The BT Offshore Sailing Club is a long-established virtual sailing club Read the rest of this entry »
The BT Offshore Sailing Club
April 29th, 2009Beneteau Blue Cup in Saronic, Oct/Nov 2011
November 11th, 20116 BTOSC members had a great week competing in the Beneteau Blue Cup Regatta, in Greece, in the first week of November. Some good results in the racing, sunny weather, food, wine, and the magic Greek scenery made for an unforgettable trip.
Laying Up Cruise 2011 – Ian Davis reports
October 25th, 2011A new title for a club event but our usual sailing ground of the Solent was the venue. With all the crew having arrived by 17:30 our liberal minded skipper Andy “Genghis” Shrimpton thought it would be a good idea to have a night sail to Cowes on Vis, a Bavaria 36. Read the rest of this entry »
Protected: this is a test
October 14th, 2011Report on the 2011 BTOSC Cruise to Weymouth
September 23rd, 2011Mick Curran reports on the recent long weekend cruise to Weymouth:
On the Friday fairly strong westerlys were forecast so we ate in the Ketch Rigger and then dashed off to Tesco’s for the vittles. Early the next morning we set off for a long sail to Weymouth but we were not early enough to get the most favourable tides through The Needles. With a strong wind against us and some cooling rain, the sun-block stayed in our bags. Eventually we saw Portland Head but by that time we had run out of the best weather, so we resorted to the ‘donkey’ to get us into Weymouth Bay.
The view coming into Weymouth was a glorious – the row of old coloured houses and the trip up the estuary to the marina made the long trip well worthwhile. We dined out and slept peacefully after our long journey.
The next morning the sun was trying its best to break through as we made an early start through the lifting bridge on our first let home. The first few hours was a glorious sail, but then the wind turned against us and we had to fight a 4 knot tide. Some brave helming was done but little progress was made. As the tide eased we found ourselves at The Needles, very much alone with just a handful of sails on the Solent. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find ourselves a berth and had to settle on returning all the way to Hamble. On went the ‘donkey’ again and we arrived in a dark mid-evening at Hamble.
We weren’t deterred and some very creative cooking resulted in the best meal of the weekend on board. It was probably a good thing that we had had a second long day otherwise I’m sure we would have partied into the early hours. On the Bank Holiday Monday morning, we awoke to the most ideal sailing weather you could hope for. So we sailed out to the a crowded Solent and made the most of it and had a fantastic end to an adventurous Bank Holiday Weekend.
We got off to a fine start on the Friday expecting fairly strong Westerly’s, by staying in Southampton and eating in the Ketch Rigger before dashing off to Tesco’s for the vittles. Early the next morning we set off for a long sail to Weymouth. Not early enough though to get the most favourable tides through The Needles. With a strong wind against us and some cooling rain, the sun block stayed in our bags. Eventually we saw Portland Head but by that time we had run out of the best weather, so we turned to the dagger dagger to get us into Weymouth Bay.
The view coming into Weymouth was a glorious row of old coloured houses and the trip up the estuary to the marina made the long trip well worthwhile. We dined out and slept peacefully after our long journey.
The next morning the sun was trying its best to break through as we made an early start through the lifting bridge on our first let home. The first few hours was a glorious sail, but alas the wind seemed to turn against us along with a 4 knot tide. Some brave helming was done but little progress was made. As the tide eased we found ourselves at The Needles, very much alone with just a handful of sails on the Solent. At which point we couldn’t find ourselves a berth and had to settle on returning all the way to Hamble. On went the dagger dagger again and we arrived in a dark mid-evening at Hamble.
We weren’t deterred and some very constructive chef work resulted in the best meal of the weekend on board. It was probably a good thing that we had had a second long day otherwise I’m sure we would have partied into the early hours. Which would have been a shame because on the Bank Holiday Monday morning, we awoke to the most ideal sailing weather you could hope for. So we sailed out to the a crowded Solent and made the most of it and had a fantastic end to an adventurous Bank Holiday Weekend..
We got off to a fine start on the Friday expecting fairly strong Westerly’s, by staying in Southampton and eating in the Ketch Rigger before dashing off to Tesco’s for the vittles. Early the next morning we set off for a long sail to Weymouth. Not early enough though to get the most favourable tides through The Needles. With a strong wind against us and some cooling rain, the sun block stayed in our bags. Eventually we saw Portland Head but by that time we had run out of the best weather, so we turned to the dagger dagger to get us into Weymouth Bay.
The view coming into Weymouth was a glorious row of old coloured houses and the trip up the estuary to the marina made the long trip well worthwhile. We dined out and slept peacefully after our long journey.
The next morning the sun was trying its best to break through as we made an early start through the lifting bridge on our first let home. The first few hours was a glorious sail, but alas the wind seemed to turn against us along with a 4 knot tide. Some brave helming was done but little progress was made. As the tide eased we found ourselves at The Needles, very much alone with just a handful of sails on the Solent. At which point we couldn’t find ourselves a berth and had to settle on returning all the way to Hamble. On went the dagger dagger again and we arrived in a dark mid-evening at Hamble.
We weren’t deterred and some very constructive chef work resulted in the best meal of the weekend on board. It was probably a good thing that we had had a second long day otherwise I’m sure we would have partied into the early hours. Which would have been a shame because on the Bank Holiday Monday morning, we awoke to the most ideal sailing weather you could hope for. So we sailed out to the a crowded Solent and made the most of it and had a fantastic end to an adventurous Bank Holiday Weekend..
