9th January 2007 Change of Editor

Nick Johns developed and for many years has edited the SSC web site. He has now decided it is time to step down and move on. His creation ranks as a very effective shop-window representing the Club to the world at large and a first rate means of communication to all members and visitors. Many thanks for your efforts, Nick.

21st January 2007 Editorial Policy

Following hot on the heels of the announcement of a new Editor comes the announcement of changes to the website. A blizzard of 'eye-catching initiatives' is not Ancient Mariner's style, but a fresh mind and few new features would not go amiss. Here they are :

Committee Doings

AM has a longstanding remit from the Committee to improve if possible communication between Members and Committee. In this geographically dispersed organisation, it is a task worth doing. You can pin copies of Committee Minutes on the Club noticeboard until the cows come home and it will remain 'them' and 'us'.

This Editorial Page will, as required, comment on the policies being pursued by the Committee and why and with what degree of success or failure. It will also alert members to the doings of the WYA, the RYA and all the other 'authorities' whenever they warrant comment, positive or otherwise

The Notice Board

A sizeable amount of miscellaneous information arrives at the website ,not easy to classify, and of general interest or none. We need the hypertext equivalent of the Club Noticeboard, where members can scan what is happening in general and decide what, if any, notice they need take.

The Message Board

It is free, it works but is obscured by adverts which do not seem particularly relevant to members and which irritate rather than inform. A 'Better Way' will be investigated.


4th February 2007 Kitchen Refit

If you have visited the clubhouse in recent weeks, you may have been aware of planks, tins, tools everywhere, mitre saws on the pool table (shock-horror) and you may possibly have noticed a curtain across the kitchen entrance labelled 'hard hat area'. None of this gives any hint of the immense amount of rebuilding going on behind the curtain to gut and rebuild an enlarged kitchen facility - the majority of the work being done by volunteers.

Mirror, mirror on the wall. who is the fairest of them all? First among equals in our 'Heroes of SSC Labour' is Bosun Graham Wellman. Bosuns maintain boats but we operate a multi-discipline policy - Graham turns his hand to everything. Other names on the Roll of Honour are, in alphabetical order - Martin Andrews, Tricia Crew, John Hollies, Alan Lambert, Tom Owen and the enigmatic 'Helen from Tenby'. Next time you pass, look upon these works and ponder on the size of the bill if we did not have such volunteers.

4th February 2007 Catering for Events - the Lost Tribe

Talking of volunteers, 10-15 years ago, this item would not have warranted comment and would not have appeared on a Committee agenda. An army of members and their wives would have simply taken charge and sorted the problem. Sadly they have moved on and there is no new generation willing to replace them. It is problem we share with practically every voluntary body in the country.

Sail Training Issues 4th February 2007

On most Saturdays in the sailing season, a band of hard-working volunteers can be seen out in the bay teaching children and adults how to sail. They report a 40% increase in demand and seek Committee approval for an increase in our capacity - i.e. more boats devoted to sail training and for which grants and corporate sponsorship would be sought.

There are dissenting voices arguing a disparity between the resources devoted to sail training and an end-product measured in new active club members.

The debate continues.

23rd February 2007

The Notice Board carries a letter from Tricia Crew describing, in much more detail, the work being done to refit the kitchen and the conditions under which the volunteers are labouring - namely the necessity to clear away and pay for a cleaner at regular intervals to accommodate a social programme. [The word is Sisyphean. In the Greek legends Sisyphus was doomed to roll a stone up hill only to see it roll back to the bottom every time. Ed.] If Tricia judges it correctly, we have to contemplate two courses of action : to put a pen through the remaining social programme and cruiser workshops or hold them somewhere else conscript a seriously committed cleaning party to descend on the clubhouse *after* the Shock Brigade has finished The Message Board is open for business.

12th March 2007 SMOKING BAN

From April 1st, 2007 there will be a general ban on smoking in any enclosed public place throughout Wales.
You make think there is too much legislation or that a private club is not a public place. Be that as it may, the ban is universal and will apply throughout the Sailing Club premises, with the exception of the open-air patio.

Please note that enforcement is best described as Draconian - heavy fines not only on the offenders but also on those responsible for applying the ban i.e.us. The ban will not apply in England until much later in the year, so our English visitors may not be aware of its impact here. Please be understanding if club officials come over all heavy-handed - they have no discretion in the matter and an aversion to paying fines on such an issue.

12th March 2007 SAIL TRAINING Chapter II

In a previous editorial (4th February 2007), the debate on sail training in Committee was reported in terms of the 'pros' to whom it is vital to the club's future and a service to the community, and the 'antis' for whom 'junior' sail training in particular costs too much for insignificant results. The previous report ended 'The debate continues'. At the Committee meeting on March 8th, a proposal to invest £2500 in additional training dinghies was passed by majority vote. It is on the understanding that a further £7500 will be donated by government and corporate sponsors.

12th March 2007 CATERING - THE LOST TRIBE Mark II

As a brand new spacious kitchen takes shape, the survivors of the Lost Tribe of catering volunteers regret that they are no longer able to use it. The rest of us have more solid reasons to rue the passing of an era. To provide essential catering/reception/bar cover over the major sailing events, the Committee have been obliged to authorise expenditure of £1500 to recruit appropriate cover.

15th March 2007 RACE OFFICIAL ROTA

The Race Officials Rota Mark I has been devised by Paul Griffiths and is published on the Dinghy Scene page. It is, of course, a triumph of Hope over Experience in that Paul cannot possibly devise a schedule which pleases everybody, even if he knew their plans for the the season. So he devises it on the hit-and-run principle, throwing the responsibility on to the nominated officials to either turn up or exchange with someone who will.
Every year, that final exchange process proceeds by an inefficient process whereby every person affected rings round everybody else hoping to find a match.

There is a better way. There is a Message Board right here at the click of a button. Publish on it the days for which you need a substitute and see if you have any takers, then email me at Editor with the agreed exchange and I will periodically update the website version of the rota. It's not rocket science.

22nd March 2007 PRINCIPLES OF NAVIGATION How to find 'breaking news' on this website

Within living memory, the front page of 'The Times contained only the court circular, plus 'hatched, matched and dispatched' - not a headline in sight. The presumption was that every word on every page of The Times was of equal importance and all would be read at leisure.
Whatever the validity of that presumption then, in an age of information overload it would be barking. I mention it because I have a similar problem. I am assailed by new information - some of it of importance to many in the Club, some of no importance to anybody and I cannot expect, a la The Times that you will read every page every day on the off-chance.

So here is a solution. Where appropriate, new items of info will get their '15 minutes of fame' on our dinky moving banner. Your next port of call should be the Notice Board Index where every incoming item will be logged. Such is the brilliance of Tim Berners-Lee's hypertext concept that you just click on an item of interest and it will appear before your eyes.

By all means continue to browse through the individual web pages - they will contain all the 'baseline' information about who we are, and what and where. This notice concerns only 'breaking news'.

Customer service - one more reason for being a member of this Club.

Ancient Mariner Editor