Sailing and Social Report 14-Nov-19

I’m told this Pike is a tiddler! Don’t fancy him nibbling my toes….

Sailing Club News – 14-Nov-19

First and Foremost –

Annual Celebration Supper and Prizegiving

Saturday 16-Nov-19 7.00 for 7.30 start.

The Bar and Galley will be open.
Bill Chard, our results supremo, has summarised all the points gained by sailors in the year-round points series. Accumulated points then translate into Force 4 vouchers or Galley or Bar tokens to reflect their efforts over the year.
We also try to present as many as possible of our Club perpetual trophies to the various winners.

The Sailing Committee are particularly excited to have invited Pete Vincent of Westcountry Boat Repairs to speak after the meal and present the prizes.
Pete has massive experience in the dinghy marine trade. He has sailed competitively in a range of different classes both in the UK and abroad.
He has owned a Chandlery, run a boat repair business for over 10 years, been chairman of two of Britain’s largest class associations, editor of Dinghy Sailing magazine and has an impressive list of results in one design classes over many years. He is respected as one of the UK’s top dinghy sailors.
He is the founder and sponsor of the RS200 Ugly Tour which has been hugely successful visiting many Clubs in the South West.
He has promised to recount some of his tales and experiences from many years of being actively involved in the dinghy racing scene. He is an amazing raconteur and I really hope the Clubhouse is packed with members, racers and non-racers alike. PLEASE COME ALONG!
The rough plan is to enjoy a drink and a meal followed by some words from Pete, and then the awarding of vouchers and trophies by the various fleet captains.
Rob will have the galley cooking up a storm so, to give him some idea of numbers, could you simply drop me an email if you intend to come – vice-commodore@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

So, what else has been happening? Note the picture of the monster pike caught at the recent Pike fishing week – he’s been put back in so more incentive to keep the mast pointing upwards I think!
Also the novel experimentation with Dragonflite 95 radio-controlled yachts – watch this space for more news….

Lake & Cake 6 – Saturday 28-Sep-19

This was (sadly) the last lake & cake in this year’s sailing programme. There was a very good turn-out of sailors, and strong wind so the ladies had a good blast around the lake to end the season. This was followed by the customary tea/coffee, cakes & savouries. To make this an even jollier occasion Sarah Tauwhare & her band of Merry Musical Minstrels played folk music & sea shanties well into the afternoon.
Many thanks to everyone who has joined in and supported lake & cake this year, there has been a great turn-out. Lake & cake will be back in Spring 2020. In the meanwhile we use out WhatsApp group to keep in contact. If you would like to be added (and to the email list) do let Rosie know: rosie.bowers@btinternet.com

Exciting Junior and Youth News

The Junior & Youth sailors at the club have been busy over the last few months, hoping to qualify for local, regional and national training squads (more in the next newsletter) and also representing the club in Team Racing competitions. Due to a number of Feva and 29er squad qualifying events Chew was only able to field one team of 6 sailors for the BSDRA (British Schools Dinghy Racing Association) Midlands team racing event held at Oxford SC last month. With 21 teams, and very fickle winds, the team finished in a very worthy 4th place.

The following weekend was one of the two big youth team racing events of the year, the RYA Eric Twiname Team Racing Championships, also at Oxford SC. We pulled out the stops for our first year in this competition and entered a 4 sailor Feva team in the Junior (U16) competition, and two 6 sailor Firefly (U19) teams, Chew Blue and Chew White. The teams were up against the top team racing schools in the country, dedicated team racing clubs, class associations and other clubs. Conditions were very light and shifty on the Saturday which resulted in the race officers needing to regularly shift courses. Sunday started with torrential rain with the wind slowly building as the day went on – this would have an impact on the final results.

