First of all happy new year to all of you!! (we are still in time)

and congratulations for joining the 2004 sailing course in Elba.

I am pleased to announce that just about one week after

your enthusiasm in signing up, has paid off, you will all benefit

of the subsidy that the Club is offering for this course, which by the way

has become the most popular Club event.

The course is fully booked insofar as the Club subsidy for this course is

concerned, it has all been allocated for a limited number of people, and now

it is exhausted.

From now on any new participant will have to pay about 100 euro more than

you (But it is still a cheap price, as they can benefit anyhow of the Club

discount.)

But they are still a few points to clear:

1) In order to participate to this course, and to any other club activity

during the year (regattas, BBQ etc), you must be a member of the

Esoc Sailing Club.

There are 2 types of members, the internal one’s (i.e. staff working in

Esoc or in Eumetsat including their close family), and external members

(those who have nothing to do with Esoc or Eumetsat)

Internal members must pay a yearly membership fee of 25 euro in

addition to the course price), external member must pay a fee of 150

euro.

refundable, even if you cancel your trip, except for the external

members, due to the high amount requested, as long they did not take

already advantage of the club subsidy for others events.

Therefore the price you will have to pay is:

If you cancel your trip, the Club will reimburse you of the amount paid,

except the membership fee, until 3 weeks before starting date

to the school, but at this stage I do not know how much, and it depends

also if we have a someone in the waiting list.

Finally in order to confirm your signing up I am requesting you

remaining payment by the 2nd of April 2004.

payment to :

BB/BANK, Darmstadt

And now, fed up to speak about money, let me give you some more

details to those who are coming for the first time.

(the actual course will start on Monday morning)

Our school is called ‘Utopia’ and it is a quite well known sailing school in

Italy, the school itself is located up-hill 5 minutes walking from a small

terrace we can enjoy a beautiful view over the sea.

The accommodation is simple, but still the best I have seen from any

other sailing schools. Couples are accommodated in a double bed room,

singles in triple bedroom. It is not a hotel, therefore you must tak e care

of the cleanness of your own room, the last day you must clean your

room perfectly, for the next people. You must bring your own sheets (or

sleeping bag) and towels, however the school can provide you with a

As mentioned in the prospect, sailing school is also a school of life

the group will be split duty teams (Comandata), which are in charge of

helping in small domestics duties (nothing much, really), like preparing

to know each other better.

A typical day:

Morning:

-breakfast, the breakfast is a typical Italian breakfast: Coffe/tea +

+cookie(no cheese, bacon, tomatoes, beans etc).

-theoretical lesson: about 30 minutes

-practical lesson: we go the harbour, we prepare the boats, and sail..

Lunch:

-back at the school for lunch

-After lunch ,theoretical lesson

-practical lesson: sailing

After the sailing (about 17h30), we will have one hour spare for

meeting each other at the local bar for a drink

Dinner:

-Dinner

-Free

Sometimes we do not come back at the school for lunch, but we stay on-board

to have a picnic and bathing in a bay:

Depending on weather conditions, the advance course will have an overnight

Cruise and sleep in one of the prettiest village of Elba.

The course level will adapt to the level of the cr ew.

Elba is in Tuscany, and is very close to the continent, clearly visible

from the coast of Italy, you can reach it with a ferry from ‘Piombino’

in about 30-45 minutes.

(North-East) still reasonably genuine village.

also from the tourist point of view, not many people in that season,

the water can be still a bit chilly for someone, but clean.

How to get there:

1) driving (almost all 900km of motorway ) to do preferably in 2

steps not to be too late, to catch the last ferry.

2) Fly, with Ryanair to Pisa, and then take the train to Piombino

(suggestion, book Ryanair ASAP, it is usually expensive for Pisa)

3) Train to Piombino (I have no detail for the moment)

meeting:

Note: If you wish, with a small extra (about 20 euro), you can get

the room on Saturday already, so that you can relax peacefully on

the beach, Sunday, you are gaining one day of sea-side for 20 euro

(it is what I will do).

So this is for the moment all what I can say, but you will get more details

later on, and in particular I hope that the club will organize the usual

BBQ in May, so that we can all meet and know each other.

In the meantime I re-mind you to pay the down payment, as I said above

to confirm your participation.

For any question do not hesitate to contact me.

best regards to all of you

Gianni

06151 – 90 2243