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AWSC Newsletter - August 2010

In this edition:

Foreword

Membership Matters

• Combined AGM & Members Meeting
• Serving on the committee and other volunteering
• Twilight Paddle
• Fleet resale scheme
• 2nd training/meeting room
• Suffolk Open Weekend

Windsurfing

• Adult Regular Sailing
• Day out to Hickling Broad
• Demo and boot sale day

Sailing

• Autumn Regatta
• Ladies Race Training days
• Alton Academy
• New youth initiative for 2011
• Cruising Day from Felixstowe Ferry to Woodbridge

Foreword

As I write this, the British summer is doing what it does best - serving up another wet and windy bank holiday weekend!  With a very late spring this year and a pretty wet August, we've not been blessed with the best of summers, yet we've managed to pack in an awful lot of activities.  In this edition we take a look at a few the events at or associated with the centre over the summer months.

The pace of change at the centre is continuing and indeed accelerating.  On the 2nd of July we held a Members Meeting to present our new 5yr strategic plan. As part of this plan we have defined our mission which is:

'To be a centre of excellence for diverse water sports activity, to be a regional hub for youth development, a magnet for skilled sailors and windsurfers and to be a place where the wider community want to come to have fun'

Our 5 yr plan maps out how we plan to achieve this.  Making change is never easy and for some, change may be difficult to accept.  However our goal is to increase the services on offer and to improve the delivery of the services that we provide.  This isn't always easy and it will only happen with the help of committed volunteers.  However, our future as a water sports centre offering public access to all, is bright.  We have a wonderful stretch of water, a large and growing membership base as well as a very large base of goodwill from customers who return year after year to enjoy the training and hiring services that we offer to the general public.

I mention that we have a growing membership base - this year is producing a significant increase in membership numbers and we are encouraged by this as it suggests that our efforts to improve our facilities, the services that we offer and how we communicate with customers via our web site is having a positive impact.

We have always relied upon having a willing base of volunteers to help with the management and running of the centre.  The number of volunteers willing to give a little time to help the centre has been rising of late.  This is encouraging, but we are still in need of more members to help in the many aspects of the centres activities.  See further below for some areas for which we need more help. 

As the summer draws to a close and serious windsurfing and dinghy racing starts to heat up as the stronger winds arrive, please note that we have the Autumn Regatta for dinghy sailors on the 4th and 5th September and the End of Season Blast for windsurfing instructors and wannabe instructors on the 25th September.
Finally I would like to draw your attention to the Twilight Paddle to Lemons Hill Bridge on the 3rd September.  Please see further below for more details.

Malcolm Parker
Chairman

Membership Matters

Combined AGM & Members Meeting

Our next AGM will be on the 30th September at 7:00pm in the training room.  Notice of this meeting containing the agenda, will be published on the main notice board at the centre during the second week of September.

Due to a number of management committee retirements this year and because the pace of improvements that we are planning to make is continuing to accelerate, we are appealing for new management committee volunteers to make themselves available to assist with the work of the committee.  A list of the types of assistance needed will be published on the main notice board and on our web site in the very near future.

Following the AGM, we will be holding a meeting for members at 8:00pm in the café.  Drinks and nibbles will be supplied.  The purpose of this meeting will be to review progress over the last year and what is underway during this current membership year and in planning for the membership year 2011/12

Other Volunteering

We are in the process of arranging some more volunteer training for the following activities:

• Race Officer / committee boat assistants
• Safety boat
• Race Coaches
• Race results processing

More details about what's needed and what training will be given are now published on the main notice board in the centre.  Please consider joining other members who have already put their name forward to help with these activities.

Twilight Paddle

On the evening of Friday 3rd September we are for the first time, offering an evening paddle up to Lemons Hill Bridge.  Setting off at 7:30pm and travelling as a group accompanied by a safety boat, we expect to have a gentle evening's enjoyment of the evening calm and accompanying wildlife activity. 

To find out more, please click here.

Fleet Resale Scheme

We launched our new fleet resale scheme earlier this month and have enjoyed a terrific response to this initiative.  With all six of our Oppis, all of our single sit-on canoes, most of our double sit-on canoes and a number of our Laser Bugs already sold, the future of this scheme looks very promising.  This is important as it helps us to re-invest in new craft for next session to ensure that we can provide up-to-date boats in good condition for both training and hiring to both members and visitors.

