Norfolk Punt Club March Newsletter.

The Punt Club may be about , about Barton and most especially about chocolate cake but it is the people that makes us who we are.

I am delighted to be able to offer our congratulations to Charlotte and Alastair Drew who have just brought little Henry Christopher Drew home to Cangate.

It is an especially poignant time for them all as many of you will have known Charlotte’s father, Chris How who had been a club member for many years. Sadly I have to inform you all that he died last Thursday evening, his funeral is to be at St. Peter’s Neatishead on Monday 11th March at 2.30pm.

THE FITTING OUT SUPPER.

Quite a lot of us have signed up for next Saturday evening and there is still room for more to come and enjoy the evening. Lots of you have said that you will bring puddings (which gladdens my heart!) but the kitchen team are lacking enough salads so if you haven’t signed up yet and want to come and bring a salad you will be doubly welcome. If you haven’t sent back the form its not too late, please email Val numbers etc and then pay on the night. There has been a tradition within the Punt Club that we have a rolling group of helpers for occasions like this so that no one finds themselves organising something for years and years and years. If you would like to come and join the fun and the carefully calculated chaos on the other side of the serving hatch for another year then please do tell us on the night!

Working Parties, Towing Out & Stuff.

We are nearly there, one more working party next Saturday 16th March and then the pontoons will be ready to go. The toilet raft has been serviced by Eric in Cox’s, the rib and the dories pressure washed and just needing to be antifouled before they are launched and then everything will be ready for Saturday 23rd when we tow out onto the Broad.

10 o’clock is the start time on both Saturdays and anyone and everyone is welcome to come and help. Being towed across the Broad by a dory while standing on a raft may not be the most lyrical way to get afloat but it is fun. So, if you’ve never done it them now is your opportunity for a new experience1

Radio Controlled Racing.

This coming Saturday sees the last of the official winter Saturdays for the closet Laser sailors among us. Sometimes we are frozen off the water and this Saturday we may well be sailing our boats from inside the cabin of our cruiser (I don’t do wet, official,) and it seems a shame that the winter sailing season is ending………..So, watch your emails radio sailors. There is no reason at all that we should not continue to sail on Saturday mornings racing round the pontoon. Lets keep in touch and when one or other of us knows that we shall be out on the Broad on a Saturday then we can email one another and see if we might get together and race. How about it?

Junior Week. We expect to send out letters to the Club Juniors before the end of the month so that you can begin to plan for Junior Week. It all seems a long way off when it’s March and about to get cold and wet again but all of a sudden it will be time for Junior Week so don’t lose your letters, forms and things and get your applications in early.

First Sunday of Sailing 5th May With this newsletter come a couple of attachments. The application for a space for your dingy, on the bank at Barton and a big blank rota for us to see where we can offer to help. If you would like to help in the tea hut, in the box or on the water in a rescue boat then please can you email Nick and Caroline Dixey on [email protected] and tell them where and when you are willing to help.

If you have never done anything like this and would to know more about what you have to do then we shall be only too happy to show you how. There are no dates on the club calendar for OOD training or Rescue Boat Training. Instead we will try and respond to your request for time in the rib or dory or an explanation of what it means to be OOD. Ian Mason oversees powerboat training so talk to him or to Neville, Caroline or Fil.

It really is a case of “Your Club Needs You” but it really should be fun not a chore so do let us know if you would like to learn how to have even more fun out on Barton.

First Tuesday of Sailing, 7th May. While on the subject of having fun on Barton, Tuesday evening sailing and racing is just so different you would not believe it. For a start the Broad is quiet, the wind is usually quite light and the course is short, small and we keep close to the pontoons.

We generally get afloat by 6.30 and come in before the midges get to hungry for their supper. It is a hilariously mixed fleet of allcomers enjoying each others company. If life and your diary allows you to join in then do come along.

The Outdoor Festival at The Forum in Norwich. We should be able to bring you more details about this after the committee meeting next week. Caroline Dixey is hoping to persuade a Punt owner to take a punt to this event at The Forum and to promote the club and he Broad. She will need us to help meet and greet the Great British Public and we hope to encourage some to come to an Open Day on Saturday 11th May. We should know a lot more by the time of the Fitting Out Supper.

Team Racing with The Royal Thames Club. It is out turn to host this biennial event on Saturday 18th.May. If you know as little about ‘team racing’ as your Commodore then come along to watch and learn with me! Each club will have three crews sailing White Boats and so far we have two boats, our own Wood Argus and & Lenka Luckhurst have offered Camberwell Beauty. Any more offers of White Boats will be gratefully received by the Commodore, please! To those of you who have already offered their services to race for the Punt Club, thank you very much.

It’s nearly time to go sailing again folks, the Olympics are over, and it must be our turn for a proper summer this year, surely!

Neville Khambatta, Commodore