Thursday Evening Racing

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It’s not long now until lighter evenings, warmer weather and the Club’s Thursday Evening Series. The first race will be held on the 9th April, just before Easter. There will be 3 ‘Mini Series’ of seven races with 5 to count. In tandem there is also the 21 race series with 16 to count. During September there is a further four race series with 3 to count and we start earlier as the nights draws in. Novices get a 5 minute head-start which allows them a less crowded start line and the time is not counted in the final calculations. Each evening’s race starts at 6.25 pm for novices (Bronze Fleet) and 6.30 pm for experienced helms, split into Silver and Gold Fleets depending on their results from 2019.

For new members, contact me or the evening’s Race Officer for a briefing before the start time & read the articles on starting to race later in this newsletter The success of the Series depends on those taking part Each race requires a Race Officer and two people in a safety boat. We need the racers to carry out these duties and they will be awarded average points for the race. Based on previous years, if every competitor carries out one duty per seven races, we should cover them all.

Please note, if you race on a Thursday the ‘opting out’ of Club duties does not apply. Please volunteer on the Club’s Dutyman program. If there are no volunteers, lots will be drawn of those wishing to race.

The Mini Series prize givings will be held after each seventh race at the Club or The Red House (on the Dorchester Road) depending on your desires – let me know as we go along. There is also the desire to be able to pre-order food at The Red House for us to socialise/go over the race each Thursday.The 21 Race Series prizes will be awarded at the Club’s Annual Social and Prize Giving being held on Saturday 24th October. The venue will be publicised nearer the time, please do come along, everyone is welcome—the more the merrier.

Thinking of Starting to Race

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We know that the club is closed at the moment due to the coronavirus outbreak but we thought that you would like a downloadable copy of the Starting to Race article from the Spring newsletter. You can find it and all the future articles in the members menu under downloads. There is a category called Website Articles which is where these will be stored. You can also find it here

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Starting to Race? 253.67 KB 21 downloads

This is the article from the Spring 2020 newsletter. Its the first of a series introducing...
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Merv Clark

Covid-19 Update

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Dear Member

In view of the Government’s advice – and now its instructions – to prevent unnecessary travel and social contacts, the Committee has, with great regret, taken the inevitable decision to suspend sailing and all associated activities for the foreseeable future.

As reminder, the Government’s website states: ‘The single most important action we can all take in fighting Coronavirus is to stay at home in order to protect the NHS and save lives.’

Although some might rightly argue that exercise is still encouraged, and sailing is a healthy, open air activity, in the case of sailing at Sutton Bingham reservoir, not only does it involve social contacts in changing rooms and clubhouse, but we are under an obligation to provide safety cover in the form of a safety boat manned by two competent persons (OODs) whenever sailing is taking place. This will inevitably require the OODs to have close personal contact for several hours a day. All such social contacts are against the policies set out by the Government. Indeed, we have already had a number of members advising the need to self-isolate and/or avoid contacts due to their own underlying health conditions, or the risk of conveying the virus to vulnerable family members.

As a result of this suspension, the duty roster has been cleared – initially until the end of April. We would therefore ask all those that had duties booked for this period to find new slots on Dutyman for later in the year.

Visiting the Club is also discouraged. There will be a regular inspection, perhaps once a week, to check on security and visits as necessary to deal with any other urgent issues which might arise – as a result of bad weather, for instance.

Despite the shut-down of our activities, the Club will still have to cover many fixed costs, including rent payments, electricity, telephone and broadband, as well as grass cutting and other essential maintenance activities. Income from new members, boat hire, training courses and the galley will all be significantly down on a normal year. We would therefore ask you to bear with the Club during this difficult time.

The Committee will continue to monitor the situation very closely in order to support Government policy and comply with its instructions. We will endeavour to keep you advised as the situation at the Club progresses, and very much hope that normal activities can be resumed in the not too distant future.

Mervyn Clark

Commodore

Triangle 2020

Dorset Triangle & Banbury Chaser

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Sunday 8th March saw sailors from Castle Cove and Lyme Regis Sailing Clubs join us in the first of the Triangle and Chaser events. At first, we all thought the weather forecasters had got it wrong as the sun was shining and a decent westerly breeze, however, by the end of the day we experienced all four seasons – from sunny balmy breezes to violent squalls with horizontal rain.

