To allow members to report on weather and to ask who is going to be at the club we introduce an email list where only the members that are interested get the mail. The list will be kept up to date by the club, so you can add yourself (or remove) at any time.
Sign up here : Forfar email list subscription form
On Tuesday and Sunday, we have had the first races of the season.
Tuesday evening we had 3 boats at the start line for a pursuit race, 2 solo’s and the commodore with his new laser helmed by Sebastian. The wind was not strong, but reasonably consistent. The 2 solo’s (Tony & Erwin) started the race going over the start line at the same time, Erwin managed to go round Z (currently marked X) first closely followed by Tony. Tony managed to get passed at some point to loose the advantage fairly soon after. Sebastian and Mark had to wait 5 minutes before they could start, a distance too great to even get close to the front. They used the time wisely to get used to the boat without getting dunked.
On Sunday Bill manned the race officer post, feeling that the weather was still a bit too cold to brave a sail. With Becci, Tony and Erwin at the start the first race was started, only to find Erwin going to the shore to sort the car out. Back on the water, he needed to perform this again and therefore did not manage to start at the starting time. After a delay of about 2 minutes, he started on a catch-up. Becci meanwhile took a decent lead, enough to capsize and get back up before Tony could get close.
All this wasn’t enough when she capsized again, this time Tony managed to get by and take the lead. He managed to keep hold of this to the end. Erwin did get closer but not close enough to overtake Becci.
The second race started close up to the first mark, where Tony managed to slowly gain a further advantage. Becci decided to not start this race, as the wind had picked up a bit and this meant that the risk of constant capsize was significantly increased.
This Sunday (20-03) and next it’s boats back time. If you have a boat in the ‘tatty shed’ please let us know what time you intend to be at the club or shed to collect your boat. We can always use a hand getting the club boats back and secured, so send us a message if you can be there either day.
The Forfar Community Skiff is to be named ‘Greg Luckhurst’ in memory of a local businessman, the late Greg Luckhurst, who passed away in 2021. A generous donation from Greg’s family allowed us to purchase a St Ayles skiff kit.
This project is currently underway and is being built for the use of the local community on Forfar Loch – to promote healthy outdoor community activities as well as fitness, through rowing for pleasure or as a competitive sport
We are making good progress with the Skiff now we have solved the condensation problem in the shed.
Working parties are to be held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from now on – starting from next Tuesday (25th Jan) at 9-30am.
There will be three separate jobs within the main project before we start the build:-
Scarphing and glueing the planks
Fitting and glueing the frames
Laminating and glueing the bow and stern sections These tasks will involve spreading epoxy on the wooden boat parts and clamping them together. We will only be able to do so much at a time as the epoxy has to cure, and this will take time due to current temperatures.
We require up to 100 woodworking clamps – so if you have some, that we could borrow for a few months, please bring them along.
I would suggest you bring coveralls of some description as epoxy is difficult to remove from clothing. Nitrile protective gloves will be supplied when using epoxy.
Tea/Coffee and choccy biscuits are available
See more information on the Forfar Rotary Club Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/forfarrotaryclub
Good evening,
As I write this, parties are being cancelled and we are being asked to consider social situations we attend due to the rapidly evolving Omicron variant. Who would have thought, as a society that we would still be in this position nearly 2 years from the initial reports from Wuhan? Certainly not our outgoing commodore, Helen Brown I am sure. Over her tenure she has maintained the club in what has been the most unusual situation in is 60 years, regrettably having to spend as much (if not more) of her time considering COVID in the context of sailing than sailing. I and the rest of the committee thank her for her sterling work and hope that over the coming season she has the opportunity to enjoy recreational sailing at the club.
I have been a member of the club for around six years now (and secretary for much of that), over that time what has remained a constant is the friendly and approachable members FSC is blessed with. It is this, I believe that sets our small club apart from larger ones. It enables us to respond to our membership rapidly and while we offer a sailing programme, with notice and planning we can offer other activities in response to our members. I would encourage you all to be a part of this and if there is something you feel is missing from the program – let one of the committee members know if you have an idea for a special event (club members only or open to others in the community) – again contact the committee. While we encourage you all to consider joining the committee what is also important is that you communicate with us so the club can adapt to the needs of the membership. What is always a surprise to me is the number of Forfonians (and surrounds) that are not aware that sailing occurs on The Loch, so please tell your friends and family, bring them down (liaise with the committee if you would like help enabling them to get out on the water) – our most valuable recruitment tool is you and your word of mouth.
Over the next few months while the boats rest the committee will be developing a program and ensuring the club is ready to go next spring. The University will be out on the water, in their new fleet, team racing – a very different type of racing to club racing they are an approachable bunch and if you are out for a walk over winter and see them sailing stop by, say hi and they a generally happy to explain what is going on. The Skiff project will also be moving forward – watch for further updates of this exciting evolution of water sport on Forfar Loch from our very own Tony Walker. It looks like this Christmas will not be quite the pre-COVID Christmas we all hoped for, but dream of warm waters and fair winds – tell us what you would like from the club next year, stay safe and have a very happy Christmas.
I am sure I echo all members of the club when I thank Helen and the outgoing committee for all their work over the last year and I look forward to working with the incoming committee over the forthcoming year.
Mark Kimber
Commodore