Newsletter 01 10 25
Published 18:00 on 1 Oct 2025
Welcome to WKSC Newsletter. |
| This week's news includes our Juniors racing 420s at Itchenor SC and photos of the European Land Yachting Championships at Hoylake. Plus 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 |
Well, the Sailing season is nearly over, and with the weather looking poor over the weekend with a Severe Gale Force 9 Gusting just into Hurricane Force 12 from the WNW on Saturday, it won't even be good weather for ducks. Tides are mid range over the strongest wind. They get bigger on the Sunday, by which time the Storm will have moderated to a Force 6 to 8. So hopefully West Kirby's defences won't be tested. We have got some very big tides next week, so fingers crossed the Gales come through on time. On a lighter note, the Wednesday night quiz is soon to start, 8th October, so get your teams ready for the Battle Royale! We are soon going to be starting the Winter Talks again, these were truly fabulous last year and we have some brilliant ones (other than yours truly) already for this year too. Mixed in and around the talks will be Sea Shanties on some of the Thursday nights (Dates TBC). So for those of you like me, who are tone deaf, but like shouting together in close harmony about nautical gibberish, come along and have a few pints of the Black Stuff and bellow away until your throat hurts. Chris |
| News & Notices |
Weather warning!! Forecast is a bit uncertain for later this week until Sunday. Some are forecasting winds over 50 knots. Please make sure your boats are secured, covers tied down and rigging tied to the mast. Thank you. Jean-Louis Simons Boat Storage Manager   With Stripe £10.00 each Plain Blue with Burgee £7.00 each Online orders will be placed in envelope and left in pigeonholes for collection, if required for Saturdays Annual Ball please order before 5pm Friday 3rd October - Click here - https://members.wksc.org.uk/shop?group=wksc-merchandise Or Available from the merchandise case in foyer, to access stock please contact Bar or Office. 1st - £ 300 Rob Owen 2nd - £ 200 Adam Valentine 3rd - £ 100 Nicki Hemming 4th - £ 50 David Kameen What is the 200 Club? On the last Friday of each month there is a draw for the 200 Club. This is a fundraiser for WKSC. Members of the 200 club pay a subscription of £2 per month which funds the prizes, with the balance used to aid WKSC. To join the 200 Club email Bob Jarvis on bobjarv@yahoo.co.uk WKSC - Winter Yard Storage As you can see the yard is currently full of boats, with a waiting list of dinghies eager to sail and Cruisers, Hilbres and Stars due to return in the next few weeks.We are delighted to see that the boatyard is so busy but the demand for yard space is now such that we need to prioritise spaces for members' boats that are sailed regularly. There is no point in having a yard full of boats that do not sail ! Dinghies If you have finished sailing for the year please take your boat home and confirm this by emailing boatstorage@wksc.org.uk. We can then release your space for others who wish to continue sailing into the winter. If you have not sailed this year please consider keeping your boat at home. A refund of 30% of your annual yard fee paid will be available in respect of dinghies that leave the yard by end September, on prompt request to boatstorage@wksc.org.uk. There is no refund for lake licences which are already heavily discounted. In line with a lot of Clubs with limited space, we are also considering dinghy racking for next year and will be liaising with the Class Captains to obtain members' views. Falcons If you can take your boat home at the end of the Autumn Series please do so and email boatstorage@wksc.org.uk as soon as possible to confirm so we can manage the space. Cruisers We are endeavouring to find space for all cruisers that were in the yard last winter but if you have not launched your boat this year and can store it elsewhere that would also be much appreciated. As always the yard will be congested in September and October so please bear with us. Any queries please email boatstorage@wksc.org.uk or speak to your Class Captain, Mike Hartley (Rear Comm Sailing), Sam Riley (Captain), Tony Marston (Sailing Sec), Jean-Louis Simons (Yard Manager) or Andy Hillyard (Boatman) Thank you for helping us to manage the yard to benefit as many members as possible. Mike Hartley (Rear Commodore Sailing) Snooker  The snooker season starts in earnest on 15 October with a home match against the mighty Hoylake Sailing Club. If there is anybody out there that can pot a red followed by perhaps a colour, then please get in touch with us as we would welcome any new blood to the squad. Practice starts in October too and details of dates and time will be provided. Fixtures 15 Oct Hoylake SC - Home 22 Oct Wallasey YC Home 26 Nov Dee SC Away 03 Dec Hoylake SC Away (Billiards) 07 Jan Wallasey YC Away 21 Jan Hoylake SC - Away 04 Mar Dee SC -Home 18 Mar Hoylake SC Home (Billiards) Many thanks Chris & Jonti Booth 07717511899 & 07778 411675 Wednesday Winter Quiz returns! - Wednesday 8th October  Absolutely everyone is welcome. Get a new team together or turn up and join one. The quiz is a great way to stay social over the winter months, so please try and support it. Bill Williams Trophy - Have you been cruising this year? As the season draws to a close I think it's time to think about the Bill Williams Trophy. The trophy is awarded for "the best log submitted for a cruise or cruises under the WKSC burgee in 2025". Never submitted a log before? Have a go this year. Submit the log to the President who is the adjudicator. If you want more information or guidance ask the President. He is always keen to help. Closing date for entries is the 5th December and the trophy will be presented at the AGM. Helen's Sunday Roasts are back!!  Thursday afternoon RC sailing at WKSC - come and join us!  Merchandise Some of our older stock is currently on sale. Pop down to the Club and see if anything takes your fancy.Also Christmas is coming.... get your presents at the Club! |