Race one saw three boats from Lyme, nine from Castle Cove and nine from Sutton Bingham get away first time for a windward/leeward course using buoys 9 and 2. The new PY handicaps were used which put Simon Hawkes – K1 (CCSC) in first place, our own Richard Frost – Solo in second and Jerry Rook and Jake Stowe – Albacore (LRSC) in third place.

Lunch was served by Julia Green assisted by Merv Clark with the afternoon races being run back-to-back. Race two saw a well disciplined start with Chris Jones – RS Aero 7 leading for most of the race and winning on handicap, Simon Hawkes came second and Richard Frost third. As the remainder of the fleet were finishing a ferocious squall caused capsizes and all sorts of problems for helms trying to reach the finish line.

Race three saw several helms putting their boats away or retiring early. Simon Hawkes again was first, Jerry Rook was second and Pete Barnstable and Chris Bottomley – Kestrel (sailing for CCSC) were a creditable third.

Commodore Merv Clark received a substitute Banbury Chaser Cup (LRSC are still looking for the original cup) as the home team beat LRSC. The Triangle was won by CCSC with 32and a half points, second SSBC with 46 and a half and LRSC third. Full results are on the Club’s website courtesy of Richard Frost. Merv presented prizes to the top three helms and crew (Simon, Jerry and Jake and Richard) and a special prize to Issy Glazebrook who finished all three races in a RS Tera Sport and came 16th out of the 21 boats that competed.

Thanks were extended to Julia Green for running the galley, OODs Steve Joyce and Adrian Mitchell, Race Officers Phil Bailey and Nigel Leveridge and to all who competed in the event.

The next Triangle event will be held at Castle Cove on the 31st May with the final event at Lyme on 27th September.

2020 Youth Group Dates

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Youth training dates on Saturday mornings have been decided by your three Senior instructors that volunteer their time to get as many children as possible on the water in a safe, fun and learning environment. There are 9 sessions that are spread over the warmer sailing months, so get the dates in your diaries to avoid conflicts

23rd May
6th June (Club 50th Anniversary weekend)
27th June
11th July
25th July
8th August
22nd August
5th September
19th September

The sessions include landbased drills, rigging, sailing, games, fun races and de-rigging, with participant numbers limited by available instructors/ boats, so we sign up participants on the day on a first come, first served basis.

These session are a great opportunity to:
1. try out sailing at minimum cost (£10 a session – cash on the day please as you sign in) and in a friendly non-threatening environment
2. have a taster session if you are thinking of booking your child onto one of the RYA courses at the club
3. practise and develop their skills further in a safe setting under the supervision of qualified RYA instructors.

• No prior experience required, we work with beginners through to more advanced sailors
• A great opportunity for confident teenagers who are interested to start prepping for Assistant Instructor and then Dinghy Instructor qualifications in the future, to take their first steps in training at the club.
• Groups are generally split between Optimists for young beginners, who graduate to RS Tera and then to RS Feva and Laser dinghies once they gain confidence and have grown a bit.
• Buoyancy aids are provided, but sailors should come dressed expecting to get wet, wear dinghy boots or old trainers and bring a towel and a warm change of clothes. (suncream, sun hats and sun glasses essential on those balmy sunny summer Saturdays to come….!)

Generally we start sessions with participants signed on, changed and ready to go afloat at 10:00, run sessions on the water ‘til approx 12:00 and then those who want to sail in the afternoon can often get involved in some informal racing with their instructors on the water at the discretion of the SI. Registration starts at 9.30am

Parents/carers will need to sign consent and medical declaration forms for the children, they are expected to help rig and derig boats and are always welcome to help out as additional hands during sessions under the direction and at the discretion of our Instructors. Parents are expected to remain at the club throughout or designate a willing responsible adult (known to the child) who will stay on site and be responsible for their children when they are off the water.

Working Party Day

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The annual working party day is this Saturday. If you can come along to help tidy the club grounds ready for the Spring please let Merv Clark know as soon as you can and he will let you know what tools to bring along. There should be lunch provided as well.