What an incredible month September turned out to be here at Chase, S.C, packed full of great sailing days, fun events, first class racing and of course... ducks! Where to start? We had hoped to run the Family Weekend (held on the 3rd and 4th of September) a little earlier in this years' Club Calendar but no matter, the weather turned out, and so did a good number of you, to make the most of a thoroughly enjoyable event. Saturday was Pirates Day, a terrific Treasure Hunt (organised by Mark and Di Buckingham) got proceedings under way and congratulations go to young Sophie Overton who bagged all the spoils of a Treasure Chest brimming full of Chocolate goodies. Cooked breakfast was served by Lynette and Jools and there was plenty of swashbuckling as the Presidents Trophy racing started. This year we tried a new format, cleverly devised by Sailing Secretary Alex Walton and Vice Commodore Dave Watkins, which constituted a series of nine short sprint races, all closely contested and eventually the prize was plundered by James Vyse and Huw Hopkins sailing an Icon, well done chaps! A hearty feast was served from the BBQ for dinner by Di, Trish and Sally and Neil Davies delivered a first class Quiz for the evenings' entertainment. Burgees were finally lowered and Mrs H and I went home somewhat worse for wear. Sunday started with something a bit different. Thanks to your enormous generosity, we managed to sell 100 tickets for the inaugural Chase Duck Race, raising a fantastic total of £250 for the RNLI. What happened next was somewhat surreal, a bloke dressed more like Daft Duck than Daffy jumped into the water and tipped the contestants on to the start line. Like the day before, another close race followed and if you haven't already heard the Commodores Duck won.. Sensing cries of "fix" it seemed appropriate to donate the £50 first prize to the RNLI making our contribution over the whole weekend to well over £300. Thank you all who contributed. There was just time to get showered and changed into drier clothing before enjoying a truly magnificent afternoon tea, Prosecco, Sandwiches Cakes, Scones and of course a lovely warm cuppa served by the Ladies of the Galley, Lynette, Di and Trish whilst watching Rookie Racing Fun from the Lichfield Room. Prizes were awarded, a few jars sunk and more than a few went home happy. Thanks to everyone who helped to organise and thanks to everyone who took part, maybe we'll do it again next year? Whilst enjoying the family weekend I got a chance to talk with Chris Brown who is the local representative of the Lichfield and Tamworth branch of the RNLI. We chatted across a range of sailing related topics (including the occasion when I had need of their services in the Solent, ssshhhh, don't tell Mrs H) and specifically the challenges that the Lifeboat Institute face today. Chris was most concerned by the lack of new (and specifically younger) faces volunteering to join the RNLI either as crew, support, or fund raising. If this is of interest to you, Chris and the team would be delighted to hear from you, drop me a line and I'll send you all the details. If you are one of the newer members to Chase Sailing Club, you may be unaware that we have an agreement with our neighbours at the powerboat club that allows us (and them) to have full access to the whole lake twice a year. September saw two of those occasions. On the weekend of the 10th and 11th, it was the turn of the water skiers to have fun but that didn't stop us having a bash at tidying up the compound and running a day of routine maintenance. It's an endless task, we are blessed with a big site and there is always stuff to do. I'd like to thank everyone who turned out to lend a hand. I mentioned in August's musings that some of our younger sailors had successfully completed their Assistant Dinghy Instructors courses and it' really pleasing to be able to report that Elsa Minton and Huw Hopkins have both passed their Dinghy Instructors pre-assessment this month. I feel sure we'll have two newly qualified DI's to help out the 2023 training programme once their courses are completed during October. Good luck both. On the Club Racing front, congratulations go to Rob Stringer and Pete Tate who wrapped up the Summer Series, and Adam Froggatt who bagged the Stag Cup, nice one chaps. And finally, we were honoured to host the Lightning 368 National Championships alongside a Midland area Solo Open event on the last weekend of the Month. Once again we rolled up our sleeves and I think (forgive me, I'm hopelessly biased) put on a really top class sailing event. Loads of work went into this one (by too many people to thank here individually) and wow, what a show we put on! The Clubhouse and grounds looked fab, we were able to host guests in their motorhomes and tents, there was plenty of great grub to be had from the Galley, the Bar buzzed all weekend, the live Band on Saturday night were great, the SUP round the whole lake was awesome and the racing was just excellent. I've said it before but I'm making no apologies for saying it again - Team Chase, you're simply the best! Stay safe and enjoy the water! Humph. |
