Dear Member,

Welcome to the March newsletter and my first as editor.  I would like to thank Samantha Steele and David Jones for all their help in producing it.

In this edition, Jane Ashe has covered the history of the Dee class yacht which was a fore runner of the Rival. Julie Fry’s article about a four legged friend overboard situation, should make us all think about our MOB routines. If you have any stories about your cruising exploits, equipment you have fitted to you boat or items of general interest then please put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. It would be great to share your stories with others, to pass on advice and lessons learnt. Also, if you have any photos of your yacht that we could use for the newsletter, then please send them to me. The above photo was taken of our R38 Ituna, sailing across the Spey Bay on the beautiful Moray coast. The next newsletter will be printed in September, so can I please have any articles and photos by mid September.

If you would like to receive the newsletter by e-mail rather than by snail mail, please contact me on samandmags#aol.com. As this will reduce the cost of publishing, which currently stands at £165 including postage per newsletter.

Thank you in advance,

Mags

KIERA’S SOLENT ‘RINSE CYCLE’

A TRIBUTE TO THE RESILIENCE OF CANINE CREW

Julie Fry, Liberté (R34)

With the Foley ‘06 event looming up, I had no crew except for a German Shepherd called Kiera, who isn’t a great deal of help but she does respond to lee-over and moves to the other side of the cockpit. After a few phone calls, Jane Ashe kindly agreed to crew with me.  As a newish Rival owner I was delighted to have Jane with so much experience of sailing Rivals as crew, now I could really learn how to get the best out of Liberté.  As the weekend approached the forecast was not looking good, Charlie was saying people were quite rightly crying off when the forecast was F7 to 8.

I met Jane on the pontoon in Gosport and we decided that we would give it a go despite the forecast.  Against my better judgement, I had elected for a lie-in rather than a very early start so not only did we have 25+kts SW but we also had the tide against us but at least we didn’t have wind over tide.  With two reefs in the main we left Portsmouth Harbour and after an hour of tacking across the Solent we couldn’t get much further West than Ryde Pier or Gillkicker.

Shortly after a tack, Kiera who was lying in her normal position across the back cockpit seat decide to stand up, despite my cries of “down” she remained standing for a few moments until a wave hit the boat and Kiera rolled onto the side deck, then rolled again under the guard rail into the briney. A very elegant but untimely exit! Fortunately she was wearing a petfloat and was hooked on, we now had a dog surfing at 5 knots and not happy, whilst I grabbed the dog to hold her head out of the water, Jane spilled the wind. With both of us lifting we managed to get her back on board. Kiera went completely still in our arms as we lifted her which was very scary, you can imagine the morbid thoughts going through my mind. Whether it was shock or instinctive common sense, it certainly made getting her aboard easier. A few moments later she was up and about, a little shaken but surprisingly she seemed ok. Normally Kiera won’t go below without us unless very cold, wet and abjectly miserable, even then she goes reluctantly. This time however she couldn’t get below quick enough, the cockpit had temporarily lost its attraction.

With that bit of excitement over, we were making better progress but the sea was rough in Stokes Bay, we were on a lee shore and the wind was 35kts, so we decide discretion was the better part of valour, and motor sailed towards Cowes.  The green stuff was breaking everywhere, my timing wasn’t great so I got it in the face each time!  As soon as we entered the Medina the water flattened completely, but the wind remained at 30kts.  Mooring with the wind blowing us off the pontoon was going to be a challenge, fortunately Charlie was on the pontoon to take a line and we were soon safely moored, no fear of the fenders creaking that night!

Four boats made it to the Foley, St Brigid R32, Shamal II R36, Errant of Rhu R36 and Liberté R34.  There was plenty of chilli con carne to go around! With 10 people in total it was a very sociable evening with drinks on St Brigid, main course on Shamal II, desert on Errant of Rhu, and coffee and rum on Liberté. As a treat Kiera was invited to the evening social, instead of staying on the pontoon. She had a great time visiting each boat and enjoying the company after her ordeal earlier in the day. Lots of fuss and attention is a great anti-shock remedy. Inevitably, there were many stories of man (and dog) overboards that evening.

With the others having made a dash across from Southampton Water, Jane and I won the prize for the furthest travelled, Gosport to the Foley!  A big thank you to Charlie for organising the event, and doing the cooking. The left over deserts went to a charity event, but Charlie is still eating chilli.

The moral of this story is, 35kg of dry dog took two people to drag her back on board when wet; the thought of a 70-80kg adult in oilies doesn’t bear thinking about. Many of us sail two handed, could you get your partner back on board? We have some practising to do. So prevention is better than cure. Rule 1 - don’t go overboard, when in doubt hook on. Rule 2 - as Andrew made very clear, lifejackets are no good unless you fasten the crotch straps to stop the jacket riding up.

The dog is fine, still comes sailing mainly for company and the walks at then end of the journey, she is a little more nervous in heavy weather and now sits on the cockpit floor when it’s rough.

