Commodore s Conclusion and Countdown

Transcription

1 March 2016 Commodore s Conclusion and Countdown My last month as Commodore, a new family friendly franchisee in The Galley and the bar no longer a time consuming worry. Yippee! A little roundup of my thoughts follows, feel free to ignore. Cadets, cadet helpers and the cadet families, you are all stars. The cadet galley is amazing (winter series please note!) and well done all those who support and help. Cadet week is great fun and I love it, despite having to fix the cess pit late at night. Piddinghoe is a jewel and the saving grace of the club, please treat it with respect and enjoy those summer days there. The highlights for me: WOW (Women On Water), Cadets, cadet numbers, the laughter and fun, working with Simon, Roger and Kathy on some of the building projects, Plumpton College, the unexpected helpers who turn up and just get stuck in with jobs, and people turning up and feed us whilst we work, thanks Sarah. A big thank you to those who have been involved at Director, and Committee level, well done to those who have put up with me and kept working. When I became Commodore someone said to Sam ( my partner) that I was laid back, and Sam replied 'you haven't seen him with his business head on'. I think some got a rude awakening, I spent a few months finding out what was going on then tightened things up. Many thanks to Sam, Joe and Tom, who have spent hours at the club supporting events, functions and the bar. The club turnover will drop a bit now as we must have been putting in a couple of thousand a year on top of our membership fees. Those long standing members who seem to expect the club to support them please note. We will still be around but not having to be there means we can get back to other social activities and venues sometimes. A few people ask what I will do now, well I used to play tennis about five times a week, that has dropped to once if I'm lucky. My bike rides can now make it past the sailing club instead of ending there with jobs or problems. I might actually get some sailing in instead of ending up sorting out the bar or other problems. Then the library, the beach, my kayaks, the caravan, and weekends away. My kids, now grown up, seem to see me as a potential free decorator and handyman, I may need to develop an allergy to paint soon.

2 I have put a bit inside about the club s performance since 1989, worth a look if you get bored, the club is now back on track with memberships and income recovered. People will always have different opinions of what is important to the club. The main income streams are Memberships, Bar, Cadets, Galley and Training. We all need to pay for things, no matter who we are or whatever we do for the club or think we do. All members are equal, just because you have been around a while confers no special rights or privileges, the clubs equipment and facilities don't belong to you. On Wednesday 9th March at 7.30pm at Seaford Clubhouse Bill Giles will give a talk on CASC (Community and Sports Clubs). We as a club need to decide if we stay in or opt out, we need to decide by 1st April All members are invited to attend. There s a page about CASC rule changes later in Mainsheet. The value of CASC to NSSC for 2016 is at Seaford site and 1972 at Piddinghoe site so a total of 5285 in round numbers. In other words if we drop out we need to find 5285 more income per year. If we stay in we need to ensure we meet the new rules, for us that means showing that at least 50% of our members participate in the sporting activity of the club. The one thing about standing down is you don't have to be so careful what you say. During my three years I have had to deal with a lot of difficult issues, most of which should have been addressed years ago. In a paid job confronting problems can be difficult and unpleasant, in a volunteer job you can understand why people just ignore them or choose not to see what is going on, but they don't go away and will often just get worse. I have enjoyed being Commodore most of the time but putting in hours a week voluntarily isn't what you expect. I won't be missing the "what you need to do is" advice, it is amusing for the first year but by year three given all the things that have been done it is difficult to just listen and nod. It is easy to give advice when you aren't the one doing the work or aware of the bigger picture. I wish you all the best for 2016 and hope the weather is kind and we have a good season, thanks to all those who have supported and helped with the club and its activities and events. Sam and I will be supporting the club as usual but maybe not first in and last out! The AGM is on 9th April at the clubhouse (more inside Mainsheet), there will be a buffet after the talking bit and maybe a bit of a POP ('P' off party) as I am standing down. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer for some of the officer roles. Forms and details inside. Please try and ensure the club keeps going forward and embracing the changes it needs to make for the benefit of the majority. It is easy to slip back to an environment from which only a minority benefit. You need new people and new ideas. Ian Johnson Commodore.

