SID Newsletter January 2009
Committee News
Damien has succeeded Martina as the club Safety Officer and will
be
organising a series of safety activities in the near
future.
plans for some new features:
In the next few weeks, the website will be getting
a fresh look, as well as
some extra abilities:
* change your own contact details
* calendar for sailing activities
* easier membership administration for our membership secretary
* ability for members to add information to the website
We're also investigating online membership payments, though a decision
on including this hasn't been finalized.
In addition Chris Reilly is now the organiser
for the Frostbite
series.
Membership
Juliane reports that about 25 people have so
far renewed their
subscriptions (out of a total of about 90 members last year).
Remember that a discount on membership is available until the end of
March, so rejoin
now and avoid the rush on March 30th.....
Son of Ruffin' It
Here is an update from Peter...
As "Ruffin' It, all
wrapped up in the Coal harbour, awaits sailing
grounds
new in
working group of Donal, Damien,
cold and stormy Saturdays to view prospective replacements. It is felt that
another Ruffian is the way to go as it provides a good compromise between
safety and ease of sailing, while still
allowing us to participate in a
competitive racing class. We have also limitations in the size of boat we
can put on the mooring, and while the Ruffian may not being the sexiest craft
around, when it comes to value for money it is hard to beat. So far the
search has included 5 boats in Kerry, Wicklow and
abroad as there are some interesting looking Ruffians for sale in the
where we could benefit from a good exchange rate. Our target is to have a
boat for the beginning of the racing season. Still some looking and a lot of
negotiation to do so watch this space.
Sailing News
Despite the recent inclement weather there has been
some activity on
the water.
The Frostbites
were cancelled (or abandoned) for four successive weeks
from Jan 11th. Nigel and Jane raced on Feb 8th
and came in third.
In order to make up for this, there will be two back to
back races
each Sunday for the next few weeks (wind and weather permitting).
The first Obsession sail this year took place on Saturday Jan 24th, in
somewhat variable conditions, as Bryan reports:
Having had our photos taken on board
at the finger and readied the
boat for sail, we headed out of Dun Laoghaire Harbour
under clear blue
skies and across towards the Bailey lighthouse. As we sailed along in
sea conditions of between F3 and 4, we reckoned the air temperature
was in the region of 10-12 degrees C. Very high indeed given the
bitterly cold weather of previous days!. Not surprisingly, we had the
bay to ourselves for the afternoon. After a couple of hours, the blue
skies disappeared as cloud came in from the West and the temperature
dropped to 'normal' January levels. At this point, we decided to head
back to base - it was getting chilly - and along the way we refreshed
ourselves with Tea, Coffee and biscuits courtesy of our Chairman!. A
great start was made to the 2009 cruising season! The intrepid
sailors were: Piero, Constance, Bernd,
Suzanne, Peter and Bryan.
Container
Jo and Martina now have all the documentation relating to the
new container and are leading a working group to organise
the work.
The group will have its first meeting on Tuesday Feb 24th in Tara St
Station (or rather, in the bar underneath it.).
Training Courses
SID encourages all members to attend courses to develop their skills
and experience. At a minimum, you should consider the following:
Basic First Aid
There is a section
on the SID website which tells you the skills and
qualifications you need to develop as a novice, competent crew,
vice-captain and captain in SID.
Current Course Attendance
David Byrne, Marie Naughton, Nicola Byrne,Jane
Holland, Juliane Pelz,
Marco Ruffin, Piero Tintori and Jo Toomey are currently doing the
yachtmaster theory course.
"Very well run course and well worth
doing...".
Paul Furlong attended a powerboat course last September in the
INSS
and said..
"It was a really good course with lots
of manoeuvres and man
overboard practice in the harbour, marina and
out in the bay.
I got to drive 3 different boats - a large dory, a yak and a 100hp rib.
Definitely recommended."
Customised Courses
It may be possible to organise some courses as a group;
for example a
weekend or long weekend in Glenans specifically
designed for SID
members might be arranged; contact Damien if you are interested in
this, if you have a proposal of your own. if you are currently
attending a course or if you need any further information.
Glenans
News from Nicola:
GISC are
offering a special reduction of 200 plus membership to all
sailors heading to Collanmore for Easter and Paddy's
weekend 2009. I
have heard through the Collanmore Committee that two
large groups are
booking in for both weekends, so beds will book out quickly! For
those keel boat sailors who keep meaning to give the dinghy's a go it
would be a fun weekend to catch up with fellow SID sailors, meet new
ones and......... a fun introduction to the water :-)
If we are interested, some of the Senior Instructors in Collanmore
have
offered to organise a sailing trip for the SID group
over Paddys
weekend. It would probably be taking the four Vago's
only. If you are
interested please let me know, we only need about 8!! Would
be nice
to sail out around the islands. If the trip goes ahead it will be
dependent on crew and weather.
Sailing Holidays with SID
Regina, Catherine, Ann Marie, Bryan, Chris, Ann, Carlos, Annette,
(now based in London) and a few friends will travelling
to Porto
Heli in
Greece for a week in June with Neilson's activity holidays to brush up
on their dinghy sailing skills, plus a bit of windsurfing, tennis, mountain
biking, sunbathing and perhaps the odd retsina...
Plans are also afoot for a week's cruise in June starting from
Bodrum in
The fleet is now 2000 miles into the 12500 mile 5th leg, and the leaders
have entered the Doldrums. Green
Dragon has gained 77 miles on the lead
boat in the last 24 hours.
It's time to start looking up long lost friends
in Galway to find a
bed for the race's stopover in