Dear ACF Sailors, Coaches and Supporters,

At the Andrew Cassell Foundation (ACF) based at Cowes, we are working hard to progress our plans to support as many individuals as possible in 2020, as well as coming up with ways to continue to support new individuals and keep the fleet running.

Our key aim is to help sailors to improve within the sport, encouraging general growth in sailing activity with our primary goal to create greater equality and inclusion within the sport.

In the mean time, we have an exciting year ahead and we will be doing our best to share as much information with you as we can.

Currently most of our activity is driven by those wishing to attend and actively in contact, RSVP’s to events, give us the information we need to plan, even clicking ‘maybe’ or ‘no’ on events helps us progress for example, for Cowes Week we technically only have 3 boats but have access to more if planning in advance. We are also consistently trying to keep the costs as low as possible, by trying to come up with methods to help people who commit earlier, which helps us reduce costs through partners and supporters.

Heading into 2020 we need your help to improve on last year and enable the above to keep going and we want to give you an idea of what we have been up too recently.

A. We re-launched our informal winter training and racing in October 2019– numbers similar to the previous year with some returning and some new.
B. We have been working hard with the CCYC, ISC, ECSC and CCCA Calendars to create a program that will support all sailors the best we can in 2020.
C. We are working hard to rebuild the Sonar Class fleet in Cowes – working closely with the ISC to encourage more Sonar sailing and sailors in general.
D. We creating more boats to race against and have encouraged attendance to Cowes Week 2020 with commitment of the Sussex Yacht Club to bring 4 boats along. We are encouraging Sonar sailing in general with new fleets building around the country in the hope they will visit us and race alongside in the future.
E. We are working with the EX-UK Sonar Class Association Membership to rebuild the UK Class and hoping to rebuild a yearly National Championships for our sailors to aspire to compete in.
F. We are sending out applications to fundraise for the much needed funds to keep the charity going, as without this we just can’t carry on and give sailors the freedom and support they need.

2020 – To continue with this success we need your help by either;
- RSVP to events – let us know your intentions. Options – ‘Yes, Maybe, No’ and Pay when you can Via the events, this also confirms your place and attendance.
- Tell your friends that they can come also. Encouraging them to get in touch for a trial on and convenient date to all – Please don’t leave until the last second or warmer weather, if the weather isn’t great we can move the date.
- Help raise some funds no matter how small. For example, a quiz in your local pub etc…
- Share what we do on Social media or emails we send out.
- Helping us spread the word about what we are doing.

For a clearer picture about our plan for 2020, please see the attached documents – ‘2020 ACF Sailing Event Information’ or click on the following link – https://acfsailing.teamapp.com/documents/744818

For exciting info on how the Sonar Class is growing please see the attached letter – Letter to Sailors Clubs and Contacts which we sent out to those we know of Pre-Christmas – https://acfsailing.teamapp.com/documents/744735

If you would like more information or have any further questions, please send an email us at info@acfsailing.org or give (Matt) a call on 07773773320.

Thank you for taking the time to read this from all of us at the Andrew Cassell Foundation and I hope you come along to play with or against us soon. We are looking forward to getting back out on the water at the end of the month.

Yours sincerely,

The ACF Sailing Team

Photo Credit – pwpictures.com

Location

Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club