The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| Pole Sands Paddling | 2020-06-08 | Down from SYC to the Pole Sands in the Sea Eagle inflatable kayak.
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SYC
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| Exe Darting & SYC 250 | 2022-07-10 | Out on Nigel H's art 18 for a bit of up and down the estuary. Great day - hot with steady winds.
Then back to SYC for cream teas as part of the SYC 250 celebrations.
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SYC
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| SYC again | 2018-05-06 | Down to SYC for a chat about GDPR and the SYC website
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SYC
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| Free sailing at SYC | 2013-05-06 | A really steady F3 to F4 wind made for some great sailing on bank holiday Monday. The sea fog cleared intermittently to even give some sun. The average moving speed of 5 knots is none to shoddy for a 30 year old beaten up Wayfarer.
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SYC
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| Exe Estuary dawdle | 2013-05-12 | Not quite the F4 gusting F5 that was forecast. That and the fact we managed to get the furling line wrapped round the head sail furling drum means that we didnt go very far.
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SYC
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| Super summer sail | 2013-05-18 | A lovely sail up to the Goat Walk at Topsham. We had planned to go as far as the motorway bridge but the wind didnt have the west in it that the forecast said it would. Met Malcolm and Graham at the Goat Walk. The max speed of 6.9 knots isnt bad given that there was no tide to speak of.
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SYC
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| First beach cafe sail of the year | 2013-05-25 | From SYC down to the beach cafe and back. The forecast said next to no wind but a lovely sea breeze kicked in.
Top sail.
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SYC
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| Gusty Wayfarer sail | 2021-08-30 | Force 3 gusting force 4. One reef. Nice sail to nowhere in particular.
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SYC
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| First Wayfarer sail in a long, long time | 2020-06-14 | Back in the Wayfarer for for the first time this year! A free sailing day at SYC. Back and forth across the estuary for a couple of hours checking that the boat is still properly seaworthy. No breakages and a lovely steady wind.
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SYC
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| Down to SYC | 2018-10-08 | A ride to SYC and back in a buoyancy aid and carrying sailing wellies
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SYC
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| Beach cafe sail | 2018-05-19 | SYC dinghy cruise to the beach cafe. Great winds and plenty of sun!
Heading towards Springs so plenty of tide so quite a fast speed over the ground going past the Warren.
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SYC
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| A sail, paddle and drift to the safe water mark | 2013-07-13 | More wind in the Estuary than out of it on this sail to the safe water mark at the mouth of the Exe
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SYC
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| Sunday evening sail | 2013-07-21 | That rare occurrence - plenty of water, plenty of wind and plenty of sun. A lovely evening sail on the Exe Estuary.
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SYC
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| Cycle Ride to sailing club | 2013-08-24 | Shared commiserations for cancelled dinghy cruise
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SYC
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| Paddle from Cockwood Harbour to SYC | 2013-09-01 | Light winds forecast so we took Scooby for a paddle from Cockwood Harbour up to Starcross Yacht Club and back again. Watched a boat sink (again) and it is not the one in the photographs!
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SYC
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| Powderham bike ride | 2021-08-31 | Down to SYC to do some race webcam fiddling.
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SYC
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| Pole Sands Paddling | 2022-04-15 | First full family paddle of the year.
Ideal conditions - tide with us on the way out and the wind got up a little to give us wind and tide pushing us on the way back.
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SYC
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| Scooby's first kayak session | 2018-09-29 | An all important first session with Scooby on our new sit on top kayak.
If Scooby refused to get on board that would have been a big blow to our plans to take the dog and kayak in the camper van doing "exploring south west estuary weekends".
Happily Scooby did jump on board and started to get the hang of it.
More practice needed before we take Scooby into deeper water.
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SYC
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| SYC safety boat crew | 2019-03-31 | At SYC to pretend to be an experienced safety boat crew for Rebecca B on her first drive of a club safety boat. Rebecca was more than fine and there were no "customers" as it was about a F3 to maybe F4.
