Dear all,
I would like to share my experience of joining the club this year and tell you all about my new project.
As many of you know, my family and I moved to Weymouth from Bath in February, after many years of traveling down as weekend warriors. Being around during the week and not having to maximize every waking moment at the weekends, we decided to join WSC.
I had always watched with envy the Sunday morning racing in the bay, but with a young family and limited time, I couldn’t fit it in. Back in March, we invited ourselves into the club to take a look around. We were greeted by Kathy, who was polishing off Amanda’s Sunday roast, but she kindly gave us a 30,000ft overview of the club. Then up popped Gary Owens from under a sink and offered us a tour. At the time, I believed Gary was the club janitor.
Both Kathy and Gary couldn’t have done more to welcome our family into the club and offered us the opportunity to experience some racing as soon as their boats were back in the water. When you crew on Arcsine and Bon Vacances, you are joining a little family. Through both Kathy and Gary, we have made some really special friends and have got stuck into WSC life. The kids love the yobs, I race as much as I can, and even Jess has managed a regatta and weekend racing when not playing netball.
WSC is a lovely club, and everybody we have met has been so welcoming. As with all clubs, not everybody will always be on the same page over the way things are done, but I have yet to meet anybody in the club who doesn’t put their heart and soul into trying to make the club better. There are so many different ways to enjoy the club, and I have had fun sailing on all sorts of boats and with many great people, including an evening with squibs, charging across the channel in a jog race, and hurtling at 15 knots downwind in a grand surprise.
Aside from the racing, there has been some fantastic cruising, fun social events, and that magical regatta day that we all had drinking and swimming in the bay. The season is almost at an end, but I am already looking forward to next year, including the Island race and hopefully getting to know more of you in the club.
Many of you will know that our family yacht is Remedy. She is a 45ft Beneteau and is probably the most frequent boat to pass under the bridge through the year. She gets plenty of use taking us on family holidays East, West, and South, as well as regularly galloping around the bay with friends. I have been lucky enough to have had some of you on board with us this year, including taking new members out on Friday club nights. We look forward to welcoming more of you aboard next year.
Remedy has been our second home for the past few years and also kept a roof over our heads for a few months this year until we found a house. As you can imagine, mooring a 45ft boat in a marina is not cheap. This year the cost has gone up to £9k. Unfortunately, Remedy is too large to benefit from the more affordable moorings that most of you enjoy in the club, and now that we don’t stay aboard her every weekend, the cost is a bitter pill to swallow.
To help offset some of the cost, give me an excuse to sail more, a real reason to take my Yachtmaster exam, and to let my girls earn a bit of pocket money, I have decided to get Remedy coded so that I can run some skippered charters with her next year. There are a number of hurdles that I need to jump through before I can take people out, and getting my Yachtmaster ticket is just one of them. Kathy has already been kind enough to come out with me and practice some MOB drills. If anybody else would like to join me between now and the spring to practice some manoeuvres, please drop me a message.
I have a surveyor lined up for coding but need a rig check, radio license, sea survival, and possibly somebody I can trust to take Remedy out on day charters, which work prevents me from doing. All recommendations are appreciated.
Thank you again for welcoming our family to the club. Please share my website with your family and friends, and I look forward to seeing more of you on the water or at the bar soon.
Best regards,
James
Submitted on 2nd December 2023