Accomplished sailor Allan Williams is the new man at the helm of Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC).The past National International One Design (IOD) champion has succeded Robert Mason as the club’s commodore.He has also served as the RHADC’s rear and vice-commodore in the past.Williams said that with leadership of the world’s only “Royal Dinghy Club” comes much responsibility.“When you get to the commodore post the buck stops there,” he added. “You are more the spokesman for the club and responsibilty for the well being of the club is in your hands more than it was in any time prior.“There’s also more pressure on you to get things right and you want to keep everybody happy.”Williams’ impressive sailing resume includes five national championships (IOD, Etchells and J105), six International Race Week titles, seven Newport-Bermuda Races and six Marion-Bermuda Races.He also skippered RHADC’s Fitted Dinghy, Elizabeth II, for a decade. During that period ElizabethII won the coveted Coronation Cup multiple times.“Sailing has been part of my life and I have been fortunate enough to win national championships in the Etchells, International One Design and J105 Classes over the years, not to mention many international regattas and World Championships, one as far away as Perth in Australia,” Williams said.“Mixed in with class racing I became interested in ocean racing and first began in Bermuda Offshore Cruising Association, enjoying the overnight races around the Argus Tower. The next big bash was the many Newport-Bermuda Races, and then the first Marion-Bermuda Race in 1977 hosted by the RHADC, and many since.Like many sailors, Williams, who joined the RHADC in 1972, began sailing at a young age.“I learnt to sail on my own sitting inside the cockpit of a Sunfish in Riddells Bay, but my first tuition was in the Club Junior Sailing Programme,” he recalled. “A lot has changed since those days.”As a youngster Williams was crowned RHADC junior boys champion and he eventually became a sailing instructor at a club he has long been associated with.“My first memory of the RHADC was when it was located on Church Street in Hamilton,” he recalled. “My father (Herbert) was the commodore there in 1963, which preceded the move to “Mangroville” in 1964, where he was also commodore.“We are a club dedicated to the advancement of sailing as a sport and, accordingly, we participate in and sponsor a number of sailing regattas and related activities, with the biennial Marion-Bermuda race being perhaps the most famous.“In addition, we provide year-round sailing instruction to junior and adult sailors and boast the largest junior sailing fleet in Bermuda and are the host club of the Bermuda Fitted Dinghy Association and compete in the annual series of dinghy races from St George’s to Somerset.”RHADC will host Fitted Dinghy racing at Granaway Deep tomorrow, beginning at 12 noon.