From the Quarterdeck — Tony Bullard, Vice-Commodore

FROM THE QUARTERDECK

A Report from Vice Commodore

Tony Bullard

Spring is in the air and with that comes time to finish our boat maintenance and plan ahead our sailing adventures - amongst other things of course as my wife reminds me.  Hopefully we’ll get a break from the rain because we sure have had a lot of that. And hopefully we won’t get the 40 degree heatwaves over summer that others in the world have experienced.

The winter haulage season is coming to an end and we’ll soon see lots of boat-owners down on the yard painting, antifouling and doing all manner of odd jobs that boats require. I’m in the process of making a hard spray dodger for my boat hoping the completed project won’t turn into a dodgy dodger! I’ll update you all on this in an upcoming newsletter when the dodger is completed.

While talking about haulage, I thought I’d regale you with a haulage story of mine. Several years ago I was nearing the end of my winter haulage session on my new boat U Choose. Bas, one of our knowledgeable young members who was working on his boat beside mine, asked me how my boat jobs were going. I replied, “well except I hadn’t got a rigger out yet to check my rigging and that I’d do that later in the year in Westhaven”. There’s never a rush with these sorts of things, I thought.  Bas, being an experienced boat builder, said he’d go up the mast and check it out. I was dead keen for Bas to go up, so up the mast Bas went.

Bas comes down the mast after undertaking a good inspection of the rigging. But he has a somewhat troubled look on his face. Apparently I have some broken strands on my stays and the shackle pin attaching the front inner stay to the mast is cracked in half. “Oh dear” I said, “that doesn’t sound good. Probably a good idea not to go sailing with the rigging in that shape”. Bas, of course, agrees. Anyway, Bas offers to help me replace my rigging and away we go. Over the next week Bas and I replaced it all so it was good as new again. Thanks heaps Bas — your help was very much appreciated.

It's interesting what you find out when you inspect old rigging:

Firstly, the stays were imperial sized which apparently has not been sold for many years. They may have been the original rigging for my boat, which at 40 years old, should have been replaced long ago. No wonder the strands were breaking.

Secondly, funny things happen to clevis pins (in layperson terms these are the things that help connect the stay to the boat) after a long period of time. One was cracked in half and another had pin holes running the whole length of the pin. Not something you’d expect a solid stainless steel rod would do. But maybe a 40 year old one?

And thirdly, how on earth the front stay stayed up when attached to the mast with a broken shackle pin is beyond me. If you have a look in the photo you can see the offending cracked clevis pin and the broken shackle pin. Hopefully none of your boats have got anything like these!

For those of you who have come down to the Club lately, you’ll have noticed the place is getting busier.

Friday night turnouts are increasing as Chateaubriant continue to make mouth-watering meals for us and Kirsty and her bar team provide a wonderful range of liquid refreshments.

Emma and the Social Committee are also back on form creating various social events for the whole membership. So keep an eye on the weekly news for what’s coming up as well as the monthly Sea Talks on a Thursday night.

I hope to see you all down at the club soon. 

Tony

From the Quarterdeck, Blair Cliffe, Vice Commodore

FROM THE QUARTERDECK

A Report from Rear Commodore

Blair Cliffe

I am going to start this newsletter where outgoing Commodore Hugh Pollock left off last month, with our AGM.

It is coming up this month on Thu 18th August at 1930 and it would be fantastic to see as many of you there as possible. AGMs are viewed by some as being rather boring and something to avoid. This can indeed be the case with some aspects of the operation of a club such as ours being rather dry. These matters though, are essential to the running of a club and the AGM gives an opportunity for the Commodore and Treasurer to report to the membership face-to-face.

Please remember that, as well as the reports which will be presented, there is still the opportunity to put forward nominations for positions on the Committee. Nominations for Club Officers can be made from the floor on the evening but it is preferable for them to be made on the relevant form prior to the meeting. It would be particularly pleasing to receive some nominations from Associate Members to fill some of the Additional Positions on the General Committee to represent the feelings and opinions of the Associate Members. There has not been a representative of the Associate Members on the Committee for the four years I have been a member of it.

The notice for the AGM is linked from the home page of the DYC Website.

This year, as a first, and as an experiment, the AGM is being run on a Thursday evening and therefore the bar will have been open prior to the meeting. It will be closed for the duration of the AGM and then opened again afterwards.

