It is official, winter is over and the sailing season has begun. Cold weather and rough water does not have much effect on the rowers. We just tough it out through the winter, we don’t let little things like rough water, cold and rain stop us from doing what we enjoy most; i.e. drinking coffee, eating cake and chatting to our friends.
Very soon the shutters will be coming down on the Hut and boats will be going back onto their moorings (many already have) and we will be back in business again. You will find a leaflet containing an outline of the events planned for the summer with this Newsletter. There are the usual Club rows and Dinghy races but this year we will try to have a few middle- and long-distance cruises for dinghies and rowing boats, weather permitting.
I would like to pick out a few key dates:-
Sat 28th April Work Party
Sat 26th May Plymouth Breakwater Bash
Sun 10th June MSWC Open Day
Sun 24th June Sea Trophy Races (Exmouth)
Sat 28th July Regatta Square
Sun 29th July Regatta
The Work Party is an important and fun weekend. Not only does it give the Club the chance to work together but it also helps us to prepare our facilities for the coming season. We have a long list of tasks so please come and help. After helping on Saturday, there will be afternoon tea (& cakes). Please come and help.
Please let us know if you need more copies of the leaflet to give to your friends, there should soon be spare copies in the Hut.
Cast you mind back to 1st January 2007, can you remember where you were? It was one of those bright, crisp, clear winter’s days with a bit of wind and a considerable swell. Considerable that is if you are out on it in a small boat, as many of us were.
Many of us were starting the year in the way we mean to go on by going afloat in anything that floats. This included canoes, dinghies, tenders and even the Virus. Like all good excursions onto the sea this was closely followed by coffee & cakes and a good time was had by all.
If you missed it then do not miss the repeat performance on 1st January 2008.
We are now a Charity
The Charities Commission has written to confirm that our application has been successful. The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that our Charity Registration number appears on the membership renewal form that you have found with this newsletter.
You may remember that we had an Extraordinary General Meeting to change our Constitution. This was fairly brief and happened just before the Quiz. Please let me know if you would like a copy of the minutes of the EGM, they are short but not very exciting.
One of the benefits of being a charity is that any money we receive from individuals in the form of subscriptions and sponsorship can be regarded a charitable donation and the Club can reclaim the tax that the donor has already paid in order in order to be able to pay the Club.
In effect, this means that the club income from these sources is increased by 28% because if you pay tax at 22% you would need to earn £128.21 to receive £100 after tax. It also means that companies can offset gifts to us against their tax liabilities.
Please remember to circle “yes” on your membership renewal to allow us to reclaim the tax. I suppose that that is good news for us but not such news good for Mr Brown.
The Rowing Boat saga continues but there is light at the end of the tunnel. A Celtic Longboat with sliding seats has been ordered from Dale Sailing who tells us that it will be completed sometime in mid-May.
We have discussed the name and concluded that it should be named George Leicester, after the first lifeboat in Minehead; this was also a rowing boat. The original George Leicester served as Minehead Lifeboat from 1901 till 1927 and saved 23 lives.
We plan to have the official naming ceremony and inaugural launch at our Open Day on Sunday June 10th. Kevin Escott, the former Lifeboat Operations Manager, has agreed to officiate, it is rumoured that he feels very proud to do so.
The financing of this purchase is another saga that I will not bore you with now. Suffice it to say that in addition to the award of £7,301 from Awards for All we have secured sponsorship of £300 per year from the Old Ship Aground, and have promises of financial support from Ian Galloway (the County Councillor) and the Somerset Community Chest.
I trust that you are looking forward to rowing in the new boat as much as I am.
The winter hibernation period for many of us sailors ended at Easter when we went to Wimbleball to try to remember which string to pull and what to do with the tiller, in a safe and benign environment. Rowers tough it out through the winter but is was good to be able to use the South West Lakes fleet of single seat Viruses.
The weather was wonderful too, bright, clear blue sky, warm with just enough wind for stress free sailing and perfect for rowing.
We took two Wayfarers, a Dayboat, an ISO and a Canoe, and used the South West Lakes Viruses and Wimbleball Rowing Club’s safety boat. Over 30 members and friends came and most people tried both sailing and rowing (and coffee & cake - have you noticed an underlying theme?).
I would like to thank Liz McMaster of South West lakes, and her staff, for all their help and assistance and for the loan of the Viruses and the Barbeque. The Barbeque was much appreciated, and well used.
A wonderful time was had by all and some people have already asked me when we are going again.
We have had two great indoor social events this spring, the Quiz night and the Skittles evening. Both were well attended and enjoyed by everyone. I would like to thank Jerry for all his work with the Quiz night and the Phil and the rest of the Sanderson clan for organising the Skittles evening.
I know that it is a bit previous talking about this now but diaries do tend to fill quickly so please make a note in yours that the Annual Dinner will be on Saturday 17th November at the Northfield Hotel.
Now I realise that to some of you this is a riveting topic and to others it is about as interesting as watching paint dry so I will try to be brief and if you have any comments or questions then please let me know.
At our last Management Committee meeting we discussed the Mooring Policy. This has not been a big issue in recent years, as we have had vacant moorings. The good news is that all our moorings have now been allocated. This means that we will need to have a little more clarity and transparency in our procedures.
Our heritage is that of a sailing club and preference has always been given to sailing boats over motorboats on club moorings. Some years ago when we had empty moorings it was decided to offer some of these to owners of small motorboats on a year-by-year basis. We have to pay the Council for the moorings whether they are used or not and it is better to have any boat on a mooring than none.
We decided that from now on any member who does not have a mooring but wants one should apply in writing (we have a form for this) before 31st March each year. If you have one but do not need it any more then tell the Mooring Officer, Norman Ell, by the same date. Preference will continue to be given to sailing boats over motorboats. We may need to reinstate the waiting list.
The simple logic is if you had a mooring last year then you have one this year if you want it. If not and you want to have one, or to relinquish one, then talk to Norman as soon as you can.
Can I please remind everyone who keeps a boat in the dinghy park that they must have adequate insurance and that names should be painted on trailers.
Stephen
01643 702074 or 07767 413404