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June 2020 June 2020

BERE REGIS WILDLIFE AND THE STORM TRYSAIL, THE CINDERELLA OF
ENVIRONMENT GROUP THE SAIL WARDROBE

We hope you are continuing to keep safe and well There are a considerable number of people in
during these difficult and troubling times and, if you our circulation area - including the author -
are able, to get out and about locally to enjoy our who are "champing at the bit" to get back out
fabulous surroundings with its abundant wildlife. to sea in their yachts during this best part of
the sailing season.

Souls Moor Ponies and their Conservation Work With the wider introduction of 'fore and aft'
th
rigs in the 16 century (as opposed to 'square'
By the time you read this the ponies should be back on Souls Moor – do say rigs, which can only sail across the wind or
“hello” to them when you pass, but please do not feed them, approach them downwind), the ability of a yacht to sail to
and keep dogs on a lead. They are there to continue munching through the windward has allowed us the freedom of
long rank grasses that have built up while the area remained ungrazed. This is all tacking (ziz-zagging) to Cherbourg or the
in the interests of good nature conservation. Indeed, we have already seen more Channel Isles into the wind in our prevailing
wildflowers appearing. With time the long vegetation will reduce further and we sou'westerly weather. The price we pay for this
hope to see an even more interesting and varied array of plants and wildflowers. freedom of sailing direction is that it can be
So far, the plentiful flowers an uncomfortable point of sailing due to the
include bright yellow marsh heeling angle (leaning over) and strain on the
marigolds, along with pink body that this ability to sail upwind entails.
campion, meadow buttercup,
sorrel, ragged robin, comfrey, As an ‘aside’, many non-sailors (aka
sorrel, orchid and cuckoo 'landlubbers') will be ignorant of our quirky UK
flower. The cuckoo flower has legal system, which allows us to sail any type
been far more abundant this of privately-owned vessel in UK waters (up to a
year than it has been for a long reasonable length and displacement) without any type of ‘driving licence’. a
time; great news for the policy traditionally expressed as " You can drown your friends but not your
orange-tip butterfly as the customers".
cuckoo flower is one of the
Inevitably, some of us eventually reach a stage in our sailing activities when we,
main food plants for its
and our creaking joints, look for extended cruising without the welcome shelter of
caterpillars.
the English Channel. We accept the reality of comfortable ocean sailing, which is
best described by the statement "If you have to tack, you are going the wrong
way", so we attempt to plan our route to make best use of a following ‘trade’
For those of you concerned for the ponies’ welfare, be assured they are regularly wind.
checked and they have a plentiful supply of water from the pond.
Yachts designed for commercial use and/or ‘bluewater’ (ocean) sailing need to

be equipped to cope with severe wave heights and sea conditions. apart from
Nature Notes the usual mainsail on the mast and jib on the forestay, (as seen on the average
local inshore yachts), a vital and required addition to the sail 'wardrobe' is the
In an attempt to bring nature to you during the ongoing lockdown we are
storm trysail. In extreme conditions it replaces the mainsail when the latter cannot
posting regular Nature Notes on Facebook and distributing them to all on our e-
be reduced in size (reefed) sufficiently and/or will be damaged by large waves
mailing list. Do look out for them – they provide some information on local and crashing across the deck. The storm trysail is also a necessary piece of equipment
seasonal wildlife sights, be they plants, animals, insects etc, and are
for vessels wishing to achieve category 'zero' (ocean) certification in the UK.

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