3 Ian s Snaps As it s his last Mainsheet, we gave Ian the opportunity to fill a couple of pages with some of his favourite snaps (and sayings).

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5 PRS PPL I got a call at the clubhouse from a lady representing PPL saying we needed a license to play CD's or the radio and would I like to sign up now. I said we already had a PRS license, she said we needed a PPL one too. It sounded like a scam so I told the lady on the phone that and hung up, as you do. It turns out that the PRS is for live music and the PPL for radio or CD and we are supposed to have both. I have now had to apply for a PPL but they won't tell you what it will cost. I am not very impressed, given that we are not hosting the Rolling Stones or One Direction or awash with modern CD's, most of our CD's wouldn't make it to a shelf in a charity shop. But the law is the law so yet more expense, they also need to know if we have a TV and is it bigger than 26" but don't say why. I had it in mind to try and show movies on the beach or against the clubhouse wall but am sure I will then have MGM ringing up saying we need a license for that too. Ian Johnson Commodore. The Winch on the beach Just to let you all know that there will be some changes to the winch for The winch is located on the beach and although in a box is still exposed to the elements. Alan is rebuilding the control box, it got a bit temperamental last year, with some improved safety measures and Chas is looking at operational procedures to improve the overall safe operation. The cooperation of those using the winch is essential and overloading will result in damage, Alan s dad rebuilt the winch last time it sheared but next time could cost us a new winch. So when the tide is low and a long rope out then only 3 dinghies or 2 cats please. Ian Johnson Commodore.

6 Member Profile No 1: Natasha Stonestreet This is the first of an occasional series where we introduce a club member to everyone and find out what they ve been doing at the club. Natasha Stonestreet provides our first story. Sailing at Piddinghoe for the Duke of Edinburgh Award I recently finished a run of 6 months sailing with NSSC in order to achieve my Duke of Edinburgh Award which consists of 5 sections: 6 or 12 months of a skill, sport and volunteering. Also an expedition for which I did four days walking in the Lake District and a residential activity which I have recently returned from: skiing in the Cairngorms. For my skill I am ringing birds for the BTO near Seven Sisters and I have spent a year volunteering for the Sussex Wildlife Trust checking livestock on a reserve near Lewes. I have around 6 months left of my award and when it is complete there is an Award ceremony at Buckingham Palace where I may even be presented by the Duke himself. I had never sailed before last summer (2015) when I started practicing on the crowded cadet nights. I got more and more confident, sailing back and forth on reaches sometimes getting a little too bold, carrying out many hull inspections or capsizing completely! I especially enjoyed sailing on Thursday evenings with Women On Water; watching the sunset over the pond on a summers evening is very relaxing after a long day at work! Later on I completed the Level 1 and 2 Dingy course, learning to sail the double-hander Sport 14s and practiced a bit of racing with the Toppers. I finished the year with the Freeman Iceberg series, battling through the winter weathers and ended up finishing runner up in the novice class and 10 th overall. I am surprised at how quickly I have picked up this skill and would recommend sailing at the club for anyone wanting to achieve either their skill or sport for their DofE or similar award as there are plenty of sailing days throughout the year and even through the winter. I am looking forward to another year of sailing and hope to get out at Seaford Bay for some sea sailing in the summer. I have really enjoyed learning to sail and I hope to continue this skill in the future. Natasha

