Report from the 16th and 17th June 2007 taster days.

June 16th and 17th saw a successful second 'Taster Weekend' of the year for Morecambe and Heysham Yacht club with fifteen enthusiastic volunteers taking to the water. Light winds on Saturday meant a gentle introduction to sailing with the club's qualified instructors, Mark Dexter, Keith Byers and Dave Wood, mixed with the faster pace of trips in the high powered safety boat and a close up view of the RNLI exercises involving the hovercraft and two RIB lifeboats.

Winds picked up on Sunday as the newcomers tried their hands in the Wayfarer dinghies, with John Gibbison taking Dave Wood's place as the third instructor, as well as getting the opportunity to join in the regular racing as crew for club members on the fast-moving catamarans.

Amongst those taking part was Poulton Ward Councillor Rebekah Gerrard who has a strong interest in the Poulton Initiative whose funding enabled the club to offer these opportunities to local people. The next taster weekend is scheduled for the 18th and 19th of August.

The regular club fixture produced another day of hard fought races. Dave Kelsall maintained his dominance of the season, although this week a number of his closest rivals were involved in the taster weekend.

Race 1
1. D Kelsall (Laser)
2. N Broadbent (Solo)
3. R Simpson (Laser Radial)
4. H Reid (Dart 15)
5. P Shelling (Dart 15)
6. T Rackham (Enterprise)

Race 2
1. D Kelsall (Laser)
2. R Simpson (Laser Radial)
3. N Broadbent (Solo)
4. T Rackham (Enterprise)

Thanks to Chris Dexter as Sunday's Officer of the Day plus Dave Kelsall and Graham Liddy who manned the safety boat on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Cllr Rebekah Gerrard (right), and Michelle Driscoll from the local Air Cadet squadron pictured with club instructor Keith Byers.

If you would like to participate in one of the club’s forthcoming taster days, please contact Keith Byers on 01524 381415, phone the Club on 01524 418206 on a Friday evening between 8.30pm and 11.00pm, or call in at the club house on Back Calton Street (alongside the town hall) after about 8.30 pm on a Friday evening, where there is always a friendly welcome.

Schedule of Taster Days - 2007

21st and 22nd April

16th and 17th June

18th and 19th August

Report from the 21st and 22nd April 2007 Taster Days

Thanks to support from the Poulton Neighbourhood Management initiative, Morecambe and Heysham Yacht Club ran a very successful taster weekend for local people in April. Morecambe and Heysham Yacht club, which is an approved RYA* training centre, has run a series of such events since buying the Wayfarers which are ideally suited for training novice sailors. The club's RYA approved instructors used the two Wayfarer sailing dinghies purchased with a grant from the Poulton Regeneration Management Committee to give the twelve intrepid volunteers a chance to try out sailing on the Bay. On the Sunday they were joined on the water by a flotilla of club members' boats, and were able to experience first hand the excitement of dinghy racing, including having a go as crew on fast racing catamarans.

The racing on the Sunday, which were the St George's Flag Day races, was closely contested, with the lead changing many times throughout. There was a particularly exciting tussle at the front between Dave Kelsall and Tony Rackham, and with both sailing identical Laser dinghies it was all down to the skill of the skippers. In the end honours were shared, with Dave winning the first race and Tony the second, see below for the final results.

Photos

Mark Dexter, one of the club's three qualified instructors, with brothers Ian and Peter Jones, in front of one of the Wayfarer dinghies used to give local folk a taste of sailing on the Bay.

Launching one of the club's safety boats. There is always at least one fully equipped safety boat manned by a qualified powerboat/safety boat driver on the water whenever club sailing is underway.

Club boats being launched ready for the start of racing, training boat Wayfarer Number 7114 can be seen setting off in the background.

Results

Race 1

1. D Kelsall (Laser)

2. N Broadbent (Solo)

3. T Rackham (Laser)

4. H Reid (Dart 15)

5. P Shelling (Dart 15)

Race 2

1. T Rackham (Laser)

2. D Kelsall (Laser)

3. N Broadbent (Solo)

4. J Hodgson/P Chandler (Miracle)

5. H Reid (Dart 15)

6. P Shelling (Dart 15)

*The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is the UK governing body for the sport of sailing and manages the national sailing training schemes.