During this busy time of predominantly rowing activity, the sailing club has been improving its facilities and a lot of hard work has been going into improving the safety boat fleet ready for the start of the season and changes to the old garage storage area to a space where we can now work on boats or engines in the comfort of a dry and secure area.

There have been a number of socials over recent months which have all been a sell out success which is good for the club all round. Many of you already know the club has been involved for the last two years with Bart’s Bash.

Saundersfoot Sailing Club is proud to announce that is has been recognised by the Bart’s organisation as being the number one sailing club around the world in its efforts to both promote and participate in this prestigious event. Currently, the name of Saundersfoot is being read in over 60 countries and at over 700 venues. An excellent result from a dedicated team of helpers who are from possibly one of the smaller clubs in West Wales, but obviously not the most inactive.

This has now become the world’s largest sailing event that is run by sailing clubs, community sailing programmes, sail training centres, yacht clubs, scout groups, sea cadets and even groups of sailors, all around the world in over 60 countries.

The main aim of the event is to increase participation in sailing, and the first Bart’s Bash event saw over 700 sailing clubs from more than 60 different countries take part in their own individual Bart’s Bash race at their location, helping to encourage more people to get on the water and enjoying a day’s sailing. In January 2015, Bart’s Bash and SSC was awarded a Guinness World Record for the largest sailing race in 24 hours.

All Bart’s Bash participants are encouraged to fund raise for the foundation which is already undertaking a range of sustainable projects, using sailing to transform the lives of children and young people and the Saundersfoot Sailing Club has been able to raise over £1300 in the last two years.

Sailing Season

All the plans are in place and the times of races with all the helpers are now on the new club’s website and can be found on the dinghy section.

First Aid course

The club will be running a first aid course on Saturday, April 30, which is the RYA First Aid at Sea. There are limited places so if any members would like to join in then please contact Tina Osborne at the club and the cost for the event will be £15.

Wednesday

helpers crew

A dedicated number of members meet each week at the club to work on any of the things that we need to keep the club going from boats to painting. If you are free and would like to pop down, then please come along, we meet any time from approximately 9.30 onwards and you will receive a warm welcome and quiet possibly a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit if you are quick enough. If you like boats and playing about around the water, then the Bosun’s Locker is the place to be.

Coppet Week

The ever-popular Coppet Week plans are well underway, and with the number of entries already currently received, it looks as if it will be as successful as in previous years. There will be limited numbers this year due to the growing increase in demand so make sure you get those entries in early if you are a local sailor wishing to take part.

More information can be found at www.saundersfootsailingclub.org or check out the popular Facebook pages for up-to-date information.

Club

Diversification

The sailing club is diversifying the assets it has and over the winter period has linked up with Wiseman’s Bridge Rowing Club which normally goes a bit quiet at this time of year. Well I can assure you that it has not been the case at all, with a large number of initiatives taking place at the sailing club over the winter months.

First of all, Neil Cross from WBRC, the rowers’ junior coach, has put together an excellent number of sessions bringing together people of all ages and gender to introduce them to the world of rowing. The juniors have been put through their paces with an extensive training plan on the indoor rowing machines. These are currently based at Tenby Surflnk who have also been very supportive in allowing the rowers to use their club and facilities. This is at a time when they would possibly be closed up for winter so a much better use of local club’s facilities.

The juniors have had the opportunity to visit the Tenby RNLI for safety briefings and the equipment required while you are out there on the water. They have also been involved in keep fit sessions over the last few months. Apart from rowing in the soon to start season, Neil aims to take the juniors to the Welsh National Indoor Rowing Championships in November. Apparently with all the technical training they have been receiving, they have as good a chance as any club in coming back with some medals, so fingers crossed for them.

Sport England are also running a number of initiatives up and down the UK to encourage women of all ages from 12 up to 112 who would like to be involved and of course rowing is part of this. The Welsh rowing project #ThisGirlRows was taken up by Neil and Brent with plenty of assistance from the rest of the club. This has been very successful over the last few months with 12 ladies being put through their paces for fitness and technique on both the indoor rowers and out on the water. They have been spotted several times out on the harbour practicing their skills in all sorts of winter weather that would have sent the majority of us running back to the changing rooms.

Congratulations to Neil, Brent and the enthusiasm of all the rowing club members. It does take a big commitment from many people in their own time to make these initiatives work and be as successful as they have been. Initial feedback from all the ladies is that they will be continuing their start into the world of rowing and will be or have already joined the Wisemans Rowers.

As the weather starts to improve, we will, in the next couple of weeks, see all the Celtic boats return back up the beach to Wiseman’s to dry out in some of the planned sunshine we are now waiting for.

More information can be found at www.wisemansbridgerowingclub.co.uk

A Salty Sea Dog