Author Archives: Commodore

2022 – Sardinia Rally – Sept 24th

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Following a visit by Jonathan of Nautilus Yachting to our November meeting we can now confirm the date for the Sardinia Rally will be September 24th 2022.

The meeting was a great sucess and at the time of writing we have 33 members interested spread across 7 Yachts. Copied below are details of the proposed itinerary courtesy of Nautilus Yachting.

Suggested 1 week sailing itinerary from Portisco

DAY 1 : Portisco

Portisco lies on the jet set Costa Smeralda (“Emerald Coast”), an area buzzing with designer shopping, piazzas and stunning views.

Day 2 : Cannigione (15nm)

A sheltered harbour with good seafood restaurants. If you keep going along the Caprera coast, the very deep bay of Porto Palma offers the best sheltered free mooring in the area. Here you can safely stay the night whatever the wind.

DAY 3 : La Maddelena (6nm)

Visit a couple of small bays in S.Stefano and on the mainland, then sail to La Maddalena harbour on the main island of the Archipelago. La Maddelena is a traditional fishing harbour, picturesque and bustling, but sometimes in peak season the small harbour is very crowded, so you may have to overnight in Palau on the mainland.

DAY 4 : Lavezzi (15nm)

A marine park with fabulous snorkelling and diving.

DAY 5 : Bonifacio (21nm)

Bonifacio is on the south coast of Corsica. A dramatic entrance through the cliffs opens into a beautiful bay with anchorages and moorings on the town quay.

DAY 6 : Porto Massimo (16nm)

A small harbour on the north eastern coast of La Maddelena.

DAY 7 : Portisco (18nm)

Sardinia 1 week sailing holiday itinerary

If your interested in joining our rally please let us know ASAP.

2022 Spring Rally to Itchenor Sailing Club – April 23/24

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I have made a provisional booking for dinner at the Itchenor Sailing Club for the evening of Saturday April 23rd. We last visited the club in 2018 when we had an excellent meal and a magical experience later that evening sitting in the channel.

Itchenor Sailing Club
Itchenor Sailing Club

Highwater times for Itechnor below:
* Saturday 23rd  – 17:52
* Sunday 24th  – 19:04

The late highwater time affords an opportunity for club members to compete for the OXO Rose Bowl trophy have lunch and then cross the Chichester Bar on a rising tide that afternoon.

The club has mooring bouys out in the river which are maintained by the Chichester Harbour Conservacy, once I have an idea of numbers I’ll contact them to arrange a group booking. The ISC also have a water taxi available.

The ISC Club House also has accommodation available for those wishing to attend but unable to make it via Yacht.

Itchenor Sailing Club

More details to follow

2022 Visit to the Little Ship Club Jan 25th moved to Feb 22nd

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UPDATE: Due to the rampant spread of Omnicron I have pushed back our visit to the Little Ship Club to Tuesday February 22nd, On Tuesday nights, the LSC have their regular club night and on this occasion they have a talk scheduled by Miles Featherstone Deputy Harbour Master of the Port of London Authority.

By kind invitation of the Little Ship Club Commodore Barrie J Martin, Oxted Offshore have been invited to pay a visit to their club. The LSC is the only sailing club by the Thames in the City of London and has been providing unique entertainment to sailors since 1926.

Little Ship Club London
Little Ship Club London

The LSC run regular events at the clubhouse, please see the following link for a full list: https://www.littleshipclub.co.uk/events/club. The LSC is equipped with a full bar and kitchen and are able to provide dinner which is usually a fixed menu (main course with vegetarian option and dessert or cheeseboard) for under £20/head. Please note the kitchen needs to know if your planning to stay for dinner a week before the event.

More details to follow…

To find out more about the club, please visit https://littleshipclub.co.uk/

2021 Freezer Rally December 10th

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With little on the sailing calendar in December OXO members have been tradionally getting together for a nautical day out and usually a long lunch. Excursions in the past have included the Island Sailing Club on the Isle of White and the Royal Thames Yacht Club in Mayfair which Founded in 1775 is the oldest continuously operating yacht club in the world.

