Commodore’s Comms’ , January 2025
Dear Members
First of all a very Happy New Year to you all, wishing you health, happiness and great sailing in 2025!
The NYE function at the Club was a huge success , the company , the food and the entertainment were all great. It was lovely to see the club buzzing. It was the last function to be organised by our Vice Commodore Richard Jennings before handing over the reins of socials to the current Rear, Keith Jamieson. Huge thanks to Richard for all of his work.
Now that Christmas and New Year celebrations are complete we can focus our minds on the forthcoming 2025 sailing season, so to whet your appetite I will start with some news from each of the Fleets courtesy of the Fleet Captains.
17 Foot Fleet
The 17 Fleet continues to grow year on year and following on from last seasons 120yr celebrations the Fleet will again will see some new owners joining us on the start line. Probably the worst kept secret in the club is that ardent Flying Fifteeners Clare Houlihan and Michele Kay are the new owners of No 12 Snark 2 previously owned by the late Les Gorton, brilliant news for the Fleet.
The first date of note is the Owners meeting on Sat 22nd Feb after which there will be a hatch lunch and the Fleet extends a warm invitation to all club members.
There will be a pre season practice race on Easter Monday 21st April with the 1st counting race on Sat 3rd May.
The usual three race weeks will take place through the season and anyone interested in sailing a 17 should please contact Fleet Captain David Milburn or Secretary Derek Long or have a chat at the course meetings on Saturdays. There is a list of potential crew be they interested in regular or occasional crewing and other relevant 17 Fleet info is on our WhatsApp group. Everyone interested in 17s is welcome.
Dinghy Fleet
First, the big news. Robert Richardson as many of you know and will be following, is currently competing in the Musto Skiff World Championships, being sailed on Sydney Harbour. Robert has won the pre Worlds and is currently (at the time of writing) 5th with a race win under his belt in the World Championship. We wish him well and hope he can pull off the win. I imagine JR and Catharine and family will be immensely proud of him.
The interest in GP racing this coming season seems strong with Carla Ainscough having bought a boat at the end of the year, plus both Paul Aston and Chris Plumb expressing intentions to buy boats for the coming season too.
The junior sailors are enthusiastically planning a trip to the junior Southport race in the summer so it sounds as though they may be better prepped for the full fat event than most of the rest of us!
If you’re interested in anything Dinghy please contact Fleet Captain Peter Frith or Secretary Lisa Knaggs or join the dinghy WhatsApp group!
Cruiser Fleet
The Cruiser fleet are all looking forward with anticipation to the new sailing season. With 12 boats registered to race, this will be the largest Cruiser Fleet for Royal Windermere Yacht club in recent years.
This year new to the fleet is “Arwen” with Alan & Christine Williams and “Hebe” with Andrew & Sheila Bottomley.
There are a few members to the Cruiser Fleet who are new to racing, and there will be some informal training around race starting procedure, and racing techniques. To help with this Richard Broughton & Paul Frain have volunteered to share their knowledge and experience to support all the fleet to keep it safe and enjoyable.
Flying Fifteen Fleet
At the owners meeting last October , Cathy Thompson was elected as Fleet Secretary to assist Fleet Captain Nigel Tullett. An excellent appointment , Cathy has a long association with the fleet and we look forward to working her.
In terms of numbers a couple of boats have been sold or are currently be for sale , but the fleet are delighted to welcome new members David and Julie Sykes from Ullswater who joined at the end of last season. 2025 is a World Championship Year for the class and we are delighted to be hosting the Northern Area Championships in late April.
So all in all lots to look forward to as we move towards a new season. Please remember to register your boats if you intend to race, via the clubs website, under “racing”
The next social event is a talk by Campaigner Matt Staniek on Thursday evening (9th Jan) 7-30pm regarding water quality issues in Windermere, so if you want to hear and or discuss his campaign please come along. There will be a supper at the club at 6-30pm , please book with Zoe if you are eating. Full details are on the club Website and Facebook pages.
David Heron
Commodore