From "Noobie to Commodore", a 3 year journey
Published 16:23 on 25 Nov 2023
(written end 2023....)
I was looking at my sailing log book yesterday when I updated my first activities for 2024 and it started me thinking of my sailing journey. It is always nice to have a bit if human interest stuff on the website and hopefully this article might encourage others to write about their journey on here but mine actually starts back in 1986 when I had the opportunity to sail with "The Ocean Youth Club" as part of my sixth form studies. It was two opportunities. The first was a weekend on a 72ft Ketch called The Falmouth Packet crewing on a weekend around Plymouth, then during the summer I assisted as a crew on a 22ft Sonata 7 for 5 days around the coast by Fowey.
I absolutely loved these opportunities but my love (then) for off road motorcycle sports took up my weekends, then married life and children etc meant that I never got to pursue this interest.
Wind the clock forward to 2021, kids grown up, more time on my hands and moving to the area, the opportunity to remove a itch that always was being scratched introduced me to Bala SC and the RYA L1/2 Learn to sail course. This was just coming out of Covid and the club was trying a new approach where all students were put straight away into single handed Picos and the instructors led from solid on the shore teaching and drill then putting us on the water and supporting us from a RIB along side. This approach worked perfectly for me as I learn best visually then hands on and I found the Pico a lovely boat to learn in, forgiving, reefable and when it tipped over, an easy boat to right. I loved it so much that I went out and bought one (in "Race" trim) and so my journey began.
According to my log, 2021 saw me accumulate 39.5 hours out on the water during which time I also tried a club Laser radial (2hrs) and helped crew on Kens and Richies SB20. The rest of the time was in the Pico either leisure sailing or club racing. I did my first race on Sunday 25th July which was 6 weeks after learning to sail. After wandering around the foreshore and then walking up into race control to "see what this racing malarky" was all about, Gary Darch came out with what for me was a defining phrase. "You will learn a lot more out there on the start line and racing around the marks" than you will sailing up and down in front of the club house... and so my love for club racing was ignited. (Just a note Gary, I do still enjoy sailing up and down in front of the club house because if I get into trouble its very visible to then fuel any mockery on the Catamaran Whatapp group - but thats another story).
Move into 2022 and I looked forward to a full year at the club and a new boat. I had decided over the winter that I wanted to step up from the Pico and having not clicked with the club Laser, asked around on other boats that could be a transition step. A Lighting 368 was mentioned and after a bit of research I found one at Shotwick SC and the owner was happy for me to give it a trial sail their before agreeing to buy it. We immediately clicked and Sail No 117 became my main boat accumulating 32 hours of out my 61 hours sailed that year. Mid season also saw a little experimentation with crewing as myself and Jonathan booked out the club Magno and then on the 18th June came the day where everything changed!
John Hackett (one of our very experienced Catamaran members) put out a general call to arms for crew and both myself and Jonathan over that weekend spent time with John out on his Dart 16. My log book records 3.5 hrs in light winds (3 to 5 knots) with John. Wind the clock forward 4 weeks (10/7/22 - just over 1 year after my L2S course) and with no other time on a Catamaran, myself and Jonathan recorded 1.5 hrs on Spitfire SN 181 in moderate winds at Bala SC after a whatsapp chat starting along the lines of "shall we book a club Dart out to race together" to "just seen this Spitfire in Glasgow, guy will meet me in Carlise, fancy going halves"?
Any regrets? None.... It is great fun sailing the Spitfire with Jonathan and I think the biggest thing we learnt straight away was to play of each others strengths. Jonathan clearly showed himself as a natural helm and my analytic brain of wanting the read the gusts, be out on the wire balancing the boat and learning to really understand the science of flying the kite has made for a great team. We quickly developed a natural communication style and know each others risk tolerances and respect when the conditions put one of us outside of that comfort zone. When that happens its a quick and easy decision to head to the shore and chalk up the learnings. As well as developing a great friendship (which is part of what the sailing club is about) both Johns introduction and sailing with Jonathan has taking my sailing journey in a direction I would never have anticipated. Part of that is also down to the great support and coaching from other club members through this journey. We ended up clocking 20 hours in the Spitfire that season and with the Pico sold and the Lightning getting less use, it was a hard decision whether to retain the Lightning as a spare boat or go all out in the multihull class. Sunday 2nd October 2022 was my last outing in her as I contested club racing in light winds then sold her on to another club member as "Nellie" was calling.
The reason for selling her was twofold. Firstly, over the 2 years I had been a member, the club had hosted the "Catapults and Tinkers" and I had become transfixed by these inflatable multihuls (the Catapults). Also with Jonathan helming the Spitfire, we were both aware that should he go overboard, I would need to have sufficient skills and experience to bring the boat about and get into a position to recover him. That meant getting some helm time in multihulls. So my hunt for a Catapult started and at the end of the 2022 season I found "Nellie" (SN1036). Generally in good condition and with the hulls reported as being airtight (an important factor on a catamaran which runs on hypalon tubes). I looked forward to 2023 knowing that most of my time would be on multihulls.