RYA Competent Crew & Day Skipper Course (Sun. 9th. – Fri. 14th. October.)
September 13th, 20112 or maybe 3 Berths still to fill – £260 for 5 Days Training incl RYA Certificate Fee.
Onboard Food, Diesel any Mooring fees will be additional, i.e. shared by the crew.
So you have been on the water a few times and seen how everybody else seems to know what to do. You have now decided you like the sport, but would also like to be able to participate more and contribute to the running of the boat; that’s what a “Competent Crew” member does and after the course you will have confidence and be able to participate fully in most of the activities of running the boat!
For full details of the course content go the RYA web-site < www.rya.org.uk > and click on the following in turn:- Courses and Training (Across the top)
Sail Cruising (Left Hand Drop Down)
See “Competent Crew” (On same Drop Down)
The RYA Day Skipper Practical Course runs concurrently with the above; candidates will have attended and passed the RYA Day Skipper Shorebased Theory course and on successful completion of this practical course will be competent to skipper a small yacht in familiar waters by day!
Closing date for bookings must be by c.o.p. Friday 23rd. September!
This RYA course will be taught by Chris Price (BTOSC Chairman, Yachtmaster Ocean and Club Instructor) under arrangements made with with the Hamble School of Yachting based on the River Hamble near Southampton.
To book a berth on this course or for further details please call John Wells (Cruising Secretary) on 01494 433 221 or email John at johnwskip@aol.com
Fastnet Campaign
August 26th, 2011Chris Price reports on his 2011 Fastnet Campaign aboard a Tall Ships Youth Trust Challenger 72.
See also some YouTube videos at the end…. Read the rest of this entry »
BBQ Weekend 16-18 Sep 2011
August 26th, 2011We now have two boats filled for the BBQ Weekend with reserves for a possible third boat subject to availability of another skipper.
Coastguard exercise with BTOSC
March 7th, 2011
On Sunday 6 Mar 2011 the BTOSC took part in an hi-line exercise with Solent Coastguard. This was one of a number of activities planned for this year’s Skippers’ Refresher weekend.
Andy Shrimpton reported as follows:
“Once initial contact had been made and they asked us to tack out for more sea room. They came back after about ten minutes and we confirmed that we were ready. Not being complete novices at this routine we had already removed the dan-bouy from the port quarter and brought a bucket on deck for the hi-line.”
The briefing received over VHF was as follows:
- Hold a steady course
- Sail hard on the wind on port tack
- Take the line on-board but don’t attach it to the boat
- Take-in all slack
- When the man on the wire is ready he will indicate to haul him in – it may take more than one person. Once on-board he will direct the rest of the operation.
The exercise then commenced and went exactly as briefed.
First the hi-line was lowered into the water to be taken on board Bagadeus.
Then a crewman was lowered from the helicopter…
for transferred to the yacht.
After a few minutes onboard, the crewman was then safely recovered back to the helicopter as captured in the following video. To view this you will need to enter the word ‘skipper‘.
On completion CG Helo 104 called Bagadeus on Channel 67 to confirm completion of the exercise, to thank us for our participation, and to kindly say that we had done well.
Andy commented: “It was a good experience (especially when you don’t need rescuing) and everyone learned something from it – not least how noisy it is underneath a helicopter!”
—
Other activities during the weekend included ‘pontoon bashing’, setting up a tow and a variety of man-overboard techniques.
Come dine with me – Updated 12 Feb 2011
February 8th, 2011The dates for the above have been confirmed as 29-31 Jul 2011 and we are now sold out taking bookings . See the event listing for further information on this event.
Skippers’ Refresher
January 23rd, 2011The dates for the Skippers’ Refresher has been confirmed as 4-6 Mar 2011. See the event listing for further information.
Comp Crew / Day Skipper Course : 3-8 April 2011
January 21st, 2011The club is running a RYA Competent Crew / Day Skipper Course from PM Sunday 3 – PM Friday 8 April 2010.
Ashlett Creek
January 21st, 2011The buoyage and approach for Ashlett Creek has changed. 
If anyone is planning to explore this channel they would be advised to consult this briefing on the Ashlett Sailing Club website .
Report from Arc Angel on the Xmas Jolly (4-6 December 2010)
January 17th, 2011
A weekend sailing on on yacht Arc Angel in December – surely this would be sun filled and fun filled? Suitably blind to the possible outcomes, I joined up as a new BTOSC member and paid my money to join the Christmas Jolly. Read the rest of this entry »
Chairman’s Letter and 2011 Programme
December 17th, 2010
Christmas Greetings and Best wishes for the New Year from your Chairman and all Members of the Committee.
BTOSC Event Listings *New*
December 15th, 2010
This year each Cruising, Racing or Training event will have its own page on the website.
The events within each of these categories will be listed and accessible from lists in the Right Hand Column but the content can be included in article or posts on the website too.
There is also a new page containing an Events Calendar where you can browse by month and a page listing all forthcoming Events List.
The next Cruising event is:
BTOSC Spring Rally and AGM (Hamble Point Marina)
The next Racing event is:
No events
The next Training event is:
Boat Handling (Hamble Point Marina)
The Events Calendar
If you think this is an improvement or have any other comments please comment here.