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2008 News
17 Dec - Prize Giving, Sunday 11 January, 2009
Some of you may have noticed that there are two dates quoted for the Prize Giving in this month's mainsheet. In true Dee style and for reasons that are too complicated to explain, the date has been changed again! The Prize Giving will now be held on Sunday 11 th January at 1.00pm. In fact, why go home from the Hot Pot, just sleep next to the Snooker Table and dream about receiving a trophy” (I dream about receiving trophies all the time!)
Andy Goudie
17 Dec Hotpot
The Annual Sailing Club Hotpot will be held at the clubhouse on Saturday 10th January 2009 at 7.30pm. Tickets priced at £18. Please put your name on the list at the club. If your not going to be down you can call the club during the normal club opening hours and ask Kevin to put your name down.
Click here to view poster for more information
10 Dec December 2008 Mainsheet now online
Click here to view online
27 Nov Hedge Trimming
The Tuesday Boys have done a grand job over the last couple of weeks, to cut back the bushes along the cliff edge. This involved shifting all the boats into the car park, a bit of tractoring (which I'll bet was the most fun) and shifting the boats back again. Amongst the treasures unearthed was a set of paddles - so if you have lost a pair any time over the last twenty years or so, get in touch with Greg. The next part of the plan is to apply weedkiller in the near future, and when the green shoots appear in Spring.
19 Nov Mark Emptage On Stage
Mark has been in touch to update us on his activities with the Heswall Operatic Society, and to drum up some trade: "
I have
been busy with overtime at work and rehearsing for the Musical.
I am playing the part of Sir John Tremayne. A retired military gentleman with a penchant for Port and a long standing love for the Duchess." Anyone who knows Mark will realise that such a sight (and sound) cannot be missed! Details here.
7 Nov Cam's Doing Well!
Some Y &Y coverage for Cam / Dee SC: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=144071
He also ended the season top junior and youth in the UK ladder: http://www.laser.org.uk/docs/uploaded/radlad608v1nh.html
James Douglas
7 Nov Christmas Dinner, Saturday 13 December
Note! - the Christmas Dinner has been rescheduled to the 13th December. If you'd like to come, please put your name on the list (on the club noticeboard) by the 7th December. Details below, and Menu here.
29 Oct RROS 2009-2012
Here's some winter homework for you - the Racing Rules of Sailing effective from 2009, with the changes from previous years highlighted. If anyone can simplify the mark rounding rules, let me know!
28 Oct Cruising Season Review
Grab a coffee, sit down with Jon's Review for a few minutes and reminisce about the season's cruising.
6 Oct Yorkshire Dales
A couple of club members travelled North at the weekend to visit Yorkshire Dales SC Equaliser event - story here
2 Oct Mirror Project
Iain Blair has an unfinished Mirror renovation project, which he is offering FREE to anyone who'd like to complete it. How's that for a low cost of entry into the exciting sport of sailing? Well done Iain!
29 Sept Race Officer Training Evening Friday 26th September
Something special happened on Friday evening at the clubhouse. Two distinguished Dart sailors (Pete S and James) kindly explained the basics of race management to a keen audience. In a 'nutshell', the training session emphasised the need for pre planning, awareness of the forecast and weather conditions on the day, and also to consider the needs of competitors, in order to provide good competitive racing on the river, and on the lake.
The evening proved to be a good opportunity (even for veteran sailors!) to remind us all how to approach the duty of Race Officer, and also provoked plenty of discussion about the subject and racing in general. It was also pointed out that racing and good race management is essential in ensuring the future development of the club as a whole.
Everybody present enjoyed the evening, and thanks to James and Pete for organising and presenting the training session. It was also noted that the Clements family where taking a keen interest in the proceedings! How long will it be before Dave and Amy are volunteered for RO duty and how long will it be before Lin ends up sailing a Dart 16?!
Watch this space, as it we are hoping to carry out another session for those that couldn't make it this time!
