16 February 2020

Dear Member,

ICC has a new home for 2020. It’s true we have raised enough money to buy Lady Adrienne !

 

Our deadline was to have raised £60,000 by Friday 10^th January and with the help of 60 members and supporters we made it!

As I write, we have paid the deposit on the boat and signed off the commitment to purchase. Completion will be on or before 29^th February. What fantastic news! Thank you to all the well wishers and supporters in helping ICC to achieve this breakthrough. There are currently approx. 380 members of ICC who have kept faith with the ICC concept and without whose support the Club would have died. It is really heart warming to know that there are also many past members who continue to wish the Club well and who put unconditional pledges forward to help us purchase our new base. If on reading my update you would like to join the list of pledgers then it’s not too late to send a pledge in! There are many upgrades that could be done to the boat if only we had the money so please help if you can.

So what’s next? Well we now have two years to create a financially viable way of operating our Club and clubhouse so that we don’t end up having to sell Lady Adrienne. Our target is to earn enough revenue to at least cover £10,000 per annum of operating and upkeep costs (excluding any staff cost).

For 2020 in addition to more keelboat sailing, I think the best we can achieve for extra income will be :

Running the bar on Saturday’s

Members using the boat as a paid for accommodation base during May to September

Members fund raising social events both on the moorings and also trips out to sea with evening BBQ’s etc.

Members children enjoying supervised Saturday sailing in whatever dinghies we can arrange.

Lady Adrienne is going to be available for members to use for accommodation at a moderate cost and on a very much self catering, self help basis. Please contact me if you would like to stay afloat during Sunday to Friday in any week this year so we can discuss arrangements. Weekends and Saturday to Friday stays are also an option but members will be using the bar etc on Saturdays.

For 2021 we are working up a business plan to make sure that we have an RYA dinghy sailing operation in place so that by the end of 2021 the Club will have enough cash in hand to go forwards into 2022.

To achieve our plans for 2021 we will need to activate phase 2 of the project which is to start fund raising for dinghies and working capital to run a training centre. If you would like to help with a donation towards the purchase of dinghies and training equipment then please send an email or ring me.

The Club now actually has quite a bit of infrastructure which is all free of any loans or bank costs:

Clubhouse Lady Adrienne

Island Spirit – 36’ Delphia Bermudan sloop

Launches Duncan and Shamrock

Gemini – 5.8 mtr RIB for members to use and also for use as rescue/safety boat

Keelboat fleet of Solings, Squib and Hawk 20

Kiwi – Club’s tender

Dinghies- one Pico so far!

Shamrock, our iconic  26’ wooden launch needs quite a bit doing to her. To my mind she is an emblem for ICC and we need to keep her running if at all possible. Our fund raising campaign will include money for her and I hope we can find a way to secure a grant to electrify her. If you know Shamrock of old and would like to preserve her as a club boat then please send in a donation specifically for her. In total we need approx. £2,000 for 2020. Better still if you have some time and would be able to help with the grant application then please get in touch.

Sealed bids for club paintings and prints. My apologies for not getting this organised as publicised. My available time has been taken up with Lady Adrienne matters. We will send out all the info on the next mailing update.

AGM – following on from the notice of AGM in my last update please note that the meeting will be held on Saturday 07 March, 1730 hrs at the Church Hall, Churchstow, near Kingsbridge Devon. TQ73RD. Attending members are very welcome to join a club table at the nearby Church House Inn for a meal after the meeting. Please contact me by email or phone as below to book by Wednesday 04 March latest.

Thank you again for supporting ICC through your membership. Please let me know if you have some time to offer in any way. There are only a few of us on the ground so any help will be really appreciated.

2020 is the start of a new chapter in the Club’s history and who knows what this may be the beginning of!

Yours sincerely,

  

Richard Martin ( Commodore)            commodore@islandcruisingclub.co.uk or tel 07967597527

 

p.s. If you have received this letter by post then it means we don’t have an email for you. Please send me your email address so we can save on stamps. Thanks

 

 

Links to AGM documents: -

AGM Minutes 15^th March 2019

AGM Notice

Club Accounts to 31^st October 2018

Or from AGM downloads   https://www.islandcruisingclub.com/forms-and-downloads

We chartered a yacht near Oban and headed to St Kilda out in the Atlantic off the Hebrides. We were lucky to get a fair wind and weather to arrive in Village Bay on St Kilda with only one other yacht that night. We landed first thing in the morning by tender to have the deserted village to ourselves. A magical place to visit assisted by the local warden giving us the history. We were also able to stop at Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, Castle Bay on Barra, Lockmaddy in the Outer Hebrides and the island of Canna during the trip. The wildlife was extensive with Dolphins, Minke Whales, Sea Otters, Seals as well as the Puffins and Eagles. All the scenery was dramatic and so was the sea state at times, but we said it would be worth returning, even by car and ferry in the future with our partners.

Arriving at St Kilda

Village Bay

The Vilage

Deseted Village

Food Store

The History

The Local School

Our Yacht in the bay

 

Canna Post Office and Phone

Tobermory