Overboard

Overboard 2008-2.pdf [600kB]

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Commodore's Comment

Well the sailing season has now commenced amid very varied conditions, we have seen snow, sun and plenty of rain. Those of you who were at Skene during the SUSA regatta will vouch for this! However, this does not seem to have dampened your enthusiasm for getting out on to the water. I note the participation at Skene has been very promising and
endorses how many of you enjoy your spring sailing there.

As you are aware by now, the format of the sailing program at Stonehaven on Saturday’s has been slightly altered this year with the aim to try & encourage family / junior sailing, with the peace of mind that there will be rescue cover provided. I should add that during one weekend a month there will be a mini regatta – three races per day / class racing / committee boat starts & BBQ or supper on the Saturday evening. By implementing this change it does help somewhat with OOD duties & roistering.

Ditta has initiated the Junior Sailing program at Skene, which has been very well attended & enjoyed by children of differing abilities on both Saturdays & Sundays, I understand her intention is to encourage the junior sailing in the summer at Stonehaven, which, to date has always been a challenge. However, with the changed sailing program I am hopeful that this year we may make better progress than previous years.

The social scene over the past few months has been very successful; In February we had the pleasure of listening to a fascinating presentation by Rod MacDonald about his diving exploits on local wrecks which had his audience captivitated. More recently we held the 50th Anniversary Meal at the Carron Restaurant, this was a splendid evening, where a delicious meal was served, followed by our local MP Sir Robert Smith toasting the club and cumulated in a casino evening, whereby it was very apparent which members had misspent childhoods.

Over the last month the galley/kitchen has undergone a major refurbishment at the clubhouse, as I write it is 90% complete and huge thanks should go to John Deacon, Ed & Winnie Gillespie, Alex Taylor & Dave Sinclair for making this happen! Thank you, your efforts are very much appreciated!

We are also currently evaluating the possibility of remediating and resurfacing both boat parks in Stonehaven prior to the commencement of the season, as you are no doubt aware, they are in very poor condition. We are awaiting costs before a decision will be made. Looking ahead to the coming month lets hope we have some warm favourable sailing conditions with plenty of wind,

Enjoy!
Best Regards,
Merv New Commodore

Anniversary Dinner

A great night was had by all at the Carron Restaurant in Stonehaven where singing by the Bobby Dazzlers set the scene for a swinging night. After some good food and wine Merv provided an excellent speech followed by our guest speaker who was Sir Robert Smith: the local MP, a sailor and the treasurer of the House of Commons Yacht club. After the dinner and speeches there was a casino night and the top gambler of the evening with the biggest winnings was Jon Thurlow, however he was almost beaten by the restaurant owner Robert Cleaver! Thanks to Alan and Elspeth for organising this event.

SUSA '08 Championships

As most of you probably know ASYC hosted the Scottish University Sailing Association Team Racing Championships earlier in the month. Team racing is a highly tactical branch of sailing where 3 boats on one team try to outwit and out sail 3 boats on the other team. The racing takes place in evenly matched fireflys so that the result is determined only by sailing skill. As it was an open event (i.e. not just university teams entered) and none of my university team fancied making the long journey to the frozen north I decided to enter an ASYC team... The ASYC team met for the first time the night before the competition to go over crucial team racing tactics. Unfortunately, the choice of venue (pub) meant that the conversation soon wandered from team racing. None the less, memories were refreshed (or in some cases just introduced to team racing!) so as Friday dawned bright and sunny the team arrived at Loch of Skene to do some serious team racing. ASYC were first out, against the favourites, Edinburgh. This luckily gave us a chance to have a quick practise as two thirds of our team had never sailed a firefly before! We put up a good fight but had to concede defeat in the face of their superior team racing ability. Throughout the day our sailing went from strength to strength as we got used to the boats and team racing. By the end of the initial round robin we’d won two races and lost two races which, after playoffs (in which we beat both St.Andrews A and Glasgow A), meant we were in the Gold League securing ourselves a top 8 finish in the event.

We continued sailing into the evening as the Gold and Silver League round robins began. After day 1, it was a happy and slightly sunkissed team that headed into Aberdeen for a traditional student night out... Day two was significantly windier and it soon became apparent that these conditions favoured our team. Despite our lack of team racing experience, our boat handling and fleet racing skills shone through. Unfortunately we still only managed to win one of our races (after what we felt were some dodgy umpire calls). So at the end of day 2, we had won two races in the Gold league, one against Edinburgh Ladies and the other against Glasgow A, which put us in 7th place overnight.

By the time the team arrived at the ball there was already snow on the ground and by the time everyone left several hours (and drinks) later, it looked liked it could have been Christmas. Sadly on Sunday morning the race committee deemed the wintry weather unsailable, meaning that the results from the day before stood without any finals having been sailed. This left us in a respectable 7th place overall, having beaten numerous university A teams who had been competing and training together all year. All in all a successful 1st event for the ASYC team!

