Happy New Year Everybody!

Lodestar(64) had a lovely restful Christmas and New Year  sitting unused on her muddy mid river mooring in the River Medway so that when she was re introduced to the joys of sailing on January 11th she wasn’t leaking a drop.  It was also a test of using a large dry crystals de-humidifier.   She was really dry inside, no condensation. So either thats just how the weather has been or the dehumidifier is working a treat.  The experiment continues.

We had a glorious sail to Burnham on saturday afternoon/ evening, in a good 2 reefs south westerly breeze, arriving in time to get served a meal in The White Hart. An 0545 departure on Sunday gave us a fantastic return trip into a 1 reef south wester, back at Hoo Ness YC in time for a 5pm  pint.

Winter Sail video click to play

If anyone else would like to share any winter trips or fit out stories I would be very happy to put them on the website.

The November AGM included a lively discussion about the calender.

2020 Racing Calendar

14 races. 7 to count.

SYH Classic Regatta. 4 races in all  fri 12th,  sat 13th, sun 14th June

During the day on fri 12th , there is a plan to have a Stella Pursuit Race, with start times based on previous SYH results. A case of Stella to the winner!

Mersea Week. 5 races  Sun16th Aug to Fri 21st Aug, no race wed.

Mersea Town Regatta. 1 race Sat 22nd Aug

Maldon Town Regatta. 2 races Sat 19th Sept

HPYC Autumn Classic Regatta. 2 races. Sat 29th, sun 30th Aug

Spring Fling

To be organised.  For the past two years it has been at The Lightship.  Previously it has been in West Mersea. I would be very pleased to receive suggestions of places and dates, destinations should be possible to reach by Stella.

 

 

 

 

HPYC – SYH Autumn Classic Regatta 2019 Race Report

Once again there were only four yachts on the line on Saturday, Illyria, Whisper, Vashti and Stardust. The wind was SW 3 to 4. We started from the club line in an easterly direction, the others, being closer winded were towards the N end of the line, I thought it was better to be out of the tide on the S side, we were third around Collimer then a beat down to Orwell No. 1. A lively spinnaker run followed before a close reach up to Bay, then back down the river and round again for a second lap. Whisper, Illyria, Stardust and Vashti was the finishing order. A very enjoyable canter round the river.
Benedict, my son, helmed on Sunday when the wind was a notch stronger, NW 3 to 5. Whisper had some spreader damage the day before and didn’t race. The course was in the same area as the previous day and Stardust was first around the windward mark but this time nobody hoisted a spinnaker  The two larger boats overtook Stardust, three laps were completed and the race concluded with Illyria taking line honours, followed by  Vashti with Stardust third in close order. Handicap results are awaited with interest.

Philip Waring, Stardust

Stella 2019 Worlds

SYH Classic Regatta

Mersea Week

SYH/HPYC Classics

Points

Place

Race 1

Race 2

Race 3

Race 4

Race 5

Race 6

Race 7

Race 8

Sail No

Boat Name

Owner

22 Jun

22 Jun

23 Jun

11 Aug

12 Aug

13 Aug

31 Aug

1 Sep

89

Stardust

Phillip Waring / Jeffrey Bowles

3.0

3.0

3.0

3.0 DNC

3.0 DNC

1.0

1.0

1.0

18.0

1

75

Stella Lyra

Trevor Spero

4.0

8.0 DNF

4.0

2.0

3.0 DNC

3.0

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

46.0

2

64

Lodestar

Mark Montgomery-Smith

10.0 DNC

10.0 DNC

10.0 DNC

1

3.0 DNC

2

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

58.0

3

91

Timoa

Andrew Gilmour

1.0

1.0

2.0

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

59.0

4

90

Scorpio

Richard Matthews

2.0

2.0

1.0

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

60.0

5

6

Persephone

Roger Reid

6.0

5.0

6.0

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

72.0

6

100

Centaur

Peter Dyson

5.0

4.0

8.0 DNF

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

72.0

7

12

Rollicker

Keith Ballantine

7.0

8.0 DNF

10.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

80.0

8

1

La Vie En Rose

Peter Haldane

10.0 DNC

10.0 DNC

10.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

85.0

9

19

Acamar

Julian Young

10.0 DNC

10.0 DNC

10.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

11.0 DNC

85.0

10

Well done(again!) Philip and crew!

Race report to follow

Many of you will have learned of the sad passing on 20th August of Don Pye of Holman and Pye fame.

