It was thrilling to hear the news last week that Sail GP will be coming to Bermuda in the spring! I can’t wait to see the F50s buzzing around the Great Sound again. So many of the team members are folks that we all got to know when they were here in their former roles at various AC35 teams and it will be just great to see them back. On that note, I took the liberty, on your behalf, of writing to Sir Russell Coutts to offer them a warm RHADC welcome and was thrilled to hear back from him within hours with the following message:
“Thanks Elspeth,
YOu are very kind and welcoming as always, and we are all looking forward to being back at the RHADC.
Best wishes,
Russell Coutts
Chief Executive Officer, SailGP”
As we learned in 2017, our community is enhanced by the addition of these temporary members and we look forward to seeing them amongst us again and having their families swell the ranks our of junior sailing programmes.
The new Covid restrictions will necessarily have an impact on our Christmas activities at the Club. We need to be flexible and adapt where we can, with the aim of keeping everyone safe and avoiding any further community transmission. We are applying for an exemption to the new 50 people max occupancy for the Christmas lunch and we will react accordingly once we know whether this will be granted.
We did hold a small dinner on Saturday evening for our immediate past Commodore, R. William Forbes (known to most of us as Willie) where he was presented with a beautiful Latitudes of Kinsale 3D chart of Hamilton Harbour as a token of our gratitude for his service as our Commodore. In addition, our wonderful Club administrator, Wendy Augustus, organized a bench to be placed in the garden in memory of Paula, and that was also unveiled on Saturday evening. Too bad we didn’t have it whilst she was still alive as she needed somewhere to sit whilst Willie was doing his rounds of all the diners on the terrace and elsewhere in the Club! They say ‘no rest for the weary’, but now Willie will have a special place at RHADC where he can sit in quiet contemplation and Paula will be remembered by all of us.
In closing, I have to say that having had 2 amazing dinners produced by our kitchen on Thanksgiving evening and on Saturday, I remain in awe of Chef Luca and his team; what comes out of our kitchen is practically second to none on this island and I would urge you all to come to sample the long-awaited new menus. I look forward to seeing you on the terrace in an appropriately socially distanced manner.
Elspeth Weisberg
Commodore
2 December, 2020