50th Junior Race Week
Dear Members
Just to say a huge thank you to so many lovely members who volunteered your time, skills, boats and much, much more over the last 7 days to mark a very special celebration of our 50th Junior Week.
It all kicked off last Saturday night with a reunion of 5 decades of ex-juniors and volunteers dancing the night away and, judging from the restock required by our Bar Team, it enjoyed by all.
On Monday we welcomed 108 juniors to the club – and whilst Red Fleet, under the expert eye of overall PRO of the week Roger Kent, took to Pilsey in over 20 knots of wind, Blue Fleet (PRO: Chris Townsin), Green Fleet (PRO: Rob Bullion) and Gold Fleet (PRO: Anna Zuurmond) had a fantastic time messing around in our very own ‘swimming pool’ – the highlight being how many kids can you get in and sail an Optimist – before you sink it! Tuesday was also feisty winds but thanks to our excellent safety teams, we had everyone back to enjoy an evening of Dragonforce65 remote controlled yacht racing on the Pond. The sun never stopped shining and from Wednesday onwards we had near perfect conditions for all level of sailors, with some excellent racing and brilliant camaraderie on and off the water.
Prize Giving on Friday was made extra special with the visit of double Olympic Gold Medallist and multiple World Champion sailor, Iain Percy. Iain won gold in the Finn class in Sydney in 2000 and then teamed up with best friend Andrew Simpson to win gold again in Beijing in 2008 in the Star Class. Some of the eagle-eyed among you may have spotted among the old Junior Week registration forms posted in the club house, Andrew Simpson’s entry to Mengeham Junior Week in 1989!.
The Andrew Simpson Foundation, of which Iain is a Trustee, was created in the memory of Andrew “Bart” Simpson and is committed to encourage access and participation in sailing and to improve the lives of young people through sailing. The Foundation very kindly agreed to support our 50th Year with Iain presenting prizes and inspiring our young (and not so young) with his top tips: tip number 1: Enjoy it – after that all else follows…
We would love to see as many of you ( juniors and adults) sailing in our club race for ‘Bart’s Bash’ on Saturday 15th September (details in the Programme).
After such an exciting and exhausting week, it was great to see so many MRSC sailors on the podium. Well done Team Mengeham – an absolutely brilliant result!
Full results are on the Junior Week Page of the website http://mengeham.org.uk/wp/juniors/junior-week/ and there are some fabulous photos of the week on facebook https://en-gb.facebook.com/mengeham.sailing.club/and mengehamsc on Instagram.
To our PRO’s, race, rescue, registration, base, beach, bar, trolley, tuck, pond and house teams –it’s been an 50th Year Race Week to remember – the comments from visitors where universally effusive in their praise of the warmth of the Mengeham welcome and the strength of the Mengeham Spirit!
Joanna
PS. For those of you that are feeling a bit flat now that it’s all over….date for next year…29th July 2019!
Push the Boat Out Club Open Day Saturday 19th May
We had an incredible turnout, offering short trips on yachts, day boats, RIBs, Laser 2000s, Fevas, Teras, kayaks and paddle boards on the water and off the water our ‘meet and great’ teams, Dragon Force 65 fleet and Registration, and catering teams worked their socks off to welcome over 200 visitors to the club. You couldn’t fail to be impressed with the sight of a full club house and a busy waterside scene, including a visit by the Hayling Lifeboat crews! In fact, Ben, from the RYA, said that, having visited a few clubs before coming to ours, that he was ‘blown away’ by the energy and atmosphere at MRSC!! There are some great photos of the day on the MRSC Facebook page and we will also put some up on the website, and of course on the photo loop that we will show on the TV screens in the club house.
Of the many highlights for me, was the cutting of the Wedding Cake by ‘Harry and Meghan’ AKA Emma Scribbans and Andy Ferguson (thanks for playing along guys!) and an even bigger thank you to Helen Ward’s sister for making such a lovely cake – it was delicious. We also owe a big thank you to Dan Taylor and the British Marine Federation for the loan of life jackets for the day meaning so many more people could get on the water.
Special guests Harry and Meghan were there to cut the cake.
This is a short video slideshow of the day. Click full screen to view.
A Brilliant day !!!
What a credit the New Committee are to the club, a real Vintage event that showed the Mengeham spirit at its best,
Well done… to you all
Robin D
