Commodore Bulletin 4 - 280124
Published 15:32 on 28 Jan 2024
Well, its nearly back upon us. I cant believe that we are just over one month away from opening up the club for the 2024 season! A huge amount of work is going on in the background by the committee and a few other members to get ourselves ready for March and hopefully you will see a steady flow of information to keep everyone updated. This bulletin is quite heavy in content and I have sent it out to all members who have already rejoined (many thanks to all of you) plus our members from last year who have not joined as there is some important information about our constitution that affects everyone (but more on that later).
Season Starting Date:
So, lets start with the great news of start up dates! The club always opens with a working party to bring the club boats down from storage etc and this takes place after we have concluded the groundworks with a JCB to level the foreshore after the flooding. Picking this date is always a bit of a lottery as we have had flooding in mid-March before so it is always a balance with a caveat that we may need to move it last minute if flooding occurs on the start up weekend but at the moment the dates are as follows:
Saturday 9th March Working party to set the club up. Any member volunteering and taking part in this day will be issued the gate code and will be able to bring their boat down early and put it in place (please just drop it in a bay, do not rig it etc until the working party has concluded)
Sunday 10th March Gate code issued to all members who have rejoined. Boats can be bought down from this date for those members not supporting the working party
Sunday 17th March Official club start weekend! We will be opening the galley with free breakfast baps for members and we are encouraging a bit of a fun morning where we rig as many members boats as possible (if you want a hand just ask, we hope there will be plenty of people around) and then after lunch, Andy our senior coach is going to arrange an out on the water shakedown to get everyone in shape for the new season. It would be great if you could join us for that
Nogging and Natter:
We had our first N&N in January and we had 3 members and 1 committee member join which was brilliant. These are a new feature of club life and are basically a way of creating an informal way of members to chat with myself and other committee members about anything. We had some great ideas generated and topics discussed and I would encourage members if they are free to pop on (even if you cant make the full hour). The next one is planned for Monday 12th Feb @ 19:30 for 1 hour and I will send the invite and a reminder out closer to the time but pop it in your diary for now.
Commodore/Committee new members day:
If you have joined this year or are unclear of the full nuances of club life, pop the date of Sunday 21st April in your diary. I will be down at the club to race and if you would like to catch up, ask any questions or even have some help with stuff let me know and we can make time to sort this out for you. Racing starts from about 11 so I will be free before then and also over the lunch break (normally about 12:45 to 13:45) then after racing finishes (after 3pm). If this does not work for you, just pop me a message and we can pop a different time in the diary, but I have popped this in as a date just for new members (or those who joined last year and still have questions etc).
Whatapp Groups:
Keeping on the communication theme, the club has a very active WhatsApp group. This is a very informal message channel and includes members both current and from the past so please bear that in mind. It is a very polite self governed group mainly used for general chat, requests for help and advice or to arrange adhoc sailing activities. If you would like to be added into it, just pop me a message. Other groups exist for cruisers, catamarans, junior training etc. If you have an interest in these areas once again, please ask to join. Remember that these groups probably have a slightly different personalities based on the members of that group. Always respectful but you may find the humour or conversation threads different to the main group.
Duty Rota 2024:
Members are reminded that as part of your membership, certain membership types agree to support the volunteer ran aspect of the club by undertaking a number (currently 3) duties per year. This is communicated to you as part of your membership joining pack but over the last few years the participation in this has dwindled leaving other members missing out on sailing time as duties are back filled in order to keep our events running. For 2024, we will be taking a more engaging approach in two ways.
Firstly over the next 6 weeks, out Duty Rosta Secretary (Howard) will be messaging members a lot to get duties populated. If you want to know more about your current obligation a full article can be found here.
Secondly as part of the constitution review, we are going to look at what is needed (and appropriate) going forward, incorporating ideas such as social duties instead of on the water duties. These would include helping in the galley or behind the bar at organised events.
Constitution review:
The club operates under a constitution which is aligned to a sample RYA constitution. The committee have undertaken a review and we noted a number of elements that needed updating to bring them in line with the club operating model. Some of these are removing legacy terminology and processes, tightening up the governance around the committee and bring other areas of safety up to date. To be clear, there are no material changes but it is good practice to do this on a regular basis. The constitution clearly states that:
- Any changes to the constitution can only be made with the agreement of the membership
- This is enacted via a Special General Meeting
- 21 days notice must be given
Therefore, I will be giving notice on or around the 1st March to any person who is a signed up member on that date (members who join after that would not form part of the 21 day notification and therefore would not be eligible to vote).
All members in 2023 were made aware of the proposed changed at the end of last year therefore anyone joining this year should have joined in the knowledge of the proposed vote. Any members who have not joined are advised that in joining later, the constitution (subject to it passing at the SGM) is likely to have changed.
Calendar this year:
I will apologise at the start, as this part of the bulletin will be very sailing centric but for the wider audience, did you know that Bala SC also offers membership to people who Canoe, Kayak, SUP and Fish? This year we have created a committee role for those of a paddling disposition and Ewan is keen to understand (and get moving) a number of activities this year to bring that membership closer to the sailing members. Our fishing members tend to keep themselves to themselves but please say hi because if their boat is down there, they are part of the club family!
