Commodore Bulletin 9 - 260624
Published 16:09 on 26 Jun 2024
As I write Julys bulletin, it is incredible to think that we are already 4 months into the season and at the halfway mark! We are also only 3 months away from the AGM and have the Olympics literally about to start. A bit more on those subjects later on, but lets start with a couple of success stories!
Well, what can we say about the Long Distance Weekend? Well in a nutshell it was perfect!
As well as near perfect racing conditions giving perfect wind direction and a variety of conditions over both days, we also had 62 boats take part of which 30 were non Bala members. That is a huge achievement and the feedback from the visitors what that Bala SC put on an incredible event and they would be back for more next year. A rough estimate of volunteers was that 40 people over the 2 days supported the club in some form or another to make this happen and I personally can not thank each one of you enough! As well as the positive reputation for the club in the sailing community, these types of events bring in a small amount of revenue that help subsidise our membership fees and keep the club financially viable.
Whilst the overall event was won by Jeremey Hudson from Frensham Pond SC in a K1, a huge congratulations for Andy Todd who took 8th place overall in his RS100 and secured the John Hunter Trophy for the highest place Bala SC member on the Saturday with a solid 7th place.
It was also great to see Steve Walker and Jason Evans following in Luke Chadwicks footsteps from 2023 as being a set of Bala SC members who literally finished their Learn to Sail course a few weeks before, booked out the club Bahia and complete the full 2 days together as a crew to rapidly develop their time on the water and sailing skills. I really hope we see you out on the club racing scene this year!
Whilst we are talking about big events, the next one to turn our focus on is the August Regatta. As a committee, we have committed to this date and many people want to book camping etc so over the weekend of Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th August, we will have 2 full days of racing plus a funday on the Monday. We still need to fill the duties for both of the sailing days so if you have not done any duties yet or have some to fill up, we will need RCO, safety cover and galley assistants for the weekend. If I can encourage people to do this in the next few weeks that would be great as we are about to hit the button on some serious advertising out to the visitors who attended the Long Distance and need the team stood up ASAP.
So as a bit of a side detour, we also have the Paris Olympics coming up. Why is this important to the club? Well, we have an ex Bala SC member competing in the 470 class (he actually still states Bala as his home sailing club which is a great accolade for us). Chris {Grube} started sailing at the age of 10 and has these accolades to his credit (5th Rio Olympics Team GB, 5th Tokyo Olympics Team GB, Silver 470 World Championships 2024 and J70 World Champion with Brutus 2023). I would encourage everyone to get behind Chris this year as he seems to be on a roll in the 470 class with his new sailing partner and strives to grab his first Olympic Medal as this class runs as a mixed class for the first time.
Whilst it may seem a long way off, we are less than 3 months away from our AGM! Whilst this is a set format, one of the key aspects is voting in the new committee. So much goes on behind the scenes, your committee is critical to keeping the club running. I will be spotlighting several roles over the next few months as I come to the end of my tenure as Commodore. That is an important statement, as our operating model works on the basis that all committee members stand down and then are re-elected based on whoever puts themselves forward!
So lets start with a couple of roles to get you thinking: (I will be spotlighting other roles in the following few months)
Spot light on some Flag Officer Roles -
Commodore Well what can I say? It truly is a rewarding job. Sounds formal, but its not. Being committee and membership ran, the Commodore is there to ensure the club is led in line with the membership wishes and the clubs identity and purpose and tries to maintain control of the committee as best as possible!
Vice Commodore - With the Commodore expected to hold office for 2 years up to a maximum of 3 (but that is not a given…. See above!), the Vice Commodore holds office as a succession plan and supports the ongoing strategic development of the club, deputising for the Commodore where appropriate.
Spotlight on Sailing / Competition Roles:
Sailing Captain - With an active club racing scene, our Sailing Captain guides the approach to this, working with our club members to provide a varied calendar of events. They are also the point of contact for visiting clubs (excluding opens) and ensures the overall safe running of our club racing operations.
Competition Secretary - With Bala Lake being a popular destination venue for a number of classes wishing to run opens it was obvious to have a role specifically being a point of contact and co-ordination for outside clubs and our wider regattas. Our Competition Secretary works hand in hand with a number of other roles to ensure these run smoothly.
