Newsletter Feb 2nd 2012

Galway Sailsports Club

Newsletter  – February 2nd 2012

Hello Everybody,

The AGM was held last Thursday and we were delighted with the attendance not only of our existing members but also interested supporters and hopefully prospective members – we filled the room!

Thanks go to Harbour hotel for the use of the room – the Harbour has supported our efforts to set up watersports in the city for the last 11years so please support them when you can.

I’ll put the Chair’s report and the Treasurer’s report on the website for those of you who were unable to attend.

The agenda for the meeting included making some amendments to the constitution: these were mainly related to the need to drop kitesurfing from our activities as our insurance will not cover this. As it happens the beach in the Harbour Enterprise Park is not extensive enough for kitesurfers to launch safely – they need lots of clear space! – so we hope that we can convert them to go dinghy sailing when the winds are not high enough for kites.

The revised constitution will also be available through the website shortly.

The main item on the agenda was the election of the Honorary Officers and the ordinary committee members and the following were elected:

Chairperson – Nancy Roe;

Secretary/PRO – Dee McGrath

Treasurer – Ger Moyles

Sailing Officer – to be decided. Subsequent proposal of Erin Killeen.

Windsurfing Officer – Danny Mulryan

Safety Officer – Ciaran Oliver

Children and Youths Officer – Finbarr O’Regan

Maintenance Officer – Colm McIntyre

Minutes Secretary – Tim Roe

Ordinary Committee Members :
– Fionn Delahunty

– John McCole
– Fergal Diviney
– Michael Fitzsimons
– John Fraser
– John Hendley

Many thanks to all who served on the committee for the crucial first nine months of the club – the new committee will, I am sure, continue the good work.

2012 will be eventful: we have 6 420‘s arriving from Schull, they are quite old, a little battered, but they have good rigs and sails and don’t leak. We are sharing the cost, use, and maintenance with our neighbours the 24th Galway Sea Scouts – 2 are already here, the other four we hope to collect before the end of the month;  Ciaran and the ‘lads’ have already towed a pontoon from GBSC across to the Claddagh and will get it into Lough Atalia soon to be used as a platform for sailing there;  the Volvo race week June 30th to July 8th will give us lots of incentive to get out on the water, either in our dinghies or on windsurfers, or as volunteers providing safety cover for all the on-the-water events planned; the GBSC multihulls will be running an event from the beach during the Volvo week; various fund raising ideas are being considered; etc.etc.

In order to start to hold some friendly races round a course (the best way to learn to sail on all points of sailing) we need some members to become familiar with the ins and outs of running races. The ISA are running Level1 Race Officers course on Feb 20th and Feb 21st and level 2 Race Officers course on March 10th both in the Royal Cork Yacht Club, or on a more informal basis we have been invited along to help as assistant Race Officers at Galway Bay Sailing Club on Sunday afternoons. If anybody is interested please email me: roenancy9@gmail.com. I’ll send a separate email with the link to the ISA notice.

If you are renewing your membership – and we very much hope you are- It would be very helpful if you could pay the fees as soon as possible, you don’t need to fill in the new members application form but instructions for paying are on the website – please remember to put your ‘name’ and ‘fees‘, and ‘park’ if applicable, on any transaction slip.

Looking forward to some fine sailing weather! Nancy Roe. Chairperson.