Club News

A list of forthcoming events can be viewed on the COMING EVENTS page. Start times and other details of open meetings and club points and handicap races are also listed on the PROGRAMME page.

Tamesis member Bertrand de Speville has been appointed a reserve juror for the 33rd America's Cup races which start on Monday 8 February off the Mediterranean coast of Valencia, Spain. He has been an International Judge for 20 years and was team leader for Hong Kong at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and is a past member of the ISAF Racing Rules Committee and International Judges Sub-committee. He is a lawyer and consultant and specializes in anti-corruption. Please see www.americascup.com for more details.

More than 45 Tamesis members attended a talk on "The design and build of the new Teddington School" by John Fraser, Mace Plus Project Manager, on Thursday 4 February. Mr Fraser, who was assisted by his deputy, William Boitey, described how the new school premises were built on the hockey pitch at the rear of the original building over a period of five years at a cost of about £39 million. He said everything possible had been done to minimise the disruption to neighbouring houses and sailing and rowing clubs. The delivery of building materials and other equipment had inevitably caused some congestion in Broom Road and Trowlock Way but this would now diminish as the work neared completion. He was questioned about the adequacy of the school's parking facilities and the effect on nearby houses of the new floodlit hockey pitch and said everything possible would be done to avoid annoyance. He also said the temporary footbridge over Trowlock Way to give the schoolchildren access to the recreation ground would be replaced by a chicane crossing designed to slow vehicles.

On one of the coldest nights for nearly 30 years, with the club car park covered in more than two inches of snow on Thursday 7 January, Chris Ledger alarmed 50 Tamesis members and guests when he gave a talk on The Scourge of Piracy and said the pirates operating in the vast sea areas of the Arabian Gulf, Indian Ocean and Indonesia were a direct threat to Britain's supplies of natural gas, oil and petroleum products. The inability of the world's navies effectively to patrol such huge oceans, and particularly the east and west coasts of Africa, meant people in Britain would have to pay more for imported goods. He said one solution to the threat would be to equip tankers, container ships and other large vessels with effective means of defence like infra-red cameras, high pressure hoses and pepper sprays. The bridge, engine rooms and accommodation areas should all be electronically sealed against entry from the outside. He was, however, pessimistic about the prospect of smaller ships and yachts avoiding an attack.

In a comprehensive history of piracy from pre-Roman days to the British pirate ships of the first Elizabethan era, Chris also spoke of the many attempts made by governments to seek political solutions to the problem.

Members try to set fire to their Christmas pudding

Tamsin sings the first carol

Tamsin Timbrell starts the carols with a beautiful and emotive solo of Once in Royal David's City

Commodore Peter Mason thanks the cooks

Commodore Peter Mason thanked all those who helped to prepare, cook and serve the lunch

The lunch was arranged by Rear Commodore Steve Katz and the traditional Christmas fare of turkey with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding and brandy sauce, mince pies, fruit, Stilton cheese and biscuits was prepared and cooked by lady members of the House Committee including Caroline Timbrell, Philipa Morris,Sue Harris, Ronnie Fox, Max Vines, Debbie Baker, Anne Bayne, Leonie Steer, Sara Jamieson and Nicky Chavasse. Colin Stokes called for three cheers for Chris Morris for leading the carol singing.

Ron Humphrey won the Stewart Colley Sails the ARC Sweepstake with a guesstimate that was within 39 minutes of the elapsed time of 16 days, 10 hours and 29 minutes taken by Star Chaser, the boat on which Stewart recently made the 2,700 mile Atlantic crossing from Las Palmas to St Lucia. Ron's winnings included a bottle of champagne kindly donated by Phil England.

Christmas pudding prizes were presented to all 30 boats which took part in the morning's racing in a cold and blustery north easterly wind and fast running stream. Race Officer Paul Jamieson set a challenging course with the Lensbury mark half way down Trowlock Island and the Canbury mark not far short of Hampton Wick Railway Bridge.

