Newsletter 19 03 25
Published 09:00 on 19 Mar 2025
Welcome to WKSC Newsletter |
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A round up of Club news this week... including sailing, training and upcoming social events. Also included are links to the Galley on Friday menu and current boats for sale. .. |
| A View from the Bridge |
Belated Happy St Pats day, for those of you of the Irish diaspora, or who like drinking guinness or green lager once a year..... I'll keep it short this week, but a great shout out to the team who helped unpick and tidy the boatyard ready for the season. It's amazing the difference the departure of a few cruisers can make. If anyone wants to help out in this area, speak to Mal, Andy, Jude or Geordie Alan and they will gladly find stuff for you to do depending on your time and skill set! It all helps. Well done to all the Senior Instructors (Dinghy) who passed their course last weekend. Apparently the Chief instructor said he'd not had a group that easy to pass. Praise indeed! If you wish to complete this course contact the training team, the next course is nearly booked up already (in fact, it may actually be booked up - but we will do our best to meet demand). A massive shout out to the Firefly Fettlers, who finished off the Fireflies and unveiled them this weekend to the Ancient Mariners - who paid for them with help from our friends from NYYC! Just a little, under the radar, shout out to all the working groups that have been meeting in this busy week - you know who you are - if it wasn't for you we'd put the cat out, lock the door and put the keys under the mat. The club can't run without you. Again, if you are a new member and wish to get involved speak to any of the Club Officers (names/numbers in the front of the book) and they will point you in the right direction to help. Failing that, call me. As spring is fully here, why not come down and watch the amazing sunset from the Patio, glass in hand! (the view from the bar is still a little restricted, but bear with us on that!). Last Friday the sun went past the Great Orme as she set.... Maybe we should have a party to celebrate that next year? Have a great week! Chris  North End of the Lake Sunset - Courtesy of Eric Wells.  Sunset from the Club |
| News & Notices |
Robert Pierce - April 1947 March 2025 Join us in celebrating Rob's life at West Kirby Sailing Club on Thursday 3rd April @ 13:30 https://robertpierce.muchloved.com/ Angela Pierce Team Racing New Fireflies Last Sunday, with the Ancient Mariners and helpers in attendance, we christened the 6 fireflies which have been brought back to life in just over 3 months by a dedicated group of volunteers - quite a project. The boats are completely unrecognisable from when they arrived in late November and they now look magnificent as the photos show. The hulls have been repaired and repainted, with new wood fendering, fittings and ropes, new sails and covers and refurbished centreboards, rudder blades and trollies. Many Club members volunteered their help and put in considerable time and effort which has enabled us to complete the project so quickly but of course without Mike Hartley's considerable boat building skills the project would never have got off the ground. Huge thanks to everyone who has helped. Last but by no means least the project would have remained a twinkle in our eye if it was not for the amazing generosity of the Ancient Mariners. This elite group of Club members (of a certain age) continue to support West Kirby Sailing Club and Team Racing in particular. The group was originally started in the 1990s and this is the 3rd flight of Fireflies that they have helped to fund along with 4 of our friends from New York Yacht Club who provided the final top up necessary to finance the project. Our thanks to everyone who has supported the project and given so generously. We expect the boats will have a long and productive life at WKSC. Their first outing will be this weekend at The Lash the team racing event run by Manchester and Liverpool Unis. West Kirby Teams We have a WKSC Youth team competing in The Lash (22/23rd March): Helms - David Bromilow (Captain), George Creasy, Patrick Bromilow crewed by Holly Wright, Olly Nixon and Olivia Creasy. Please come down and cheer them on. The West Kirby Hawks are also competing this weekend at the UKTRA National TR Championships which is being hosted by Oxford SC this year. We wish them the best of luck.    