Well if it isn't weed that tries to stop our sailing it's the ice!   Not too chilly today but the lake has frozen earlier and the sun isnt getting high enough to melt it, in front of the boat house and Port St Helens are solid the only area we could launch was over by the Club 500 course and even there the ice was close.   Still I turned up around 9am to find Darius already there and sailing his tug "Wyeforce", more members started to gather but only 4 boats found it into the water.. Darius' tug, Jim's airboat and my Huntsman.

All went well, for a bit, until I let the Huntsman get nose in to the ice... no problem full deflection of rudder and a bit of power should spin it round shouldn't it?  No it didn't, she simply popped out of the water like a penguin on one of those wildlife documentries and slither a foot or two onto top of ice.

Now I quite like this picture, the reflection looks great LOL.   But how am I supposed to get my boat back, the rest of members around thought this was most amusing, no way was i venturing onto ice nor was I going for a paddle.   Dusty came to the rescue with his trusty tennis ball on a rope and set to throwing it at the Huntsman, he found it quite surprising at first that the tennis ball would bounce on ice, odd that Dusty ;).    Anyhow after a few tries by Darius, Dusty and myself, Dusty finally managed to get the ball across the bow and when I pulled the Huntsman slid back into water.

Shortly after we all retreated into the warmth of the Boat House Cafe for coffee and toast and wouldn't you know it the Hon Sec finally turned up (11am).

Rich

Sunday 25th November 2012 - Prize Giving

Not a great start to the day, very chilly and wet and that probably had an effect on the turnout at the lake.   15 hardy members assembled for the initial prize giving and following group photograph, unfortunately Tony, Becky and Martin were a little late but there is a plan to have another group photo at the next club meeting.

The prizes and winners are as follows..

Club 500
3rd Place Overall - Derek Lodge
2nd Place Overall - Paul Devlin
1st Place Overall - Richard Armstrong

3rd Place Junior - Olivia Hunt
2nd Place Junior - Christina Hunt
1st Place Junior - Jay Rayner

Outstanding Club Member  -  David Baker

Best Model on Stand (Model Boat Covention - Alan Luckett

Best Model Mayors Regatta Colwyn Bay   - Alan Luckett

Best Tug in Show Kirklees Open Day  - John Bradford

Hydro and Mini Hydro Champion Bridlington  - Rob Physick

Group Photo 2012

I would like to say thanks and well done to all members for another good year at the club, lets move on and up.

Rich

It was a great turnout of club members especially considering it was a chilly morning, we all struggled getting the blood flowing around our fingers and toes, personally I  really wish I hadnt shaved my head Friday now.   As usual there was a good selection of boats, from fishing vessels, through yachts, steam launches (yes Christine  brought a boat for a change and was good to see it sailing around) plus tugs.  

The tugs were out in force with Darius, John Bradford, Dusty and myself with ours, practice was taken using the clubs container  ship, it was quite a challenge for a newbie like myself at tugs and towing.   Mid way through the morning Darius and I decided that seeing as we both had Wyeforces a pair of head to head competiitons was in order.   The first was a drag race (yes really) and there was not much in it, I was marginally ahead, the second challenge was a tug of war which was an easier win for me.. the Austin Metro motors proving to have more torque than Darius' 700 size motors.   Darius mentioned a plan on changing motors and props so a rematch may be on the cards soon.

The weed is still proving to be little issue if we stray too far to right of Landing Stage so members please take note.

Rich (Webmaster/Forum Admin)

Friday, 16th November 2012

Well the blog has been empty and unused for a little while so I will try and add my thoughts to it for a change.    There has been a lot gone on since the last entry, many mornings of great sailing,

The Club 500 2012 season is now over and as expected it went right down to the nail leaving Paul and myself on the same points going into last race, after a close fought battle I managed to sneak the win on a really horrendous morning.. rain, cold and slippy conditions under foot.   3rd and 4th place was also exceedingly close with Rob Physick and Derek Lodge finishing the season on equal points and after countback Derek was given 3rd place as he had an overall win and Rob hadn't.   The juniors was also a very close finish with Jay Raynor just grabbing top place over the Hunt girls,Christina and Olivia.    I have to say thanks to Dave Baker and Chris Evans for all the effort they both put into Club 500 this year, Dave organising the racing and running it on the day and Chris for keeping the running totals all year.   Here's to next years racing, bigger and better, a note to all racers is the upcoming inter club challenge with the Runcorn Club, a one day race off... date to be confirmed but due soon.

We had the AGM a short while ago and the biggest change is the treasurer after 5 years service to the club Rick Morgan has stepped aside and Rob Physick was voted in.   Thanks Rick and good luck Rob.  Also those present agreed that the forum should be opened back up in its previous capacity to club members.  Diary dates for 2013 were discussed and you can find those posted on the website. Also congratulations to Dave Baker who was voted by club members to be the Most Valued Member.

The recovery boat has taken a bit of a beating over the last year, the continual dragging in and out of lake had caused a hole in bottom of hull, there was an initial quick repair on a club 500 day to get us through that and then John Bradford has done some more work to it with more planned to improve both the sturdiness or repair as well as an idea for easier recovery from the lake.    The oars are also showing their age and one in particular needed attention, nothing a bit of gaffer tape didnt solve, although as John Bradford found out the other day it helps if the rowlock is not left at the Hon Sec's house, we were all impressed by his technique of paddling an oar with one hand and rowing another oar with the other hand.

