April Newsletter

Dear members,

The season is upon us! Next weekend, racing kicks off with a shoreline start from RLYC, with the races counting for an exciting FOUR trophies! I'll be out with Dauntless, but before we get there, I've got a few updates for you all.

2025 Fleet

All the entries are in for CCCA racing! We have 16 entries for both shoreline starts and committee vessel starts. This is three up on CVs and one up on shorelines from last season, and several pre-existing syndicates have found new members. A special mention must go to Audax, who in the last week have signed up four new co-owners! Class membership applications are in progress for Christopher Parker, Lance French, Matt Kelly and Mark Myers.

Additionally, David Mitchell has joined the Dreamer syndicate; Chris Preston has joined Destroyer; and Chris Jackson has joined the Debutante team.

Dolphin has decided to take a year off but we're looking forward to seeing them back out in 2026.

Tim Hancock, who is organising the RTYC 250th weekend as well as Cowes Classics Regatta, has asked me to chase all boats for their entries. I'll do that by email to owners - but please do sign up soon! The former is free (well, costs covered by CCCA entries) and the latter is paid separately.

Handbook

Thanks to some excellent work by Myles and Malcolm, the Handbook is going to print and should be with you all by the weekend. We've posted the website version, which will be maintained as "live" throughout the year.

You will note an additional section this year, where we've tried to capture the service offers given by our sailmaking contractors as well as Island Divers.

Website

As you might have noticed, I had a crack at a bit of a website re-design this year. Please do provide feedback if there's stuff you want to see and comments on how to make it better!

New Website Homepage

One of the new areas is a "Classifieds" section where we can advertise for all sorts - sales, syndicate membership, charters, etc. So, if owners want to publicly advertise for new syndicate members, please do send a nice photo and a short paragraph on what the offer is! Be clear about the nature of the offer, the age/state of the boat, and what the proposed cost basis is.

Dreamer Modifications

Lavinia, David, Duncan and Pietro have put some work in over the winter and I wanted to highlight what they've done (as it looks quite nice), as well as reassure the class that it's being assessed/regulated properly.

They have emulated some of the work done to Doublet, well documented by John Corby on his website. They have adjusted the deck cutout to the same shape as a D2, raised the floor a little, installed the popular tubular centre console, re-routed jib sheeting arrangements (with tracks staying in the regulated position) and moved to an Etchells-style launch and storage system for the spinnaker.

The committee has asked them to engage Andrew Yates to measure and certify, given the extent of the modifications, at such a time as might be practicable. Pending that measurement, they may race as a Daring as nothing appears at first inspection to be outside of what other boats have successfully had measured.

A Focus on Speed

We have a couple of exciting new innovations this year that plans are rapidly firming up for.

Trim Clinic

First, on 25 May we will have the Trim Clinic at the Max Aitken museum. The start time has been amended to 0930 for Red Jet compatibility, and will run for about 90 minutes with tea and coffee.

We have a panel of three experienced sailors from Darings and other keelboats: Malcolm Lofts, David Tydeman, and Giles Peckham. The format will be "Question Time", so start thinking about the questions you want to pose!

Sir Max Aitken Museum (QT Logo (c) BBC)

Coaching Weekend

We have asked Duncan Truswell, a highly competent coach at all levels, to join us for the weekend 28-29 June. Several committee members know him from his work with Etchells in particular but he has a fascinating bio, some of which can be read here: About our Trustees (World Sailing Trust)

We will tie down exact timings closer to the date, but he'll give a pre-briefing before going on the water; capture footage and give immediate feedback to boats while racing (for which an amendment to SIs and RRS is being prepared); and hold a "hot" debrief at RLYC after racing on the Saturday.

We intend for the racing to still "count" and so we trust to Duncan's impartiaility and your good nature to not claim any perceived disadvantage. This is a great opportunity to get some valuable insights into our sailing, and is at no individual cost to sailors, so come and make the most of it!

If a boat doesn't want to be involved for whatever reason, just let us know and Duncan can steer clear.

Social Plans

Our Social Secretary has a lot on her hands - Baby George arrived only a couple of weeks ago! I can report that Alice appears to be holding it together, as she's been making flyers for some of our social events and even found time to come to a committee meeting. I'm sure I speak for the whole class in wishing her well.

The Handbook has a few details now on social plans for the year. June is looking particularly energetic!

• On the weekend of the RTYC 250th Anniversary, Alice has booked the top bar at ISC for the Friday night for some informal drinks as our own little contribution to the social fabric of the weekend.

• We are expecting some integration with YCdF social plans on the weekend of 21/22 June, but will let you know closer to the time. I imagine a Saturday night dinner will feature, probably at RL/RT.

• Cowes Week drinks remains at RYS - we're really lucky to have access to the venue, it being such an iconic part of Cowes Week!

• On the August BH weekend, we intend to hold a post-race BBQ at a location TBC.

• The Dying of the Light this year will move to RL/RT, in the spirit of moving things around among the various clubs which support our racing.

• We intend to stick with prizegiving in Cowes as it is better attended, better price, and not having to catch trains makes things more enjoyable.

• We will however commit to plans for an off-season London drinks party in 2025/6, probably in February.

I think that's all for now, so I wish you all a great final week of rest and will see you all on Saturday. Make sure you check your boats before racing and in particular check radios, flares, first aid kit and anything else that can deteriorate or perish.

All the best,

Josh