Dalgety Bay Sailing Club limbers up for another amazing year
by Keith Bedborough 23 Mar 2016 16:39 GMT
23 March 2016
There was a definite "spring is in the air" feel at Dalgety Bay Sailing Club last weekend as preparations continued for what promises to be another amazing year. Notwithstanding the amazing (uncharacteristic some might say!) blue skies and sunshine, the most obvious giveaway was the annual "dewinterisation"of the clubs training fleet. Training is a huge part of what the club is about and with an average of 50 cadets attending training every Tuesday night it is no small feat to keep the fleet of 37 training boats maintained in tip-top condition. Thanks to the clubs rolling boat replacement programme there has been over £20,000 invested this year in a refresh of the training fleet. 9 Brand new SailQubes have been joined by a brand new RS Vision and Feva meaning that sailors here really do have top class training facilities to take their first steps on the water.
Not that the club has been inactive over the winter months. It's recent status as RYA Scotland Club of the Year mean that it is in demand as a venue for training events all year round. There have been 4 RYA Scotland Class Academies run over winter in all weathers from bright sunshine to Force 8 Gales and snow. It has been most impressive to see the hardy Topper and Laser stars of tomorrow continuing their development programme regardless of the weather. On the "train the trainer" front the club was last year awarded instructor funding from the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation and has recently sponsored 6 new dinghy instructor through their training. There have also been RYA First Aid Refreshers and RYA Club Safety Boat training courses to ensure the large army of unsung heroes are appropriately skilled for the job in hand. Behind the scenes the Comms team are busy updating the club's results platform to the now-standard Sailwave application, which will deliver the results in time for that all-important après-sail drink in the clubhouse bar.
Looking ahead the racing season kicks off with the legendary "Brass Monkey" event on Sat 2nd April, with the Sunday and Wednesday dinghy racing series starting immediately after. Later in the season a new idea – the development fleet regatta - will allow these newer to the sport the chance to sail in regatta conditions with on the water coaching from the clubs RIBs. In the school summer holidays the annual DBSC Youth Week is always well attended with over 50 youth sailors participating in a wide range of RYA courses. While not on the same scale as our dinghy fleet, we also have an enthusiastic group of keelboat sailors, who race on a Friday night and always give a warm welcome to anyone wishing to try their hand at keelboat sailing. Then the jewel in the crown - this year the club hope to hold is first 100+ boat regatta in many years - which will be over the weekend of September 10/11th. This event will be the UK Europe National championships, the RS400 Scottish / Eurocup Champs, and the RS Tera Scottish Champs. It will be another chance to showcase the clubs fantastic location, onsite camping and warm welcoming atmosphere and we look forward to welcoming as many visitors as we can.
So there is a little bit of everything in the programme this year and with growing membership numbers in all categories the committee are looking forward to another amazing year – lets just hope the Scottish weather continues as it has started!