Commodore Bulletin 2 - 211123
Published 15:38 on 21 Nov 2023
Croesa, Sud wyt ti?
Well, it is time again for an update. Even though we are in the shutdown period, your new committee is working hard behind the scenes to get ready for the 2024 season but more on that in a minute.
We have to start by mentioning a fantastic piece of news. One on our members (and our new Treasurer), Dave Eccles was recently awarded an RYA Community award for his Outstanding Contribution to sailing over the years. His contribution in the role of Commodore in three separate clubs, a member of the RYA North West Committee and 5 years as Training Principle at Leigh and Lowton were particularly highlighted in the bulletin. This is a fantastic accolade and well deserved so congratulations Dave!
Whilst we are on the subject of the RYA, they have recently issued a consultation document outlining their 5-year plan. The great news is that it is very aligned to the discussion we have been having as a committee to get more people out on the water, develop an even safer club environment, give greater consideration to diversity and to encourage opportunities to give something back. As a volunteer ran club this last bit is key to our club wellbeing. I will use this regular bulletin to feed more information about the RYA strategy as it develops but if anyone would like to know more, please just message me.
Another exciting bit of news, next year Bala Town will be celebrating 700 years since a charter signed by Edward II in 1324. If you would like to more about this you can find a really good article here.
As a town, a large number of events will be going on to showcase the diverse activities and each club and sporting association has been asked to put something on to celebrate this landmark. As a club we have a number of ideas we are starting to develop and we are also fortunate that our Rear Commodore (Lisa) has volunteered to be chair of the Bala 700 committee so we will definitely be in the spotlight!
Our new sailing captain for next year (Steve) has put together a fantastic variation on the last few years calendar with an aim of both increasing participation and making aspects of racing more attractive to new members who have not dipped into the racing scene before. Firstly, we are planning to run 3 x 9 week championships (these are the first two races each Sunday) as opposed to the previous 4 and 5 week campaigns. This we hope will make the top slots even more competitive as well as allowing us to offer average points to any competitor who does a duty in that campaign so as not to penalise their chances. We are also looking at doing an adjustment to the PY of any youth competitors next year to help bring them into the pack and up the leaderboard.
We are also making a change to the Champion Helm (which runs consecutively through the year). This 27 race series runs as the last race of the day on Sunday club racing days and next year will be a pursuit race. Whilst with normal club racing, we all start at the same time and then the time on water over the line is adjusted based on your PY, with a pursuit race, the start is staggered based on your PY, the aim being that boats should be approaching the line at about the same time making for really exciting racing. The icing on the cake is that after each race, peoples PYs will be adjusted based on their position with the faster boats being decreased and the slower boats increased (we are working on the method of this). This means that these personal PYs for the pursuit will make the racing even closer as the season progresses.
We have set ourself a target to get at least 10 boats out on the start line for club racing as a regular turnout and to support this, our Senior Coach (Andy) is going to run sessions in March for newcomers to get them race ready. Watch out for exciting news on this! We also have Mick as our youth squad co-ordinator giving a specific focus on bringing more juniors into the club racing scene. If you have any ideas that would energise this and make if more enjoyable, please do not hesitate to speak to him.
As a club, we have a number of challenges. Since Covid, the club had focused on building a large and stable membership but whilst this growth allowed the club to stay financially viable it has been at the detriment of a number of areas. We must remember that the club is a volunteer ran club (and not a profit-making business as some other clubs are ran) and thrives to be a vibrant and active sailing club with complimentary water sport activities. Unfortunately, as we reflect on the last year, we have had a number of requirements of membership overlooked by an increasing cohort which has put pressure and an unfair bias on others. I order to address this; the committee is currently reviewing the clubs constitution to ensure that it is aligned to the future needs of the club. As a RYA recognised club and aligning to their strategy, we will continue to remind members of their obligations around duty and our environmental requirements with Snowdonia National Park which also drive our clear shore policy at the end of the year and ensure that all racing events have sufficient safety boat cover by utilising our PB2 qualified members and supporting them with a safety boat assistant.
One of the increasing trends is the foreshore, hand standing and moorings being used more as a low-cost boat storage park during the year where boats are dropped off in March and taken away in October (or in some cases, left over the winter). A significant number of these members do not sail or contribute to duties and actually limit us being able to offer storage for members who want to join the club, sail and contribute. This is an area that as a committee we are giving a lot of thought to over the winter and as new memberships are applied for.
We have also established an Opens Subcommittee in lieu of having no Competition Secretary come forward. Opens are an important way of bringing revenue into the club (which ultimately allows us to invest in facility improvements such as replacing the Bar-B-Que last year) as well as adding to a very buoyant club life. Next year we already have a number of club opens planned, these being the Massacre, the Long Distance Race, the Catamaran Open and the Easter and August Regattas. As a committee, we have reviewed the entries for the August Regatta and next year have agreed to drop this to a 2 day event and use the Monday to provide some more leisurely activities to encourage more non racers out onto the water in more fun / community based activities. We also have had a number of enquiries from fleets to run their travelling opens at Bala with the Border Counties midweek series and the K1s having tentative bookings. We also have the Waspzs making enquiries to run the Welsh leg of their 4 nations series with us. A few other fleets such as the Scorpions and Catapults are also in early-stage discussions so we can expect a very exciting set of visitors.
After a good chat on the shore line, a number of people also enquired if we could hold a mid-week Summer Series. The great news is that this is in the pipeline and we are looking at the possibly of maybe a 6 week series, mid week during the period with the longest light. We are just trying to work out the best start time, balancing people being able to get to the club in time versus the risk of wind dropping off.
One thing we have not been able to sort out is any form of presentation evening for the winners from this year and we really need to give this some thought. Not just how we present the existing awards but also how we do 2024 with the new format. I would love to hear any ideas that you might have. As an addition next year, we are also looking to introduce the possibility of both a female helm and a junior trophy. We have not worked out the mechanics of this but it could be awarded at the end of each 9 weeks series and then passed across at the end of the next series. Once again, I would love to know what would energise both of these groups to get out on the water with us.
Anyway, thats about it for now.
Have a great few weeks!
Rob
Last updated 15:47 on 27 November 2025