Author: Andrew Dowley

Andrew is Marconi Sailing Clubs webmaster. He sails a Tornado Sport Catamaran and Sprint 15.

Waterside Ramblings In the Wake of Barges We were very fortunate this year to be able to go ahead with our Camping Fortnight at Marconi Sailing Club. The shore side arrangements were different in order to maintain Covid safety and we were not able to run our Cadet week – but those of us who were able to camp or travel down during the week made the most of the opportunity to get on the water whenever the winds permitted. The Sprint 15 fleet had already completed quite a few local cruises around Osea and Northey Islands or up to…

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2021 Sailing Schedule is here! The many sections of the sailing club have been working hard behind the scenes to develop our schedule of activities for 2021. We have planned an even busier schedule of events for next year. If we need to adapt some or all of them nearer the time, we will do so. But the focus will continue to be on enabling as much activity as possible, as safely as possible. As I am sure you appreciate, all these activities are only possible due to the amazing efforts of volunteers within the club (who are all fee-paying…

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From City to Sea by Kayak Due to a change in circumstances this year, not entirely arising from Covid-19, Jenny Ball has been able to revisit favourite water side haunts or undertake new trips afloat that previous work and sailing commitments would not have permitted. One such trip that she would recommend to you – either as a walker or on a kayak or SUP – is the wonderful Chelmer and Blackwater Canal. A most beautiful and scenic route, right in our back yard and, until this summer, largely undiscovered. You can walk and paddle the entire length from Chelmsford…

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Marconi Sprint 15s 2020 – At Home and Away There is a risk that we will remember the year 2020 for all the things we were not able to do. And that is understandable given we have all been deeply concerned for the wellbeing of our friends and loved ones alongside trying to adjust to the various and shifting implications of lockdown. It is also true that there have been periods of 2020 when we were unable to sail due to lockdown requirements. But for the Sprint 15 fleet at Marconi, none of the above has prevented us from having…

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Waterside Ramblings Crouching River, Hidden Sands Challenging situations can also present opportunities. Lockdown meant we could not race or take part in organised club sailing activities. However, once sailing was permitted again, the Sprint 15 fleet took the opportunity to go sail cruising instead. And for those who were now working from home – a late afternoon or evening sail was now possible, which the ordinary daily commute would have prevented. Time was well spent with many trips cruising round Osea and Northey Islands or up to the Baffle or Radio Caroline and back. Following a few slightly longer cruises…

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Wayfarer Cruisers Trip with a Difference Here follows a brief account of our trip. Explorer is a Contessa 32 owned by Kessingland Sea Sailing Club, she dates back to the early 70’s and was first put into service by the British Army as a training vessel for our armed forces, it is reputed that she has a fastnet race in her history. Much time and sea miles have passed and nowadays she is for hire on a daily basis from KSSC (Subject to conditions). Our Colin Wardell is a registered skipper with KSSC an as such arranged a two day mini…

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Carry on Camping COVID-19 might have put a slight delay to camping at Marconi in the earlier months of the year but it didn’t stop us in the end. With some careful planning and consideration the club management along with various members worked extremely hard to review the risk and work out the best way to manage the event while constantly reviewing Government advice. This led to the club running two successful weeks of camping along with camping at August Bank Holiday. Traditionally the club is allowed 32 days of camping in a year and this is managed through our by laws.…

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Back to Rowing at Marconi Elettra is back! Well, she didn’t actually go anywhere, but then again neither did we for a while! She was put away after last winters racing season in March and the Harkers Yard Gig Association (HYGA) agreed to cancel the next 2020/21 winter racing series. We have used the down time over the last few weeks to bring her and all her equipment back to ‘as new’ condition, quite important for a wooden boat. The governing body responsible for agreeing unlocking measures with government is British Rowing. Their Olympic Chief Medical Officer & Coach were…

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Autumn Racing Series – Return to Race Box Starts Following the careful re-introduction of Sunday racing using the Pursuit Race format – we have been able to trial key shore based and support boat arrangements to enable a return to racing. Pursuit Races have many positives but it is difficult for ROs to identify places for all competitors (which is important for a series held over a number of races) and some fleets have been precluded from racing because it is difficult for them to start from the hard. Therefore, we propose to move to racing using Race Box starts…

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Cadet Regatta 2020 The annual Marconi Cadet Regatta took place on Saturday 1st August. We adopted a slightly different format this year to enable social distancing and take into account the fact that some of our younger sailors have not had much water time this year. So a Pursuit Race format was adopted which allowed competitors to start from the hard on staggered start times.  We also split the Regatta into two separate events. Race 1 was for cadets who wanted to have an adult on board with them and took place in the morning.   Two Picos set off first…

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