RS Feva Chairman Update/Pre Season Message
Well, spring is almost upon us although that seems a strange thing to say given the weather over the recent weeks.
For those who managed to get to the dinghy show last weekend, you will have noticed that the Feva was displayed in the entry hall alongside the other Junior RYA Pathway boats and we took a slot on the RYA Class Association stand and did a talk to promote the class. A big thank you and a well done to Ben Hutton-Penman for “offering” to stand up and talk about his experiences in the Feva and promoting the class. Of course, the talk was live streamed on our Twitter page as you would expect!!!!
The Class Association supported a programme of winter training this year which appears to have gone well and we have had open training opportunities around the country. The aim was to widen the footprint and availability of training to all and hopefully, we have achieved a bit of this in the first year and we will aim to grow the training in the coming years. We, of course, also held our RYA supported NJS training and Class supported CNS training which has been a success as always, albeit the weather has thrown some hurdles in our way this year!!
Our event programme is about to start and organisation is in full swing. Entry is open for our Spring and National Championships so get signed up early to take advantage of the “early bird” discount. The Springs this year will be held at Draycote Sailing Club over the weekend of the 24/25th March and the Nationals will be held at Weymouth over the bank holiday weekend of 26th/29th May.
You will note that for the Spring Championships we have a new sponsor, Tokio Marine HCC. The class has obtained a two-year sponsorship deal from Tokio Marine HCC which we are very thankful for and we have some great giveaways for all sailors at the Springs so make sure you sign up to take advantage.
For those lucky ones going to the World Championships in Florida then the date is getting close!! This event is organised by the International Class Association and you can still sign up and the weather will certainly be warmer than the UK. The fleet is full chartered so all you need is a flight and a bit of accommodation – easy!!!!??
As you will have seen, Lucy Jameson has been busy redesigning our website with the help of our web designer. We wanted to freshen up the site and we needed to comply with some changing rules on data protection, I am sure you will all agree that Lucy has done a fantastic job as always and the new site looks great.
I plan to hold a Committee meeting at the Springs and like our previous meeting, I will advertise the date and time and any parents/children interested in coming along to listen or add comment will be most welcome. We will let you know the timing.
And finally, our AGM will take place, as always, at the Nationals. This is the official opportunity for everyone to comment and also for us to agree the committee for the following year. As with any junior class, we are reliant on parental support to keep the association going and we are always looking for willing helpers. I believe it is important that the committee is made up of members with current class sailors as they have a better feel for what is going on. This year we have a number of committee members with sailors transitioning into new classes and whilst there will not be a mass exodus, we are looking for new parents to take over responsibility and support the Class Association transition. Any parent wanting or happy to take on some Class association responsibilities would be most welcome and please feel free to get in touch with me.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our sailors for supporting the class and making the class what it is today and I wish you all the very best for the coming sailing season. For those who have trained through the winter then put all that training into practice at some of our great events but remember above all else, this is a sport so enjoy yourselves!!
With best regards
Nick