Dinghies

Thanks to all of you who attended our first Dinghy Day of the new season.

Welcome to new members and returning ones, as well as all the regular helpers who without them we would never function. We all know who they are, so I will not name them, but thanks to them all.

We had a great day, lovely weather with a wind going round in circles, so very demanding for the helms people.

We managed to get 4 boats out, the 2 Lasers, Wally (the 420) and the catamaran, Alicat. Peter Bird, in his safety boat, was kept busy with a few capsizes, but generally all the boats were in and out many times with different crews.

You, the members, make such a great day…the weather helps, but I thank you all for your full participation. A total of 25 sailing and non-sailing members were present throughout the day.

All ended up on my “Bridge” for drinks, snacks and chats.

See as many of you as possible at the next Dinghy Day in 2 weeks’ time on 13th October.

Bob Gordon

Many thanks to all who came yesterday, sailed, drank, helped, and provided safety cover. We had a great day with all four boats out, which presented some interesting and amusing incidents for the assembled drinking watchers!

Starting an hour later worked, the beach and cafes were not so busy, and it was almost 7pm before we eventually left a beautiful evening at Paradise Beach.

Someone suggested we should have some social evenings whilst Dinghy Days are suspended, which I will try and organise. Dinghy Days will start again in September.

Hope to see some of you down for a social evening when I arrange it. Watch this space.

Bob Gordon

Dinghy Section Co-ordinator

CBYA at it’s best. Twenty (20+) plus members took over the end of the cafe at El Portet, Moraira, nearest to our boats..and didn’t stop chatting.  I had hoped to sail, but if it wasn’t the lock-down today that stopped us.. we had jelly-fish. Not the odd one, but massive amounts of them right up to the beach. Then the sky’s threatened a thunderstorm, so I made the decision to call off sailing.

That didn’t stop the wonderful CBYA comradery, lots of booze and lots of stories! Tricky D brought some bottles of cava to celebrate his birthday!

The culmination was the amazing canoe built by Jane and her friend (sorry can’t remember his name, but he has sworn to join the CBYA) as they launched it for the first time, and several members took her out.

Those who had updated their CBYA membership details, and signed the new disclaimer, got their free drinks!

So a great afternoon, to basically celebrate the more or less, end of lockdown.

Thank you all who came, and abided by social distancing regulations,..see you all again for the next dinghy day on Tuesday 23rd June…jelly-fish permitting!

Bob Gordon

Dinghy Section Commander

Storm Gloria brought us a 7 metre storm surge and winds up to 135 kph! Lots of damage to property and facilities on the Costa Blanca, particularly in Jávea. The CBYA Dinghies stored on the beach at El Portet, Moraira, were also damaged. The huge seas piled dinghies on top of each other, and washed some of them down the beach.

Luckily the CBYA dinghies were relatively undamaged. Our 420 (Wally) and the two Lasers hulls were OK, but our very heavy Flying Fish, Yelly, was washed down the beach and demasted! The Laser masts and booms have also dissappeared!

A CBYA dinghy rescue team was mobilised on Tues 21 Jan to recover our dinghies and evaluate the damage. A further visit took place on Friday 24 Jan to get Yelly and her trailer back to her normal parking spot, and fully assess the damage to all of our boats.

Hopefully we will have some of the CBYA dinghies out sailing again in time for the next CBYA Dinghy Day on Tuesday 4th February!

Well done, and many thanks, to all of those that helped!

Bob Gordon

Dinghy Co-ordinator

CBYA members welcomed 2020 in great form with dinghy sailing at El Portet de Moraira.

Over 20 members joined the event – many of our ‘regulars’ plus some special guests enjoyed glorious sunny weather, drinks, sailing and even a swim or two….well one actually as the picture shows! – a lovely way to bring in the New Year.

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Literally Neal’s sandals, lost two weeks ago, were found being used as ‘blocks’ under a trailer wheel!!

(If you want to join us and fear for your shoes, don’t worry – this was a one-off).

Yelly sailed again, plus our two Lasers. We had an onshore wind, so Dave Peachey kindly towed us all out.

Our new CBYA member Vincent Vanderhasselt was sailing well in quite high winds and managed to right himself …from a capsize – we spectators waiting our turn were impressed!!

By popular demand we have changed the next Dinghy Day on 15 October to start at 14:00.

Hope to see you there….

We have some fabulous footage of all the dinghy fun taken from a drone!! If you want to see it you will have to access our CBYA Facebook Group. (Contact me if you want access).

Amanda Topson

It’s Dinghy Season Again!!

The CBYA dinghy season started successfully on Tuesday, 17 September, with CBYA members sailing on the beautiful El Portet bay, with sunny weather, even if the wind was a bit patchy!

Our 420 and Lasers have received loving maintenance over the summer months and are now sporting new sheets and shackles.

Andy Symons – Bob Gordon’s right hand man – demonstrated how to rig and de-rig the dinghies to less experienced members. Everyone had plenty of time on the water, and since we had an on-shore wind – plenty of tacking experience in getting out. And since the wind changed direction whilst we were out, we also had plenty of tacking experience coming back in!!

Dave and Jenny Peachey manned the rescue boat, together with Rod Simpson, providing us with encouragement and advice whilst so doing.

Jane and Paul Fraser, CBYA members were sailing their own PICO together with family visiting from the UK. Jane rented a paddle board and was seen far out to sea accompanying her husband on the PICO!

A great time was had by all, and afterwards we had our usual refreshments at the bar before heading off home.

Dinghy sailing will continue this Autumn on Tuesdays every other week, weather permitting. It is a great way to gain sailing experience and beginners are welcome. Come and join us!!

Amanda Topson

This week the CBYA Dinghy Section made another giant step forward in its recovery from the vandalisation of our boats last year…..

Richard Evett, Dave Peachy & Bob Gordon have repaired, and re-launched, our Flying Fish dinghy “Yelly”!!

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WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU CAPSIZE….

Generally you can feel when the boat is going to capsize. If you can sense it early enough, you may have time to quickly ease the mainsheet, and scramble over the side, placing your weight on the centerboard just as it reaches the horizontal position (be careful not to fall into the sail, as you may tear a hole in it, or worse off, hurt yourself).

Don’t put all your weight on the end of the centerboard, as this may cause unnecessary stress on the fin and hull. Rather, put your feet on the centerboard close to the hull, grab the deck where it meets the hull, and lean back. As long as the mainsheet is eased, it should pop back up fairly quickly. When it does, quickly get back into the cockpit, sort out the ropes and tiller, get your bearings, and head off once again.

If you would like more information, click HERE.

Bob Gordon

Dinghy Co-ordinator

Dinghy Day – Tuesday 8^th January 2019

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, there was a gentle breeze and all was true. Although a little chilly, conditions were perfect.

Dave Peachey turned up with a new inflatable dinghy and new outboard, which he had apparently purchased 5 years ago, but never used. After some initial problems with the outboard bracket, all was sorted out, and he brought the boat round to the El Portet dinghy hard. By that time, we had launched our ‘borrowed’ safety boat, and Paul Maudsley was out on the water warming up the outboard.

After a short time of making some rigging adjustments to Wally, Richard Evett took his first trip with CBYA crew members who wanted to learn, but were not experienced sufficiently to sail on their own. He repeated this several times over the next couple of hours, and several members benefited from his experience and tuition.

We then rigged one of the Lasers and after some ‘gentle persuasion’ Dave agreed to give it a go. He went out twice and came back with a ‘big smile’ and a lot more confidence.

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