Weston Bay Yacht Club

⛵ MEET THE FLEET: THETIS ⛵

⛵ The Story of Thetis - Owner Rich Buckley.

Meet Thetis, an Achilles 24 that has become a familiar sight around Weston Bay Yacht Club over the past few years.

She has had three owners during her time at the club — first Mike Atkins, then John and Sylvia Woolley, and now myself.

Thetis is a lovely, very comfortable little yacht, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know her properly. Like most boats, though, she has a few jobs that need doing, which should keep me busy through the winter!

The plan is to get Thetis shipshape over the winter and look forward to a full year of sailing next year.

Here’s to plenty of good sailing, good company and hopefully some great adventures around Weston Bay and beyond. ⛵🌊

Also the name Thetis comes from Greek Mythology, as it’s the name of the God Achilles's mother 🧜‍♀️

And now we want to MEET THE REST OF THE FLEET! 🚤⛵
We want to get to know the amazing members behind the boats at WBYC — the adventures, the mishaps, the favourite places and, of course, the things you love about your boat.
Want to get involved?
📸 Send us a photo of your boat (preferably with you on it!) to the social media team — Rich, Mo, Mike & Alan — or email [email protected]
And tell us:
⛵ Boat name
⚓ Type/model
👤 Owner's name
📅 How long you've owned it
📍 Favourite place you've sailed
🏆 Best sailing moment
🌪️ Worst sailing moment
❤️ One thing you love about your boat
Whether you've sailed halfway around the world or mostly around the Bay, we want to hear your story.
Let’s see just how much character we've got in this fleet! 👀⛵

🌶️ LAYING UP CHILLI BAKE-OFF! 🌶️

Can you cook a mean chilli? 🔥
Or do you prefer a mild-mannered one? 😇

Either way, we need you for this year’s Laying Up Supper!

We’re looking for 6 brave chilli cooks to bring along their signature chilli — enough to feed around 6 people each.

The club will provide the jacket spuds, sour cream and tortillas. 🥔🌯

Then it’s time to eat, compare, debate and decide…

🏆 Who has made the ultimate crowd-pleaser?

There may be no actual prize, but there will absolutely be bragging rights. And we all know those are worth more anyway. 😉

📅 Saturday 3rd October 2026
⏰ 7pm
🌶️ Laying Up Chilli Bake-Off
📋 Booking required

Fancy putting your chilli-making skills to the test? Let us know!

⛵ Watchet Summertime Weekend report ⛵

The Weather Gods as always played a part in the Watchet Summertime weekend. At first the weather looked good for all boats to depart on Thursday, then the weather gods had their say. Island Mist made the choice to go early Monday morning then Spooky II dodged the really windy stuff arriving on Wednesday all be it in some parts 25 knots. Mowser set off on Thursday as planned but wind, tide and illness on board had them diverting to Cardiff. Leaving just Deception to make their longest solo passage on Friday and they made it to Watchet with just 5 minutes to spare before the gate shut, to only then get stuck in the infamous Watchet mud but the marina staff jumped into the work boat and soon pulled them out.
Watchet was at full capacity with some boats having to raft up. But the sun shone and the drinks on deck flowed.
The BCYA drink reception was well attended as always and the speeches mercifully short😅. None of the WBYC won best dressed boat competition but there’s always next year.
The weather gods had a final say as the fireworks were postponed due to the fire risk after the prolonged dry weather.
But that just gives us all an excuse to go for another weekend to watch the fireworks. Because we do love it there. - Mo Parker, Spooky II ⛵👻🌊

⛵ MEET THE FLEET: CALYPSO ⛵

Next up in our 'Meet the Fleet' series is Calypso...

Boat name: Calypso
Type/model: Dufour Arpege (1974)
Owner's name: Mike Atkins
How long they've owned it: 4 years
Favourite place they've sailed: Jamiaca!!
Best/worst sailing moment:

Best - sailing alone in the middle of the Atlantic at night with the milky way overhead and dolphins leaving glowing trails of bio-luminescence as they streamed past the boat
Worst - ripping my genoa three days out from Ireland
..or inviting my friends to sail to the Scilly Isles and finding the sea c**k for the heads was broken!

One thing they love about their boat - how well it sails close hauled or on a reach, heeled over and speeding along!