7 The Galley This month we re introducing Kirstie (Galley Manager) who works with Louise in the Galley. You ll also find her serving behind the bar. Both Kirsty and Louise are enjoying serving at the galley and would like to thank all the members who have been so supportive. If members have not met the team yet then do pop in and say hello. Louise and Kirstie are looking forward to seeing the sailing, when it starts on the sea. You ll find a couple of posters in this edition of Mainsheet covering events in the Seaford clubhouse where the Galley will be involved: : the Commissioning Supper on Easter Saturday (26th March) and a Quiz Night on Easter Monday (28th March). As well as the usual, daily 9-4 opening hours, from now on, The Galley is going to be open between 4 and 6 on Wednesday and Friday club nights. Why not bring the kids along after school for ice-creams and waffles? The bar will then carry-on from 6pm. The Galley will also be open on the work party weekend 19th and 20th March to sustain the workers. There will be a Mother s Day special on Sunday 6th with a cream tea option on top of the usual menu. What the Commodore and Vice Commodore did next First day of the new Galley operation and it is all hands to the pumps, bacon sarnies on offer at lunch time for the helpers. Louise was trying to turn the grill on and couldn't get it to work also the ovens and hobs didn't seem to turn on. We then discovered that the plugs for the appliances were in the wrong sockets and one out altogether. In order to sort this out we had to pull the grill and an oven out from the wall, easy enough. But when we did everything was a bit sticky, we then lifted the grill off the cooker and this is what we found. The ovens and grill were all brand new in October 2014, we managed to scrape off and clean using a putty knife, spoon, and cleaning materials. Prospective Commodores and Vice Commodores please note the jobs come with marigolds, club blue ones of course.

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10 Some interesting analysis about sailing memberships from Ian Johnson I produced this in the early part of 2015 so it is maybe a bit out of date, but it does highlight a perception of reality re memberships and financial contribution to the club. The Class Championships Overall sailwave sheet from 2014 has 36 entries listed and is a guide as to those sailing regularly in events on the sea in That gives you: 21 Individual sailing With Duties at 130: Family Sailing With Duties at 170: Student With Duties at 45: 90 4 Cadet at 30: Berths at 45: 1080 Total: 5720

11 Using MV's figures for this year (2014): Total sailing member income so far divide by total sailing memberships 112, gives you 184 average membership income per sailor. 37 sea sailors at 184: berths at 45: 1080 Total: 7874 So in reality the income from active sea sailing members in a year is between 5720 and 7874 Total membership income in 2014 was 47900, so if you use 7874 that means 16% of membership income or potentially less, was active sea sailing membership. From Laurence's annual statistics the average number of boats per race sailed is 15 for 2014, Sunday races 10-17, Wednesdays 8-12 as a usual turnout so my figures are very generous. Social membership income this year so far is 4050 Windsurfer member income is probably around 2000 Bar profit last year(2014) was If you look at the costs for ribs, ark, repairs, berths, fuel, winch, marks, depreciation, etc. then that is more than So members the reality is that the people who keep this club afloat are as usual the silent majority. The families who sail for fun, join for cadets, support and use the facilities, clubhouse, bar events etc. It isn't the active sailors, nor is it the social members. I think you will find it was always thus. The sea sailing is a loss leader in financial terms. I already knew this and did in fact say it was in my first year as Commodore. What Roger and Kathy did in 2014 encouraging sailors onto the sea was magnificent and others should follow their example and lead. They tried again in 2015 but of 10 sessions planned 8 were blown off. For sea sailing to be cost effective we need paying active sailors who also support the club events, Galley and bar. For sea sailing to be duty effective we need considerably more participation, either more active sailing members or some good PR making other people want to get involved and feeling useful. The racing needs to be pleasurable and fair to all taking part. The courses need to reflect wherever possible the fleet composition and not be too big for those in slow boats, especially in light winds. The sailing committee needs to be more alert to the needs of the many and new and less fixed on the past. Sea sailing is in my opinion the one area in the club most resistant to change so get involved and have your say. Just because you may not have been a member for many years doesn't make you opinions any less important or valid, speak up. Ian Johnson Commodore.

