+Boat Club News

Outside it is F5 south westerly and the current forecast is for 80% probability of precipitation. I can just make out the line where the sea (mid grey) and the sky (also mid grey) meet. A couple of RAF trainers flew over earlier but all is now quiet as the weather has turned to stormy on the barometer. However, a new season is almost here, and all those jobs you were going to attend to in the winter to make the boat quicker/safer/drier will no doubt be put on hold! There are lots to report so here goes…

At the recent AGM, Hugh Macintyre became VP from moi whilst I have taken over the Treasurers role. Dyllis, our previous Hon Trezz, did a super job in the two years she held the purse strings. Jane, (I can safely say her indoors as she doesn’t sail!), gave notice to retire her Secretary’s quill at the end of the current year, but otherwise no one stood down from the committee. We have two new committee members in Grahame Mitchell and Ewan McLennan. Both Grahame and Ewan will bring differing but important new skills to the committee and are a very welcome addition.

To the end of last year it became increasingly obvious that we need to invest in new equipment as we have some old, venerable but slowly disintegrating kit. We bought a full set of cruising sails for one of the club Wayfarers. I believe they may well be the first new sails ever purchased by the club! We also started to look at replacing or repairing the two Tornado RIBs, the two RIBS are about 25 years old, and probably the most important piece of equipment we own. Rescue Boat One (RB1) appears to be going to the RIB mart in the sky as the tubes resemble something suited to drain basmati. The engine on RB1 – an old 30hp Yamaha – although still working, may need replacing quite soon although we hope to coax it through another season. RB2 looks as though we might get another couple of seasons out of it although it will need to be used sparingly as the tubes deflate quicker than they should. We are hopeful we can affect some repairs to RB2 as a temporary measure though. 

Over the winter, Jean Brown volunteered to lead an initiative to obtain lottery funding for a new replacement RIB and engine. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful. However, we heard of a manufacturer – Whaly -who makes (cheaper) polypropylene boats which can be used as rescue boats. Polypropylene is used to make Toppers so should be virtually indestructible. After lots of research we purchased a 3.7m boat and it arrived last week. Norman Thomas is currently fitting her out and she should be on the water for rigorous sea trials by early May. We are using the 20hp Yamaha we bought second-hand a couple of years ago, and are confident it will be ideal for the Whaly.

After many years where the resources to provide junior sailing has simply not been available, we are really pleased to announce re-starting a junior sailing programme in 2013. Ewan is leading this initiative and will be held on various Sundays in May and June. We currently own three Toppers and are looking to buy a fourth. Toppers are excellent for the older child, but for those under, say 12, the dinghy of choice is the Optimist. We are currently looking at buying a couple of cheap (but usable) boats from club funds. Watch out for those on the water this year.

I mentioned earlier that our application for lottery funding had been turned down. However, there are other sources of funding we are currently exploring. We now realise to be successful you need to apply for something new rather than simply apply for a replacement. We believe a real asset to the club would be to acquire a fast two handed junior sailing dinghy, which would be used for those juniors wishing to move on from Toppers. The RS Feva is acknowledged as being world class in this regard and the club will be applying for funding from various sources to help achieve an acquisition. Hopefully we will have some positive news to report soon.

Finally, this season looks to be a most memorable season. We have Sunday and Wednesday dinghy sessions, the Big Boat event in July and the Challenge in September. Rumour has it we may be starting some keelboat racing in the summer – now that would be good!

F5 south westerly and the rain lashing down – soon a distant memory!

Best wishes

Martin