Click here for more information

Second Training/Meeting Room
We have started work on creating a second training room by knocking through large cupboard areas behind the café.  This will help us to better cater for training courses and other meetings as the single training room that we presently have is coming under increasing pressure from competing needs of the centres many activities.

Suffolk Open Weekend

As part of the London 2012 Open Weekend initiative to promote cultural and sporting activities, Alton Water opened its water front to visitors by offering free taster sessions in windsurfing and sailing.  We had instructors on hand to ensure that visitors could experience these activities under trained supervision.  We were frankly amazed by the public response considering that our promotion of event only got underway relatively near to the day itself.  Our instructors were kept very busy throughout the day, with barely time for a break.

Feedback from visitors was immensely positive and new members have joined as a result.

This event was made possible by Suffolk County Councils support of the county wide initiative and by the grant that we received to make offering these free taster sessions possible.

Windsurfing

Day out to Hickling Broad

Windsurfing at Hickling is on the up and so our windsurfers are preparing to arrange a day out to share their enjoyment of the sport with the increasingly active community at Hickling.  If you would like to participant in this proposed event, please add your name and contact details to the list displayed on our main notice board at the centre.

Adult Regular Sailing

This was a new venture for 2010, following similar lines to that offered for dinghy sailors.  The active support for this initiative from John Allison, our windsurfing committee member, has resulted in a level of interest and support from members well beyond what we had expected, with attendance numbers in the high teens on some occasions.  This really bodes well for the future of windsurfing at Alton Water.

Demo and Boot Sale Day

On the 11th July we hosted a manufacturer's demo day and boot sale.  Fluid Lines, Severne Sails, Tushingham and Startboard were in attendance and there was as a result, a great deal of kit on display and available for trial.  Winds were good on the day which helped to ensure that the event was well attended and appreciated by all.  We suspect though, that there were quite a few members who didn't quite manage to have a clear out of unwanted kit, which resulted in the boot sale being a little smaller than we had envisaged.  So, when we put this event on again next year, there will be no excuse for windsurfing members not to have a good garage clearout!

Sailing

Autumn Regatta

Our second Autumn Regatta is almost upon us again.  During the weekend of the 4th/5th of September we will be putting on 6 races over the weekend, as well as laying on some fun racing in row boats, canoes and Topaz sailing dinghies.  With a BBQ available on the Saturday evening (bring your own food and drink) and free camping available for participants on both Friday and Saturday nights, a great deal of fun is on offer.  Bring your sailing friends along as visitors are most welcome. 

Click here for more information

Ladies Race Training

Saturday 10th July was the second ladies race training day held at Alton Water, Chris Hart obviously not put off by running the first such training day, kindly volunteered again to lead the training.   Word must have spread about just how good the first event was, resulting in twelve ladies attending this event.
 
Chris bravely dressed up as a Brazilian female lifeguard for the morning training session and the ladies wore hats.

The training session for the morning was based on boat handling skills, trying to get us all to sail in a straight line 3 boat lengths away from each other was proving a lot more difficult than Chris had ever imagined.  Realizing we were never going to get in to a straight line Chris thought best we start on the next exercise which was Merry Go Round, Chris parked the safety boat in the middle and we all sailed around in a large circle around him, when he blew the whistle we had to turn towards his boat and sail the other way gradually making the circle smaller, this went better than sailing in the straight line!

The next exercise again involved sailing in a straight line controlling the speed so we did not overtake each other then when Chris blew the whistle tack off and race for the buoy, round the buoy and back.
 
A quick summary on how the morning had gone then time for lunch, cakes and Pimms and lemonade. 
 
The plan for the afternoon was to have our own start in the summer series afternoon race then sail 2 laps, unfortunately the wind picked up straight after starting and several people capsized and others felt it was a bit too much so came in, well done to those who did complete the 2 laps and especially well done to Debbie Tuppen who thought some of us where still out there so carried on and completed 3 (she didn't get a hooter after 2 so carried on!) with 5 capsizes.  She could not believe it when she came in and found most of us changed and drinking Bucks Fizz and eating locally picked Strawberries!