SOME SAD NEWS

Keith Davis (R32 Goodlife) wrote from the Wirral with the sad news of the death of Alec Rollinson, one of our members. Alec was a retired Liverpool pilot, yachtsman and the proud owner of the Dee 27 Pellagrina (68957U). Alec was well known and respected in the North West and will be sadly missed.

History of the Dee Class: Jane Ashe

Alec’s boat “Pellegrina” was the first Dee 27.  A beautiful varnished wooden yacht, she was designed by Peter Brett and built in 1961 for Michael and Molly Tomlinson.

To explain her origins, I need to go back 10 years further to the first Dee 25.  This was “Fair Rover”, whom my father designed and had built for himself to cruise on the north-west coast; he also raced her very successfully in the RORC races in the Irish Sea.  She had a waterline length of 25ft, LOA 30.8ft, and she had such a good reputation that 10 sister-ships were built over the following 15 years, the number 2 being “Rondinella”, for the Tomlinsons (1953). “Rondinella” was the offshore queen of the Northwest for many seasons, including being the overall winner of the 1959 Cowes-Dinard Race.  Her greatest fame was in the 1965 Channel Race, when there was a very severe gale.  She was the only boat to finish in Class III, and finished before the only 2 boats that finished in Class II, and this was quoted in support of her sea-keeping qualities by Adlard Coles in Heavy Weather Sailing.

In 1960, Michael and Molly decided to have a larger boat and my father designed “Pellegrina”.    They owned and raced her for 20 years, and also cruised her extensively, especially around the coast of Ireland.   She was 36ft 9” overall, 27ft waterline. Her beautiful varnished topsides, and appeared in a series of Spinnaker Varnish adverts in the 70’s.  Three other Dee 27s were built in the early 60’s,  one for another Dee 25 ex-owner, and one for the future Irish Cruising Club Commodore, Rory O’Hanlon.

The Dee 25s and 27s were certainly direct ancestors of the Rivals.  I have found some notes of my father’s for an article about design ideas, which was never finished or published, written in 1965, before the designing of the Rivals.  At one point, he asks himself the question: “which of the qualities of the Dee 25s are to be retained, which modified – why or how?”  You may find the answers interesting - they were, in précis:

• Size – Dee 25 ideal for small crew to live comfortably and go anywhere, and more affordable than larger.
• Displacement – no reason to change
• Engine – not envisaging racing, so larger engine (F.R had 8hp Stuart Turner),
• Sail area – smaller mainsail, same fore-triangle, would not affect heavy weather performance, nor ability to work to windward in heavy weather.
• Arrangement below – slightly more freeboard to give more headroom, the loo in a separate compartment (FR’s was in the fo’csle)
• Construction – move to fibreglass
• Looks – a rugged character, appearance of safety and comfort, a bolder sweep up to the stem head, with increase in freeboard forward – also gives advantage of drier decks.

So you can follow the evolution of the Rival yachts from these earlier designs.

SOME ITEMS OF INTEREST

Rivals have featured in print in the last year in the following books and magazines:

Tuesday ‘n’ Me by David Forman His book describes his single handed passage to Brazil in Tuesday or Ore R41. David is an ROA member and his book is available at http://www.bosun-publications.co.uk  £14.99 ISBN 0954693280

Sailing Today Magazine Aug 2006 Peter Poland review of the history Rivals. A fine article promoting the association and the boats we all love. Peter spent the day sailing aboard Andrew Gardener’s St Brigid R32.

Rival Round Up

News from the regions

WEBMASTER:                    Andrew Gardener                webmaster#rivalowners.org.uk

NEWSLETTER EDITOR:  Margaret Campbell             samandmags#aol.com

ROUND-UP EDITOR:        Wendy Tedd

AREA VICE PRESIDENTS

SCOTLAND              Les Morison              les.morison#lineone.net

SOUTH COAST       Charlene Bargeron   cpb103#noc.ac.uk

EAST COAST          Eric Orme                  ericorme#audience.co.uk

IRISH SEA                Mac McDiarmid        mac#f8.iom.net

WEST COUNTRY    Michael Smith           Michael.j.smith#dsl.pipex.com

NETHERLANDS      Jannie Clement        jannie.clement#hoonet.nl

BELGIUM                 Robert Reyniers         Robert.reyniers#skynet.be

NORTH AMERICA   Rob Johnson

THE RIVAL DINNER

This annual event took place as usual in the stylish setting of the East India Club in St James Sq.  Recently we have had upwards of forty members and friends attending. This year numbers were down to about twenty-five. Nonetheless we had a very friendly and relaxed evening.

After the AGM we sat down to an excellent meal with silver service – a hot seafood starter; roast pork with stuffing, crackling, and applesauce; a lemon pud; coffee/tea and with mints and as much wine as one wanted.  All for £35 a head – not bad for central London. As always we were asked to avoid sitting next to our partners and after the main course the gentlemen took their wine glasses and napkins two gents places to the right. This ensures that we all get to talk to as many different people as possible.

After dinner Michael Smith, our West Country VP, entertained us with a short slide show of his trip last summer in R34 Williwaw, to Stockholm where he has left her winter. For me it brought back many memories of the Dutch and Kiel Canals and Southern Baltic which we explored in the 1980s.