So how does the 2023 season look in review? Well if you look at the numbers, we put in 17 hours on the Spitfire and I also clocked up 25 hours on the Catapult. To be honest the season did not really favour the Spitfire and it needs a bit of a blow to get it moving and over half of the time logged on the Catapult were when the conditions would have not really be useful on the Spitfire (4 knots or lower). I also competed my PB2 at the start of year and safety boat course at the end and in doing so was able to clock up just under 12 hrs doing duty in the club RIBS. These courses are fantastically ran by the clubs training team and as well as allowing us to operate powered craft safely and fulfil our insurance obligations, assisting the club as a Cox and seeing the racing from the water but in a different context really helps with the development. During this season I also had the opportunity to do a few hours crewing on a cruiser, did a couple of races crewing on Ken and Richies SB 20 again as well as having a bit of a blast in a club Pico for old times sake. So the 2023 year finished up with 57 hours on the water in some form or another, down by 4 hours on the previous year but a wider range of activities.
At this point, I also started getting involved in the committee side of the club, being voted in as Publicity Officer in the Sept 2022 AGM and during 2023 starting to work on developing the social media aspect of the club. With two very dormant Facebook pages and a historical Instagram account, we had plenty of channels to utilise. Add into this an active club Whatsapp group and an opportunity to develop content via GoPros onto a YouTube channel, the platform choice was very wide. To be honest most of it did not work, with the Facebook following being legacy and not dynamic and the Instagram posts having a very small following. What did work was the Whatapp group messages and writing a monthly publicity newsletter. We still have the YouTube channel but once again, the following is very limited and currently not aligned to how our members consume information. There is so much scope here and it is an area I do enjoy but the club does really need someone a bit more savvy and creative to take it to the next level?
So as we came to the end of 2023, I was made aware that Mike has served his 3 years as Commodore and was due to stand down. I was approached by a number of the Committee to ask if I would consider standing for the role (something to do with my calm and controlled personality). To say I was flattered was an understatement as I had only been at the club for 2 full seasons but having taken time to understand the role (and ensuring that a number of key Committee members were intending) to re-stand I put myself forward at the AGM and was kindly voted in by the membership. It has been a great opportunity to understand a lot more about not just club life and what goes on with the running of the club but also interacting with other class associations and welcoming members from other clubs to our open events.
I suppose part of the reason for writing this is to encourage club members to consider working on the committee, either for the vacant roles this year or as the AGM comes up in September. You really do not have to be a sailing expert with years of knowledge and experience under your belt (as we have that in a large number of people on the committee). What you do need is a passion to continue driving the club forward and a desire to engage with the membership and make the club the best possible version of itself. We have a number of strategic elements this year, primarily around club racing, increasing participation in the female and youth aspect and understanding the longer term direction of the club and I am always keen to welcome new supporters and participants on that journey.
So back to the story of my sailing journey and what does 2024 hold? Well firstly after putting in the hours on Nellie last year, she is clearly staying. The Spitfire is such a blast to sail but when Jonathan is not available (as happens with double handed arrangements), time on Nellie will be key so I have treated her to a new set of hulls. The Catapult was made in the late 80;'s and early 90's so the Hypalon tubes were over 30 years old and starting to show lots of failure points. After a shop around, Tilleys in Devon came up with the best price and over the winter a new set of hulls (in striking blue instead of the original Orange) were made. To say I was like a kid in a sweet shop trying to pick the colour was an understatement but I think I chose well in the end.
So far this season I have kicked it off with 2 safety boat duties (the Massacre and the Easter Regatta) then a welcome trip out in the Spitfire (in very tasty conditions) plus two trips out on Nellie. I did consider getting a Pico again for the days when it was really blowing up (as I could reef it but still go out) but then I did think that in order to develop my sailing skills (as we do on the Spitfire as a team), I need to push myself with Nellie when the conditions are more challenging and if I had something as a fall back, I would always "fall back" if the conditions looked a bit breezy. Worse case you rig and don't go out and I do have strong internal risk valve" from riding motorcycles since I was about 9 that seems me to prevent myself from making foolish decisions! That plus the fact that at Bala SC on Sundays we have a manned safety boat allows members to have a level of security when sailing at the lake. I am definitely looking forward to more time sailing the Spitfire this season and hopefully we get the weather to really do it justice. I know that from spending time helming Nellie I have also developed a greater understanding of my helms role so I hope that helps us move up the rankings this year!
I had a really good look at my log and it is interesting to see the information in a number of ways:
The one above makes really interesting reading as a developing sailor. As well as showing hours per boat since I passed my L2S, it also shows the different wind strengths I have experienced. With almost 50% of it below 4 knots but the other 40 ish % in moderate conditions it gives a real insight into the weather at Bala. It is also nice to see that my highest time on the water is on the Spitfire and adding in the Dart and Catapult, over 50% of my time has been in multihulls. Going forward I think that is where I will spend the most of my time but I am always (as you can see) keen to try other boats and sailing opportunities so never discount me if something springs to mind!
Last updated 15:47 on 27 November 2025