The lake is finally clearing of weed, so conditions for sailing are finally improving although there are still patches to watch out for (aren't there Derek;) ).    A date will be arranged for club trophy presentation at the landing stage and a club photograph so please keep an eye on website and forum for dates and notices.    If any club member would like to add a blog entry please send it to Chris or myself (email address on the website) and we can add it.  hopefully this way the blog can be kept added to a little more often.

Rich (Webmaster/Forum Admin)

Hi Everybody

By popular demand I'm back.  Since the last time a lot has happened, we have had two Club 500 race days which have been nothing short of fantastic, with less than a sheet of "Bronco" between the leading competitors.  We have just two more races to go until the end of the racing season, and there is everything to play for for both the seniors and the juniors, the winners will be announced at the AGM and the Committee will arrange a morning when all club members can gather at the Boathouse for presentations and a group photograph, please watch the website for notification of the date.

Friday 14th September 2012 was our first Venetian Evening for many years.  The Committee had doubts as to whether such a venture as this would be successful. we were to be proven wrong, we had over twenty five members present, it was a perfect night and we all finally went home at around 9.30pm. I will post a few photos of the event at the end of this post.  Everybody worked very hard  installing lights on their boats some attempting to make them work on the night! John, he never seems to be out of the water these days, and with Darius around, he is unlikely to be out of the water into the future with the trio of John, Darius and Dusty organising tug-towing and building a "freeport" at Port St Helens or Southampton point.  Incidentally only nurds will know what I am talking about.
The enthusiasm in the Club is and has been wonderful this year. for me it has probably been THE best during my seven years as your Secretary and long may it continue, not the secretary's job that is!!!

The Committee said we wanted to make this club the best in the North West and I think we have achieved this.

While all the racing has been going on, large numbers have gathered on the landing stage to enjoy all the other forms of model boating from yachts, to high speed racing machines piloted by Rob, these high speed models draw a great deal of interest from the general public in the Park especially the kids.

Finally remember just two more races to go, the competition is still there to be won!

See you tomorrow, Tuesday for the monthly meeting at the Stanley.

Christine (Sec)

Sunday Morning Sail 2nd September 2012

Hi everybody

Race day again.

The weather was good today for a change and ten racers arrived for our fortnightly bash.  We had four heats today, which is now established as the norm. Paul D won  for the combined race and Jay for the Juniors.   Rich came a dubious second as he used Paul's boat for his race after his Phantom burst into flames, destroying everything in his electronics box, reason unknown, the smell of death was intense.
Racing started around 9.30 and we were all done by 11.00.

Over to the landing stage.  This area continues to be pristine with no Canada geese droppings to make the area unhygienic,  it's amazing what you can do with a length of string and a traffic cone!!
Around 18 members were present this morning with many different types of model on the water, no yachts today as there was very little wind.

We had enquiries from two potential members, a young lad and his grandfather and a gentleman who had visited the Convention at Haydock last weekend and was seeing what we had to offer him as a member.  We do hope they will join us in due course if we tick all the right boxes for them.

By 12.30 everybody had left for the day, thanks to everybody for getting everything ready for racing and clearing up afterwards, it is very much appreciated by the Committee when you all "muck in"

Don't forget it is the monthly meeting tonight (Tuesday) at the Stanley and Kirklees fun day next Sunday 9th September, lets have a good turnout for their day, Stan has got loads of raffle prizes to get rid of!!

It's the venetian evening on the 14th, so everybody get some lights on your boats and we can get some spectacular pics for our website.

All for now, more next week.

Christine (Hon Sec)

Sunday Morning Sail 19th August 2012

Hi everybody

Yet another race day, they do come round so quickly.  We had seven racers today and as usual the results were very close.  Once again I failed to make much impact on the results, my 500 performs quite well but I think I will have to "go back to school" for some serious driving lessons.

We started at 9.00am and as usual David was there with Rob at 8.30am getting the equipment out of the leg and resetting the course, once again well done to both of you for your enthusiasm.
Racing ended at 11.00am after four heats, so everything was put away and the racers joined a very good crowd of fellow members on the jetty.  I think a message had got to the Rangers about Mark's fall a couple of weeks ago,  you could have eaten your dinner off the jetty, it was spotless, thanks very much Rangers.  "Please do something about the WEED".

We were able to sail near the jetty if we were careful, there was some prop fowling but overall not much to worry about.

The rain started at around 11.30 so eventually everybody drifted away, (I am beginning to read like a journalist "fowling", ducks "drifted", boats).

All members going to Haydock get in time Friday 3.00pm - 7.00pm, Saturday 9.00am - 9.25am.
See you there!

For those members not going to Haydock, sailing as usual from the Jetty area.

Christine (Hon Sec)


 

Sunday Morning Sail 5th August 500 Race Day

Hi everybody

Race day once again, everybody responded to the early call of 9.00 in order to get the racing going early so that everything would be done and dusted by 11.00.   I don't think Mr Race coordinator was very pleased when I was a bit slow getting from the car park to the lakeside.  I had texts and missed calls on my phone and was threatened with disqualification from the starting race if I didn't  hurry up.  I have things to do on Sunday mornings looking after you lot.  That my excuse and I am sticking to it!!!

