2020 is now behind us. Could any of us have foretold such a difficult year at its beginning? I apologize if I am repeating myself but my gratitude to our members for their support throughout needs to be emphasized. Whilst not everything we have done and plan to do has been met with universal approval by the membership, I know that the team running our Club has its long-term interests at heart.

 

Once the scale of the pandemic became obvious, the annual budgets were revised but the months of closure and reduced operations did cause a Food & Beverage loss for the Club for the year ended Oct 2020. Unfortunately, the enforced cancellation of all the Christmas events will set us back with the anticipated F&B returns for this year. Unlike many other clubs, our F&B operations have been generally better than break-even thanks to the excellent product and service produced by our hard-working staff and supported by you, our members. We have used some debt to finance the purchase of the RS21s and we do sincerely hope that as the Covid situation improves during the year, these boats can start earning some of their keep. Our other financial forecasts are all on track and whilst cash is flowing out now to fund the installation of the solar panels and the delayed building of the ramp to the old tennis courts, the income from the new boat storage area and the reduced BELCO expenditure once we are producing our own power is expected to very quickly balance the books, or to use a sailing metaphor, to keep things on an even keel.

 

As every sailor knows, there are times when you set off expecting reasonable weather for the duration of the passage, only to find the most difficult conditions blow up, testing the vessel and the crew. On this voyage, you can be sure that the RHADC ship is sound and well-founded; the destination is clearly charted for us, and the determination of the officers and crew is unchanged. This storm, like so many others, will pass. We will sit and enjoy drinking and eating together in our Club when calmer seas are upon us, and the tale of our resourcefulness and determination not to let this thing beat us, like all good sailing stories, will be magnified in the (new) bar!

 

Amen to that! A happy & healthy New Year to everyone

 

Commodore

Jan. 7 2021