Around the Club

After many months of wondering if, along with their desks and chairs, Jo and Carole were about to fall through the floor of the old Portacabin that served as the Club office, they have at long last moved into the old shop premises facing onto Birmingham Road. Every time the wind blew they expected the office to disintegrate around their ears, which is hardly surprising as the building was past its sell by date when it was obtained about 20 years ago.

I well remember it arriving on a lorry and being lifted over the wall by crane. In true CCYC fashion, a few members of the Site Committee, including Frank Print, Gil McCutcheon and myself set it up on the supporting beams and the shoring up was done with whatever timber was to hand around the Club. The whole operation cost just the hire of the lorry and crane. (I even suspect that was through a friend of a friend, and a drink for the driver!) Freddie Ballard was Secretary at the time and was delighted with his new office, as the roof did not leak. The original office was in what is now the beer store and was decidedly damp. For what was intended as a temporary measure, the Portacabin has done sterling service and will stay for a while longer though, as a general admin store.

On the subject of things falling to pieces, the slipway and winch have been condemned as being unsafe for hauling out boats. This has resulted in some members, whose vessels could not be lifted on the crane having to find alternative winter storage sites. In due course it is hoped that a larger capacity crane can be installed near the head of the existing slip.

The winch used for hauling up is also typical of the early days of the CCYC, as I understand, it originally came off a wartime minesweeper and was in use at the Cowes Boatbuilding Yard. At some stage it was coupled to an electric motor by a chain drive, although the shafts for the handles can still be seen. Controlling the speed of a heavy vessel down the slip, using the winch brake was a tricky business especially at the start of the season, when the brake band was rusty, and more than one boat has received a 'Lifeboat Launch'. Jack Holmes always used to say that the winch was only on loan to the Club, so perhaps if the owner reads this he may care to claim it back!

The Corinthian has always been a self help club, mainly through necessity, as for ever since I can remember money has been tight. If something needed repairing or improvements were being made, then the members set to and provided the labour themselves. For example, when our marina was first being installed, we obtained some second hand greenheart piles which proved to be too short, so Frank Print got out his adze and cut scarf joints on the ends and joined two together. They lasted for years. The cradle was designed by Fred Jermey and built on site by members. This ethos continues today, with a gang of willing volunteers replacing planks and supporting beams on the apron.

However, we can no longer rely on members to maintain the whole fabric of the Club; for one thing Health and Safety would no longer permit some of the things we used to do. Fortunately we never had a serious accident so were never called to account, but in today's society we need to be very mindful of possible litigation. Also we have to bear in mind that members lead very busy lives and do not necessarily have the time to devote to providing working parties nearly every weekend. When the majority of members lived and worked in Cowes it was much easier than today with a large number of mainland members and those living locally not always working in the town. I hope though, that the CCYC will always continue to be a Club where members can be relied on to provide a helping hand when required.

On a more positive note, the General Committees of CCYC, East Cowes Sailing Club and Medina Mariners Association have agreed in principle to a link up through what might be termed a three way reciprocal arrangement.  The idea is to give a combined voice on issues on the river that may affect members of each organisation, to link up on activities such as dinghy and keel boat racing on the river and cruising rallies, possibly set up fishing competitions, quiz nights or other social events and maybe do a joint annual event on the river based along the lines of the old Folly Regatta. See here for more details.

Those of you who have not been members for a great number of years may be wondering why this report is written by 'Artificer's Apprentice'. Well, it goes back to the very first editions of the Club magazine 'The Ark' when short pieces under the title of 'Site Notes' appeared written by the Chairman of the Site Committee, Phil Baker. At that time the Club was without a Bosun so Phil signed his notes 'Artificer', having decided it was a suitable nautical term for one responsible for the more mechanical side of club life. After several years Phil's pen ran out of ink and he asked me to take over the column, and having served on the Site Committee under him, it seemed natural that I should become the Artificer's Apprentice' and the article extended to cover not just the Site but all aspects of what is going on around the CCYC and the port of Cowes.

Looking round the site just before going to print I noticed an X Boat on a cradle - X88 'Ting How'. It is really good to see one of this famous Solent class back in the Club as it is many years since Reggie Saunder's 'Hunters Moon' was last up on the apron. For those of you that are not familiar with the class, the XODs (or X Boats as they are often called) are traditional 21 ft carvel built keel boats with planking of mahogany or pitch pine, designed in 1909 by A. Westmacott for the Royal Motor Yacht Club, which at that time had its headquarters at Hythe. Originally gaff rigged, but today are Bermudian although retaining a wooden mast. Class rules are very strict which enables early examples of the class to compete successfully with modern boats. For many years they have been the largest class during Cowes Week.

Artificers Apprentice