Page 75 - Masthead - Salcombe Yacht Club 2019 Yearbook

SYC APPRECIATE INSPIRING TALKS
Conrad Humphries Recreating History
Salcombe Estuary Rowing Club invited Conrad Humphries to SYC. Round the World Sailor and Vendee Globe Skipper he has
a captivating love for the Ocean. Those fortunate to hear Conrad expand on his “Mutiny” journey in 2016 to recreate Captain Bligh’s celebrated open boat voyage after the mutiny on HMS Bounty in 1789 were in awe.
Sailing through the Great Barrier Reef danger was ever present. The crew had to be alert to the sound of breaking surf and when
the course safe passage was overshot fast action was needed to gybe. Calmly but quickly; all senses alert to the dangers close by. On passing through the reef past hardships were ready to be forgotten, until Mutiny was becalmed in searing temperatures. The crew were exhausted, severely dehydrated and relationships were strained. Then reality came to the fore and real debates and action on survival had to override the replication of Bligh’s journey.
Will Henderson challenges our understanding of Sailing Rules
Those attending Will’s Rules Talk anticipated a clear-cut presentation where they could sit back and listen to a Master extoll years of experience sailing to the front of the fleet. They were however surprised to find themselves in the Spotlight. Cleverly Will split the room into teams and gave them often occurring racing scenarios
in Salcombe, to ponder which boat had right-of-way and what action was permissible under the Rules of Sailing. Each team had to present their findings to the room. This provided interactive learning and an extremely entertaining morning. All agreed that we should challenge ourselves to learn the Rules and sail by them. Watch out for more Rules Debates coming soon...
Tim Law Sailing with Passion
Tim Law kindly shared his sailing journey with both the Adults and the Saturday Cadet Racing Crew. He has achieved many distinguished awards as can be seen in our SYC Roll of Honour.
The sum of many parts adds up to an extraordinary ‘whole’ we learnt with Tim at the helm. Attention to detail in the preparation has very much been part of Tim’s success in addition to his raw talent. From personal fitness, sailing kit, equipment to venue familiarisation Tim is driven to succeed. He challenged others to look at the fine detail. Tim’s wife Bernadette has been a key shore crew, supporting Tim’s busy sailing diary which takes him all over the world. Thank you for the inspiration Tim.
Lessons learnt:
• Beware of complacency • Be Proactive
• Harness the Little Gusts
Positive Points:
• Switching Off technology for an extensive period
• The human capacity to endure
• The people you least expect can turn out to be capable
• The best crew members have the capacity to listen and learn
The Bounty Project set up by Conrad following the voyage celebrates Captain Bligh’s tenacity and educates the next generation.
The Prince of Tides William Thomson
William Tomson shared his inquisitive look at Tides in the most brilliant tide talk the Chart Room has heard. Everyone learnt something new about this fascinating and relentlessly predictable movement of water across our Planet. To help understand the effects of the currents moving eastwards up the English Channel with the HW times passing each day progressively later from Salcombe to Dartmouth, Exmouth and so on up the Channel William neatly flicked a rope in front of us so we could see the travelling energy and the motion of the peak travelling forward across the width of the Chart Room. The height of the tide will always be the same relative to
the phase of the moon in any one place. Hence, we always get the highest Spring tides in Salcombe in the early morning and evening.
SYC Stories 73