12 Sailing Statistics 2015 The sailing statistics for 2015 have been calculated using the most advanced systems for data collection and analysis. The summary table is shown below. Column Piddinghoe Winter Races Sailed Seaford Races Sailed (excluding Opens) Piddinghoe Cadet Races (Cadet Week & Autumn Series) 48 Transferred to Piddinghoe _ 9 5 Open races sailed No. of races planned No. of races sailed excluding cadets Races sailed including cadets at Piddinghoe 187 Races NOT sailed Number of boats across all races Number of boats across all races including Piddinghoe cadets 2005 Ave No.Boats per race sailed Ave No.Boats per race sailed inc cadets 11 The key statistic there is that the target of exceeding 2000 boats sailing across all races was achieved, when cadet races are included. That s a great achievement for all of those involved in the planning, managing and reporting of the race programme. Non-cadet participation is significantly down but that s probably due to the weather. Participation per race is also down and some of that is probably attributable again to the weather, when races are held (but only just), and potential sailors are put-off by the forecast or what confronts them out of the window first thing. Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to drink all the stock the club had in the bar and cellar by the end on March. That includes cans and soft drinks as well as beers, wines and spirits. Your mission starts Friday 26th February and you have until 31st March to achieve it. We will monitor progress and let you know how we get on and what needs targetting.

13 Updating of RYA qualification records for RIB and Rescue Boat helms: Could I ask anyone who gives their help, whether as instructors or volunteers, to fill in a form with your PB2 and Rescue Boat certificate details, and other qualifications, even if you don t want to exercise them, eg, number, date etc, or a copy would be even better. Ask for a form from trainingnssc@nssc.org.uk. Cadets: Cadets on the Pond and Youth sailing (in the new Feva s) start in April. Race coach course 12th /13th March Piddinghoe: Places still available but 19th/20th March is now fully booked PB2 Course 21st & 28th May: 100 to members. Book early with the training form off the website to trainingnssc@nssc.org.uk. RYA qualifications are valid round the world, are cheapest on the south coast, and makes you employable! Training Notes from Simon Sutur (Training Director) PB2 refresher Saturday 26th March at the Marina: This is free of charge to existing holders. Book early with the training form off the website to trainingnssc@nssc.org.uk Safety Boat refresher session Saturday 26th March 10.00am Newhaven Marina: this is for all Power Boat helms (and crews), in preparation for the season Safety boat refresher session Saturday 16th April and Saturday 29th October, at 1.00pm Piddinghoe: This is on Tiller steered boats for helpers/instructors etc on the Pond. Safeguarding Course 9th April: This is at Piddinghoe Training Room am Saturday 9th April. This course is important if you are working with Cadets, Youth Sailors, etc, booking is done via the RYA website: childprotection/pages/safeguardingandprotectingchildren.aspx and clicking the Safeguarding Workshops link (only people aged 16 and over can attend). Regional Instructor Training Day (ITDs) 19th March: There is an ITD planned for March with full details including agenda and booking here on the RYA website. We continually review this Training day and we re keen to make this available to as many instructors in the regional as possible. If you have never attended one of these days I would like to encourage you to view the agenda to see what is on offer. Bough Beach SC 19 March Instructor Training & Continual Professional Development (CPD) programme: This series of local regional training in Dinghy, Windsurf & Power is designed specifically to support those of you who volunteer your time into a club setting. For further information, including how to book, please follow the link here which will take you to the

14 RYA website. Sea Safety Course 4th/5th June: 80 to members. Book early with the training form off the website to RYA qualifications are valid round the world, are cheapest on the south coast, and make you employable! First Aid: If your First Aid has run out (all instructors require it) there is a course soon, probably April. On-demand training: If there is demand we can organise Instructor training, dinghy, powerboat, Assistant Instructor, vhf radio certification and more. Do you want to upgrade your Inland Dinghy L2 certificate to the Coastal Endorsement, or inland PB2 to Coastal? Would you like to go on from Dinghy L2 on the Pond to L3 on the sea. We can offer RYA Seamanship skills, Day Sailing, Spinnakers, intermediate and advanced Racing or performance sailing, or maybe a catamaran clinic, to have a chance of lifting some silver from the current holders. Vacancy: At present there is a vacancy for an RYA windsurf instructor, but we have a keen club member who can help to get you going. Paddleboard: The club has a Paddleboard, and we hope to get that going on the Pond, again with a keen club member who can help. Other possibilities: Is anybody interested in Sea Cruising, rather than racing, on a more regular basis, off the beach, with safety boat support? How about a Classic Dinghy club? Get some varnish on those Firefly s, GP14 s, Mirrors, Slippers, with support from likeminded Old Schooler s!! Or would you like to learn some basic dinghy repair techniques by helping the Bosun Team at the Pond? Let me know and I will organise it. Booking forms and fees for advertised courses are on the website, OR contact : Simon Suter, Training Director trainingnssc@nssc.org.uk