Stewart Colley crossed the finishing line in the yacht Star Chaser, a Swan 51, in this year's Atlantic Rally for Cruisers half an hour before midnight GMT (19.50 local time) on Tuesday 8 December. Provisional results place Star Chaser 7th in Cruising Class E and 74th overall in the front third of the fleet. Her elapsed time for the Atlantic crossing of more than 2,700 miles from Las Palmas in the Canaries to St Lucia in the Caribbean was 16 days 10 hours 29 minutes and 36 seconds. The winner, a Volvo 60 called Big One, completed the crossing in 11 days 18 hours and 32 minutes, some 13 hours short of the course record set in 2006.

Tuesday 8 December – 16.00 GMT (13.00 boat time)
14.09N 60.05W – 50 nm to go – 7.9 knots
Food, food, food!
It just doesn’t stop today!
The moment I sat down and had finished putting in the details and the title, there was a call of ‘Dolphins!’ A smallish pod, of big ones this time. But they were in a hurry and didn’t hang around. A bit of spielerei and off they went…maybe to catch up with some of the other boats in sight!
The one on our starboard bow already awakened the skipper’s competitive spirit; as relaxed as he’s been for most of the trip, coming on deck for his watch this morning and seeing the other boat close, he started tweaking the sails a bit and got behind the wheel: the hunting season is open!
We still had another gybe to go; where normally this is a relaxed affair, taking one thing at a time, I went up to the foredeck with the instructions ‘Make it a quick one, I don’t want to loose any ground to them!’. So off we went, with Andy and Adrian in my foredeck team and we had it nailed – all flawless, all with ultimate speed and in harmony. So we didn’t quite what was taking the after guard so long to roll the headsail back out...when we enquired slightly annoyed, it turned out we got a fish!
And a big one this time – just shows that the only reason we didn’t catch more during the trip is that we’re just too fast for our own good!
A nice 5kg Mahi Mahi, the length of our forward cockpit, which will make a nice fresh fish early dinner before passing the finish line tonight!
And it wasn’t the only good food news we had today. Skip had decided to make his special Dutch pancakes for lunch!
Needless to say they were gone in no time! Very very tasty, even more so as it was Boogie making them.
Great food day overall and a fantastic way to work our way to the finish.
Hopefully passed it next time we’re writing, 47nm to go!

Monday 7 December – 18.00 GMT (15.00 boat time)

15.04N 57.25W – 213 nm to go – 8.3 knots

Dolphin frolics

After another lovely day on Sunday, the feeling is building that the end is nigh. The end of the voyage, folks, not the end of the world!

As we sat round on deck for a supper of savoury Indonesian rice (nasi goring for the ones in the know), cooked by Marlies, we were entertained to an amazing display of a big pod of dolphins (or were they porpoises?) playing round the boat. There must have been a good twenty or so, rather small with a few bigger ones jumping around. Some were jumping a good 8 feet clear of the water! Wonderful and fantastic; The best yet, and for me the best ever.

Barring squalls, more of which later, the wind is a fair S Easterly trade of 15 – 20 kn. We are on port gybe with the headsail conventionally rigged or poled out to port depending on the wind and the course to get us to St Lucia. There has been some chatter amongst the lower ranks as to whether we were actually heading for Dominica, Martinique, or Barbados (or Bermuda??? No you really must be joking) but they just betray their lack of understanding of the finer points of ocean sailing. We had hoped that this signalled the presence of fish willing to bite, but in spite of the combined expertise of both Barry and Boogie, we had no luck. Maybe the dolphins frightened them away.

Initially the night passed uneventfully and for safety the unused pole was brought in and secured to the foredeck. On the 03.00 watch however, not to be outdone by White watch, Blue Watch did have some fun. We took the skipper’s advice and donned oily jackets as it looked a bit unsettled. Just as well. A dark cloud loomed astern and we rolled up a big chunk of headsail in preparation. We had missed all of them thus far but we weren’t going to escape this one. First the rain, then a windshift of some 40 degrees, an increase in the wind, then back. It really began to chuck it down, and visibility went to a few metres. Gusting wind to 30 kn and we were charging down the waves. Keith was the lucky man on the helm, and stuck with it, doing a masterly job with Boogie standing by with much appreciated advice aplenty (follow the wind!). I must admit that Boogie’s second by second forecasts of what was about to happen and when, as the squall passed over us, were uncannily accurate, but did not detract from the excitement of our 24 tons being chucked about like a matchstick (well maybe a slight exaggeration).