We have a packed season with the highlights as follows:
- A club racing series. We have 3 campaigns of 7,8 then 9 weeks long, the changes this year are firstly the Champion Helm will be a pursuit race and secondly, anyone who can not race (but is in that campaign) due to doing duty will be awarded points. I have popped this years trophy allocation at the end of this bulletin. Look out for the great news for youth and female members as well as something to re-ignite the Cat crews!
- The first Saturday of each month will feature both a Cruising Group (see Gary for more details) event and a Race Coaching (see Andy)
- We have the usual club opens and Regattas; the Massacre, Cat Open, Long Distance, Easter Regatta and August Regatta
- We also have the Catapults (July), Border Counties Mid Week Series (July), and Waspz (September) running class opens, the Catapults are also joining the Easter regatta as part of their TT series (so a double visit from them) and we are just waiting to confirm the K1s as part of the Long Distance event
On the social side we are keen to run a Bala Town open day (Saturday 20th July) to celebrate the Bala 700 anniversary and we will be looking for volunteers to assist with this.
Training will be busy with a PB2 course, two RYA Lvl 1 and 2 Learn to Sail, A Junior Learn to Sail (or Summer School) and a Powerboat Safety Course. We are also finalising the youth training which will probably follow a similar pattern to the last few years but on a slightly expanded nature. Add to that some taster days, a RYA Wales event and an RYA Onboard (TBC) and we have a very packed and busy season in the pipeline.
And finally…
The new committee has really settled in well with a lot of new faces and it is great the ongoing support I continue to receive this year as I find my feet in the role. We have a small number of vacancies still to fill and work shared is work halved so if you can spare about 3 hours a month in the evening for committee calls and probably about 4 to 5 hr hours of doing stuff one of these might be right up your street?
- Competition Secretary manages all of the Open events (admin and making sure we have all the right bodies on the day and that it runs smoothly)
- Social Secretary manages and co-ordinates all of the social events
- Diversity and Inclusion Officer develops and supports the execution of a club strategy towards a more diverse and inclusive club membership in line with the RYA policies and general society good practice
- Publicity and Newsletter / Social Media Officer manages out social media, develops our present in the community and liaises with Y&Y for event reports
As a club, we have a number of objectives I have discussed with the committee. The club in is a very good position but we need to grow with the membership and I have asked if we can consider a set of goals for 2024 as follows:
- Develop the club culture in line with the proposed RYA 5-year strategy
- Increase our participation in club racing (the goal for this year to regularly have 10 boats on the start line)
- Increase our youth sector engagement and retention
- Increase our female participation in general sailing but also committee life
- Develop a working and sustainable model for duty allocation that creates a safety first racing calendar
On a final note, we will be reviewing the club loan boats this year from a position of usage, needs, age, maintainence and policy. This may result in us putting a number up for sale and adjusting the loan / training fleet in line with our strategy. If anyone is looking to buy a boat at the start of the season, please shout up as we may have something of use to you. More on this in the next few months.
2023 Season Winners and trophy allocation for 2024:
As we enter the 2024 season, it is worth acknowledging the Club Series 2023 winners as follows:
Champion Helm: Ian Ramsay (Blaze SN837-712)
September Cup: Andy Todd (RS100 SN360)
Pen Y Bont Vase: Ian Lloyd Williams (D Zero SN313)
Tegid Cup: Dan Craner (Blaze SN609)
Stewards Trophy: Andy Hodgson (RS100 SN488)
Presidents Trophy: Martin Cliff (Blaze SN684)
Commodore Cup: Martin Cliff (Blaze SN684)
Congratulations to you all! Looking forward to you having a competitive season this year.
For 2024 we will be allocating the trophies as follows:
Champion Helm - Last race of Sunday Racing (Pursuit) over the 24 races season
The following 3 trophies will be awarded to the first placed single hull handicapped Sunday Morning racing (Handicapped and Asymmetric fleet combined as per previous years)
Commodores Cup - Series 1 (April May) 7 races top place
Presidents Trophy - Series 2 (June July) 8 races top place
Stewards Trophy - Series 3 (Aug Oct) 9 races top place
In order to drive participation in the low take up sectors, we are planning to award a trophy at the end of each Series for the following. This will be awarded 3 times a year (ie changes hands at the end of each of the series)
Tegid Cup - Series 1,2,3 (changes hands each series top place female helm or crew)
Pen Y Bont Vase - Series 1,2,3 (changes hands each series top place youth)
September Cup - Series 1,2,3 (changes hands each series top placed multihull)
Senior Cup - Series 1,2,3 (changes hands each series top placed over 65 helm)
We are hoping that by creating some award noise and opportunities around female and youth participation we can capture the interest of these members. Also, by having a rolling trophy for multihulls, this may create an opportunity to regenerate interest in those fleet type members rejoining the racing scene. Oh and did you notice the addition of the Senior Cup which we were asked if we could bring back into play..?
Wishing you a great month! Look forward to seeing you in the clubhouse.
Rob
Last updated 15:47 on 27 November 2025