The Commodore's Newsletter June 2018

Dear Member

What beautiful weather we are having, long may it continue.

So much has been going on since my May update. In fact, as I write this, I am reflecting on last weekend when we hosted the combined Osprey and Contender Open Meeting. Again, what a successful weekend, enjoyable racing and a great Saturday evening social. My thanks to Dave Evans and Chris Playfair for their organisation of this first-class annual event.

So many members give their time freely to help all aspects of running such events at the Club. Early evening gourmet burgers were provided by Steve, Adam and Colin. Colin was like a demon on the BBQ turning out scores of burgers, we ran out after 80 and then managed to find some more! Thank you to the team for a great effort, the proceeds of which go to Julia’s House.

The weather in the evening was amazing, with all the doors open and members enjoying the evening sun on the terrace it was like being in an exclusive beach Club on the Mediterranean!

The evening started with Georgina singing solo, what a lovely voice, Steve then set the Disco going. The raffle was drawn at 21.30 and raised an amazing £612. Lynda, Linda, Amanda and Sarah were once again selling raffle tickets, thank you. Then Mark Titterington’s band struck up filling the dance floor. Another great social evening at the Club.

Already in June we had a very successful Club Regatta. The atmosphere all weekend was fantastic with everyone enjoying themselves. On the water, Matt Hitt did really well on the “blue” course, with those classes enjoying challenging conditions with plenty of thrills and spills. John Yonwin and his team, notably Tracey, Andrew and Brian, did a really fine job of organisation with all the race preparation and volunteers.

I was back in an R19 for the evening pursuit race, we were in the lead until we approached No. 21, where inexplicably I tried to take us to No.19. I had even pointed out no 21 on the way up the harbour! How many times have I been round No. 21! Anyway, that probably threw away a win leaving us a close second.

It was another highly enjoyable evening social, again our bar staff did a fine job and everyone was very complimentary about the hog roast and salads.

Saul and his team organised a raffle for a “Gin Hamper” and with Thelma (Social Committee) and Amber selling the tickets £405 was raised for the Commodore’s Charity, great stuff.

Poole Boat Show again gave our Club an opportunity to show our activities and hopefully excite families about getting on the water and enjoying our harbour. The R19’s, as they did the previous year, gave a sailing experience to the general public and with our Club name emblazoned on the boats did us proud. A very big thank you to the boats and their crews and to Peter and Miriam Chaldicott who managed the public so well. Our own Katie was there for the three days working hard promoting our Club and sailing.

At the end of May the International Paint Regatta was held over the bank holiday. A truly outstanding event for Poole and the organising committee were hard at work making sure all went smoothly. Many volunteers from the Club were involved and with Dave and Jenny Peters and Sue and Laurie Thornton-Grimes from the organising committee you all deserve a very big thank you.

Our Youth section are just as active. Quite a few of our younger sailors are representing The Poole Yacht Club at the Topper National Series along with the Rooster Topper South and South West traveller series which The Poole Yacht Club hosted on 9th /10th June. Boys and girls who took part –5.3 class; Amber and Oliver Hale, Thomas Clayton, Ollie Fremantle, Freddie Howarth, Maddie and Emily Smith, Harry Somerville and Eliana Covell. 4.2 – River Green – actually won the Poole event.

We are mid-way through the Wednesday evening Youth Training and it is wonderful to see how much all the children have improved.

The Poole Yacht Club is now recognised as British Youth Sailing Recognised Club - The Poole Yacht Club was one of the first 15 sailing Clubs in England to be awarded this status by the RYA.

Along with all the above has been the R19 open, the GP14 youth and masters, Friendly Fridays continues to grow and SCOWS meet on Wednesdays and other days.

There is so much going on with so many of our members racing, cruising, volunteering for events and just socialising that it is exhausting even reflecting on what a great month June has been. I can only apologise for missing out thanking those members not mentioned here.

I have a few polite requests:

• Some boats have been pumping their oily bilges out into our beautiful Haven, please do not.
• Some members are picking up their dog mess, thank you, and then dropping the bags leaving the bags for others to pick up and clear away. Please do not do this.
• Some members (and non-members) are using the slipway without paying. This has forced the Yard and Haven Committee to review the slipway byelaw and submit a revised byelaw to the General Committee. This was unanimously approved at the last meeting and will take effect immediately. It only effects members who keep their boats on trailers and who pay an annual fee to launch and recover them and who have currently not paid for this year.
• The General Committee is working hard on your behalf and we are currently looking at fees for the coming year, capital expenditure items for next year along with proposals regarding training and youth.

A note from Simon, Rear Commodore House Bar and Catering:

Summer has arrived and we hope that you will come down and enjoy the Club and see what’s new!

The past few weeks have been busy for Saul and his team with regular lunchtimes and race nights, let alone the sailing events and weddings thrown into the mix but, they are doing a great job and we are all enjoying their friendly helpful faces around the place. We have more changes to come as we move further into the summer with menus and choices. Some things you will notice some you may not, we welcome your comments and observations to help us improve on your behalf, if you could do this preferably in writing as this makes it easier for us to action these and get back to you with a response.

Now for my moan. Sadly, we have noticed the changing rooms are being used by one or two of our members as a bit of a personal storage area on a regular basis. We would like to give everyone a friendly reminder that our cleaning team cannot clean around your clothes, so be warned you may find gear left overnight in the changing rooms relocated to the lost property bins. Thanks in advance for your cooperation in this.

There is still much work to do on our list of continuing improvements around the Club but, please be sure to enjoy the sunshine with a cold beverage on the balcony.

We look forward to seeing you, Simon.

Our Master at Arms, Michael, is having a drive on preventing plastic waste. I am sure that we all support preventing plastic waste from entering our seas. Please help Michael in this initiative by making sure that all plastic is removed from our site and properly recycled. If you see any in the Haven or Yard please pick it up.

Commodore’s Charity

I am really delighted, my target for my time as Commodore was to raise £5,000 for Julia’s House to provide very specialised individual children activities to support them and their parents. We have burst through that target in just 15 months. Recently we have raised £1,141 from the fashion show, £126 from members who donated cakes, £406 raffle, £214 office collections, £612 raffle.

Current total stands at £6,607!!!!!!

£1,661 has already been sent to Julia’s House on my behalf leaving £4,946 to be sent to them.

I can only offer a huge thank to you; for those members who gave so much of their time to help me, I cannot name them all but, one member in particular Amanda Jones, was amazing. Mark and Lorna along with Saul and his team gave me fantastic support. All those members who donated gifts for raffle prizes, cakes for sale, cooked burgers etc., thank you. Finally, the generosity of our members who have donated money so readily who have made this possible, thank you. If you have not been able to attend any of the fund-raising events and might wish to donate please, if you wish, drop an envelope into the Office for Lorna and we will add your donation to the Julia’s House total.

Finally, I am off to the Plymouth Regatta soon to continue my adventures on J24 ‘Cacoon’. We will have at least 3 J24’s competing from Poole Yacht Club next year preparing for the J24 Worlds in Poole Harbour in 2020.

I shall be giving you all a rest from my ramblings over the summer and will be updating you again in September.

I hope you all have a wonderful summer and hopefully the weather will continue to be kind.