Yachting Monthly - November 2015

LETTERS

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8 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com NOVEMBER 2015

The last Westerly...?

I have to disagree with Chris Lane’s claim that

his Ocean 33 (no. 30) is ‘The last Westerly ever

built’ (Sep 15). It was a tip from Chris that led

me to seek Brian Shale’s help in having my

Ocean 33 (no. 33) completed at Peters.

Having been ordered by the administrator to

remove the hull within 14 days, upon threat of

having it put out into the street (subseqently

denied), I went to the yard to find my hull was

still in the mould. Fortunately the moulds and

templates did not belong to Westerly.

I refused to allow the hull to be removed.

The actual owner of the moulds was sailing

in the Mediterranean but eventually I made

contact with him. He was proposing to have his

goods removed to be stored at the yard of a

transport company. Happily he agreed to rent

them to me and eventually they were taken to

Peters and finished there, much like Chris’s.

Keith Lacy

Are you sure...?

I wonder how many people contacted you

saying ‘No, I have the last Westerly!’ I bought

my Oceanranger 38 last year but the previous

owner told me that only the hull had been

laid up when Westerly folded in 2000 and I

have the receiver’s invoices to prove it. She

was finished by Meridian Trust and launched

in 2002.

Simon Davis

Wrong club!

I enjoyed the article on the Bristol Channel

supertide (Sep 15) – though I’m glad my

daughter didn’t read it before I took her and

my granddaughter under those bridges!

However, it’s a shame that your reporter got

the club’s name wrong. Did a stimulating

morning’s sailing addle his brain? He refers

to Portishead Yacht and Sailing Club when it

should have been Portishead Cruising Club

(www.pccsail.com). Tess, with whom you

sailed, is ex-commodore of PCC and Chris is ex-

sailing secretary. I always enjoy the magazine,

but on this occasion: ‘must try harder!’

Paul Melhuish

PHOTO: BOB AYLOTT

Tess and Chris Reid

are linked with

Portishead Cruising

Club, not PSYC, as we

reported recently

Beached at Bembridge

This photo was taken on Friday 21 August

2015, around 0930, at the entrance to

Bembridge Harbour. The owner need not be

embarrassed: it was the second grounding

that week and the umpteenth this summer.

This one was particularly spectacular as the

Bavaria 30 was leaning precariously into the

deep channel. The yacht, drawing 1.4m, was

the latest to fall foul of the shallow, shifting

and notoriously difficult channel. Groundings

normally occur on the Bembridge side or at

the bar, but the gravel bank on the St Helens

side is growing quite rapidly. The skipper, who

admitted to leaving on a falling tide, said that

he made a straight line between buoys No.

and 9A but this was not enough to keep him

in deep water. The yacht floated off happily

later that day.

Anne Barlow

PHOTO: ANNE BARLOW

The changing profile of the gravel bank on

the St Helen’s side has caught out many

yachts visiting Bembridge

Plain speaking

As a parent of two pre-schoolers, I was pleased

to find time to read Rachael Sprot’s excellent

article on berthing big boats (Sep 15). ‘Surge

the midships line with a turn round the cleat,

rather than snubbing it hard, and fender well.’

Mmm. I struggle to understand. I can guess,

but... If I tell my three-year-old to help daddy

put the rope on the thing on the floor and turn

it round it once, she will understand.

Working in IT for many years, as well as

sailing with kids and the inexperienced, teaches

you to speak as plainly as possible. I often have

to look up some of your terminology.

Richard Pyecroft

Stop rolling downwind

I often hear of Transatlantic cruises that have

been spoilt by rolling downwind, and that

nothing works to reduce it. When I first crossed

in 1981 my son Tim solved the problem. He was

10 and always covered more miles on his watch

than I did on mine. Damn kids!

We had the main on the shrouds, the genny

boomed out goosewing, and a cruising chute

behind the main. One day Tim said: ‘Dad, we

need to stop rolling.’ He sheeted in main and

genny, we tweaked the set-up, and reduced

rolling to almost nothing. The main and genoa

funnel wind into the chute, powering up one

side of the boat, which cuts rolling. It reduces

chafe on the main too, as it’s off the shrouds.

A week later, the chute’s halyard block fell

apart and we rolled like crazy until I plucked

up enough courage to go aloft and reeve the

halyard through a new block.

It certainly works for me, I hope it makes

your trip more enjoyable.

Mike Clarke

Using main and genoa to funnel wind into the

kite worked – until the halyard block broke!

PHOTO: MIKE CLARKE