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A brief
introduction to the WSC Squib Keelboat Class
The Squib
was designed by Oliver Lee in 1967 and in the years since then some 890 have
been built. The Squib is the largest keelboat class in the UK and has
proved to be a very long lasting and popular design.
The Squib
is a nineteen-foot Bermuda-rigged keel-boat carrying a mainsail, genoa and
spinnaker. The Squib is designed primarily for racing with a crew of 2
however it is quite spacious and will easily accommodate up to 4 people for
cruising. It is of conventional low maintenance GRP construction with
wooden floors and buoyancy tanks. The complete Squib has a strictly
controlled minimum weight of 680 kg in sailing condition (including mast,
rudder, anchor, paddle, boom, sails etc.) It is a strict ‘one design’ and
has been adopted by the RYA as the National Keelboat and is well suited to
club racing. The Squib is big enough to race at sea and small enough to
trail comfortably behind a family car.
Nationals
and Open Meetings
The
National Squib Owners Association (NSOA) which represents Squib sailing
throughout the UK and Ireland, holds an annual championship at a different
venue each year. The 2012 Champs are being organised by the Royal Dart
Yacht Club based at Kingswear, across the estuary from Dartmouth, from 7-13
July. The host club, as is traditional, has organised an extensive racing
and social programme. See the event website
http://www.squibnationals2012.com. We
expect three of our Squibs to be competing there.
Club
boats also compete in Aldeburgh Week, and when weather conditions permit,
the more adventurous helms sail round via Shingle Street. This year in June
we will have a weekend on the sea with racing kindly organised by Felixstowe
Ferry Sailing Club.
Waldringfield
At
Waldringfield the fleet currently have eighteen boats registered with the
National Squib Owners’ Association and expect to expand our fleet this year.
The fleet sails on Saturday afternoons and Wednesday evenings and has its
own class trophies for each race series. The class sails one race on a
Saturday as opposed to the club’s dinghy classes, which have two. Squibs
have their own start, invariably with a committee boat start providing
adequate room for the larger boats.
The WSC
open meetings at Easter, WSC Regatta Weekend in July and the Cartoon Weekend
in September normally attract welcome visitors from Felixstowe Ferry Sailing
Club and Aldeburgh Yacht Club.
Launching
is well handled by Larkmans Boatyard at Melton and by Woodbridge Boatyard
who both offer excellent service.
The
Waldringfield Squib Class has trot moorings downriver from the clubhouse and
offer members of the class a managed mooring on an annual basis. The
current charge is £145 for a mooring plus £8 annual class subscription.
There are also boatyard moorings available but these tend to be more
expensive and may be subject to a waiting list.
The WSC
Squibbers are a friendly group who enjoy their sailing and socialising. We
look forward to welcoming new owners to the class. The National Squib Class
website is at
www.squibs.co.uk
and offers a large amount of further information including news of
second-hand Squibs and equipment for sale. If you would like to know more
about the Waldringfield Squib Class, please feel free to contact either the
Class Captain, Jo McArdle (jomcardle@hotmail.com)
or the Class Secretary Ricky East (serica.east@gmail.com)
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