Andy Goudie
23 Sept Cam's Travels
Thanks to James for this update on Cam's summer:
Just a short note to let you know that Cameron Douglas took part in the Sail for gold regatta at Weymouth last week in the Laser Radial Class. He finished 9th and competed in the medal race on the last day of the regatta, the only youth sailor and the only male sailor to do so! The class was won by the chinese sailor who won bronze at the Olympics He also competed at the Laser 4.7 worlds in Croatia in August finishing 68th out of 280 and 9th in his age group.
16 Sept Coronation Race Results
Even the fog, early start, and low wind forecast could not keep 13 teams tucked up in bed on Sunday. Monohulls and Cats mixed it up a bit in the annual persuit race, in what turned out to be quite testing weather. Nothing extreme, but a good bit feistier than expected, causing a couple of capsizes, and maybe a withdrawal or two. There was some confusion about the ending of the race, but subsequent discussions resulted in Chris Aspinal emerging as the winner - congratulations. The results are here.
14 Sept Simon Bates at the Laser EPS Nationals
Report from Jennie: Over the 6-7th of September the Laser EPS nationals took place at Burton sailing club, big congratulations go to Simon Bates who managed to get fifth overall and on his way managed to win a race which which he lead from start to finish. Well done Simon!
See the full story at http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=143386
12 Sept Coronation Race - Sunday 14 Sept
The rescheduled Coronation Race is due to take place on Sunday. This is the persuit race, open to all club boats. It will be run as the second race of the day (assuming we can find a Race Officer in time!). Look here for details of start times.
12 Sept Race Officer Training - Friday 26 Sept 19:30
Pete Spedding and James Douglas will be running a Race Officer training session on Friday evening. This will be a refresher for those who have done the duty before, as well as covering the basics for those who have yet to perform a duty. Clearly, being a race-oriented club, it is central to our activities, and important that all potential Race Officers are equipped to perform the duty as well as possible. In other words, please make the effort to attend.
12 Sept Wombaff - Saturday 20 Sept
The annual Wombaff (three men in a boat) competition has been rescheduled to Saturday 20 Sept, at 3pm, on the Marine Lake. Since we're using Picos, each team will be allowed three boats, so that would be three men in three boats. And of course mixed genders are allowed, so that would be three people of any gender in three boats. You can see we're being as inclusive as possible here, so help us out, please. Let your fleet captain know by 17 Sept if you'd like to join the fun. Poster here.
8 Sept Irish Night - Saturday 20 Sept
Another chance to enjoy hot food and cool camping at Dee SC. Poster here for details.
2 Sept Wirral & Mersey Regatta Prizegiving
Just a reminder that the WMR Prize Giving Evening is on Sat 6th Sept at RMYC 7.30/8.0pm. As I don't have email addresses for all participants I wonder if you could remind all those in your Class?- everyone is welcome to attend especially the prize winners! All class results can be found on the web site. .It would be good if any of the juniors who sailed on the Lake could also be included.
Many Thanks, Best Wishes, Sally Collings
1 Sept Flint Cruise Report
We had six boats on the cruise to Flint on Sunday despite the miserable weather. The prize for the most determined sailors has to go to Jonathan Jenkins and crew - who actually made it all the way to Flint (and back) despite the relative lack of wind... although they were forced to resort to motoring for some of the outward trip!
The rest of us ran out of time as the winds were very light on the outward trip, but we did make it to Wales and picked up a mooring in the cut at Greenfields to enjoy a (damp) butty and cup of tea before returning. The wind picked up slightly for the return trip, which got us all back to DSC under sail before the tide disappeared.
It was great to see so many boats out - hopefully if the sun ever shines we will muster an even bigger fleet! We managed to leave the beach pretty much on time, but experience shows that with six boats it is important to try and have the tractor start to pick up boats at least 30 minutes before we need to leave the beach as it takes a while to get them all down there.
