Top facebook2x Top youtube2x Top instagram2x Top phone2x 01425483692 Top email2x Email us Top search2x Basket Login Join
Home / News / Commodore's Newsletter January 2021
Home / News / Commodore's Newsletter January 2021

Commodore's Newsletter January 2021

Published 16:38 on 11 Jan 2021

Commodore's Newsletter January 2021

I hope that you had as good a Christmas and New Year as was possible in the circumstances. What strange times we are living through, I had no idea of what 2020 would bring when I became Commodore a year ago.

Closure of the lake and Clubhouse. I am truly sorry that the clubhouse and lake are closed at present but I am sure that you will appreciate that this is beyond our control. I am delighted that so many of you have already renewed your membership and, if you are wavering about renewing, I hope that you will find lots of reasons in the following newsletter to continue your membership. We will do our utmost to reopen as soon as it is safe and legal to do so. In 2020 we were one of the first clubs to resume activities and I am confident that this will be true in 2021 as well.

Staff Update. Abi Blondell, our administrator, has been furloughed as of today Monday 11th January. James remains at the Club, juggling admin and boatswain duties. He isn't quite superman so please bear with us if there is some delay in replying to your enquiries.

Renewals We have tried to keep membership fees as low as possible, but many of our costs, such as the rent we pay to Wessex Water, insurance and maintenance are beyond our control and have to be spread across the year rather than the main sailing season. To help members we have decided to make the discounted rates applicable until the 14th March. Membership fees can be paid in monthly instalments if you want to spread the expenditure. Details are available on the website. The Main Committee will consider requests from members suffering hardship. We still consider that Spinnaker Club membership is very good value for money and hope that you do as well.

Virtual Sailing Last year this proved popular and reassuringly the best sailors seemed to win the virtual races as the did on the water! Keith McQuillin has kindly agree to lead a Virtual Regatta e-Racing Series for us again. First race will be at 10.30 on Sunday 17th January. More details will be available on the website in the next few days. This will include detailed information on how the series will run and how to get involved.

Evening Meetings We are continuing the series of evening Zoom meetings open to all members. The next one is this Thursday 21st January when Ian Walker who is the RYA Director of Racing will be presenting"From a Gravel Pit to the Southern Ocean". We have a full programme until Wednesday evening racing restarts in April. These are free meeting but must be booked on line. See the website for further details

Online Training James Oborne is still running the Spinnaker Youth Training webinars, tailored to our younger sailors. We are also planning to run a RYA Club Race Management Course. This is a new course from the RYA. Delivered by a member of the RYA's Southern Race Management Committee this is an online course via Zoom to help sailors develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to be the Race Officer for Club Racing. The date is yet to be confirmed, so look out for more details on the website soon.

Post Lockdown Support At the Club we are proud of how quickly we resumed sailing in 2020 after the first lockdown, and of our reputation for being proactive and safe when we resumed activities. The Club's management wants a return to sailing, training and racing as soon as safe and legal to do so. As restrictions are eased we will put in place a modified programme as we are guided by the government and NHS advice and the new regulations. As we are allowed to restart activity at the Club we are planning to provide support to members, such as sailing refreshers, powerboat handling courses and support to getting your boat ready to be sailed again. This is part of our support to our members and there will be no, or minimal, charge for this support.

Boat park. We have some nice new red boat park stickers for the new season. James is planning to apply them to paid for boats over the next few weeks. The project to rid the boat park of abandoned boats is almost complete. We will soon be issuing notices of intended disposal of the few remaining boats. If you know the ownership of any of these boats we would love to hear from you. Also I need to remind you that only paid up members may keep craft at the club and that the fee for the space must be paid.


Main Committee news. As you know the members of the committee are all volunteers and they do a fantastic job keeping the Club running smoothly and efficiently. I am pleased to welcome Phil Tinsley onto the Committee. He will be known to many of you as the man who masterminded the reorganisation and tidying of the boat park. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge , having been a Commodore of Datchet SC and having worked supporting elite rowers. He joins James Clarke who took over the role of Club Treasurer from Roy Price at the AGM.I am also delighted that Roy is remaining on the committee. The Main Committee will continue to monitor the pandemic situation and do its utmost to ensure that you have a Club that is in a strong position to get you back on the water as soon as it is safe to do so.

Finally. Please stay safe in these difficult times. I look forward to seeing you back at the Club in the not too distant future.

Hywel

H J Morris

Commodore

Last updated 09:41 on 20 December 2023

Top facebook2x Top youtube2x Top instagram2x
© 2024 Spinnaker Sailing Club powered by Sailing Club Manager