Business as Usual for Dalgety Bay Sailing Club over Winter
by Keith Bedborough 28 Feb 2018 07:03 GMT
Toppers Class Academy Snowy Launching © A Robertson
Despite the chilly weather it's business as usual at Dalgety Bay as the sailing programme continued through winter, whilst preparations for the forthcoming season are now well underway.
From November to March the club has again hosted 4 RYA Class Academies for Toppers and Lasers. These weekend events give our emerging young superstars the opportunity to continue to develop their skills over the winter months and full marks to the hardy kids for launching in brutal temperatures (and sometimes through the snow) to maximise their time on the water.
The club has done particularly well this year in the awards department. In November long-serving members Cheryl Taylor and Kirsty Brunton made the trip to London to be presented with Community Awards by HRH the Princess Royal in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the club. These awards made special mention of Cheryl and Kirsty's commitment to the extensive training programme on offer at DBSC and in particular their enthusiasm and passion for the sport which they were always happy to pass on to others. We were delighted to see them recognised in this manner. More recently, Feva sailors Catriona Forrest and Evie Tynan were presented with the prestigious Class Academy Sailor of the year Award at the RYA Scotland Annual awards ceremony. After meeting at a training event in 2016, Cat and Evie worked extremely hard on their sailing and had an amazing 2017 season culminating in a trip to the Feva worlds in Medemblik where they won 2nd place in the Bronze fleet – very impressive for their first major championship and first year sailing together!
In the winter racing programme, 15 year old Finlay Tulett continues his rise in form in the Topper class with a fantastic 3rd place overall in the recent National Series event in Weymouth – out of a fleet of 144 boats in this extremely competitive class. Further afield a delighted Jamie Hilton came 3rd overall and first Brit in the ACO Musto Skiff World Championships at the Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron in Melbourne, Australia. This achievement is all the more noteworthy as Jamie is one of the band of "weekend warriors" competing at a top level against professional sailors - recently recognised by Andy Rice in Y&Y.
Closer to home club stalwart and Hunter 707 National Champion Andy Marshall was recently spotted out test sailing a foiling Waszp. With great interest in the foiling classes from our younger members, and Laser radial superstar Jamie Calder joining the club with his newly acquired Waszp it would be fantastic to establish a foiling section within the club. Past Contender world champion Ian Renilson is already rapidly ascending the learning curve with his foiling Moth so we expect to hear many stories of foiling tacks and gybes (and no doubt a few spectacular crashes) in the months to come. Who will be next to buy one (Andy?).
Looking ahead, the club has completed a programme of refurbishment on its fleet of RIBs which are essential to support the training programme which will start shortly. Our "Tuesday Group" of hardy retired volunteers have the club maintenance programme well in hand and essential items such as the refurbishment of the sewage pump cover and monitoring of the anti-freeze level in the lawnmower coolant are on track (these are genuine items on the repair list such is the dedication to detail). Joking aside - volunteers are the lifeblood of any club, and this year the DBSC management team are focussing on increased support to ensure it is as straightforward and simple as possible to volunteer for duties.
With a new Commodore and some strong additions to the management team everyone is feeling very positive and looking forward to the temperature rising (slightly – this is still Scotland) for the start proper of the 2018 season with the Brass Monkey Regatta on 31st March. Could it be a foiler that wins it this year?