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16 AGM: 9th April 2016 As Ian has referred to in his introduction, the AGM will take place on 9th April in the Seaford Club House at 6pm. On the following pages there are nomination forms and a list of current committee members and officers. The Directors standing down are Ian Johnson Commodore, John Nash RC Newhaven, Andy Walker RC Piddinghoe, and Rob Sims Treasurer. All the officers have to stand down and be re-elected. Nominations must be received by 19th March, with proxy vote slips (for those not attending the AGM) being returned to the club not later than 7th April at 6pm.

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18 Current Directors and Officers of the Club Directors Commodore Ian Johnson Vice Commodore Stuart Ford Rear Commodore - Piddinghoe Andy Walker Rear Commodore - Seaford John Cornish (from 9/2/16) Public Relations Carissa Wood Treasurer Rob Sims Company Secretary Bill Giles Training Director Simon Suter Rear Commodore - Newhaven John Nash Club Officers Social Committee Sailing Secretary Membership Secretary Duties Secretary Safety Officer Recorder (Results) Bosuns Berthmaster - Seaford Berthmaster - Piddinghoe Communications incl. Facebook & Twitter Mainsheet Website Bar Manager 'The Galley' Seaford Clubhouse Peter Lavin Rupert Smith Gilly Jones Michael Veale/Terry Jones Chas Humphreys Laurence Venus Paddy Turner & Chris Turner Howard Minto Andy Walker Various members Richard Beal Richard Beal Louise Lawrence Louise Lawrence RYA TRAINING CENTRE Principal of Training Centre & Head of Dinghy Training Windsurfer Training Head of Power Boat Training Head of Keelboat Training First Aid Training VHF, Instructor & other training Cadet Co-ordinators Child Protection lead Ed Hall Enquiries to Principal Bill Giles Bill Giles Carolyn Turner Bill Giles Zoe McCaig Carolyn Turner FLEETS Fleet Captain - Squibs & Small Keelboats Fleet Captain - Lasers & Radials Fleet Captain - Cats Penny Springall Graham Hardy Terry Jones

19 Bill s Blog As an update, this is how last year I got into the two squads: National 4.2 topper squad and RYA South East Zone squad. On my very first traveller event at Poole Harbour dad and I turned up with a club topper on Dad s car roof and no trolley. So we had to drive the car to the slipway and put the boat on the concrete. As you can imagine all these people, with lovely boats and all the equipment were horrified at our lack of care. They helped us anyway and from then on we always borrowed a trolley from the clubs. I did these traveller events throughout the winter all over the south and south east. To get into 4.2 squad I had to do three of the 4.2 national series events which last year were at Leigh and Lowton SC, Carsington Water SC and Rutland Water SC. In these summer whole weekend qualifier events I came 21 st, 11 th and 7 th. They took 18 into the squad so the successes at Rutland, where I came 1 st and 2 nd in a couple of races, assured me a place in the squad for this year. The National 4.2 fleet is great fun and very competitive. It s suited to smaller, younger sailors like me. Most of us are between 11 and 13 years old. Getting into Zone Squad was more of a challenge for me. Here you re up against kids that are older and heavier. All the big events last summer that I competed in had very light winds and ironically, given my size, I m rubbish in light conditions. I m working on my patience levels in light winds. Despite some disappointing results 21 st /18 th / 16 th, I luckily managed to get into the train alongside squad! We have one teacher for 5 of us in parts of the training and then join the bigger squad for races and feedback sessions. This weekend Mum and I are off to Weymouth for a whole weekend of national racingmid winter style! I m loving all of it. I have made lots of good friends, many of whom are in both squads, and I love learning about starts, tides, jibing in big winds and good boat control. Bring on the spring! Bill Hudson

20 CATZ CHAT (AUTHOR 1531 Winter Sail) February Hi to you all, it has been a quiet month so far, as I have been away to warmer shores for a couple of weeks on vacation, I missed all the very, very high winds and the rain, but I am sure you do not want to know about the 23 c, sun, more sun and golden sands I had made arrangements for my Main Sail 1531 to have a few repairs and my Jib to undergo a make over for the new season. So, when I am back on the water, it will be go, go, go. Terry, said I need all the help I can get! I would like to remind anyone that if they want to come out on the Cat over the weekend, please give me a call or if you see me at the pond come and have a chat and we can make arrangements. I will not be moving it back to Seaford until mid-march, so there is plenty of time and no excuses.