We had six excellent races, once we got going, my fault again, I kept getting weed wrapped around my prop which required a bit of trouble with waders and rescue boats to get me free. Not only did I do it once, but twice!!  I think I will have to give up racing, all you guys are so enthusiastic and too good for me,  what chance have I got to win the trophy anyway?   Oops! only joking, I really enjoy racing and wouldn't give it up for the world, well maybe.

I have updated the league tables on the Website for Sunday 5th August 2012.  By the way Sunday was our tenth racing day this year,  well done to everybody concerned.

Youth services started getting ready for their days entertainment quite early which is understandable so the members using the Landing stage did not get much time to sail from there, remember , you can use the jetty for sailing as usual throughout August while the Youth Services are using the Boathouse.  I can assure you that in September things will settle down again for the Autumn and Winter seasons.

It has been suggested that we all start sailing at 9.00am and finish at 11.00am during August so that we can be out of the way of the Youth Services people when they arrive.  We will discuss this at the meeting tonight at the Stanley Arms.

I have your passes for Haydock and I will bring them to the meeting tonight.  VERY IMPORTANT, if you have not given a short description of your boats to Ian Jones, will you please do so either at the meeting tonight or by our next Sunday sailing at the latest please.  Lets try and make our stand look very professional, I can assure you a great deal of effort has gone into producing what will be a very attractive stand.

That's all for today Folks.

See you next time.

Christine (Hon Sec)

Sunday Morning Sail 29th of July 2012

Hi everybody

Well, what a morning.  Ten members came to the lake despite the fact it poured with rain all morning.  Nobody sailed their boats, that must be a first, but Mark did try to sail his newly acquired yacht and nearly broke his neck in the process, when he slipped whilst walking on the jetty. The reason for his near injury BIRD POO.

It was Friends of Taylor Park Funday today, so our chances of having a sail were limited, just for the record the BBQ provided by the St Johns Centre arrived with all their gear, gazebo, gas range and possibly lots of food despite the terrible conditions.  In my opinion its rules for one and blow the rest of you!! and that is putting it politely.

Despite the above I think we all had a good natter putting the country to rights and by 12.00 we had all drifted away for lunch.

I would ask all members to read the members information page regarding the Forum.  The Committee are very sad that they have had to take this step and unfortunately the forum will not return.  If you need to contact the Committee, please do so by speaking to a Committee member at the lake or much more importantly at the general meetings held at the Stanley Arms.  You can also use the Club's webmail on the website.
Any emails sent via webmail will be dealt with by the Committee.

See the usual crowd on Wednesday and its Club 500 racing next Sunday. Lets have another great race day.

Christine

Colwyn Bay Mayors Regatta 22nd July 2012

It was an early start, I was up at 6.00am, I don't even do that when working.  Keith and I got to the lake at around 8.15am to find we were the first SHMBC members there, followed shortly after by Paul Devlin, John Bradford and Dave Coatup. Our Club's Chairman and Hon Sec sauntered in an hour or so later :-).
In the end we had a great turnout by the Club members who put on a good display filling 5 tables under 2 gazebos.  (photos can be seen on the clubs website gallery).

The Colwyn Bay Club put on a fantastic day with a long period of free sailing in the morning and everyone took that opportunity and boy was it hectic! at times the lake absolutely full of many different types of boats.  They also ran organised groups on the water, the likes of yachts and steam launches (although it was a bit windy for these).  Steamboat Phil gave us a display of  his straight running boats.

The Club 500s were run too, first off the Colwyn Bay members had their own race as part of their championship and then after that it was open to everyone and we gave a good account of ourselves, Keith got bored I think and parked up on one of the buoys.. cracking parking at speed it was too!!

Later in the afternoon the judging was made for the Mayor's Cup and at the end of it our own club member Alan Luckett came away with the trophy for his lovely 'Lady Mary', Congratulations Alan.

The weather held out really well, the sun shone from morning till afternoon, unfortunately it was a little windy which proved a challenge for the gazebos, and several were seen to be upturned, luckily ours stayed grounded.

One of the oddest sights had to be Paul Devlin taking his pet boxes for a walk...

Please checkout the gallery on the clubs website for photos from the day and I mustn't forget to congratulate club member Rob Physick who was unable to come to the Mayor's Regatta as he was competing at Bridlington in the British Championships for Model Power Boats, coming away with a runners up place in the Mini Mono class and Mono 2 class, this also gave him qualification to the 2013 World Championships.

Rich.

Sunday Morning Sail 15th July 2012

Hi Everybody

It's nice to be up and running again.  Just a bit of house keeping first. From now on there may only be one blog post per week and I will try to complete a story every Sunday and on days when we are away from Taylor Park, visiting other Clubs.

Please note "we will not be able to use the Landing Stage if the Youth Services are in attendance during August 2012".
We will be sailing in the Jetty area for this period and we will move the 500 course back to it's position to the right of the Jetty, so that we can continue with 500 racing, which has become so popular in our club and long may it continue.  Please, if you want a new 500 boat you must let me know ASAP, we will require payment upfront before we make an order for you.

Just to let you know, I spent some time today (Sunday) racing my Club 500 around the area to the right of the Jetty and did not pick up any weed at all, so fingers crossed we should be able to race as normal.

