A thank you from Brisbane Australia

We recently received this lovely letter from Australia that we thought we would share with you...

"Re Membership for Mike and Family

We apologise for not notifying the sailing club earlier but we have moved from Leeds to Brisbane Australia.

For various reasons we were unable to be as involved in the Yeadon Sailing Club as much as we would have liked. However, we did enjoy the times we were able to sail on Tuesday nights. In particular we would like to thank Neil McInnes and his team for the great introductory programme on Tuesday nights.

Yeadon Sailing Club has an excellent philosophy towards introducing new people to sailing (at any age) and a great family atmosphere. We wish the club all the best for the future and we hope to build on what we learned at Yeadon in our new home in Australia.

With Thanks

Mike Prince"

Health Warning

The council parks department regularly conduct tests of the water at Yeadon Tarn the latest of which has revealed some signs of campylobacter. This could be because of a number of potential sources – increased field fertilisation, new birds arriving etc.

As a precaution the following health notice has been issued: -

- Thoroughly wash hands directly after completing activities in the water.
- All cuts to be covered by waterproof plasters.
- Avoid gulping water down if you become immersed in the tarn.
- Do not contemplate water based activities if unwell or still recuperating from an illness.


It is hoped that this is a temporary contamination.

Snow Fun for Sailors

The second weekend of the season showed how hardy Yeadon Sailors are !
Saturday showed many faces of the weather but nothing lasted for too long, so was almost bearable.
Sunday seemed brighter until racing commenced, then the snow started ! Soft at first it got progressively heavier during the race until Patrick and Terry on OOD duty decided enough was enough and allowed everybody in for a warm drink.
Most made it out for the second race but the snow, and the wind was lighter and certainly less exciting for the less hardy gang of spectators that had gathered in the club house !
Thanks to Yvonne for the photos.

PLUS Video Footage, click these links to view:
Video 1, Video 2, Video 3

Sailing re-starts at Yeadon

Sailing started last weekend at the Club. A gang of intrepid sailors, lead by the Commodore, bravely went out for the first race of the season and most had tested the waters by the end of the first race.

Dave had the honour of the first rescue of the season, “My mainsheet broke ! “ he said. What he really meant was ‘I forgot to tie it on properly !’.

Sunday was so much better and it even attracted the Sailing Coach out on to the water ! He must of got his months mixed up, normally he doesn’t start sailing until May, not March !

Thanks to Tim and Seb for running the races in the fairly horrid weather on Saturday and John and Sandra for doing the same in the rather better weather on Sunday

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