Rally Report by Peter Manning

At the beginning of our summer rally this year we were visited by Sarah Norbury, the editor of Practical Boat Owner (see Summer Rally Report). Our connection with PBO continued at our East Coast Rally with a request by David Harding, PBO's boat tester ...

... to come to the rally and spend Saturday photographing the boats out sailing. He is proposing to write an article on cambered junk sails and so on the Friday preceding the rally
he sailed on Tim Metcalfe's Kingfisher 26 CHOPSTICKS along with Chris Scanes who made Tim's new cambered sails.

This years rally was held over the weekend of 25 and 26 July and was attended by 28 members and guests.

We were fortunate to have seven boats at the rally this year. Tim Metcalfe brought his Kingfisher 26 CHOPSTICKS, sporting her new cambered sail. Bob Ager brought his Hunter Liberty ORLANDO fitted with a sail with jointed battens, whilst John Dinnin brought his Hunter Liberty ALOUETTE fitted with new cambered junk sails. Philip Corridan and Martin Lloyd brought their Etap 26 TAIMEN making her first appearance at the rally. Tom Wallace came in his Virgo Voyager 23 RAMM III and Paul Tucker brought his Varne 28 BARNY.

We also had two smaller boats this year. Tony Connellan brought his Skipper 17 HOUND OF THE SEAS and Martin Roberts brought his Bolger 15 APPLECROSS, a rather unusual design but most practical. It looked a really solid and safe boat to sail in.

After a pleasant lunch at the marina bar and catching up with members and friends since last year, we joined the boats for sailing on the Blackwater. David Harding wanted to take some pictures of the boats sailing, to include in his article on cambered junk sails which we hope to see in PBO sometime in the future, so skippers were asked to try and keep the fleet close by.

Out on the water there were light winds, blue skies and summer clouds and junk rigged yachts everywhere but not sailing in very close company. David Harding and I were on TAIMEN with Martin Lloyd hoping to take photographs. However, there was a slight problem. How do you get seven yachts happily sailing around in the same general area but not together, close enough to be photographed?

We noticed that there was another Hunter Liberty with the original cat rig sailing in the area so we thought it would be a good idea if we could get a photograph of two junk rigged Liberty's sailing in a line with the cat rig. What a challenge that proved to be. We could get two of the boats sailing together in shot but the third just managed to keep itself far enough away to be out of shot. However, with the use of a few unconventional hand signals, we eventually managed to get the three boats sailing in a line. A great sight...

Buoyed up with our success we then set about trying to get all the junk rigged boats sailing together for a photo shoot. As even greater challenge, but in the end we succeeded., or so we thought. Just as we were about to take a shot, one of the yachts would disappear behind another. The answer was for Martin to sail TAIMEN across the front of the fleet. This way we had a chance of getting all the boats in view. This worked quite well and eventually we ended up with some great photographs.

After returning to the marina we got ready for our evening barbecue at the Bradwell Quay Yacht Club. However, there was a potential problem. On going to the yacht club to check that all was ready I found that we had been double-booked with another sailing club who were also having a barbecue. However, with all credit to both the Bradwell Quay Yacht Club and the visiting club, we were catered for and had an enjoyable barbecue.

Our guest speaker this year was our very own Chris Scanes who gave a very interesting, informative and illustrated talk on the merits of cambered junk sails and how he makes them. Cambered sails are an interesting and effective alternative to jointed battens although do require more material in the making and are therefore more expensive but they may well be more suitable for long distance cruisers.

On Sunday, we sailed to Brightlingsea for lunch at the Colne Yacht Club. Martin Roberts decided not to take APPLECROSS and joined one of the other yachts. Tony Connellan on the other hand, decided to take HOUND OF THE SEAS even though it meant punching the tide both on the outward and homeward journeys.

The tides were not very favourable this year, with low water at Bradwell at 0930 hours and being one of the lowest tides of the year. The boats left as soon as there was enough water which meant that those with a deep draft had to wait until nearly 1100 hours before leaving. Consequently we were quite late arriving at the Colne Yacht Club. Notwithstanding, the Club catered for us and we had a very nice lunch.

We had to keep an eye on the clock to ensure we left in time to arrive back at Bradwell with enough water to get into the marina.

On reboarding RAM III after lunch, Tom Wallace, who on Saturday had suffered a slight mishap when his halyard accidentally slipped through one of the masthead sheaves, found his woes were not at an end. Now he had to contend with a broken joint in one of his battens. After trying to fit a replacement and with time pressing, he decided to return to Bradwell under engine and fix the problems there.

All the boats managed to get back to marina safely and we bade farewell to those leaving at the end of the rally. Some of the boat owners and long distance travellers stayed a further night.

Whilst in Brightlingsea, Tom had decided to purchase a new halyard so, on his return, a working party was assembled and Martin Lloyd volunteered (or was he volunteered) to go up the mast and reeve the new halyard. This was easier said than done. First of all we had to secure the boat so the mast would not sway with Martin at the top. Then we had to get him to the top and secure him. The problem was the only rope to get him to the top of the mast was the halyard we wanted to replace. After due discussion, a system was devised whereby Martin, on getting to the top of the mast, could secure himself leaving the halyard free to be dropped and replaced. All went well and Martin managed to tie himself off safely at the top of the mast and the halyard was replaced. Earlier Tom had also managed to replace the broken joint in one of the battens.

With the job well done, we all retired to the marina bar for a well earned dinner before retiring tired, but having enjoyed another successful if eventful East Coast Rally.

Roll on 2010. Who knows which boats may be at next year's rally!!!

This rally report and related photos have been taken
from the Junk Rig Association Newsletter 53.