Wayfarer & Day Cruiser Fleet Captain – Vince McGrath

The 2011 sailing season is upon us, the Wayfarer and cruising dinghy fleet is active on Sundays with some crews joining in with the racing and others heading out for a cruise on the estuary.

This year there are some training courses for members to attend including a navigation course on Wednesday evening in the clubhouse, on May 22 there  is a cruising and seamanship course, this is being run by an RYA senior instructor who is also a club member. A ‘begin racing’ course is happening soon, date to be arranged, the  calendar also includes a VHF course and a first aid course, why not come and attend one.

Midweek sailing takes place in an informal way, making the best of the weather.

The Wayfarer is the main item on the agenda but the fleet also encompasses anything of PY 1032 and above which really means medium and family monhulls rather than the out and out capsize machines such as the International Canoe as favoured by the faster section (above). A PY of 1032 has been chosen to split the monhulls because that is split used in the Wirral Regatta series, although we race as one handicap dinghy fleet.
More details on the Wirral Regattas series can be found on www.wirralregattas.org.uk. The Handicap monohulls are really, to my mind, the only truly open class of competition in the regattas. All the clubs seem to have their own specialist fleets. I.E. cats at Dee, GPs at West Kirby and so on.

Dee SC Wayfarers at Ullswater 04

CRUISING PROGRAM

Wayfarers are superb sea boats, they deal well with the estuary and despite having the image of beginners’ boat, the more you put in, the more they’ll do. One of our boats has done the trip from Dee SC to Conway in a day and also spent several days sailing from Dee S C, round Anglesey and back singlehanded. .

In addition , Sundays are the club’s main race day and Wayfarers race with the Handicap Monohull fleet for which Paul Oliver is fleet captain. Everyone is welcome to join in, and ? going round the cans ? is good sailing practice. You don’t have to be ultra competitive to join in, and if you want, you can just have leisurely cruise behind the rest ? In fact you might even finish up at the front after a few attempts and win a pot! ? For those who want to join in the racing but are worried about the start and the rules we hope to organise some ? racing for beginners? sessions within the Saturday training programme. Also on some Sundays are the Round Hilbre Series of races. This provides an ideal opportunity for the Wayfares to cruise round the island , go to sea, and see the seals with rescue cover available for the whole trip.

The Wayfarer Class Association also organizes a number of cruising rallies and a Travellers Trophy racing series in various inland, estuary and Coastal venues throughout the season. The Wayfarer class association is well worth joining, and the Wayfarer book well worth buying. www.wayfarer.org.uk

So, what to do if you don’t have a Wayfarer? Join in anyway! We have at last count 12 Wayfarers, 1 Enterprise, 2 GP’s, 1 Laser Stratos, 1 National 12, several Mirrors in the junior fleet and sundry others. Equally, we are always looking for crews so don’t feel that you need a boat to join in the dinghy cruising scene.

“Setting off” on the Dee

With the cruising and racing plans laid out for the coming season all that it now requires is for folk to turn up and get the boats on the water.

See the For Sale section at www.wayfarer.org.uk also see the for sale section at Dee.
Should people wish to try Wayfarer sailing without purchasing then I can accommodate crew on occasion. There is also a crew exchange bureau on the bulletin board where potential sailors can find potential helms and vice versa. It is worth noting that as well as being a successful fleet in itself, the Dee monohulls also serve as a useful fleet for the
rest of the club. As class Captain I have links with other fleets and regularly slot interested crew on to a variety of cats and cruisers. This means that the monohull fleet should be your first port of call when you join Dee and when you settle down it should be your fleet of choice.

Anyone wishing to join us or want further information on Wayfarers either contact me by e mail at wayfarers@dee-sc.co.uk or come to the club and ask for the Wayfarer crowd.