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Commodore’s report – 2005

I believe that Craven Sailing Club has maintained its tradition as a small, welcoming and friendly sailing club in 2005. Yet again, membership has held up well and we have been in the fortunate position of not needing to have any recruitment drives. We have been joined by a number of canoeing members, and it was good to see so many of them taking part in the event on 4 September. There have been new events this year, such as a few sailing Saturdays early in the season, although at least two of these were blown out. The Embsay Splash was very well attended again, and many have said how much they benefited from the sessions.

We have had a busy racing calendar and it has been great to see so many boats on the water, especially on Tuesday evenings, but also on some of the trophy days. The Easter trophy, for example, saw loads of boats out on the first day of the season. The Race Committee have catered for all tastes, including a personal handicap series, and we should all be grateful to them for the efforts. More recently, there have been a couple of sessions on the racing rules, held in the Cavendish Arms; these have been well attended and much enjoyed by all.

The year had a bad start in one respect, the January gales caused significant damage to the club roof. We took the opportunity to repair and improve the roof, which meant we had to spend more money as it could not all be claimed on insurance. The patrol boat was also repaired at the beginning of the season and, according to Winder Boats, should keep us going for a couple of years more.

The Dinner was another great success and thanks to all who organised it. The turn out was again excellent and I would hope we can repeat that in 2006.

I would like to pay tribute to the work of the main Committee over the year. It is risky to name names for fear of leaving someone out of course and so on behalf of the club, I would like to thank them all. Martin Barrett is stepping down having served a number of years as membership secretary, and he has also produced the handbook. It is only right to mention his contribution and we are very grateful to him.

I am very pleased to report that we managed to secure some extra land from Yorkshire Water, and you will all have seen the results. It does not seem to have taken long to find it occupied. This has taken a lot of hard work to sort out, thanks again to the Committee, and especially Sheila and Keith. Yorkshire Water kindly put up the fence for us. At the same time, the old fence which went down into the water, upon which many a centre board has been caught, was removed and I suspect will only be missed in the sense that members will not be able to hit it again.

We had hoped to build a new concrete slip way near to the dam wall. This proved a more complex exercise than we had anticipated and the Committee decided to shelve it for the time being, but to try a less substantial measure of using some paving slabs. There is more to do here, and we may come back to the issue, depending on what members want.

Much effort went into the event we held on 4 September 2005, and we were rewarded with a huge turn out of members taking part in a variety of events, including a match racing series, which I would like to see run again next year. By combining events with the barbecue we seem to have found an ideal way of involving lots of people and having a lot of fun, so expect to see something broadly similar next year. The weather did make a big difference! I have never seen so many Mirrors out at once on Embsay reservoir. I should record our appreciation to Yorkshire Water who gave us a substantial contribution to the prizes for the day.

This year has seen the lowest water level in my time at Craven, though others say that it has been lower. We were better off than some other clubs, though, and have been able to keep sailing, even if some members occasionally found the bottom where they did not expect it. It is good to see the level back up to normal.

Of course, the season is not quite over and the icicle series is hotting up (if that is not a contradiction in terms) and there is still a pair of races in the personal handicap series to go, as well as Boxing Day and New Year’s Day for the brave and/or foolhardy.

In conclusion, I am very grateful to all those who have helped make the year the success it has been, and I look forward to another good year in 2006.

Chris Enzor

November 2005

Welcome to the latest Commodore's Column (No.3)

The Club is going from strength to strength and we are welcoming new members all the time – so welcome to any of you who have joined recently. It is great to see new faces.

On the racing front, there have been loads of boats out on the water, especially on Tuesday evenings. It has been quite tricky for race officers, especially with the new(ish) rules on finishing, but these seem to be working OK by and large, and we do not end up with the same boats last on the water all the time. If you are race officer, do not be afraid of asking for help in finishing the race – it can be a nightmare trying to get a fleet of 15 or more accurately timed.

The Embsay splash was a great success again this year and I am very grateful to Ian Smith who organised things with his customary enthusiasm, with the help of a few others it has to be said. Many people took part in their first races and learnt a lot.

The Ullswater sail away was also a great success, although the wind did not put in its customary appearance. The weather was a bit variable – those who camped on Friday got soaked, but those part timers who came only on Saturday and Sunday had wall to wall sunshine (and midges in the evening of course).

Other news – as some of you will have noticed, we now have a new bit of land fenced off to allow us to extend the dinghy park. Some heavy work is needed to prepare the ground, put stakes in, number the spaces etc. More to follow here. The new slip way we hope to put in is taking a little while to sort, so please bear with us. The working party in  July was a great success and the club house is looking spruce and the grass a lot lower. A plea here – do take a few minutes now and again to cut the grass and/or weeds around your boat. It does make a big difference, and it is much harder work if it gets too long!

