Swallow Summer Cruise

[Jonathan Stuart]

One Swallow may not make a Summer but you may get lucky with a flight in 2021!

We are looking to put together, if we are allowed by the current restrictions, a Summer South West Coast cruise for the bigger Swallow Yachts, (BC23s, BC26s & Coast 250s) but any and all Swallows could join in if they wish.

We would be looking to put together information on useful slipways, potential berths and dates/times, between Chichester and Falmouth along the way so that anyone could join or leave as they wish, but with a mix of passages in company and day trips from fixed points. Basically, as those who want to take part wish it.

Many will be familiar with the sailing opportunities of The Solent, Poole Bay, Lyme Bay, Torbay and all points West. We certainly aren't suggesting that grandma suck eggs our way, but sometimes it is helpful when negotiating new waters to know there are others with you.

It would not be a race, but there may be opportunities along the way for those who are that way inclined, depending on stopovers.

Nick Orchard and Alistair Conquer will be collating and putting together the event if there is sufficient interest.

If you are interested in taking part, please contact Alistair Conquer (Iris) lawson_conquer@mac.com

[Nick Orchard]

Summer 'Blue Moon' Cruise - update 1

The Organising Committee met this morning and, while on our socially distanced exercise, we came up with a draft proposal for a summer 'Blue Moon' cruise. The full details and a questionnaire are attached for your perusal and comment.

To save you reading the whole thing, a brief summary is that we suggest assembling in Torquay on Tuesday 17 August 2021. Sail to Salcombe 18th and then Plymouth 19th, where we will have front row seats at the National Fireworks Championships. A more leisurely return to Salcombe follows with stops at Bantham and Hope Cove. We then have the opportunity of an optional night sail under the stars and the light of the full Blue Moon to Dartmouth, before returning to Torquay on Monday 23rd. Boat recovery/departure on Tuesday 24th. Other events TBA.

If this is the sort of thing that you would be interested in joining then we invite you to complete the questionnaire at the end of the attachment. Please could you fill the form in and return it even if you have already sent an email to Alistair, as we need to see if we need to make any changes to dates or places so that as many people can join in as possible.

Please return forms by Sunday 14th March at the latest, then we can make the final decision on dates and places by the end of the month. In the meantime please pencil the dates 17-24 August into your diary.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Nick Orchard & Alistair Conquer

p.s. sorry - attachment updated to V2 at 19:15 on Monday - I forgot to ask if you would be trailing or sailing to Torquay. Don't worry about doing the form again if you've already downloaded and/or replied, we can sort that out later.

   

[Nick Orchard]

Thanks to everyone who expressed an interest in joining a Swallow Yachts Summer Cruise in South Devon. Apologies for the delay in getting back to you, but we have been having a little difficulty with some of the arrangements. The main problem has been communication with Torquay Harbour, as the office has been closed during the pandemic. Although staff have been working from home, the phone system doesn't seem to be able to cope, and I spent a week calling every day without being able to get any answer at all, and email only elicited an automated reply. I finally managed to contact them by going down to my boat and calling them on the VHF! Having spoken to their events co-ordinator and putting in an application for the event on the Torbay Events website, the upshot is that 'computer says no'. I have emailed back asking what the problem is but have not yet had a reply. I don't know if they can't accommodate the boats in the harbour (we have carefully avoided being there on the Torbay Regatta weekend) or if the problem is the trailers. If it's just the trailers then we may be able to find alternative parking for them, but if it's the harbour space then there's not much we can do about that.

We are still trying to make the arrangements for the original dates that we proposed, but we just wanted to warn you that we may have to move to another week. This may have the benefit of enabling some people who couldn't make the original dates to join, but equally it may not work for others. Hopefully the easing of lockdown restrictions will improve communications and we'll be able to get things resolved soon. With the cancelling of the Falmouth Raid for the second year running it would be nice to think that we'll be able to hold some sort of event this year, and we all want to get the dates fixed in the diary as soon as possible, so I hope to be able to get back to you with better news shortly.
Nick and Alistair

[Nick Orchard]

I have good news regarding the Summer Cruise – we now have the OK from Torquay Harbour that we can hold the event on the original dates, so you can put the dates August 17-23 a little more firmly in your diary.

The initial problem they had was that under the current Covid restrictions they are not allowed to have boats rafted up in the harbour, and without rafting they don't have the space on the visitors pontoon. However, we have managed to persuade them that by the time we want to be there all such restrictions should have been lifted, so could we not just put the event in tentatively  pending the expected relaxation on June 21? They have come back to us and said that maybe they can put the event in their diary, so I've got the go ahead to carry on with the plans – yippee!

Alistair and I will now start to get more details of parking/slipway/berthing fees etc, and concoct a joining form for you to complete. We are hoping to avoid up-front payments as much as possible, and make everyone responsible for their own fees, but it depends on how the harbour wants to be paid, particularly if we can negotiate group discounts. For example, for event berthing, their current fees only charge for the boat next to the pontoon (£1 per metre per night) but outside rafted boats aren't charged. (That's good I hear you saying, we'll have all the 26's on the inside and everyone else will be free!)

So look out for more updates and joining forms in due course. If you haven't already sent us an Expression of Interest form and you think you'd like to join us, then please complete the form attached to my original post on 01 March 2021 above.

Regards
Nick and Alistair

[Nick Orchard]

Update 4 - Event planning is progressing slowly but surely, communications with Torquay Harbour Events team improving following easing of lockdown.

Those of you who have already expressed an interest in joining should by now have received a link to the Google forms joining form, and thanks to all who have responded so quickly already. If you haven't received the link, or if you haven't previously expressed an interest in coming but would like to join, please could you follow this link https://forms.gle/FW5bXDd9ikDamNoK8 and complete the form. (It helps if you have your sail number, SSR and/or MMSI numbers and a pdf copy of your insurance showing 3rd party liability cover for at least £3m to hand before you start).

I can't give you much more info re trailer or car parking costs yet, as we are still in the process of discussions with Torbay Events, but it looks likely that we'll be able to use a trailer parking area just up the hill from the harbour, and cost should be around £50 for a week. We are also working on some possibly free car parking not far away, but if that fails then a one week Torbay parking permit costs £35. There is a limited amount of on-street non-yellow lines parking within walking distance of the harbour, but in August you'll be doing well to find an unoccupied space.

More news as soon as we have some.

Nick and Alistair