Back to the Current Year's Latest News

RYA 'Onboard' Sailing Youth Scheme (20/11/07)
HSSC is already well known for its commitment to training the next generation of young windsurfers through the RYA Team 15 initiative. We are now excited to be able to extend this support to potential young sailors as well, through the new RYA 'Onboard' scheme. Coordinated by a team of RYA Onboard Development Officers, the scheme puts young people, interested in taking up sailing, in touch with clubs willing to provide the facilities neccessary to have a go at the sport. Our local Onboard development officer is Stuart Bishop stuart@doverwatersports.com More information on the scheme can be found on our new dedicated Onboard page.

Laying Up Supper 24th November 2007 (23/10/07)
Tickets for this year's Laying up Supper are selling fast, as once again we have the fantastic venue of Lympne Castle, and the awesome "Watt the Funk" playing live. Tickets are limited and it's first come first served. Booking form is available on the Forum - remember that?!

Autumn Newsletter (23/10/07)
In case you didn't receive you newsletter (or have used it for purposes other than reading!) here is an electronic version, in glorious colour (as Pete puts it). Click here for download

Fireworks Night Saturday 3rd November 2007 (09/10/07)
Always a firm favourite - this year's fireworks extravaganza will be held on Saturday 3rd November, starting about 6.30pm. Confirmation and more details to follow. WOOD FOR THE BONFIRE REQUIRED. If anyone has wood (f-nar, f-nar), please stick it in the dinghy park. Ta.

AGM 27th October 2007 (23/09/07)
HSSC will be calling its annual general meeting on Saturday 27th October this year, starting at 6.00pm. Please do make every effort to attend.

New Clubhouse Roof (23/10/07)
Its the unsung hero(ine) of our clubhouse - a huge expanse of ply and felt that keeps the rain out and the hot gases expended during those party nights from escaping - and now we have a new one! This is the first time the roof has been replaced - erm - ever! That made the old one 36 years old, and in desperate need of replacement. So... no more nasty stains on the ceiling (ooh-er), and a dry time for all. You will probably have noticed the scaffolding up around the club earlier this year, and, as an ongoing reminder of this significant piece of work, the weather station temperature reading now dips regularly to about -50 C - an error which began on the day the scaffolding went up - draw your own conclusions.

70s Night Party 22nd September 2007 (06/09/07)
Get on down - you groooovy cats! Dust down those flares, unbutton the old DC-10 shirt and polish that medallion - HSSC is going seriously retro on 22nd September for a fantabulous 70s Night Party!! We have a live act "One Man Glam", plus 70s disco, 70s grub, bar, prize for best outfit - cooool! Best of all? FREE ENTRY! Make sure this one's in your diary - its set to be a great night.

Windsurf Demo Weekend, Now 29-30th September 2007 (01/09/07)
Due to illness, this demo weekend has been postponed until 29-30th September. Tushingham/Starboard give there sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused, and look forward to showing their full line up of boards & sails on the 29th/30th.
Activ Folkestone will be hosting a windsurfing weekend weekend at HSSC on 29th and 30th September. All the latest kit from Starboard & Tushingham will be available for members and non members to try out, so do come come and pay us a visit - hopefully there will be some wind as well, being September! Kit will be available from about 11.00 am onwards. For more information, contact Activ Folkestone

Pirate Theme Summer Party, 21st July 2007 (11/07/07)
“She was only the Capn’s daughter, but all the crew had given her a jolly good …” These jokes and more will not be told at this year’s “Pirate Theme” Summer party. Neither – I’m sure – will there be any reference to the crew from Captain Pugwash. That notwithstanding, there will be pirate-related shenanigans aplenty as HSSC raises the Skull and Cross Bones for an evening of swashbuckling and – erm – other pirate stuff.

Following tense negotiations with the record company bosses, Kim has managed to secure BATTLESKA GALACTICA as the headliners for the Party. The band has released 3 albums since forming in 2001. Popular on the local music scene, this 7-piece band cites its influences as including the Reel Big Fish, Muse, Green Day, the Ataris and Less Than Jake. Supporting Battleska will be another local band. Details as yet are classified but Summer Party Update will keep you posted! The Summer Party is looking like is going to be scorcher this year (although if this weather continues it may turn into our very own Glastonbury). Tickets are only £10 per person and children under 14 are FREE.