This year we visited Greenwich for a tour of the National Maritime Museum to be followed by Lunch at the aptly named Trafalgar Tavern, situated next to the River Thames. An OXO freezer rally of course would not be the same without some sort of water based transport and so we got to Greenwich on the Thames Clipper just in time to see a Tower Bridge lift.

Most of us arrived at the Museum at 11:00 in time for the now notorious tedious group photo.

The National Maritime Museum – Greenwich

After working up an appetite at the museum we wandered down the road to the The Trafalgar Tavern where we had the the Hardy Suite reserved. This is one of their upstairs private upstairs dining rooms which have great views across Greenwich and the River Thames.

The food was excellent, the quiz tricky and as you can see from the faces of our members it was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

2021 Trafalgar Tavern Festive Menu
2021 Trafalgar Tavern Festive Menu
The Pickle Room at the Trafalgar Tavern
Example Room at the Trafalgar Tavern

October is Boat Jumble time

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OXTED OFFSHORE BOAT JUMBLE / 20TH OCT 2021

With the end of the sailing season quickly approaching its time to cast overboard all those gadets that you never used and make more stowage for all those other things you have have your eye on.

One Mans Junk is another Man’s Treasure

Yotam Ottolenghi 

With that in mind I am officially designating our October meetup on the 20th of October 2021 at the Carpenters Arms as a “Boat Jumble” so take a peak in those lockers and fish out anything you no longer want.

Here are some examples of things you may no longer want:

  • Anchors
  • Bouys
  • Books
  • Charts
  • Electronics
  • Fenders,
  • Guidebooks
  • Nets
  • Oars
  • etc. etc.

So do bring them along, or let me know and I’ll pick them up from you, and lets see what we can do to get them into new hands.

Force 9 South Coast Lutine Charter

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Last October we were able to charter Lutine from Lloyd’s Yacht Club for an out of season four day weekend which proved to be quite eventful due to the weather. Working through the weather windows we managed to get to Weymouth via Poole from Gosport.

The trip was enjoyed by all and so early in 2021 I booked Lutine again with the plan of getting to the Chanel Islands. Due to Covid it was decided that the Chanel Islands wouldn’t work and Dartmouth would be our destination.

With the weather closing in and the forecast looking grim we departed Gosport and had an uneventful sail down to Yarmouth.

05:30 Saturday 2nd of October. After a lovely meal in Yarmouth involving hot rocks and raw meat we were up before day break in order to reach Weymouth before 12:00 at which point 55kn gusts were predicted.

Lutine berthed in Yarmouth

Safety tethers were issued to the crew partly because of night sailing but also because of the poor forecast.

Five hours and 38 miles later after a very wet, windy and bumpy sail into 30kn of wind we arrived in Weymouth around 11:00. With two reefs in the main Lutine managed the conditions with ease and reached speeds upto 12kn. Special mentions go to Bill who had prepared Marmalade rolls for breakfast and also to Peter who navigated us safely around the live firing range in Lulworth Cove.

Mark looking after the Starbord Winch

Weymouth wasn’t very busy so managed to secure C2 berth which is located right in front of the Harbour office and facilities. The afternoon was spent catching up on sleep and drying out our gear.

Drying out

After a lazy afternoon and several pints in local hostileries we had an excellent dinner in Ming Wha, although 9 hungry sailors in a Chinese restaurant is always a recipe for confusion as you can imagine.

We have been using the Splitwiseapp app to divi up the bill between us, if only we could work it out.

After a tot of navy 100% proof rum we headed to our bunks for a good rest.

Next morning we woke to the smell of bacon and sizzling sausages being prepared by Kevin R who gets a special mention as odly enough he doesn’t eat meat.

Breakast for Hungy Sailors
The perks of being Commodore – Coffee in bed

We departed at 11:00 and set sail downwind for Lymington in what promised to be another fast sail in strong winds.

Forrce Nine Sail from Weymouth to Lymington

We were not disappointed, sailing under a reefed jib alone we reached speeds of 15 knots surfing down building seas in severe gales that gusted 45 knots.

Back in Lymington we strugled to find a restaurant open late on Sunday until eventually striking lucky with an excellent Sunday roast at the Ship Inn

After more heavy rain overnight we set sail East back to Gosport making the most of the persistent 27kn winds blowing in from the West.

