FRIDAY 25^th JUNE 2010

TS Design Group and construction consultancy firm Northcroft held a friendly but competitive sailing event on Friday 25^th June 2010. Named the Mermaid Challenge, the event involved racing 12 identical boats from Sea View Yacht Club, with Northcroft taking 6 ‘Mermaids’ and TS Design Group and their guests taking the other 6.

The Seaview Mermaid is a 26-foot half-open keelboat, displacing 1.5 tonnes with a Bermudan rig and suitable for 2 to 4 to each boat.  She has a mainsail which can be reefed in stronger winds, two headsails (a jib and a genoa) and spinnakers, which add excitement when sailing downwind.

The two teams met at Southsea before travelling together to Sea View Yacht Club near Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. It was a glorious summer’s day and the Club greeted the teams with coffee and bacon baps in the sunshine, overlooking the calm and shimmering Solent on Sea View’s welcoming terrace.

Following the safety briefing, the helms and their crews were all transported out by RIBs to the Mermaids to prepare for the first race; armed with suncream and the challenge of racing with spinnakers!  The aim was to sail 4 races, without any discard, so some concentration was needed throughout.  All races were closely ‘fought’ in a friendly environment, even though many guests had little previous sailing experience or were new to racing these keel boats.

It was a beautiful sight to see all yachts flying the colourful spinnakers on the down wind legs of the course, set by Sea View.  The wind rarely reached above Beaufort Force 2 and in the second race the fading breeze resulted in this race being abandoned, with many of the sailing boats finding themselves going backwards and the crew scrabbling to set a kedge anchor or grab a mooring.  The bonus was that a long and enjoyable lunch ensued!

Some intrepid guests took up Grahame Pettit’s offer to have a go at wakeboarding off the back of his RIB, and the spectators watched on as JD gave an exhibition of how wakeboarding should be done – unlike Tim Gough, who appeared to spend quite a bit of time under the water rather than on top of it!

The Race Officer went on a number of reccies to search for wind, and eventually the afternoon’s racing got underway. In good heart and convivial company, one crew member from each boat changed teams and we all set off to our Mermaids once again.  With 12 Mermaids tacking back and forth in search of every breath of wind available, and the spinnakers once again on glorious display two more races were successfully completed in the afternoon sun.

Back ashore and the victorious individual teams were as follows:

1^st place

Andy Chapman (helm), Jonathan Sharpe, Andrew Archibald and David Sumecki

2^nd place

Adrian Dyball (helm), Peter Wood and David Steele

3^rd place

Neil McKay (helm), Jon Burns, Alistair Bell and Andrew Field

The overall event winners, and the inaugural holders of the new Mermaid Challenge trophy for 2010, were Northcroft.  The day was a resounding success, and hosts and guests alike, all remarked on how much they had enjoyed the event – and how they looked forward to being invited back next year!

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Entrance Canopy at City Cruise Terminal, Southampton

The new Military Court Centre at Bulford Garrison in Wiltshire was built to replace an old building that was no longer ‘fit for purpose’ and the project had a demanding specification. The building needed to meet requirements on human rights and disabled access legislation, energy efficiency, rainwater recycling, counter terrorist considerations, maximum use of natural lighting and high levels of sound insulation.

It was the last two requirements that needed considerable design work. Low flying jets from a nearby RAF base, as well as the garrison’s daily helicopter flights, caused constant intrusions into the court’s proceedings inside the old buildings. The noise peaked at 96dBA — that’s the same as standing a metre away from a noisy goods lorry at 60mph. The brief for the sound insulation of the Military Court Centre specified that the maximum internal reading to be half that of the old: 45dBA. That corresponds to about the same as sitting inside a quiet restaurant.

You can find out more about TS Design Group on our website, http://www.tsdesigngroup.co.uk