2009 Sailing Season
- Boatowners Meeting - provisionally for Fri 30th Jan at 8.30pm
- Rear Commodore Sail position still vacant - Boatowners meeting to decide??
- Arklow SC Windmills Regatta June Bank Holiday - new event
- August Bank Holday Regatta - WSC - new format, any ideas?
Christmas in WSC
So much has happened in a short space of time, please read here for more information.....
Arthur Ingram RIP
It is with great regret that we heard of the passing on Fri 5th December of our former Rear Commodore House, Arthur Ingram. He had been involved in the club over a number of periods and was the designer of the 1st rear extension to the clubhouse. A lover of wooden boats, cruising was his favourite mode of sailing and he had recently taken on a boat restoration project which now is not to be. His great friend, Ray Mc Keon, will miss him. His mother passed away in her 90's earlier this year and it is very that sad he now joins her. May they rest in peace.
Funeral was after Service in St Patricks Church of Ireland, Greystones, on Tues 9th December and burial afterwards in Redford Cemetery. Members present at the service provided a simple guard of honour as his coffin left the Church.
His sons, Mark, Garth and Ross, came down on the following Sunday to say thanks to the Club for helping to share their bereavement and hope to drop in again before 2 of them return to Australia. A little bit of interesting trivia involving Arthur and his sons - we had 15 prizes in the Club Christmas Raffle and all 3 of Arthurs' sons came out (as well as Sheila Jolley twice) - what are the statistical chances of that happening? Arthur is up there pulling a few strings.
Seasonal Activity in WSC
Kicking off the festive season, Charlie Kavanagh is asking members to help him celebrate his Hons. Arts Degree with an easygoing party this Saturday 6th December at 9.30pm. Your presence will suffice. We will have a slide show on our new TV of some images from 2008, light snacks and some music. (Fred put me up to it.)
New Entertainments Secretary, Frank Murphy, is putting together a lively and interesting Christmas Party on Sat 20th - Kris Kindle (€3/5 max.), seasonal music & sing song, mulled wine & mince pies, Club Raffle. Henrik will be presenting a few notable trophies on the night also, his final act as Acting Rear Commodore (for now anyway). Dress up, bring your pals and make this THE party to be at.
Dust off your kids and get them down for the visit of Santa Claus on Sun 21st.
Christmas Eve drinks (5 to 8pm), New Years Eve party with lively music and a Crazy Auction (your entrance fee €10 is all you have to spend), our Annual Dinner and other events will be following - if you have a reason to celebrate, let Frank know and help make your Club work socially again. Perhaps, we could have a Use Up Your Bar Card Credit night!
Annual General Meeting
Wicklow Sailing Club held its Annual General Meeting in the clubhouse on Fri 28th November in front of a packed house. Read here
Round Ireland Prizegiving 2008
Sadly, news filtered through a few days later that BMW will not be sponsoring the 2010 event and despite this, we thank them wholeheartedly for their wonderful support over the last 3 races.
Annual Prizegiving Supper
Henrik Heckmann reports:- "A fun night was had by all at the annual prize giving event when a remarkable 10 boats out of a fleet of max. 16 won 1sts for both Trophy Races and Series Cup wins. The acting Rear Commodore Sail thanked all involved in making the 2008 Season a great success - after Orlagh and Kerry's magnificent Lasagne had been eagerly devoured by happy racers. This was probably a healthy course of action seeing as the bar stayed open until the small hours with leftover members of the outstanding Backlane Band then remaining on site for an impromptu session with manolin tunes and tango rhythms - which promptly had the commodore leading the club's main handicapper - with much panache - across the new wooden floor which seemed perfectly chosen for the event." Prizewinners
LG HD TV
One of the upsets from the redecoration was the mysterious disappearance of our TV. Gerry Nolan mounted a campaign to organise a replacement - about 20 of our members have come up trumps and a new LG HD 47" TV has been installed on the back wall, where our Commodore/Presidents board used to be. Sailing events, rugby, big sporting occasions etc can now be watched in the comfort of our newly decorated clubhouse - please make the effort to support your club. We can also make our facilities available for presentations - suitable for launches, promotions, talks, business seminars etc. Next to return - our flags and pictures!
Frostbiters chew on the icicle
Under the watchful eye of David Ryan, 11 boats (mainly Juniors) have signed up to take part in a Frostbite series to run hopefully in 2 or 3 sections over the winter. Not deterred by space restrictions in the Boatpark, they plan to take to the water every two weeks - any sailors keen to help them would be most welcome. Greystones are keen to join in the fun too - where is that new (or enlarged) boat park we had on our wish list?
Volvo Round the World
D Branigan/Oceansport
With 2 boats (out of 8) sporting strong Irish connections, Green Dragon and Delta Lloyd and and an Irish crew member on Team Russia, this small island on the NW fringe of Europe has every reason to be proud of our input into the 2008/09 Volvo Round the World Race. Wicklow Sailing Club, as the owner of the major offshore event around our shores, has played a major part in promoting offshore performance sailing and can be rightly proud that Ireland will have a Volvo stopover next year by association. For an occasional update on the race, Leg 3 started 13th December from Cochin checkout this link.
Other sailing news
Pat and Olivia Murphy on their yacht Aldebaran, returned to Wicklow on August 21st, 9 years after their last visit, having travelled around the world in the meantime. John Johnson made a presentation of a Club tie in recognition of their epic voyage and welcomed them home (Howth is base).
Other International news - the Mark Mills (Wicklow based) designed 68' Allegre won line honours in the the Rolex Malta YC Mid Sea Race - 3 other Round Ireland entrants also competed - Whisper, Lee Overlay Partners and Legally Blonde (79 entries). Any hope that Rolex would add the Round Ireland to its stable of races (assuming BMW move on) and maybe create a super league for points scored across the various races?
