Commodore's Musings - November 2016

Published 20:52 on 7 Nov 2016

Dear All,

Time, it seems to go in a blur these days and so now that all of the Raters are safely tucked up in their beds it seems fitting to reflect on the last couple of months and the season as a whole. The Yates Cup and Braganza bowl was moved to a weekend in early October, which reduced the clashes with other events and produced a fine turn-out of 10 Raters. Racing was excellent and close with 4 boats within 4 boats within 6 points of each other after 5 races. Adventurer took the honours winning both the Yates Cup and Braganza Bowl, Osprey was second and Vagabond third. The new timing was considered a success and it looks like we will secure a similar date in 2017.

The Tuesday evening sailing in the Rater fleet has been most successful with the majority of boats out each week. We were pleased to see the return of Strait Dealer who showed that she has boat speed and so we look forward to seeing her match her potential next season. David Franks (owner of Strait Dealer) has spent most of the summer organising the Etchells World Championships in Cowes as well as other lead up regattas. We congratulate him on a most successful championship not just in organisation but also on his 12^th place which was a great result. The winner was none other than John Bertrand of Americas cup fame so you can see the illustrious company David keeps.

Now that the season is drawing to a close there are a number of events that we would like your help at or your support in attending these are:

• 1.Work Party this Saturday 12^th November general tidy, Cora into the shed and following the last sail on Sunday clear the lower hard.
• 2.Awards Ceremony 19^th November 19:30 black tie or Blazers.
• 3.French Evening - 26^th November
• 4.Rater AGM has moved to 4^th December
• 5.Christmas Lunch and draw 11^th December
• 6.Flag officers invitation evening Tuesday 20^th December.

I would like to just say a few words about the Christmas Lunch and draw, the lunch is being cooked by Sam and those that were there last year will testify that it was a superb meal and great fun so book your tickets early. This year we will start the fundraising required for our new boat shed and changing rooms. We have therefore organised an auction for some amazing donations. The star lot is a week's charter of a Sunsail yacht. It would be great if you could donate something it could be that you will host a wine tasting or a meal and so the winning bid will go towards our development. Please come to any of the flag officers with your ideas.

Finally, on the subject of the club's modernisation plans, we have received a response to our pre-planning application. In principle Kingston Council are supportive of the proposal and would like us to submit an application. They have also provided a wealth of points that they would like our application to cover. We have therefore commissioned a further two reports and as soon as these are in we will submit our application.

I look forward to seeing you at the weekend and at the social events thereafter.

Miles Palmer,

Commodore TSC