To continue my call for involvement, the Social Committee have recently been battling Covid lockdowns and what appears to be inertia from our members. The Laying-Up Supper has been postponed again, this time due to a lack of people buying tickets. The Social Committee are trying to work out if members are not engaging due to the fear of Covid, the cold wet weather, or simply because they are not providing what our members want. They have recently sent out a survey asking for people to respond with their opinions. This is an opportunity for you as a club member to take 5 mins out of your day to directly respond to the team responsible for organising social events. The survey was sent out to over 400 email addresses, to date we have received only 31 responses although over 250 people have opened the email. This may be considered a good return for a commercial sampling, but this is not commercial, this is your club asking you for your opinion and wanting to know what it is you want from the club on a social footing. 

Please either complete the survey or correspond directly with the club if what you want to see happening is not being produced.  The Social Committee work hard to produce what they feel are fun events but if no-one is willing to attend, something is going wrong and we want to put that right.

I am aware that all the above is rather gloomy and not the cheerful tone I usually try to attain in this newsletter. Devonport in an historic club and as a newish member who is still surprised to be a member of a Yacht Club let alone to be a Flag of one I strongly feel it is up to all our members to do their bit, as and when they can, to help us (the varied Committees) keep the club running smoothly and to provide an enjoyable place for us all to want to go to.

To finish I would like to draw your attention to a new addition to the Blog page on our website.  I must admit I have not read it all yet but this book, in the midst of Covid, winter and pleas for attendance at AGMs and to join Committees, is a reminder of what a Yacht Club is all about. As you scrape your hulls, maintain those hard-to-reach areas and paint on that anti-foul here is something that I hope will see you through until summer and warm sunshine returns.  

“A fortnight’s cruise on the Hauraki Gulf”.  This fascinating book recounts a fortnight’s cruise on the Hauraki Gulf in 1915 — most likely in one of the DYC boats. Generously shared with us by Graham Pettersen who now lives in the house previously owned by the author.  https://dyc.org.nz/blog/k3k9zwrydufpfdpqunx3f20ezjncaf

Blair

FROM THE QUARTERDECK — A Report from Vice Commodore Blair Cliffe

Well, hello everyone.  Is it just me or has it been a funny summer for weather?  As a surfer and sailor, I was amazed and frustrated just how long those Easterlies hung in over the summer.  No good for surfing up my favourite East Coast and lumpy and bumpy for making the trek North and South.  It even caused the postponement of our premier event The Duder Cup and for those who missed the notice it will now be run on the 23rd April.  Let’s hope that the weather is kinder to us then.  Do consider popping down to the club to see the finish, with a mixed fleet of classic and modern boats it will be a great spectacle. 

Covid and all that…

Of course, Covid gets a mention even though I am sure, like me, you all wish it would go away and leave us alone.  With the relaxing of Government rules and regulations the club will follow suit.  There will be no need to show your vaccine pass after 4 April, thank goodness, though masks and sitting at a table to be served will stay the same.

Friday dinners are proving very popular

It has been very pleasing to see the numbers attending Friday night dinners with Chateaubriant, our new caterer.  Although not obviously up to pre-Covid numbers we have seen decent numbers enjoying great food and company.  Sixty or so covers was, I think, the call last Friday, which is not bad at all.  I encourage those who have not tried the food yet to do so and welcome back to those who have.

Anyone for a spot of dinghy sailing?

In my last newsletter I mentioned that I had been working on my dinghy and encouraged anyone else with a similar sized vessel to get in touch so we could organise an event.  That resulted in zero responses!  So, either no-one has a small boat, which I know is not true as two Past and Present Flags own rowing/sailing boats, Bill Rimmer I think still has his boats and there must be others.  Truth be known, I need a prod to get mine on the water!  So come on small boat sailors, rowers, punters, canoes let’s have a gathering.

Bunking off for a spot of autumn sailing

As some of you will know I am in the Navy and am working onboard HMNZS MANAWANUI at the moment. 

We are due to be away for most of the next two months training up divers, ROV pilots and crane operators.  All of this to be able to fulfil one of our primary roles of light salvage.  I walked out of my office today and as I cycled down to the ship, I thought what a glorious day and then saw lots of boats heading down the harbour, including Mike Webster setting sail in Northerner.

I thought, ‘well what have I got on this week?’  It will be the last chance to enjoy the end of summer and hot days.  I quickly realised that I had lined up all the training that it was my remit to do and that it was proceeding smoothly — so I doffed my cap to the Captain and requested permission to take some leave.  An answer in the affirmative had me smiling broadly.

So, I will take my leave of you to pack my bag as Emma and I are off sailing for the next few days.  Light winds and sunshine is the forecast. 

Can’t wait.