| 10 Mar |
160 boats entered from 29 clubs for the 16 race handicap series held at Chichester yacht club over the Winter. The Chichester snowflake is a fantastic event held alternative weekends on high water on Chichester lake. CYC are very welcoming and explained it takes 30 volunteers to run each days racing of 2 races a day. This year saw many light wind days in glorious sunshine. In the slow handicap Itchenor clinched the top 3 slots, with Hugo Sloper and Aiden Mccarthy first, Issy Fitzgerald and Lisa McDanell second and first lady helm, and Emma Spruce and Lucy Ford third all sailing mirrors in a fleet of mirrors, toppers, optimists and fevas. In the medium handicap fleet the finns and solos took the podium positions but Will Kalderon and George Cooke/Andy Pinkham were first U18 in a 420; In the fast handicap fleet a merlin rocket won with Andrew Shaw and crews second in an RS200, hotly pursued by Andy and Sarah Fitzgerald also in an RS200 in third place. Look out for their photos in the local paper!
Sue Kalderon |
| 10 Mar |
The club has an enviable history of voluntary service from members. Once again recently there was a spontaneous response to a ‘cri de couer’ from Viv, the lure, if indeed it was necessary, was coffee and biscuits. The task was to help with the Spring Mailing. This involved the collation of ten items including the Handbook for insertion into 1000 envelopes, which also had to have labels affixed. Thanks to Viv’s organisation and control the task was finished by the end of the morning.
After that, for some who live locally, came the ultimate test of dedication to club activity – personal postal service. One volunteer who undertook to deliver 30 packets reported on the experience.
Firstly is the problem of identifying addresses when only few have house numbers. The rest have name plaques, many obliterated by age or surrounding foliage. Many letterboxes when found, some at ground level, are too small to admit an A4 packet; some indeed appear designed solely for postcards. At least one packet had to left hidden and the addressee informed later by phone. Then there are letterboxes fitted with springs that should be prohibited on grounds of health and safety. Finally there are houses made secure by feral animals that fortunately attack closed doors from the inside but assist by withdrawing the packets as they are put through the letterbox. One wonders how many handbooks survive a chewed reception!
No doubt the same volunteers will come forward again in the future – it must be the quality of Viv’s coffee and biscuits. But as a suggestion, perhaps this experience should be a qualifying undertaking for new members. |
