The Commodore’s Notes

Dear Members,

First of all, can I wish you all a pleasant Summer which will hopefully have sunshine and good winds for sailing.  The Summer events are underway at the Clubhouse where the group “Flip” recently performed a fabulous music night which was well attended.  Unfortunately due to the recent thunder storms, the planned Casino night in July has been cancelled as the host’s equipment was damaged in the storm.  The Summer Regatta and BBQ at the Dock was well attended and as the weather cooled down a little it was a very pleasant event all round.

The old signs outside the Clubhouse have been replaced with new ones that include an email address and clubhouse phone number. The same has been provided for the Dock entrance. These new brighter signs with our RCC logo are keeping the club’s image up to date and making sure the public who pass by, know who we are and how to contact us.

Try Sailing at Fairhaven Lake was well attended throughout the month of May.  A big thank you to all the Wednesday volunteers who make such a fantastic contribution of their time and experience, with great camaraderie.  Without you the Try Sailing would not be possible.

The Training Team have just undergone a very successful RYA inspection to maintain our status as an RYA Registered Training Centre. Special thanks must go to Rob Jarman and Richard Elsdon for their hard work and dedication, and also to the marvelous band of helpers, both those on the water, and the support of those on-shore.
Without all your hard work, we would not be able to run our Wednesday evenings training sessions at Fairhaven, and it is wonderful to see such a thriving and active side of our club.  This is entirely down to our dedicated band of helpers, and all your efforts are recognised and very much appreciated.

The Lytham Festival organisers are due to issue some free tickets to RCC for each of the evening concerts.  As in previous years, members can come into the Clubhouse on Friday 23^rd June and place your name and preferred event, (no guarantee), on the FESTIVAL SHEET at the bar. Names will be drawn at random at 22:00 in the clubhouse that evening. The lucky recipients will be issued TWO tickets for one concert in exchange for a donation of £20 to go to the RNLI. Good luck everyone!

During Lytham Festival, (28^th June – 2^nd July), our Honorary Secretary will open the bar on Wednesday 28^th June to the 1^st July from 17:30 onwards so that our members can use the club facilities whilst listening to the concerts.

The Bar Committee are doing a superb job in keeping us all refreshed on Friday evenings and at our functions. I’d like to say a big thank you to all those involved with the running of the bar.  You are doing a marvelous job.

The Dock Committee meetings have broken up for the Summer months and will start again in the Autumn (so they can go sailing).  Dock working parties have also ceased for the Summer, however, the Wednesday group of Dock volunteers have been very busy building pontoons – thank you to all of those who volunteer each Wednesday.

Our Honorary Secretary has a fully booked set of Last Tuesday Talks for the next winter season, starting in October 2023 and ending on the last Tuesday in  April 2024, so watch this space for more information.  I suspect she is also optimistic that some of our members’ summer sailing exploits may also generate a Last Tuesday talk for the following season!

As we enjoy the warm weather and get out on the water, I think how lucky we all are to have our wonderful facilities. There is nowhere more pleasant and peaceful than our Dock on a warm sunny day.  If you keep your eyes open you might even see our nesting birds of prey, the weasel and the pheasants.  I’ve spotted a kingfisher flying past the stern of our boat, whilst in the creek.

Before I sign off, I’d like to say I feel very proud to be your Commodore.  Our club is a thriving place, with many wonderful members who are willing to share their vast array of skills and experiences, and a place where many lasting friendships are made.

I wish you a very happy summer.

Best wishes

Angela Begley

Commodore

June Regatta

There was a good turn out of boats on the river for the June Regatta held last weekend.
Several cruisers were on the water.

The weather was very kind, there was just about enough breeze and not too much sunshine to create some very keen racing.

The results for cruisers and dinghies are posted on the website here: http://ribblecruisingclub.org.uk/2023-dinghy-race-results/

Which prompts a call out for any club members who feel inclined to help out on Regatta days (or any club dinghy racing days) to please get in touch, either by replying to this mail or to contact a member of the Sailing Committee. There are always jobs to be done, one of the interesting spectacles is to view the sailing from the race box and even get involved by helping with the race management. The Racing team recently commissioned a video to show what’s involved in club race management, and it makes interesting viewing (see here on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAIx91z4QIU&t=227s) There will of course always be some old hands in the race box to provide instruction.

…and in other news

Club Dinghy Hire
The use of club dinghies for sailing on the river, either racing or for leisure on ‘Club Sailing’ days, is increasing to the extent that the Sailing Committee has now introduced a procedure, mostly to ensure that the dinghies are available when required. The procedure is now documented on the website by clicking on the ‘Club Dinghy Hire’ tag within the black band at the bottom of the home page, or alternatively finding it on the Sailing Committee homepage.

For reference:http://ribblecruisingclub.org.uk/tag/club-dinghy-hire/

Sail Training News

Try Sailing has now finished until next year but dinghy training continues onto September at the Lake on Wednesday evenings.
Please be aware that many of the Volunteers will be off on their holidays soon so there may well be less Instructing available.
Also as the weather has warmed up it is noticeable how busy it is getting at the Lake on a Wednesday evening. There is only a limited supply of club boats so unfortunately it will be a case of sharing and taking turns. If it gets too busy we may have to implement a ‘booking strategy’ see ‘club dinghy hire’ above, then it will be a case of first come first served.

The next tidal sail training session will be on Sunday 23rd July, if you are planning to attend you will definitely need to book using the usual booking email, to ensure that there is a boat available for you.

Date for the diary: The club ‘Laying-up Supper’ will be on Saturday 28th October at St Anne’s Palace