'Wee Mo' and 'Wee Jo' - two small yachts join the Fisherrow Yacht Club fleet

 Caption: Looking into what needs to be done on “Wee Mo” Left to right: Max Blinkhorn, Chris Jagau, Will Wong, Simon Blakely, Stuart MacDonald. Photo by: Inez Visser

Looking into what needs to be done on “Wee Mo”:  Left to right: Max Blinkhorn, Chris Jagau, Will Wong, Simon Blakely, Stuart MacDonald. Photo by: Inez Visser

 

Fisherrow Yacht Club is delighted to have been donated a small Kinsman yacht as a companion boat to the Kinsman yacht which was bought in the middle of last summer.   The donated boat called “Wee Mo” was given to FYC by Jim Baird who has owned her for twenty years.  Jim was glad to hand her over knowing that she would be given the car and attention she needs and in return Jim has been given complimentary membership as a thank you for his very generous gift “Wee Mo” is easily recognizable as looking a bit like an extremely large dinghy amongst the boats tied to moorings in the Fisherrow harbour.

In the middle of last summer Fisherrow Yacht club bought an identical class boat: a small six meter day sailing yacht with no cabin and as it has a lifting keel it can lie on the mud and low tide and when out on the open water has 700kg hull weight to give the boat great stability so is great for family sailing and sailing novices.  This first Kinsman had no name until “Wee Mo” was donated to the club at the end of the 2021 sailing season: immediately club members started calling the unnamed boat “Wee Jo” a play on Mojo.

Both Mo and Jo were built approximately 35 years ago and with continued exposure to elements both require some renovation to ensure another 30 years of successful sailing. The most effective way to renovate a boat is to call upon a team of volunteers but few club members have any boat renovation skills so it was decided that a workshop based programme of practical classes would be held from January in the club yard.  The workshops will be supervised by Stuart MacDonald who leads practical construction projects at Castlebrae High School but perhaps more importantly Stuart knows “We Mo” very well as he had actually owned her himself for a few years and had rebuilt the interior completely in marine ply.  Stuart intends to teach the technique of plywood construction as part of the renovation programme.

The first workshop held on Saturday January 15th got off to a great start as an extremely mild, windless, midwinter day meant the team could work outside in comfort.  After Stuart’s safety briefing the eight person team removed “We Mo’s”   tall mast taking care not to hit the actual building of Bush House where the club has the ground floor and owner occupiers live in the upper apartments.  After that they got to work on removing the boat chandlery so that renovation work can commence on the cockpit.  Stuart was able to stand back and let the team get on with most of the tasks stating, “It’s great to see everyone working on their own initiative.  It’s also good to get ideas on how we should refit the boats for the comfort and safety of the members.  Since “Wee Mo” was purchased last year it is noticeable that having a more stable family boat is attracting new members to join but now with two identical boats racing sailors can compete at class level.”

Fisherrow Yacht Club’s 2022 programme of training days, racing events and funsails is being devised and will be soon be published on the club website  www.fisherrowyachtclub.com.

Two Key Events in One Day at Fisherrow Yacht Club

Fisherrow Yacht Club, FYC, welcomed the return of the Musselburgh Festival Day Ride Out on Saturday 30th by providing morning refreshments for Provost Clir John McMillan and his 50 guests. For the FYC hospitality hosts it was a busy one-hour turnaround receiving the guests in through the front door and saying farewell as the guests left out of the back door straight onto the beach to watch the gallop at 12.30. Craig Hunter, Rear Commodore of FYC, sent out thanks to the FYC hospitality team saying “We got a lot of positive feedback from Saturday which was nice to hear.”

At the same time the club also welcomed the muster of Leisure Yacht Owners from the South East of Scotland with boats from as far East as Eli and and as far West as Blackness. The UK Commodore of the British Leisure Association, Steve Blaney, is Eli based. He decided that Fisherrow was fairly equidistant for most Forth area boats and sent out an email in June inviting owners and crews to meet in Fisherrow Harbour on Saturday 30th July to celebrate the 40 th anniversary of the formation of the association. There are already Leisure class yachts permanently moored in Fisherrow: Nautilass (pronounced Naughty Lass), Gypsy Gem, Willow and Abril so that gave the event an excellent start. Abril was recently purchased by a syndicate of four members of Fisherrow Yacht Club and Inez Visser one of the four owners who is also on the club committee invited the muster guests to use the premises for their social gathering.

Commodore, Steve Blaney, was delighted that the 40th Anniversary Celebration had the colourful backdrop of the Musselburgh Festival and for the guest boats that made it to harbour on the Friday afternoon high tide there was the chance to watch the gallop with a ring side seat from the harbour wall on Saturday morning.

Commodore Blaney and Provost McMillan had a few moments to meet one another in the busy schedule of the festival day both acknowledging the significance of their respective events. On Saturday evening the Leisure crews had an indoor supper served in the FYC bar where Inez Visser was presented with the special Leisure 40 th Anniversary pennant. Inez said,

“This pennant belongs to everyone at FYC. The members are so friendly and community minded. Their energy and commitment is amazing. Since October we have refurbished a donated Kinsman yacht, the rear porch has been rebuilt. The training team have put many hours into getting members qualified and keeping our safety rib boats repaired. Many club members do not have their own dinghies and as well as small fleet of dinghies we now have two club Kinsman yachts. Shared use of dinghies and more so yachts requires responsibility but is also brings a special camaraderie when people, who do not know one another, come together to sail.

An added bonus of being a club member has been the possibility for four of us to form a syndicate to buy a Leisure 20. The 40 th anniversary muster of other Leisure yacht owners at Musselburgh during the 2022 Festival was an unexpected bonus.”

FFIC contact Inez
For quote from Provost McMillan
Photos from Commodore Steve Blaney

Committee photos

FYC Committee 2022

Fisherrow Yacht Club prizegiving October 2021

 

Winners of Fisherrow Yacht Club's 2021 race season were awarded their prizes at an informal supper held in the club premises on Friday 29th October.


From Left to right :  Clare Duncan, Yacht Captain; Mark McClelland; Max Blinkhorn; Stuart McDonald; David Banks;Chris Jagau; Alan Thomson;

Front: Erin Foster

Clare Duncan is holding a small poster confirming that the newest addtion to the club fleet, a Kinsman keelboat, was  officially named "Wee Jo" after a unanimous vote.

Barbara Roberston, club Social Secretary, said "Although, this year, we kept the prizegiving event very informal, it was just as much fun. It was nice to see two new members Erin Foster and Chris Jagau, join the winners table as we have many seasoned sailors who  have always been successful winners.  Most importantly, we were celebrating that, despite all the restrictions, we have had a good sailing season and now, at long last, we are able to use the club premises for social events."

ENDS

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