| Galley |
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The Galley on Friday We are lucky to welcome the Seafood Shack back again this week. Mike will be mixing it up, providing delicious burgers along with their usual amazing fish. Click here for the delicious men |
| Sailing Matters |
I am easily excited ! I was excited last Sunday by 8 boats competing in the Slow Handicap Racing. I remember being very excited along with Richard Robinson when together we were the only ones at Perrys showing excitement as Australia II won the Americas Cup on 26th September 1983 - 42 years ago. I'm excited about the Mirror Project at WKSC. I'm excited about the Sailing Committee Meeting coming up on Monday evening because well discuss the 2026 Sailing programme. All this and more in this weeks Sailing Matters either in the Newsletter or in Sailing Matters on the website. Sunday Slow Handicap by Alan Jenkins  SLOW HANDICAP RACING The Slow Handicap Racing is slowly making a come back at WKSC. There was a real buzz having six Mirrors out as part of the eight strong fleet. Leading the fleet round the course was a fibreglass Heron sailed by Mike and Anne de St Paer. The modern Heron is almost a mini GP with a Bermudan rig and spinnaker. Mike doesn't make many mistakes but I was close enough to see him hit the mark 8 pinching to get round the buoy when the wind headed at the wrong moment. He did his turn of course! Meanwhile I was having a battle royal with Jamie who despite sailing with a very old board flat mainsail, had got past me on a favourable wind shift. I'm sailing a Mirror dinghy on loan from James Douglas and family, a wooden boat with decent McWilliam sails and yet I had to rely on a failure of Jamie's jib halyard cleat and the jib falling down, to sneak past him. Class Captain Mile Cole who had to rush off elsewhere after the first race came third. Matt Melling was fighting an ingress of water into his Mirror… some folk call it sinking. Despite this he held on to be fourth Mirror. Sheena Davies with grandchildren Rory and birthday girl Eleanor (5) crewing came 5th. Oliver (9), Sheena's eldest grandson crews for me - an ace crew - very competitive. Now special mention for Szymon Kosman and Andy Malone, both sailing in their first race. Szymon, sailing his Mirror which he substantially renovated last winter has been getting to grips with sailing in the past few months. He started the race and got round at least one lap of the course. Similarly Andy Malone a relatively new member, also racing for the first time in a club Pico (he has a Topper of his own). He managed a start and a lap of the course. Well done to both of them. All in all a very satisfying morning and an indication of what fun the slow handicap racing can be. Ok, ok - Fast Handicap Racing will be featured next week. AUSTRALIA II On the Website only. The MIRROR PROJECT  Getting six Mirrors out on Sundays Slow Handicap Racing whilst good isn't that significant after all two swallows don't make a summer. BUT there's great potential here. The Mirror dinghy has been around for a long time - launched at the 1963 London Boat Show. Affordable (initial price for the kit = £63, home buildable. Its how many people, especially children, started sailing. It predates the RYA Training Programme which started in 1970. There are well over 70,000 Mirror Dinghies. Fibreglass Mirrors first appeared in the late 1980s and the MkIII (2007) by Winder Boats features a new deck layout designed by Phil Morrison and a Bermudan Rig. The older boats are coveted by many enthusiasts. Why? Because they have strong memories of their active sailing time in Mirror dinghies, with or without their children or parents or sailing solo or building a Mirror. Racing or just having an adventure… the memories are strong. There's no reason why we cant capitalise on all that at WKSC and that's what the MIRROR PROJECT is all about. Naturally it links with Junior Sailing. If you are interested in getting your children sailing and you want to have a sail yourself in a Mirror lets talk, lets sail ! JUNIOR SAILING The Friday evening Junior Sailing is over now as the nights are drawing in but Juniors are still sailing in events around the country and at the Club in the winter series on the lake and tide. The Friday evening Junior sailing in 2025 was sadly a shadow of its former state not that long ago. A reversal is both necessary and urgent….. just saying ! Progress on this top priority project therefore will be featured from now on in the newsletter and on the website until we are over run by Junior Sailing Members and their parents and/or guardians. 