January 2019 News from the Rear Commodore Sailing

Published 22:53 on 30 Jan 2019

Sailing Committee News
Happy New Year to all our members, let's hope for good weather and fair winds this coming season.

Even though the club has been closed, your SC have been busy, lots of members responded to the planned work parties, clearing large areas of overgrown vegetation.
A small dedicated group have been hard at work on the refurbishment of Com2, which was found to be full of water, every compartment between the floor and hull has been pumped out, and saturated mortar ballast removed from 2 of them. 2 areas of rotted deck have been cut out, and new floor is ready to be installed once the remainder has dried out. The ballast will be replaced with sand bags filled with gravel, which will allow further pumping out if necessary. Last job will be applying antifouling once the weather improves. In the interim Com 1 will be used, it too will be antifouled once Com 2 is back in service.

We plan to ask ST to bring their road sweeper on site to help tidy the roadways etc. Please ensure you tidy your own berth to help improve the site.

During the work parties the North jetty has been stripped of all the rotten wood back to it's steel frame, which was found to be in good condition. We plan to install a GRP mesh deck like the South jetty, this has proved to be safe, and deters fouling by birds.
The plastic EziDock pontoon on trial will be leaving site soon, we couldn't obtain a grant to cover the cost, refurbishment of the old one seems a better bet.

A review has been taken of the racing fleets, minor changes have been made to balance numbers. Details to be published on the website soon.
We've got a full program of events planned, including a Commodore s Cup and Charity Regatta on June 22/23rd.
A fitting out supper open to all is planned in March, details on the web.
Happy sailing in 2019
Lawrence