Many thanks to members who responded to the appeal for information on this – it looks like we may have an answer. Unless, of course, anyone knows different…

 

Peter Haldane 

11 Sep

to me, Andrew, Philip

According to the working list of boats that I inherited from Sebastian King, # 5  Pied Piper now sadly ashore, was once called Joie De La Mer.  But I only have the list he compiled ( As ‘Boat-finder General’ ) as evidence for that.  perhaps Philip Waring can confirm from the archive file on  # 5.

Regards

Peter H

 

Andrew Gilmour

11 Sep

to Peter, me, Philip

Thanks Peter for your trouble on this

Phillip, would you know who owned Pied Piper / Joie de la Mer

Thanks guys

Andrew

Sent from my iPhone

 

 

Philip Waring 

11 Sep

to Mark, Andrew, Peter, me

Dear Andrew, Mark, Peter and Peter,

Various items in the archive regarding No. 5 Pied Piper. The last listed owner is Simon Baker, he had her at Titchmarsh in Walton Backwaters, Essex. There is a broker’s sale specification dated 6.10.96. Before that Sir Michael Hopkins based her at Aldeburgh, there is a Stella database update for him dated 10.12.86. He probably bought her that year because there is quite a bit of correspondence, the latest item dated 27.5.86. Her owner then was Bruce Westbury, who lived then at Manchester, but before that at Cambridge. There is some correspondence about his entering Burnham Week in 1986, but interestingly, there is an account of his sailing her, with three others, from the Deben to Poland in 1984.  This is a photocopy of a hand written account, not a log but written after the voyage, I’ll scan it in and circulate it in the next day or two.

Kind regards,

Philip Waring

Stella 89 Stardust

 

 

Peter Haldane 

12 Sep

to Philip, Andrew, me, Mark

Has anyone asked Simon Baker the current owner of # 5 Pied Piper ?

Although he was very upset when she went down last November in Titchmarsh Marina, I’m sure that he wouldn’t mind a gentle enquiry about her previous life.

Peter H

Dear All,

A few of us who keep our boats in Suffolk Yacht Harbour are members of Haven Ports Yacht Club. Each year HPYC runs an Autumn Series on a handicap basis. It’s great fun, not terribly formal “round the cans” stuff and takes place on Sunday mornings throughout October.

In an effort to make it attractive to SCA members who’s boats aren’t based there, Mike Perkins, HPYC Vice Commodore has informed me that the marina are prepared to offer a concessionary berthing rate for the series. This will be negotiated on an individual basis and members need to contact Jonathan Dyke, Suffolk Yacht Harbour’s MD to discuss.

It would be brilliant to see a few more Stellas there for the series or just odd races. The dates are: October 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 plus November 6. All starts are 10.00 from the Club Line.

All the Best,

Peter

Many Thanks to Trevor Spero, Stella Lyra #75 for sending in these brilliant pictures!

I thought I’d share the following exchange of emails with members. Stellas are always warmly regarded…

Philip Waring	30 Aug (11 days ago)
to me

Dear Peter,

 

I haven’t seen Adrian for decades but I remember him, his sister their parents and Antares very well. Please make use of the email in whatever way you wish, I’ll email Adrian now.

 

All the best,

Philip
On 29 Aug 2016, at 22:10, Peter Dyson wrote:

Evening Philip,

 

I’ve just this minute received the following. Any objections to me forwarding your email address to Adrian and/or posting the email on the website?

 

Best,

Peter

 

 

Sent from my Samsung device

——– Original message ——–
From: Adrian Savage
Date: 29/08/2016 22:02 (GMT+00:00)
To: Peter Dyson
Subject: Stardust

So, there we were on our way up the Wallet when a very recognisable transom was spotted.  Back in the day (1970s and 1980s) I sailed a Stella that my Father has owned, No 110, Antares.  In those days when racing, a view of Stardust’s stern was the best we could achieve.  I have to say that I was and am more a cruising than racing sailor of keelboats but the sight of this exceptionally pretty Stella brought back memories of sailing off the East Coast, the races to Ostend and Calais on the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekends and the channel cruising to the Scilly Isles, Channel Isles and Brittany.