The big news is that we hope to have a fairly large club event on 4 September, the day of the barbecue. Please put the date in your diaries. The day will be run in partnership with Yorkshire Water. Details are yet to be finalised, but we hope to make the event a real mixture of sailing, with lots of prizes. My aim is to try and get as many people on the water as we can, in as many boats, and so the prizes may not always be for the first boat home. We will send out a mail shot to members soon. As the day is likely to be well subscribed, it is not going to be an open day, but is aimed at members and their families. Confirmation of the date and more details to follow.

In the meantime, happy sailing and let's hope the water level does not drop much further!

Chris

July 05

Welcome to the second Commodore's Column

The season is under way at long last!

I think all will agree that this year's dinner was a great success and my particular thanks go to Jon Moreman who so ably organised it all. It was great to welcome Mike Heslop as our guest speaker (even if he is a club member too!) together with his wife. We discovered that they share the same passion for the Isles of Scilly as the Enzor family.

In line with last year, the prize giving was a mixture of traditional prizes – sorted out by Dave Allison, and 'alternative' or 'special' prizes arranged by Ian Smith. Yet again Ian managed to find a surprise mystery Rock star to give out the specials (I thought she looked a bit like Ian's daughter Laura but I must have been mistaken). The 'special no expense prizes' (actually a cash limit of £10 total had been imposed by the Treasurer) are now much sought after and are going for very high prices on E Bay so I am told.

It was good to see a picture of the event and a short write up in the Craven Herald – courtesy of the Lister family I presume, for which thanks.

Sailing has now started – and there is a report of the Easter trophy. I was amazed to see how many boats had turned out on the first day of the season. Well done Terry who took the honours on the day.

The new rule about finishing races seems to be working OK and is resulting in fewer occasions when someone in one of the slightly slower boats has to do what feels like a lap of honour because they were not quite lapped in time!

Quite a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes. Sheila Ruddock has been doing sterling work on the dinghy pen and has accounted for nearly every boat. Other equipment is now being targeted. If you have a trolley (without a boat on it!), a road trailer (although ideally we do not road trailers there for security reasons), a canoe or any equipment under the clubhouse, LABEL IT, or risk losing it.

Negotiations are continuing with Yorkshire Water to obtain more land for dinghies and a second slip way near to the dam. The time scale is not clear, but I will keep you posted.

Following a recent updated risk assessment, the Committee has changed the Club rules. An amended copy is available on the web site dated April 2005. Paper copies will be placed in the club house.
Please familiarise yourself with them.

As you will have seen by now, we have a repaired club house roof – arranged by Dave Allison our site officer. Hopefully the additional work we have had done will prevent a recurrence of the lost slates. Dave has, in his usual quiet way, been doing other jobs round the club house – thanks Dave.

New members are coming in all the time. If you have recently joined, welcome – and I hope you enjoy and make good use of your membership. There are some events this year designed to help people get going, as well as the Embsay Splash aimed at those who want to try their hand at racing. Check out the sailing programme.

See you on (or in my case – in) the water.

Chris

April 2005

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL AT CRAVEN SAILING CLUB

It was fantastic to see such a good turn out on Boxing day and New Year's Day. I also loved the pictures and article on the back page of the Craven Herald - well done to the Listers for that (and winning the race Jonathan!). Let's see if we can get some more publicity like that.

Membership is building up nicely at the moment. If you have not already re-joined, please do so now - as you are overdue! We are going to continue the purge on the dinghy pen this year, so please make sure you identify your boat/boat space to Sheila Ruddock - or else. Actually, I am not sure what ‘or else’ means but we'll think of something. By the way, who owns the Laser 2 which is in space 60? Please will they speak to Sheila.

If you have been up to the club recently, you will see that we have suffered some damage to the club house roof. Efforts are being made to repair it, but we have just struck a snag with the size of the tiles. More to follow on this.

Do not worry about the absence of the rescue boat. Unlike a certain person's Topper, it has not gone for an unauthorised sail into the treatment works, but has gone for repair.

It is great that the water is being used throughout the winter - just confirms what I always thought about Craven sailors - we're crackers, all of us.

Two final pleas for now - please come to the dinner. I still have my prize from last year - a piece of string to keep my boat together. The other is to note the working party dates when published and to join in. The more we have, the more fun it is and the less everyone has to do.

Here's looking forward to a good season in 2005.

Chris Enzor
Commodore

February, 2005