His Cremation will take place at Colchester Crematorium at 12.30 on Thursday 19th September. The family request no flowers and informal dress only please.

There will be a memorial celebration at West Mersea Yacht Club at 18.00 on Friday 20th September.

The following tribute by Richard Matthews has appeared widely in the yachting press.

 

Yacht designer Don Pye passes away

by Richard Matthews 24 Aug 15:44 BST

Eight Bells – Designer Don Pye

The flag atop the West Mersea Yacht Club was at half-mast this week noting the passing of yacht designer Don Pye who, following a heart attack, passed away on 20th August aged 93.

In partnership with Kim Holman in 1960, and later with David Cooper, the firm of Holman & Pye was respected throughout the sailing word for designing practical, sea-kindly yachts with lovely lines and excellent performance.

In addition to one-off custom yachts, Holman & Pye designed for several production yards including Bowman, Wauquiez, Seamaster, Hustler and Oyster.

The Oyster-UFO 34 design won its class in the infamous 1979 Fastnet race. As proof of their suitability for blue water ocean passage making, six of the eighteen yachts taking part in the 2018 Golden Globe race around the world were Holman & Pye designed Rustler 36’s, which went on to finish first, second and third.

Some 5,000 yachts from the Holman & Pye office are sailing the world and, thanks to Don Pye’s creativity, and their renowned longevity, these lovely yachts will be giving pleasure to their owners and crews for many generations.

SYH Classic Regatta 2019 – Race Report

Suffolk Yacht Harbour’s 19th annual Classic Regatta, run in conjunction with Haven Ports Yacht Club took place over the weekend of 22nd-23rd June. The event sees classic yachts from across East Anglia and further afield – this year including a beautiful Spirit DH63 up from Guernsey – race in three classes; Fast, Slow and Stellas. Racing takes place across two days in Dovercourt Bay, Harwich Harbour, and the Orwell and Stour river estuaries.

Gaffers, Stellas and modern classics gathered at SYH on Friday 21st for pre-regatta drinks and socialising, before crews were up early for briefing and bacon sandwiches on Saturday morning.  After a postponed start to allow all the yachts to get out to the line (including Stealaway who had an unfortunate engine failure on the way out), the slow, Stella and fast classes all set off in 5-7 knots without a hitch.

With the tide now flooding and the wind shifting out of the east / south east, the yachts negotiated oncoming currents on their way upwind to Foxes.  Rounding the mark to starboard and hoisting spinnakers as they went, the fleet reached down to a shortened course finish line at Stone Banks. Timoa finished first with Scorpio second and Stardust third. Lyra finished fourth, Centaur fifth, Persephone sixth and Rollicker seventh.

After lunch on the water, afternoon racing commenced in 15 knots of wind. From a Stone Banks start, it was a beat up to Mark X to port followed by a reach across to Foxes. Unfortunately, Lyra and Rollicker had a port and starboard “coming together” during the beat and both retired with Rollicker having sustained significant damage.  Rounding the mark to port, the remaining Stellas hoisted spinnakers and set a course for Penny Hole.

After some debate on the radio, the race committee confirmed a starboard mark rounding to keep things interesting!  Spinnakers were dropped on the approach and the yachts made a 270 degree turn of Penny Hole before heading up and tacking round onto a reach down to Stone Banks.  From there, it was champagne sailing under spinnaker all the way to the finish at the Beacon Hill line. First, second and third places were as race one, with Centaur Fourth and Persephone fifth.

Upon its return to SYH, the fleet was greeted by music from local musician Peter Hepworth drifting across the sunny harbour.  Haven Ports Yacht Club lightship was bathed in afternoon sunshine as crews gathered for socialising and the usual post-racing analysis in the bar and on the dockside.

Day two began with light wind out of the east / north east and the three classes set off on time from the Beacon Hill line against the tide down to Stone Banks.  A few yachts could be seen making the most of the tight reach and flying spinnakers and code zeros in an effort to get ahead on the long leg down to the mark.

By the time the fleet had hardened up around Fox’s to port, the sun was out, and the breeze had kicked in and made for a fairly wet ride!

Bearing away around Foxes, spinnakers were hoisted en route to Penny Hole.  Rounding the mark to starboard, the fleet headed upwind to Outer Ridge, avoiding the channel on the leg home to the Beacon Hill line.

