Corless: ‘RBYC post is a privilege’

Jon Corless is relishing the opportunity to ‘give something back’ to  the  Royal Bermuda Yacht Club during a hectic 2014.

Appointed Rear Commodore at the turn of the year, the 48-year-old is anticipating a busy 12 months on and off the water, with the  most eye-catching event the biennial Newport Bermuda, which kicks into gear on the island from June 22.

Preceding that is another important regatta — the International Race Week, sponsored by Bacardi,  which takes place May 3-9.

Originally from London, Corless, who runs marine services company Triangle Rigging Ltd, has been a member of the RBYC since he arrived on the island in 1994.

As Rear Commodore for a two-year period, he is in charge of the various sailing schedules but is also heavily involved in ceremonial duties, event budgets and the general ‘well-being’ of the club. Corless sees this as an ideal opportunity to build on the good work already under way.

He told the Bermuda Sun: “I’ve been a supporter of the club, not only through becoming a member when I got here but I’ve worked with the club on a number of events over the years.

“Particularly, we’ve supported events like the Argo Group Gold Cup in October and also been responsible for helping establish some sailing classes such as the J24 and more recently the J105 class, organizing regattas with the club for those classes.

“I guess having done all that, it’s a privilege to be offered the position as it now gives me a chance to give something back to the club and the sport of sailing.”

He added: “It was something that did appeal to me. Obviously, you have to sit down and think as the position requires a lot of time and effort but I’m fortunate I’m able to do that.

“The over-riding thing is it’s nice to be able to be in a position to help effect some change and improvements and hopefully bring more people back into the sport or perhaps more importantly bring more children into the sport as they will be the future of sailing.”

International Race Week will feature a host of dinghy and keel boat competitions, while the first weekend of racing will see the return of the local Comet dinghy fleet, who have been absent for a few years

There’s no doubt, though, that the Newport to Bermuda Race, in which Corless competed in 2002, is the biggest event of the year.

He said: “There is a huge amount of organization that goes on both in Bermuda by the RBYC and in the United States by the Cruising Club of America

“Then there’s the nice type of organization on the social side of things.

“There’s a huge party atmosphere here when everyone arrives, lots of people come down on their boats and often their wives, girlfriends and families fly down to join them… the number of people that stay in Bermuda for that week or so is massive.

“Most of the yachts in this year’s race should be at the RBYC Marina by June 24 and they make a spectacular sight and well worth viewing.”

An avid racer in the J105 class, Corless helped stage a regatta last year, sponsored by XL, that combined local and overseas crews and it’s something he wants to develop with other classes. He said: “Regattas like that provide a great opportunity to bring people to our island and it’s a great format that uses a small number of boats in an efficient way — an idea which is being considered by other fleets overseas.

“Sailing is changing both in the number of participants and amount of time people can spend doing it, so if we can build up and improve our domestic local sailing and then perhaps come up with some changes to the way things have been done and some of the areas we have traditionally been good at doing, for example match racing and team racing, we can bring them back into our schedule and increase overall participation.

“All those events are great but one of the good things about sailing and belonging to the Royal Bermuda Yacht club is the many overseas’ connections available to members. By utilizing these, our sailors can go and compete overseas and there is a return arrangement. You get this two-way relationship, so you get people to the island to sail here.”

Corless also wants to build on the success of the RBYC Sailing Academy, which was started three years ago and has Digicel as one if its main sponsors. The Academy also provides adult lessons on a Wednesday and Friday night and runs powerboat certification courses throughout the year. For more information go to www.rbyc.bm