News 2010

Christmas Dinner Picture

Another one for the album – a photo of the prizewinners from this year’s Christmas Dinner at the Tree Inn in Stratton; a line up of the usual suspects, with two (John Savage and Sue Murray) who have ducked out of sight….

 

Surfing at Bude

For once the weather was superb for an event away from the lake, warm sunshine for an Indian summer’s day. Surf was good and clean with many surfers enjoying the afternoon high tide, including 7 from the club, watched by John & Ruth Savage.  Afterwards, everyone replaced lost calories with fish and chips, eaten by the canal, although some members got lost following a a mix-up over where to meet.  Added enjoyment was provided by watching the final runners come in along the wharf completing their quad-athlon, as the sun dipped below the horizon.  Thanks to John Savage and Stephanie Heasman for the photographs. 

August Bank Holiday Fun

As usual, the club held a camping weekend at the lake over the Bank Holiday, with fun sailing and races on the Saturday and Monday and the normal racing programme on the Sunday.  The weather wasn’t perfect, but the Saturday fun sailing was well supported, with a treasure hunt in the morning, reading clues off the buoys and a pursuit race in the afternoon, with pizzas from Kilkhampton in the evening.  Following recent tradition, everyone dressed up on the Saturday, this year producing some seriously scary Cowboys and Indians, as the photos below show.  As it wasn’t barbecue weather on the Sunday, the campers cooked sausages and beans etc, managing the difficult task of synchronising cooking in several different caravans and tents – thanks to all the cooks for managing this – and special thanks to Simon for playing his guitar afterwards.  There were more fun races on Monday morning, before everyone packed up in the afternoon.  Thanks to Nicky Buckett and John Leveridge for organising the fun racing.

Over 50’s Course – August 2010

The third Over-50s course to be held at the lake this year started in August. After the introductory course and then a follow-on course for some of those on the initial offering, this course was for a group of seven people. The smaller number was a response to evaluation of responses from the first course with 18 participants, where feedback was that the large numbers on the course meant that people felt that they would have liked longer time on the helm. The course so far seems to be being enjoyed by all those taking part, though the weather hasn’t been quite so favourable as on the first two courses. The photos below were taken on just the second week of the course – and show participants out in both the Bass Boat and the Laser 16. Many thanks to Christine Marshall for taking the photographs.

Carrick Roads  – June

Somewhat belatedly, a few photos and reports of the club’s expedition to Carrick Roads in June. Although we only went down for one day, it turned out very well – despite fears that we’d have difficulty in launching and retrieving at Loe Beach, because our visit happened to coincide with the Loe Beach Regatta, in turned out not to be too difficult – and launching was much easier than at 2009’s trial of using St Just-in-Roseland. The weather wasn’t quite what was expected – instead of the forecast Force 3 winds, Carrick Roads was quite lumpy: looking at the Met Office observations for the day when we came back, the windspeeds in southern Cornwall were just under 20mph for much of the day (lower end of a Force 5) with gusts of between 30 and 35mph – so some quite challenging sailing conditions, even in the sheltered waters of Carrick Roads. Toby’s Drascombe Lugger set off under reefed main, whilst the Falmouth Bass Boat was just under jib and mizzen and still made reasonable progress. With Roger and Jean Ford’s RIB in attendance, the boats headed south down the Roads and after a reach towards St Just, went back across west with the intention of making the traditional elevenses stop at Mylor. However, with the building of the new marina, landing near the slipway is no longer as easy, so Toby anchored above the marina and the other boats rafted up to enjoy our own refreshments. The trio then motored back up-river, past Turnaware Point, aiming for Smugglers Cottage – everything went smoothly, except when the Bass Boat’s outboard stuttered and died by the King Harry Ferry – and the occupants were very glad of a tow from Roger’s RIB. A good lunch sitting in the sunny and sheltered garden at Smugglers was followed by a motor or drift back down-river again, arriving back off Loe Beach as the working boats and assorted other classes competing in the Loe Beach Regatta were thrashing their way up to the windward mark – an impressive sight, with lots of spray and high angles of heel. All-in-all, a good day, with some good photos for the album – a selection follow below…. Thanks to Dawn and Simon and to Nicky for the pictures.

June Barbecue

The weather was kind for the barbecue held on the first Sunday in June. After a day with some fairly testing sailing conditions, the sun came out for the barbecue and it turned out to be an excellent event – as John Leveridge said, ‘one of the best’. In any event, those present clearly enjoyed the food – instead of there being lots left over at the end, as is normal at most barbecues, nearly everything had been rapidly consumed by a group of obviously ravenous club members. Thanks to Katie for forwarding the photos below of some of those there.

Over 50s Introductory Sailing Course

This course, which has been running on Wednesday mornings for the past 6 weeks, has been a collaborative venture between the club and Lakes Trust. 17 people started the course and initial feedback has been very good. The instructors on the course have been Bob Hindmarsh from Roadford, together with Roger Heasman and Nicky; grateful thanks to them, to Edd from the Lakes Trust and to all the other club members who have helped out, including Jane Chadney, Christine Marshall and Toby Tobias. The pictures below, taken by Nicky, show some of the sailing from the fifth week of the course, with the Trust’s Drascombe Lugger, the Falmouth Bass Boat, the club’s Laser 16 and a Laser Pico all in use. As the pictures show, everybody looks to be having a good time.

Start of 2010 Sailing Season

The sailing season’s well underway now, with good numbers of sailors venturing out on the sunny days – and rather fewer on the cold, windy ones. To remind those that haven’t been up yet, a few photos from the scrub-up on the first day of the season, at the start of March, with everyone well bundled up on a sunny but pretty cold day. Thanks to Nicky for the photos.

Boat Park Damage

We have recently heard again that a club member’s boat has been damaged by a neighbouring boat in strong winds, as a result of the latter not being tied down. Most members are very good about this but it’s worth re-emphasising the need to check during the winter that boats tied down at the end of the season have not become loose over the months – and also checking that adjacent boats are also still fully secured. In this instance, we’re indebted to Stephanie Heasman and Willow, who were out on routine dog patrol round the lake – and follow-up investigation by John Leveridge, with Cadbury as canine backup. More seriously, we really are very fortunate as a club to have people that often pass by the boat park and keep an eye out for anything amiss – our sincere thanks

Great Success of January Quiz Night

The traditional January Quiz Night was a great success this year; well attended and with lots of excellent questions to test the memory, without being too demoralising. Many thanks to Neil and Barbara for hosting the night once again – and not least to John and Katie Leveridge, who must have spent many hours putting together the questions. (Memo to self – must make it a New Year’s resolution to keep abreast of what’s going on in the world this year….!)

New Officers and Committee Members for 2010

At the AGM held at the Grenville Rooms in Kilkhampton on Saturday 21st November, the following were elected as club officers and committee members:

Commodore                    Simon Veal

Vice Commodore           John Buckett

Rear Commodore           John Leveridge

Secretary                          Jane Chadney

Treasurer                          John Walter

Committee Members

                                            Nicky Buckett

                                            Roger Heasman

                                            Stephanie Heasman

                                            Katie Leveridge

                                            Adeney Pooler

                                            Bob Sampson

                                            Paul Whybrow

Junior Representative       Emily Veal

In addition, Neil Wallace kindly agreed to continue as auditor.