News Archives

Windsurfing Senior Instructor Wanted (16/10/09) by Jeremy Speakman
WANTED - URGENT. The club has a vacancy for an RYA qualified Senior Instructor (S.I.) windsurfing for the coming year. Ideally, this post needs to be filled by May 2010. HSSC has obtained some grant money to enable anyone interested to upgrade their qualification to S.I. level if required. This is a great opportunity for anyone who would like to upgrade, and is of paramount importance to the future and success of our junior/youth windsurfing programme.

Anyone with a current Start windsurfing, or Level 1 windsurfing instructors qualification is eligible for this course, subject to the required proof of training hours.
It is also worth noting that existing dinghy qualified S.I`s are also eligible if they hold a Start windsurfing qualification. This may be of interest to our dinghy S.I`s. Either S.I courses or Start windsurfing courses are available regularly at South East venues. For further information please contact Phil Hards  philip.hards@btinternet.com

HSSC events: Fireworks Night, AGM, Dinner & Dance (14/10/09)
Dates for your diary:

- Fireworks Night, Friday 6th November 7.00 pm start.
- AGM - Saturday 21st November, 6.00pm start.
- Dinner & Dance (Lympne Castle), Saturday 5th December.

More details to follow.

Hythe Hotshots at the T15 National Championships (14/10/09) by Andy Gibson
Photos - click here 10 young windsurfers from Hythe and Saltwood Sailing Club participated in the ‘Team 15 (under 16s) national team championships this weekend at Rutland Water. Sunny and windy conditions greeted the 100+ competitors offering perfect racing conditions for the whole weekend. The Hythe Hotshots qualified for the competition by winning the South East Zone championships over 5 regattas during the summer and were up against 10 tough teams from the other zones with some clubs boasting home fleets of over 50 youngsters.

Despite all of the team delivering good performances, the strength of the other clubs proved too great, but Hythe can be proud of their 7th place and some strong individual performances from Guy Carney, (8th out of 28 in the 4.5m2 class) Danni Conroy (1st girl in the 6.8m2 class), Alex Barry (7th of 25 in the 5.5m2 class) and Zara Petts (8th out of 28 in the 3.5m2 class). Photos - click here

Our challenge for next year is to introduce more youngsters to the sport .Regular teaching and race training sessions are planned for the spring – contact Phil the Team 15 coach for details: philip.hards@btinternet.com

Hythe Hotshots at the T15 SE Regionals (14/10/09) by Andy Gibson
Photos - click here Hythe and Saltwood Sailing Club's reputation for producing talented young windsurfers continued this week-end at Datchet Water, Surrey - competing in the Royal Yachting Association Volvo South East Regional Championships. (Saturday 26th - Sunday 27th September). Light and variable winds on the water made setting a course a challenge. More than 100 children were rigged and ready to go, with 10 windsurfers from HSSC showing their usual dedication and commitment on the water. Unfortunately, only one race was completed due to lack of wind.

Zara Petts came 2nd place in the 3.5m sail category. Jenna Gibson in her first event came 1st in the 4.5m sail category. Rachael Finch, just out of the prizes, came 4th in the 5.5m fleet. A great weekend, on and off the water, was had by all under cloudless skies. The event was a qualifier for the SE Zone Squad and a practice for the National team championships in October. Photos - click here

 Elliot and Claudia at RSX Worlds (21/09/09) by Marc Carney
Elliot and Claudia Carney are about to start racing at the RSX Worlds in Weymouth this Friday. This is a major event in the windsurfing world and one of the first regattas to be held at the new Weymouth Sailing Academy. Elliot is part of the Olympic Development Squad currently and trains/races full time with the RYA, having spent the previous season as Bryony Shaw's training partner prior to the 208 Olympics in Beijing where she received a bronze medal. Claudia is a member of the National Youth Squad and the Girls Olympic Development squad. She recently finished 9th at the RSX Youth Worlds in Israel and will now be looking to compete against the best women in the world this week. Their progress over the course of the next week can be tracked on line at www.rsxclass.com

Windsurfing Demo Day and Sandgate Festival, 29/30 August (15/07/09)
Saturday 29th August HSSC is hosting an Exocet boards, XO Sails demo day, thanks to Surf Sales - a great opportunity to check out the latest windsurfing kit. If possible, the kit will also be available on the Sunday and Monday.

Sunday 30th August is Sandgate Festival day - 10am briefing for 11am set off down to Sandgate for lunch - great event, steel bands, loads of stalls, great food. 2pm Le Mans style race off the beach at Sandgate and back to the Club. Weather looking good so don't miss out on the final sailing event of the season.