At about 05.00, we were called by Amazing Grace, another ARC boat (Broadblue 415, about 42 foot) with 4 on board for a chat. They passed ahead of us from port to starboard within about 1.5 miles, flying two headsails.

At 15.00 (18.00 GMT) we are 15 04.6N 57 25.5W with just 213 nm to go. Another big wind shift and a bit more rain as the tail end passed over and things calmed down a bit. Great for boat speed with 25 nm over 3 hours – best yet.

Whoopee – can’t wait to see the family.
Best wishes to all Star Chaser watchers.
Stewart
PS My shrewd detective work has unearthed who ate the last mini Bounty bar, but I’m not telling!

Jumping dolphin

Jumping Dolphin

Sunday 6 December – 17.00 GMT (14.00 boat time, yes we’ve changed yet another hour on boat time)

16.22N 54.26W – 399 nm to go – 7.3 knots

Get those cold rum punches ready! An after-dark arrival in St Lucia Tuesday/Wednesday night is looking likely, unless we can sustain a sleigh ride progress for the next couple of days (in which case we will all need double strength rum punches to recover!)

We are still in squall territory, with nights and early mornings most likely to throw one up. Red watch endeared itself to skipper last night by rolling back the bimini which provides weather protection above the helmsman, to engage in a spot of star gazing under a clear sky. Boogie on the next watch had not spotted this when a powerful squall dumped the equivalent of a bucket of fresh water through the open bimini roof! Squalls are our latest novelty, so we make no excuses for chattering about them. The big ones are quite exhilarating, but difficult to control and very disorientating at night. The rain is sudden and torrential, the wind increases and the direction varies unpredictably, forcing the helmsman to make swift compensating changes. There is a big temptation to oversteer, putting the boat into a skid, rocking violently from side to side, careering seemingly out of control. It is good to experience these squalls as they are very characteristic of this route, but they are a big challenge. We are beginning to recognise approaching squalls, and this is made easier with the use of radar which picks up the intense rainfall while still many miles off. We reduce sail, close the hatches and await the inevitable (it rarely seems possible to steer a course to avoid them).

We gybed the boat this afternoon putting the boat on a direct course for St Lucia. This could be the last manoeuvre until we round Pigeon Island into Rodney Bay. We now have both sails out on the same side but, being the north side, there is little shade on deck. The coolest place is usually “the gin and tonic” seat at the back of the boat perched above the helmsman under the binimi with a clear view forward. This is perhaps the most popular spot on board, even without the gin and tonic.

The rest of our news has to do with sticky bed sheets, the last piece of fresh meat, reducing supplies of sun screen, compensated for by the amazing seascape. What will be our first indication of land – a band of clouds over an island, an increase in sea birds, yachts converging from other directions? We shall see all too soon!

We are on the count down. The talk in the boat is on what we are all going to do when we get there. Some of us (Ahem! The astro navigator) have already lost the sweepstake of twenty dollars a head for the closest eta. So much for the astro nav course. As the old school reports used to say, ’could do better’.

Some are talking of rearranging flights to get home sooner, or hitting a hotel with a static bed, crisp sheets and a long hot shower, some are already booked in for a holiday resort all inclusive break. But all are talking in one way or another of the long tall cold beer…

Starters for ten, John Mills, Jean McKenna and who else were at that bar in ‘Ice Cold in Alex.’ It’s twenty nine degrees Celsius below decks with the hatches open and fans on. For the movie buffs amongst you think of John Mills in that Hotel in Alexandria with Jean McKenna and others with the tall oh so tall, cold beer dripping with condensation and a cool frothy head after a trek across the desert with the army ambulance and you begin to get the drift.

All else is fine, the sea is calm, the wind is slight but we are still on target for St Lucia. Mind the squalls!!!! They’re wet, cool and windy. Adrian took some really first rate photos of what was promising to drop on us but didn’t. Shame really, Barry had already stripped down to his trollies and had shampoo in hand when a wind shift took the impromptu shower to our stern and dumped probably tons of water in the Atlantic and not on us. Not so lucky last night, still drying out from that one and reeling from the sudden twenty knot wind shifts. All serves to keep you on your toes!

