The Commodore's Newsletter June 2019

Dear Member

I hope that you are making the best of the summer, not quite like last year yet! As always with our Club, so much has been going on.

I will of course mention my J24 action. When we returned from Greece we went almost straight away into the J24 Summer Cup held at Parkstone, with 20 boats entered. Three great days racing with Joe Cross in Jambalaya achieving a very creditable 5th place. We in Cacoon finished in 10th place followed by Steve Brown in 14th. We now believe that we have sorted our sail problems and by moving to North sails we have become very competitive again. I look forward to reporting our J24 Autumn Cup results, which will be hosted by our Club in September.

The Osprey and Contender Open again went very well with Dave Evans and Chris Playfair’s organisation. The Club supported the band for the evening and everyone had a great time. The Commodore’s Charity raffle raised nearly £400, thank you everyone. I was delighted to welcome, or rather my wife Lynda who deputised for me (they made the mistake of letting her loose on the microphone), The Hobie 16 Nationals, to our Club over the same weekend as the J24 Summer Cup. When I met the competitors, they went out of their way to thank our Club and to express how impressed they were with the race organisation and race team volunteers, the helpfulness of our staff and how they wanted to book their Nationals here again for the following year. Well done Hazel Beard for organising the event and as always, our race team with Tom Coombs impressing as Race Officer supported by our safety and mark laying teams.

I was able to welcome all the children and parents of the Super Topper Traveller event held the following week. I am pleased to report that with some 87 Toppers launching and racing in the top triangle the event went like clockwork, there was a calm and ordered atmosphere. All our volunteers were very impressive in their knowledge and quite efficiency, making the event run so well. Again, many of the parents and children went out of their way to thank our volunteer teams and when chatting with me again emphasised how delighted they were with our Club and how well the event was managed. Well done Jackie Hale for your organisation with our expert race officer Matt Hitt and his on the water team.

I would like to say here that our new Race Officers coming through are doing really well and the organisation of our mark layers by Steve Thompson is such a great support to the Race Officers.

The Poole Boat Show was blessed with a real mix of weather, but our Club was very well represented with our volunteers. They were able to talk to prospective members and as always, we offered “taster” sails with our R19 volunteers. Our youth members played their part on the water with both sailing and powerboat displays. Thank you to all our organisers and volunteers for giving so freely of your time. The Membership Committee had produced some very good-looking material to support discussions with potential new members. All this takes time expertise and as a Club we all again benefit from the commitment of our volunteers. The efforts of Sue Thornton-Grimes in tracing our Club history has again led to an historic trophy being identified and gifted to the Club by Pamela Scott. The silver and cut-glass bowl from 1896 was awarded as first prize in the first Mayor’s Trophy race at Poole Yacht Club in 1901.

We have some very impressive trophies and cups awarded to our members, it would be nice if we could display them appropriately for the appreciation of our members and visitors.

I really enjoy talking about the positives of our great Club. However, I have some real problems with a few of our members. I have had reported to me and seen with my own eyes the dog faeces increasingly left for members and their children to step into. The selfish members who cannot wait to drive in the correct entrance but who then choose to accelerate through the no entry gate. The members who are stealing equipment from other member and Club owned boats, especially in the dinghy park.

Such selfish are careless actions from these few members is unacceptable. I am so sorry to mention this in my newsletter, as the clear majority of members enjoy our facilities and the care with which we look after our Club and look out for each other. If anyone witnesses antisocial behaviour I would be very grateful if they would let any Flag Officer or the Office know, I can then address the issue to the benefit of all our members.

Please see Tracey’s sailing report for all the up and coming events with up to 150 Toppers joining us in ,early July, followed by GP and Topper events.

Good luck to all our members competing in the annual Round the Island Race this weekend. Enjoy your beat to Cowes on Friday into a breezy easterly.