OXO Lutine Crew back in Gosport

20th Anniversary

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The 22nd of September 2021 was the 20th Anniversary for the club and so to celebrate our monthly meeting was turned into a special gathering. 20 years is an incredible milestone for a club as many fall by the wayside well before.

The celebration was held at The Crown Inn, Old Oxted where the 3 founding members of the club used to meet on an monthly basis and organise sailing trips.

Celebrating 20 year of Oxted Offshore

The event was well attended and we enjoyed plates of nibbles laid on by landlord Alan who remembers the first meetings taking place. Henry and Roger, two of the founders of the club entertained us with stories from when the club first started and we finished with a toast to Oxted Offshore and here’s to another 20 years.

The Crown Inn - Old Oxted
The Crown Inn – Old Oxted

RYA Day Skipper Practical Motor Course

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I took a wander over to the dark side earlier this month and joined three other OXO members on a four day RYA Day Skipper Practical Motor Course. Being a yachtman I’ve never shown much interest in motor boats however our club does have an active motor boat section so I though it time to dip my toe.

202109 RYA Day Skipper Practical Motor Course
202109 RYA Day Skipper Practical Motor Course

The course was run by Mendez Marine and our instructor Monty took us through the RYA sylabus from engine checks through to nightime navigation. Based at Swanwick on the Hamble river our time was spent on Fenlad Dancer a Princess 368 fitted with two very large Cummings engines which could power the boat to 20 knots.

As well as covering the standard elements such as man over board, the course was very practical and focused heavily on building skills maneouvering the boat into some very tight spots taking into account the effects of wind a tide. Fortunately with our existing sailing experience we were able to tick off a lot of the RYA sylabus quite quickly and this allowed more time behind the controls.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the course and learned a lot of new skills along the way. My biggest take away was discovering just how maneoverable two engines can make a yacht when applied correctly.

View from the Flybridge

2021 Summer Rally Report

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Five boats and four competivive crews got together over the weekend of 21st/22nd of August to compete for the ARTI cup which was last contested in 2019 when it was won by Lesley Brooman on Jumunu.

Amadla Kulu ARTI 2021 Track

Starting at 08:15 between MV RipTide, which was acting as the Committee boat, and North Sturbridge Cardinal, all four yachts headed east against the wind and tide. Winds were light but steady at 10 knots gusting 15 until around 12:00 when they dropped, fortuntately the tide around the bottom of the Isle of Wight was favourable and pushed the rally past the St’ Catherines point.

Lutine on the Lean

Our final destination was Lymington however after turning the corner around the Bridge Bouy and passing the Needles the tide was against and the yachts slowly made it past the Jack in a Box bouy in front of Lymington. Lutine had a very fast run and completed the course at 15:14 having logged 48 miles.

Commodores cocktails took place on Lutine and Commodore Jeremy Taylor announced the results which saw Lutine take Line Honours, but after taking into account handicap the race was awarded to Stuart Coia on Azanti.

Commodores Cocktails on Lutine
YachtElapsed MinutesHandicapCorrected Time
Azanti4500.937421
Nick Knack4570.937428
Lutine4041.142461
Amandla Kulu4811.120538
Results

I’m pleased to say everyone enjoyed the race and evening dinner in the Mayflower, Lymington and are looking forward to the next event.

Compliments on the Whats App Rally Group
Commodore Jeremy Taylor sailing Lutine
Report by Commodore Jeremy Taylor

Lutine October 2020

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The good news was that with the lack of weekday corporate charters this Covid summer, Lutine was available for a 4-day weekend charter. The bad news was that Storm Alex was forecast for that weekend.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we were limited to a crew of 6. This included the Commodore, Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore and a Past Commodore – Howard, Jeremy, Kevin, Richard, Mark and Paul plus our superb Lutine skipper James. 

The storm was due to hit hard early on Friday so we delayed our arrival until midday, by which time the winds had subsided and the rain abated, After a briefing from James, we set off west along the Solent with wind and tide in our favour. Against all predictions, the sun came out and the wind dropped requiring a touch of engine to get past the Needles, where we saw a pod of dolphins in the calm seas.

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