Now that spring is here, weather conditions have improved significantly although one or two days have been lost to lack of wind and torrential rain. So far, there has been no real sign of any weed problems but we are keeping a very watchful eye on the lake to ensure that we take steps to deal with the problem as soon as it arises. To this end, we now have a homemade glass-bottomed bucket to enable us to inspect the lake bed in any weather conditions so that "weed control" working parties can be arranged quickly to deal with any problems as they occur.

        The Club hosted the first round of the District IOM Championship in February and the District IOM Team Championship in early March where Hampton Court ‘A’ team (Laurie Bower, Terry Colson and Dennis Moss) took second place, narrowly losing out to Three Rivers by one race. Because of the work carried out on the Rick Pond (more about this below) we "swapped" dates with Eastbourne for the hosting of the first two rounds of the RA PRACC championship. In the first round held at Eastbourne on 28^th March, congratulations go to Dave Andrews and Colin Trower who took 2^nd and 3^rd places respectively; in Round 2 (also the District RA Championship) held at the Club on 11^th April, Dave Andrews again managed 2^nd place with Dennis Moss taking 5^th place. The Club’s good showing in recent events continued when Dave Andrews and Colin Trower took 1^st and 2^nd places respectively in Round 2 of the District IOM championship held on 18^th April at Reading.

        I am delighted to report that, thanks to the efforts of Anthony Warren and the generosity of the contractors, Blazecon, work on restoring the Rick Pond for vane and free sailing has now been completed. Together with creating an underwater walkway and lowering the banks at the top end of the lake to allow vane sailors to turn their boats when racing, there is now a deep water launching/landing stage for radio skippers and a launching ramp for the rescue boat. All members who have seen and used these improvements are unanimous in welcoming the changes. Our sincere thanks go to all involved in the completion of this very successful project which will, we are sure, return the Rick Pond to its former place as a premier venue for vane sailing as well as enhancing its popularity for major radio sailing events.

        Over the last month or so, work has been carried out to identify the ownership of all boats stored in the club premises. Thanks to members’ supplying the information needed in their membership renewal forms, the job is nearly completed with each boat identified by the owner’s name being sellotaped to the underside of the pot lid or hatch cover – the ownership of only a very few boats remain unknown and we are working to solve this residual problem. Laurie Bower

   Previous CLUB NEWSLETTER, January 2010 

        Weather conditions have been atrocious recently and it will come as no surprise that we have been unable to sail at all for the last month although a few hardy members have attended the Club for a chat, a cup of coffee and an opportunity to indulge in the latest craze, flying indoor model helicopters! Although, at the time of writing, the Rick Pond is still frozen over, the currently improving temperatures may mean we can resume our sailing activities shortly – let’s hope so.

            Round 4 of the M&S District RM Championships was held at the Club on the 8^th November and club skippers did well taking 1^st, 2^nd and 5^th places. The winner was Dave Andrews with Colin Trower and Roger Stollery (Guildford MYC) taking second and third places respectively. We managed to hold two out of the three Club Christmas events – Terry Colson won the RM "Xmas Pudding" event and Colin Trower the IOM "Xmas Cracker" event – but the RA "Xmas Cheers" event had to be postponed.

            The Club’s AGM was held on 22^nd November and the attendance level was higher than in recent years. The meeting approved a number of changes to Club Rules designed to give the Committee more flexibility in the way that they carry out their responsibilities. The meeting also approved the appointment of John Mayhew as Commodore of the Club – a new non-executive position. The rule changes also included clauses which will enable the Committee to deal more effectively with the growing problem of shortage of floor space for the storage of boats in the Club’s premises. Full details of the AGM can be seen elsewhere on the website

            I am pleased to report that considerable progress has been made by Anthony Warren with regard to the project to restore the Rick Pond for vane sailing. Detailed plans have been drawn up by Anthony and the contractors and submitted to the Palace Authorities and we are now in a position where, hopefully, work will commence fairly shortly

            We are pleased to welcome Peter Smith, Mike Lovelace and Peter Hinton as new members of the Club and we hope they will enjoy sailing with us. Laurie Bower