Reservoir Blogs: June 2006

No show on Sunday

I turned up to sail Sunday 25th, as did Dan, but nobody else did. As this seems to have happened several times now, perhaps it is time to change the DSC webpage and issue a newsletter to say sailing is cancelled so there can be no doubt.

The Island

The water is very low: possibly as low as it is going to get.

The island has appeared at last. It'll be interesting to see whether the island starts to grass over with being exposed all summer.

There's no sign of construction work yet so I guess it is still possible to sail as long as there is wind and enough people to drag the safety boat up the slipway. It's a long haul for sure but remember that Cameron and Danny will definitely be sailing tomorrow!

I wouldn't recommend trying to sail round buoy number one though!

Sunday Sailing

Cameron emailed me the following:

"Danny and I are planning on sailing this Sunday if enough turn up but are a bit worried that others won't go if they think numbers will be too low for sailing. Consequence - not enough people turn up! Any chance you can add something to the Blog to say at least two people will be turning up to encourage others to do likewise so that we get enough to drag the safety boat back up the slipway? Make sure you don't tell 'em who it is that's going, as this will put people off!

This could well be the last Sunday sail so we're keen to get out there."

Given that Cameron and Danny are both strong-looking types with plenty of boat-hauling muscle, I think it is an advantage to know "who it is that's going"!

Midsummer Barbeque

Water status: going down. Still enough for sailing although mark #1 is now out of the race.

There's a bit of a problem with blue-green algae though. I'm including links because I didn't know what blue-green algae are and it seems that they are actually pretty interesting and, in fact, not algae. They are cyanobacteria: a type of single celled bacteria. That means that there must have been huge numbers to cause the visible blue markings around the reservoir. Cyanobacteria are some of the oldest types of living organisms; there are fossil cyanobacteria which are more than 3.5 billion years old. The reason that cyanobacteria are green is because they contain clorophyll and, like plants, manufacture their own food from light through the process of photosynthesis. Apparently, the chlorophyll in plants is due to cyanobacteria living inside the plants; a symbiotic relationship which developed millenia ago. However, although, as the picture below shows, the Doe Park cyanabacteria are clearly blue-green, some types of blue-green algae are actually more red or pink. The Red Sea is red because of occasional algal blooms of reddish cyanobacteria.

Some types of cyanobacteria can be important as food sources but others can be toxic to humans and animals. Unfortunately, we have the latter type at Doe Park which means that water users need to be especially careful around areas where there is blue-green scum on or near the water.

There were important food sources in evidence at Doe Park today, however, at the Midsummer Barbeque! Sausages, salads, burgers and beer were consumed with gusto; particular thanks to Ronwen for organising the food.

And here, simply because I think it's wonderful, is the view from the clubhouse.

Hartlepool

by Tim

The trip should have been a day trip on Sunday the 11th. To save having to drive up early on Sunday, 6 of us claimed squatters rights on Saturday night. After meeting at one of Hartlepool's finest Italian restaurants we departed to find Black Diamond. Someone said they knew where it was berthed so the others followed, how difficult could it be to find? The following tour of Hartlepool eventually ended in a wet scrap yard: obviously not the sort of place to find our yacht. After a slightly rolly night we went in search of our last crew member who rang to say he was nearly with us just as I was going to sleep. On return to Black Diamond we were met with bacon sarnis a safety brief and cast off . We had a day of sunshine with some cloudy bits. We didn't sail any where in particular; the wind was very light. I think the day's speed record was set by Dan at 7.4Kts or is this still in dispute? We ended up back at Hartlepool marina. By the amount of smiles during the day it was a success. Many thanks to Sailing North East especially Cal and good luck in the tall yachts racing in Spain. To find out how Black Diamond gets on, look on the tall ships web site or Sailing North East's site.