TRALEE BAY SAILING CLUB

 

NEWSLETTER

 

APRIL, 2008

 

Dear Fellow Members,

 

This year kicked off to a great start with our Annual Dress Dance in Ballygarry House Hotel on Saturday 9th February, 2008. We had 150 people attend this fantastic night. Garvey’s Supervalu sponsored the Champagne Reception which got everybody in the mood for dancing. Following a wonderful meal and prize giving, tributes were paid to recently deceased founding members including; Jerry O Sullivan, Tom Clifford and Tom Gleasure. We then danced the night away to the music by Little Creatures.

 

The Dinghy Committee organised a very enjoyable and entertaining table quiz on Friday the 28th March in the club house. Michael O’Connor did a great job as Quizmaster. The winning team was Diarmuid and Annette Dineen with Alacoque Daly and Paul Taylor. €700 was raised on the night and all this money will be used to fund various activities for the dinghy sailors. Thanks to Ian and the Dinghy Committee for organizing it all.

 

Damian Foxall returned to the club on Monday 22nd April and gave a wonderfully illustrated talk about winning the Barcelona two-handed round the world race. Damien was presented with a beautiful piece of artwork on behalf of all the members of TBSC to commemorate his fantastic victory. Damian stayed on after his talk for photos, autographs and a few pints. As well as having a wonderful night all the members and their guests had a collection and raised over €600 for the Fenit Lifeboat. Bobby Nash of “Latitude Kinsale” also presented a 3D chart to the Lifeboat to be raffled or auctioned at a future date to raise much needed funds.

 

Dinghies

While most of us were snuggling up to the fire, some of the younger Optimist, Laser and 420 sailors were training all winter. Our own official dinghy racing started on Sunday 2nd March 2008 and although fleets were small at the start, numbers have now grown with the warmer weather and longer days. Last week-end’s Spring Regatta, which included the Peter Greene and Young Helmsman Trophy for 2007, saw 28 boats entered.  Thomas Chaix won the Main Fleet while Fiona Daly won the Optimist Fleet. In addition, David Lee won the Peter Greene Trophy (2007) and Fiona Daly won the Young Helmsman Trophy (2007).The regatta was followed by a delicious barbeque in the clubhouse.

 

Sunday dinghy racing will continue at 15.00 hrs until the 1st of June and from the 7th of June weekend, dinghy racing will change to Saturday afternoons at 15.00 hrs. Wednesday dinghy racing is due to start on Wednesday 7th May at 19.30 hrs. Please remember all sailors who race must be fully paid up members and have paid their race fee to receive a result.

 

As most of you know we are hosting a number of prestigious dinghy events this year including the following:

 

Munster Topper Championships                  10-11 May, 2008

 

Gul World Topper Championships                19-25 July, 2008

 

Musto Optimist National Championships    20 - 23 August, 2008.

 

These events require a lot of planning and organisation and Brendan Fitzgerald with his Events Sub-committee have been working tirelessly since last year to ensure they will run smoothly and successfully. We hope all members will help out during these events which are a fantastic opportunity to showcase our wonderful club and facilities. Hopefully these events will bring in extra revenue to improve our infrastructure.

 

Cruisers

 

The first cruiser series is planned to start on Tuesday 29th April at 19.30 hours. The format will be the same as last year with six races in the series (Tuesday and Thursday nights) with two discards. We will have a barbeque on the last night of each series which was a great success last year.

 

The Fenit Cruiser Regatta is planned for the 8th and 9th of June and we are hoping all keel boats in the club will partake in this new event. Alan Crosbie is the PRO for the weekend and we are hoping to have at least three races around the cans and one race around the islands for all classes including a white sail class if numbers allow. We are hoping that the Fenit Cruiser Regatta will be an annual event on the years that we are not hosting WIORA.

 

This years Fenit Regatta will be a feeder regatta for OSM 100 mile race from Fenit to Clifden, which takes place on Friday the 13th June followed by WIORA, which is being held in Clifden from the 18th to 21st June, 2008.

 

Sunday cruiser racing begins on the 18th May, with the Butcher Boy Cup. We are also planning a Ladies’ Helm Race, a joint Dinghy / Cruiser day and a keel boat cruise over the summer. So please keep an eye on your sailing calendar which you get with your membership card once you pay your annual sub. Sunday racing will include a white sail class where numbers allow.

 

All cruiser racers must have a valid IRC and/or ECHO cert to get results. Getting certs from the ISA website is fairly straight forward but it can take up to one month so start applying immediately if you have not already done so. Hand your certs. into the bar for the attention of Dan Counihan, the Sailing Secretary, once you receive them.

 

Please remember no results will be given to boats unless all crew membership and racing fees are fully paid up. The Sailing Secretary and his committee will request crew lists periodically throughout the season. Guest crew can only sail for a maximum of two series (or 12 races) in their first season before having to become a member.

 

Training

 

Sunday morning training for Optimist dinghy sailors commenced on 2nd March and has attracted large numbers of very enthusiastic young sailors. This slot also affords other dinghy sailors a safe opportunity to sail in the presence of on-water safety support. Training will continue on Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m. until the 7th June, when it will switch to Saturday mornings at the same time. We are also hoping to run a Safety Boat course for crash boat drivers. So if anyone is interested, please contact Ian Magowan or myself. We are also hoping to organise some training sessions for our Topper sailors in advance of the Munster Topper Championships and the Gul World Topper Championships.

Please keep an eye on the Tralee Bay Sailing School website www.traleebaysailingschool.com or contact Lorna Browne on 087 7606795 for the various adult and child sailing courses that will be held throughout this season.

 

Club Development

 

The committee has been working hard on a number of development projects including the following:

 

  • Purchase of a new RIB and re-tubing of the old RIB.
  • New plumbing in the clubhouse to facilitate adequate showering facilities.
  • New security gates and fencing.
  • New cold storage facility for the bar.
  • Refurbishment and decoration of the function room and bar.
  • Lining and fitting tie-downs for the dinghy park.

 

Membership

 

If you have not already paid your sub, please do so as soon as possible as late payment causes serious headaches and expense for our Membership Secretary, Michael Holland. You can now pay your membership on line by logging on to our website: www.traleebaysailingclub.com.

 

If any member has comments or suggestions about how to improve our facilities, please do not hesitate to contact me at info@asctralee.com or 087 254 1000 or indeed contact any of the committee members.

 

Please keep an eye on our new Sailing Diary, our website and the Kerryman notes for up and coming events and notices. Please ensure the Club Secretary, Pat Daly, (pjmdaly@eircom.net) has your e-mail address as this is the quickest and easiest way for the committee to keep in touch with you.

 

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our hard-working committee for organising a very busy sailing schedule. I would also like to wish all club members and their families a safe and happy sailing season.

 

Dr David Buckley

Commodore.