Commodore's Blog - April 2022
Published 21:31 on 23 Apr 2022
What amazing spring weather - particularly over the Easter weekend. It's great to see the club so busy again, with so many members heading out onto the river.
The club calendar is full of events, giving so many opportunities to get out on the water. Examples are Junior/Youth Race Training, the return of Sunday Sailing & Boating, PB2 Courses, Power Boat Inductions, and Junior Sailing courses.
I'd like to take this opportunity to particularly call out Mark Flint and his team of young dinghy racers. I think today was Session 3, and it's inspiring to see such amazing improvement already so early in the season, plus fun being had!
Also a big thank you to my colleagues on the Executive Committee for pulling all this together and making it happen - especially at this busy time of year.
Cold Water and Lifejackets!
Although the river is a stunning place to be this time of year, the water is still cold - so always dress appropriately and as ever you must wear a buoyancy aid or lifejacket when using a club boat or participating in an SGBA activity.
Upcoming Events
Junior Sailing: The first of this year's Junior Sailing courses - scheduled for the end of May - amazingly sold out within five minutes of bookings going live. A second course is scheduled for early August and as these courses are so popular, we are hoping to add a third course towards the end of the summer holidays. Watch out for announcements via email/newsletter.
AGM: Friday 6th May sees our Annual General Meeting, to be held at the clubhouse. Nominations are now closed for new committee members, but I'm really pleased to see quite a few new faces seeking to join the Exec Team. After the AGM formalities are over, there will be a BYO barbecue, giving attendees the opportunity to mix and socialise. The AGM is open to all members - book your place to attend via this link: SGBA Annual General Meeting
Training/Courses
A full programme of RYA courses is underway - details will be posted in our regular newsletters and on the website calendar, via this link: https://sgba.org.uk/events
Fleet/Club Boats
Devon Yawl: Final preparations are now being made following Dibber's return from Avocet where she was cleaned and anti-fouled. We hope to have her on the water and available for members' use in early May.
Drascombe Lugger: Scillabub is just waiting for her trip to Avocet and will follow Dibber onto the water as soon as possible.
Duties/Volunteers
A reminder that we expect all members to play their part in supporting club events and to keep our facilities in prime condition. Unlike most sailing clubs, we don't mandate a certain number of duties per year per member - instead relying on the goodwill and support of our wonderful members to play their part.
You can help from being an OOD at Sunday Sailing & Boating, providing Safety Boat cover, participating in our Working Parties, helping with our sailing courses, etc. We have made it really easy to volunteer via the website: https://sgba.org.uk/page/volunteer
It is noticeable that a core group of members do most of the graft. If this isn't yet you, please help out this year - and spread the workload. Thank you.
Happy boating!
Chris Moore
Commodore, Stoke Gabriel Boating Association
Telephone: 0794 100 5593
Email: commodore@sgba.org.uk
Last updated 14:15 on 20 June 2023