Boarding the good ship HSSC commences at 6pm on Saturday 21st July. Don’t be late, Ship-mates. I, for one, have already cut out all fruit, vegetables and other sources of vitamin-c from my diet, in order to ensure a healthy dose of scurvy for the evening. Shiver-me-timbers!

Team 15 Newsletter (27/06/06)
The Team 15 June Newsletter is now available as a PDF for download. For photos of events, click here.

Starboard / Tushingham Demo Day (21/06/07) By Steve Burton.
Starboard & Tushingham will have a demo fleet for members to try on Sunday 01/07/07 at Rye Watersports Centre, Lydd Road, Camber starting at 11am. Guy, Chris & I will be on hand for information. Steve. For more information, contact Activ Folkestone.

Committee Posts Vacant (08/06/07) By Barry Hall, Commodore.
Having served our three score years and ten on the Management Committee Pam Wire, Willie and myself will have to stand down this coming October. Whilst not wishing to start a stampede we thought it would be a good idea to advertise these exciting vacancies well in advance. The basic job descriptions are as follows:

• COMMODORE: Chair Management Committee, help decide policy, fees and any major projects etc.

• VICE COMMODORE: Chair House Committee, maintain club assets, supervise working parties etc.

• MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: Membership forms, membership records, mail-shots etc. (and everything else the Commodore and Vice Commodore do not get round to doing.)

It occurs to us that most members are naturally modest and so reluctant to put themselves forward for positions such as these. It would be helpful if friends, family etc. could nominate anyone they think would be suitable for any of these vacant posts. If they so wish this could be done anonymously to prevent possible future legal action/broken windows etc!!! I look forward to your involvement in what is a fairly urgent matter for the Club. More information on responsibilities here (MDM)

Old Seahorses Reunion (08/06/07) By Owen Croft
Former sailing club members [Old Seahorses] have been sent the following invitation. Existing club members are invited as hosts so hope you can attend. Please let Owen Croft know the numbers. All welcome.

You are invited to a reunion of HSSC members on Sat/Sun 16th & 17th June at Hythe. Programme of Events: Saturday 1930 Example some of the old photos to be displayed during the evening. Many more photos in our Photo Gallery Pre-99 section.

HSSC Spring Newsletter (14/05/07) By HSSC Committee
Full formatted PDF version with pictures available for download from forum here.
Commodore's Column. The summer sailing season is once more upon us and it appears to have got off to a really good start in spite of the lack of wind for most of April. I think I counted over 20 windsurf boards on the water last Tuesday and the dingies had a similar number for their Thursday and Sunday races. It really is encouraging to see so many sailors wanting to race - so keep it up everyone! The social scene is also gathering pace with Kim and Jools doing a grand job - the Quiz Evening was a great success and many thanks to them and all the other members who worked so hard and created such a good atmosphere. At least I didn't come last this year thanks to Graeme Fuller's youngest daughter, she almost made up for her father!!! Willy has done wonders with the club house over the winter months on a very limited budget, not only does it look good but there is a real feeling of extra space, particularly as shown by at our recent social events when we have had a full house! I know we have an exciting season of sailing and social events planned so keep an eye open for future announcements on the notice board or make sure that your e mail details are on the club register. Have a great season's sailing and always remember to give way to the Commodore when he is approaching a bouy no matter whether he is on port or starboard (Rule 138B)". Regards Barry.