Scorpio prevailed in this race, with Timoa second, Stardust third, Lyra fourth, Persephone fifth and Centaur failing to finish.

Stella results overall: Timoa first, Scorpio second, Stardust third. With three boats finishing on sixteen points, the Sailwave scoring system placed the remaining boats in the following order; Lyra fourth, Centaur fifth, Persephone sixth and Rollicker seventh. Well done all for being there and contributing, once again, to a wonderful, memorable weekend.

SYH-CR-Class-Overall-Results-2019-1 (1)

2019 Stella Worlds

• Race 1 – SYH Classic Regatta Saturday 22nd June
• Race 2 – SYH Classic Regatta Saturday 22nd June
• Race 3 – SYH Classic Regatta Sunday 23rd June
• Race 4 – Mersea Week Sunday 11th August
• Race 5 – Mersea Week Monday 12th August
• Race 6 – Mersea Week Tuesday 13th August
• Race 7 – SYH/HPYC Autumn Classic Regatta Saturday 7th September*
• Race 8 – SYH/HPYC Autumn Classic Regatta Sunday 8th September*

*Date to be confirmed.

8 races, 7 to count – 1 discard.

Just before Christmas I had a delightful exchange of emails with a Long Island based visitor to our website. The thread follows and it’s really encouraging that Ally’s son, Adam has developed an interest in boats of his own volition and at a young age. Good luck to him! Take a look at the link he’s included – it’ll remind you of some knots you’ve forgotten and probably introduce you to some new ones!

 

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Good Afternoon Mr. King,

My name is Ally Fuller, I just wanted to give some feedback and let you know my son Adam enjoyed the Sailing and nautical info on your page, http://stellasail.org.uk/links.php . He recently did a project about the British navy, and the age of discovery, and learned quite a bit about sea-faring and ship building. It really got him hooked on sailing! He’s been doing quite a bit of research during his computer free time- he had mentioned your page a few times, and I thought you’d be glad to hear!

Adam has struggled to find hobbies and subjects that interest him lately, so I was thrilled when he expressed an interest in Sailing and boating!

We are going to get him some sailing lessons in the spring hopefully, but he wanted to send you a note and suggest an article to share on your page about various knots that are helpful for any sailor to know, https://www.hmy.com/a-scouts-guide-to-boating-knots , which he really enjoyed. I thought it was a really neat article, and was hoping you might be able to include it on your page? I would love to show him he could contribute another cool nautical article!

Thanks again for encouraging Adam’s interest in the high seas! Hope you enjoy the article, and if you end up being able to include it, please let me know! Have a wonderful holiday season and hope to speak again soon.

Best,
Alexandra Fuller

 

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Hi Alexandra, 

Many thanks for your kind email. It’s wonderful to hear that Adam has developed a love of boats and the sea!

 He has actually gone on to our old website which will be closing fairly soon. Our current, up to date site is stellaclass.org which I’m confident he will enjoy even more (I hope so…).

 I’d be happy to publish the article he has forwarded; maybe your email in full including the link as this would give context. What do you think? I’d also like to know where you’re based and how old Adam is.

 I look forward to hearing from you and to getting Adam’s thoughts on the “new” website. I’ll wait to hear back from you before I post anything. 

 Best regards,

Peter Dyson 

General Secretary, Stella Class Association

 

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Good Morning Mr. Dyson!

Thanks so much for getting back to us, and thanks for pointing us towards your new site – it looks great – I am not sure how he found the old web site, but he wanted to let you know he thought the new one looks awesome and has a lot of really cool sailing resources! Adam really likes checking out old sailboats that have been restored and learning about their history.

That would be awesome if you wanted to include my email along with the article/link- maybe just remove our last name for privacy sake? Other than that, I would be so excited to show him, when you’ve had a chance to do so!!

Adam is 13 years old, and we live in Syosset, Long Island – so there is plenty of sailing around us, just not so much this time of year! I hope to get Adam lessons in the spring!

Thanks so much for getting back to us, and for encouraging his interest in sailing! I hope he wants to take lessons in the spring, I think he’d really love it!

Hope to speak again soon, and thanks again so much for taking the time to reply and encourage Adam’s interest in sailing!

Best Wishes,
Alexandra F

 

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Hi Alexandra,

I will aim to get something posted on the website over the Christmas break and let you know. Oh, and it’s Peter by the way – we’re a friendly bunch!

Have a lovely Christmas!

Best,

Peter