Welcome to the Draycote Fireball fleet 1998. This is a quick overview of some of the recent events, and some of the schedule for the rest of the year.

Committee 1998/99

The Fireball AGM, held at the clubhouse on May the 11th was reasonably well attended and has produced a new committee for 1998-99.

Fleet captain Mike Deane

Vice captain / prizes Paul Disney

Secretary Martin Gaskin

Treasurer Dave Hotten

Bosun John Tenney

Membership/boatpark Ray Steele

Social events Anne Steele

Results Miles Thomas

Open Meetings Pete Greenrod

In order to form a viable committee, it has been necessary to define fairly precisely the duties required of each committee member. The committee therefore includes a number of members who are giving their services for a specific task only, and will not be expected to do any more than this. Thanks are due to all committee members for volunteering their services.

Fleet Subs

The fleet subscription, previously set at £5.00 per year, will be waived this year. This makes it highly unlikely that the fleet will show a profit at the end of the financial year, but it will nevertheless remain in the black and maintain a reasonable working capital.

Fleet Events

June 14th and 21st Marriot Mug personal handicap trophy. Three races to count out of six over the two Sundays. The handicaps will be allotted on the day. Note that the races will all start up to 15 minutes earlier than usual, so arrive in time for a 10.30 AM start for the first race.

September 13th and 20th  Fleet Championships. Three races to count out of six over the two Sundays.

December (TBA) Fleet Christmas meal.

All Summer Summer series racing on Sundays and Wednesday evenings as usual.

All Winter Winter series racing on Sundays if you can face it.

Other Events

August 1st - 7th   Salcombe Regatta week

October 3rd and 4th  Inland Championships - Grafham Water

Fireball Open Meeting

This was held in brisk winds over the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of May. Roughly forty boats turned up, including a mere four Draycote boats. Martyn Lewis managed third overall, the rest of us were less well placed, although Miles claims to have been 4th at the windward mark in one race. The racing was organised by the Miracle fleet, who did an excellent job.

The Good News

In spite of the number of Fireballs registered at Draycote dropping year after year, we have started to see an upturn in the number of boats racing. Last Sunday there were 7 starters, and this was without two of our regular boats. Furthermore, most of the boats were being sailed to a similar degree of skill, resulting in a very close race, eventually won by Graham and Martin with second place hotly contested by Ian/Chris, Pete/Richard, Alistair/Tony and me/Paul. This was not the first time this year that we have shown such a strong fleet, although it was probably your only chance to witness Ian and Chris tacking with the kite up.

Still in the Good News category, Rachel Raftery turned up at the club two weeks ago, apparently on the mend from her long illness. I'm sure that all of us wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her back out on the water again.

UKFA

The committee were reminded at the AGM that it is fleet policy that:

In order to qualify for fleet prizes, either the helm or the crew of a boat must be a member of the UK Fireball Association.

This restriction was voted in by the fleet at an earlier AGM, and must therefore be recognised until it is voted out again. However, you should bear in mind that:

1) Only one of a helm/crew pair need be a member of the UKFA in order for both to qualify for fleet prizes. Split the cost between you and it won't hurt so much.

2) Lack of membership does not stop you from sailing in fleet events. It just means that you can't be awarded a prize.

The UKFA are responsible for managing the Fireball fleet in this country, including the organisation of Area, National, Inland, European and World championships, as well as mundane things like measurers and manufacturers. They also produce quite a nice little Fireball News magazine several times a year. All this for a mere £20.

Application forms can be found nailed to our noticeboard.

And Finally

The committee would like to wish you all GOOD SAILING