However, just as we were picking up the race mark buoys, a request from Solent Coastguard reached us via the club (Solent had rung SYC) to go the aid of "a cruiser stuck in the mud off Topsham". So we dropped the marks back into the water and hared off to Topsham where we found a Cornish Crabber (or something similar) stuck in the mud just yards outside of the channel. The water was down to about two foot so it was hard for us to do anything and the cruiser was well aground. After about 5 minutes the real RNLI inshore boat turned up and took over (they took the folk off the Crabber after re-deploying the anchor).
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SYC
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| Bouncy safety boat duty | 2014-04-20 | A very wet and bouncy safety boat duty in mid April. About a force 6 on the estuary with waves of about 1 metre. Meant there was a lot of water coming over the front of the rib. Just the thing to help clear out a cold..
Forgot to turn the GPS on!
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SYC
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| Push The Boat Out at SYC | 2014-05-26 | SYC's "Push The Boat Out" day to offer people a taster of dinghy sailing. A very successful day - about 70 people got to try sailing and the winds were an ideal F2 to F3.
Liz got to try helming a Topper on dry land!
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SYC
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| Out to sea dinghy cruise | 2014-05-31 | An SYC dinghy cruise out to sea that actually made it out to sea! It looked as though there would be no wind at all for quite a while but gentle F2 / F3 filled in for most of the time.
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SYC
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| Squires Cup safety boat | 2014-06-08 | Safety boat duty on a rather damp and drizzly Sunday in June. Free tea though!
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SYC
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| Exminster work bike ride | 2021-07-20 | Liz work cycle ride - back via SYC.
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SYC
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| Exeter and SYC | 2019-12-01 | Into Exeter and then back via SYC for the AGM, Windy.
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SYC
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| To SYC and back | 2018-09-18 | First time back on the bike after the two week summer holiday.
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SYC
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| Powderham bike ride | 2021-10-26 | At SYC decking fettling
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SYC
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| Up river - twice | 2014-08-31 | A lovely sunny day. Wayfarer sail up river and then up river again. Winds got a bit light going up the Exe towards Topsham and the Clyst so just sailed round and round.
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SYC
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| Bart's Bash | 2014-09-21 | After ten year's sailing at Starcross Yacht Club we've completed our first ever dinghy race (we did start one about five year's ago but got bored half way through and sailed off up-river).
This race was in memory of Bart Simpson who died in America's Cup practice last year and to raise funds for his sailing academy.
Amazingly we weren't last - but pretty close. On the plus side, 68 boats in the water and we didn't hit one of them!
Tags:
SYC
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| October beach cafe sail | 2014-10-11 | Good winds and big tides for a late season sail from SYC down to the beach cafe. Some excellent winds round the Warren and the Docks. Died away a little bit for the last mile back to SYC.
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SYC
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| Pole Sands picnic | 2014-10-25 | A late October down river dinghy cruise. Destination was the Pole Sands for a picnic. Bit late in the season for a picnic but the planned trip earlier in the year didn't work out.
Lovely sail - decent range of winds.
Big tides assisted the top speed of 9.2 knots.
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SYC
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| Exminster bike ride | 2021-07-13 | Back past SYC for some minor boat fettling
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SYC
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| Round to Topsham | 2019-11-25 | Coffee on the Quay at Topsham. Another puncture on the Estuary cycle track - at almost exactly the same spot I had a blowout about a month ago!
Popped in to SYC to see why the gate was open - ongoing maintenance.
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SYC
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| SYC cycle ride | 2020-07-25 | Down to SYC for some weather station fettling
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SYC
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| Drew Trophy to Brixham | 2022-07-30 | With Derek H on his Fulmar down to Brixham for the Drew Trophy. We chose the offshore route while the wind chose the inshore route!
A lovely sail and then a meal at Brixham Yacht Club.
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SYC
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| First SYC dinghy cruise of 2015 | 2015-04-25 | An upriver dinghy cruise to start the 2015 season of SYC organised dinghy cruises. Pleasant wind - maybe F3
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SYC
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| Safety boat for cancelled dinghy cruise | 2015-05-16 | The weather forecast was for F4 with F5 gusts and that is pretty much exactly what we got. The NW F5 gusts were too strong for a safe down river dinghy cruise so it ended up being replaced by a quick sail near the club
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SYC
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| CI & France 2015 - Sail down to Brixham | 2015-05-21 | A sail from Starcross down to Brixham ready for an early morning channel crossing to St Peter Port - Guernsey. Wind went from near enough becalmed to a F5 in about 15 minutes. Made for an exciting sail across Torbay
Tags:
SYC
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| CI & France 2015 - St Peter Port to SYC | 2015-05-30 | A stonkingly fast sail back from St Peter Port to Starcross Yacht Club on the Exe. Plans changed late as we were concerned about getting back to SYC before predicted high winds late on the Saturday night (also trying to miss low water on the Exe). So up at the hideously early hour of 02:30 and up through the Little Russell channel in the dark. The Little Russell was just a tad "bouncy". After a couple of hours of motor sailing (to keep up the average speed as required), the wind picked up a bit and started to back round to the west. The final third of the sail was with 14 to 20 knots (force 5ish) of wind aft of the port beam and with full sails up. Derek's Sadler averaged over 5.4 knots - way ahead of what we could have hoped for. Back on the mooring by about 18:30 - maybe 3 hours ahead of planned.
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SYC
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| Dawlish Dart sail | 2021-06-23 | Around to Dawlish with Nigel H on his Dart 18. A lovely sail. Took a while for the sea breeze to come in but once it did it was a pleasant, steady force 3 or so. Sun as well!
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SYC
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| Thalmia to Topsham | 2019-10-16 | Up to Trouts at Topsham on Thalmia ready for her winter lift out.
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SYC
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| SYC bike ride | 2020-07-26 | Down to SYC to look at poorly router
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SYC
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| Tospham cycle ride | 2018-03-25 | Round to Topsham.with LIz. Had a drink and watched some boats. Back via SYC. Had a drink and watched some boats.
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SYC
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| SYC beach cafe sail | 2015-08-01 | We haven't been out on the Wayfarer for quite a while. That sounds bad given that it's the height of summer but a quick check shows that I've actually sailed over 490 nautical miles since our last Wayfarer trip so I haven't exactly given up sailing!
A breezy sail down to the beach cafe - we put in a reef for the way back which wasn't too cowardly as there were a couple of capsizes on the way back.
Big tides which is the main reason for the quite fast average speed.
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SYC
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| Safety boat at Laser Open meeting | 2015-08-08 | Safety boat with Bob J at the Laser Open meeting at SYC.
The day started flat calm so we tied up to a buoy and listened to England retain the Ashes.
A sea breeze started about 12:15 and the sailing started shortly after that. Four back to back races. We spent all our time at the leeward mark - hence the "ball of wool" GPS track. All in all, a very pleasant way to idle away a sunny August Saturday.
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SYC
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| Pole Sands picnic | 2015-08-15 | Sail down from SYC to the Pole Sands. A bit of everything wind wise. From nothing to about a F4 and quite a lot of gusts in between, Put first reef in for the trip back which made things easier
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SYC
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| Dawlish air show dinghy cruise | 2015-08-22 | "Officer of the day" for the Dawlish air show dinghy cruise. A good day out even though not everything went to plan. The thunder and lightening was a bit of a surprise and curtailed the "out to sea" bit of the dinghy cruise a bit early and stopped the later parts of the show from happening e.g. the Red Arrows. The Vulcan bomber on its last ever visit to the Dawlish show was very impressive. All in all a very good day out!
Tags:
SYC
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| Up river cruise - safety boat duty | 2021-09-04 | Safety boat duty for a very enjoyable up river dinghy cruise from SYC.
Thought there was a pretty good chance the wind would drop and we'd be towing lots of people home.
The wind mostly held so so good day out!
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SYC
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| Paddle down to Starcross | 2020-06-16 | The plan had been to paddle up past Topsham on the rising tide but the wind was a little strong to want to paddle back against it (and the tides were small).
So it was a short paddle down to Starcross and the a float back with the wind and the tide.
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SYC
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| Back from SYC | 2022-07-12 | Ride back from SYC
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SYC
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| Starcross Steamer | 2018-02-25 | On photo / safety boat on David A's rib.
A lovely cold day on the Exe Estuary in February. 93 boats on the water. Plenty of wind but not the fearsome gale of some earlier forecasts.
After nearly three weeks laid up by two consecutive lurgies, this was just the thing to blow away some of the cobwebs. Even got a bit sun burnt - in February!
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SYC
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| Beach cafe dinghy cruise | 2015-10-17 | A mid October dinghy cruise to the beach cafe. Winds of mid F4 forecast but mostly a bit lower than that.
Broke the tiller extension universal joint which made sailing back a bit different to usual.
Tags:
SYC
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| March Safety Boat | 2016-03-13 | Shamefully, this is the first time we'd been on the water in 2016. A safety boat duty at SYC. Very little wind to start with but it filled in to be a nice south easterly (after half the fleet had given up due to lack of wind). First sailing photos with the new camera.
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SYC
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| First dinghy sail of 2016 | 2016-04-02 | Weather forecast was for F5 gusting F6 and that was about right when we got to SYC.
As this was the first dinghy cruise of the year, it was cancelled and replaced with a sail near the club.
Put lots of reefs in so the crew didn't mutiny and then banged about across the estuary and back a few times. Turned out to be a fun sail.
Tags:
SYC
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| First beach cafe sail of 2016 | 2016-04-23 | First SYC sail to the Exmouth beach cafe in 2016.
The forecast was north easterly F4 to F5. However, on the way back from the beach cafe it was really quite gusty and I'd guess that the gusts might just have been F6. Combined with a fairly large tide and the NE wind being against the tide, it made for an interesting sail back.
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SYC
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| SYC network fettling | 2021-04-26 | Back from SYC after poking network
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SYC
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| SYC safety boat | 2022-06-04 | Forecast of F4 gusting F6 and heavy rain meant that we turned the dinghy cruise into a sail around the club.
But then there was actually very little wind and no real rain.
Can't win sometimes.
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SYC
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| Kayak shopping | 2018-07-22 | Into Exeter with Liz to AWS Watersports looking for a sit on top kayak to complement our canadian canoe! Hot.
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SYC
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| Exeter and back | 2018-01-28 | First time on the bike after the gears were mended. All good.
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SYC
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| Squires Cup Safety Boat | 2016-06-12 | Safety boat for the Squires Cup racing for dinghies and cats on the Exe Estuary. Not a lot of wind so not much call for our services. Some rain at times.
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SYC
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| Dartmouth race 2016 | 2016-06-25 | A sail to Dartmouth in Derek H's Sadler 26. The wind was in all directions including not there at all. The "dog leg" at Torbay was us searching for wind that wasn't there! Moored up for the night at Dittisham on the Dart.
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SYC
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| Dart sail | 2016-06-27 | First sail of the year on Nigel H's Dart 18. Wind was up and down and we fought the tide on the way back to SYC but some fast speeds out at sea.
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SYC
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| Up river dinghy cruise | 2016-07-02 | An up river dinghy cruise. The weather forecast was about right with its F4 gusting F5.
The "fleet" got spread out quite a bit and, as the weather wasn't great, we headed back to the club quite early.
The camera was on the wrong settings when the photos were taken so they've been over HDR'd to see if they can be made slightly interesting.
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SYC
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| SYC network fettling | 2021-04-26 | Down to SYC to poke the network
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SYC
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| Scooby Kayaking | 2019-07-28 | After a little "Scooby Wobble" in the Canadian canoe on the Fal, we wanted to get his confidence up in the kayak.
After a bit of a nervous start, he got his mojo back and even jumped onto the kayak when offered a little extra time on the water at the end of the day. Result!
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SYC
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| Lympstone and back | 2018-07-21 | Because there was no wind, Liz and decided to cycle round to Lympstone rather than go sailing.
The sea breeze kicked in of course!
Stonking chocolate and orange Salcombe ice cream in Lympstone.
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SYC
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| Liz's first safety boat drive | 2018-05-20 | Liz doing safety boat duty for the Squire's Cup at SYC.
No capsizes but a bit of interest right at the end when it was briefly thought that one of the Darts was unaccounted for.
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SYC
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| Brixham to SYC | 2016-07-24 | Back from Brixham Marina to SYC via lunch at anchor in Anstey's Cove.
Playing with the cruising chute on the on the sail across Torbay.
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SYC
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| Summer Sail | 2016-07-30 | Went up river to about the Goat Walk and then back again. Liz did some helming for about the 3rd time in the 10 years we've been sailing on the Exe. Then some on water reefing practice and then back to SYC for the "Commodore's BBQ".
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SYC
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| Jim Vallis Cruise | 2016-08-06 | The first Jim Vallis Memorial Cruise. A dinghy cruise in memory of our friend Jim Vallis who started up the organised dinghy cruises at SYC. A lovely sunny day with the wind varying between nothing and about force 5 - but with no big gusts so very sailable. Joined at SYC by many from Jim's family and Sandra joined us on our Wayfarer for a sail.
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SYC
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| Free Sailing Safety Boat | 2016-08-13 | Doing safety boat for a Free Sailing at SYC on a lovely summer's afternoon. A pleasant F3 with the occasional gust made for almost ideal sailing conditions with just a few things to keep us slightly busy. A surprising overall distance as we spent the first 15 minutes at anchor (and expected to remain there for much of the afternoon!)
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SYC
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| Countess Wear paddle | 2021-04-20 | From SYC up to the Countess Wear bridge on the Exe.
A sea breeze filled in more than expected for mid April and the tides were only neaps so a fair old workout on the way back.
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SYC
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| Brixham to the Exe | 2019-07-21 | Back from Brixham after the Drew Trophy.
Another day of ideal winds and we decided to scoot back to the Exe to get in on the falling tide. Some lovely downwind sailing with the cruising chute up much of the way after the Ore Stone.
As it was heading towards Springs, there was the usual Exe estuary tides against us on the way in.
Back on the mooring with time to spare - time used figuring out how to release the tender from the mooring chain - after it had managed to solidly wrap itself around the chain.
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SYC
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| SYC to Pole Sands | 2018-07-14 | A canoe paddle down from SYC to the Pole Sands in company with Ellie T and Marco F (and the hound).
Strong Spring tides both ways but a sea breeze made the paddle out hard work and super easy on the way back.
Scooby enjoyed having four different people to throw the ball for him on the Pole Sands!
Tags:
SYC
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| Wayfarer Sail | 2019-04-07 | A quick sail round the estuary on an SYC race day to check that everything still works on the boat after a few months off the water.
Out with one reef as the the weather forecast had a F6 in it. Wind was a bit gusty but not to F6 (at least until after we came off the water).
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SYC
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| Bike ride to sailing club | 2016-10-23 | A bit windy for us to be sailing today (maybe F6) so a short ride down to the sailing club to watch the hardier sailors battling with the conditions.
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SYC
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| Another 26 miles | 2016-11-06 | Round to Lympstone and back again. Another windy ride.
Stopped at SYC for the AGM.
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SYC
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| SYC safety boat | 2016-11-27 | A last minute replacement safety boat duty at Starcross Yacht Club. No boats to rescue except us when the rather nice 50HP fuel injected outboard stopped working. Towed back to shore by the other safety boat!
