OK – some of you hardy souls have been sailing competitively over the winter and keeping the rest of us entertained with your escapades.  However, for most of us it is time to dust off the shrouds, find the sails (removing the mice droppings) and try to find our boat in the boat park. Yes – the new season will soon be upon us.

I have lots to convey today so please read on to find out more about all of the things affecting you below:

• Our new web site;
• The Garage;
• RYA Club of the Year;
• The new boat park layout and arrangements;
• Trailers;
• Race Officer Courses;
• Training Courses;
• The start of season Social;
• The start of season Working Party;
• Registration Fees;
• Care of your boats in the boat park over the winter – many of your boats have a lot of water in them.

I look forward to seeing you all at the club and on the water soon.

Regards

Steve

Our new web site

Some of you will have been following the development of our new look web site.  Although it is incomplete it is ready enough to launch and use.  From Monday 3^rd March it will replace the content on the existing web site.  We hope you like it.  You can view it in development in the interim at www.kielderwatersc.org/Test/index.html

We do need more photos for the site either to place amongst articles or for the images at the top right of the page which change on every click.  If you have any suiable photos please send them to me.

The Garage

As part of our continuing expansion we are emptying the garage and moving patrol boats to new container storage. This will free up the garage, during this season, for use as additional flexible club house space – which we very much need.

However, I know a few of you have left personal items in the garage over time.  These need to be removed and put either with your boat or taken home.

If you do have personal items in the garage please come up and move them (on a day when the garage is open and accessible!).  At the working party we may be emptying the garage and any personal items we find will be removed. Thank you.

RYA Club of the Year

First of all I have to report that we have unfortunately been unsuccessful in our attempt to be short listed to the last 5 for the RYA Club of the Year. No matter – we can try again another time.

The new boat park layout and arrangements

Some of you will already be aware from the forum or from being at the club that we have made some further small changes to the boat park layout and have now increased capacity to 172 places.

Thanks to hard work from Viola Scott, Julie Gibbon, Ken Lewis, Mike Collins and Phil Armstrong on Sat 16^th Feb. we managed to find an extra 16 spaces in the boat park with a slight re-arrangement at the top near to the hoist. We now have no more room for expansion unless we do something radical and potentially costly. If you are not rejoining please therefore remove you boat asap. If you have a boat you are not using please also remove it - we are in much need of boat park spaces.

A plan will be available in the club shortly and is already on the new web site. All boat park spaces (other than the laser park currently) now have lettered/numbered spaces. You will be receiving your trailer and boat tags and a designated spot for your boat when you pay your annual subscriptions. Please use this space and this space only. Any boats in the wrong spaces will be moved. If you need to bring a boat up to the club and do not yet have a designated space please contact Viola or Julie (details in year book). In the interim you may leave your boat in the holding area (above the electricity sub-station) until you have been designated a spot.

Space is now getting to a premium and although we are looking at additional possibilities we may need to ration spaces in the future. We will be tightly controlling the boat park and unmarked boats or boats in the wrong spot will be managed carefully

As a result of this rearrangement some of the boats left up at the club over the winter have already been moved into their designated or different slots. Some of you have been informed of this where we can identify the boat but there are some boats we cannot yet identify so you may find your boat in a different position to where you left it.

Thanks for you anticipated co-operation.

Trailers

The place for your trailer is at home, under your trolley/boat or in the designated trailer park (in that order of preference). It must also be clearly labelled with the soon to be provided tag. Trailers must no longer be left by the Container (this area is being refurbished) or on the foreshore.

We currently have a pile of old/unmarked/unidentifiable trailers on the lawn at the rear of the club house.  If one of these is yours please recover it and put it in the correct place as described above and ensure it is labelled.  We will soon be disposing of all unmarked and unauthorised trailers.

Race Officer Courses

Course 1 – internal

If you are doing an OOD duty this season and would like to attend our in house race management seminar on Sat 8th March please contact myself to secure a spot. This is also free. If you are new to Officer of the Day Duties at KWSC or would like a refresh then I would suggest this is worthwhile coming to.

Course 2 – external

I have just been advised that the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club (at Blyth) are hosting a free RYA NE Club Race Officer Course on Sat 1st March. If you are interested you MUST pre-register by 24th Feb. If you wish to go let me know and I will give you the details (I do not want to post email details on the forum for an external party).

This does clash with the Dinghy Show which I know some of you are going to.

Training Courses

Details of all our training course were sent out with the membership renewal packs. Can I encourage you to return forms for any courses you are interested in as they usually fill up quickly? This is particularly true of the young sailors courses – one of which is already full!

The start of season Social

This takes place at the Highlander Public House between Ponteland and Belsay on Friday 7^th March.  This is always excellent fun and well worth an evening out.

The start of season Working Party

Sunday 9^th March from 1030.  There’s lots to do to get the club ready for the season and all volunteers are most welcome.  I hope to provide a list of jobs on the web site soon so you can pre-volunteer for them if you wish.  As usual we will have a sit down buffet in the afternoon – please bring a small contribution.

Registration Fees

Registration Fees with NWA have rise alarmingly in the last few years.  As Chair of Kielder Water Club (the body overseeing all water based activities on the lake) I have received comments from all three activity clubs about this (KWSC, the Yacht club and the Ski club). I have therefore written to NWA seeking an explanation for the rises.  I will keep you all informed as to the response. In the meanwhile you should still pay your registration fees for each boat you own once you have you receipt for your annual subs payment.

Care of your boats in the boat park over the winter – many of your boats have a lot of water in them.

We have also done many of you a big favour. Almost all boats left in the boat park over the winter were full of water (do not assume your cover prevents water getting into the boat). 

As far as we could we have emptied boats of water, and then re-levelled them with bungs out and bailers open so that they drain.

However, if you left you boat up over the winter I would advise you come and check it. In particular some boats such as Mirrors still have some water in them and any fresh rain could add to this. These boats do not self drain.

Some boat covers have been damaged beyond repair and require replacement. A Kielder winter storm can be very damaging.

END

well done on the new website, I`m no technophob but it looks like a lot of winter evenings spent at at the computer, has Julie missed you? one question Steve, will the members area be password protected, and will members be expected to sign in?

The members area will be lightly password protected - just like the lookc photo site. We will all share a single club login id and password initially. The idea is to provide some value add for members ony. We will then see how it is used and what the feedback is before deciding whether to change thinot.