Tim Dobson's Blog

An incomplete (focuses on sailing), resume of mine:

Personal Motivations:

I have been sailing since I was 8, having not come directly out of a sailing family despite my grandparents, Greta and Piers Plowman having made various epic journeys in their Wayfarer.

I have learnt almost all I know from Glossop Sailing Club (GSC), having sailed almost exclusively club training boats, and am one of many examples of the success of these boats. Having gained my assistant Instructor qualification in 2006, I trained and became a RYA Dinghy Instructor in Summer 2007.

In September 2007 I was nominated for my efforts organising the Gossop entries to the Southport 24 Hour Race, as the High Peak, Young Sports Leader of the year, an award I subsequently won.

In November 2007, as the guest of the High Peak MP, Tom Levitt, I was invited to a reception at Number 10 Downing Street, highlighting the achievements of young people,

Southport

I first sailed at the Southport 24 Hour endurance race in 2004, and then the following year Glossop did not submit an entry to the Race. Therefore I was anxious to enter the 2006 Southport Junior 12 Hour Race something which GSC had not done for the about 10 years.

When arrangements started to collapse a week before the Race was due, I took over the organisation of the Glossop Entry. Despite the cynicism and low expectations of my peers, I quickly put together the necessary administration work for the race. We competed in the race, with many young people sailing a GP14 for the very first time, and came away knowing that we would be better equipped and prepared in 2007, having now a clear idea of what the race involved.

At the end of 2006, with the water rapidly retreating at our Sailing Club Reservoir there were real fears for the survival of the Club. The Southport 24 Hour Race seemed out of reach with the Executive Committee being unable to commit funds towards the Race due to the club's finances taking an unexpected downward turn.

At the start of 2007, I made concious decision to again organise the Junior entry for the Southport 12 Hour Race. In the run-up to the race I arranged various training sessions to be held at Pennine Sailing Club in Yorkshire since, there was now, no water left in Torside Reservoir.

The team competed, this time feeling more part of the crowds of young teams with their matching T-shirts and shiny boats ~ we at least had matching T-shirts if not the shiny boat! At that 12 Hour Race, a group of us discussed the possibilities involved in organising a Glossop entry for the 24 Hour Race. Inspired by these ideas, I set about putting plans together to make this possible.

In Autumn 2007, I organised for the first time, the Glossop Entry to the 2007 Southport 24 Hour Race, with full support of the GSC executive committee and a dedicated group of volunteers. For the Southport 24 Hour Race I contacted a large number of adult club members, and achieved an unprecedented turnout. The Team was supported by contributions from several local businesses, which meant that at Southport we had a caravan courtesy of Glossop Caravans to relax in, a keg of beer from a local micro-brewery, and a large number sausages, in addition to personalised T-shirts resulting in the most professional entry yet. Also, at this race, a large number of junior sailors competed alongside their adult counterparts resulting in an overwhelmingly successful Club event.

PROFILE

TIMOTHY DOBSON (17 years) learnt to sail at Glossop Sailing Club on their fleet of training dinghies. Tim does not come from a sailing family, even though his maternal Grandparents made some epic voyages in a Wayfarer sailing dinghy many years before he was born. He started to learn when he was 8 years old, and under the Club's continuous kindly tuition, and with their engaged support reached the level of RYA Assistant Instructor when he was 15 years old. Last summer (2007) at Plas Menai (National Watersports Centre for Wales) he succeeded in becoming a full RYA Dinghy Instructor at the age of 16 (the youngest one is allowed to qualify).

Tim would like to repay some of the benevolent help he received by raising money for some new training boats, and also by raising the profile of his Club which experienced a very difficult period when the water went missing from their Reservoir. He hopes that the new boats will ensure that the next generation of young sailors, who like himself, do not have sailing parents or sailing boats in their background, will still have the opportunity to learn to sail. His example in this Project may also encourage other youngsters to develop visions and ambitions of their own, and not to take 'No' for an answer.

Tim went from Padfield County Primary (now Padfield *Community* Primary) to Manchester Grammar School where each year one of the school camps is held in the Lake District on Bassenthwaite Lake. Tim went to that camp for five years, earning the appreciation of the staff for his willingness to encourage other boys to enjoy boats of any form, and to teach them even at then the rudiments of sailing.

Over the years there has been one other abiding interest in Tim's life ~ Computers and Information Communications Technology.

As on IRC as (tdobson), Tim is a Free Software activist.
In late 2007 he became a GNU Webmaster and has become actively involved in Manchester's Free Software community, helping shape the first Free Software Group in the UK.

Whilst completing his GCSE's at Manchester Grammar School, building a commercial website for a Manchester clothing firm, he also successfully organised/co-ordinated two teams from the Sailing Club. They competed in the Southport Twelve Hour and the Twenty-four Hour Races ~ relay races of stamina and endurance. The Club entered a team of 14 young people for the Twelve Hour Race, and a 20 team of mixed ages (12 yrs to 60+yrs) for the Twenty Four Hour Race.

In recognition of these Organisational efforts the Club put his name forward for a High Peak Sports Award, and in October 2007 he was awarded by Cllr Andrew Bingham Young Sports Leader in the High Peak. On the back of that award Tim was invited by Tom Levitt, MP for the High Peak, to a Young Persons Reception at 10 Downing Street high-lighting their achievements, where he was introduced to the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

At present Tim is at the Marple Campus of the Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College where he is studying a Double Award in Applied ICT, Geology and French. To that end he spent a week in February on a French exchange to Lille, and spent 10 days in March in Krakow, Poland on an exchange with a French-speaking Polish school, thus he is relatively fluent in French.