21 Recorder s Notes The weather for this February has been particularly windy so it is not surprising that turnouts have been down on previous years. At least it has been fairly mild for the time of year. The weather was so windy for the last three Sundays that only one race instead of the usual two were held. Michael Veale and Mike Rosier have risen to the fore in these conditions, gaining several places and are now in second place overall sailing their RS 200. It is interesting to see that the single-handers can be beaten by two-handed boats on Piddinghoe pond. We have probably seen more capsizes than ever before during this February and I m quite amazed at the stamina of some of our sailors especially the younger ones. Jamie Smith and Natasha Stonestreet are neck and neck in the cadet series so this Sunday s race results will decide the winner. The last winter race is this coming Sunday 28 th. Only one race is scheduled to allow time to finalize the results for the series and for the presentation after. We are all set for the coach trip to the Dinghy Show on Saturday 5 th March. Some club members are making their own way there but most are coming up on the coach which leaves the Sailing Club car park at Seaford at 8:15 am. We still have a couple of spare places on the coach so if you wish to come along please me. It should be a great day out with lots to see and do including class association stands, seminars, and a huge range of gear to check out etc. The sailing season starts early this year on Easter Sunday and Monday so be sure to have your boat ready on time. After such a muddy winter series you ll need to wash the sails and all your gear. Check all your ropes, rudder fittings and blocks etc. Remember a well-prepared boat is a reliable boat which will enable you to achieve your maximum potential. Let s hope for a nice summer season, it will be great to be back on the sea again. Happy sailing, Laurence. laurence.venus@lineone.net

22 Lies, damned lies and statistics. from Ian Johnson It's funny how things pan out, we have been sorting out the office at Seaford and I had a box file to go through, I happened to lock my patio doors one morning, there was a horrible clunk and when I went to open them I couldn't. So, whilst waiting for the locksmith to arrive I went through the file and found reports and accounts going back to 1988 in amongst lots of other bits. As I like data I decided I would enter some of the info on a spreadsheet, then I added a bit more and then I decided to graph it. I then found a handy trend line option, the results are below.

23 I am sure people can make their own interpretations of the data. Looking at it over nearly three decades overall membership is dropping. I then decided to look at the data by decade, it isn't an exact science, but from the overall graphs something changed in the first ten years of the new millennium. So first looking at 1990 to 2000, note: membership data from 95,97 and 2000 was not in the reports and accounts, in 1996 it was reported as 350.

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25 Then from 2000 to 2010 only

26 Then from 2010 to 2015 (201 5 accounts not finalised but headline figures known)

27 Bar profit in money terms is down in 2015 as turnover was lower than 2014 however profit as a percentage is up. See the graph below. The difference in bar turnover and profit percentage in recent years is significant. Conclusions, well really draw your own, I know how I interpret the data and what I think is clearly evident. But it is a club not a business so perhaps those who have been members over the years can reflect on what has happened and why. The key is to keep the club growing, income being received by the club, and the membership happy, enjoying their facilities, and having fun. I would suggest for the future that the report and accounts has a standard format, in going through them all it is easy to see how different formats have been used to present the information. Sometimes it can help and in some cases it distorts or confuses. I suggest that is what the President role should ensure happens and the basic format should be part of the articles. It's not rocket science, maintenance of the club and its facilities is essential, so you aren't saving money by doing nothing. Equally capitalising expenditure so it ends up being spread over several years rather than the year it is done, is fine for major items with a long term life, but not in all cases. The result can be successive administrations saddled with debt not of their making or ability to deal with. Memberships, personally I think 400 should be the target, that would give you about 800 members. Membership cost has been held for the last 3 years with turnover and income being increased in other areas. I would like to see more support for club activities that generate income rather than increase membership or berth costs. Active sailors need be active supporters of social events, the Galley and bar throughout the year, and the winter series galley needs to make money like the cadet galley does, it s not difficult and it is down as a duty. Ian Johnson Commodore.