Stewart is not only the Granddaddy of Star Chaser’s Crew, he is also our Chief Chomper. He reminds me of our Springer Spaniel who feigns total deafness when asked to retrieve a ball from the pond (or washing up in Stewart’s case!) but they can both hear the rustle of a packet of biscuits 100 feet away. Stewart has even been known to break into a run across the 4 feet of the saloon so that he does not miss the event.

Imagine therefore dear land based reader our surprise when Stewart offered to fry up some eggs for us this morning for breakfast – a surprise heightened by the fact that until now, Stewart didn’t seem to be very much at home in our kitchen, even though he recently decided to pay for a new kitchen at home rather than repay GB’s debts (that’s either Gordon Brown or Great Britain’s), he’s coy as to the exact cost but trillions have been rumoured!

So, Stewart enters the Galley (kitchen to you landbound folk) with all the enthusiasm of a 6-year-old for whom Father Xmas has just come early & proceeds to place the eggs in Star Chaser’s very up market gourmet frying pan, when the fat begins to spatter his Hawaiian Shorts & legs. This is not the culinary pleasure he had been expecting on his first ever encounter with a gas stove so he immediately placed a stainless steel saucepan lid into the frying pan.

Now, on this ship scientific opinion is divided as to exactly what happened next; some say that a vacuum was created that drew the lid into the frying pan, others point out that over a roaring flame this is highly unlikely, others of an altogether higher life form than Stewart or the ever hopeful eater of the egg were of the opinion that the coefficient expansion rate of stainless steel exceeds that of cast iron by a factor of + or – 10!

Either way the result was eggs getting more well done by the minute under a saucepan lid that resolutely refused to budge & I do mean budge; winch handles, screw drivers, bad, Very Bad language all failed to persuade the lid to let go of the frying pan.

Now those of you who know our beloved skipper (I refer to him thus as we still have 750.2756 miles to go) know also he will spare NO expense to provide crew comfort & sustenance so he fetched the ship’s hammer, et voila: Stewart the cook held the pan, your humble hungry scribe the saucepan lid & Captain Boogie the hammer. The first ringing blow nothing, the second & the lid came free to reveal a very well done egg. Being mid Atlantic we’re not fussy about our eggs.

The crew of Star Chaser have much sympathy with Mrs Stewart & her desire to protect her new kitchen. Stewart retreated from his culinary career & went to clean the forward heads (bogs to non sailors), armed I may say with one duster & a very small quantity of very diluted disinfectant. That was several hours ago & he has yet to emerge to face the world’s Press.

It didn’t take long after having published our last log, that we received the first email, asking us about an oddity in the numbers: how come that you can start the shower session with 10 people (1 + 8 + 1) and end it with 11 (1 + 1 + 9)?!

Well, first of all it was a little test to see if you were all paying attention….honest!

But really, we do have a number nine male crew (or the 11th man if you will): it is Beasley, our little salty sea dog that has been travelling with us (for our regular blog readers, no it’s not Martin’s little dog from the Fastnet!). Now that was the obvious mistake….let’s see who will be the first to spot the not so obvious one…

Reason he didn’t really make it out here before is that he is a bit shy around people he doesn’t know. And also, seeing how he didn’t bring his life jacket, he’s not allowed on deck by the skip. He’s been quite good this trip and has behaved well! It was just that when everybody was having a shower again, he wanted to join in the fun.

Just finished dinner here, a nice Indonesian style pork noodles dish with proper sate sauce (peanut sauce) and we’re all settling into night routine. Although there are a few more people on deck still than normal - must be because we all had some great afternoon napping going on (except for Red Watch that is, who were bravely holding the fort outside). So there you are. Sure you’ll hear some more from him now that he’s out in the open.

This must have been the quietest night so far…but also the most magical one…

Already yesterday afternoon the wind had dropped off a bit and slightly veered. And as the forecast was predicting very light winds dead ahead, we decided to move a bit more south, to keep the wind for the coming days hopefully.

Gentle winds, a slight sea with only the odd funky swell, a brilliant fantastic moon lighting up the sky and the sea…nobody really seemed to care we were down to speeds of around 6 knots (instead of the 8 or so we had gotten used to) as it was all so magical being out on the deck under this endless sky, with an infinite seeming ocean around us.

This morning the full moon was still sitting bright and proud in the sky, throwing a path of glistening sea towards the west, while in the east the dawn was gently breaking and the first slivers of orange and rose tinged sky appeared.