Duty Rosta Secretary - Our Duty Rosta Secretary hold the pen on the calendar (and our DutyMan application) and ensures all members (as part of their membership) complete their allocated number of duties. By the way, this year we appear to have cracked the nut on this so going forward it should not be as daunting as it used to be!
Results Officer - Using the Sailwave application, our Results Offices ensures that we have the ability to process and publish competition results in a timely manner. Ideally we like to have all club racing published by Monday evening at the latest and you will also be responsible for resourcing the availability of resources to ensure results for opens are published on the day.
Spotlight on Social and Administration Roles
Minutes Secretary - With monthly sailing committee meeting and bi-monthly general committee meetings, our Minutes Secretary ensures that as well as agendas and minutes are circulated well in advance, accurate minutes are taken and decisions recorded.
Publicity and Newsletter Secretary - With an increased presence on social media, and active website and articles published in a number of sailing journals, our Publicity and Newsletter Secretary ensures that the club is well known both nationally and locally.
General member focusing on Inclusion and Diversity - A new role and aligned to our upcoming Inclusion and Diversity Policy, this key role will help the club navigate the next few years as we continue to improve our approach in this area
Social Secretary - As well as being the point of co-ordination of catering for our open events, our Social Secretary is charged with developing ad-hoc social events to drive membership enjoyment. Well we are a fun bunch at heart….
One thing I would love to get members feedback on would be the inclusion of a trade day at the club. At a recent RYA event hosted by the club, RS boats were at the club showcasing part of their offering and it did make me wonder if we held a small trade day and advertised it to other sailing clubs in North Wales, whether it could be a successful event? I would value your thoughts including what manufacturers or suppliers it might be worth approaching. Could come to nothing but it was an idea I wanted to explore with the membership.
Back to the Long Distance, it was a slow build up of entries but then in the last 2 weeks they just started rolling in. We ended up with 62 boats on the start line on the Saturday which was up 16 boats on the 46 we had in 2023. This was boosted by the K1 class joining us and heavy marketing on several Social Media platforms. The general feedback from members and visitors alike was that the weekend was a huge success. We maintained 5 fully crewed Safety Boats out on the water which is critical during events of this nature. I know I go on about duties and the club being a volunteer ran affair but this event is testimony to the good will of the large number of members who continue to support us throughout the year in so many ways. Once again, I know I have said it, but a huge thankyou to everyone!
Looking forward, July has a lot going on. As well as our club racing on Sundays, we have the Catapults and RS100 fleets join us on the weekend of the 20th and 21st (with the Sunday them joining a slightly modified club racing). We also have the Border Counties mid week series visiting us on Tuesday 7th July.
Also on the water, we also have Saturday 6th July allocated to the monthly cruiser meet (where they have a sail down the lake planned) and our Senior Coach, Andy Todd continuing to offer on the water race type training during the day (keep an eye on the Whatapp group for more on this). You should also see the next intake of Learn to Sail students joining us on two back-to-back weekends so July looks to be busy.
Looking slightly further afield, we have an exciting taster day planned for Saturday 3rd August. Many years ago, the Bala Catamaran Sailing Club joined Bala SC at our facilities due to them loosing their home at the bottom of the lake. Since then, the number of members enjoying the thrill of multihull sailing has taken a gradual decline with only a small number of members participating in this discipline… BUT, we want to change that. The club is slowly increasing its multihull members but we want to inject a bit of energy into that so we are holding a Multihull taster day. We currently have 8 members signed up and a few with secondary dates. The aim is to get people out on these fun boats and hopefully over time, see the club Dart 16s booked out more, an increase in multihulls in club racing and maybe even follow the Blazes by making Dart 16s the chosen multihull fleet at Bala SC (obviously closely followed by Spitfires or Catapults)…. I will be out on safety boat that day but if anyone wants to see these boats close up and can join me as safety boat assistant for the day please let me know.
I think that is about it for now. Dont forget we have an informal Noggin and Natter, discussing winter sailing tomorrow night (27th) if you are free. Details are in your Webcollect email and I will be opening the call at 20:00.
Take care and shout if you would like to discuss anything.
Rob
Last updated 15:47 on 27 November 2025