I started here as Commodore, and fittingly I end here!
So firstly, I want to thank you all for accepting me as your Commodore. Only the third female Commodore in a long history, and for all the support you have shown me. I have truly appreciated your help and friendships.
How wonderful it is to have a room packed with enthusiastic sailors, lots of banter and great food.
29 years ago, when I first joined the club, our sailing calendar was packed with racing and youth orientated events: Mutiny on the Medway in Oppies to spectacular Keelboat Regattas incorporating Sail East. 70 boats raced every Saturday afternoon and on Sunday 25 Cadets would arrive with their parents to have lots of fun once the racing yachts had cleared the start line. Our concern was the number of stagnant cruisers sitting on their moorings, with the high cost of their maintenance, we were anxious about the impact the Marina would have on the club and who would be our future sailors. How some things have changed.
Today, our calendar is filled with boozy trips to Queenborough, cruises in company to distant shores, raucous parties on the pontoon and cosy cups of coffee and muffins on Tim Bishop’s boat.
Life has become very simple and flexible with the use of the travel hoist. No more gatherings in the early morning wrapped in warm clothes, preparing for a long day supporting the teams as a crane brought boats ashore. We use paid staff now carry out the trot boat service, our admin is carried out efficiently by the Office and a Manager runs the club on a day to day basis.
As a club we are tremendously indebted to you all for being here today and the way many of you are getting involved in club life. You give willing of your time and experiences whether this be fabricating gates, servicing engines for your fellow sailors and club equipment, organising trips or coming up with ideas for the Management Committee but to make this club affordable and to be able to offer the services that so many demand, as we do understand that some of you lead very busy lives, we need more.
Despite our beautiful waiters and the elegant way we have been served today, we are not asking for you to all roll up your sleeves and put on a pinny but what we do need, is for more of you to come up the pontoon and turn right. Maybe turning left gets you home quicker to that glass of bubbles but we need you back in here to re-form that community spirit that we have here today.
For those of you who only have a single membership, can you to turn that into a family membership?
Please support John and the team for getting behind the shrapnel club refurbishment campaign and Rosie, for all her advertising, bringing us together. This is what is needed to ensure Medway Yacht Club continues to be the best club on the river at an acceptable price with fantastic assets, friendships, experiences on the water and long-lasting memories.
Ladies and Gentlemen. Please can I ask you to be upstanding and raise a glass to the future of the Tuesday group, all who make it possible and the opportunities we all have to get out on the water.
Quotes about the Tuesday Group
“The Tuesday sailors at Medway Yacht Club are incredible — they’ve mastered every point of sail… except sailing past the bar without stopping.”
“I love the Tuesday sailors. They’re the only group I know who check the tide tables, the wind forecast, and the menu.”
“At Medway Yacht Club, the Tuesday sailors don’t argue about racing rules anymore — they just argue about who remembers them the longest.”