The full list of blogs since the start of the race on Sunday 22 November can be read by clicking on the following link: Star Chaser daily blogs.

The race involves an Atlantic crossing of approximately 2,700 nautical miles from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands to St Lucia in the Lesser Antilles. There were 216 entries and 209 starters. Most yachts take between 14 and 21 days from start to finish.

The Tamesis website has been following Stewart's progress as it has done that of previous Tamesis ARC participants including Ed and Genie Webb, Jeremy Vines, Alastair Whyte and Peter Smith.

This is the third ARC sailed by the London registered Star Chaser (GBR 3205L) and the 17th Atlantic crossing by her Dutch skipper, Wijnand van den Boogaard, known to his crews as "Boogie".

The spectacle of an amazing 24 hours of daylight continuing for 73 days from the beginning of June until late July was described by Anne Bayne in a talk entitled "Sailing above the Arctic Circle under the Midnight Sun" to an audience of over 53 people at Tamesis on Thursday 3 December. Anne was taking part in a cruise aboard the yacht Tilting at Windmills, a 43 ft Australian ocean racer and former Sydney-Hobart winner, owned and skippered by one of her Australian friends.

Speaking of the joys of sailing at around 69 degrees north in the Arctic Circle, Anne said this was only possible because this part of the world was washed by the warmth of the Gulf Stream. They started at the university town of Tromso in bitterly cold blustery winds but clear skies. For the first five days they did not see another yacht and seemed to be the only people at sea. They were moving through wonderful scenery with snow on all the hills. The green on the slopes seemed to be greener than green, contrasting sharply with the rocky peaks and the scree. They stayed overnight at tiny fishing villages, often surrounded by the wooden racks used for drying cod and had to clamber over fishing boats to get on and off their yacht. The smell of fish pervaded the area and they were lucky to be given delicious halibut to cook on board. The people in all these villages were friendly and helpful, especially at a place called Sto on the north west point of the island of Andoya.

The villages in these bleak remote places had had good times and bad but there were signs of rejuvenation with the working together of the fishermen and those bringing small numbers of tourists to the area. In Sto every man, woman and child contributed in some way to the community. It was too rough for them to go out on a whale watching boat but they were taken instead through the fjiords, identifying the birds and seals, to see many fish farms and ultimately to clamber through masses of wildflowers on spongy green turf to see the remains of a smelly sperm whale that had lost its way!

After two days gale-bound they set off again southwards and spent a night in the spectacular and very narrow Trollfjiord, alone except for the occasional visit of a Hurtigruten steamer (the coastal passenger ferry and mail boat) to see this exceptional narrow fjiord and the eagles wheeling above. Life was so full of surprises. In a rather unprepossessing tiny power station at the head of this fjiord two men showed them the remarkable colourful art that had been created inside the building and played the most haunting piece of music composed especially for this rather special place.

They moved slowly south to the the Lofoten Islands, still enjoying the midnight sun. The light and the colourful houses made arrival in every tiny port a feast for the eyes. They had shed their thermals and swandries and were now wearing shorts and Tshirts, the bitter northerlies having gone, and finding the sun night and day quite special if a little disconcerting. They had had some wonderful sailing in strong winds and light breezes and had attracted a lot of interest from flying the Australian flag.

The Tamesis Harbourmasters, Richard Howells and Chris Pollard, have issued a warning that all unidentified boat trailers and trolleys in the Tamesis trailer park will be disposed of as scrap unless claimed by their owners. The Harbourmasters' page of the website has photographs of the at risk trailers. Please see HARBOURMASTERS' NOTICES to identify those due to be recycled.

Tamesis Commodore Peter Mason and Cadet Class Captain Brian Timbrell were recycled as ancient mummies at the Cadet Christmas Party at Tamesis on Saturday 28 November when they were wrapped up in loo paper at the end of a hectic series of games organised by Tamesis Captain Phil England.

