The Rear Admiral's Cup series of races competed for by the three yacht clubs of Weymouth was considered a great success in its first year.  The trophy was duly presented by the instigator of the new event Rear Admiral John Croydon to the Rear Commodore (Sailing) of the Royal Dorset Yacht Club, Diana Gill, after sailing on Sunday 30 November at WSC.

The final scores in the event were: RDYC 71 points, WSC 89 points and CCSC 110 points.  The result was not finally settled until the last race.  Next year the series will be repeated, hopefully with the final event being the Cherbourg race, and with the handicapping being under the Portsmouth Yardstick system, rather than the IRC system as this year.  This will render more yachts eligible for selection for the club teams.  I think everyone who took part enjoyed the event very much and it raised a good spirit of sporting competitivness between the clubs

WSC welcomes its new committee boat.  After a winter of refurbishment and refitting, the boat will replace Viking as the Club committee boat next season.  She is an ex-RN boat which has been used by the Sea Cadets in recent years.  The current committee boat 'Viking' was originally purchased with the idea of establishing whether the Club would benefit from committee boat starts to races.  This has undeniably been proven and the Club has been looking for a replacement boat for some time. The new boat which has a more substantial GRP hull and a good engine and some cabin space should serve the Club well for several years. 

The boat is missing one vital thing – a name.  A notice has been put up in the Club for suggestions and a vote to decide will take place at the Commodore’s Christmas Pimm’s Party on Saturday December 13^th.   The selection of a photo for the front page of the Club Handbook 2009 will also take place then.  Send any photos that you would like to enter to the Club email address.

BBC's The One Show came to Weymouth Sailing Club on Friday last week to film a sequence for the show.  Presenter Dominic  Littlewood and a film crew spent all day filming for a piece on Travel Insurance Problems.  Club member David Griffiths has a prime role in the production and was filmed riding his motorbike around the harbourside.  Interviews were filmed outside of the clubhouse.

Ernie and Mark Lee with Marcus Bray were getting their boat ready for the winter lay up when they were surprised by the film crew invading the yard.

The film will be shown on BBC 1 The One Show at 19.00 hours sometime before Christmas.

The annual Weymouth Squib Class meeting was held at WSC on Saturday 8 November 2008.  Squibbers were joined by the Commodore, Melita Biggs for supper in the club in advance of the meeting.  The Class Captain Report was given by Simon Vines and Reports 2007 racing by John Thomson.  Simon was voted to continue as Class Captain with Iain Jones as his Vice Class Captain.

Peter Hopford, Chairman National Squib Championships Organising Committee told the meeting of the plans for the event taking place 27 June - 3 July 2009.  He reported a lot of interest in the event and he was very confident that the projected 100 boats on the start line would be achieved.  He said that the largest keelboat event of the season would attract a lot of attention and he urged all local boats to get involved.  The event is still looking for support from sponsors.The Notice of Race and Entry Forms will be published very soon.  For details of the event go to www.Squibs09.org.uk

The Cruiser Class meeting is Saturday 15 November with supper available in the Club from 18.00 hours.  Please talk to Steve Dadd for details.