series (Blackwater Joint Racing Committee)

Handicap: Local based on PY

Type: Passage Racing expect 6hrs minimum

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Yes

Series: 9 points scoring races, 4 discards

Cost: £12 Yes that's right twelve pounds for the whole series! See website

Contact: Peter Copsey Old Copse Longacre Road Tye Green Braintree CM77 8HG tel: 01376 322737 or 07837 636669

Dates:

29/5, 13/5, 10/6, 30/6, 1/7, 14/7, 29/7, 11/8, 12/8, 9/9, 23/

West Mersea Autumn Series

Open to all Sailing Club member boats

Handicap: IRC and local PY

Type: Round the cans racing expect approximately 2hrs 30mins races

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Yes. There's also a white sails class for family boat racing (check dates on websites)

Series: For IRC, PY and White sails

Contact: The office, West Mersea Yacht Club, 116 Coast Road, West Mersea, Colchester, Essex, CO5 8PB tel: 01206 382947

Dates: 2/9, 9/9, 23/9, 30/9, 7/10, 14/10, 20/10

EAORA (East Anglian Offshore Racing Association)

If your Sailing Club is a member of EAORA, then you can race. (chances are, your club is)

Handicap: IRC

Type: Coastal and Offshore Passage Racing expect a full day racing

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Yes if your crew has extensive cruising experience

Series: Coastal series 7 races, 2 discards. Offshore series 11 races, 4 discards.

Cost: Varies, see website for details

Contact: Tony Merewether 07703 345501

Dates: 5-6/5, 18/5, 2-3/6, 16/6, 29/6, 1-2/7, 18/8, 7/9, 13/10

Sail East Series

A series where points are awarded for places achieved in East Coast Regatta racing in IRC fleets.

Races are open to yachts as determined by each regatta.

Handicap: IRC

Type: Round the cans racing. Expect at least 3 races over each weekend regatta.

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Not really. If you have raced local club racing though, then Sail East is the next step up.

Cost: Varies, Check individual regatta websites for details

Contact: SailEAST, 35 Mill Lane, Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, CO14 8PF

Dates: 26-27/5, 13-15/7, 30/7-4/8, 25-26/8

 

Regatta

Felixstowe Regatta

Handicap: IRC and locally based on PY

Type: Round the cans racing. Expect at least 3 races over the weekend regatta.

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Yes. There are 'no spinnaker' classes for family boats

Cost: Varies, Check regatta websites for details http://www.felixstoweregatta.co.uk/

Contact: Peter Cockayne, Chairman, Felixstowe Regatta Organising Team on 01473 780088

Dates: 14^th - 15^th July

Mersea Week

Handicap: IRC and locally based on PY

Type: Round the cans racing.

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Yes. There are classes for family boats

Cost: Varies, Check mersea week websites for details and the Town Regatta website.

http://www.mersearegatta.org.uk/

Contact: West Mersea Yacht Club, 116 Coast Road, West Mersea, Colchester, Essex, CO5 8PB

Dates: 20– 25/8

Dabckicks Sail East Regatta

Handicap: IRC

Type: Round the cans racing.

Suitable for newcomers to racing: No. But if you're crew has local club racing experience then this is the next step up.

Cost: Varies, See Dabchicks website for details http://www.dabchicks.org/saileast.htm and Sail East http://saileast.org/

Contact: Dabchicks Sailing Club, Coast Road, West Mersea, Colchester, ESSEX, CO5 8NX

Dates: 26-27/5

Maldon Town Regatta

Handicap: Local based on PY

Type: Morning round the cans racing from West Mersea followed by afternoon race up river to the town quay..

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Yes. This is a fun day of racing for old gaffers, smacks and modern boats and makes quite a spectacle. Quayside events all day for the family.

Cost: Varies, See website for details http://www.maldonregatta.co.uk/

Contact: Through the website

Dates: 22/9

Burnham Week

Handicap: IRC and Locally based on PY

Type: Round the cans racing. Series points for either whole week, bank holiday weekend, or midweek fleets

Suitable for newcomers to racing: Yes. There's a classes for all types of boats including 'no spinnaker' classes.

