Weymouth
Sailing
Club

Is it a shark? This early in the season? No - just Mayfly's rudder! Luckily Rodger Horlor was able to persuade a passing duckling to take time out from a family formation swimming session to give it a shove in the right direction - any help at all being welcome at moments like that!

The Dinghy Class started its season off with a two day coaching session for Merlin Rockets over Easter Sunday & Monday, run by Richard Whitworth, the Merlin Rocket Class trainer, for five local and two visiting boats.

It was sensibly decided to replace water-based activities with classroom instruction on the Sunday morning while the 40 knot north-easterly wind abated. In the afternoon the crews braved the wind and cold to fine tune their boat-handling skills on the water. Fortunately the wind moderated in time to allow everyone to enjoy and benefit from their time sailing.

Weymouth Sailing Club is among 324 local sports projects to secure its share of £17 million of National Lottery funding from Sport England's Inspired Facilities funds.

Since 2011, Inspired Facilities has been helping breathe new life into tired community sports facilities and converting existing buildings into venues suitable for grass roots sport.

The award is granted to assist Weymouth Sailing Club in financing the project 'Longshed Training Room'

Having spent the night at anchor in Castle Cove listening to the wind and hoping it would moderate as forecast, I was glad to get away in the morning on Tuesday, though it was still quite brisk - even reefed down I was doing a steady six plus knots, and the radio finally admitted to force 5-7!

The Club's annual Open Day will take place this year in conjunction with the Royal Yachting Association's 'Push The Boat Out' initiative:

http://www.rya.org.uk/programmes/pushtheboatout/Pages/default.aspx

Our Open Day is on Saturday 17th May from 10am to 4pm. Not only will there be an amnesty on joining fees for new members, there will even be the chance to try a free sail on a dinghy on the Saturday and on a keelboat on the Sunday!

Having undertaken to deliver a copy of Jeremy's Club Centenary booklet to our friends in Cherbourg, and fed up with only being able to do short sails in the bay, I was keen to get away. Somewhere between work and the weather it's been hard to find a window this winter, but last weekend looked likely, and with Jo and Stuart's wedding only a couple of weeks away, a visit to Normandie Wine was becoming rather urgent!

Megan Pascoe completed the last of our winter evenings with the YOBs concentrating on that sailing "swear" word PROTEST.
A scenario was enacted and a committee was appointed and all the arguments were heard. And.....In the true tradition of WSC.... the protester lost the case!!!

The third and last Squib Walk last Sunday attracted 14.5 people and a
dog and we were again lucky to have fantastic weather - it felt like summer !
We started with a steep climb from Corfe village to walk eastwards across the ridge enjoying views of both the Castle and Poole Harbour - at one point we could see The Needles and Portland.

WSC Coffee Club are holding their Spring Lunch on Friday March 28th; this social gathering is open to all club members and friends. An excellent occasion to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Let's celebrate Spring together.

The photo is of The Coffee Club Christmas Lunch which was enjoyed by 35 people; Father Christmas sent presents for all.

13 walkers and a dog enjoyed a beautiful sunny day on Sunday for the
second Squib Walk round Cerne Abbas. We encountered plenty of water but none of it deep enough for Iain to repeat his swimming demonstration, much to the disappointment of the rest of the party. We managed to keep up a good pace despite the rain water and managed to get to the Royal Oak in good time for lunch; in fact before it opened. A good lunch was enjoyed after which we were pleased to see Phil Ashworth just arriving on his bike as we left.
We plan to have one more walk before the start of the sailing season.