Dès que les vents tourneront, Nous nous en allerons !

Un nouveau départ pour l'année 2010 : Franca et JC sont Capitaines du Club de Voile de l'INRIA. Franca (à gauche) est principalement responsable de la section `loisir' du Club, alors que JC (à droite) s'occupera de la section `compétitive', notamment des régates organisées par le Comité Départemental de Voile des Alpes Maritimes 06.

Les journées `loisir' seront organisées à la demande à partir du mois d'avril jusqu'au mois de juin. Les cours au trimestre reprendront en avril aussi. N'hésitez pas à contacter Franca pour toute info et pour lui prêter main forte !

Les entraînements de régates ont quant à eux repris le samedi 23 janvier. JC vous attend ! Les novices sont les bienvenus, tout comme ceux qui sont plus expérimentés.

Accessoirement, JC est aussi le Président du Comité Départemental Alpes Maritimes du Sport d'Entreprise (qui inclut le CDV06). Pour plus d'info, n'hésitez pas à lui envoyer un mel ou consulter le site web ici.

PS. Sur ce comité, vous verrez aussi de l'INRIA, Olivier et Marc.

The Cool Supreme is off to Germany

Tobi's story with the Sailing Club started with his sending a couple of e-mails enquiring about catamaran courses and discounts. Shortly after, at his first club lunch, he came across his name on posters and contact details as `Catamaran Captain'. After the initial shock - no one had asked him beforehand whether he'd agree to it or not -, he was rather amused by Sapna's mix of blind belief (`I thought you wouldn't mind really') and panic (`You don't, do you?'). `I am still the Club President, i.e. the boss, though,' she went on to reassure him, `coz I'm the one with the contacts. Is it okay with you?' This sort of banana republican pseudo democratic club concept would have probably scared anyone else off, but Tobi guffawed. It was just too crazy, dude.

Whether it was out of pity or not that he decided to help anyway remains a mystery. Soon enough though, he was out there gently coercing (there is no better word for it, and we maintain that it was done in the gentlest possible way) people all over INRIA Sophia to try out courses at the CNA, take part in regattas, and just generally to open their eyes to sailing. He spoke to them in French, cajoled them in English, replied to their questions in Spanish. Getting people involved at INRIA is not impossible, but it is tough. It takes a lot of patience and conviction. He did so well though that at his second club lunch, six months later, Sapna decided to hand over the Presidency to him.

Tobi kept on with his cool sunshine attitude, convincing the sceptics that a day at sea was just a perfect day, and - with JC - reassuring those prone to seasickness that homeopathy could cure them and they, too, deserved the happiness that such outings could bring to others. In the end, he also spoke Portuguese, Italian, and his maternal language, German, in order to reach out to more people.

Participation at courses swelled. Crews for regattas were always complete. Granted, he was not the only one to deserve credit for this: JC, Franca, Aurelie, and Sapna canvassed support and interest tirelessly at his side. But all of them will agree that it was just wonderful to work with someone who was so dedicated, positive and generous in sharing his passion with others.

At his farewell lunch at INRIA last Tuesday, Tobi handed over the Club Presidency to Franca and JC, in the presence of six other members, plus two of our partners and friends from Les Mines Paristech. JC was not there, and is probably not aware of this, but we think that he will keep on Tobi's spirit of laughing at the cheek of the previous Club Captain.

Ciao Tobi! We will miss you! The club is in good hands, though, so watch out this space for other adventures at INRIA-sur-Mer ! ;)

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

Dear All,

2009 has been an exciting year for the INRIA Club de Voile: 64 people participated in at least one of the activities that were organised, an INRIA crew qualified for the National Interenterprise Championships, and a new activity was launched: boat licence courses. At committee level, Tobias also successfully built on the previous club committee's experience with spreadsheets et al, and managed more effectively the budget. Of the 2800 EUR allocated at the start of the year by AGOS-Sophia, only ~200 EUR were left unspent. We also got in touch with W3C/ERCIM and strengthened our ties with Ecole des Mines: though in the end we were not able to organise anything with them, we got some very cool ideas about potential outings.

Thank you to all of you who took part in the club's activities in 2009: it was great for us to meet you and share our love for boating. We hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did.

The INRIA interenterprise crew has been extremely fortunate to have two experienced helmswomen, namely Odile Pourtallier (INRIA) for one training session, and Virginie Raybaud (INRIA - LOV) for all the others and the competitive regattas. We thank them immeasurably for their patience and their generosity.

There have also been some notable individual achievements: Jean Christophe - JC - trained for the interenterprise regattas and gained substantial experience as No. 2 of sloops. He should by the end of this season be able to take over as No. 1 (the helmsman). A special mention goes to INRIA Women's Captain Aurelie, who made it possible for INRIA to clinch the second position in the regional regatta in June 2009 (dixit Captain Virginie Raybaud). Belated thanks are also due to Franca who organised, in addition to those of 2009, all the day sessions at the CNA in 2008 and consequently gathered a massive attendance for this year (let's not forget the esteem from Eric and Marina, and the 2800 EUR it also brought us!).

This is all to say that the Club de Voile INRIA is alive and thriving.

Have a great 2010!