Being an accountant and having been a member of the club for over 45 years since I was 3 or 4, I finally succumbed and agreed to take on the role of Treasurer for the club in 2018. My parents joined the club when they got their second boat an 18 foot silhouette which believe or not the four of us slept on board a few times. They had two further
boats, the last one was a Sadler 32 called Sethor (Cornish for gannet).
My own first boat was a mirror sailing dinghy which I got aged 10 with my younger sister. I was cadet from 11 until 18 sailing the mirror and then latterly briefly a
windsurfer. During that time I was also really lucky to sail on many yachts in the club and am very thankful to a large number of owners who put up with my foul ups on the foredeck of their boats during races. The first boat I ever sailed on for a Thursday
evening series was a J24 called Joker owned by Marcus and Chaz Anderson, this has become entirely appropriate as J24’s have been the class I’ve been sailing in for
the last 10 years, and now have my own called ‘Hitchhiker’. Away from sailing, I’m married to Deborah and between us we have 5 children and 3 grandchildren, two of whom have the sailing bug. Having lived in Saltash for all of my life she persuaded me 5 years ago to ‘cross the water’ and we now live beside Hooe lake in Plymstock with a dog and two cats. Both of us work in finance as accountants and have our own finance company. Amongst the children, the
youngest my son James has his own share in an RS400 dinghy and has been part of a youth J24 crew doing national and international events for the last 3 years
(disappointingly aged 20 he is already a much better sailor than his Dad!!). Oliver, Deborah’s youngest has also got into sailing since I introduced him, and press
ganged him into being at the front of a J24 on Thursday’s and away at events. He has also done his own adventure helping his uncle sail a 40 ft cruising catamaran from Portugal to the Canary Islands several years ago. I’m passionate about sailing and spending time on the water, and love taking friends,
family (and strangers!!) out and introducing them to sailing. I believe we have an excellent club which is very much a ‘sailing’ club, not a yacht club and encourages all activities on the water from paddleboarding/kayaking and dinghy/yacht cruising through to hotly contested dinghy and yacht racing, right up to the pinnacle which is probably the gig rowing section of the club who have multiple world championships
to their name. The cadet section is a great training ground for our younger members, and has been actively encouraging local children from all backgrounds to become
involved. I believe our club is the most inclusive, friendly and provides the widest variety of
watersports in the port. A big key to our success is active member involvement, and steady, sustainable improvements to club facilities and activities whilst still ensuring they remain affordable to the membership. Alongside your management committee I am committed to keeping the financial health of the club in good order and making good use of what is effectively your money as the membership. We always welcome
new ideas in terms of improvements for all areas of the club including the financial
aspects and please contact me if you want to discuss anything: chrisd.randall@hotmail.co.uk