Norfolk Punt Club Newsletter Summer 2010

Well I cannot believe that we are over two and half months into the sailing season. We have already had our fair share of wind.

I would like to use this newsletter to thank people and to let you know what has been going on and what the rest of the season holds.

So Far!

Fitting out supper - We had an excellent night at the New Victory Hall, Neatishead. It was nice to use a venue so near to the broad with such excellent facilities. A big thank you to Kim Dring and Alison Sawyer for arranging the Fitting out Supper, which was attended by over 70 people. The new victory hall is available for weddings, meetings etc. I have contact details if you need them.

Family fun day- This really is a great way to start the season. Thanks to Kath for sending us all over the broad looking for clues.

Power boat training -Tom Moore and I, trained six more people for the RYA Level 2 Power Boat certificate and Mark Elson and Ian Mason trained six on the Safety Boat course. These are excellent courses which make you feel more confident when using the power boats. There is an article in “Norfolk Afloat” about our training.

Cruiser WE - Twelve boats took part and after discards; Bluejacket and Vagabond were left on equal points, a tie which broke in Bluejacket’s favour. This made her the winner of both the White Horse trophy for first overall and the Barton Broad Challenge trophy for the slow handicap, the Achievement trophy for fast handicap going to Whisper.

White boat WE – Stormy weather kept many away apart from about 3 or 4 brave people! Thanks to Mark and Lenka for running both WE’s.

Oppie Weekend - Eight children had a fantastic time on this popular course and were looked after by Bartram Sawyer, Milly Craker-Horton and Lena Arien. A big thank you to them. Bart Sawyer, who was running the Oppi Beginners Weekend entered all the oppies in the Junior race without them knowing and there was much delight as they played follow the leader (around the Junior course) with four oppies all two up and they all got hooted over the line.

Bittern Day - Six bitterns joined us for our racing on 4th July and faced some extremely fierce winds. It is always a delight to see their beautiful yellow sails on Barton and they will always be welcome at the Punt club

Punt Open - Ten punts came to the line for a four race series, sailed in blustery but sunny conditions over the weekend of 10th/11th July. Four traditional punts, four hard chine punts and two Morrison designs made up a competitive fleet that had a hard fought match that was only decided at the last race.

The old traditional punts are still so loved and obviously competitive, and Robin Slatter, sailing the traditional punt Cavender – number 32, thoroughly deserved his overall win with consistent sailing to achieve two firsts and a second, just one point ahead of the new hard chine punt Comet, number 102, well sailed by Richard Whitefoot. Tom Moore kept us all on our toes whilst he tackled with the wind to set excellent courses.

Rest of the Season

Junior week - About forty children will be having fun at this years Junior Week run on the 3rd August to 6th August. This year it is organised by Rob and Jo Conway, Alex Craker and Harry Scott. They are assisted by a number of instructors many of whom have become qualified as instructors/senior instructor this year. I would like to thank them all for giving up their time.

Junior Training - There are four dates which were organised for training. These were on the placed on our diary at the beginning of the season. We are privileged to get Ian Patience, the RYA regional coach on these days so please make sure you attend if you can. They are available to any junior between 8 and 16 of any level. The last one is on Saturday 12th September. Thank you to Karen Heaton for organising the training days.

RYA Junior Day - In addition to the dates on the calendar, Kath Mason is organizing a day when juniors from two other sailing clubs will be visiting us on Barton Broad. Again, Ian Patience has offered to come and run training. This will be a great opportunity to make new friends so make sure you are there. The date is 7th August (10 to 4). Please let Kath know that you are attending.

Punt Championships - This will be held on 21 /22nd August. Entries need to be to Mike Griffin. Morag and David Skinner have kindly offered to host the party on behalf of the club. A big thank you to them.

Regatta - A big thank you to Lena for organising this. She puts an enormous amount of work into getting this organised. There are programmes on the pontoons as well as the website. Please send entries into Lena as soon as possible so that we can get them entered before the weekend. Lena has also managed to organise a hog roast and it will be at the staithe by the black shed this year. Please let me know if you can do a stint in the box or in the tea hunt.

Junior Youth Regatta - This year the NPC is hosting the Broadland Youth Regatta. This will be on Saturday 4th September (the weekend after regatta). This is for anyone under 19 years old. We are expecting over 80 entries so make sure you are there. See our website or contact Kath or myself for more details.

Other Information

Sailing tuition - Five people were able to take advantage of sailing tuition on Monday evenings earlier this year. We are keen to offer more, let us know what you would like.

Aqafax - A company in Hoveton, near Jewson who sell boat equipment have offered punt club members discount up to 20%. You need to quote a PIN which is MEM10.

Yeoman – The yeoman is there to be used by any member. It was purchased by a grant from the RYA to encourage adults to sail. Please book it on the website (let me know if you have forgotten your Username/password).

Tuesday evenings - there are still a few more Tuesday evenings for sailing

Athene Cup – This is on Saturday September 18th. Please put this in your Diary. We have had terrible weather other the last two years in October so it has been moved forward.

Splash open – 3rd October at Barton Broad

Anyway, that’s all for now, I hope you enjoy the rest of the season and I will see you out on the water soon.

Mark Sawyer

Commodore

01603 455980