Despite it being a lovely day we only had about 15 members at the lake this morning, but we had a happy time sailing slow boats and partaking in friendly chat with each other, on the whole a very relaxing morning for me, not having to rush around all over the place as I usually do.

We all left around 12 noon, Dave M and I had some refreshments in the cafe and then left for the day.

May I wish all our members who are not 100%, health wise at the moment, a speedy recovery and get yourselves back down to the Lake as soon as you can.

See you next Sunday for another edition of our Blog

Christine (Hon Sec)

Sunday morning sail 17th June 2012

Hi everybody.

It was good to be back down at the lake after my holiday in Norway and to welcome so many new members. The weather was very pleasant and we had quite a varied selection of models on the water. Young William brought his new tugboat and had fun getting to grips with the controls.

At this point I have to make a comment about the state of the landing stage. It's that time of the year when the Canada Geese come and visit us in large quantities and they deposit large quantities of their excrement on the edge of the landing stage. Once again I have to point out that we have approached the Rangers about this problem, saying that we would be willing to use a jet washer on the landing stage but they will not let us use this type of appliance, because they say there are health and safety hazards in using electrical equipment by our members.  We do of course have buckets and brushes in the leg and it would only take a few minutes for us to clean up the mess ourselves. So I would ask you "all" to grab the equipment and clean up the landing stage before we start sailing, it would only take a minute and our sailing environment would be much improved. Once again don't forget it's your club, you make of it what you can, nobody is going to run after us and do everything for us. If we complain to much the Rangers can very easily stop us using the landing stage altogether.

Thanks very much to Graham for bringing the pop bottles which we will be using to make buoys for the 500 course, we do need more, so drink up and let's have the empties please.

The weed situation seemed to be much improved this morning, I don't know whether the ground maintenance services have done any work on the lake but it certainly looks better to me.

I will be contacting the visiting clubs who will be coming to the fun day to let them know that the weed situation is much improved and is certainly better than it was last year.

David Maddocks and I went and had a cup of tea in the cafe and left around 12 o'clock.

See you all next Sunday for the fun day, everything is almost ready so let's see you all there on the day.

Christine Hon. Sec.

Sunday Morning Sail 27th May 2012

Hi Everybody

Race day once again

Isn't the weather fabulous, maybe even a little too warm for some, but all in all it was a great day for racing.  But, and it's a big but, the dreaded weed has returned in a big way to our preferred course.
We had to carry on, so David B moved the course to the far left bank of the lake and almost twenty of us raced from there. There is not weed in that part of the lake.  The area is not ideal, as we are not protected from the general public and WILD DOGS who like to walk all over peoples boats, Dogs owners in the Park, "Get a Life get a lead on your dogs".
We had four heats this morning and the time just flew.  Whilst on the subject of racing don't forget demonstration racing at Carr Mill next Sunday between 1.00pm & 2.00pm as many racers as possible please, we may even get a chance to be on the telly so t-shirts and caps if poss please.

A few of the scale modellers Alan L and yachtsmen, Ian and Wal spent a while on the landing stage but the weed was a problem for them so unfortunately they did not stay long.

I have spoken to Maintenance Services at the Council this morning and my contact there say that he will do his best to remove the weed for us as soon as he can.

We all left around midday after tea and toast

See you all next week

Christine Hon Sec

Thursday Sail

Shipmates

Summer is here at last !

Another good day at the office.  the rescue boat was painted and both legs cleaned and tidied
Only Chris and myself today, As usual  whenever work is mentioned everyone runs a mile

I know quite a few of you have joined our club just to take advantage of our 500 course, we only see you on race days ! however it would be a nice gesture if you would assist in other aspects of the club.
and help out when possible. we are all in the same boat !

Take great care when replacing equipment back into the leg, some items have been damaged.

Please take great care when handling the rescue boat now that it has been painted in our club colours, apart from scraping the paint the rims are being warn away and are breaking up, treat it as if it were your own

We finally got to sail late on, beware the weed is back !

John

Shipmates

Our advertised All Day Wednesday Sail was a spetacular flop, never mind we can but try !

Only eight members present in the morning and only three remained after lunch.

We made good use of the warmer weather by etch priming the Rescue Boat, we hope to twin pack it in
our club colours tomorrow , Thursday. We shall be at the lake all day if you want to join us for a sail.

Can we implement a new club rule - if you do not contribute anything to the club you are not allowed to complain.

John

Sunday 20th May

Hi Shipmates

Filling in for Chris as she was AWOL this morning,  a very rare event and everyone was concerned and missed her.

Kind of surreal day, not many boats on the water which was flat as a pancake and ideal for
smaller craft.

Spent  a while watching Jay's Quavers expelling fat globule's and propelling themselves in the water, fascinating ! there lies an idea - A Quaver driven boat, similar principle to the baking powder driven
submarine's we use to get in cereal boxes, showing my age there !

Mentioning age it was Jim Nolan's birthday yesterday, will not give you age away Jim but it certainly frightened me. Best Wishes and Good Luck. Oldies rule OK. we had it hard mate, this younger generation - tut tut.

We all left a little bit early before the toddlers fair got going proper and the smell of burgers enticed us that way . Dave Maddox did not succumbe either, well done Dave , proud of you unless you sneaked back later.

