Month: December 2022

 

Dear all,

 

On Monday evening of this week, the last WHYW emails were sent at 22-48, 22-50 and 23-00. And the correspondence started again at 06-35 on Tuesday morning. The committee are working hard to ensure the success of WHYW 2023!

 

I say that quite proudly, as the man writing this post is not known for his capacity for forward planning. On our second “assault” on West Highland Week, we took delivery of a boat on Friday, went through the canal on Saturday, and raised the sails for the first time on the way out to the start line on Sunday. As the rest of the family scrabbled around looking for battens (of which there were none), my 4 year old son sat listening to the sequence of start guns, before announcing that he thought it was a “nice day for shooting!”

 

But I digress. I have mentioned before that I am blessed with a committee who are  not only hard working and enthusiastic, but more importantly capable of planning ahead. And as you will have seen, the Notice of Race has been posted, and entries for 2023 are open.

 

Some of you have very kindly said that the 2022 event was a good one – but 2023 is going to be better! We have a lot of exciting ideas lined up, about which more later. However the success of the event does not just depend on us, but also on you, the competitor. Please get your entries in, but more than that, please encourage your friends to come too. For the coming year, we are offering a “bring a buddy” discount – if you introduce a friend who has not come to WHYW before, then we will offer both boats a 10% discount.

 

I hope you all have a very happy Christmas, and a prosperous New Year. And I very sincerely hope that you all enjoy West Highland Week 2023, as much as we, your committee, enjoy making it happen!

 

Gavin.

 

Chairman.

You can now view to notice of race for this years event and complete your entry form for 2023

The Organising Committee has deliberated at length over the level of entry fees for the 2023 75^th celebratory event.  The cost of running an event over three separate locations for two fleets requiring multiple Committee Vessels to provide effective race management increased significantly in 2022 and we are anticipating further increases for 2023 with the inevitable result that we have had to increase entry fees for 2023. 

The event is largely organised and managed by an enthusiastic volunteer team with some paid administrative support so costs here can be minimised.  The largest single event cost is the charter of the four Committee Vessels, around 50% of the total cost of running the event with a large element of ever-increasing fuel costs. Around 60% of the event income is obtained from entry fees with the balance mainly from sponsorship.  When budgeting we aim for a small surplus to ensure the financial sustainability of the Event for the future although both the last two years have incurred a small loss and there are a number of variables, in particular the number of entries and level of sponsorship, that make budgeting an interesting balancing exercise.  We would appreciate your support and understanding with this matter.  We are aware that these are difficult times for some and if our increase in entry fees is preventing you from joining us then please get in touch.  We look forward to seeing you on the water for West Highland Yachting Week 2023.