Prize Giving

On 6 July 2012, 19.00 we will be holding our Annual Prize Giving
we will also introduce our Lipton Cup Team for this year and
say farewell to those who will be representing SA at international events.

Super will be on sale at R30 per person and there will be a cash bar.
Please book you place by contacting us. Be there or miss out!

COMMODORE’S CORNER
Mark Thompson

Dear fellow club members

Having been thrown in the deep green end! We have now had some time together as a committee to get to know one another and to get to grips with the key issues facing our club, namely a falling membership and a weakening financial predicament. This committee is resolute to a) Turn the membership trend around positively and b) Run on at least a break-even financial basis.

Our mission is clear – we want “More boats on the Water” and we aim to maintain the club’s reputation as the pre-eminent dinghy club in South Africa producing the country’s leading sailors. We recognise and strive for sailing excellence and to this end we would like to take this opportunity to wish every sailor representing South Africa and our club ZVYC mentioned below, everything of the very best!

ISAF Worlds: 12 – 21 June, Dublin Ireland: Alex Burger, Alex Lehtinen, Jessica Deary, and Chris Gough

Optimist Worlds:15 – 26 July, Boca Chica, Dominican Republic: David Wilson, Dylan Long, Arin Long, Georgou Divaris

29er Worlds: 22 – 22 July, Lubecker Yacht Club, Germany: Alex Burger, Alex Lehtinen

Olympic Games: 2 – 9 August, Weymouth, England: Asenathi Jim, Roger Hudson

RS Tera Worlds: 6 – 10 August, Lake Iseo, Italy: Jean Pierre Roberts

African Games: 18 – 26 August, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Sonja Stock, Kai Leslie

Please join us at the prize giving and farewell party to be held on the 6th of July at 1900hrs to congratulate the prize winners and wish all our international sailors all the very best for the regattas that lie ahead. That evening we will also be introducing our Lipton Cup Team of Taariq Jacobs – Helm, Sieraj Jacobs, Marco Tobin – Manager, Sandy Powers, Leroy Rudolph – Skipper, Marlon Jones. They are very grateful to Metropolitan Health who have given them some sponsorship.

Importantly, this is our club and every single member counts; collectively we make up ZVYC club and SAS. Your positive contributions as to how things could be done better are most welcome. We welcome engagement and any contribution towards making our club stronger, friendlier and a more fun place to be.

We are currently reviewing each line item in the income statement to maximise our revenue and ensure that our costs are as efficient as possible. We recognise that financial times are hard; however, should we find that we are not able to achieve a break-even financial position we may have to adjust our subscriptions and various fees to achieve a sound financial basis of operation.

We are also reviewing each aspect of our club’s operations, spirit and ethos, communications and connectivity, sailing and boating practices, food and beverages quality and delivery, party and fun time. On a positive sailing note SAS plans to change the sailing program next year to allow for more focus at a club level and less traveling to sailing venues. This is a positive initiative and SAS Western Cape is now being run by our own well known club member Perry Harrison-Hyde. We wish him well and offer him our full support with his new endeavors as the Chairman of SAS Western Cape.

Please set the 8th of September aside for the club’s opening cruise dinner dance party, themed as a “Greek Wedding Party”. We will be looking for the best dressed “Zorba” and for the ladies – this is an opportunity to dig out that beautiful white wedding dress, squeeze in, and party the night away! Don’t worry if marriage is not on your agenda, or not your thing, please come as one of the family guests!

Bring the whole family! Lets take our club back Greek style, get to know everyone, share some succulent Greek lamb and garlic rosemary roasted potatoes, drink some ouzo, break a few plates and have some fun together! We promise to sail and party more! And more! Greek wedding invitations will be posted closer to the time.

Once again we, the committee, welcome positive suggestions on changes to make our club stronger, friendlier and a fun place to be.

FROM THE OFFICE
Lorna Norris & Millicent Kellett

The SAS National AGM will take place at FBYC on 25 August 2012 at 14h00.

Fees: Thank you to those that have paid their fees and a reminder to everyone else that they are now due so please make your payment!

Boat Parking: We are making a photographic record of the boats (and other items) parked at the club. What has been done so far is up on the notice board and on the website under ‘Sailing’. Please identify your property urgently as all unidentified boats and things will be auctioned off in a few months time.