The day began with a race on the river but although the sailing started well the wind died and all the boats had to be towed home. Still full of youthful vigour, the Cadets engaged in the traditional activities of pass the parcel, rooks and ravens (which the rabbits won), lifeboats and British bulldog. That was followed by tea, "a magnificent feast" prepared by Caroline Timbrell and her many helpers, and the ceremonial cutting of the cake. Peter Mason and Brian Timbrell were then gift wrapped for Christmas in peach coloured recycled toilet paper. In the expected absence of Santa, due to a lack of chimneys since the completion of the Clubhouse redevelopment, it is rumoured that they might be recycled again as snowmen and brought in by a boat disguised as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for the Club's forthcoming Christmas lunch on Sunday 13 December.

The final game involved supporting a tomato on a delicate framework of pasta straws on a marshmallow base, which proved too great a challenge for the dads, with a "spectacular" result.

Furtive use of the Tamesis Boat Shed by Alex Jackson, Merlin Rocket Owners Association Chairman, late on Monday night, 23 November, was captured on camera by a passing photographer. A beautiful hand-painted finish was achieved in one hour. It is rumoured that a Confederate flag and No. 1 are to be added once the paint (Dulux gloss) has stopped running!

Max Vines and Liz James planted a young bay tree on Wednesday 25 November just inside the entrance gate to the Tamesis car park as part of the campaign to promote a greener Britain. Two more trees have also been planted in the flower bed on the north side of the car park behind the changing rooms.

About 70 Tamesis members and guests attended the club's annual prizegiving dinner on Saturday 21 November and enjoyed "one of the best meals" any of them could remember. They praised Rear Commodore Steve Katz and his helpers for the excellence of the food, starting with asparagus on smoked salmon, followed by roast lamb with buttered potatoes, green beans, swede and carrot mash, and finishing with large helpings of a sherry trifle "to dream for" made by Sue Harris. The prizes were presented by Mrs Rachel Bide, the wife of Peter Bide, Commodore of Lensbury SC, and by Marilyn Mason, the wife of Tamesis Commodore Peter Mason. The prizegiving was organised by John Adams, Rear Commodore Sailing, and Charlie Morgan, Sailing Secretary

In a moving speech after receiving the Laser Shield, Steve Bartlett paid tribute to the kindness and friendliness of Tamesis members after he suffered a near death experience in hospital during the terrorist bombings of July 2005. He caught the MRSA virus while fluid was being drained from a wounded knee and was about to go in for surgery when the bombings took place and all the surgeons were rushed into central London to treat the many wounded tube and bus passengers. He was heavily sedated with antibiotics and a nurse who was treating him discovered his interest in sailing and made him promise her that when he left hospital he would join a sailing club. He saw Tamesis from the opposite side of the river and visited the club during the Autumn regatta. He was welcomed by the then Commodore, Jim Green, and bought a drink by another member, and joined there and then, and had never regretted it.

Fifty members were challenged to select their favourite wine at a "blind" tasting at Tamesis Club on Thursday 29 October and voted for what turned out to be the least expensive bottle on a list of 16. The evening was organised by David Baker, who, with Lydia Harrison from Majestic Wines, presented members with six bottles of white, two of rose, and eight red, all carefully covered in plain brown paper. Two of the whites proved popular but it was the last three reds which found greatest favour with the last, and least expensive, topping the vote. The winner was Chalk Springs from Australia. Commodore Peter Mason thanked Lydia, David, Rear Commodore Steve Katz and all who had helped to prepare the supper, for a most enjoyable evening.

Some 40 ladies enjoyed a fun-packed evening at Tamesis Ladies' Night on Saturday 17 October when flag officers and other club officials donned dinner jackets, black ties and chef's jackets to serve them a sumptious dinner of hors d'oeuvres, fish pie, peaches with rasberry coulis and mascarpone, cheese and biscuits, coffee and tea and then to entertain them with party games and quizzes. It was an evening of two parties, with the men having their own supper while working in the kitchen, and it ended with the ladies gathering round the head chef (Rear Commodore Steve Katz) and kissing him on both cheeks to thank him and his team for a lovely evening. Colin Stokes and John Harris were the quiz masters and Marilyn Mason proposed a vote of thanks to all those who had made the evening such a success.

Charles Fox (head waiter), Commodore Peter Mason (sous chef), Sue Katz (management supervisor), Steve Katz (head chef), and Captain Phil England (potato peeler and washer up)

Margaret Stokes, John Harris and Joan Southcott among early arrivals in Phil's Bar with David Baker (sommelier) behind bar counter