Ex Yeadon member wins the Fireball World Championships !

Ex Yeadon Sailing Club member Richard Wagstaff, and part of the Winder team building world class Fireballs, Merlin Rockets and Solos in Keighley, has won the 2008 Fireball World Championship held recently in Pattaya in Thailand. Richard, crew, and Matt Mee sailed well enough to take the Championship with a race to spare to beat the other 70 boats completing for the title.

Richard was a member at Yeadon in the early 90’s.

Racing Rules Training Night

Venue The Dragons, Yeadon Date Wednesday 9 April Time 7:30 for prompt start at 8pm Speaker Carol Haines, RYA Regional Rules Guru Cost £5 each, £3 for youths, includes buffet.

This is a highly recommended evening - I can pretty much guarantee that there will be many useful lessons and a few surprises in store, even for those who think they have a good grasp of the rights of way rules.

Important: If you have a copy of the racing rules (even an old one), please bring it with you, but don't worry, you will be working in groups! We do need to let the catering staff know how many mouths to feed, so places must be reserved in advance. I will set up a discussion thread on the Yorkshire Dales web site where you can register.

Visit the Yorkshire Dales Forum to register interest.

I Only Wanted To Sail!

It was about ten years ago that I discovered Yeadon Sailing Club. I was walking through Tarnfield Park and found it. I had always been interested in sailing and had done a little in the past but had never raced. Had I known the club existed then I would have joined it many years earlier! After a year or two in the club I was asked to join the committee. It was about eighteen months later that I made my fatal mistake. The Secretary was away for one of the meetings and I volunteered to take the minutes. At the end of the year the Secretary decided to retire and I finished up with the job.

Well taking the minutes was one thing, a little letter writing was involved but I think the most important thing that I had to do was to ensure things were done on time.

Straight forward so far but then things started getting more complicated. The Lease and Licence had been under negotiation for 12 years but not agreed. David Statman took on the job of negotiating the completion of the lease and licence while I spent my time reading and re-reading them and finding faults with them. At last they were agreed though there were things that we would have liked adding in to the licence but daren't risk another 12 years of negotiation. I got involved in insurance for the club but currently John Simms is handling that. Additions had to be made to the Constitution and the second time round it was realized it was rather a mixture of rules and administration. With George Dawson’s assistance the Constitution was separated from the Operating Rules. Many amendments were made to the Operating Rules before we were satisfied with them but wonders never cease – they are out for all to see now.

Other major items that have been dealt with recently, not by me personally, but mainly by Neil and Gail are the Club Safety Policy and the Child Protection Policy. We still have to add to our Safety Policy Safety Procedures. The latest item, Data Protection is being dealt with by the Commodore and the Committee. The new website is being developed by Tim Burnett and I am sure that you will be very pleased with it when it goes live.

All this is in addition to the work of planning the sailing programme done by Patrick Gaunt, planning the training programme done by Neil, chasing and recording the
membership fees done by Rob Crossland, the maintenance organized and frequently done by Bill Wilson, and the keeping of the accounts by Terry Kelly. There are also the social events which are currently directed by the Commodore but run by other committee members and the newsletter edited by either Terry's daughter Aislinn or by Rob Heath. We are also beginning to benefit from the valuable input of our newer committee members –Gerard, Steve, Richard, Mick, Ian and Andrew who are perhaps wondering what they have let themselves in for.

So spare a thought for your Committee now and again, who give up so much of their time to ensure we have an ever improving club. Perhaps before too long, and now that the major items above have been completed, someone else will take over as secretary, seeing that the present incumbent is dogged by poor hearing and still cannot read his own writing.

Peter Appleby
Hon. Club Secretary : Solo 3774

80th Anniversary - The Commodore's Challenge

In this very special year I felt it would be good for us to take up a challenge which will have a big impact on the future of the club. As you know we are developing our thoughts for the long term but whatever options we wish to consider, they will undoubtedly require investment.

Our current membership numbers are healthy but we could do with building them significantly if we are to have the additional funds for new ventures.

