Newsletter from the Chair – back on the water!
Galway Sailsports Club Newsletter June 8th 2012
Hello Everybody, After two months away it is good to be back and to catch up on the progress the club is making. Well done: Fionn for organising the training sessions; to you all for the massive beach clean-up , it looks so much better now, and the publicity was a bonus; to Colm for keeping the 420s in sailing order; to Ger and Colm for their work on the dinghy park project; Kevin for his weather forecasts and enthusiasm; Ciaran and Conor for looking after the RIB; and I am sure there are other things that have happened that I havenʼt yet caught up on, and more people I should thank. Welcome to the new boats in the club: Jack Hartyʼs Laser Stratos; John Hendleyʼs Topper 14; Ger Moyles Laser; Eamonn Murphys Laser; and Fergal Divineyʼs Jeanneau – not really a dinghy but it does have a retracting keel!
The urgent project when I got back was to get an application in for a grant from the Sports Capital Programme 2012 fund. The deadline was June 1st. Ger Moyles had done lots of the ground work and we have applied for an equipment grant of €23 334 specifically to buy a second safety boat and engine, 6 new 420 trolleys, 9 Blue Dragon childrenʼs dinghys ( plastic Optimist type boats) with trolleys; 15 bouyancy aids; 6 more marker buoys; and 4 VHF radios. The hope is to expand our activities to include children from 8 years up and to improve the 420s for teenagers and adults.
Every sports club in the country will be applying for these grants but at least we will have tried and ʻ if your names not in!ʼ We wonʼt know if we are successful until October or later.
The second urgent project is the dinghy park and again thanks to Ger and Colm McIntyre who have been liaising with Capt. Bob Ellis of the Harbour Co. The Youth Sailing officer of the Volvo Race organisers had a look at all the sailing areas just two weeks ago and decided that our beach- all beautifully cleaned up! – is the best location to launch the Volvo Optimist fleet and that they would need a secure dinghy park near the beach. The Harbour Co. are proposing to fence it for us and that we pay the cost of €4500 over 5 years. The area is 21m by 35m with a double gate onto the beach track and access also via a new road alongside the oil terminal. We think this is possible – we will have a committee meeting on Monday to discuss this proposal – the Harbour Co. want to know by Tuesday.
Thanks are due to Michael Fitzsimons and Failte Ireland for a generous and very useful grant of €1000 – it boosted our finances in support of the grant application, but also thanks go to all of you who have paid your membership fees and shown your support for the club and its development.
If you are thinking of getting a boat for your children or yourselves can I recommend the 420 dinghy – we could build up a fleet which would provide good sailing – and for the younger ones an Optimist – single handed, but lots of fleet sailing for Optimists in Ireland and abroad.The Topaz is a good double handed learning boat. Fergal Diviney is keen to get more Dart 16s on the water – a smallish catamaran ideal for our beach launching and virtually indestructible. The Laser is a very popular single handed boat for larger teens and adults.
The Volvo week is only three weeks away, more on that later. Nancy. Chairperson