There is only a small tide on Sunday - but if people want to come down and sail then there is either racing (14:50 start) or if there is any interest we can do some training (capsize recovery or man overboard drills anyone!) or potter in the local area. The Sunday after is the re-scheduled Coronation Cup. Peter and Rob won't be defending their title from last year as Peter isn't around, but if anyone would like crew for the race then I believe Rob is available and should be a good bet based on previous performance!
See you on the beach!
Jon Bloor
1 Sept Optimist Fleet on Tour Saturday 30th August
This weekend saw round nine of the RYA North-West travellers Trophy at Redesmere sailing club. Representing Dee were Max Spedding and Charlie Ewing. The weather was perfect with a light breeze. There were eight Oppies and approximately 30 Toppers (Alex Harris take note).
There were three races throughout the day with emphasis on having fun and meeting new and old friends. Max Spedding was contesting first place in all three races whilst Charlie was busy fending off the rest of the fleet for third.
It was very hard for the dads too with Pete being attacked by Charlie younger brother Max all day and Charlie's dad got very upset when his sandwiches (still wrapped in tin foil) was scavenged by the local mutt.
With three races completed the Dee boys did very well with Max Spedding coming a very close second and Charlie a very respectable third.
Charlie, Max and the winner Tom ( Budworth SC ).
Well done boys.
Dave Ewing
31 Aug Club Championships
Are the holidays over? I guess they must be, with 11 cats and two monohulls racing, with another six cruisers visiting Wales, making 19-plus boats on the water in what can only be described as miserable weather. Unless you've just returned from holiday, when it would be described to the children as "Getting brighter. Soon. Maybe tomorrow. Go and find some colouring in, now..."
Perhaps there was a shortage of colouring in today, or was it the high stakes event that brought everyone out, for the competitive souls were there for the Club Championships. Team Goudie did an excellent job as Race Officers, after postponing the start for an hour in all, and still managing to arrange three races of a decent length in very light conditions.
As for the results: Monohulls and Catamarans Quite a mix here, with the Darts doing best of all, and the Shadow bringing up the rear. I blame the holiday!
PS I can't think why Iain was so keen to see the combined results. Something to do with being in front of catamarans on his new toy perhaps!
19 Aug Junior News
James has compiled an update of the multifarious activities of the Junior members
this summer. They're doing incredibly well!
18 Aug Camp It Up at the Dee
Relive your summer holidays with another night's camping this Friday, 22 nd August, from 6.30pm
- Bring your camping gear !
- Enjoy a drink and the sunset !
- Cook you own dinner in the great outdoors!
- Camp on the lawn for the night !
Prizes for: Best stove cooked meal, smallest tent and best Ray Mears lookalike.
Bacon Butties available Saturday morning.
Andrew Goudie
9 Aug AODR
Last weekend's Anglesey Offshore Dinghy Race was another classic, with good breezes, decent weather, beautiful views, and this year a favourable tide too. This is definately a 'must do' event. Of course, it is the taking part that counts, so it is barely worth mentioning that James and Alex Douglas won the Catamaran race (again), pushing the 2006 winners Chris and Anna Aspinal into second spot. Y&Y Report here - and if anyone knows more results, I'd love to hear them!
Ed: stop complaining. Look, you had a downwind leg. Or two...
9 Aug Wirral & Mersey Regattas Prizegiving
Details here
9 Aug New Addition to the Crew List
Adam Petrus
is a new, keen crew, willing to sail on any type of boat. See the Crew List for details.
9 Aug
Dinghy Cruising Association Rally
Last weekend saw "the most intrepid sailors" venturing to
Traeth Bach, for what looks like a very pleasant day's sailing.
Rob Barlow and Peter Beardmore sailing on the estuary at Traeth Bach at the weekend with the Dinghy Cruising Association Rally
21 July Coronation Cup Postponed
No news on the revised date yet, but yesterday was just a tad too breezy for all but the most intrepid sailors:
Just a little too much sail area perhaps?
