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The cruise, 9th September:

A group of 17 Wanderers, including 9 visitors and 8 Whitstable YC boats, gathered on Saturday morning 9th September for a cruise from Whitstable to the Swale. As well as the Wanderers and 3 Laser Stratos’s, Robin Bromley’s Wayfarer from Crawley Mariners YC and the Swallow of John and Frances Mulhall (11 foot gunter rigged Arthur Ransome type dinghy) took part, making 22 boats in all. Quite a fleet! One of the visiting Wanderers, Jim Emerson and Dean Field in W875 “Spot” had sailed across from Leigh-on-Sea on Friday afternoon to take part! 4 hours with the wind well forward of the beam.

This success in attracting numbers caused some problems, as it was difficult to keep track of all the boats. So the fleet was divided into four “flotillas”, each with its own Vice-Admiral, and with Gavin Barr in W1282 “Thistle” as Admiral of the fleet. Because some of the participants were relatively new to sailing, especially sea sailing, it was decided to keep the programme simple. Sail up to the Shipwrights Arms in Oare Creek, have lunch and a drink in the pub (but not too many!), and sail back.

We were lucky to have one of Whitstable YC’s RIBs as an escort boat, helmed by Paul Neilly with “Thistle”s usual crew, Mark Skipper as his number two. As it turned out they had a rather busy day…!

With an easterly breeze of 12 kts a clear blue sky, and a slight sea, the fleet set sail, steering due west to pass north of the oyster farm (the oysters are pretty vicious at this time of year), and to have enough water to cross the Pollard Spit. The “mini-fleets” re-grouped at the Sand End Buoy and headed up Oare Creek, all arriving safely to moor on the bank below the pub. One Wanderer strayed from the buoyed channel, caught her rudder in the mud, and rudder and boat parted company. She had no outboard, but borrowed one from Ian and Glenda Nevill, W1098 “Intrepid” for the return journey.

Once sandwiches, beer and steak and chips had been consumed, it was time to set off for home. Unexpectedly (but the unexpected always happens at sea) the wind rose to a brisk force 4, added to which it was blowing directly onshore, so launching was tricky. This was the day of the highest spring tide of the year so far, so the sea overflowed the bank of the creek. This aided launching as boats could hoist sail (most reefed), point into the wind and towards the middle of the creek, take a run, pushing the boat ahead over the flooded bank, jump in over the stern and sail off.

This was when the fun started. The first groups got away without problem but two boats, W444 and W1541, both with limited means of reducing sail, sensibly decided that the conditions were too extreme and preferred not to sail. They might have had to stay at the pub indefinitely (!) but the WYC rescue boat offered to tow them home. Before he could do that however, RIB helm Paul Neilly was diverted to assist a smack moored in the creek whose moorings had been parted by the tide and which threatened to drift onto some boats of the departing fleet. Once that crisis had been averted, the RIB had to rescue another Wanderer, W561, Gary Lewis, which capsized in the creek. She was successfully righted and partly emptied, and Gary (with his crew Gary) set off in determined fashion to join the last group led by Gavin Barr and Vicky King in W1282 “Thistle”, who were hove by the Receptive starboard hand buoy at the entrance to the creek.

In the open sea it became apparent that the wind was gusting up to 20 kts and, with wind against tide, this set up a vicious chop. The fleet coped well, showing the seaworthy qualities of the Wanderer (and it must be added the Stratos). With reefed main, furled jib and centreboard angled aft to around 60 degrees, the Wanderers were quite comfortable and in control (wet but comfortable!). Those who kept full rig had to spill a lot of wind and were no faster than the reefed boats.

Several boats had young children on board including Christopher and Iona Carter in Stratos 789, David Lavender in W1292 with son Robert, Niamh Robertson with Dad Tim in W1038 “Joshua Slocum”, and Sam, Connor and Matthew Howard with their father David in W502 “Sarquol”. The Howard children became rather cold and were transferred to the RIB, Mark Skipper crewing Dave home. Sam, her Dad’s normal crew, said plaintively “Why did they have to replace me?” Tim Robertson, when asked how he and Niamh had managed said “We sang rude songs all the way home.”

Paul Neilly was now towing W444 astern and W1541 alongside. Astern was better as Margaret Wallsgrove and Leigh Herington rode comfortably in the wake of the RIB. But Philip and Jill Meadowcroft had to take the waves over the bow. One particularly impudent wave washed Philip’s glasses clear off his head. (Should have had one of those thingies to keep them on, Philip!). Our gallant Chairman demanded that the RIB go back to pick them up. “I know exactly where they are.” he said. Paul politely declined. So the Whitstable Wanderer fleet is now enjoined to keep a look out for a seal wearing glasses with an expensive pair of varifocal lenses… Luckily it turned out that Gavin’s spare pair exactly matched to Philip’s prescription (well almost).