Sailing Race Training - Free to members (15/07/09) by Jeremy Speakman
Do you want to go from the back to the front of the race fleet? Here is your opportunity to learn about the dark arts of racing with the master himself, Graeme Fuller, who will be running a series of introductory racing seminars on Wednesday evenings – 22 July, 29 July, 5 August from 6.30pm. Whilst the focus will be on racing, this is an ideal opportunity to learn how to improve your general sailing skills for board and dinghy sailors alike. It will cover:

• Types of start

• Courses

• Elementary rules

• Elementary tactics

• Elementary boat/board handling

• Tuning with racing in mind

• Elementary flag recognition

• Elementary tide and windshifts

This would cost you loads at any other club but HSSC is offering you this free from a former Windsurfing national champion! As we will be introducing a more formal flag system for starts and finishes, the course is essential for those new members or beginners who may find themselves required to undertake race officer duties. We will also be introducing a novice handicap racing series so no excuse for you to be soon amongst the medal winners! To help with numbers it would be useful if you could let me know whether or not you will be attending. Many thanks. Jeremy Speakman

HSSC Summer Party and Regatta, Saturday 18th July 2009 (12/06/09)
Our next Next event is our much anticipated Summer Party, to be held on Saturday 18 July. 

Windsurfinging Demo Day, Sunday 7th June 2009 (29/05/09)
HSSC is pleased to be hosting another windsurfing demo day this year for Starboard boards and Tushingham sails, in conjunction with ACTIV Sports Folkestone. All the latest kit will be on the beach outside the club, for windsurfers of all abilities to look at and try out, along with expert advice. The day is open to all, not just HSSC members, so please feel free to turn up any time and have a look. For more information, please contact ACTIV directly on 01303 240110. Click here for a downloadable flyer

Mexican Night, Saturday 6th June 2009 (29/05/09) by Matt Curran
HSSC's Mexican Night, Saturday 6th June 2009. Please come along for an evening of Margaritas, Chilli and Tequila. No ticket required. Chilli on sale at the Galley. Mexican drinks from the Bar. Bring your sombrero, gringo!

Team 15 Update (01/05/09) by Phil Hards
Hythe Hotshots dominated the 1st T15 event of the year at the weekend. Individual honours went to Guy Carney, 1st 3.5m, Zara Petts, 2nd 3.5m, Rachel Finch, 2nd 4.5m, Dani Conroy, 1st 5.5m, Alex Barry, 2nd 5.5m, Phillippa Hemphrey, 3rd 5.5m, Cat Hards, 1st 6.8Techno. A brilliant day for everyone. A special well done to our newest team member, Eddi Steeple who showed amazing determination at her 1st ever race event. One to watch for the future!! Our next event is at Aquasports on the 31st May. Be there!

Team 15 March Newsletter (29/03/09) by Phil Hards
Hi to all junior T15 windsurfers! Its that time of year again!! Time to dust off the boards and rigs and think about T15 again. The calendar this year is set and virtually complete. For this and more information for newcomers, please see the T15 main page. T15ers need only really look at the orange column, the more experienced among you can look further into the other coloured zones for your entertainment this year! We may have some new faces in the team this year. If you have attended our beginner and intermediate training courses over the last couple of years, you may feel ready to come and race! I have attached a guideline document for those parents who have children that may be interested. Our pre season meeting will be on Sat April 18th at 10.00am (HSSC) Please feel free to come along and have chat about the year ahead. The club have asked that all kit currently on loan be returned for that date for stock taking purposes. The attached HSSC kit list has my guess as to what kit is where. Could you all please confirm that this is actually the case? A limited amount of club kit will still be available for T15 use, but the kit must be returned for beginner/intermediate training.

Training 2009

- Team 15 race training will commence in May on Thursday evenings.
- We will also be looking at selected Sunday afternoons as we did last year.

Training for beginners and intermediates will be separate from this, details will be posted soon. I am told the training is likely to follow a similar format to that of the past few years. A must for all of our team is the open training organised over the weekend of 11th 12th July at Datchet water sailing club near West London. Some of the top RYA coaches will be there! Try and make that one if you can! Also worth considering is a 3 day summer camp at Pitsford lake near Northampton in August. Details to follow. It is worth applying early for these events, as places are sometimes limited.

Check out the following site for details http://www.techno293.org.uk/ There is lots of interest on the site for junior windsurfers as well.

Hopefully, we will get the chance to have some more fun days out at different venues. Our day at Folkestone last year was a particular success. Watch out for more of this type of event!!

