Booked your place now for Eddies' delicious buffet and spectacular view of the Regatta fireworks

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MYST Youth Sailing Trust Pursuit Race
Saturday 7th August 2010

The Mersea Youth Sailing Trust's annual Pursuit Race is this coming Saturday 7th August.

The idea of the Race is to give as many boys and girls as possible a
taste of big boat and traditional boat sailing. There are prizes for
the first youth helm and time advantages for young crew - the more you enlist, the more favorable the start time ! The race is open to all cruisers / racers, dayboats, classic yachts and traditional workboats. Entry forms are available at WMYC and so hurry and place your entry now.

A good day's racing was enjoyed by all. Not daunted by the rainy start to the day, nine cruisers raced in the morning for the Molliette Rose Bowl. The wind in the afternoon became far more fickle, ranging from virtually nothing to 20 knots as twelve dinghies battled through mountainous seas and huge jellyfish to fight for the Thornfleet Trophy. (..... when you are racing a dinghy and wind is over tide, it's surprising how big those waves can seem!).

The Overall winner of the day was Lou Cohen who was presented with the Ambiance trophy and a £50 Ambiance voucher.

WINNER OF BEST OF COLCHESTER AWARDS - RETAILER OF THE YEAR 2008 FINALIST IN COLCHESTER & DISTRICT BUSINESS AWARDS 2010

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280 members and friends gathered together for the event of the year. The marquee was transformed by some very clever and imaginative scenery and those dressed in character completed the picture. Two brilliant bands and excellent food made it an evening to remember.

Galia melon and Parma ham salad
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Pan-roasted breast of Barbary duck in piquant orange and ginger sauce
(served with a selection of vegetables)
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Mango & passionfruit Bavarois
***
Coffee

MYST will be running the gate and also taking a table at the Waldegraves Boat Jumble and would be grateful for any "yotty bits". MYST are very grateful for members' support. This annual event has helped them to build up funds and enabled them to begin to assist local youth sailors.

...always an entertaining evening....Jim will introduce you to a variety of whiskies and this will be followed by a supper of haggis, tatties and neeps plus dessert ....

Review:..another one bites the dust....or another one reaps the pleasures... probably the latter... keep up the good work Jim!

Although the Whisky Tasting is something of an institution at the Club, I was of the opinion that I didn’t enjoy whisky so there didn’t seem much point in going. Having only tasted blended whisky until recently, I was completely taken by surprise at the variety of different flavours in the glorious array of malts that Jim McNaughton had acquired for us from every part of Scotland. It was interesting to taste the Still Spirits from the English Whisky Company who have, amusingly, completely sold out of Whisky for the time being The evening was most informative and convivial, the haggis and neeps were delicious and – so I thought – best accompanied by peaty no. 5, my personal favourite.

Thank you, Jim, for sharing your knowledge with us – your research must have been extensive!

This first event of the cruising season, the Cruiser Lunch, was much enjoyed by the large group of members who attended it.

There are still places available on the courses that will be run on 23 January 2010 and 20 February 2010

Cost:- £90 per person (includes all course material, refreshments and a mid-day meal)

Numbers are strictly limited - please contact the Club Office to book your place.

Yacht Club members were the largest supporters of the recent RNSA supper which was a convivial and successful evening, driven in large part by an excellent supper cooked by Eddie and his team with a light home made chicken liver pate accompanied unusually and very well by an apple sauce, followed by a large, tender and delicious lamb shank with vegetables etc and a chocolate tart to follow. I did hear a member claim it was the best meal he’d eaten at the Club!

Fortunately the meal did not eclipse a lively and interesting presentation by the three authors of East Coast Pilot, including the source of the idea for the publication and a glimpse into the effort that went in to its creation and still does to keeping the website up to date. It’s clearly a labour of love for the authors and their contributors. I recommend at least a good look at the site: www.eastcoastpilot.com. Its full of very useful and current information.

Menu
Leek and potato soup with crusty bread
***
Traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings,
roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables
Vegetarian option available
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Christmas Pudding with brandy sauce
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Mince pies and cream
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Coffee and mints
£17.50

This evening is always very popular; delicious food, good company and a hearty singsong into the bargain!

Once again, the sailing year was brought to a close in style with the annual Laying Up Supper. Over 80 people booked in for what turned out to be a delicious supper. Eddie produced a scrumptious chicken liver pâté, followed by succulent chicken breast wrapped in Parma ham and rounded off by a wicked chocolate tart! The conversation flowed as easily as the wine and sailors were honoured with trophies for their achievements, handed out by Alan Jones and Wendy Bolton. Festivities continued downstairs with live music and duty was done to celebrate another glorious sailing year. Roll on 2010!