Anyone interested in another tug towing day on wedneday bring your tug.-whoooop - whooop

John

Hi Shipmates

Left for the  lake early, bad mistake, had to battle through the school run, can you lend me one of your police sirens Dave , that may help in future. Jim Nolan was already there itching to get the cargo boat onto the water for our tug towing day. We were soon ten in number.

The towing was more difficult than expected. with 30 litres of water as ballast aboard the cargo boat and an on shore wind I am afraid we never made all the gates on a complete circuit, good fun all the same and we learnt a few lessons. We need more horesepower !

Christine brought along her steam launch, Ian  his yacht , also in attendance Jim - Sue - John and Derek Grahame, Jim Nolan and Mabel - all in all a good day except that the waders have sprung a leak,

One more thing, before I go completely banzai and jump overboard -  if you have any issues or any enquiries concening the web site please contact  the webmaster NOT the Secretary.

John

Sunday Morning Sail 13th May 2012

RACE DAY


Hi everybody

Well, what can I say, six races, eight boats in each race, loads of fun, whacking great batteries and charges charging up power packs in order to gain that competitive edge; we ARE watching out for violations of the rules of course!!! Most importantly we attracted a lot of interest for the people visiting the park. Overall a Fantastic morning's racing


We had  many members at the lake enjoying themselves and it was impossible to keep track of how many attended today but there were lots.  Please keep the attendance up and lets have fun!

I personally really enjoy our sailing days, everybody gets on with each other and the atmosphere is electric with the jokes and cracks flying between the members, its so good that the time just races by. ( Sorry about the pun )

I will put my sec hat on for a min, thanks to you all for adding your names to the lists of Days Out during the summer it is good to see so much interest,  15 members going to Kirklees that is a record, I promise you you will not be disappointed.  I know it is quite a long way to travel in these financially hard times,  but as my old dad used to say, bless his heart, "you can't take it with you, spend it".

As usual sailing ended around 12.00 so after tea and toast we all went your separate ways.

All for today, so see you next week

Christine Sec

Wednesday 9th May

Shipmates

Ten of our members assembled on the foreshore for our midweek sale. two were non combatants, the weather was kind to us for a change, it has been pretty dismal lately.

We decided to sail off the foreshore as the public have a better view of our activities there, scale models were allocated the section between the cafe and the floating pier . For web site purposes  I call this area Port St Helens, fast electrics were allocated the 500 course area.

Chris and Ian emptied the second leg of rubbish which will gives us a bit more storage space, the rescue boat will be kept here. Well done to them. Sorry I never got to photograph of Chris in her green overalls pushing a wheelbarrow.

All went well except for Big Jims Custard slice as a smell of fried speed controller drifted across the lake. back to the dockyard Jim !  . Always go for the heavy side Jim.

Weather permitting We hope to have the cargo ship out next Wednesday for the tugs to manouver around. Many of our Fun Day visitors bring tugs, especially Liverpool and Runcorn clubs, they will be wanting to take part in a tug towing course of some kind. If you have a tug pop down next wednesday.

There are quite a few tasks to complete before our Fun Day which will be on us in no time. Amongst other things the cargo ship and barge need renovating and painting. Please help if you can !

15 members have signed up for our trip to Kirklees, Their lake is in a very nice setting as can be seen on our web site Away Days page. A grand day out ! everyone is welcome to come along and help advertise our club. Let Chris know if you wish to join us. it is only 50 min away, the way I drive anyway !

All in all a good day, numbers were low but our spirits were high, just wish the weather would buck up!

Afterwards  Chris and I visited the Stanley Arms to replenish stores and fuel.

Full speed ahead - Ships Scribe

Port St Helens 9th May

Sunday Morning Sail 6th May 2012

Hi everybody.

Well, once again what can I say! what an absolutely cracking day in every sense of the word.  The sun shone, no wind, no good for yachts, lots of people in the Park and last, but not least, a great bunch of guys and gals who wanted fun and got it in buckets full.

We had a good turnout as usual with all sorts of vessels on the water, including 500's, tugs, launches, no steam today because I had a car boot fun of junk and lastly, Rob with his speeeeeeed boat, which as usual, attracted great interest from the crowds, especially the children.

But the best spectacle was provided by our Chairman Dave.
Over the last few months he has worked extremely hard restoring the Lighthouse which Brian M gave to the club a few years ago.  What a fantastic job he has made of it too!
Rather than me trying to describe it here, please take a look at the home page of our website, www.sthelensmodelboatclub.co.uk
The Light almost blinds you, even in daylight and the sound system which is controlled from the shore is nothing short of fantastic. we will of course have to be careful because you can hear the sounds all over the Park and I mean all over the Park.  It was a bit like the Pied Piper of Hamlin. It seemed to draw young and old from all over the Park, to the lakeside to enjoy the spectacle.

Soon it was time to leave,  no tea and toast today because the cafe was not open.

We all look forward to next Sunday, 500 race day.

See you all then

Christine (Secretary)

Sunday Sail 29th April Club 500 Race Day

Hi everybody


I thought as it is Grahame's birthday today I should give him the privilege our writing our blog for today. It is already on the forum but I thought it would be nice for it to appear here.  So here goes, completely unabridged.


What a crackin days sailing today  ....the sun was crackin the flags, 90 degrees heat.....topless sailers  ........ya! right!!!!!!!

It was on awfull morning!! racing cancelled due to the wind and rain.....some of us had a mess about with the 500's and ended up at the opposite left side of the boat house!!!!.....well done paul for finding them!!  ........even christine's 500 went missing and ended up floating out from under the jetty   how did that happen??

