Helford 22 – what a great camp!

Over 70 members enjoyed what was probably the warmest camp we’ve ever experienced and one which was all the more enjoyable for being free of Covid restrictions. 

It was a notable camp too, for welcoming a good number of new members, all of whom seemed to thoroughly enjoy the camp and had good stories to tell. It was a camp where we had a return to some regular events, the Regatta, the Chicken Run and a Pirate’s lunch. The programme of cruises was (as always) heavily modified by the weather – not because of too much wind but because there was (on several successive days) no wind at all (unless you stayed in the river!).

The weather dominated the pattern of activities and here thanks must go to Steve for unfailingly producing a forecast with a good explanation of why it was going to happen. The first week was dominated by westerlies, often a steady F4 and favouring the cruises to Maenporth, St Mawes and to Gyllyngvase Beach, near Falmouth, see below.

The first week also saw some damp weather, mainly in the morning but none of this lasted long and most days turned out to be dry. The middle weekend and the second week saw high pressure and some light Easterly winds and high temperatures. For several days there was some wind off ‘our’ beach but almost none at all out to sea. This meant that planned cruises to Coverack and the Manacles did not take place although a shorter cruise to Porthallow was achieved earlier in the second week.

A consequence of the long spell of hot dry weather in the preceding months was that the camp field was very dry and the landowner asked us to use barbeques on the beach rather than in the field. It is to the club’s credit that this request was followed and that beach barbeque gatherings became an interesting feature of this camp, as shown below.

With a fairly sizeable camp it was inevitable that there was a good number of different dinghy classes present:

Trio (7 incl. two club boats), Laser 2K (2), Laser (2), Wanderer (2), Versa (1), GP14 (1), Solution (1), RS Vision (1), Javelin (1), Bosun (1), Sport 14 (3), Topper (2), Storm (1), Topper Magno and a very interesting Trimaran sailed (quite often single handed) by new member Chris Hodge who, being disabled, had developed a remarkable number of techniques to allow him to handle his craft (both on and off the water) with apparent ease. Another new member, James Haydon was staying at Helford itself but joined us in his Wayfarer whenever possible.

The Magno’s off-white colour scheme merited some explanation as Paul Shefford explains:

‘As some of you may have noticed, my boat (the once white Topper “Mango”) arrived at camp a little greyer in colour than she should have been. This is due to an issue with the emissions from my van which my local mechanic has been unable to resolve. Obviously, I was concerned to know the full extent to which the boat had been affected and the only way of carrying out a thorough inspection was to invert it so that I could get a good view of the underside. I was very grateful to Matthew for coming out to help me with that examination and to Pete for agreeing to provide a second opinion later the same day. Not satisfied with that, I was very grateful to Rob for undertaking a further examination a couple of days later. Paul’.

Mainly because of weather, there were not quite as many cruises as originally planned in the camp programme. Both the Maenporth and St Mawes cruises (see above) enjoyed good winds and weather and were very well supported. On Friday (5^th), Steve suggested conditions were not favourable for going to Carrick Roads but suggested a visit to Gyllyngvase Beach (photo p1) instead. About a dozen boats took part and enjoyed a brisk NE sail to a previously unvisited beach having all the useful amenities (toilets, ices, etc).  The return offered an opportunity for Clive to try trapezing on the Javelin which initially was quite successful but ended with being teabagged at high speed – he appeared to thoroughly enjoy the experience!

One of the more unusual cruises was the sail up to Gweek on the evening high tide on the late afternoon of the first Sunday.

This was well attended (about six boats, plus kayaks) and allowed a visit to the Black Swan and a welcome drink (as well as watching England v Germany in the final of the Euro Women’s football match!). See photo on left showing the creek at Gweek.

The middle weekend saw neap tides and with them, midday high water, favouring sailing off the beach and some competitive activities. The first was the Chicken Run which attracted an entry of six boats all having to sail a given course with the aim of crossing a finish line at a given time as precisely as possible. The winner was Jamie and Ella with an ‘error’ of -4 secs (see below) followed by Simon and Tony (-15secs) and Jenny Chilvers (+19secs). Special mention, though, to Harry Hunt in a Topper who crossed with an error of only 41 seconds.

That afternoon saw the return of Alan Mill’s rocket launching contest with the usual high standard of entries (including a weird octopus entry from Jamie). The winners were Andy and Vanessa with a very streamlined creation that achieved he longest flight but there were several ‘interesting’ trajectories including one that hugged the ground like a cruise missile!

