Sunday 15th saw the start of our Level 1 training.  We welcomed four new families to the club and the return of one family where Mum had originally done the course 7 years ago.  They were joined on the course by two members who joined last year and by Meg (so she can now tell Jason what he's doing wrong).

It was a windy day for a first sail so several people will not be needing the optional capsize practice next week!  In the picture, Anna is demostrating how to rescue one Topper with another.  To reassure anyone who may be concerned, the crew had already been rescued in more orthodox fashion.

The star of the theory session was Max, the youngest participant on the course.  Despite being unsure about actually going out in a boat, he was able to list and explain all five methods of steering much to the surprise of his mother!

it was lovely to see so many boats on the water and people about - new members, instructors and existing members all sailing together.

Easter Monday saw our annual competition for chocolate.  We built on last year's card game theme by turning the first race into a game of pontoon.  Each sailor had to sail to the rescue boat, collect a card, return to the jetty then run (or walk in most cases) up the hill to the clubhouse.  They then had to repeat this.  On returning with the second card, they were allowed to look at both cards and decide whether to go again.  The competitor with the closest total to 21 won one of the eggs.  David was this year's winner with exactly 21 from 3 cards.  We then did two standard races to decide the winners of the other eggs.  Jason and Meg won both races with Jake second (by a very small amount in the second race) and Chris third.

Despite (or perhaps because of) being April Fools Day, this year's open day was a success.  We had blue skys, a good barbecue and lots of enthusiastic visitors (some of whom could probably be heard screaming from several miles away!).

As in previous years, Bradford RNLI came to join us for the day.  This year the club made a donation to them which will go towards new life jackets for the crew at one of the Yorkshire stations.