Spring 2014 From the Commodore Last year was a busy and eventful year for Trent Valley Sailing Club. The 50,000 grant we received meant new boat shed was built and the old one was demolished. The car park was extended and new fences put up. The Club also bought a new training boat, the Wanderer. A note from the Editor: Without contributions from members there can be no Lion. I would like to thank all of you who have provided photos and articles in the past and ask everyone else to please send their contributions. I will endeavour to restore a more regular schedule of publication but I need your help. Please send all photos, articles, snippets to editor@trentvalleysc.org All suggestions as to content and some feedback would be most appreciated. This year holds lots of exciting sailing events, the tripartite event, the usual club racing and an August bank holiday sailing regatta. There are more free sailing events. These are all marked in the calendar which was sent out by email and is also available on the website. We want to make the year ahead all about sailing, sailing and even more sailing. We would also like to attract more members. All our members play a vital role in attracting people to the club. A new poster will be out soon for the Push the Boat Out day. Look out for these and display them where you can. And, most importantly bring all your family, friends, colleagues down to try out the sailing. Let's make 2014 all about the sailing.
Coming up Fitting Out Supper Book Now! The fitting out supper is to be held on the 22nd March at 19.30. The menu is as follows: Starter Leek and Potato soup or Salmon salad Main Course Pork in Cider or Vegetable and Rice Tian Desert Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding or Fresh Fruit Cheese and Biscuits The cost is 13.00 per head. Please RSVP to lorna.orton@trentvalleysc.org indicating your meal choices. The Road We will be doing some more work on the road starting on Sunday the 23rd March and continuing into the following week. So get your old clothes and spades out and come down to lend a hand. Events The Tripartite meeting will be held at the Nottingham Sailing Club this year on the 27th April. Let s get as many boats down as we can and bring the trophy back. There will be a Push the Boat out day on the 18th May. Bring your family, friends, colleagues and anyone else you can think of down to have a go at sailing. Volunteers will also be needed to show people around and instructors required to take them out on the river in various boats. This is part of the new training programme. If we can encourage many visitors, some will sign up for Level 1 training over two days and if they are still keen they will then sign up for Level 2 which will include membership for the rest of the year. Lawns Now that spring has sprung the lawns need mowing. Any volunteers would be welcomed until we can find a new steward to do it for us. Coming Soon There has been interest expressed in a number of talks. The Sailing Racing Rules, The Olympics Sailing Fitness Please register your interest so that we can arrange an informative social evening. I am sure Pete will find a suitable beer to lubricate the talks. Junior Fleet We have some vacancies for the Junior Fleet, if you know any children who would like to sign up please contact Angela Clark who will provide the details. Merlin Rocket Midland Open Meeting The popular open meeting will be held on the 20th April 2014. Volunteers are needed to help with the rescue boats and catering. If you are able to help please let GUY know. Race Officers The Race Officers list is on the calendar. Several people have expressed interest in race officer training. We will arrange some but please register your interest. Tree Cutting The Tree cutting is still planned for next weekend, please watch your email for further details
Summer Regatta This August bank holiday weekend we plan to break with tradition and do some sailing instead of the usual working party. There will be sailing, eating, sailing, drinking, sailing and camping and some more sailing. The TVSC Summer Regatta will take place this weekend. Get your blazers out and your sailing gear ready and come and join us for a weekend of sailing and fun. Working parties The mezzanine floor and workshop creation in the new boat shed is nearly complete. Work happens most Thursday evenings if you fancy lending a hand. Contact Roger Britton for details The 9th of March was a busy day at TVSC. Pete and Guy installed new door to the steward s flat. Paul Turner worked on the electric fencing designed to keep the cows out. John Cosslett, Joshua Cosslett and Matt Browne laid the new path. (I am so pleased as I will get to wear heels to the club again! Thanks boys!-ed) New Web Site The clubs new web site is under construction If you have any good photos or are a budding copywriter please let us know.
Bart s Bash You may have seen on Facebook or the calendar on the web site that TVSC has signed up to participate in Bart s Bash. This is in memory of Andrew Simpson who was tragically killed during training for The America s Cup. He was a gold and silver Olympic medallist and supporting the next generation was something he was passionate about. The Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation works to honour Andrew s legacy by encouraging young people to the sport of sailing. Bart s Bash will take place on the 21st September 2014 and aims to break the world record for the largest sailing event ever. "We firmly hope this event will inspire sailors young and old, beginners to professionals with clubs getting involved to capture people's imagination and create thousands of Guinness World Record Holders" Sir Ben Ainslie More information can be found here www.bartsbash.co.uk
2013 in pictures (in no particular order)
An introduction to Yachting Russell Geary Accountants are perceived as being very grey individuals and accountancy magazines do not help that image. I do have to read these magazines for my work and I was surprised one day to see a completion to win a day sailing on a Class 40 offshore racing yacht. So I entered the competition and won. The day started at 8am at the Master Builders House hotel in Beaulieu near Southampton. If you are ever looking for somewhere to stay in this area I can thoroughly recommend this hotel, it has a great location and is stunning. Most of the ships in Nelson s navy were built at Beaulieu. So after two coffees and a bacon buttie we set of in a RIB, dodging all the Sunseekers and Princess cruisers dotted about on the river Beaulieu. After 30 minutes on the RIB we caught up with the yacht as it was sailing along at about 10MPH, it was at this point I realised that you have to get on to the yacht from the RIB whilst we were still in motion. It really difficult not to fall in and look cool at the same time. The first thing that struck me when I was on board was that nobody was sailing the yacht. Noone had mentioned that if you buy a half million pound yacht that it comes with auto pilot (I so have got to get auto pilot for my dinghy). The skipper was a chap called Josh Hall, if you Google him he has done about everything in the sailing world, he was very patient with my silly questions and non-nautical terms. I even got the opportunity to sail the yacht for quite a while and I found this surprisingly easy and it was very responsive and really just a large version of a dinghy. There were computer screens that showed you the angle of the sail to the wind and, as long as you kept everything between the upper and lower, Josh told me that the yacht would just keep going. Once the three prize winners had all had a go, Josh and his assistant put the yacht through its paces to show us what it was capable of. We did manage at one point 25 knots which did feel very fast as we were also at a 40 degree angle in the water. One thing that did surprise me though was, should I win the Lottery and buy one, I would fit it with a loo. Having a pee off the back was not what I expected. We managed to sail most of the way around the Isle of Wight and then it was time to jump back into a moving RIB and head back for a superb meal back at the Hotel.