We put 'green hornet' and 'christeve' in for water testing after repairs.......not much water in and a bit faster after adjustment of battery trays......thats that job sorted   

Well done to our secretery and others for the new score/marker board......we are looking more professional every day   pitty the weather is letting us down!!

Well done to all the members that turned up to race today......hope you managed to collect all your club 500's ok  

And thank you to all the members for your seronade of happy birthday.......dont give up you day jobs   

Im now officialy to old to get embaressed!!!

me, barbara, olivia and christina left after about 40 mins before we got triple numonear..........sorry about the spelling!!

c u all at the meeting

grahame.


Well Done Grahame, have a nice day.


See you all at the meeting on Tuesday


Christine Hon Sec.

Sunday Morning Sail 22nd April 2012 Mini Funday

Hi Everybody

I am sorry but I am going to have to start this Sunday blog with a bit of a moan. These comments are obviously directed towards the members who were not present, except for those who gave their apologises for not attending.

Where were all the members this morning.  You were all given notice by text message or e-mail and indeed also at the monthly meeting that the Mini Fun day was to be held on Sunday 22nd April and the committee was assured of a good turnout.
An awful lot of work goes into arranging these events and all the committee members go to great lengths to make interesting and and fun filled activities for you all to enjoy.  If you are not interested in what we try to do for you we can very easily not bother in the future, it's up to you all.

OK, it was a terrible morning weather wise to start with. Dave B and I arrived at the lake very early and started to get things set up. We worked, in the pouring rain, to set up the steering course which Dave had spent a whole week dreaming up and constructing in his dining room at home, much to his wife's presumed annoyance!! In the end both of us were drenched but what the hell, we so soon dried out. Soon all the other "eighteen" members arrived and got all the equipment out of the "Leg", put up the gazebos then the heavens opened, it absolutely poured for about ten minutes. It eventually stopped and it turned out to be a lovely day.

Dave's steering course was a great success  and the winners were, in first place Richard A, second Lewis N and third, the course builder himself David B. well done to you all.  the winners each received a certificate to clutter up their homes with even more rubbish!!

Olivia,  Christina and Grahame provided us all with a great deal of amusement during the day but Olivia stole the show, dressing up as a pirate and very convincing she was too, she has definitely been booked as the star attraction for our main fun day on the 24th June 2012. I think it's a great reason for many more of us to try and out do her, come on lets have a laugh. Have a look at the pics of Olivia on the EXTRA page of the website.

Dave Ozzy brought the container ship for tug towing and it has found a new home in the Leg.  Thanks very much Dave for bringing it for us.

Dave M brought the Lighthouse which Brian M donated to the club, Dave has worked very hard restoring it and it will be used when ever it is necessary to give commentaries on days like this one from the water, it is equipped with a very bright red strobe and various sirens, listen out for it, you will be able to hear it all over the Park!!!

The event ended around 3 o'clock, thanks to all who helped to put everything away.

That's all for today, see you next week and don't forget it's 500 racing day again.

Christine Hon Sec.

Sunday Morning Sail 15th April 2012

Hi Everybody

Well what a great morning we had today, a little cold, sorry, freezing at first which continued for the rest of the morning, but it was lovely and sunny and we had a lot of people watching us race.

Nine of us raced and we held four heats.  We all seem to be getting good at getting race days up and running, we had finished racing and everything had been put away for the day by about 11.45am, then we had some general sailing to end the morning.

We shared the lake with Youth Services and everything worked excellently for both groups, so we need have no worries about the situation of a shared facility, which is great.

Dusty Rhodes rejoined us today as a member, welcome back Dusty and I hope will get a lot of fun out of your renewed membership. Lewis Nolan brought a friend with him and he will join in the Nolan family membership so a very warm welcome to him, I apologise for forgetting your name but I am sure you will forgive me, just in passing I hope you and Lewis enjoyed yourselves sailing at Pilks Sailing Club this afternoon.

Olivia thought, "if I can't beat them I will join them" so she filled in an application form with Youth Services and within a very short time she was togged up in a wetsuit and bright yellow helmet and given a life jacket.  In no time at all she was being instructed how to paddle a canoe I understand from Barbara that she did extremely well.  Well done Olivia! we are all very proud of you for having a go.

Rob had a go with his fast electrics and that was it for today.

Don't forget "Mini Fun day Next Sunday, we will need lots of help to get things set up and  this is an all day event so don't forget your Boats, sandwiches and flask of hot tea!!!

See you all next Sunday

Christine Hon. Sec.

wednesday club

Ahoy jack! me old ringbolt.

Where has everyone gone ! ye landlubbers - where is thee heart of oak ? Little bit of rain put you off.

Non combatents and excused boots fall out - Cape Horners only on the landing stage this morning.Bit of a squall and  a few hailstones -  have seen bigger waves on top of a tot glass.

Eight of us assembled for our mid week sail, mxture of sun and rain,  as per usual it cleared up as soon as we left.

After sailing Chris and I headed for the Stanley Arms to dry out and take on stores- try the giant yorkshire puddings, they would probably put a hole in the Titanic, --oops , thats already happened

Headed for the dockyard when I returned home, as per usual - to glue somthing back on.