420 JUNIOR RACING at Itchenor SC last weekend. Our 420 fleet travelled to the Chichester harbour area last weekend to take part in the 420 Grand Prix series, GP3 was hosted by Itchenor Sailing club. The forecast all week was looking like it was likely to be a drifter, however, Saturday morning arrived with a lovely 8-12 knots breeze. The area is known for its tricky tides and shifty conditions, which those with the local knowledge used to their advantage. The 420 fleet are used to racing a trapezoidal course, so 2 laps of the special Itchenor inverted 'P' course kept the sailors on their toes. Those WKSC sailors who sail at home on the tide were familiar with this course. Four races were completed on Saturday, with some great results from our sailors. Neil/Olivia had a brace of 1sts, discarding a 4th and Pat/Tom had 2nd and 3rds, discarding a 7th. Eve improved on her Nationals result, climbing up to 23rd overall - all of her after school and weekend practice is paying off! The 420 fleet are well known for their Saturday night socials which are a great way for the sailors to make new friends and have some time together after a days racing. Itchenor put on a great black tie event with dinner and a disco for the sailors, whilst the parents retreated to The Ship Inn around the corner from the club, for their dinner and parental debrief! Sunday, the sailors launched into light breeze, sailed to the race area whereby the breeze decided to go right and completely drop - exactly as the forecast predicted. A drift around with 1 race started and abandoned, followed by a wait around for a couple of hours, which was disappointingly rewarded with an AP over A and a tow back to shore.  Pat and Tom Itchenor  Neil and Olivia Itchenor  Eve and Isabella Itchenor An early prize giving and a reasonable arrival back at home was a fair trade for the lack of racing on Sunday. For those interested in the accolades and prize categories; Neil and Olivia came 1st overall, Pat and Tom came 3rd overall/2nd U19/1st male Full results can be found here: https://gbr420.ourclubadmin.com/docs/492/420_-_GP3_-_Itchenor_-_Sept_2025_-_R4_Provisional.htm Next up for the 420s is the Autumn Championships at Royal Lymington Yacht Club 18/19 October. EUROPEAN LAND YACHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS AT HOYLAKE. Its great to see this event back at Hoylake again. If you have time its well worth walking straight out from the Lifeboat station to the start area. I am told this is the best venue in Europe for land yachting for available course area. I had a go many years ago at Lytham Saint Annes. Very exciting. I was told by an experience sand yachter that you've not really experience until you break a few ribs ! Fleet of Land yachts by Alan Jenkins  Land Yachts by Jean Meakin  Land Yachts by Jean Meakin  INTRODCTION TO RACING 2025/26 A bit too breezy for my liking to go afloat last Saturday so we got together in the Macdona Room to run through the procedure for starting a race. Sadly the 10 x junior sailors were absent and part of the reason for that is that when juniors are confronted by a room full of adults they are a bit offput. I don't blame them and so this coming Saturday its going to be for Juniors only (and their parents/guardians if they want to sit in)… the adults can have lie in. As I write this the forecast for Saturday is for 29 kts gusting up to 42 knots so its very unlikely well be going afloat anyway so both juniors and adults will all be at the same stage. I'm going to talk about Mirror Dinghies as well which is an open invitation to adults WITH CHILDREN to attend with children. Juniors in Intro to racing  Intro to racing Saturday  SAILING PROGRAMME CORRECTION Thank you John Burthem for pointing this out to me…. The handbook sailing programme for Saturday 11/10/25 HW 14:15 8.99 Mtrs shows Special Tidal Sailing with a start time of 09:20. That's obviously wrong. It will be more like 12:15 but further details will be published next week. If the weather permits there is an opportunity for two days of racing for all interested parties on two good tides and the start times are not too early. Sunday Special Tidal racing Sunday 12/10/25 HW 15:07 8.34 Mtrs If all 4 races sailed over the two days there will be 1 discard allowed i.e. 3 races to count for this Special Two day Series. The question is Do you feel lucky (or even inclined)? My time has elapsed for this weeks Sailing Matters Tony Martson Sailing Secretary Click here for the link to the SAILING MATTERS section |
| Sailing and Club Calendar |
| What's on this week: Wed 1 Oct 12:30 14:00 Gentleman's Lunch Thu 2 Oct 14:00 Radio Sailing Class Fri 3 Oct 14:00 Illusion Class Sat 4 Oct 09:30 12:30 Saturday Mornings Adult Sailing Course Training Sat 4 Oct 10:00 13:00 Training Training Sat 4 Oct 19:00 01:00 WKSC Annual Ball Sun 5 Oct 09:00 Autumn 5 & 6 St/Hi/Fa/IC Club Racing Sun 5 Oct 09:15 Autumn Tidal 7&8 Fast Handicap (T) Club Racing Sun 5 Oct 09:18 Autumn Tidal 7&8 Slow Handicap (T) Club Racing Wed 8 Oct 12:30 14:00 Gentleman's Lunch |
| Training |
Adult Training at WKSC  |
| Events |
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WK RNLI Fish & Chip Fundraiser - Saturday 11th October
Please come and support your local Lifeboat Station. Tickets on sale at the Bar.  Halloween - Save the date! - Saturday 25th October The Boatshed of Horrors returns! A fantastic party for all our Juniors. All welcome. Tickets are on sale behind the bar, make sure you get yours early as this event sells out!  Junior Christmas Party with Santa's Grotto - Save the date! - Saturday 13th December Father Christmas will be paying a visit to WKSC. |
| Other Information |
| Boats for Sale |
Boats for sale - Click here to view Boats for Sale |
| If you would like something added to the newsletter please contact newsletter@wksc.org.uk |
Last updated 10:19 on 22 October 2025