Thursday, July 29, 2010

Outboard thefts - protect your property

Every summer there is a rise in outboard thefts. What has been unusual this year is the number of reports from RYA clubs and training centres across the country, mostly based inland, of safety boats being damaged and outboards stolen.

>> http://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/Clubboathousetorched.aspx?utm_source=InBrief&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=July10-mem

Two royal visits in one week

The Royal Cornwall Yacht Club (RCYC), Falmouth, which will host the Finn Class Gold Cup and Olympic qualifying event in 2012, was the venue for a visit by HRH the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cornwall on 12 July.

Mark Belshaw was responsible for organising the young sailors, and introducing them to the Duke and Duchess. The proceedings included a sail-past display involving local racing classes (Falmouth Working Boat, Sunbeam and St Mawes One Design), three classic Finn dinghies (one belonging to and sailed by Mark himself) and nine young Cornish members of RYA Youth or Junior Squads (Optimist, Topper, Laser 4.7 Radial and standard rigs).

Just four days later, Mark was invited when the Earl of Wessex visited Stithians Lake Watersports Centre, to celebrate ten years of the South West Lakes Trust, and five years of the current Centre, which was one of Mark’s first OnBoard partners.

His invitation to meet the Duke came as a result of his work with Centre. He  was a member of the WAVES project steering committee, which was successful in securing a £230,000 Big Lottery grant for a rolling five-year watersports project for local young people, and the formation of a young sailors’ club.

RYA CEO celebrates 'Ladies Afloat' anniversary

RYA CEO Sarah Treseder joined the ladies of the Royal Dart Yacht Club in Kingswear, Devon at the end of June (24-25) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the club's successful ‘Ladies Afloat’ scheme.

>> http://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/RYACEOjoinsRoyalDart'sLadiesAfloattocelebrate10thanniversary.aspx

£10k award for windsurfing club

A south west club for young windsurfers recently celebrated its first anniversary with the news that it has been awarded a £10,000 grant from Sport England.

>> http://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/Youthwindsurfingclubcelebrates.aspx

Izzy takes silver again at Youth Worlds

Holsworthy's Izzy Hamilton has become the only British girl ever to have picked up two windsurfing medals in the 40-year history of the ISAF Youth World Championships. Despite a disappointing overall performance from RYA Volvo Team GBR, Izzy was very happy with her second silver medal.

>> http://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/Hamiltontakessilverag.aspx

WOW - what a day!

On the morning of 17 July our three teams started early, meeting up between 08:00 and 08:30 at the Mount Batten Centre, to collect all the safety kits and to help check the boats over prior to getting out on the water. We had entered a total of three boats into the 9th Eddystone Pursuit Event with members raising a fantastic total of over £1,500 in sponsorship (with more to come in). Our thanks go out to all who have given so freely to help support Wheels on Water, but particularly to Saltram Rotary Club, and the Association of Professional Driving Instructors (SW) for helping to boost our sponsorship to such great heights.

The teams (or WOW Whizzers as someone had come to called us) were as follows:

Red Hawk, crewed by a team made up from the Mount Batten staff and instructors, which came in 40th place earning a grand total of £570 in sponsorship and prize money.

Blue Hawk, crewed by Dave and Christian Walker, Shaun and Tom Pope and Becky from the Centre, which came in 58^th, accruing £520 in combined prize money and sponsorship.

Yellow Hawk, crewed by Brian Hayden and Chris Marsh with a helping hand from Lee from the Centre and me. I’m not quite sure how we did it but we managed to attract some attention and we managed to pick up a special team award and earned a massive £720. It might have been the sight of us getting out the paddles and like galley slaves of old, start paddling to get out of the Cattewater (shortly after passing over the starting line) or it might have been our very eloquent bows of gratitude, aimed towards the RWYC balcony as we passed over the finishing line, for the organisers had extending the finishing time to 18:30.

Each of the boats will have stories of their own that will be told and memories that will last a lifetime or until they take part in next year’s big event, but here goes the tale from Yellow Hawk.

We set off from the pontoon at about 09:30 after a briefing from Richard, who was providing our safety boat cover for the day, and we pottered about in the Cattewater, prior to the start and were deciding on our race plan for the day - our starting time was 09:50, and the letter on the balcony of the RWYC was G (for go Hawk go).

All was going well, we had wind in our sails, sunshine, blue sky, smiles all around and light banter between the boats and the promise of a fun day out on the water. Was it in the plan to give everyone else a head start? I have to say it wasn’t, but as we passed over the start line we watched as the other Hawks in the race were starting to get slowly further and further away from us. We had lost our wind completely, only minutes from starting the race. Why us? 30 minutes later we hadn’t made much ground, so I decided that we should get the paddles out and assist our entry into Plymouth Sound, only to be reminded by Richard over the radio that he didn’t think it was allowed in the race rules. By this time two more groups of boats were in the same predicament, but they all had bigger sails, and funny ‘put-put’ sounds coming from them as they crept past us.

Eventually we managed to pick up a light puff of wind and we were off. This brought a whole new meaning to the word pursuit as we were well behind by now (just like the donkey’s tail). Then the rain came in (trust the weather forecast to be bang on for once, they must be using a new bit of seaweed). This subsided shortly after it started and that was the last rain we saw all day. We tacked from port to starboard all the way out through the western entrance of Plymouth Breakwater, getting a grand view of the faster craft in the flotilla catch up and overtake us. It was a long hard slog to make it out to our mark at Hands Deep against the wind.

We had the promise of making up time on the return leg with the wind right behind us. Chris and Brian looked on in awe as the larger and faster craft passed us again. Lee and I just looked on enviously as now they were on the return leg back to Plymouth, their spinnakers full of wind and in all the colours of the rainbow. We had the experience of surfing our way back, riding each wave as it lifted the back of the Hawk and pushed us a little closer to home. It wasn’t long before we had passed the Breakwater and Drakes Island and approached the finishing line, whereupon three of the crew were bowing to the crowd of well-wishers gathered on the balcony of the Royal Western Yacht Club.

We tied up to our mooring in front of the Mount Batten Centre and got a lift back onto the pontoon from Richard in the safety boat. It was about 19:00 when we finally got back onto dry land with a day full of excitement and stories to pass on to family and friends. In short, what a day, thanks to the Royal Western Yacht Club, and to all of the people who made it happen - it was a truly rewarding fun day out on the water.