Want to get involved?
📸 Send us a photo of your boat (preferably with you on it) to the social media team — Rich, Mo, Mike & Alan — or email [email protected]
And tell us:
⛵ Boat name
⚓ Type/model
👤 Owner's name
📅 How long you've owned it
📍 Favourite place you've sailed
🏆 Best sailing moment
🌪️ Worst sailing moment
❤️ One thing you love about your boat
Whether you've sailed halfway around the world or mostly around the Bay, we want to hear your story.
Let’s see just how much character we've got in this fleet! 👀⛵

Alanna Bristol Channel Cruise...

Early August 2026 myself (Steve Caiger) and boat partner Matt Jones took our bilge keel Sadler 29 on a cruise over 7 days.
With bad weather forecast for Wednesday we decided to make a dash for Swansea to avoid wasting valuable time stuck at Uphill. First challenge.. starter battery as flat as a pancake! Decided to press on using leisure battery and source a replacement in Swansea. After a rolly and showery passage we arrived in Swansea with some useful info from Bob re entering the sea lock.. Basically keep to the right going up the river until you reach red brick building then cut across to the lock. The harbour master was very helpful.. The wind blew hard on Wednesday, as forecast so we were glad to be tucked up in the marina to sort the battery and enjoy the area. With time of the essence we left on Thursday heading for Tenby. With up to 24 kts bang on the nose, and a confused sea this was none too pleasant, but we sucked it up with visions of calm waters and exploring the Pembrokeshire coast. By late afternoon we had had enough and diverted to Saundersfoot which offered excellent protection courtesy of the high cliffs. We also caught a mackerel on the way into the anchorage which was in the pan in minutes! 🍳

Next stop was Caldy Island which was glorious. There are several anchorages for different wind directions but no landing is permitted unless you book a boat trip from Tenby. We decided to swim ashore and explore for a while.

Settled weather was now with us and we enjoyed a fabulous sail to Dale. This beautiful and sheltered bay provides the perfect anchorage and also pontoons that are free to use during the summer period.

Onward to Nayland Yacht Club to meet up with old friends Terry and Pip Miller and Bob Campbell all of whom were long time members of WBYC. We also explored to Upper reaches of the Cleddau River, anchoring in a small bay to swim and have a snooze.

Having taken advantage of the outer pontoon in Dale for a second night, we set out for Lundy just before low water. With a glassy flat sea and zero wind, we motored for a few hours but enjoyed watching all the sea birds including Gannets, Shearwaters and Guilimots. The wind arrived and we had a great sail into Lundy under cruising chute. With winds mainly from the west, we had a lovely evening including the obligatory visit to the Marisco Tavern! As often happens at Lundy, the wind went round to the East during the night making for an uncomfortable start to the day. We quickly dragged in the dinghy and set sail for the Devon coast. With no water at Ilfracombe, we anchored off Woolacombe for a new experience as we had both surfed this spot for years.

We enjoyed a peaceful night in Ilfracombe and were pleased to have access to the yacht club showers etc.

Our final passage was from Ilfracombe to Watchet ready for the BCYA celebrations. We had to motor a fair way as the wind was on the nose but we managed to sail the last couple of hours.

Lessons learnt:
⛵ Listen to the shipping forecast closely each day before planning your passage.
⛵ Sail when you can but be prepared to motor if you are not making good progress.
⛵ Swansea and the Pembrokeshire coast are stunning with loads to see.
⛵ Lundy is awesome but the anchorage can get pretty grim in not a lot of wind from the East.
⛵ Lidl part baked baguettes are superb... fresh warm bread every day in 12 minutes!

It was a brilliant trip, swimming, fishing, snorkelling, dolphins, seals and a lot of laughs😊

Commodores lament

How to change a feathering prop when I blade has dropped off and the lift was not capable of lifting the whole boat 🙈 this was in Northern Spain on our way to the Med. We waited two weeks for the new prop to arrive from England but then got on our way, but I had to jump ship in Portugal as time had run out on me and had to meet my lovely wife in Spain. But it was a brilliant few weeks.👍👌🍷🥃🍺🍺 - Rich Buckley

Beautiful evening out in the bay watching the eclipse... using welding goggles as our filter 🤩⛵