Welcome to the Cornish Crabbers Club
For owners and admirers of all boats built by Cornish Crabbers
Retired Commodore's Message - Winter 2015
In such an amazingly short time, the Club has got off to a great start. I am able to report we have a ‘getting-much-healthier’ revenue stream from advertisers about to go live on our website, potential rally sponsorship is in the offing, and sales of Club merchandise is growing. Combined they very nearly cover our fixed costs – mainly rally insurance and website hosting. We are confident that our new website facility ‘Member Sales’ will fill the gap, generating additional income via the new ‘donation’ buttons. We think it a preferable option to paying a fixed fee or percentage, as it will encourage more members to use the facility . And we are confident that Crabber owners will do the right thing and make a small donation when they sell something.
In addition to the Solent and Poole Rally in 2016, something very much on the cards for next July is the opportunity to join in a slightly more ambitious cruise to Ireland, starting in Dartmouth. Details will be announced in the weeks ahead. I hope that when the itinerary is finalised, those of you who live in South Wales, the South West and Southern Ireland, will join up for a leg or two, when Julian Biggs reaches your home waters. You will be made very welcome, even if you have no intention of crossing the Irish Sea!
The Club’s principal aspiration for 2016 is to replicate elsewhere the model we have in the South. We see significant pockets of owners and enthusiasts on the East Coast, the South West and elsewhere. These reservoirs of owners may already be members of other clubs and associations and possibly see no need to get involved; I hope to persuade you that getting involved in 2016 is worth it, primarily because there is a long tradition of owners upgrading to something larger in the Crabber range as their family or sailing aspirations grow. Indeed, those of you who already own larger Crabber models cannot fail to have spotted that there are numerous ways the same ‘model’ has been rigged, fitted out and equipped as manufacturing, technology and customer demands evolved over the production span. For example, I am aware of six different ways the furling lines run on Crabber 24s; even going so far as to experiment with three of them;
Furthermore there is, I feel, no better way of growing your seamanship skills and confidence than by sailing in company. Doing so gives you the opportunity to see how well you and your boat perform alongside similar models, and by emulation discover that a simple adjustment here and there or asking for advice over a beer while at anchor after a day’s sailing, can make a worthwhile difference. The racers among you will already know this; but outside racing, there are numerous owners who do not get the same opportunity to learn.
So may I encourage you to get involved. Consider placing a request on the ‘Let’s go sailing’ section of the Forum to meet up with others nearby; suggest a location – your sailing club or harbour pub. Perhaps offer yourself as crew or make a request for crew, if you would like to join in or organise a Rally local to you and are short handed; that is after all, what this Club is all about; fellowship and sailing. If you need help with an idea or assistance organising something, your Committee is standing by and expectant!
In the meantime, I wish you peace over Christmas and the time needed over the winter months to fettle your Crabber to perfection; and for the coming season, I wish you fair winds, sunshine on your back and good craic.
Simon D’Arcy, Commodore
So may I encourage you to get involved. Consider placing a request on the ‘Let’s go sailing’ section of the Forum to meet up with others nearby; suggest a location – your sailing club or harbour pub. Perhaps offer yourself as crew or make a request for crew, if you would like to join in or organise a Rally local to you and are short handed; that is after all, what this Club is all about; fellowship and sailing. If you need help with an idea or assistance organising something, your Committee is standing by and expectant!
In the meantime, I wish you peace over Christmas and the time needed over the winter months to fettle your Crabber to perfection; and for the coming season, I wish you fair winds, sunshine on your back and good craic.
Simon D’Arcy, Commodore
I write this in brilliant sunshine at anchor off Thorney Island; perhaps my last outing in 2015 if it is going to be as cold as many have prophesied. My thoughts are interrupted by the haunting cries of oystercatchers feeding nearby that momentarily distract me reflecting on the Club’s growing membership, now well into the eight hundreds; the most successful Solent cruise yet; our professional looking website and well-frequented and buzzy Forum, where ideas new and old are exchanged, and where owners and enthusiasts ask questions and get answers on subjects ranging from rigging tension to engine servicing, and from mast rake to sacrificial anodes. And where cruising plans evolve, and hundreds of pictures of Crabbers large and small, in every conceivable situation are published. Along with the other Committee Members I feel justifiably proud and rather honoured to be part of our little sailing community that is the extended Crabber family.
None of the above would be possible without a small band of enthusiasts who form the Committee whom I would like to thank personally. Our Secretary Steve Evatt, who has since our formation, found the time to run the club’s day to day affairs, ensuring that all the legal, insurance and logistical details are taken care of; and might I add, has done so in the most professional, affable manner. My thanks too go to David Hippey who has, despite living miles away from the rest of the Committee in Scotland, built our excellent and continually improving website, and also oversees and moderates our busy Forum. And finally may I take the opportunity to heap praise on Julian Biggs, who organises the annual Rally in the South, for the huge effort he puts into planning and coordinating some 20 Crabbers over a ten-day cruise; the complexity of berthing, feeding and watering so many is mind boggling! The 2016 Rally, already close to capacity, will assemble in Yarmouth; the fleet then sailing on to Poole before finishing in Bembridge with a number of surprises in between! Thanks also to our Treasurer Zoe Allister, who keeps our accounts in order, simple though they are, and finally to Peter Thomas, Managing Director of Cornish Crabbers LLP, who has been incredibly generous with his time and the use of his Hamble office for meetings, and who has been personally underwriting the club from its embryonic stage until the club becomes self funding - which it nearly is.
None of the above would be possible without a small band of enthusiasts who form the Committee whom I would like to thank personally. Our Secretary Steve Evatt, who has since our formation, found the time to run the club’s day to day affairs, ensuring that all the legal, insurance and logistical details are taken care of; and might I add, has done so in the most professional, affable manner. My thanks too go to David Hippey who has, despite living miles away from the rest of the Committee in Scotland, built our excellent and continually improving website, and also oversees and moderates our busy Forum. And finally may I take the opportunity to heap praise on Julian Biggs, who organises the annual Rally in the South, for the huge effort he puts into planning and coordinating some 20 Crabbers over a ten-day cruise; the complexity of berthing, feeding and watering so many is mind boggling! The 2016 Rally, already close to capacity, will assemble in Yarmouth; the fleet then sailing on to Poole before finishing in Bembridge with a number of surprises in between! Thanks also to our Treasurer Zoe Allister, who keeps our accounts in order, simple though they are, and finally to Peter Thomas, Managing Director of Cornish Crabbers LLP, who has been incredibly generous with his time and the use of his Hamble office for meetings, and who has been personally underwriting the club from its embryonic stage until the club becomes self funding - which it nearly is.
before settling with one that made furling the jib considerably easier in blustery conditions that involved a simple ‘billy’, rove to advantage, that could be attached quickly when conditions merited it.
I saw it fitted on an old gaffer in Whitehaven and after photographing it, copied the design later. Yes, even for someone as long in tooth as me, there is always something new to learn!
I saw it fitted on an old gaffer in Whitehaven and after photographing it, copied the design later. Yes, even for someone as long in tooth as me, there is always something new to learn!