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Commodore's March Newsletter

Published 01:00 on 30 Mar 2023

It has been yet another very busy month at the Club with the Icebreaker Series bringing over thirty two competitors to the Mere for their first sail of the season. As you will see below there has been a lot more happening besides the sailing.

Whilst you may not be aware of the huge effort that goes into the planning and organisation of the sailing season, it has all been made possible by the strong leadership of Chris Smallwood. Chris has really embraced the role, focusing the Racing Committee and encouraging debate and tweaks to enhance everybody's experience. I must say he is doing a sterling job, so I have asked Chris to introduce himself this month so we all know a little more about him.

Chris Smallwood

Introduction to our Racing Secretary Chris Smallwood

Hello, I'm Chris Smallwood, your new Racing Secretary at Budworth Sailing Club. It's an honour to take on this role after being a member of the Club for the past 14 years. I'm thrilled to be a part of the team that brings our Club's racing to life.

I've been passionate about sailing since I was a child. My family and I spent most of our holidays cruising or racing the mini-tonner yacht that my dad designed and built in the '80s, exploring the UK and beyond. We were members of Winsford Flash SC and raced Mirrors and Toppers there. As a teenager, I taught sailing to the Scouts at Tatton Park, then windsurfing and canoeing at Camp America, all giving me an opportunity to share my love for watersports.

After a break during my University years, where I studied to become an Architect, I returned to sailing and introduced my wife Marie to the sport. We joined the Budworth RS200 fleet, and we've been sailing together ever since. We have two children, Benjamin and Freddie, who now share our passion for the sport and the Club.

Over lockdown I took up eSailing becoming winter Northern champion and coming 4th overall nationally, I continue eSailing occasionally and see some of you online still.

Last year, I became a Dinghy Instructor to help with the Sunday Junior program and RYA courses at the Club. We're always looking to improve our skills on the water, and recently we joined the new Budworth Team Racing group. We participated in my first team racing event last weekend, "The Lash" at West Kirby, and had a fantastic time - see website report. Learning from Bex and Alistair has been hugely valuable, and it's great to expand my skills in a new aspect of sailing with a good crowd.

I'm excited to be your Racing Secretary, and I look forward to working with all of you to make our club's racing events the best they can be.

Open Day

Once again we will have our opportunity to showcase our Club on Easter Monday. I am very grateful to Jon Chapman for agreeing to organise the event this year, but he will need some support to help run the day whether that be by advertising to friends or colleagues, manning the car park, helping in galley, providing joy rides or being an ambassador for the Club. Please contact Jon directly if you can assist.

The attached poster can be downloaded directly from website if you want to post on the work's notice board or share by email.

Open Day Poster

The Princess Royal - President of the RYA

The Royal Visit

Who would have ever have guessed that Budworth would have been selected for a Royal Visit, but it is great news and we are really looking forward to greeting the Princess Royal (President of the RYA) and various other dignitaries including the Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire (Lady Redmond MBE), her husband Sir Phil Redmond (creator of Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks) and Sarah Sutcliffe (CEO of the RYA), to name a few.

My thanks go to Bill Kenyon and Ted Garner for submitting the application for the visit and the sub-committee comprising Paul Clancy, Bill Kenyon, and Wendy Martin who have been helping with the organisation. There is a lot of work to be done so if you can assist when asked that would be great.

The final details of the day will be published in next month's newsletter, but following the visit we are planning a celebratory lunch and potentially some afternoon racing, so definitely worth booking the day off work.

Because of the nature of the visit, it is essential that you apply for a ticket online by 11/4/23 as only ticket holders in registered cars will be allowed to enter the Club road. Places will only go to a ballot for a place if we have too many people wanting to attend. We will also be closing the Club on Tuesday 9 May until after the visit for all but Royal visit activities.

We will want to present the best of Budworth during the visit so preparations will start as early as 24 April with some deep cleaning of carpets and floors, with the day before the visit for a final clean. Whilst the club will still be in use up to 9 May, please work with us ensuring boots and footwear are clean before entering the bar area.

The Autumn Open and Icebreaker Prize Giving

It was my great pleasure to celebrate the success of some of the Club's sailors at the combined Autumn Open and Icebreaker Prize Giving. As you may recall, the last two Autumn series races were cancelled due to the Mere freezing over, so the prize giving for both was held last Sunday.

Autumn Series & Icebreaker Prizes

This year's Frostbite Series was well attended with 32 competitors in total, 8 of whom were juniors taking part in the competition. Congratulations go out to Tristan Shaw as the first Junior and Russell and Vicky Page taking the overall series prize.