Team Racing Group Bar Hours The summer bar hours will be starting on 1st April. Monday 18.30 - 22.00 Tuesday 18.30 - 22.00 Wednesday 12.00 - 14.30 18.30 - 22.00 Thursday 17.00 - 23.00 Friday 17.00 - 23.00 Saturday 12.00 - 19.00 Sunday 12.00 - 19.00 (exceptions for booked events) Boat Fees We are approaching the summer sailing season and, as last year, we will be sending out invoices for you to pay your fees. The new boat fees, effective from 1st April, are now on the Club website. To help us administer this efficiently please could you: 1 Wait till you receive your invoice and then pay promptly - preferably by Stripe or bank transfer; 2 Address all queries to boatstorage@wksc.org .uk - NOT to the office 3 If your boat is not currently in the yard and you wish to bring it down for the summer please email boatstorage@wksc.org.uk As always the yard will be very congested in April as tidal classes and cruisers launch and dinghies return. If you cannot get to your allotted berth the Captain (Mal Jones) and Yard Manager (Jude Stratton) will be able to advise on where to put your boat pro tem. To re-iterate if you have any queries please send them to boatstorage@wksc.org.uk Thank you for your patience Mal Jones Captain |
| Sailing Matters |
Introduction to Racing Sat 15/3/25 The morning dawned bright and clear but the forecast wasn't favourable…. North easterly cyclonic variable. What does that mean? Unfavourable - that's what it means! I had made my mind up not to put any of us through that and that we should retreat inside, shame really except that it was cold and I was feeling cyclonic never mind the weather. Wed gather to talk about light air sailing techniques. It was obvious that the now Not so Novice Brigade are switched on to weather forecasts and had turned over and gone back to bed because there weren't many of us. However lets not get demoralised… there were enough to get the discussion going. And then the wind filled in from the North. Cold yes but perfectly sailable. So out we went for an hour and halfs worth of worthy racing in the form of two races. The fewer number of boats involved enabled one to one coaching with a focus on following Mike Hartley's starting strategy (sharks and piranhas), downwind trim, the effect of not waggling the tiller about if the trim is correct and therefore sailing faster. All good stuff. The usual debriefing took place afterwards. The only sad thing to record was that I was the only taker for a steak pie for lunch … hardly worth turning the oven on …. but it was for me! Arctic Tidal Series 7&8 Sunday 16/3/25 The weather forecast for Sunday unlike Saturday, turned out to be a bit too accurate. That north easterly cyclonic variable lived up to its unfavourable possibility leaving our beloved Race Officer Jean-Lois Simons, challenged for how to run some effective racing. The first problem was there wasn't much wind …. not enough to stem the flood tide. A starting line that drifted with the tide was the solution for the first race. The cyclonic variable (cv) filled in for the fleet to get away on a beat/run/reach towards the first mark. There was a magic moment when the cv gave way to a northerly breeze. Boats resolved into a recognisable downwind run to the old windward mark! Spinnakers filled with wind, things were looking up. The wind died. The cv took over again. Boats struggled to find any air movement from any direction. Sandwiches, a flask of coffee and an anchor might have been useful. When I arrived at the next mark I took a very slow involuntary circumnavigation of the mark, such were the conditions. The progression to the finishing line was frustrating in that all-over-the-place wind, for all concerned including the race officer. I could have sworn that the finishing line was moving but by that time I didn't care… it was probably me having hallucinations. A running start for the second race took the fleet a short distance down to a buoy somewhere off Caldy steps. A breeze had at last filled in from the north with a significant drop in temperature too. The beat back to a finish line off the club was the best part of this days racing. Some wondered why the Race Officer didn't allow the fleet to complete a second lap but that wind wasn't reliable and it wasn't long after the boats were recovered into the boat park that it fizzled out again. The Solos of Steve Ferrington and Martin Hartley won on handicap in the first and second races respectively. Mike and Anne De St Paer sailing their 2000 had a second and fourth, Stuart Dawson sailing the Int. Canoe Slurp One Design took a third in the first race and John Carlin and Thomas Teubner sailing an Albacore had a second in the second race. Taking line honours in both races was Steve Fleming sailing his Int. Canoe (new rules) but the conditions suitable to make up for the time to get a respectable result on handicap. The results are subject to a protest.  