28 The rules for CASCs (Community and Sports Clubs) change on 1 April The changes As a CASC you won t pay tax on: trading profits if your turnover is less than 50,000 a year ( 30,000 before 1 April 2015) income of up to 30,000 a year from renting out property ( 20,000 before 1 April 2015) Income condition There s no longer a limit on the amount of trading income you can earn from members. The new income condition means that CASCs can t earn more than 100,000 a year from: trading with non-members property income Membership costs There are new limits on fees and costs associated with membership: Fees can t be more than 31 a week ( 1,612 a year) If your club s membership fees and sporting activity costs are more than 10 a week you must provide help, for example a discount to reduce those costs to 10 a week for people who can t pay more. Participation At least 50% of a club s members must participate in sport at the club. What you need to do HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has published detailed guidanceexplaining how the new rules work. It s important that you read this to check whether your club meets the rules. If you meet the new rules You don t have to do anything. If you don t meet the new rules You have until 1 April 2016 to make changes to your club to meet them. Your sport s governing body may be able to help you. If you can t meet the new rules If you can t make changes to meet the rules, you can ask HMRC to take yourcasc off the register. As long as you met the rules before they changed on 1 April you won t: be removed from the register until 1 April 2016 have to pay any charges The RYA guidance can be found here: 20Leaflets/Clubs/Consitution/CASC%20SUPPORTERS%20CLUB%20PACK%20-% 20GUIDANCE.pdf

29 What s on in the next four weeks: Wednesday 9th March, 7:30, Bill Giles talk, and discussion, on CASC membership Piddinghoe Work Party 12th/13th March Seaford Work Party 19th/20th March Commissioning Supper Saturday 26th March Sea racing starts Sunday 27th March Miracle Dinghy For Sale Miracle 1817, New sails including spinnaker, launching trolley, road trailer, 2nd set of sails, spare mast Tel: Need some welding done on your trailer? We have a member, Keith, who can help. So let me know and I will put you in touch He has the equipment, you may need to pay for a bit of pipe, angle iron or box section. Cheers Ian

30 Any spare gear?? Sometimes we have people crewing on the safety/rescue boats who may not have all the gear a lot of us have who sail on the sea regularly. At the pond we have a few sets of waterproof trousers and jackets, not substantial but better than nothing. It has been suggested that we get a small amount of kit together which we can make available if conditions require. We already have a few spare buoyancy aids, sometimes things are left at home or aren t where you thought they were. So with that in mind have you any old or unwanted sailing gear, any size, any condition? What we will do is stencil NSSC all over the gear and sort out maybe 3 or 4 size bands, it will never be perfect but better than nothing. We will keep the gear in the changing rooms and the Race Officer or Helms can ensure those participating have suitable attire on or with them. I usually have a variety of clothing in a bag and drop it with my sandwiches, on Ark. All contributions gratefully received, they can be dropped off on a club night or day when the office can be opened. If you mark as a donation so we don t think it s lost property. HOLIDAY HOME TO LET IN THE SAILING MECCA OF DEVON, SALCOMBE! Ideally located at the entry to the town, this semi-detached house gives you ample parking outside for two cars or one car and a boat, two double rooms and a single, bathroom, open-plan kitchen and sunny garden. The house affords wonderful views across the Devon countryside and the dog friendly, sand beach of North Sands is only 10 minutes walk; likewise the bustling town centre of Salcombe with its shops, pubs and restaurants. Wonderful sailing, kayaking and walking in this outstandingly beautiful part of the country. Rental available at a discount to NSSC members of 10% off published tariffs. See Owner s Direct website, E Contact details, tariffs and availability on the website.