Well Hello Sailors.
Welcome to the 2006 Sailing Season,
Well 2006 is upon us already. The winter has been shortened
by many of our boats doing the Nash Icicle series held
during late November and December each Sunday morning. 38
very competitive boats were out. There were 8 from our club
and many Saltash based crew seen on others.
During this time many of our dinghy sailors have been
competing with the Cargreen Club on a Sunday afternoon.
Once again we are welcoming new boats coming into the club.
We look forward to seeing them out on the water. In
particular we expect to see great things from Frank
Ellwood’s new boat based on the showing so far. Terry Pratt
has confirmed the purchase of a Beneteau 31.7 which should
be a good addition to the fleet. We have lost Flasher and
Enigma but hope to see replacements being manned by the
crews from each. John Smellie and Neil Dunkersley have
purchased Lady Gray of Rame and we look forward to seeing
them on the water.
Last years dinghy sailing was the best ever for support and
it is due to grow again during the autumn with further
purchases of laser one boats. This fleet has really taken
off with around 15 boats last year and more due this year.
The club has purchased a new Laser two to supplement our
existing club owned fleet of 6. Along with strong support
from private owners this class continues to provide very
exciting and competitive sailing. It is planned to provide
our own fleet with new sails for next season so the racing
should be even keener. We hope to find ways of extending the
dinghy season after September in a joint venture with TRSC.
I am pleased to announce that the dinghy racing will be
sponsored by Classic Cookers this year. Many thanks to them.
We have been joined on the Sailing committee, as dinghy, rep
by Geoff Evans who I am sure will make a strong
contribution. The same team who did such a good job last
years has been retained. Sue Roach has indicated her desire
to draw back for her duties last year in the race hut. She
has also quietly and reliably submitted all of our race
reports for many years. Many thanks Sue for all you have
done. I hope you will be able still to help out in times of
need. If there any helpers out there that would like to help
with publicity or line duties we would love to hear from
them.
Many thanks to Marcus, Carole, Burt, Mike, Rob, Dave and
Tamsyn who all did race officer duties last year. Also
thanks to the numerous helpers such as Brenda, Penny, Liz,
Chris, Marlyn and others who backed them up .
Thanks to Steve Hills, Steve Sykes and Nigel Hoon, TRSC and
Dave Barr who made their boats available for committee boat
duties last year. We need you again guys if you can help.
Malcolm ran a series of training events to qualify new and
old rescue boat drivers. Rob ran first aid courses as part
of this exercise. This exercise is ongoing to expand our
pool of drivers and crew to support the ever increasing
dinghy fleet. Thanks to our Bosun Ken Bennet for keeping on
top of our rescue boat fleet of 4 dories. These continue to
be updated with a replacement boat and engine being
purchased last year. John Lillie has been carrying out
regular check up on our radios which were getting a bit
elderly and some replacements will be bought this year.
After the success of last years Spring series planning
started last October. We already have good financial support
from Adrian High (This year under the TAMAR LABELS banner,
Skinners brewery with more Betty Stoggs, Strathstones Volvo,
Stylus Engraving and some others still to finalise. This
allows us to book good bands, keep the entry cost down,
provide good prizes each week etc.
Many thanks to Bill Caldwell for the excellent xmas card
printed for advance publicity and thanks to Strathstones
Volvo for the DVD’s provided within those cards. The dates
for this years spring series are 1st. 8th, 15th and 22nd of
April. We understand that the J24 & J 80 fleet will be
joining us these days doing two separate windward leeward
races in the sound on their own course. We have also had
strong interest from both inside and outside the port for
these events.
We will again be running our joint regatta with the Plym
yacht club and the offshore PIPS weekend as previously. Many
boats are making the trip to Cork again this year and in
August we have the Plougastel cruise to our friends in
Brittany.
The Commodores Cup continues to bring superb Match and team
racing to club members thanks to continuing support from
Noakes and Habermehl. It is a unique event in the port and
gives members a chance to try out new skills and always
brings out a lot of entertaining sailing. It is a very
difficult event to run but thanks to Rob Mercer and many
others we seem to have a formula that works.
A new set of galley slaves will be slaving away to ensure
that you do not fade away after your exertions on the water.
Welcome Shirley and team and thanks for stepping in at the
end of last year to feed the starving hordes.
Finally welcome to our new commodore Neil Trathen who will
be leading from the front by taking a flotilla of laser one
boats to the RWYC for the winter series. Neil will be ably
backed up by our very capable race officer, Carol Jones as
Vice Commodore so look forward to an improvement in the vice
this year.
See you on the water.
Neil Trathen
Rear Commodore Sailing.