My challenge is this -

‘Each One Reach One’

I would like everyone to determine to introduce at least 1 new member to the club this year. They could be -

A personal friend,
A person who calls into the club and to who you offer help,
A new Tuesday night trainee,
A dual member from another sailing club,
A work colleague,
A referral from the Sailing Centre
A visitor to our Open Day

What ever the connection I want each of us to ‘hold their hand’ through to membership.

We have a great club and I would dearly love to have the option to improve our facilities and make longer term plans for all our benefit.

The Each One Reach One Challenge could double our membership but I would be happy with a net growth of 80 new members in celebration of our 80th Anniversary.

Let’s put Yeadon Sailing Club really on the map as the best club for the Leeds sailing community.

Tim Hattersley
Commodore.

Wiggle Launch a new Gill satallite site

Wiggle have launched a new online satallite site for the sale of sailing clothing and kit. http://www.wigglegill.com/

Meanderings of a Mature Helm

After I'd been drawing my old age pension for a few years I realized what everyone else had noticed, in that I'm not as nimble as I once was. Also, while I'm willing to take the boat out when there is a chance that I might capsize, I'll no longer go out when there is a certainty of it.

With this in mind I decided to just enjoy sailing at Yeadon and to h*** with being competitive.

So the race was on; I had a relatively stress-free start without too much "up-up-up!" and noticed a whole bunch of boats going left on starboard as is their wont. Plenty of room on the right – why get all the hassle and dirty wind from the crowd – tack off to the right and as the first mark is to port, I can approach it on starboard. I do, and find two or three of the original bunch have to tack off behind me – nice surprise!

A short leg, then a long (for Yeadon) port reach to the next starboard hand mark. My old rival Greg is just in front of me, and he's a dreadful luffer, so I sail deep, well below his wind shadow, and find I have water at the mark as I harden up and speed up over the last fifty metres.

Another windward leg comes up and I realize that by observing the boats in front of me I can deduce where the most favoured wind is, and anticipate the lifts and headers coming along. By this means I've gained another couple of places without doing anything brilliant.

Next leg's a run. I choose to sail it on starboard to claim right of way, even though it's a bit dodgy by the lee. Blanketing the boat in front, who's on port, he sees me coming. His panic gybe onto starboard is ill timed, and I'm up another place. After a reach that's too short for anyone to benefit, another beat.

Two boats in front of me are locked in mortal combat - so intense that they don't realize that whilst covering each other on port, three toppers having a nice reaching race on starboard are uncomfortably close and have right of way. I don't want to spoil the Toppers fun, so sail well clear, and find that I am in front of the discomforted and unseeing pair.

Another reach, and a different boat just in front of me. It's Tony, and I don't like being behind him. Nothing for it but to concentrate hard on boat trim, keep it dead upright, transom just out of the water, watch the sail like a hawk and respond to every flutter of luff, leach and telltales, and just manage that extra tiny percentage of speed to get water at the next mark.

A couple more legs and it’s the dead run again. All of us on starboard this time, so I try looping out to the right on port. I'm in clear wind as I close the mark I've gained enough over one boat to claim room for a starboard rounding – and enough for the gybe!

Another beat and I'm following old Stan on port – some ten/fifteen meters behind. But I get a lift and he doesn't – or maybe he's sailing for a bearing on a shore mark and not watching his sails. Anyway, when he tacks I can cross him, then tack and cover him to the next mark.

So it goes until I notice we've been racing for nearly an hour, we're on a long beat towards the clubhouse, surely the OOD is going to ring us off but to my surprise, there is only one boat in front of me.

He makes the fatal mistake of not covering me, and sails into a hole whilst I remain in respectable wind. I'm just crossing the finish line when the bell wakes me from my dream.

A fictional tale, with characters that are no way based on members (past or present) of Yeadon Sailing Club. I did, however, find some truth and advice in its content.

Anonymous.
First Published Spring 2007

New online Chandlery

We have received news that a new online Chandlery has opened, for more information visit www.nare.co.uk, they are also offering club members 10% discount, visit the forum for the promotional code.