The camp regatta was moved to the following Tuesday (because of lack of wind) and was replaced by the Pirates ‘Lunch’ and was again held at Tremayne Quay.

The pirates (who almost outnumbered the older pirates on this occasion) found the treasure map, sailed off to find the treasure (in which they were successful – see below) and sat down to hearty meal when they were attacked by the Indians. As usual, a massive water fight then ensued which was thoroughly enjoyed by the younger pirates.

That evening saw a virtual camp fire held in the field (a large bonfire was not practical, even on the beach) with ‘stage’ lighting provided by Steve and with much music and singing.

The one sea cruise of this second week was to Porthallow, a relatively short cruise in light winds and warm weather. 

The day of the regatta began with a cream tea (or elevenses) organised by Andrea with help from Ali and others. The regatta itself, organised by Simon, featured a Ladies Helm, a Main Race and a Novelty Race, with all three being hotly contested in typical Cody fashion. Andy and Vanessa convincingly won both the Ladies and Main race and the full results are shown below:

Ladies Helm
Position	Helm	Crew	Boat	Corrected lap time
1	Vanessa	Andy	RS Vision	16min 14 sec
2	Donna	Sasha	Trio	16:32
3	Jenny	Roy	Laser 2K	16:35
4	Isabel	Edmund	Trio	17:56
5	Anna	Adri	Trio	18:01
6	Sarah Louise	Mark	Trio	19:15

Main Race
Position	Helm	Crew	Boat	Corrected lap time
1	Andy	Vanessa	RS Vision	15min 25 sec
2	Simon	Tony	Trio	15:26
3	Anna	Adri	Trio	15:49
4	Alan	Gary, Joshua	Trio	16:17
5	Edmund	Isabel	Trio	16:25
6	Roy	Jenny	Laser 2K	16:37
7	Jamie	Ella	Javelin	17:02
8	Gordon	Emma K, Leila	Versa	17:07
9	Morgan	Debbie	Sport 14	17:25
10	Rob B	Henry	Trio	17:49
11	Terry	Mike	GP14	18:01
12	Sarah Louise	Mark	Trio	18:51
13	Rob H	Emma H	Sport 14	19:03
14	Harry		Topper	20:11

The final event in the regatta was a race between three teams of six, each team member in turn having to use kayak or paddle board to carry a small ball round a buoy. 

Not surprisingly, all three teams were disqualified on the grounds of sabotage, cheating, GBH, etc. Despite this, the organiser decided to reward all competitors with a large bag chocolate goodies.  

On the following few days there were repeated attempts to cruise to Coverack or the Manacles and later in the week, to St Mawes again. In each case, the winds died at the river entrance, resulting in some gentle sailing in the estuary before returning via the ‘Ferry Boat’ to the camp. During these ‘quiet’ few days, Steve held a skills session, dealing with topics such as towing and anchoring.

Those last few days were, in many ways, ideal for camping: hot, dry weather, with a very pleasant breeze on the beach and on the water, enough for most to sail to the estuary beaches and enjoy a swim (to Durgan, above or to Helford passage) while others chatted or just dozed.

A few, inspired by Anna’s photographic competition, took advantage of the lovely views of Frenchman’s Creek – the results of the competition will be announced in the next issue.

By the evening of the last Saturday, most campers had left. The remainder left on Sunday, Roy and Jenny manging to fit in a quiet paddle to the Ferry Boat before heading back to the A30/303.

Despite the lack of wind at the end, this was a very enjoyable camp, especially as it allowed us to come together after Covid and also to meet so many new members and introduce them to the delights of ‘wild’ camping. Special thanks to Ali and Peter for chairing the morning briefings, to Steve for the regular weather forecasts (and accompanying explanations) and also to Henry for the morning bugle calls. Many thanks also to the OODs of the cruises, events and competitions: Roy, Steve, Jenny, Andy, Simon, Rob H, Alan, Donna, Anna, Andrea and Edmund. And special thanks to all those who sent me photos for this report!

In conclusion, some highlights of the camp from two new members:

‘Working together as an egoless group, eg, when hauling out the boats,’

‘The friendly invites from people making sure we were included in the activities,’

‘The morning meeting in a warm, friendly group,’

‘Hiking out on the Trio as we tacked up the river,’ 

‘The swimming! ‘                                                                 Gordon Keyte