Chris , Managed to get my IPod connected to my router , forgot to press the pairing button. Teknology.......

Kettles boiling................stop both engines.......   lower the seaboat..........C in C NAGHOME is calling

John (Ships Scribe)  

 

Sunday Morning Sail 1st April 2012

Hi everybody.

It's Sunday race day again and what a perfect racing day it was too.  The water was flat calm, no wind as you would expect under calm conditions and beautiful blue skies, it was a little cold at first but the excitement of the race soon warmed us all up.
If we keep the excitement of  racing for the visiting public, the Council will have to build an even bigger car park, well done to the Council for providing this facility!

We had six heats today which is more than we have ever had and we all had great fun, Andy didn't manage to get to the first marker before FOUR other boats managed to capsize him and put him out of the race! Well we can't have him winning ALL the time, can we!!!

Thanks once again to Dave B and his team for getting everything out of the Leg and organising the morning and also to Rob for scutineering the racing.

We had a good turnout on the landing stage for scale and the slower boats and Dave M counted a total of around 30 members at the lake this morning, which is really great.

If you read this blog before Tuesday and you are coming to the General Meeting at the Stanley.  Can you think about the boats you will be displaying at Haydock this year and give a description of each one to Ian Jones for him to produce A5 notices to be displayed by the side of each model on the stand thus making our stand look more professional.

I am sorry for going on about this but will ALL able-bodied members please help to put everything away at the end of the day and not leave it the people who always do it.  IT'S YOUR CLUB and we must all do our part.  You might even receive the Club Trophy for "most outstanding member for the year"!

We finished for the morning around 12.00 and after tea and toast left for the day.

See you next Sunday for general sailing? it is Easter Sunday.

Christine Hon Sec

Sunday Morning Sail 25th March 2012

Hi everyone.

What an absolutely fabulous day.  No wind, beautiful sunshine, dead calm water, loads of people in the Park. No members, I exaggerate a little, we had approximately 15 members in attendance.  Where were you all!!

We had a really relaxing morning, John went out early with rescue boat to take some photographs from the middle of the lake, they will feature on the website when he has picked his best ones.  Mark and Andrew M contributed to the photographic duties as well thank you to them for doing that for the club.

No yachts today reason no wind. we all had chance to have a good natter and we welcomed Alan and Josie into the club today, Josie joins us as an associate member, so ladies please make her welcome not forgetting Alan of course.

One or two of us had a bit of club 500 practice around the buoys honing or skills for the next race day which of course is next Sunday 1st April, and that will be No Joke (get it).

After tea and toast we finished for the day at 12.00.

See you next Sunday. Wednesday for the lucky ones.

Christine Hon Sec.

Wednesday 21st

Shipmates

Nine of us ( Wednesday faithfuls ) assembled on the landing stage for our midweek sail. the lake was like a mill pond and ideal for small craft. Have been AWOL for a while so it was nice to see some old friends and catch up with the news.

Arrived early to prep the rescue boat before painting. thanks for the tea Sue, much appreciated !

Full speed ahead.......

Aye John

Sunday Morning Sail 18th March 2012

Hi everybody

I am running out of words to describe the fun we are having at the lake on Sunday mornings.
 
Once again the day started a little cold but soon warmed, up but with all the excitement of excellent Club 500 racing, we all soon forgot about the gradually warming conditions as the morning went on.  By mid morning the sun shone and the members with slower and scale models turned up in their droves.  In all we had around twenty five members present today.  We also had dozens of the general public watching our fun to!

We had a competitive Club 500 race again this morning with lots of competitors taking part, with all the usual thrills of racing.
From now on Club 500 competitive racing will take place every fortnight so the next race will be on 1st April 2012, please make a note in your diaries, the reason for only having  competitive races on a fortnightly basis is that it takes time for me to collate the results and publish them to the website. so I would ask for a little bit of sympathy for me Ahhhh!!!! in my efforts.  We will all be able to race around the course as much as we want to, but we will only be scoring on race days, take note of this please.

Over on the landing stage we had a good crowd sailing tugs, steam launches and two Marblehead yachts in the control of Ian J and Dave R, well done to Dave R for retrieving his yacht with the rescue boat.

When all our batteries had run down and some of us had consumed their tea and toast we all left for the day.

See you all next Sunday or possibly on Wednesday(if retired or otherwise).

Christine (Secretary)

Sunday Morning Sail 11th March 2012

Hi Everybody

Well here we are 11th March and the first day of the Club 500 racing season. We had thirty two members at the lake this morning!!  What a great morning we had!!  as is becoming the norm everybody arrived early, even earlier than your Secretary (He! He! Keith) Everything was very quickly set up for Racing under the control of I think David B and Rob P, if I have left your name off the setting up team, I apologise for that.

We had four heats this morning with very few mishaps, we must get a proper stop watch though, which is reliable, not like the cheap one which we keep in the blue box!
I think Jay got a little upset when we had to disqualify him from the heat he took part in.  He hit a stationary boat and under the rules had to be disqualified.  We know he was upset but a rule is a rule and if we let it go, we would have to do so for everybody else.  His Mum and Dad said he would soon get over it.  Don't be too upset Jay, you did very well anyway, don't give up!
Martin D managed to knock the rudder of his boat, fortunately he has a new hull so will be back on the water soon.  Please all be aware, there is a dirty great lump of concrete just below water level at the edge of the lake just waiting to remove someone else's rudder. We will endeavour to remove it if we can just be careful.
At a request from the Club 500 Racers, the committee has decided to hold 500 races every Sunday throughout the summer, instead of fortnightly, but you must all get to the lake as early as you can to get things ready.  We will race for about an hour and then have general sailing for the rest of the morning.

