Bridlington and the RYYC


Well I wasn't going to say much about Bridlington apart from the fact that it was cold and muddy! That was until we decided to visit the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club whose imposing building looks over the harbour. 

Following a cold drizzly day looking at what Bridlington had to offer we went back to the boat for some supper. My impressions of Bridlington were a friendly sort of town trying to bring back some of it’s former glory as a busy seaside resort - and indeed the beach is really impressive tucked nicely into the bay and sheltered from much of the cold northerly winds by the large cliffs that are Flamborough Head. The town council also seems to be making lots of effort to improve the town with a big pedestrian area development. Despite all of this there is something quite sad about a former bustling holiday town off season and the peeling paint on many of the buildings was quite sad to see.

That evening, largely to escape the cold, we decided to see if the RYYC was open for a drink. The building the club owns is just across the road from the harbour and the website indicated a busy club with lots of racing. We buzzed on the door and as soon as we started to explain that we were visiting yachtsmen were let in immediately. We found our way up to the first floor bar with a huge panoramic view across the bay, to be greeted warmly by the two ladies there and immediately offered a glass of prosecco! What a welcome! The lady behind the bar then filled us in on the locations of all of the local amenities that we might need whilst in “Brid”, gave us the access code to the building so that we could use the showers in the morning rather than the fairly grim ones in the harbour, offered us the use of the top floor lounge in the morning for tea/coffee and provided WiFi log on details! Once we had taken all of that in the discussion moved to where we had been and where we were planning to go. When we said we were planning to leave for Scarborough the following day we were immediately put in touch with a couple from the club who would be on their boat in the morning and would be happy to sail in company with us and provide us with local information on rounding “the Head”. The rest of the evening was spent in the company of these and other members of the RYYC swapping sailing tales and comparing adventures.

We took advantage of their hospitality and used the lovely warm clean showers in the morning and also went up to the lounge on the 2nd floor for the impressive views out over the harbour and the bay. As the sun was shining everything seemed so much better!



I cannot believe how warm and friendly and inviting this club was and I would advise any sailor with a boat able to enter the drying harbour of Bridlington to go along and spend some time with this lovely enthusiastic group of people.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Last leg

Image
As predicted following a wet windy afternoon the August gale blew itself out and after a quiet night we set off at a respectable 10:30am for the short trip to Ramsgate. As we were heading north towards Ramsgate we wanted to leave Dover via the east entrance which is also the one used by all of the cross channel ferry traffic. Dover port control are very pleasant and after a radio chat with them we were given permission to follow the DFDS vessel out of the harbour with strict instructions to then head north for at least half a mile - once outside of the protective walls of the harbour we could see why - there was a queue of ferries heading across the channel, presumably getting themselves back in sync after the delays of the previous day. The weather was lovely, blue sky, white fluffy clouds and a nice SW 3-4 plus a big spring tide meaning that we were scooting along the coast at a very respectable 6 knots! After a couple of hours I contacted Ramsgate Port Control on VHF to ask permis
Read more

Another County and another Headland.

Image
The weather in Plymouth was lovely and the position of the Marina meant that we could easily access the city centre with all the delights of a big town on offer! Saturday evening saw us wandering around the famous Hoe in the sunshine before heading back to boat and supper followed by planning for Monday. We then realised that in order to get around the next major headland - Start Point - with a favourable tide a visit to Salcombe would not be possible, or if we did visit Salcombe it would have to be for about  5 days as the skipper doesn't like sailing coastal waters in the dark for fear of becoming entangled in one of the many lobster and crab pots that sit along the coast. In the daylight we do stand a chance of spotting them and it seems a little foolish to put ourselves at risk especially in an area of the coast famous for its shipwrecks! Getting in and out of  Salcombe means crossing the Salcombe bar which for those unfamiliar with the entrance should only be done on a r
Read more

The Jurassic Coast

Image
After a gap of a few weeks we returned to Teteli on a very warm day in what is turning out to be a very warm summer! Everything was fine and it was good to be back. After a day stocking the boat up and planning our route we left Weymouth Harbour on the "first bridge" at 8am and headed out into the bay. Passing under Weymouth Town Bridge The coastline around here is spectacular with fossil rich dramatic cliffs and home to such natural phenomenon as the Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove. Of more interest to us  however was the fact that it is also home to one of the most active military coastal firing ranges in the country where on a daily basis (except August) military personnel spend their days firing various munitions into the sea - on a good day Naval vessels join in as well firing from ships in the bay!! On this particular morning the VHF broadcast announced that they would be firing from 9:30 am at a range of about 3 miles - the firing range begins just to the east
Read more