Social Roundup. Well so far the social events are going well! First was St Patricks night which was a fun night- check out the website gallery for some pictures! Followed by the quiz night which was a big hit! I had no idea you all liked having your brains picked so much J We raised just over £200 from the quiz and raffle plus a busy night at the bar. I would like to thank all those who helped including Dicky who was a wonderful quiz compère and Park road chippy for the very easy to prepare supper! We have agreed to try and fit in another quiz at the end of the season – so watch this space! Next will be family games and BBQ on Sunday 20th May, the food will be from 12.30pm and cost £3.50 for adults and £1.50 for children, the games will be after lunch with space hopper races, giant jenga , kids paint your own t-shirts and more…… The next event after that will be the ‘old seahorses’ reunion BBQ on Saturday 17th June with lots of old club members coming along to tell all of us new members how it used to be! Should be a very good night and we are expecting quite a turn out so I hope lots of you can make it too. The Sunday galley is going well, with lots of bacon rolls being sold! It is nice that each week the ‘galley slaves’ bring their own personal touches to it (and if we are lucky their baking) and I would like to thank everyone for their hard work and ask you all to please keep it up. The observant of you will notice some changes in the previously published social calendar for which I would like to apologise and ask you all to keep up to date by checking the website, emails and posters around the club regularly for updates- the summer party will be on 21st July definitely! Well thanks again to all my willing helpers and here’s to a long hot sociable summer! See you on the beach, Kim

UKWA MasterBlaster. Some of the UK's top windsurfers will be competing at HSSC on the weekend of 30th June/1st July when the UKWA circuit comes to town. Arranged by Graeme Fuller, the event take the format of a race from the Varne Boat Club at Littlestone, to HSSC followed by a good old party on the Saturday evening to mark the occasion. No doubt Graeme will be requiring some assistance with organisation on the day and full details will be available nearer the time!

Christchurch UKWA Event. A fair number of contenders from Folkestone turned up at the Christchurch event 5th - 7th May. We had a huge range of conditions, from sunshine and light winds on Saturday, through medium wind on Sunday to near gales force winds on Monday. Phil Hards, Marc Carney and Dave Finch all raced the new Exocet board supplied by Graeme Fuller, intending to test it and not interfere with the racing to much. However they managed to lead almost the entire fleet of windsurfers around the wrong course in one race.

Sailing Series. The sailing season has got off to a great start with Sunday mornings regularly seeing over 15 boats racing. With an ever increasing fleet of assymetric dinghies racing is now becoming closer. The evening series is also proving popular, particularly with the attraction of a good meal afterwards! Dates for the Sunday racing series as follows: Spring: 25 March – 27 May; Summer: 3 June – 26 August; Autumn: 2 September – 25 November. Dates for Evening Series: Spring:5 April – 28 June; Summer: 5 July – 13 September. With the 32nd America's Cup now well underway in Valencia we thought it was about time we brought a but of the glamour of the World's most prestigous yachting event to Hyhte! On 8th July we shall be holding the first ever Mini America's Cup at HSSC. Racing will be run in the match racing format (just two boats racing each other at a time) using the club's fleet of race ready Toppers. Watch out for more details soon. In the meantime if you want to learn more about match racing you can watch the America's Cup races online by registering at www.sail.tv.

Calling Old Seahorses. As part of the Old Seahorses weekend there will be a fun race held on 17th June for former club members. We are looking for current sailors to offer a crewing place to the old boys - should be a lot of fun!

Hythe Hotshots T15 May Newsletter (12/05/07 By Phil Hards)
T15. Well….. our 1st event of the year at Bewl has gone, and what an event!! Just 2 points separated the 3 teams at the end. As expected our Hotshots came under some serious pressure for the first time in a while. The entry of 30 boards was the highest in the history of south east T15. An encouraging sign for future events! We had some great results right through the fleet. Sam took the 6.8 Techno fleet honours with a last race victory by a couple of board lengths, (awesome pumping Sam!) Stuart secured 4 straight wins to head the 6.8 open fleet, Tom sailed brilliantly well to nick the 5.5 honours in the last race, Alex got a great 2nd place in race 4 and sailed really well, despite some er… rather unconventional tactics from his main competitors!! Fredo sailed consistently well to gain a 2nd place in the 3.5 fleet whilst Dani got her 1st ever race win, followed by the loudest shriek of the day!! Catrina sailed a blinder to get a couple of third places (in a fleet of 10), and Zara crowned her 1st ever T15 event by finishing all of the races and gaining a merit award for her efforts. Well done to all! There are sure to be some great battles ahead. The next event is at Aquasports near Redhill on 10th June. Click here for photo.