Fitting Out Party - 70s-Style. Saturday 28th March (16/03/09) by your social committee

Emergency General Meeting 22nd February 11.00 am (16/02/09) by Jeremy Speakman
Dear all. A belated happy New Year and I am sure that you are all, like me, looking forward to a good season of sailing and windsurfing. Just the antidote to these somewhat depressing times! It is really great to have access to such a friendly and fun club, situated right on the beach. However, sadly the club does not run itself and we really need your help to ensure that we can continue to provide the kind of facilities that members have enjoyed.

As you know the club is run on a wholly voluntary basis which obviously helps to keep the costs of membership down. Unfortunately the number of willing helpers is slowly diminishing and we are rapidly reaching the point where the demands on our time are becoming unsustainable. The committee is still short of an Hon Secretary role and also a Publicity officer, both positions being vital to the effective running of the club. These roles could quite conceivably be shared across a number of people (as is happening with the social secretary position).

Of equal importance is the management of the bar which, as you know, has been most ably run by Phil Hards. Other commitments on Phil’s time means that he is now no longer able to do this which leaves us with the options of a) no bar, b) finding a volunteer with sufficient knowledge who is willing to take on this role or c) paying someone to run the bar.

Accordingly, we are holding an emergency general meeting on Sunday 22nd February at 11am at the club to discuss these issues. Please try and attend as we would very much value your contribution regardless of whether you are able to volunteer for any of the above posts. Best wishes Jeremy Speakman

Membership Renewal (26/01/09) by Angela Howitt
Membership details and form January has arrived once again and your membership is now up for renewal. As you know membership for the club runs from 1st January until 31st December each year and accordingly I enclose a renewal form for you to complete and return to me with your cheque. The club has made a decision to increase the membership fees in line with inflation. As you know the fees have not been increased for the last few years and it was thought it would better to have a small increase now rather than to have a huge hike in fees in the future. A decision was passed at the AGM to also vary the charges on boat storage as obviously some boats take up more room than others. Please find attached the different categories and prices. We are very pleased with the resurfacing of the boat park and the new fencing and would like to thank everyone for their support last year.

We would now like to sort out the storage of the windsurfing boards and are aware that there could be boards that have been left at the club by previous members which are no longer in use. For this reason Arran Farnes who is overseeing this project has asked if the attached form could be filled in. If your name is already on the form and is in the correct slot please put a tick against your name and return to me with your renewal form. If your name does not appear on the form and you know which rack your board is on please fill your name on the form and also return to me. I hope this is self-explanatory! During the course of the year a clear-out of old boards and kit will take place and therefore it is imperative that we know whose board is where or you could be in jeopardy of losing some kit. Plenty of notice will be given by Arran for the clear out session.

There has been a slight change of committee members and Pam Wire is no longer the social secretary this year. She did a fantastic job last year but now there are four willing men who have put their names forward and together they will be organising some fun events. Please find enclosed a list to add to your diary. All social events will also be coming out to you on an email and I would be grateful if you could make sure that any new email addresses are added to your renewal form. They are hoping for great support to boost the club's finances.

Mary Harris and her team have been a wonderful asset to the club in managing the galley. Again the galley can only work with help from the members. I have enclosed a form with dates and would be grateful if you could fill in a date that you could help in the galley (male or female!) the more helpers there are the less onerous it is on the few. We would be grateful for any support.

We would like to hold an EGM on Sunday 22nd February at 11am at the club house to discuss the positions that are still currently open on the committee and need to be filled. The positions are for the publicity officer and the honorary secretary. We would be very grateful if someone could put their names forward before this date and please feel free to speak to Jeremy Speakman (Commodore) if you are interested in finding out more about these positions. Phil Hards has also been a huge asset in managing the bar over the past few years. However he has decided to stand down and again the situation of the bar needs to be discussed with the club members. Please put a note in your diary for this date and we look forward to having a constructive discussion at this time.

Last year the weather was not good for the sailors even though the windsurfers were kept busy out on the water, so let us hope that 2009 is good for all - in fact the long range forecast is predicting the hottest summer on record (lets see!) Look forward to seeing you at the fitting out party in March. Membership details and form

Junior Windsurfers Disco 31/01/09 (17/01/09) by Phil Hards
You are invited to our Junior Windsurfers Disco, on Saturday 31st January, 6.30 - 9.00pm. The bar will be open for parents, and snacks for the children. The disco will also host the prize-giving for 2008, so please do come along.

Happy New Year (12/01/09)
Its cold - its wet, but its now officially 2009, and that means our thoughts are turning towards the new season. Hot, sunny weather may seem a long way off, but we all know how quickly time passes, and spring/summer will soon be upon us. Let me wish you all a very Happy New Year. I look forward to seeing you soon. M.