2 July Updates From Sailing Committee
Lots of news from the Sailing Committee, and plagiarising shamelessly from Jon Bloor here… For those of who who wanted "something different", here it is:
Sailing on Sunday 6 July
The program on the website has the Hoylake Regatta down for Saturday and Sunday this weekend. However, at sailing committee last night it was pointed out that the regatta is actually only on Saturday, which leaves Sunday vacant. As there is quite a large tide (8.8m) at a useful time of day on Sunday (HW 14:30) it was decided that it was a shame to waste this. There will therefore be sailing at DSC on Sunday - consisting of Olympic racing and (if the weather serves) an impromptu round Hilbre race / other Long Distance / cruise in company. We would expect to be launching from the beach around 12:30-13:00.
Race Officer for Sunday 6 July
If there's to be a race, we'll need an RO. Does anyone want to volunteer? Contact Ian McLean if you're up for this.
Wombaff on Saturday 12 July
Next weekend sees the Wombaff at the marine lake in West Kirby on the Saturday 12th July (inter-fleet team racing in Picos which we hire from the sailing school), which should run from around 4pm until 8pm. If anyone is interested in forming part of a team of three, then please let me know. It is all done in a light-hearted way, and is a good laugh to race against all the other fleets on equal terms. Be prepared for a thrashing by the “kids”.
Commodore's Cruise Sunday 13 July
Sunday 13th July is the Commodore's Cruise. For those of you who haven't done this before, it involves a trip out to the West Hoyle bank in the middle of the estuary on the ebb tide, following by copious beer, BBQ and general entertainment before sailing back on the evening flood. Exact start time is t.b.c., but the morning HW is around 8am so we will need to launch by around 10am at the latest to have enough water (as opposed to mud).
Match Racing Saturday 19 July
19th July sees an experimental new event, which is match racing (Americas Cup style) in the club Dart 16s – will be an interesting one for all fleets to enter a team into!
Coronation Cup Sunday 20 July
The Coronation Cup is another change of format, pitching everyone into a pursuit race: staggered start times, and whoever's in front when the horn goes is the winner. This is usually “Mark Wearing's event”, but he and Margaret are unavailable this year, so we're looking for a volunteer RO to manage the starts and decide who's in front at the end. Again, please contact Ian McLean if you can do this.
Race Officer Training
The Race Officer and their team is an important function, and perhaps sometimes it is seen as a challenging one. One thing is for sure – it is rewarding for all concerned when it is done properly. We decided to run some RO training, possibly in conjunction with WKSC. This will be useful to all of us involved in club racing, and will be especially important for next year when we plan to have more, higher profile, events to celebrate the club's centenary. Please let your fleet captain know if you would like to take part.
30 June BBQ Friday 4 July
The weather forecasters are predicting a bit more rain mid-week, with the sun returning on Friday - just in time for a BBQ at the club. Please let Dave know asap if you'd like to come, and you don't really need to give a thought to the weather as he'll do an indoor BBQ if we need to. Details here.
13 June Dee SC Regatta Photo Album
Mark Emptage has created a superb montage from Sunday's regatta. It is a slideshow of what must be hundreds of pictures, and is therefore quite a large file, and too large to just click and see... so click here to download the file (broadband users only!), and then run it when you've got it.
13 June Updated Sunday Start Times
Start times have been reviewed, and some some revised, through to August. See the new Sailing Programme, also linked here.
5 June Lake Series Results
Paul has compiled results for the Lake Series in a way that allows sailors to review their performance against their handicap. This is published in separate tables for each race, but is not compatible with the Results page, so they will be linked from the News page. The overall series reults are published in the usual way and place. Results for Race 5, Race 6, Race 9.
5 June Monohul News
The first issue of Monohull News is now available here. Thanks to Paul Owen for a great read!
26 May RS Feva for sale
Having moved up to the RS500, Paul is now selling his RS Feva. If you know of someone who may be interested, please direct them to his advert here.
23 May DSC Centenary Celebrations
Next year is the club's centenary, so now's the time to start planning the celebrations. Bernard Davis has been tasked by the General Committee to canvas club members for suggestions. Please put your ideas forward to Bernard, by email here, or in person.