Zone squad. our four zone squad members have really been put through their paces this year, with weekends at Bewl and Queen Mary, not to mention a tough National squad training camp at Weymouth over the Easter hols. Here the wind rarely dropped below 15 knots all week!! A tough ask for all of the team! Glad to say though that all came out smiling at the other end and wanting more! This weekend 12th 13th May is the inter-zone "Eric Twiname" championships at Rutland Water with over 300 competitors in all classes expected. This is one of the years most prestigious events, watch this space for the results of our team members!!

Training for 2007. The training opportunities for this year are currently on display on the club notice board or on the HSSC website. Please take up the chance to participate, the courses are great value for money and offer unrivalled levels of tuition! We shall be looking at all participants with a view to increasing the strength of our team, so watch out! Best Regards, Phil

Junior / Team 15 / Adult Windsurf Training (05/05/07)
Please use the links below to download the latest junior windsurf training forms. Many thanks to Phil Hards for putting these courses on; its a great opportunity for young people to try out and progress within the sport of windsurfing. With the wealth of skills and experience that senior HSSC members have to offer, this really is a fantastic opportunity, not to be missed.

• Junior Windsurf Course 2007

• Junior Windsurf Taster Sessions 2007

• Junior and Adult Windsurf Training 2007 Information

Please also note that RYA qualified instructor, Simon Clarke, will be running windsurfing courses on selected weekends throughout the summer on a pre-book basis, either at the Redoubt lake or at HSSC. Alternatively for 2007 we will be offering a discounted rate for club members to train at the Dover watersports centre, who will be able to offer full RYA level beginner, intermediate and advanced courses. Final dates and costs are still to be arranged, but if you are interested in either of these options, then please contact Phil who will advise on dates/costs. Contact details on any of the forms.

New Discussion Forum (29/04/07)
The biggest upgrade to our website since the Weather Station went online last year: many thanks to Jools Chappell for setting up and hosting HSSC's brand new fully featured Discussion Forum. This is a full PHP database driven forum with all the usual functions, including: multiple forums, discussion groups, avatars, personal messaging, email alerts, etc, etc. To post to the forum, you will need to register, providing a user name, password and valid email address. I do hope that all HSSC members will make use of this fantastic new feature, which could soon become the hub of communications within HSSC. Forum is directly available from Home page via link on right, or from navigation bar on left. View the forum now.

Quiz Night (12/04/07)
Out next social do will be a Quiz Night and Fish and Chips Supper. Saturday 21st April, teams of up to 6 people, bring a team or join one when you get there. 7.30pm register for 8.00 pm start. £3 per person for quiz. £4 per person for lovely local fish and chip supper. Bar will be open and there will also be a raffle. If you would like to eat as well as participate in the Quiz, please let Social Sec Kim Chappell know as soon as possible, and before Wednesday 18th. kim@jitconsulting.co.uk

St Patrick's Night Party (23/02/07)
Out next social do will be a fantastic St Patrick's Night party on 17th March, 7.30pm. This will include all the usual Irish festivities: food, party games and LIVE MUSIC, loads of Guinness, and best of all, FREE ENTRY. This really will be one not to be missed. Hope to see you there.

HSSC Clubhouse Re-vamp (10/02/07)
Bringing you the first photos of our clubhouse after a significant re-vamp of the upstairs for 2007. The partition leading to the galley has been completely removed, and the kitchen units moved back a few feet, providing more room in the main area of the clubhouse, whilst still leaving plenty of space in the galley. The kitchen work surfaces have all been replaced, and new flooring laid. You will now find the weather station on a high shelf in the far corner of the galley, above which a new indoor webcam has been installed. The partition between the top of the staircase and the bar entrance has also been removed, making available even more useful floor area. The upstairs has also been completely re-painted with lighter colours, increasing the sense of space already created by the alterations. Roger's great new trophy cabinet has been moved to a more suitable position above the stairs, and the rest of the club's wall decorations have been generally rearranged and tidied up. Finally, the floor has been completely sanded and re-varnished, and looks great.