So, “We counted them all out and we counted them all back”. A lot of lessons were learnt and experience gained, and despite being cold and tired everyone seemed to have enjoyed the adventure. Lots of talk of Nurofen and Physiotherapists the next day.

The Social:

After Tomato and sweet corn soup, roast beef, and chocolate pudding, served by WYC catering manager Tony Love (“Fine figure of a Man Catering”) for fifty-one people, a cutthroat game of frog-racing developed. It was won, as it happens, by our Chairman’s wife, Jill Meadowcroft. Philip was at pains to point out that this had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that he was the referee… This was the last event of the frog-racing season, ahead of the World Championships to be held at Wargrave at the end of September.

The Racing:

Having been somewhat in oversupply the previous afternoon, the wind refused to co-operate on Sunday morning, and with another astronomically low tide, there wasn’t much water in the Thames Estuary either.

The wind eventually filled in and Race Officer Chris Lewns got the fleet of 13 Wanderers and 3 Stratos’s away just after 1200 on a windward-leeward course. Gavin Barr and Mark Skipper tacked across the fleet and reached the windward mark first, closely followed by Mike Powell crewed by Vicky King, with Philip and Jill Meadowcroft in close attention. Pointing higher Mike and Vicky overtook on the second beat. But on the final downwind leg Gavin and Mark went left of the Committee Boat and found more pressure, re-taking the lead, which they held to the line. Mid-fleet, close tussles took place between Mike Hamilton and David Oates, Mark Fagg and Jon Carter, Tim and Niamh Robertson, Chris Partington and Gary Lewis, and Ian and Glenda Nevill. Unfortunately several boats forgot that it was forbidden to sail through the start line on the downwind leg, and were disqualified. (One person innocently said “They thought it was optional…”). It was great to see Niamh helming “Joshua Slocum” while Tim played the spinnaker. Gavin and Mark won, Mike and Vicky second, the Meadowcrofts third and Mike Hamilton and David Oates fourth.

For race 2 the wind came up to around force 3 giving marginal planing conditions. Another close battle developed between Gavin and Mark and Mike and Vicky, with Philip and Jill pulling up to second place in lap 1. However, Gavin and Mark went high on the second reach and passed the two boats ahead to take the lead again, and hold it once more to the finish. Due to the delay in starting only two races could be sailed.

Overall results: Gavin and Mark in W1282 won the event. Mike and Vicky, W878, were second; Philip and Jill in W1541 third and Mike and David, W992 fourth. Other placings were: 5th W989 Mark Fagg and Jon Carter; 6th W1098 Ian and Glenda Nevill; 7th W1332 Andrew Folkard and Julie Stuart-Smith; 8th= W980 David Hewett and Lorraine Kindley, and W561 Chris Partington and Gary Lewis; 10th W444 Leigh Herington and Margaret Wallsgrove; 11th W502 David and Sam Howard; 12th W116 Andrew Hines-Lindo and Eriks Puce; 13th W1038 Tim and Niamh Robertson.

Wanderers taking part in the Weekend (Both days unless indicated otherwise):
W116 Eriks Puce and Andrew Hines-Lindo. Seasalter.
W444 Leigh Herington and Margaret Wallsgrove. Bewl Valley.
W502 David Howard with Samantha, Matthew and Connor. WYC
W561 Gary Lewis & Gary Wiffen (Cruise) Chris Partington (Racing). WYC.
W785 Steve and Marilyn Clarke. Cruise only. WYC.
W859 Barbara Beats and John Vile, Cruise only. WYC
W875 Jim Emerson and Dean Field, Cruise only. Leigh-on-Sea.
W878 Mike Powell & Vicky King. Racing only. Crawley Mariners YC.
W980 David Hewett and Lorraine Kindley. Bewl Valley.
W989 Mark Fagg and Jon Carter. WYC
W992 Mike Hamilton and David Oates. Civil Service S.A.
W1038 Tim Robertson and Niamh Robertson. RNLI.
W1098 Ian and Glenda Nevill. WYC.
W1282 Gavin Barr and Vicky King (cruise), Mark Skipper (racing). WYC.
W1292 David Lavender and Robert Lavender. Unattached.
W1332 Andrew Folkard and Bill (cruise), Julie Stuart-Smith (racing). WYC.
W1469 Paul Hewett, Julia Johnson and Bob Darey, Crawley Mariners YC.
W1541 Philip and Jill Meadowcroft. Salcombe

In conclusion, the Wanderers seemed to like Whitstable, and Whitstable liked the Wanderers, so we look forward to returning there for the Nationals on the 14th and 15th July 2007.

Gavin Barr
W1282 “Thistle”.
Photos by Mark Skipper with exception of the Wanderer 'supper' by Erik Puce.