International Canoes - Alan Jenkins  Sunday's frustrating tidal racing - Alan Jenkins The Ancient Mariners, New York Yacht Club & six Fireflies No doubt there will be a more detailed report elsewhere in this Newsletter with pics of the six beautifully turned out blue and red Fireflies that have been significantly renovated wholly sponsored by the Ancient Mariners and four members of New York Yacht Club. Now …. you might be asking what have four members of New York Yacht Club have to do with WKSC? The answer is of course The Wilson Trophy, WKSCs annual Team Racing Event which attracts internationally renowned teams including the famous New York Club. Yes - some teams fly into the UK to compete for three days in May for this event probably one of the worlds most famous dinghy team racing event. Over the years special relationships and friendships have developed spanning generations of sailors through this event. Its a proud moment for the club when a project such as this reaches fruition. On Sunday two of the Fireflies were named and hearty congratulations were expressed to Mike Hartley who led an extensive team in the renovation project. The WKSC PY List 2025 is now up on the sailing noticeboard at the rear of the clubhouse. It will be on the website very soon if it isn't there already. Coming up: Saturday and Sunday 22nd & 23rd March: The Big Lash the Liverpool and Manchester University organised annual team race. Saturday and Sunday 29th & 30th March : the Finn Class Open Event and Start of Season Championships (open to all members). From Tuesday 1st April 18:45 is the start of the seasons evening racing, the Solo class gets it all going. Saturday 12/4/25 The Presidents Race: a tidal handicap race open to all members with racing sailboats in the club. This traditionally is the start of the club's tidal racing for the season. CORRECTION from last week: West Kirby Sailing Clubs Annual Regatta is on Saturday 28th June 2025. Tony Marston Sailing Secretary |
| Sailing and Club Calendar |
| What's on this week: Wednesday 19th 12:30 - 14:00 Gentleman's Lunch Wednesday 19th 19:30 - 23:00 Snooker Match WKSC v Dee SC Thursday 20th 12:30 - 15:00 Ladies Lunch Thursday 20th 14:00 Radio Sailing Thursday 20th 19:30 - 21:00 Thursday Talks Friday 21st 14:00 Illusion Saturday 22nd - 23rd The Lash (organisers: Liverpool/Manchester Uni) Saturday 22nd 10:00 - 12:00 Introduction to Racing 2024/2025 Training Wednesday 26th 12:30 - 14:00 Gentleman's Lunch |
| Training |
Sailing Taster Day Do you love sailing at WKSC? Invite friends, family, colleagues to come a have a sail with one of our friendly instructors. We're having a sailing taster day to give people a chance to experience why we all love sailing! Pop down on Saturday 29th, we'll be on the apron from 13.30-15.30.  Click HERE to book your First Aid Course.  Click HERE to book your training course. We will be advertising externally so please book now if you wish to take a course.  |
| Events |
Thursday Talks -This week - 20th March Hot Topics in Astrophysics: Finding aliens and avoiding Armageddon. Steve Longmore will be providing this incredibly interesting talk, including where we expect to find life in the universe and finding and deflecting Earth-bound asteroids. Please all come along, children welcome. Bring any questions and let's all learn something! The talk will cater for all ages, so come down and learn something new!  If anyone has a topic they think people would enjoy hearing more about, and would like to present it, please contact house@wksc.org.uk and we will see if we can find a date next year! Hilbre Cheese and Wine  Weekly Wednesday Quiz New members and teams are most welcome, just turn up. This is a lovely evening to come and enjoy the social side of the Club. Sunday Lunches by Helen Next lunch is Sunday 30th March The fantastic Sunday lunches catered by Helen Brown and Paul Weston are back by popular demand! Once a month the Sunday menu will be served in the Macdona Room. Book your place by putting your name on the list behind the bar. Please pay in cash at the bar prior to the lunch. Last bookings by Thursday. Helen's number is 07855191308. |
| Other Information |
Galley on Friday Menu- click here |
| Boats for Sale |
Boat Parts - Complete set of fittings, rigging etc for an Enterprise Dinghy.Click here for more details Boats for sale - GP 14 Click here to view Boats for Sale |
| If you would like something added to the newsletter please contact newsletter@wksc.org.uk |
Last updated 20:03 on 23 March 2025