Thanks again to Chris for volunteering his time, and we look forward to the next event.
 
Maria Peak

Our next Ladies Race Training day will be held on 25th September.  Click here for more information

Alton Academy

The summer Alton Water Academy session began with the Spring Regatta and all our regular attendees acquitted themselves very well indeed, we provided the single biggest fleet for the event and Adam Fuller so very nearly won the pursuit race on the Sunday with only seconds to the end of the time limit he was piped to the post.

Our Saturday morning sessions were superbly attended each week and with a growing number of new faces, and a mixture of trainers supporting Jerry and Gavin. Progress for all sailors has been rapid and we've all noted how confidence and skill levels in our young sailors have risen to new levels.

On one of the Saturday sessions we had the pleasure of Tom Scott, Topper Squad Ace demonstrating the art of roll tacks and gybes, with most of the academy grasping the concept and others taking a quick swim on more than one occasion.

The exercises we've been doing have all been designed to improve speed, boat handling and control skills. We still need to do a lot of work on rules and tactics though.

For our final session before the summer break we held a mini regatta with a series of four races run over tight triangular and trapezoid courses. We hoped for a steady force three so everyone could demonstrate their newly acquired skills. What we received was a force four with some enormous gusts, everyone took a swim at some point in the proceedings but everyone showed us they'd learned far more than we could ever have expected.

All the starting practise of the previous weeks paid off as we had the whole fleet hunting for places to start on some quite taxing start lines, everyone had their moment of glory but above all everyone enjoyed their racing.

Results

1st	Adam	5th	Robert	9th	Max
2nd	Annabel	6th	Maddie	10th	Dominic
3rd	Charles	7th	Patrick	11th	Kit
4th	Freddie	8th	Andrew	12th	William

We were very fortunate to have some very generous sponsorship of prizes for the event. We offer our thanks to Hungerbusters vending services, Seamark Nunn and the Alton Water Sports Centre.

We'll be hoping for great things at the Autumn Regatta, let's make the Toppers the biggest fleet for the second time around.    

Jerry Andrews
Race Coach

New Youth Sailing Initiative for 2011

Work continues apace to design a new initiative to add to and compliment the highly successful Alton Academy run by Jerry Andrews and Gavin Johnson.  Stephen Page has stepped forward to join in with this work and we are very hopeful that other respected racing members will join them in this initiative as the plans settle into shape.  We are thinking big about what can be achieved and are encouraged in this thinking by the recent national and international successes of some of our younger sailors.

We'll keep you informed of progress and are hopeful that the first part of this new initiative may get underway before the year is over.

Cruising Day from Felixstowe Ferry to Woodbridge

Our fleet of twelve dinghies preparing for the cruise

On Saturday 28th August, a fleet of twelve Alton Water dinghies descended on Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club with the objective of enjoying a return cruise up river to Woodbridge. 

Sailing conditions were superb with F3 winds for much of the afternoon.  With the slowest dinghies departing first, the entire fleet not only made it to Woodbridge but many went on and made it all the way to Wilford Bridge at Melton, enjoying some really stimulating beating along the way.  On the way back winds eased a little, but still allowed some of the asymmetric boats to enjoy some fast planning on some of the downwind stretches. 


Oli Harris and Alex Berry enjoying a down hill blast

Stopping off at The Rocks for a picnic, the fleet arrived back at Felixstowe ferry in good order....until the approach to the landing area had to be negotiated in a fast flowing current for which Alton Water does not prepare us!  With an Enterprise missing the landing point and having the beach just around the corner in front of the club, the most unfortunate occurrence was when one of the asymmetric fleet drifted into the side of a moored yacht, with a serious torn mainsail to our members boat being the result.  However, with everyone ashore, most of the expedition managed to find the energy to visit the bar for some well earned refreshments.

Our thanks go to FFSC for allowing us full use of their facilities and to launch from their shore line and to committee member Bob Peak who organised the event.  Thanks also go to Johno and Bob Brett who volunteered their time and use of their motor boat to provide safety support during the event.

Malcolm Parker
Chairman

On behalf of the staff, Management Committee and Board of AWSC

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