June Letter Following some excellent sailing weather in May, we are now well into the summer series. 35 competitors have taken part so far, but, if you haven’t ventured out yet, there are still plenty of races to go, and it’s certainly not too late to start the chase for silverware!

Open Day The Push the Boat Out day on May 21st was a great success. The weather forecast beforehand wasn’t that great; showery and a little too much wind to be taking out novices. But plenty of visitors turned up, quite a few were intrepid enough to go out in a boat, and three new members joined on the day. There was also some interest expressed in the taster days and a number of children signed on for junior training. Certainly there was plenty going on and the place was buzzing with activity. A big thank you to everyone who gave up their time to make the day a success, take people out for a sail, show them round, work in the galley, have tea and a chat with the visitors, or just be around or out in a boat to enhance the atmosphere, it’s all very much appreciated. And, of course, thanks to Kerry who organised and ran the whole thing!

New members So a big welcome to the Club to Brett and Christine Scheer, Andrea Leo and Joshua Maturi, and Jessica Quentin Cameron and Oliver Bahlmann who joined us on Open Day. Also to

Peter Jones and Rachel Kettle, who joined just after visiting us on Open Day. Others who have joined us in 2016 are Georgina and Christian Cappendell, Guy Carla Joshua and William Lavarack, Rosie and Joshua Oates, Mark Rebecca and Caitlin Tiffany, Neil and Rachel Walker and Olivia and Charlie Cole. I hope I’ve got all the names right and haven’t missed anyone out! Let’s all make sure we are doing all we can to make new members feel welcome, and if you see your own name in the above list, come along to some of our events and get to know some established members. Flag Officer’s Day (see below) with an evening Pig Roast, put on by our friends the Fishing Club, would be a great place to start.

Junior Invitation Event You may have been there, or you may have already seen on the website that this day was a great success, with 5 clubs represented, over 40 sailors and over 100 visitors. It was certainly a spectacular and colourful sight when I arrived in mid-afternoon.

Many thanks to Richard O for organising the event, and congratulations to everyone who took part. A full report is on the website.

Enterprise/Lark Open The combined Enterprise/Lark Open was held on the weekend between the invitation event and the open day. We had moved this event to a Saturday from its usual Sunday slot, and as a result, entries were down, so we will have to make a decision as to where to place this event in the future. The day was bright and sunny, the wind light and variable. Bob was the winner of the Lark event. Enterprise sailors are just far too good hosts to show any signs of wishing to overtake our guests!

Flag Officer’s Day Normal Sunday sailing gives way to our annual Flag Officer’s (Regatta) Day on June 26 th. This is Open to senior and junior members. Prizes, in the shape of trophies, bottles of wine and chocolates are the incentive. The programme is as follows: 11:30

Junior Helm Race Ladies’ Race (June Lennox Trophy Race)

2:00

Richard Murray Trophy Race

3:30 (ish!)

Average Lap Race

…plus further races/other fun races depending on what people feel like doing at that stage, how tired everyone is and what the weather’s like! Afterwards there will be a prize giving and this is followed by a Pig Roast evening organised by The Fishing Club. Tickets are available from Fred and Lisa and are £7 each. Under 14s go free. The Fishing Club will need to have an idea of numbers, so please plan ahead and get your tickets in advance so they will know how many to expect. So just to make sure you’re paying attention, and so we can all help make this event a success, I’m going to put that bit in again in bold: Sunday 26th May, Pig Roast. Tickets in advance from Lisa and Fred. Follows Flag Officer’s Regatta!

RYA Courses RYA Level 1 Adult training courses will be running on the weekends of June 25/26 and August 6/7. Level 2 courses will be on July 16/17 and August 20/21. If you are interested please contact Rob Farquharson at [email protected].

July Saturday Sailing Throughout July, there will be informal Saturday Sailing from 2-5pm with rescue facilities laid on. If you can handle a boat but don’t yet feel confident enough to race, or wish to practice your racing skills, these afternoons are a lot of fun, and a chance to meet, sail with and chat to sailors who probably feel they’re at that stage too. Some of the sessions will have themes to improve specific areas. Two are lined up so far, one where Rob Lennox will be giving tips on how to get the best out of a laser (date to be confirmed, possibly July 16th), and another looking at boat balance and trim. Keep an eye on the website for updates.

Sailboards/Seavets This Open Meeting is on Saturday 4th June, so it’s slightly touch and go whether I can get this letter out in time to be a useful piece of information! But let’s hope it’s another good sailing day!

Boat Registration All boats should be registered and Richard S ([email protected]) should have all your boat details. Boat stickers should be available in the Clubhouse from June 5 th. Richard has circulated a list of registered boats, so if you have a boat but are not on his list, you need to register asap. If you believe you have registered a boat already, but the boat does not appear on the list, again, get in touch with Richard asap. Boats that are left abandoned when members leave is a big problem for the club in terms of boat parking space. We do want to get all those boats that do not belong to current members down to the graveyard area, and that is a potential fate for unregistered boats. So don’t delay!

100 Club Following on from my last letter, the 100 Club is about to be reborn. Many of you have already purchased your numbers. If you haven’t, there’s a 100 Club notice board in the Clubhouse with details of how to enter. Or you can get in touch with Robin at [email protected]. Robin will be drawing the winning numbers on the last Sunday of the month, so the first draw will be at the end of Flag Officer’s Day. Please help to support the club with this. As someone else once said, you’ve got to be in it to win it!

Whatsapp This is just an idea. Which may not work! We have an embryonic club whatsapp group which currently has too few members on it to be of any use! The idea is that if enough people join, it can act as a forum for getting out messages to as many club members in the group as possible in an instant. It could be used to ask if anyone is available to crew, to ask if anyone wants a crew, or to ask if anyone wants to meet up for a sail. And any other reasons you might think of. To join, you need to be on whatsapp, and you need to have my number (07890 899331) to send me your phone details so I can add you to the group.

Holiday Just to let you all know, I will be on holiday from June 30 to July 22, so I will not be answering any e-mails during this time. If anything urgently needs drawing attention to the committee, contact details for all of them can be found on the website. I’m sure you know Rob’s e-mail address by now for use in my absence- [email protected]. Have an excellent summer, sailing and otherwise.

Mike