Leave: Lorna will be on leave from June 30th until July 23rd. Millicent will be in the office as usual on a Tuesday, Wednesday & Sunday and will check the emails every day.

ROWING
Richard Moolenschot

The winter rains have arrived with a vengeance and this will have a beneficial effect of flushing the water of the vlei. Rowing activities have been curtailed due to the low level of water in the vlei during the draw-down period. However, Martin Vanlierde has made arrangements to use the Keith Hart Memorial shed facilities during the winter months as the water is still accessible from this part of the vlei. The trade-off is that, in exchange for using the WCR boats, we spend some time on the maintenance of the WCR fleet, and already a lot of good work has been done over the past few weekends.

SA SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – 28TH APRIL 2012: The S A Senior Championships took place on the Buffalo River in East London on the 28th April. Alfred Rowing Club was represented by four members who took part in four masters events. The results were as follows:-
Mens Masters double scull (Martin Vanlierde & Gavin Kirk) – 2nd Place
Mens Masters single scull 2nd Div (Gavin Kirk) – 2nd Place
Mens Masters single scull 1st Div (Richard Moolenschot)–2nd Handicap) (Martin Vanlierde) – 4th
Womens C sculls (Liesl Jobson) – 4th Place

UCT assisted with the transport of our boats to East London on their trailer, which was a great help. The Mens Masters double scull event was scheduled to take place at around 11.30 in the morning, but on arrival at the river, we were told that the event had taken place earlier without Alfred Rowing Club being notified. A protest was raised with the organizers and the event was re-rowed later in the day. Martin and Gavin got off to a good start and led the race for about 700 meters, but finished second to Wemmer Pan in a time of 4 mins 10 secs. Gavin Kirk did well to finish second in his sculling race in a time of 4 mins 21 secs. Liesl Jobson rowed a heat and a final and did extremely well to finish 4th behind some university scullers.

Senior rowing in the Cape has been plagued by bad weather which has caused the cancellation of nearly all the senior regattas this past season.

BOAT MAINTENANCE: A number of maintenance work parties are planned for the next few months and will take place on either Saturday mornings or Sunday mornings at two weekly intervals. Notices of the work party schedule will be issued shortly. The rowing fleet is in good shape thanks to maintenance work which was done during the winter season last year. The main attention will be focused on the eight, Spirit of Hanley.

MELCK RUN: The annual 20km long row on the Berg River known as the Melck Run will take place on the weekend of 16th/17th June. The event starts at the farm Kersefontein, owned by Julian Melck and finishes approximately 20km downriver.

OCEAN ROWING: The Ocean Rowing activity is taking place regularly each weekend from the Navy Base in Simon’s Town. This form of rowing has increased in popularity worldwide and is an excellent substitute for those who wish to carry on rowing during the winter months.

JUNIORS
Nicki Stock

Despite the winter there is still a lot going on in the Junior Sailing department.  The sailors chosen to go overseas during the next few months are all busy training. At present MAC are hosting a training clinic with guest coaches from France. Our Optimist sailors are all taking advantage of their expertise prior to Worlds and Africans.

Next week the club is hosting the annual prize giving – I hope not too many of you are away as it would be great to see you there to help us give all the travelling sailors a good send off. Also we will get to meet the team that will be representing Zeekoevlei at the Lipton Cup regatta later in the year. I know the timing is awkward, but we were running out options. The calendar is packed – even in the ‘off’ season! So keep an eye out for further notices re the Prize Giving and we will see you there.

On the Oppie front – the coaches are all meeting at the end of the July holidays to debrief/rebrief from the coaching clinics that were held during the last season. We would like to incorporate some of what was learnt into our program. We will also have a good look at our fleet of club oppies and make sure that they are all safe and sound prior to the start of the next season. I know some labour will be required to get some of them back up to scratch, and we may well have to jettison some others! (Let’s hope not!)

So, despite the cooler, wetter weather, sailing is still happening and all is getting geared up to the next season – when I hope to see you all at the club.

IMPORTANT DATES

• 6 July Prize Giving and farewell to those teams going to compete internationally
• 2 – 9 August Olympic Sailing
• 11 & 12 August Optimist team racing at ZVYC
• 12 August Optimist sail training registration
• 17 – 24 August Lipton Cub Challenge FBYC
• 8 September Rescue Seminar
• 8 September Greek Wedding Party
• 9 September Opening Cruise
• 15 September Southern Spars Grand Slam Regatta