14 May Cam's Winning Ways
Cameron Douglous was the winning Junior at the last two rounds of the Laser Radial World and European Qualifiers, including third overall at Weymouth. Y&Y Reports here:
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=141363 and http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=141234
14 May Matt and Pete's Winning Way
OK, so it's been a while since either Matt or Pete were juniors, but let's face it, it's been a while since they last won. So here's proof they beat the best at Bala at their Cat Open Y&Y Report
14 May Friday Food For a Fiver -
Friday 16th May 7.30pm
Yorkshire Pudding Gathering: Come and enjoy roast beef filled Yorkshire Puddding followed by Rhubarb & Custard Crumble. Once again this is brought to you by the highly trained House & Social Commitee! Funky food! Fantastic company! Fabulous views! For around a fiver! Try getting that in Ego or Est Est Est !!
11 May Fun Day Postponed
Please note that Fun Day has been postponed, even though it was inadvertently included in the Club Handbook. Watch the website for news of the rearranged event.
7 May Wayfarer and Dinghy Cruising News here
7 May Revised Sailing Programme
The Sailing Programme has been updated here to show corrected Start Times for May, adjusted to better suit the tides. Also removed two Cat Training sessions that would have started impossibly early!
6 May Lake Sailors Blaze a Trail
Andy's been snapping again. Photos here. Does he actually sail in the Lake Series?
27 April Enjoy the Perfick Saturday, the Dave Ewing Way
Dave's path to inner peace is revealed in this extract from his diary.
26 April Open Day - Saturday 10 May
Open Day is a great opportunity for visitors to try sailing for free at DSC. Boats of all types will be available for you to try - from high speed catamarans to family dinghy cruising. Club members are also welcome to try something different, although of course we need volunteers to assist with the loan of gear, galley and beach-mastering to make our guests' day go smoothly. There's also an apres sailing BBQ on the club lawn to round the day off. Details here. For those of you keen to find out more about sailing at Dee SC, here's some useful information aimed at newcomers.
21 April Wayfarer and Dinghy Cruising News
The intrepid feloows have been out again. Spring must be here after all! WDN here.
21 April Cruising Charts for the Estuary
Greg Cooper has created a set of sketched charts suitable for cruisers day trips in the Estuary. These should help you to plan trips to horizons anew! Charts here. These will be linked from the Sailing Info page for future reference.
21 April Duty Man Roster Manager
A link to the Duty Man roster is now available in the 'Sailing Events' section, shown on all our web pages (top left), for quick access to the site to view and swap duties.
15 April John Pryor 'Elt On, Just.
John has been defying the weather - and making the news on Y&Y here
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=140887
15 April Monohullists, Your Club Needs You!
Team Dee Monohulls is carrying a seven point deficit in the Dee Battle, after the 'away' leg at Chester last Saturday. The fleet needs all monohull sailors to do their bit, on 27 April... Results
14 April Friday Fish & Chips at the Club
"Friday Night Special" 18th April 7.15pm (Bar open from 6.00pm) Traditional Fish Chips and Mushy Peas £4.00 Children's Meal £1.50 Dessert available. Everybody welcome, come and enjoy the Sunset, fine wines and beers, the best view on the Wirral.
11 April Junior Racing at the lake starts this weekend (Saturday 12 April)
The sailing season for juniors starts this Saturday at 12:00. The first 2 races of the Spring Series will be taking place so get down and blow the cobwebs away. The following weekend Sat 19 April is the first Optimist Training session commencing at 12:00 noon. This session will cover rigging, general boat handling, race practice and incorporate a further two races in the Spring series. It will be aimed at all levels - experienced Oppy sailors will be available for help and advice. There are likely to be club boats available for this event so let the fleet Captain know if you'd like to use one - it'll be first come first served! See you there..