Cost: Varies, See website for details http://burnhamweek.org.uk/

Contact: Through the website

Dates: 25/8-1/9

Bradwell Baffle Wings Racing Secret

I took a walk out on the sea wall at Bradwell this weekend to take a look at the progress that had been made on the removal of the wings attached to the discharge outlet from the old Bradwell power station.

As you can see from the photographs, the work barges were still on site, and it looked as if work was still going on, but the steel walls have now been removed almost completely.

Here's an official update.

The central section will remain in place throughout the 2012 sailing season to be removed at a later date, but with the wings gone, it'll give a different outlook to the approach to Bradwell.

Looking at the missing wings caused me to recall an incident a few years ago whilst following Tommy Mills back up the river in a Blackwater Joint Racing Committee race. The wind was coming not straight out of the river, but at an angle of about 30 degrees to the baffle wall. At about 15 boat lengths from the end of the baffle, not sure whether we would clear it, my boat was discussing whether to tack inside the baffle or, as the West Mersea sailors we'd had a few beers with the previous week had suggested was the better option, ducking the baffle and continuing across to the Tollesbury bank of the river, where there were gains to be had.

Tommy Mills - Rocker (Impala)

We watched as Rocker got very close to the end of the wall and we decided to stand on knowing that we wouldn't get within 5 boat lengths of the end of the wall on our current track. To our surprise, as Rockers bow passed the end of the wall she immediately began to point higher. The wall, which at not much after low water was quite high above the boat, caused the wind to change direction around Rocker giving them a visible lift of about 25 degrees. Keeping close to the wall Tommy's boat was now pointing almost directly towards Thirslet whilst we were both too far away from the end of the wall to feel any affect of the local wind shift, and had sailed too far passed the wall to be able to tack back and make the same approach as Rocker.

Applying this single application of local knowledge had us beat. But we added the information to our own knowledge bank with the full intention of using it to our benefit at some time in the future. Unfortunately the opportunity never came and now the wall is gone I'm happily sharing this knowledge with everyone sailing the Blackwater.


Don't forget to update your charts!

Blackwater Gripped by Winter

Bradwell Marina entrance looking towards Osea Island

Its exactly one week since we had our first snowfall of the 2012 winter and unusual as it is for us to get snow in this part of the UK, even more unexpected is that the temperatures have stayed near to or below freezing for a full week.

So this weekend, unable to do any work on my own little fleet of boats, I took a trip out onto the Dengie peninsula to see a few old friends and chat about the sailing season to come.

As my journey took me beyond Maldon the snow gradually lay heavier on the ground. Boats were cloaked in white. Not that dirty looking snow we see in our towns and cities caused by the fall out from our skies, but a clean, glistening white, not unlike that I saw in the French Alps just a few weeks ago.

 I drove on beyond Steeple, the home of Sailing Miles who introduce newcomers to Essex sailing on the river Blackwater, their boats tucked up ashore undergoing their winter refit, and onto Bradwell marina.

Early Feb 2012 Bradwell Marina

I was surprised to see so many boats still afloat. Last time I was here was the week before christmas when boats were trimmed in fairy lights gently rocking to the parties taking place onboard. But then the weather was mild, and quite a few boats enjoyed sailing out of Bradwell throughout January.

Its a great little Bradwell Marina. The staff are very helpful, nothing is too much trouble and everything they do is done with a smile on their face. A few seasons ago I woke to a flat battery. With a falling tide and only a short opportunity to get over the sill and on my way. The marina manager said 'no problem' and off he went home to get a power pack to give me a jump start, now that's service!

Whilst I was down at the marina I thought I'd take a walk along the sea wall to see how the work was coming along on the removal of the baffle and you can read my report on that in my next blog.

This is Sailing Essex

So here we go. Why Sailing Essex, well, why not, its easily reached from East London and all counties to the North of London. Why anyone living in Herts or Bucks would travel down to the Solent to get their sailing fix is beyond me. What with the many rivers, estuaries and much open uncrowded waters to sail, the Essex Sailing grounds are a pleasure.

Yes I know, the water is mostly brown, and in places there isn't much of it, but the navigational challenge that presents to anyone sailing in Essex, gives a real sense of achievement.

So through this Blog I'll try to relay the delights of Essex Sailing, tell tales of the local cruising and racing scene and hopefully spread the word about what's going on for sailors on the Essex coast.