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Barry Yacht Club

Soling Fleet

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Barry Yacht Club could be described as the last place in Britain you would expect to find a fleet of Solings. With the channel having the second highest tidal range in the world, this can make for interesting sailing due to the strong tides. All the boats are moored in the harbour and are all anti fouled (except Marshalla). The boats are moored on trot moorings and sit in the mud for 6hours over the low water period. By using the Yacht club trolley the boats can be easily scrubbed off to stop the build up of mud. Once scrubbed off (for an event) the boats can be moored for short periods in the middle of the harbour where the boats stay afloat.
The first Soling to come to the club came when Martin Bowmer moved from Weston to Barry. His Soling Incisor is a 1970’s Tyler. He bought the boat while living in Weston Super Mare, where he found it looking tired in the local boat yard, but has now got the boat in A1 condition.

The Second Soling to come to Barry was Olympus which Karl Spierling bought from Cardiff Yacht Club. Karl’s Soling is a Tyler Soling but is older than Insicor and even has the original winches fitted to the boat. Unlike the newer boats Olympus has tacking jib sheets rather than the Self tacking jib found on most of the Solings.

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After another year these two were joined by Musketeer which was bought from Scotland. Musketeer is an Elvstrom 2 and was bought by the partnership of D.Merryfield, D.Jenkins, and S.Jones.

This year has seen the biggest increase in Solings in Barry with five boats coming to the club. The first to arrive was the Krazy Katt from Fleetwood, the next boat to be bought was Marshalla, bought by H.Davies. This boat is a 1984 Abbott that did the 1984 Olympics for Pakistan. While collecting Marshalla from Fleetwood P.Brooks came to Fleetwood yacht club and was bitten by the Soling bug. He spotted a tired looking Soling in need of some work. Jackpot is an Elvstrom 1 and has now had all the deck gear refitted and is doing well at the club with its young crew.

The First Soling one design event was held in the Dock at Barry over Saturday and Sunday the 6/7th Sept with 6 races being held over the weekend. This event has been a good catalyst for the fleet with another three boats being bought after two of the new owners sailed on boats in the dock event.

 

Yacht

RACE 1

RACE 2

RACE 3

RACE 4

RACE 5

Points

Place

Marshalla

1

1

1

1

2

6

1

Jackpot

2

2

2

4

1

11

2

Olympus

3

3

3

2

4

15

3

Incisor

4

5

4

3

3

19

4

Musketeer

5

4

5

5

5

24

5

Krazy Kat

6

6

6

6

6

30

6

 

tnbarry3.jpg (10936 bytes) The next boat was bought by M.Fisher who travelled up to Fort William to buy the 1979 Abbott Just In Time from Robbie Robertson. The boat has been renamed 7 as it was Soling number 7 in the club fleet

The next boat to arrive was Elusive which Mike Hartwell has bought from George Barker in Cirencester. This boat has been refitted but needs the deck gear re-fitting to the boat. This Soling is a Tyler but was built for an Olympic campaign so should be competitive against the other boats in the club. And in the last few days H.Lavis has bought a Pettycrow that George Barker had for sale.

 

With the fleet now at nine boats and with the Welsh Soling Championship being held in Barry in 2004 and hopefully a large fleet of visiting boats coming to the event this will help to promote the fleet in the local area, and encourage the other owner thinking of buying boats to join the fleet. The Solings are going from strength to strength in Barry and hopefully this will continue in to the future.

By Hugh Davies
27th October 2003