Katherine Ward

Skene Helmsman Trophy

On 19th and 20th April the first monthly mini regatta was held at Loch of Skene; these club regattas are being run this year to encourage class racing with good courses. It was an excellent event with the sun shining and wind blowing and 26 boats took part. Donald Smith was busy as the Race Officer and there was good racing with 3 races each day. The windward starts provided good practice for everyone with one memorable start where Lynne Skinner in her Mirror stopped most of the fleet barging in. The top 3 in the 3 Monthly Regatta fleets and Skene helmsman were:

Laser
1. P Malcolm
2. N Ritchie
3. A Mackay

Fireball
1. E George & A Fraser
2. P Howey & D Laing / T Stack
3. J Deacon & R Yeamans

Handicap
1. RS200: I Gore & Gore
2. Laser Radial: A Smith
3. Blaze: R Williamson

Skene Helmsman
(All results combined)
1. Fireball: E George & A Fraser
2. Laser: P Malcolm
3. Fireball: P Howey & D Laing / T
Stack

Changes to Stonehaven Season
Stonehaven Sunday: Sailing Starts At 1.00pm!

Remember that the Stonehaven Sunday Series is different this year. There is no racing on 'normal' Saturdays; instead a rescue boat will be 'dutied' from 2.00pm to allow cruising and practise. On 'normal' Sundays there will be three races starting at 1.00pm.

One weekend per month will be for MINI MONTHLY REGATTAS - three races on Saturday stating at 1.00pm and three races on Sunday starting at 1.00pm. These monthly regattas will have three fleets - Laser, Fireball and Handicap, there will be a prize for each winner in each fleet.

There will be an extra two races on Wednesdays going in to the first two weeks of September (we will have to monitor length of race/start time nearer the time). The bar will be open and fish suppers available on Wednesday evenings and the galley will be manned (or womanned) for the Monthly Regattas.

John Deacon
Sailing Secretary

The Make Over Team Moves Upstairs

A team of helpers has been hard at work transforming the kitchen area in time for the Stonehaven season – all is be revealed in June!

Calling All Laser Sailors

The first Mini Monthly Reggata on 19th and 20th April was a success with 26 boats taking part in warm sunny weather with a good breeze. The only disappointment was that not many Lasers turned up. This is a great opportunity to sail in a fleet without other boats getting in the way - so get your boats out and turn up for the next Mini Monthly

Duties

The Stonehaven Duty List is posted on the website and there is a copy for you to put in your handbook in this newsletter.

Here is a list of people who have two of the statutory three annual duties. These people may be called upon to do a duty if the need arises. An effort will be made for those people who did three duties this year to do two duties next year if the situation allows.

Patrick Nuttall Tim Sibley
John Deacon Chris Paul
Tracey Flynn Brian Livingstone
John Perry Graham McKay
John Cormack John Styles
Mike Fleming John Flood
Paul Howey James Lewis
Alistair Smith Philip Rose
Robert Yeamans Fiona Meekin
Jonathon Tait Christine Mouat
Andrew Watson Shona Olson
Duncan Robertson Keith Stewart
Euan Minellas Walter Mouat
Jon Ruszka Jane Livingstone
Bruce Campbell David Livingstone
Michael Fellowes Adrian Mitchell
Joanne Heath Jonathan Brown
Trevor Stack David Pfleger
Tom Duff Malcolm Nicol
Michael Heath Katie McCabe
David Smith Andy MacLennan
Donald MacFarlane James McTurk
Diarmid MacAlister Hall Gordon Scott
Roddy Christie-Henry John Olson
Francois Van Niekerk Ditta Rose
Gregor Meekin Lynne Skinner
Arnie Mouat Mary Watson
Marta Plocova

Junior Sailing

Junior sailing lessons are now well under way with 26 children and their parents participating. Without the tireless help of Margaret Ponsonby and all parents it would not be possible to host these lessons as there are no dedicated sailing instructors in the club. It never ceases to amaze me how many hot bodies are needed to man the rescue boats, instruct and field the kids beach side. Thank you very much to each and every one of you who helps - all the children seem to be enjoying themselves sailing and making new sailing friends.

We asked each child this year to contribute £50 towards a new boat fund. Andy MacLennan is looking for a suitable RS Feva and I am confident that a boat will appear on a loch near you on one of the next weekends, ready for the children to sail and show us old wrinklies that they are well able to keep up with the adult fleet. I for one can't wait to try it out. Looking ahead, the Junior Fun Day is scheduled for the morning of the 24th May. There will be fun, frolics, games and prizes for all. This extravaganza will lead into the Club Open Day with a chance for all involved with junior sailing to participate in the Open Day and try out other new and older boats. At the end of June the juniors will move with the rest of the club to Stonehaven. Here lessons will be collapsed into Saturday afternoons to coincide with club social sailing until the end of June - particulars for the race weekend 21-22nd June are still to be confirmed.

I also hope that the parents will take their children sailing outside the lessons. After all, the Oppies and Toppers are there to be used and are free of charge to hire by children. Just check with the OOD on duty to make sure that he/she feels it's safe to go out there and for the rescue boat to keep and extra eye out. Blue skies and calm waters

Ditta, ASYC Junior Coordinator

Membership Update

The membership of the club remains fairly steady in numbers, more folk renewed their membership than in the recent past and there is a constant stream of enquiries about the club which this year so far have given us 16 new members with a few more in the pipe line. Please give them a warm welcome, the weather certainly has not, and help them navigate their way round the obstacles both on and off shore.