If you haven’t been to a Rival Dinner why not give it a go next year. You will be very welcome.

Barbara Jones

P.S. as noted in the AGM Minutes the London Boat Show is to be held a week later than usual so the date for the Dinner is similarly later, i.e Friday 18^th January 2008.

South Coast: Charlie Bargeron

Our End of Season Dinner was enjoyed again at the Itchenor Sailing Club. A re-visit to a delightful club in lovely environs. Although it drizzled all day, the area is truly beautiful and a wonderful setting for Association members to say goodbye to the sailing season. The Member’s Room was all set for our highly polished and professional pre-dinner presentations. David Jones treated us to ‘Laying up in the frozen north’, an unmissable guide if you are planning to leave your boat in the Baltic over winter. James Pickford regaled us with a pictorial guide to changing a gearbox in ‘Torsional vibration and a Hurth gearbox’, showing a blow-by-blow dissection of what he did on Kalabash. Then we were entertained to a review of this summer’s trip around the UK by Sam Steele and Mags Campbell in R38 Ituna. The presentations are available on the Member’s website.

If good food, entertaining company and informative presentations make for a great evening then this certainly was one. Thirty-five members and guests made the trip, all by car with the exception of the crew of Preshaw Dreamer, braving the awful weather. B&B business was brisk as many members made it a weekend. James Pickford has been a great support in making sure the arrangements went well; having an ‘inside man’ makes for a hassle free event!

The Folly Meet is booked for the weekend of June 2/3 and the End of season dinner will be on Saturday 20th October 2007 at the Itchenor Sailing Club. I will be sending out notices shortly!

West Country: Michael Smith

The West Country are holding three events during the season. They would like to extend a welcome to any who wishes to attend, the dates and places are:

• Salcombe: 12^th-13^th May
• Charlestown: 31^st August – 2^nd September (2 nights locked into the inner harbour)
• Fowey: 13^th -14^th October

At all three events there will be a dinner ashore on the Saturday night. For Salcombe and Fowey again these will be at the SYC and the RFYC.

The rally at the end of August: over the long weekend is at Charlestown, a pretty, eighteenth century former china clay port in the north-west corner of St Austell Bay.  The harbour is now privately owned and is the base for a number of square-rigged ships that are employed in the making of movies and TV programmes.  The outer harbour dries and we shall berth in the inner, floating harbour where the square-riggers lie.  We can only do so close to HW and so shall lock in at about 2000 on Friday, 31^st August and out again by 1000 on Sunday, 2^nd September.  Dinner on the Saturday night will be either in one of the local restaurants or on board one of the big ships, depending on their sailing programme.  There is plenty to do in the Charlestown area: cliff walks, a good beach, the Eden Project, for example.  We hope that this rather special location will attract Rivals from other areas, in addition to a good turn-out by our local members.  You can learn more about Charlestown at www.square-sail.com/harbour

Details of all the events will appear on our website.  My R34 Williwaw will not be attending any events as presently she is in the Baltic, though I shall of course be there myself. If anyone would like to join part of my planned circuit of the Gulf of Finland, roughly between mid-June and the end of August, please contact me to explore possibilities.

Scotland: Les Morison

Unfortunately, I was unable to organise a winter function last year. We will have our  summer meet in Tarbert (Loch Fyne) at either the end of July/beginning of August - date to be confirmed.

KIT 2 FIT

The ROA meets are always a great way to find out about bits of kit that make the difference. This has resulted in us purchasing a Bruntons Auto prop - David Jones had an easy sell after we had just had a 24 hour motor across the channel from St Peter Port at just under 4 knots top speed! Another meeting resulted in a new genoa; we had taken Barry Thunder and Gordon Stanley (Salamis R36) over to the Folly meet on our boat and they laughed when we rolled out our tiny jib – our new genoa makes a big difference as we can now sail in 8 knots of wind. I would like to start a regular feature of any items however big or small that are worth buying or changes you have made to your Rival.

Spade Anchor We have had great success with our new anchor. The concave nature of the anchor increases the resistance to drag and so far it has set very effectively. Yachting Monthly (Dec 06) rated it extremely highly in the veering test and for its holding ability. We glassed in an eye bolt in the anchor locker to tie off the anchor to stow it, as all the weight is over the tip of the anchor. We also fitted 2 solid plastic balls to prevent the stock banging on the metal supports of the anchor roller on the stem. The anchors are available from www.bluewatersupplies.com – based in Jersey…..coded speak for no VAT!

Hamster Basket Our top opening fridge has been transformed following an investment in some hamster baskets, which were made to measure. These wire baskets stack on top of each other. This enables you to fit more into your fridge, as it is easier to get at things, keeps the fridge organised and it is kept cleaner as things don’t get squished and end up in a primeval swamp in the bottom. www.hamsterbaskets.com

MEMBERS LIST AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

With this newsletter, we enclose the 2007 members list. If you haven’t paid this year (2007) and have not informed David Jones of your resignation, you will still be on the list. Though, you will not receive any Round Ups until you have paid. If your email address is missing from the members list or needs updating, please send it to David.

NEW MEMBERS We welcome the following new members: