The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| SYC ride | 2020-07-24 | Down to SYC to fiddle with the weather station.
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC again | 2018-05-06 | Down to SYC for a chat about GDPR and the SYC website
Tags:
SYC
|
| March safety boat | 2013-03-24 | Safety boat at SYC. A cold march day - two degrees centrigrade. The windchill factor made it feel like minus four. GPS data anomalies account for the three or four short peaks in speed.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Down river paddle | 2023-08-09 | Next to no wind and very little tide, so a quick down river paddle against the little incoming tide.
A few photos of the boat that sank at the weekend and was raised yesterday - as well as a few of the posher yachts on the estuary.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Up river kayaking | 2021-08-28 | A solo paddle up to Topsham Quay. Abandoned by the wife - some excuse about having to work.
"Rescued" a fishing boat that had run aground by taking their kedge anchor out to deeper water so they could pull themselves off the mud.
Had a look at the abandoned & rotting boats by Lympstone Commando.
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC safety boat | 2020-05-30 | First SYC safety boat duty of 2020 and first organised SYC activity since lockdown.
There was a problem with righting an RS Feva - bloody boats keep going over.
Then we had to tow a "submerged to the gunwhales" boat back to Lympstone.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exe paddling | 2022-07-09 | Down to SYC for 250th Anniversary water sports day.
A few photos included from the later SYC 250 event at Powderham Castle
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC | 2018-05-05 | Down to SYC to do a bit of Fulmar fetting - fitting a chunky swivel to the mooring chain.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Sunny summers evening sail | 2013-07-10 | A lovely summer evenings sail. Just enough wind to go down estuary against the incoming tide.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Down to Babbacombe | 2023-08-06 | A cracking sail down to Babbacombe Cove in Derek H's Westerly Fulmar.
Wind varied between about 10 and 20 knots.
A few photos of Dick P's Cornish Crabber.
Photos of Thalmia by Dick P.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Gusty Wayfarer sail | 2021-08-30 | Force 3 gusting force 4. One reef. Nice sail to nowhere in particular.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Pole Sands Paddling | 2020-06-08 | Down from SYC to the Pole Sands in the Sea Eagle inflatable kayak.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Cycle ride and SYC | 2014-01-26 | A basic cycle ride to the A379 and back again with a stop at the sailing club to watch the death and destruction. Some very big gusts of wind going through led to a few capsizes.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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!
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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!
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exe SWM dinghy sail | 2023-08-30 | A lovely sail with Malcolm B in the Wayfarer. Out to the Exe Safe Water Mark and a little way beyond. Lunch on the beach and an ice cream at the Beach Cafe. The wind was mostly F3/F4 with occasional gusts to F5. A lovely sail.
And then used the new electric winch at SYC to retrieve the Wayfarer.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exminster bike ride | 2021-07-13 | Back past SYC for some minor boat fettling
Tags:
SYC
|
| Powderham bike ride | 2022-03-15 | Down to SYC waiting for an OpenReach engineer who failed to show!
Tags:
SYC
|
| To SYC and back | 2018-09-18 | First time back on the bike after the two week summer holiday.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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).
Tags:
SYC
|
| Brixham to Exe | 2014-07-27 | A cracking sail back from Brixham to the Exe. From Brixham, we went to Anstey's Cove for lunch as did many other SYC boats. After lunch there was a cracking sail back across the bay to the Exe - winds ranging from 10 knots to about 18 knots Excellent sailing.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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
|
| Up river paddle | 2023-06-13 | Up to the motorway bridge on a really, really hot day! With the tide and sea breeze on the way up. With the tide but against the sea breeze on the way back. That made it cooler but harder work. A little bouncy at the mouth of the river off Topsham which was a nice change.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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!
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Ice cream at Lympstone | 2018-08-18 | As the wind was so light to start with, we sailed across to Lympstone for a chocolate and orange ice cream - but they were out of stock! A creamy strawberry was almost as nice.
Then a few bits of decent wind as we sailed back and forth across the estuary in the Wayfarer.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exminster bike ride | 2021-10-16 | Your activity description here
Tags:
SYC
|
| Breezy day's sail | 2015-04-13 | A decent wind. Started mostly about F5 ending up more like a F4. One reef in and a great sail. Anne Knight joined us for the second half of the sail. With 3 on board, we took out the reef in the genoa. Quite a good average speed for an old Wayfarer and no tidal assistance.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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
Tags:
SYC
|
| River Clyst paddling | 2023-06-09 | Up the river Clyst for a couple of miles and then back via Topsham.
There was still more navigable water to be explored on the Clyst but left that for next time.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Out to sea dinghy cruise | 2021-06-12 | About 16 boats sailed down from SYC to the Pole Sands and Beach Cafe. Then a little way out to sea (up and down around the safe water mark). A little bouncy for about 100 yards in the swashway as the last of the ebbing tide meet the sea breeze. Comparatively little screaming heard from the crew.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Thalmia to Topsham | 2019-10-16 | Up to Trouts at Topsham on Thalmia ready for her winter lift out.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Round to Topsham | 2019-02-17 | Round to Topsham with a stop at SYC on the way back.
Lost miles by forgetting to re-start the GPS after leaving Topsham - doh!
Tags:
SYC
|
| Dart to Dawlish Warren | 2022-07-29 | Down to Dawlish Warren with Nigel H on his Dart 18.
Lovely gentle wind.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Back from Brixham to the Exe | 2015-07-19 | A slowish sail back from Brixham to the Exe after the Drew Trophy Race.
Wind was up and down a bit from 5 knots to 15 knots but mostly around about 8 knots.
Sailed past the practise race for the 2015 Wayfarer nationals being sailed out of Brixham Yacht Club. Only 7 boats of the water???
Managed to sail the whole way - whenever we threatened to put the motor on, the wind picked up a bit.
Very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon listenening to Genesis and Pink Floyd on the boat cockpit speakers with the sun out.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exe to Stoke Gabriel | 2023-09-22 | On David K's trimaran Triskelle. From SYC on the Exe up to Stoke Gabriel up the Dart. Interesting nosing up the Dart past Dittisham at low water.
The sail down was fun - F4 gusting F6 as forecast with maybe only one squall being a bit higher than that.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Powderham bike ride | 2021-08-31 | Down to SYC to do some race webcam fiddling.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Down to SYC | 2019-10-16 | Down to SYC to help Derek put Thalmia to bed for the winter
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC cycle ride | 2020-07-25 | Down to SYC for some weather station fettling
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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!
Tags:
SYC
|
| October dinghy cruise | 2015-10-10 | An iffy weather forecast (F4 gusting F5 with occasional F6) didn't tie up with the conditions at the start time so we went out with one reef. In the end, it turned out to be a lovely sail.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Short Wayfarer sail | 2023-05-07 | Not much wind so just a short Wayfarer sail up the estuary a little way.
Docking arms now fitted to new launching trolley.
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC network fettling | 2021-04-26 | Down to SYC to poke the network
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exeter and back | 2018-01-28 | First time on the bike after the gears were mended. All good.
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC to Topsham SC | 2016-06-11 | A paddle up the Exe from SYC to Topsham Sailing Club and back. First paddle of the year - a poor do indeed!
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Budleigh Sail | 2023-05-01 | A gorgeous sail in Derek H's Fulmar. Out and along towards Budliegh. With the sun out and the wind gently rising and falling between about 8 and 16 knots, it was a gorgeous May Day sail.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exeter and back | 2017-12-26 | Easy ride on teh way out. Wet and windy on the way back. Stopped at SYC on the way back to fix the webcam and weather PC. Weather station recording 20 knots of wind right on the nose for the remaining part of the journey home.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Drew Trophy 2016 | 2016-07-23 | An SYC yacht race with a bit of everything. Absolutely no wind at the start so we drifted backwards past the committee boat and took maybe 20 minutes to get over the start line. Then a lovely sail until we were off Babbacombe when everyone (bar Mike H) lost all wind for another 1/2 hour. Then a lovely sail into Brixham Harbour. Second overall. A lovely dinner at Brixham Yacht Club with the Topsham Yacht Club peeps.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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".
Tags:
SYC
|
| Beach cafe sail | 2023-09-29 | Down to the Exmouth Beach Cafe with Malcolm B in his RS Vision. Gusts not as strong as forecasted but the wind was very shifty.
Gorgeous chocolate ice cream at the Beach Cafe (sorry Scooby).
Tags:
SYC
|
| Paddle round the Pole Sands | 2021-04-14 | Lovely paddle down from SYC, around the Pole Sands and back again.
Had a poke around a new channel that seems to be opening up from buoys 7/8. A line between the lifeboat station and just a little east of the Parsons Nose (off Dawlish) gives what seems to be slightly deeper water than the marked channel. However, it doesn't seem as wide and wouldn't be easy to identify coming back into the estuary.
Had a 3.9 metre tide and some wind to push me back to SYC - lush!
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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
|
| Back from SYC | 2022-07-12 | Ride back from SYC
Tags:
SYC
|
| Up river sail | 2016-10-22 | First time out on the Wayfarer for quite some time.
The wind didn't manage the promised F3 / F4 and we ran out of wind trying to get past Topsham.
A seal popped its head out the water about 10 yards away from us and watched us sail by the Turf. Liz would have taken a photo but was too preoccupied trying to retrieve the Double Decker she'd dropped down the centre board casing.
Pleasant sail/drift in the autumn sun.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Another 26 miles | 2016-11-06 | Round to Lympstone and back again. Another windy ride.
Stopped at SYC for the AGM.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exminster bike ride | 2021-10-14 | LIz work and back via SYC
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC music evening | 2019-06-15 | Down to SYC for an music evening.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Beach cafe sail | 2018-06-30 | A lovely sail from SYC down to the Exmouth beach. Glorious sunshine and quite a strong sea breeze to start with.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exeter and back - quite fast | 2017-02-18 | A very fast (for me) ride out to Exeter (averaged 16.2mph - would have been faster but for the hordes of pedestrians on the last couple of miles) and a somewhat slower ride back into quite a strong head wind. Stopped briefly at SYC to watch the dinghy instructor pre-prep course.
Fastest overall average I've managed on the 20 miles "Exeter and back" ride. First time averaging over 14 mph!
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC cruisers lunch | 2017-03-25 | A short ride down to SYC for the yotties lunch. A strong following wind on the way back.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Season's last hurrah | 2022-10-06 | Out with Derek H and Peter S on Derek's Fulmar.
Lovely sail in a variety of winds. Into the wind towards Dawlish and then back downwind towards Start Point.
And a safety boat rescue afterwards at SYC to round out the afternoon.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Dinghy Cruise OOD and safety boat | 2019-06-15 | "Officer of the day" and safety boat driver for a down river dinghy cruise from SYC.
The slightly dodgy forecast ended up being fine and a good sail was had by all.
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC Cruisers Lunch | 2019-03-30 | Down to SYC for the yacht cruisers pre-season gathering and lunch.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Pole Sands Paddling | 2020-08-31 | An ideal days paddling. Wind and tide with us on the way out and on the way back!
Liz fell in when getting out of the kayak on the Pole Sands.
Much screaming from Liz and Scooby when we came back round the outside of the Pole Sands.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Brixham to Exe | 2017-04-23 | A lovely day sail on Derek H's Fulmar.
First a quick trip with Liz on board round Berry Head. Mostly motor sailing and watching the wildlife.
Then, after dropping Liz off back in Brixham, a sail back up to SYC on the Exe. Light winds - but enough to sail most of the way. A chance to "play" with some of setup on Thalmia including the cruising chute and a think about how a preventer might be rigged.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Exmouth Marina to SYC | 2017-05-09 | Bringing Derek's Fulmar back to SYC from Exmouth Marina.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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
|
| Back from SYC | 2020-09-04 | After winch fettling
Tags:
SYC
|
| Powderham bike ride | 2021-10-26 | At SYC decking fettling
Tags:
SYC
|
| SYC bike ride | 2020-07-26 | Down to SYC to look at poorly router
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
| Bike ride into Exeter | 2017-07-02 | A leisurely bike ride into Exeter with Liz. Liz's first time on the bike in a while. Combine that with hundreds of ISCA Academy 10 year olds vying to see which one of them could throw themselves under Liz's front wheel first, and the average speed makes more sense. Stopped at SYC on the way back.
Tags:
SYC
|
| 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.
Tags:
SYC
|