Upcoming Events
Any ideas for Social Events in 2009 welcome
Charlies Degree Party Sat 6th 9.30ish
Club Christmas Party and Club Raffle Sat 20th
Kids Christmas Party Sun 21st
Christmas Eve 24th Dec - social wind down 5pm - 8pm
New Years Eve Party & Crazy Auction 31st Dec 8pm
Welcome New Members night 24th Jan 2009
Valentines Night 14th Feb?
Annual Dinner?
Please play your part and be involved - can you run an event?
Don't forget us if you have a celebration in your family, work or socially - let Sean or Kerry know. Catherine Malone is helping out with Entertainments - can you assist her efforts?
Next WSC Committee meeting:-
Friday 23rd January 2009 8.30pm
A new look team took to the Committee Room for the 2009 season and incoming Commodore, Charlie Kavanagh, is looking to all those elected by their peers to work hard in striving to get our finances back in order, generate more activity and involve as many members as possible in the day to day club activities.
Key priorities for the coming year are - financial rectitude, Round Ireland sponsor, club development plan, increased social activity, sailing and house improvements and the spreading of a culture of respect amongst members at all levels. Some of our subcommittees have hit the ground running, with our Bar reorganised, entertainments flourishing, a new plan in gestation and dinghies alive and well. Loads of new ideas are flying around the table and there is a visible energy amongst the new team which augurs well for the future. Teamwork is the name of the game, the more shoulders we have to the wheel the more benefit will accrue to Wicklow Sailing Club.
Active use of WSC in November
Jim Vickers organised a Table Quiz in aid of St Catherines School, Newcastle in WSC on Fri 14th November. Tommy Mc Gauley acted as MC and question master (Bamber Gasgoigne watch out) and his relaxed style was much appreciated by the competitors. The Three Degrees with the Beverly Sisters became The Supremes in a finely contested event. Between entry fees and raffle proceeds, he managed to raise c.€550 for the school. Well done Jim, despite the poorish turnout.
Michael Holland, owner of Celtic Challenge of Fastnet, gave a talk on their Artic 2 Antarctic adventures in WSC on Sat 15th Nov. The slide show and interesting commentary were very interesting entertaining the crowd present. On the night, they managed to raise €650 from door proceeds and the sale of their wonderful book. Ansis Dimiters, previous member is his full time skipper, another success story from WSC.
ISORA -The Next Resurrection
Sadie Phelan has attended the AGM and Annual ISORA Dinner on our behalf in the National YC and is delighted to report that we will be finishing a race again in Wicklow on 23rd May 2009. See 2009 schedule.
Madeleine Mc Cann - Is she alive?
WSC Walkers - are you out there?
Its that time of year again - central heating is on, evenings are short and thoughts turn to the hills for some exercise. Kevin Desmond, our Chief Sherpa, would love to hear from interested parties to join him on relaxing walks in the Wicklow Hills. Contact him on 0404 67556 or this email link
Cruisers out - Socials in
Henrik and Tony ably assisted by Parker played a blinder in getting all the boats out on Sat 18th Oct in beautiful late Autumnal conditions, followed by a delicious Lift Out Dinner prepared by Mary Cleary and her assistant Edel Mulvihill, attended by 45 members and friends. With the boats off the water, hopefully our members will see their way to supporting (or even organising) events in the Club over the long winter and help to to boost our coffers through attending as many as possible. There is a very full calendar for November which should have something to appeal to everyone.
Ansis Dimiters returned to Ireland this summer on Celtic Spirit of Fastnet after spending 3 years exploring the Atlantic as far as Antarctica and back to the Caribbean. Michael Holland, the owner, gave an illustrated and entertaining talk (15th Nov) of their icy adventures in Tom Creans footsteps and proceeds go to ORBIS, a charity treating blindness in the 3rd World - door fee of €10 with finger food. Signed copies of their book (incl. DVD) were also available and were a big hit. The event raised c.€665 for the charity.
Kevin Collins will make a musical return to Wicklow along with Derek Stewart and Frank Murphy under the alias of No Tomorrow on Sat pm Nov 22nd (it was for JFK) and he would love to see old friends come along for the session.
ISA News
NAME AN IRISH BUOY
In an effort to make it easier to identify a buoys location. Met Eireann
are proposing to rename the network of weather buoys posted around the
coast of Ireland.
http://www.sailing.ie/news/newsDetails.asp?id=2465
EXCISE DUTY ON PRIVATE PLEASURE NAVIGATION
As of the 1st November 2008, diesel used for "private pleasure
navigation" is subject to mineral oil tax at the same rate as applies to
auto diesel.
http://www.sailing.ie/news/newsDetails.asp?id=2449
ASGARD II SALVAGE PLAN
A plan to raise Asgard II, which is lying at the bottom of the sea off
the French coast, will be presented to the cabinet before Christmas.
Willie O'Dea, the defence minister, hopes to commission a salvage
company toraise the government's training vessel so that it can be
restored.
http://www.sailing.ie/news/newsDetails.asp?id=2455
2009 TIDE TABLES
Are available to view or save on our site.
http://www.sailing.ie/inside/default.asp?pageId=506
2009 ISA AWARDS
The ISA are looking for YOUR suggestions to expand our awards
ceremony for 2009. What / Who would you like the ISA to acknowledge in
boating in Ireland? We have our ideas but we need yours!
Contact Jennie with your ideas:
isanews@sailing.ie
ISA NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2009
Burlington Hotel: 7th & 8th March 2009
ISA
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