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SYC
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| Lympstone and back | 2017-01-22 | Round to Lympstone on a lovely winters afternoon. Enough wind for the sailors at Starcross Yacht Club but not so much as to make the cycling unpleasant.
Photos are from Lympstone looking at SYC and from SYC looking at Lymptstone.
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SYC
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| Exminster bike ride | 2021-10-16 | Your activity description here
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SYC
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| SYC music evening | 2019-06-15 | Down to SYC for an music evening.
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SYC
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| SYC Cruisers Lunch | 2019-03-30 | Down to SYC for the yacht cruisers pre-season gathering and lunch.
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SYC
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| Back from SYC | 2020-09-04 | After winch fettling
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SYC
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| Topsham and back | 2017-02-26 | Round to Topsham to help Derek H put some lines back on his Fulmar.
Met up with Liz on the way back and stopped at SYC for a bit. Windy - very windy on the way back.
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SYC
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| SYC cruisers lunch | 2017-03-25 | A short ride down to SYC for the yotties lunch. A strong following wind on the way back.
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SYC
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| Thalmia moored at SYC | 2017-04-06 | Helping Derek put Thalmia on her mooring at SYC for the first time. In fact, when I missed getting the pick up on to the cleat, we proved that Derek can moor her OK single handed anyway!
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SYC
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| Thalmia to her winter quarters | 2022-10-12 | Up to Trouts at Topsham ready for Thalmia to be craned out tomorrow.
Watched Roy S nervously watching his Sadler 26 being lifted out.
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SYC
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| SYC safety boat | 2020-09-27 | Late request to do a safety boat duty at SYC.
Quite a short drive as the wind got up so the course was shortened to just one lap to comply with RYA Covid recommendations.
Attended one rather good capsize.
Camera decided that some photos would be better in black and white!
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SYC
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| Starcross bike ride | 2021-10-27 | SYC decking fettling and Starcross flu jab
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SYC
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| SYC cycle ride | 2020-07-28 | Down to SYC to repair the phone network
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SYC
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| Down river paddling | 2022-08-09 | With Nigel H in the inflatable Sea Eagle. Down against some tide and sea breeze to Bull Hill Bank. Then a lovely drift back with the tide and wind.
Thanks to Derek H for the drone pics!
Tags:
SYC
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| Exeter and back | 2017-05-08 | Cycle ride into Exeter and back with a stop at SYC on the way back.
Not a bad average for me as I was on the Marin hybrid loaded up with a pannier, locks and a book.
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SYC
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| Exmouth Marina to SYC | 2017-05-09 | Bringing Derek's Fulmar back to SYC from Exmouth Marina.
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SYC
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| SYC boat fettling | 2017-05-20 | Down to SYC to do a little bit of boat fettling
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SYC
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| Down river dinghy cruise | 2022-08-13 | Safety boat duty on a down river dinghy cruise. Twenty one boats, a big spring tide and a few minor dramas.
And my first double scoop of ice cream in about 3 months. Lush.
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SYC
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| Exe Estuary and the Clyst | 2020-09-12 | No wind so we decided on a paddle. We wanted to go up the Clyst but high water at neaps doesn't give enough water for even our canoe to make much progress.
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SYC
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| Back in the Wayfarer | 2022-06-05 | Back in the Wayfarer after an awfully long time.
Very little wind but at least we were able to get out and check that we'd found all the right bits and the boat didn't sink.
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SYC
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| Dart drifting | 2022-07-13 | A drift up and won the Exe estuary to the Beach Cafe on Nigel H's Dart 18.
A little bit of wind occasionally.
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SYC
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| Up to buoy 45 | 2017-08-19 | Quite a "feisty" sail as the weather did pretty much what was forecast - which was F4 gusting F5. They were fairly big gusts on the way out. Ran aground near the Turf Locks - whoops - and mutinous crew made the captain get out and push us off.
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SYC
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| Commodore's Cruise | 2017-07-29 | The weather forecast was rubbish - no winds and heavy rain. Turned out to be a nice wind and only occasional rain.
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SYC
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