8 April DSC Youths do well at RYA Youth National Championships
A short update from Jame Douglas regarding the RYA Youth National Championships 2008:
This was held at Pwllheli sailing club 29th March to 4th April. The event is used to select the GBR team to go to the Youth Worlds. The event is open to all comers who are under 19. This year not only did Dee SC have three members sailing but they also were some of the youngest at the event. Cameron Douglas sailed in the Laser Radial class making it into 13th place in the gold fleet and winning one race. Michael Moruzzi crewed by Jonathon Harris sailed in a very competitive 420 class and at their first major event finished a credible 23rd. Further information at www.ryaracingevents.org.uk
8 April Wirral & Mersey Regatta Series
Summer must be just around the corner if it is time to think about the Wirral and Mersey Regatta Series. It starts on 7 June this year, and runs through to 5 July. See the poster here for more details.
8 April DSC Open Day - 10 May
Open Day is set for Saturday 10th May this year, with water-borne activities starting at around 1:30pm. We're looking for volunteers for all the usual tasks, from sailing with visitors, to managing the loan of gear, and chatting about our activities. Not to mention eating and drinking... Please volunteer by contacting your fleet captain.
7 April Battle of the Dee
The "Battle of the Dee" Away Leg takes place this Sunday 13th, at Chester S&CC. Monohulls are invited to race for the pride of our club. A challenge has been set to find the best club that sails on the Dee. For more info or to register your interest please contact Iain Blair.
4 April Sausages
A sausage and mash social on Friday night. Cheap as chips too. Details here.
24 Mar Dart Open Report
This year's Dart Open proved to be more than a mere test of sailing skills. Whilst this might have taken place at Easter, as is the tradition, it would not have been amiss in the middle of February, with snow and a sub-zero wind chill to be contended with. Story here.
17 Mar Wayfarer and Dinghy Cruising News
Jon's newsletter is available here. It's time to get those boats out of hibernation!
14 Mar New Sailing Information
It's all change on the sailing front. See the Sailing Info Page for new releases of these documents for 2008: New Course Card, Sailing Instructions, Race Officer's Guide, and Results Sheet. You will need to refer to these, whether sailing or Race Officering, so please take time to review them.
11 Mar Fast Cat News
Bigger, newer, shinier! And more... It's all in FCN
11 Mar Easter Egg Racing - Bank Holiday Monday
Well, obviously not Easter Egg racing, but more likely, racing for an Easter Egg. Or, to tell the truth, an excuse for everyone who didn't sail in the Dart Open, and maybe for some that did, to go out and have a sail on Monday instead. We're planning to have separate prizes for Monos and Catamarans, with three races using an Olympic format (that would be without cats then - only joking!). Provisional Start Time: 10:45.
19 Feb Dart Open is coming!
The UKIDA Dart 18 Open event is coming to Dee SC at Easter. Info for sailors and visitors here, and details of the infamous "Dart Do" are here.
18 Jan Wayfarer and Dinghy Cruising News
Jon's newsletter is available here. Lots of news and thoughts for the future!
16 Jan
National Talent Camp
Cam Douglas was nominated by RYA to attend National Talent Camp at Loughborough in the
first week of January, organised by the youth sport trust. See Y&Y article here:Y&Y Article
Also, you will see from the photo below that he won the Honesty award, nominated by the team captains of all the sports in attendance. He is quite pleased he got a kiss from Kelly Holmes. He doesn't mention how he feels about any kisses from
Gerry Sutcliffe MP (Minister of Sport).
Thanks to James for the news.
8 Jan Hot Pot Supper 2008
Always a night to remember, if you can. See off the mid-winter blues with a good meal, plenty of drink, and great company. Then come to the Hot Pot Supper! Details here.
2 Jan Revised PY Ratings for use at DSC
The monohull's have had a few revisions to their DSC PY Ratings. Cats are also listed for mixed races.
2 Jan New DRAFT Course Card for 2008
A new Course Card for 2008 has been developed, with several aims: simpler courses to test your sailing rather than your memory, shorter courses for monohulls (and even cats on very light wind days), long windward-leeward courses for asymetric kite carriers, and some interesting ones aimed at two-sail cats. Please pass your comments to Iain Blair as soon as you can.
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