Commodore's Address

When Bob Gordon opened his address in the 2010 hand book with the phrase ‘We can all speculate as to what 2010 has in store for us” , I would wager that even the wildest speculations wouldn’t have included 9 months of winter, 2 months of strong winds and a month of bad weather sandwiched into the middle.

The prolonged cold spell early in the year proved problematical for those trying to get boats ready to be craned in, and December’s freezing conditions caused issues with ice damage to some boats, including one sinking. I include myself in the list of owners who got caught out by the cold snap and I suppose the one thing I will learn is to winterise our boat but before I’d normally expect to. On that basis, October 31st goes into my 2011 calendar as ‘Winterisation’ day, no doubt to be followed by the mildest winter in living memory.

Weather was also responsible for an interesting club cruise in 2010. Those that made it back from Orkney bearing no signs of physical damage to their boats, or psychologically damage to themselves, were few in number. Hopefully this year’s Irish odyssey will deliver and prove to be the cruise that everyone has been hoping for. We will be contacting agricultural engineers in all intended ports of call, to ensure a ready supply of filters and engine components.

The club championship in 2010 proved to be one of the most closely contested in many years. Here’s looking forward to another good season of racing in 2011 and hopefully we’ll see more of the dinghy sailors becoming involved with the cruiser racing throughout the year and I would encourage anyone interested in improving their skills, either as crew or race entrant, to get involved.

Dinghy sailing at Whiteness went from strength to strength last year and further investment in facilities and equipment will hopefully ensure that even more people take part on a regular basis. Obviously though , the sessions don’t run themselves , so keep your eyes open for emails from the dinghy section as they encourage anyone interested to get involved. Whether rigging and launching boats, acting as observer or helping on a safety boat, any assistance you can offer helps to guarantee the long term future of the tremendous facility we have in the dinghy section.

I would also like to encourage members to support the social side of the club. Our clubhouse is superb but we need to ensure that we increase the numbers of members attending both regular Friday openings and special functions. Details of any functions planned during the year will be advertised well in advance.

So I hope that this year proves to be slightly more settled than last, and that everyone is able to spend as much time as they want out on the water.

David Brownless

CAUTION

Whilst we have prepared the website & handbook with care, certain errors may exist. The tidal predictions and navigational information should be treated with caution.

The Sailing Club and Committee accept no responsibility for errors or omissions.

The dates of events are subject to alteration, please check at the clubhouse on a Friday night.