Commodore Graham Nicholls 45a Chevening Road London SE19 3TD T: 0208 771 5686 E: [email protected] Honorary Secretary Anthony Frankford 19 St Thomas Court Queens Road Brentwood CM14 4FS T: 07511 381843 E: [email protected] WINTER NEWSLETTER & NOTICE OF AGM & WINTER LUNCH SATURDAY 31 JANUARY 2015 The Commodore, Graham Nicholls, and the Committee would like to wish all our members and friends a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. This is also a reminder that our AGM is coming up, to be held in the College Board Room at 11.30am on Saturday 31 January, with lunch in the Salle at 12.15pm for 1.00pm. We have brought the date forward so that we don’t clash with any Six Nations games and, more importantly, we do not clash with the College 1st XV if they reach the latter stages of the NatWest Schools Cup. (We wish them well and presume that we shall see the team at Twickenham once again!) We have, for the past three years, been talking about charter trips abroad. 2015 might actually see this come to fruition. We have a core group that is looking at chartering a catamaran in Majorca in mid to late September. More information will follow, so watch this space. We are also in discussion regarding a cross channel trip, most likely to Cherbourg then round the corner to Saint Vaast in late May/early June. I will contact all members when details have been confirmed. The Boys Sail Training Week will take place from Sunday 5 to Friday 10 July. We are hoping for five yachts with four boys from the College on each boat. Our thanks go to Jemima Lofts (Head of Sailing) for organising this. The last night supper will be held at the Island Sailing Club on Thursday 9 July. All are welcome and the Corinthian YC is a very good B&B. We are desperately hoping to have a yacht in this year’s Round the Island Race (Isle of Wight) on Saturday 27 June. Costs are an inhibiter: £3,000 to charter a yacht. If anybody knows of anyone who owns a yacht and is looking for keen young crew then please get in touch. We will be defending the Arrow Trophy later in the year, on the weekend of 3-4 October. While we sit by the log fire, drinking a dram, munching a mince pie and dreaming of fair winds and blue skies, a lot of our younger members and Arrow Trophy crew are out on the water participating in the Solent Winter series. Web sites to wile away the evenings: www.benainslieracing.com and www.volvooceanrace.com are both informative and contain some great videos showing the AC45 cat that is the TeamGB design that Ben Ainslie has put together for the next America’s Cup. The Volvo videos show one of the yachts hitting an atoll in the Indian Ocean and ending up being surrounded by sharks before being rescued. And for older members to think about, Sir Robin Knox–Johnston finished third in class in the Route du Rhum yacht race, aged 75 – so get the zimmers trimmed… The Commodore and I look forward to seeing you all at the AGM (see the separate form to book). We have a crèche in place so that younger members can bring the whole crew. With best wishes, Anthony Frankford Hon Secretary