My thanks and appreciation to everyone who worked on this, but in particular, Willie Wire, who I know has spent a huge amount of his personal free time grafting at the club for nowt but the pleasure of making it a nicer place for everyone. I think the very least we can do to thank Willie is to rock up for his birthday party on Saturday 17th, and buy the chap a beer! MDM. Photos: click here

Hythe Hotshots T15 January Newsletter (14/12/06 By Phil Hards)
SE/E Zone squad: Alex Barry, Tom Addison, Fredo Edwards, San Conroy, Stuart Hards have all been selected for the 2007 Rya zone squad! A great achievement for the club. The calendar kicks off next weekend 27/28 Jan, with a kit prep weekend at Datchet water sailing club. ..\find_us.htm. Registration 09.30 - 10.00. I suggest parents get together for a chat on Saturday once we all have had time to digest the calendar, to talk through any issues. The RYA require a certain level of commitment, but from past experience,
its well worth the effort! We will be organising a couple of workshops throughout the year with our resident tactical guru Graeme Fuller. These are not to be missed!

T15: We look forward this year to working with Ian Kraft ("Krafty") who has taken over from Clyde Waite as the RYA T15 co-ordinator. Ian is well known in the windsurfing fraternity and has promised to stamp his personality on T15. Every one at HSSC wishes Clyde success in the future! We can all keep track of his windsurfing exploits at Online Windsurfing Magazine Latest News- BoardseekerMAG.com. This year there is a fifth event on the calendar! It will be a dedicated freestyle event pencilled in for 15th July at Eastbourne. It promises to be a lot of fun, and will be running alongside a national event, so there will be a lot of activity going on. Eastbourne is a new venue for us, and a new T15 club. Our resident Freestyle guru, and ex hotshot Will Lama has kindly offered his services to the team! so he will be getting you all up to speed on stuff like gecko`s, flaka`s and spock`s. (Whatever they are!!) THANKS WILL!!!!! Another new venue and team this year are the Lagoon Piranha`s, at Hove, a bit more travelling involved, but good to have some more competition! Bewl and Aquasports are familiar venues, the last event is at HSSC. The champion's cup will be held at Whitwell as before, if we defend our title!! This is a call to all of those of you who attended our beginner courses last year at the lake. We spotted some real talent among you. Keep up your interest this year and enter your 1st T15 event! Racing has proven to be the best way of improving your skills. We will be contacting all those who attended last year soon! Meanwhile contact me through the website, e-mail or phone if you want.

Club Equipment: A list of club equipment is attached, all available for loan or hire to T15 members. The rigs are mainly aimed at beginner/entry level but have in the past achieved notable success on the race course!! Wetsuits and buoyancy aids are available as before.

Training: We have met with the RYA regional development officer and some interesting developments are underway locally within their structure. We anticipate some significant benefits to our club as a result! Watch this space! We have a meeting next week with Nickolls who own the lake at West Hythe, to discuss our use of their facilities this year. Again, watch this space. We are aiming to have our training programme issued by the end of March.

Sponsorship: Has everyone seen the Dec Issue of Boards magazine?? Fantastic 3 page coverage of our Champions cup success!! Required reading for all members of our team. We also received great coverage in the local papers and an article and pictures in the RYA, T15 and boardseeker websites. This has created a lot of interest in us within the industry, and has magically made my conversations with our current and potential sponsors very much easier!! We should have a race vest sponsor tied up soon. At the moment I am not sure how far this can go! My feelings are that we have become a highly marketable commodity, particularly as junior windsurfing is on such a high and funding for the forthcoming Olympics does not seem to be a problem. Any advice gratefully accepted on this one!! (It`s a bit out of my comfort zone.) Hot rumour has it that Kona/Exocet boards will be making an appearance on our beach courtesy of a local distributor?? Did you know that in their product range is a tandem board aimed at the concept of a junior/adult combo??!! Now get your heads around that one!!!!!!!! Lets get this forecasted cold snap out of the way and look forward to some great windsurfing and events for 2007!! Phil Hards philip.hards@btinternet.com