 

Unheard of in the 1970s, I was able to Google Stardust from a mile offshore and find that she is owned by Philip Waring who was, back in the day and hopefully still, married to Tessa.  It was, as it turned out, Philip’s son who was at the helm when this photo was taken off Clacton, so the tradition of Fathers entrusting their precious boats to their children would seem to be alive.

 

If you have PW’s email address, perhaps you could forward this for me.

 

Best wishes

 

Adrian Savage

 

Mystery Stella??

Andrew Gilmour sent me the following email recently. Can anyone shed any light on the identity of the Stella concerned?

 

Hi Peter,

Here is the picture taken by my father in 1977. There is no Stella named Joie de la mere so I wonder if anyone can shed any light on it.

I assume my father must have known those involved

All the best,
Andrew

How Timoa Got Her Name

Andrew Gilmour emailed me recently with the following rather amusing story:

 

Hi Peter

I thought you might be interested in this story.

Timoa was originally named Timov by her first owner. As you can see from the photo, the name is seen in reverse on the Dodgers when viewed from inside the cockpit.

The new owner must have been shocked to see that Timov became Vomit when he sat in the cockpit. As you can see from the photo he cut out the “v” and stitched in an A so that Timov became Timoa!!!!

Seeing the picture I thought I would share the story

All the best,
Andrew

Suffolk Yacht Harbour Spring Classic Regatta

In case you haven’t seen it, there is an excellent article on the SYH Spring Classic Regatta in the September edition of Classic Boat. Stellas feature heavily (as is only befitting!). Mind you I’m still bereft at not having been part of it and this article didn’t help!

 

Mersea Week

I hope a fair few of you will be managing to do Mersea Week this year. Sadly, however, once again I won’t be joining you for a major Stella points event. This time it’s due to a lack of crew rather than a lack of application by others! I hope all goes well and that the weather gods are kind to you. I look forward to receiving a report and will get something posted on the website as soon as I can after the event.

 

SYH/HPYC Autumn Classic Regatta

One event I have, however, managed to get my act together for is the Autumn Classics at Levington over the first weekend of September. Centaur is now sorted and I have crew (although we could do with another if anyone is up for it…) happy days!

 

When is a Spinnaker Not a Spinnaker…?

 A very good question it seems where the Stella racing rules are concerned. Those (lucky enough…) to have taken part in the Spring Classic Regatta can’t help but to have noticed the rule testing spinnaker being carried by Timoa. This was protested at the time but the protest was withdrawn when the sail was found (subject to measurement verification) to comply to the rules.

Andrew Gilmour, Timao’s owner, has been extremely open and helpful about the sail to the extent that he has lent it to the technical committee for appraisal and Tim Wood our Technical Advisor has borrowed it to try aboard L’Etoile. I await Tim’s report (Tim?) and fully expect it to prove to be a brilliant sail! In a sense, however, this is not the point. My concern and that of others I have spoken to is that we should avoid an “arms race” whereby if one boat has a reacher – sorry flat cut spinnaker, then we all must have if we have aspirations to be at the front of the fleet.

Now your opinion on the subject might be quite different and I would love to hear it. I intend to raise the matter at this autumn’s AGM as an agenda item by which time we will have marshalled all of the facts and as a democracy we can reach a consensus. Please feel free to contact me with your comments ahead of that though.

 

Website Articles

 I have appealed on several occasions for material from members to put on the website to keep it lively and interesting – it’s your class association and your website after all!

A couple of you have stepped up to the plate with really interesting historical items which will be on the website very shortly, so keep a look out for those. I can’t have too much stuff though, so please keep it coming! And don’t forget that you can comment on any of the articles published or place adverts, request crew, look for a crewing position etc. etc. etc.… Just email me or Christian, our website manager, with anything you would like posted and we’ll take it from there. Incidentally if you are a visitor to the site and not actually an association member but would like to get involved with Stellas as crew, I would love to hear from you – there almost always crewing positions available.

Going forward we hope to come up with some form of forum where paid up members can log on and comment, chat etc. Christian is currently looking into this and although I understand it’s not the easiest thing in the world to set up, I’m hopeful that we can get something going in the not too distant future.

Enjoy the rest of the season, hope to see you soon,

All the best,

Peter

Centaur #100