HMS Belfast, the great warship with an incredible history is turning 80 this weekend, March 17th to be exact, and this is definitely an event that is worth celebrating!
HMS Belfast's 80th Birthday
PROGRESS FOR HPO BRIAN GANDEY, HPO BVI
Here is the latest Report from our HPO Brian Gandey, Tortola, BVI, whose home and charter busines was totally devastated.
Marsden March 4th March 2018
Donations to the Royal Marsden hospital because of the wonderful work keeping my first mate Caroline fit for duty such as the River Lot cruise and many other sailing adventures
Caribbean Rally
Grenada turned out to be a fantastic substitute for the rally planned for the British Virgin Islands and cancelled because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma. The Caribbean Islands or the West Indies are a massive archipelago stretching from Miami to Venezuela. Columbus called these Islands Indies because he thought he had discovered Asia sailing east to west. The Windward Islands was a British colony from 1833 to 1960. Today there are four separate countries, Martinique, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines & Grenada.
Winter in Sydney
In June I helped some friends sail their Cavalier 38 up the coast. We were expecting to get to Queenlsand but only got to Nelson Bay (about 80nm when the skipper fell off and broke two ribs. That ended that adventure. No pictures unfortunately.
Regular winter maintenance goes on aboard Tulip and there have been nice days of cool sunshine and some SW winds which make good sailing in Sydney Harbour.
The highlight of July was the Middle Harbour Yacht Club, Cruising Division Long Lunch last weekend. I attach a photo which will give you an idea of it. About 30 attendees which is a good number since many of the members have sailed north to cruise the Barrier Reef and Queenland coast.
Circumnavigation of Britain
David Clements and the crew of Bagheera of Whitby on 16th July completed a successful circumnavigation of Britain, from Dartmouth to Dartmouth anti-clockwise via the Caledonian Canal. LSC members Mike Gill, Nicola De Quincey, Barrie Martin, Don Walker, Sylvia Chesters and Martin Sandford all took part at various times. Attached is a picture of Bagheera in Peel Harbour on the Isle of Man. David will be giving a talk about the trip at the Club on 26th September.
A Day at the Races at the British Classic Yacht Regatta, Cowes
Recently Barrie Martin’s A Day at the Races had a very exciting day at the British Classic Yacht Regatta in Cowes. On board was Hannah Stodell, a great yachtswoman, she competed in the first ever British Paralympic sailing team in Athens 2004 Olympics and again in Beijing and London. In the disabled world championships Hannah has three gold medals, two silver and two bronze medals. Currently she is in training to be the first paralympian in the Vende Globe. Hannah also arranged for her bow man and Team Principal, Ben Forbes to join us. Hannah and Ben were wonderful company and they generously coached the crew all the way around the course and so we had a fantastic day. On board was a very well behaved ship’s dog called Rumpole who rather stole the show.
London URNU invites LSC out with HMS Puncher on the Thames
LSC on Thames with HMS Puncher and London URNU
Black Tie Dinner
Dear Fellow members,
Last week at the Middle Harbour Yacht Club we had a Commodores Black Tie Dinner and who should we see there but fellow LSC member Pam Cassidy who was visitng to get away from the scorching English summer :-). Anyway it was good to see her and catch up with some LSC news.
I attach a photo of Pam my wife lale and me.
Best wishes to all,
Dick Williamson
Events at the Club
A great hat trick of social occasions here at the Little Ship Club.
Below are a few pictures of recent events at the Club, for those who could not attend: the Lord Mayor’s visit (13/6), the Commodore’s Cocktail Party (15/6) and the Over 50s Lunch (19/5). These events are lots of fun, and, while they take a great deal of organisation, they are for the members. If you attend events like this do consider contributing to the life of the Club by helping organise events.