Thanks to everybody who helped to put everything away at midday.

Thats all for today, see you all next week.

Christine Hon Sec

Sunday Morning Sail 26th February 2012

Hi Everybody

Wow what a morning, by the end of it I think most of us, but mainly David B, Dave M and I were mentally and physically worn out, to say the least.

David B and I arrived early to set out the Club 500 Course which David managed to do with great professionalism and it took him no time to complete the task, thanks very much David.
We were soon able to have a race for the first time, just for fun, and we kept on going until all the batteries ran down. I don't actually know who won but we had in excess of ten models taking part. Lets hope that we have an equal number of members taking part in the races throughout the coming Spring and Summer months.

All being well, David would like racing to commence on Sunday 11th March 2012, so come on everybody do all your final adjustments, charge your batteries so we can all have lots of fun on the 11th.  Rob P has been appointed by the committee to act as a scrutineer for the 500 Boats, to ensure that the rules are being adhered to.  He has also agreed to ensure that members who wish to race very fast electrics do so in a responsible manner, having regard to other members boats and even more to the welfare of the wildlife on the lake.  Remember YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS WATCHING YOU!!!  A quick call to the Council with photographic evidence and your club is in trouble!!!

It's your Club! Don't abuse it! Don't lose it!


We had a couple of incidents at the lake this morning which I will not go into here.  Only to say that I urge all members to read the copy of the Constitution which is contained in your Membership Booklet and the Club Rules which were given to you when you paid your Subscriptions.
These rules are very important and must be adhered to at all times.

All in all I think we all had a very enjoyable Sunday morning.

See you all next week.

Christine Hon Sec.

Got the paint !

Shipmates

Despite the poor weather 11 of us assembled for the mid week sail and seven of us went on to the Stanley Arms for lunch afterwards.

Hon Sec and Ship's Scribe went shopping for paint to refurbish the rescue boat. Chris was wearing the club colours which we used as a guide for the paint to be mixed.

We shall be painting the inside white .....over to you Dave to make the bracket for the flagpole.

She will be a trim little craft when we have finished and see no reason  why she cannotjoin the Queen's Diamond Jubilee fleet on the Thames later this year.

We are looking for volunteers to wear pirate costumes on the fun day, if you are up for a bit of plundering and looting an can say  arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh in a cornish accent please contact  Hon Sec . I will be providing the Rum.

Sorry about all confusion concerning the GM meeting dates, the next meeting will be at the Stanley Arms on the first Tuesday in the month, next meeting will be on the 6th of March..thats cast in stone !

Aye John .........Ship's Scribe

Sunday Morning Sail 19th February 2012

Hi Everybody.

Here we are again, another fine Sunday morning, a lovely sunny day but a little chilly.  We had an excellent turnout once again, with quite a few different boats on the water.  Judging by the numbers of club 500 boats on the water, our members cannot wait to get racing again, please be patient we will be starting again very soon now.

David Baker brought his springer tug "The Sherman" and did some sea trials which were very successful, another form of rescue boat for use in emergencies.  Ian R continues to have trouble with his fast electric boats even with Rob's help.  I think he will have to go back to the supplier and complain about it's poor performance.

Ian R has given us an excellent trolley for club use and it will be ideal for transporting the rescue boat to and from the "leg", we will be able to push the boat into the water and then remove the trolley making it much easier to manage and less strain on the "old backs" which can only be a good thing.

Most of the members present made their way to the cafe for tea and toast before leaving for home around 12.00.

Thats all for today, speak to you next week.

For those who can make it, don't forget the Luncheon Club on Wednesday at the Stanley Arms after we finish sailing, I promise you, you will not be disappointed with the comfort of the place and goodness of the food!!

Christine (Hon Sec)

Waves- James Bond - Log Fire

Shipmates

Eight of us assembled on the landing stage this morning, the ice has gone to be replaced by scale sized waves which were challenging for the faint hearted. There were five Club Boats running in
and everyone is talking tactics and itching to get racing.

Nice to see Christina and Olivia at the lakeside, we are missing some of our junior members.

Highlights of the morning were when Evelyn's Wicked Lady decided to hide under the floating jetty (must be shy and not so wicked as we thought) and when Hons Secs Club Boat 500 did a James Bond exit from the lake and landed minus prop on the foreshore, result of having two beige boats on the lake at once and not knowing which one you are controlling.

Goood news ! the council have started enlarging the car park and the fountain is now operating properly.

Well done the Rangers for keeping the landing stage clean and tidy and opening the rest room for us. All in all everything looks promising for the year ahead and we are sure to have some fun.

After Sailing, Christine, Ian and Evelyn and Ships Scribe decided to recce our new GM meeting and Luncheon club venue at the Stanley Arms. We all agreed that we have sourced a good venue,great food at a reasonable price - and lots of it ! Traditional log fire to warm our cockles and friendly staff to boot.

Our meetings will take place in the glass extension show in the above picture

Wonderful Day....................

Aye John ( Ships Scribe)