April Newsletter

Dear Member

Well spring is here, the clocks have gone forward and I have noticed plenty of activity on the boat park in readiness for the start of the 2018 season. Indeed the first dinghy counting race is this Thursday, Flying 15s and Cruisers start racing on Sunday and the Denis Hope series begins the following Monday. I also noticed that last weekend a number of members were having refresher training for escort boat driving which is encouraging to see, especially as I could well be a recipient of their services! I would like to take this opportunity to thank, in advance, everyone who over the coming season will volunteer to be either a Race Officer or Assistant or an Escort Boat Drivers or Assistant to provide those of us who sail with safe and enjoyable racing.

Thank you to everyone who attended the AGM last Saturday and thank all members who volunteered to stand for election as either an honorary officer, general committee member or auditor. As I stated at the meeting, I am greatly encouraged when I see our members volunteering to sit on committees, attend events and generally help out – for example the 40 or so people who turned up two weeks ago to help with the spring clean.

I was also able to announce at the AGM that I had received a letter from the RWYC Sailing Academy confirming it was providing two brand new Laser Bahia sailing dinghies to enable the Club to provide quality adult training. These 15ft 6 inch sailing dinghies are not only ideal training boats but will also allow us to retain more members of our junior squads and progress them to become active sailing and racing members of the club. The Academy is funding one boat and the second has been provided by the Fort Foundation with a donation of £6,200. Ted Fort, a long standing member of the Club and co-owner of 17ft yacht Fathom, asked that this boat is named “Fortitude” and this has been confirmed. I have written to Ted on behalf of the Club thanking him for his very generous donation.

The next social event is the Waking Up Supper on Saturday 7th April featuring popular acoustic trio “With Nay and I” and a two course hot supper starting at 7:30pm. I hope to see this event well supported which will be an excellent start to our sailing season.

Best wishes

Simon McVey
Commodore

Operations

The Operations Committee have highlighted the problem of lack of jetty space at certain times. It has been suggested that the 72 hour rule should be
reduced to a 24 hour rule with dispensation for the launching of 17 fts. After much discussion it was agreed that the following interim rule will be implemented: “Namely 24 hours at weekends (weekends constituting 5pm on Friday to 9am on Monday) and 72 hours during the week. It was agreed that this would be a satisfactory compromise and that a certain amount of flexibility and discretion could be applied at busy times.”

There is now a formal policy for Use Of Club Boats. This will be placed on the noticeboard in the club and a copy will be placed on the website.

Sailing

The Sailing Season is soon to be back in action.

We start with the Thursday evening sessions on Thursday, 5th April,followed by Sunday Races for the FF15, Dinghies and Cruiser Fleets. I look forward to seeing many of you on the water.

My thanks to all members who are participating on the Dutyman Rota, I have noticed a fair amount of activity on the Swaps, so hope you are all getting these duties sorted out to your preference.

To any member and/or new member, who I may have omitted from the Duty Rota and would like to help during the season, I would be very pleased to hear from you, stating a preference for Committee Boat and/or Escort Duties also prefered dates, i.e.: Weekends/Monday Evenings/Thursday evenings.

My e-mail address is: [email protected]
Again, many thanks to all members for your assistance.

Planning Group

Thanks to everyone for the large amount of positive feedback following the presentation at the AGM. For those of you who missed it, the AGM slideshow is now on the website along with the entire report.  Now starts the exciting bit in making it all happen!

Members of General Committee are already beavering away with their chosen tasks. If anyone feels motivated to lend a hand with any of this year’s objectives, just let me know (  015394 22348 / 074232127378 ) and I will point you in the right direction.  On the other hand, you may feel that you would like to take on something from the report that is not earmarked for this year – no problem – again, just let me know! Watch out soon for a short, simple, on-line questionnaire about members’ cruising habits / aspirations.

The Planning Group will be meeting intermittently over the course of the year to monitor the progress of this year’s objectives and we will, of course, keep you informed via this Newsletter.  We would also be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to take an active part with the Group.                        

Club Phone System

The club phone system has now been simplified. If you phone the club you will be presented with 3 options:

Option 1: To speak to the stewardess during club bar opening hours or to leave a message for her.
Option 2: To speak to the club’s secretary or to leave a message for her.
Option 3: To speak to the club’s treasurer or to leave a message for him.

There will be a separate newsletter sent out to inform you of our upcoming social events.