Willie and Roger's Birthday Party (05/01/07)
Willie Wire and Roger Harris will be having a joint birthday party at HSSC on Saturday 17th February. All HSSC members are warmly invited. The party will commence at 8.00 pm, with food, bar, and dancing to "The Rattlers". RSVP pam.wire@btinternet.com 

Happy New Year! (02/01/07)
That's Christmas out of the way, and I trust it was a suitably merry one for you. I do hope Santa's sack was satisfactorily emptied in your hearth. One brilliant New Year's Eve party later (see the photos) and, with the days getting longer, we're now cruising towards the 2007 season - quickly may it come and long may it last! There will be loads of news to come, but I'll leave that to our trusty committee. From me - your one man web team - I thank you for visiting this site, and wish you a very Happy New Year. MDM.

Hythe Hotshots T15 December Newsletter (14/12/06 By Phil Hards)
WELCOME TO THE 1st HYTHE HOTSHOTS NEWSLETTER! Hi everyone. As you are all aware, Mark has stepped down as T15 coach for 2007.I`m sure that you will all join me in thanking him for all his efforts over the past few years in setting up and running a very successful team and for putting in place the structure for windsurf training. The results speak for themselves! As U.K. champion club for the past two years, it simply was not an option to let his efforts go to waste, therefore I have decided to take over the running of T15 and training, initially for 2007. I hope the transition will be as smooth as possible! We are currently in consultation with our committee and the RYA regional development officer to work out how best to structure ourselves, so watch this space!!

Our aims for 2007 are as follows:

• Provide back up/support for T15 racers at regional and team events. This usually consists of 4 local events around Kent, and a team championship event if we win the regional trophy!

• Continue windsurf training from beginner through to intermediate level. The Thursday night format at the Redoubt has proved successful over the past few years . We are looking to increase the use of this facility.

• Provide dedicated race training for zone squad or more experienced sailors, either from the club or at the Redoubt.

• Manage club windsurfing equipment.

• Provide regular newsletters.

• Administer T15 finances and look at possibilities for fundraising/sponsorship.

CLUB EQUIPMENT. Thanks to the efforts of our past teams and the purchase of training boards from the RYA, we are now in a great position with club kit. We have 5 Bic Technos for club/training use (the RYA recommended board) and a variety of 5.5, 4.5, 3.5, 2.8m rigs all in new or very good condition. We still have the older longboards as a high volume alternative. To clarify the use of club equipment: Boards and rigs will be available free of charge to those members wishing to compete in club T15 events, and club training. A fee will be charged for personal use of boards/rigs outside of these activities. We will try to make available equipment that can be used as a back up to members in the event of their own boards/rigs being damaged/out of action.

OTHER STUFF. The programme for 2007 is being prepared . (zone squad members will already have their itinery) Details for 2007 T15 and national events will follow as soon as I have all the info. Training dates will also follow in the New Year. Lets wish ex Hotshots and National squad members Sam Latham, Andrew Petts, Jack Brooks, Elliot and Claudia Carney every success in their quest for world domination!! They will all be competing at the Europeans in Cadiz from Jan 1st 07. Also a special mention to the two Will`s, Lama and Hurrell, who are now too old to compete for the Hotshots. You will be missed. Hope to see you all down at Hythe as much as possible letting rip and generally acting as role models for our younger team members.

2007. What with 5 of our team either now too old or "poached" by the National squad, we are going to have our work cut out next year, but I am confident we can stand up and be counted! Last year saw a significant rise, in both numbers attending, and quality of performance from both of our main competitors, Bewl and Aquasports, they are both gonna be gunning for us next year! So, its going to be fun, tell your friends and your friends, friends about us and lets keep the success going!! Please feel free to contact me over any matter, it would be good if all current members mail me about their plans for 2007. Enjoy Christmas and have a Happy "windsurfing" New Year!!! Phil