Our Young Sailors are on Johanna Lucretia This Week!

11 of WQSC’s young dinghy sailors and their leader, Sue Coomber boarded the Island Trust’s tall ship “Johanna Lucretia” yesterday at Plymouth Yacht Haven Marina.

They will be spending the week on a sailing trip along the coast and we will be watching their progress as they go. This is where they were this morning.

We hope to receive more photos, so look out for the next Posts!

We’re Back on the Water!

The club’s Friday night dinghy training season started last week. There was a good turnout as plenty of previous sailors from last year as well as around 8 or so new joiners took part.

It was a lively evening on the water with occasionally gusty conditions resulting in a few capsizes keeping the support boats busy and several young sailors were whizzed off the water early due to the cold but all went well and the evening was greatly enjoyed by all both on and off the water.

The hot chocolate at the end of the evening went down particularly well!

Special Mooring Barge Duty Last Weekend

Cutting a large and very heavy tree off club member, Andy Anderson’s mooring

Last Saturday the club’s mooring barge was put to work on some novel tasks.

  • They upgraded two members’ moorings by fitting brand new orange Hippo buoys made from solid foam with a top ring.
  • They wrangled a very large tree away from Andy Anderson’s mooring. The tree had become wrapped round the mooring and showed no signs of moving on its own accord. So it was painstakingly cut off in several pieces.
  • Then they headed off to South Hooe to cut the upper limbs off another tree that was stuck in the mud in deep water and threatening to be a hazard to vessels navigating the river.
Fitting a new bright orange Hippo mooring buoy

Luckily the weather was fine and a successful conclusion to the work was much appreciated by all those involved.

Our First Winter Talk – 50°S to 50°N or Falklands to Blighty!

John and Sue Chadwick will be giving our first Winter Talk on Monday 14th February at Bere Alston Bowling Club starting at 7:30pm.  Bar open from 7:00pm.  Entry fee £2.

This is the return leg of the voyage, begun in 2016 from the Tamar, that took John and Sue and Dandelion down to Spain and Portugal, through the Atlantic islands and on to Brazil and ultimately into the Beagle Channel at the very bottom of South America and the stormy waters of Tierra del Fuego.

This leg will take us from Stanley back up to Brazil, French Guyana, Suriname and on to the Caribbean, the Turks and Caicos, Cuba and the Azores before making finally landfall off the Lizard in 2019.

We shall hear about the usual cocktail of: bad weather, awkward authorities and gear breakages with one or two startling encounters with local fauna!

Please Note that as a fundraiser for our Junior Sailors’ Tall Ships voyage we will be selling snacks and cakes before and after the talk.  So please bring your spare change to support this life changing voyage.  Â£3 a plate of snacks + 50p a cake.  There will also be raffle tickets for sale.

Come along and join us if you can!



Our Late 2021 Award Winners!

These awards have just been presented, following their engraving.

Commodore’s Cup (awarded at the discretion of the Commodore) – Katherine Duncan

Varley Trophy (Awarded by the committee for behind-the-scenes contribution) – Steve Kirby

Cruising Cup – (Awarded by the committee for a cruise of note) – Andy, Jane and Thomas Morton

Cruiser Narrative Award – (For the best adult Bulletin entry) – Martin Hunter

Well Done for a Successful Work Party!

A number of jobs were successfully completed at the Hub Club by the Work Party volunteers on Sunday 10th October.

The weather was perfect as many people turned out to help with the trimming, strimming, painting, weeding, table mending and general maintenance of the Hub Club site.

The club dinghies were also de-rigged ready for the Winter.

It was great to see so many people helping out – and a big thankyou to all!

Jelly & Ice-creams for the Dinghy Sailors

Leo, Ben Watt and Ralph are given their prizes by the Commodore Doug Hinge

On Friday 1st October, the dinghy sailors held their traditional End-Of-Season “Jelly & Ice-creams Party” at Bere Ferrers Village Hall.

The evening started off with a quiz with some edible prizes that were very popular amongst the younger members. This was followed by a meal with pasties and then the jelly and ice-creams (other deserts were available!).

There was much laughter and frivolity for all ages and the event was capped off by the awarding of prizes as follows:

Best junior sailor: Ben

Best over 18: Leo

Most improved junior: Ralph

Best attendance: Ben

It’s been a great year for the Dinghy Sailors with many new members joining their Friday evening training sessions and taking part in the sailing events up and down river.

Late Season Weekend Party on the River Yealm

On Saturday 25th September, a dozen cruisers from the club made their way to the upper pontoon on the River Yealm for a last get-together before the end of the season.

The weather was kind to us and we had a very sociable time on each other’s boats before a group went ashore for a fine meal in the Dolphin Pub at Newton Ferrers.

It was a great way to round off the season and we had a lovely sail home the next day with mostly fine weather and fair winds.

Last Friday Evening Dinghy Training

Friday 24th September was our final evening this year for dinghy training, as the nights are getting darker.

There was not a lot of wind but that was made up for by the enthusiasm of all the young sailors. They had lots of fun swimming and messing about on the water!