Many of us enjoyed Eddie's traditional steak & kidney pudding supper and the company of friends - a good evening alround.

Member's News

Cadet member of the Club, Edward Harrison, has been awarded his RYA Yachtmaster offshore certificate at the exceptionally early age of 18 years. This is the minimum age at which it can be awarded.
Whilst his peers were packing their kettles and stereos ready to set off to University for the first time, Edward was delivering a Sigma 33 to Brest in Force 8 winds as preparation for his exam. Just days before going up to Durham to read Physics and Chemistry Edward took his exam and passed, making him one of the youngest RYA Yachtmasters in the country.
Edward has previously been a member of the Cadet National Squad, and enjoyed a number of Cadet Weeks at Mersea before moving on to sailing a Laser. He is also an RYA Senior Dinghy Instructor .
With university ahead he still has ambitious plans for his sailing, hoping to put together an entry for the 2010 Tall Ships Race. Edward is looking to charter a suitable boat and enter the race with a young crew. If any member is able to offer any practical advice or assistance with this ambitious project, or know of any source that may be approached for sponsorship, Edward would be keen to hear from them.
He may be contacted by email at Spitway@hotmail.co.uk or by telephone on 01787 248039.

RNLI Pursuit Race Saturday 26th September - Review

The annual fund raising pursuit race was organised to start at 1400, but as the Committee Boat, Horizon of Mersea, arrived on the start line at about 1230 it was looking a little difficult to run a race with no wind. However the sun was shining and the warm weather seemed more like June rather than the end of September. The entry list of 47 was one of the best ever, so we were looking forward to a good race.

Approaching the start time and what had been a SW 1 knot of breeze turned into 5 knots of SE sea breeze and so with tide to help them, the start was underway. The first yacht, Stealaway, with a large number of the fleet watching, was a little over the line at the 4 minute flag and decided to come back – but with the tide pushing them onwards, it took the full minute to their own start and another minute before they re-crossed the line and were away.

After that many people kept well clear of the line and consequently lost much of their handicap advantage. Best of the early starters was Funadama hitting the line like a well experienced racer but we had to wait to half way down the fleet for Red Baron to show us how to do it properly with a running spinnaker start. As the wind was gradually increasing to SE 9/10 knots more and more spinnakers appeared with great success until Sardana, who kept the Committee Boat entertained for about 10 minutes with their spinnaker hoist? The rest of the starts went to plan with Phantom and Resting Goose starting an hour after the first boat at 1500.

Meanwhile the sea breeze hadn’t made it very far up the river and boats had to work hard to pass the No. 3 race mark and most found the holes in the wind as they made their way to Thirslet. First round the Thirslet buoy was the smack Mary, closely followed by inches by Stella Peacock. Then it was up to the experience of the racers as to how to get back against the tide - the experienced ones chose the Tollesbury shore, others the Bradwell shore; Tollesbury side paid off and the regular race boats came past the fleet fairly quickly.
Time was now getting on and by 1545 the fleet were still not past the Baffle Wall so the decision was made to move the Committee Boat to race mark 17 to shorten the course. A motor across and anchor drop was completed in time to finish the first boats, the smacks, Mary at 1608 and Dorothy 30 seconds later. They were quickly followed by the regular racing yachts – Zombie Zoo – Smile – Arrow – Phantom etc etc with Red Baron interrupting the flow by slipping in with an excellent 8th place. With the Laser Stratos, Stratovarios, finishing 15th the non-racers were lead in by Sardana and Barbarossa. Splitting these two yachts was Waterlily helmed and crewed by Jon French single handed. Finally the time started to run out and as 1730 came round there was only Segrist still coming towards the finish line where he finally arrived at 1733. So, a successfull day all round with 49 yachts signed on, 43 starters, 6 retirements and 37 finishers.

£1,148.05 was raised in total for the RNLI.

Brian Bolton
Race Officer

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Just a message to say what a lovely day we had on Saturday in the RNLI Pennant race. As usual is was beautifully run by all the Committee Members,shame about the very light winds but the Mediterranean weather made up for it !!!

Thank you ,from Stephen and Rosemary James.....".MES FILLES"

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Club trip on the Paddle steamer Waverley - Review

Tuesday 6th October
A coachful of members had a very enjoyable day aboard the Paddle Steamer Waverley despite the often grey conditions. This trip always promotes appreciative comment - it is well worth attending if you have not done so before but having said that, many just enjoy being on the Waverley and come back time and time again.