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November 2004

The Newsletter of Spinnaker Club, Ringwood

www.spinnakerclub.co.uk

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A Burton Week Beginner's Tale

This was our first Burton Week, the Nationals for National Twelves, hosted this year by Castle Cove SC. A windy week was forecast and we were apprehensive about sailing outside Portland Harbour in our worn out old National 12, Wildgoose Chase.

After signing on, having our boat weighed and rigging we met our ‘buddies’, who patiently gave us advice and tips throughout the week.

We had heard that National 12’s mainly use gate starts, so we were glad to have the chance to get the hang of it in the practice race which went fairly well resulting in one of our better results. Later, a few beers the wiser, a run-down on how to do a gate starts probably improved my confidence.

The rest of the week went as the forecast predicted: fog, rain and plenty of wind. Already tested to frustration on the streets of Weymouth, our navigational skills were stretched on the water too. The real gales came towards the end of the week providing tales of woe and joy, along with stories of broken masts, boats and various body parts, tales of blinding reaches. We capsized 5 times in one race, a personal first. We did manage to avoid winning the Burton Brick awarded to the person who achieved the funniest, craziest, silliest, dumbest moments of the week.

James and I had a truly memorable time both on and off the water. The socials were almost as demanding as the sailing. Since Burton Week we have raced at Opens in Harwich and Grafham, and I am now the proud owner of N 3154, Baggy Aardvark.  Felix Newall-Smith

More shelterbelt

Blashford Lakes Management, trees and other matters.

The Commodore has commented about the final felling of part of the shelterbelt of pines. The idea was first mooted to me, when I became Vice-Commodore, by Geoff Jackson, who tells me that he initially approached the Hampshire Wildlife Trust about 11 years ago, through the Blashford Lakes Consultative Committee (BLCC). In July the BLCC considered a draft for the Blashford Lakes Strategic Management Plan, all 102 pages and 6 appendices. Let's hope the final Plan is shorter, more coherent and will help reduce the time it takes to get permission to improve the lakeside environment!

The good news in the Plan is that the New Forest District Local Plan policy AV-4 permits recreation use on Blashford Lake, so we can officially continue to sail. There is a slightly concerning rider in the plan (Key Action 12): to monitor the effects of sailing to ensure that timings and zonings are in line with nature conservation; this represents the bias throughout the Plan towards nature conservation, which is referred to in all it's Key Principles.

Key Action 15 also has some interest for the future of sailing: to investigate the feasibility of introducing non-motorised water-based recreation on Rockford Lake. This is RMC's lake on the opposite side of Ivy Lane but unfortunately RMC did not send a representative to the BLCC meeting, so we don't know what they think about the idea.

It was a longstanding plan, reiterated in policy AV-4, for Ibsley Water to be used for recreation, once aggregate extraction had finished, which will be soon. Ibsley Water's appealing expanse and clear winds can be glimpsed when driving up the A338 towards Fordingbridge but despite half of it not being a designated SSSI, whereas Blashford Lake is an SSSI, it appears that English Nature and Hampshire County Council have changed their views about its future use. Nature conservation again taking precedence, so investigating the feasibility of using Rockford Lake is perhaps a sop to those of us with sporting interests.

Brian Watkins and I represent Spinnaker Club at the BLCC meetings and will continue to monitor progress so contact us if you are interested in more details, I have a file with at least 102 pages of them, and let us know if you have particular views. Ian Campbell, A Past Commodore