10 Reasons why you'll never beat a Wivenhoe Sailor

They are used to the following conditions ....

1. Mud banks appearing out of nowhere
2. Strong tides
3. Massive tidal ranges
4. Gusty winds
5. Narrow channels
6. National class champions
7. Estuarine conditions, both river and sea
8. They have their own One Design
9. Fiercely competitive club races every weekend
10. You don't know the Colne

Comments please..... ;)

Capsizing Drills in a Topper Xenon

It happened again last weekend with my Father as we sailed up the River Colne...the shame...!

We went over on a tack, which was interesting as the dinghy has come near to doing this before with other novice crew. I am beginning to have a theory as to how this might happen - beyond blaming myself.

Firstly the cleats that hold the jib sheets on the Topper Xenon often out-fox novice crew who I have seen have difficulty releasing them. When on a close haul the jib is set very tight and so is the cleat holding the jib-sheet. Coming round on a close haul tack, if the sheet is not released properly the nose will continue to pull round and instead of being on a close haul (opposite tack) you will find yourself coming on to on a beam reach. Obviously with a tight main sail + slow speed over you go. So, lessons to be learned are as follows...

• Teaching your crew how to operate the cleats and warning them of consequences if they get it wrong.
• Helmsmen don't be lazy and be ready to let the main sail go if things go wrong on the tack (i.e. take it off the cleat).

Finally, make sure you explain in detail what you want the crew to do when you go over. Novice crew have a tendency not to want to go in the water (quite understandable really), but the Topper Xenon floats very high on its side and with the crew trying to clamber desperately up the inside, the boat is inclined to turtle making it harder to right.

• Tell them to get in the water and swim to the back to hang on to the toe straps).
• Always be nice to the Romford Navy, speedboats and barges as you may need their help one day.

Topper Xenon Launching at Wivenhoe

I finally have created some content of my own. Here is my father and I taking the Xenon out for his first sail on her from Wivenhoe to Colchester and back up the River Colne. I chose what I thought was a safe passage, but yes we did have an incident on the way!!...more later.

Forgive the music, I was under a bit of time pressure to get this 'out there'

Sailing and Fishing

I have been interested in the idea of fishing off the back of my Topper Xenon. I have however come to the conclusion that the style of dinghy makes it totally impracticable. Unlike a Wayfarer it is impossible to drop the main and wrap it up round the boom. Since I have a gnav and not a vang (American I know, should be called a kicker), when the main sail comes down, the boom does as well leaving the deck covered in sail and boom. The advantage however is that when the main sail is up, there is more room on deck. This might mean I am better off fishing whilst underway, perhaps some type of trawling with a line and spinner on the end, the sort of thing you see in the Pacific when line catching tuna - idle thoughts I know when in Essex.

Here's a chap called Blakdog who fishes on the Colne River; I'll keep an eye on to see if there is anything worth catching http://seaanglersnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/05/batemans-tower-brightlingsea-essex.html