Chris Tooley and I were invited to attend the dinghy show by the NSSA last weekend. We drove down on Friday night and stayed two nights (expenses paid!). We took the Mount Haes trophy we won at the Youth Regatta held at Plymouth last July and spent some time on the stand talking to visitors.

We arrived at Alexandra Palace for the opening of the show on Saturday morning and saw Ben Ainslie when he cut the ribbon. (He’s a lot smaller than he looks in pictures) There were talks from loads of top sailors including Paul Goodison, GBR Olympic laser sailor. There was loads to do, looking around all of the stands, wishing you could afford all the shiny boats, collecting freebies and getting a bit over-competitive at the model boat pool.

We had a great time and would definitely recommend going.

Sam.

You just can’t take some people anywhere. Never heard anyone describe Bridget as a shrinking violet, so no surprise when she was at a recent Westlife concert she spotted Ginge on the big screen she leant (well dived) across and waved like fury. Don’t think there’s any truth in the rumour that she ‘flashed’ the camera, but who knows 🙂

Instead of a Mirror, Toddy has been building a Cobra this winter. Check out when he started it for the first time!

The recent rain has lifted the lake level again. Well at least the camping field is getting a good watering! The top panorama is a view that we should be rightly proud of. How many other club’s benefit from such views?

Find out what you may not have known about long standing club member Ian Macpherson from a recent local newspaper article WHATEVER FLOATS HIS BOAT

Have we had some members mis-behaving? Is it to do with getting out those Christmas baubles and keeping them out of reach of the family pet?

No, it’s related to another addition to the Preston / Kirkpatrick family! ‘Barley Wine‘ has been carefully looked after by hanging high in a tree to dry out whilst waiting for a new owner to give it love & attention. Trustee Graham Kirkpatrick’s favourite son-in-law, Ian, has long had a vision of him making a come back to the world of 15’s. There is now a serious risk that Graham could be seen on Bass, and on the Classic FF circuit, with Ian next year! ‘Barley Wine’ is now at the Preston’s rest home for old boats. Two old codgers in an old boat! Competing again against Alan & Keith. The mind boggles!

Just as well the sailing season’s over. As you can see from the webcam, the weather has not been too inviting. There’s snow on the top of Skiddaw, and the few boats left by the lake are at risk of floating away if the lake continues to rise!Oh to be tucked away next to a log fire. Not very good for the carbon emissions, but on a day like today – who cares! 🙂

Oh yes, it had to happen. Another birthday for Kayla. I know you should never reveal a lady’s age, so I’ll make an exception this time and won’t! However, the clue might be in her email address kayla1967.So many congratulations, on this special day – We hope she finds enough puff to blow out all 40 candles (oops).

She is of course holding a birthday party on Sunday afternoon, to which all children are invited to come and play games and see Santa who is making a special visit to club. Don’t forget to bring some snacks for the bring and eat buffet. The fun starts at 3pm

At this year’s AGM Steve Hunt was re-elected Commodore for his second year in office. For the full list of council members click here. It will be noted that we still need someone to be responsible for the running of the bar. If you’re interested please contact the Commodore.

Some proposals by the Hon Sailing Secretary generated much discussion. Firstly, a proposal to adopt the usual 5-4-1-0 start sequence for club racing was rejected by those present. When Roy advised that it was proposed to move the committee boat to the starboard end of the line, there was much concern raised from the floor, but in the end it was agreed to trial it for 10 weeks in the new season. Finally, consideration has been given to revise the scoring system for the championship, as the present system of giving points relative to the number of starters in the series seemed to give a significant advantage to those doing well in long series. Three options were put forward – status quo, increase the points in weekend series by the number of starters in that series, and thirdly revert to the low points scoring system. When voted on by members the scoring was very close 8-9-7 (or thereabouts!), so for next season the championship scoring will be revised for weekend series to increase the number of points by the number of starters in that series.

The treasurer’s proposal to raise subscriptions in line with inflation, again raised interesting discussion, driven by those stalwarts – our Hon Auditor(!), and Ian MacPherson. When finally voted on the following subscriptions were approved for the new season

Ordinary �143
Family �65
Junior �30
Country �69
Life �57
Affiliated �58
Senior �100

The training report was given by Nigel Lewis, and advised members of the success of the current regime. Members were reminded to register their interest for training prior to the new season to ensure a place would be available.

Under any other business, members were advised of issues regarding the number of non-sailing visitors entering the grounds. Whilst not wishing to discourage genuine visitors it was felt appropriate to for council to consider some for of gate management system.

The Commodore outlined recent discussions with neighbouring residents and their concerns over some of our operations. Discussions are ongoing to address the issues amicably where considered appropriate.

Finally, the Hon Auditor raised concerns about a missing wheel from his road trailer. All was well when it was reported that it had just been borrowed, albeit without asking!

The meeting closed at approx 1630hrs

Unfortunately, today was boatman Josh’s last day at the club before he goes and gets a proper job with the big boys! He’s been with us a couple of years, and he’ll be missed by one and all.