Great Food

Galley

You may recall from last month's newsletter that Corrie will no longer be providing us with Galley assistance and we are currently still looking for a replacement. However, this is not proving to be straight forward. Whilst it has been great that some people have stepped forward to support the running of the Galley we still need more help (as many hands make light work).

Most of the tasks are similar to food prep at home, but as we are selling food we do need to ensure that whoever helps has a small amount of training to keep us within food hygiene standard regulations. Therefore, we are looking for at least four week's commitment from volunteers on specific dates. If you can help, please contact Alison Hubbard (alisonhubbard57@gmail.com) or Dianne Owen (social@budworthsc.org.uk).

Bar Rota

Sally Guilder is currently doing an excellent job of managing the bar. However, due to a job change, going forward Sally will stock the bar, but will no longer be able to serve behind the bar or manage bar service. Whilst we currently have a person serving after sailing most of the time, we are looking for each fleet to take responsibility for manning the bar and ensuring the bar is properly closed up (drinks re-stocked and glasses washed). I will shortly be publishing a fleet responsibility list, primarily for Wednesdays and Sundays; please help your fleet captain if you asked to help during your fleet's turn.

After Sailing

Windermere Cruise

There will be a RYA NW Dinghy Cruise on Lake Windermere on Friday 9 June. If you are interested in taking part, please contact Peter Hadfield peter.j.hadfield@gmail.com.

Handbook 2023

Handbook

By now you should have received at least one copy of the handbook for this year. It is a great read and full of useful information such as sailing instructions and members contact details, etc. If you have not received yours yet, there will be plenty of spare copies at the Club. Please just ask next time you are down, they are normally stored behind the bar.

Please don't underestimate the huge effort that goes into producing the handbook with contributions from virtually every member of the Committee, so please make use of it. Mark Philpot does any excellent job of cajoling the various Committee members into action and does a fantastic job as editor in Chief for which we are very grateful thanks Mark.

New Sign on PC

Our very sophisticated race management system is now over ten years old and, thanks to the hard work of Chris Hearn and Simon Joyce, it continues to be well supported. This year the Club purchased another sign on PC as the original hardware will be coming to the end of its practical life and we did not want it to disrupt Club activities by it failing at an inconvenient time. We are most grateful to Chris for setting up and installing the new touch screen PC in time for the start of the new season.

New Sign On PC

Tree Work

Over the last few weeks, we have been maintaining the far bank (thanks to those who have been helping). As the bank is no longer grazed it needs to be managed self seeded trees are springing up and growing tall, obstructing the view for walkers, preventing access for the anglers, and casting huge wind shadows over the mere. We last worked on the bank some six years ago, and the re-growth has been significant. This year we are re-coppicing or re-pollarding the trees previously done. The trees are then allowed to re-grow to stabilise the bank from erosion with their roots and provide habitats in their foliage.

There is a lot of work remaining to be done coppicing, ferrying wood back to the club for disposal, collecting the brash, litter picking. Look out for further working parties or speak to Russell if you can help at other times.

I would like to thank Russell and his volunteers for the great work they are doing to maintain our beautiful Mere.

The next session will be this Saturday, 1 April, at 09:30. Please contact Russell directly if you can assist.

Chief Tree Feller

Hungry Volunteers

Taking it easy

Results

First Aid Course

Earlier this month, 12 Budworth successfully completed an RYA First Aid Course. For some, this was renewing their qualification which is valid for three years and for others it was their first time taking the course. This all helps to ensure we have a good spread of members in the Club who have First Aid qualifications.

Dinghy Instructors Course

Over the first two weekends in April, four Budworth members and two visitors will be undertaking a five day Dinghy Instructor's Course. Alan Jones from the RYA will be leading the course. We all wish Sian, Alex, Montri and Tony well on the course. It should be noted that this will mean 9 Budworth members will have qualified as a Dinghy Instructor over the past year or so - this is significantly more than any other club in the North West.

RTC Learn to Sail Courses

The first of our beginners Learn to Sail courses starts on Saturday 1 April. There are many more courses over the next three months for beginners and improvers held over either two consecutive Saturdays or four mid-week evenings. The dates can be found in the Club calendar on the website - please note you need to be logged in to book. Or, please email the training team at training@budworthsc.org.uk for more details.

Our thanks go out to the training team for strengthening our training team to ensure we have a sustainable route into sailing from learning to sail through to taking part in in club racing - well done guys.

Commodores Top Tip

It is great that the racing season has now started and hopefully your boat is fully prepared for the new season. If like me you have not ventured onto the water yet, it is always worth coming down in good time before the race starts to practice before the race, study the wind, warm up and get used to the conditions. All being well, I hope to join you out there this weekend.

Cheers

Hugh