08/03/2010

JANUARY NEWSLETTER 2010


JANUARY NEWSLETTER 2010 A message from the Commodore: I wish you all Happy New Year and welcome to the Club’s first newsletter of 2010. We certainly had a White Christmas with snow and very low temperatures well into the New Year. I hope you all survived unscathed, without frost damage to house or boat. Our thoughts can now turn to warmer weather and to new choices and challenges. Some of you might be in the midst of anti-fouling and fitting out, others may still have that treat in store. You might even be about to take possession of your sparkling new boat. Whichever is the case, please note the dates of club events in your diary. The committee has planned an interesting programme for you, as usual, and we are looking forward to seeing you at club events during the year. Despite the recession, and some mediocre weather, the club had a good year last year culminating in a splendid turnout at the Glasgow Art Club for the Annual Dinner and Prize Giving. The meal at the Art Club was not quite up to their previous high standard and we have taken this up with the Club and understand that appropriate changes are to be made. I look forward to seeing you at the AGM which is being held on Monday 22nd Feb at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank. Iain Sinclair, Commodore ________________________________________________________________________

The Annual General Meeting of the Serpent Yacht Club will be held on Monday 22nd February 2010 in the Board Room at the Golden Jubilee Hospital, Beardmore Street, Clydebank. A buffet supper will be served at 7pm with the AGM starting at 7.30pm.

Thereafter there will be a presentation by Lorraine Toner on the work of the Ocean Youth Trust Scotland. The OYTS is a charity which operates three sailing ships and take young people aged between 12 and 24 to sea on youth development residentials.

New Members We are happy to welcome new club members. Subra Viswanathan and his wife Alexis, who live in Glasgow. Subra is a Consultant Radiologist at the Royal. Trevor Watson and his wife Barbara have also joined. Barbara is a GP practice manager and Tevor has a Jeanneau based in Upper Loch Fyne.

Finally, an e-mail from Jane Herbert, one of our members who moved south in 2002. She retired at Christmas and is looking forward to more sailing and she was wondering if there were any Serpent members who would like to "lend" Rob and her ( both Yachtmasters ) a boat on a bareboat charter basis for a week in May at a favourable rate. If so could they contact her directly on ejherbert@aol.com
Finally some news from Robbie and Alyson Rodgers Just now we are still in Lagos, in the Algarve (along with Sapphire of Treshnish - Alan Faichney boat - however I’ve not seen him out here but have been keeping an eye on it for him). We are here until 31 March and I will be organising a lift out at Sopromar the local yard. After that a 160 mile sail to Gibralter mainly to refuel (diesel is 45p a litre -will save me about £300) After that we are going to Ceuta in North Africa (Spanish enclave) and work our way East along the Morocco coast to the other Spanish enclave Melilla. In June we must be at a convenient airport to come home for Katie's graduation. So we will cross to Almeria on the Costa del Sol for that. Thereafter we can either work our way up the Costas to winter near Taragona - possible taking in the Balearics if we ave time or plan B is to return to Lagos for next winter. We are now insured as far as East coast of Italy and have the paper, electronic charts and pilot guides to take us there. Happy fitting out and hope to see you all soon on the water.

07/03/2010

SPRING NEWSLETTER 2009

A Message from the Commodore

There may not yet be signs of green shoots in the economy but there are certainly plenty of signs of springtime around us. Hopefully, the good Easter weather will develop into the fine summer that we all feel we deserve.

The AGM in February was hosted once again by the Golden Jubilee National Hospital and we are indebted to Jill Young and her staff for their help and hospitality.

We said thanks to Douglas Russell and Robbie Rodger who have both retired from their flag positions, but remain on the committee, and thanks and goodbye to Nick Pace and Jane Faichney who left the committee. We welcome Roisin Harris who joined us and Steve Pickles who has subsequently been co-opted to strengthen the team.

Your committee for the year is:

Ø Commodore: Iain Sinclair

Ø Vice Commodore: Tom Barrie

Ø Rear Commodore: Catherine Toy

Ø Secretary: Catherine Toy

Ø Treasurer: Val Glen

Ø Sailing Secretary: Paul Harris

Ø Stewards: Douglas Russell, Robbie Rodger, Roisin Harris, Steve Pickles

The AGM concluded with a highly interesting and entertaining presentation by Paul Harris and Alan McLeod, on the “Tanit” crew’s participation in the Sydney – Hobart race.

The Club website now has a page with a tribute to the late John Elias-Jones which contains the very moving sonnet by John Burman which I read at the meeting.

Some things to note for the forthcoming season:

Ø The committee has decided to change our race start procedures to bring them into line with other Clyde clubs so please pay special attention to the race instructions for the Spring Muster.

Ø We would also like to move as soon as possible to e-mail distribution of Club newsletters and other communications. We will be updating our e-mail address records but don’t worry; if you’re not “on-line” you will still be able to get information by snail-mail.

I wish you all a memorable sailing season and hope to see as many of you as possible at Club events.

Iain Sinclair, Commodore

Dates of Forthcoming Events

Spring Muster 16/17 May Summer Muster 25/26 July

Clyde Family Barbecue Saturday 20th June Autumn Muster 19/20 September

Frostbite Race Saturday 31st October Annual Dinner Friday 11th December



This is a trial go at a new website for the Serpent Yacht Club. The aim of the club is to further the sport of yachting in its widest sense , particularly among those whose occupation pertains to the health care professions. The club is active with a calendar of races and musters based on the Clyde and West coast throughout the sailing season.