Our teams average age was well below the U16 Feva and U19 Firefly age limits at approximately 13 and 15 respectively. Despite an age disadvantage, and relatively little team racing experience compared to the big teams, all three teams did exceptionally well. Chew White, our slightly younger team in the Firefly youth competition finished in 17th place out of 24 entries, with 5 wins out of the 14 races they sailed. Chew Blue, our older team in the same competition finished in a strong 11th place with a 50% win ratio. The Chew Feva team finished the first stage round robin as the only team with 100% success winning all 14 of their races. They then successfully dispatched Rutland Gold 2-0 in the semi-final, setting up a best of three final with Team Prodigy. It was at this point that the conditions started to get a little too windy for team racing. The organisers pushed on with Race 1 of the final, and after some aggressive and incredibly exciting team racing Chew Fevas moved into a winning 1-2 combination, they were then unlucky to have to take a penalty on a marginal umpires call on mark room. This handed the first race to Team Prodigy. As the teams lined for the start of the second race the organisers cancelled any further racing and the result from the first race became the decider. A tough outcome for Chew Fevas, but an incredible performance to finish as second placed team out of total of 30 teams.

On the same weekend, Ollie Wilcox our Topper National Champion was representing the Topper Class (and Chew!) at the Champion of Champions event, the Endeavour Trophy at Burnham-on-Crouch. He didn’t quite finish as high as Paul Smalley, but did an admirable job for his first time racing a double handed asymmetric against much older competitors.

Albie Cutbill has moved classes from the Feva to the Nacra 15, and is training at the WPNSA in Portland. Shortly after joining the class he finished in the top half of the fleet at the 2019 Nacra 15 World Championships held in Marseille in late October. A very impressive start to his Nacra 15 sailing.

At Chew, the Winter Feva training is underway, and team racing training too – places are still available for both. Both training groups are suitable for intermediate sailors who’d like to improve their racing. The 29er training schedule has also been published. All sessions are available for sign up on webcollect Contact Nick Edmonds youth@chewvalleysailing.org.uk for more information.

Looking Forward

Lake & Cake ….is not done yet

Rosie has planned a couple more get-togethers before the end of the year, please put these date in your diary and do come along and join in:
Saturday 16-Nov-19 – an afternoon walk from the clubhouse. Please arrive 1:00-1:15pm to get kitted-up for a 1:30pm get-away. The walk will be approx. 2–2½ hours (it is weather dependant). Anyone/partners are very welcome. The 16th is also the afternoon of the ‘Annual Celebration Supper & prizegiving’ so you can also stay on for a jolly time at the evening celebrations and food.

Saturday 21-Dec-19 – for a pre-Christmas get-together in the afternoon at the club house. You can sail beforehand if you want to, then tea & cakes. More details to follow.

Winter Points series continues on Sunday 17-Nov-19 and 24-Nov-19.

Remember these are two series – morning and afternoon, so if the cold is setting in you can target either the am or pm series.

Bristol Brew – Sat. 30-Nov-19/Sun. 01-Dec-19

Our Bristol University members have been busy working up the organisation for what is always a full-on team racing event. I gather this year they have been over-subscribed with teams wanting to enter – Nick Edmonds is hoping our own youth team will get a place….
The fun starts early on Saturday as they try to fit in well over 100 races over the weekend. Come along to watch the fun and support the ‘home’ teams!

The First Winter Wednesday Warmer Evening

Wednesday 04-Dec-19 7 for 7.30 ‘Reflections on a Fastnet campaign’ by our very own Hugh Whatley.

As many of you will know Hugh is one our sprightly elder citizens – a former Treasurer and Commodore. He was ‘geared up’ to do this warmer for us last year but plans had to change.
He sailed as First Mate on a Sigma 38 with a Professional Skipper – his son Alex, who was aged 26 at the time. The talk will cover the whole campaign, from first meeting of a scratch crew at the London Boat Show, through training weekends & qualifying races to the actual event itself and final prize-giving. Hugh will illustrate his talk with books, charts, photos and some insights about the planning & preparation for an adventure which took-over almost a year of his life! Members are encouraged to contribute to a retiring collection for the RNLI in this 40th anniversary year of the terrible accidents on the Fastnet Race in 1979.
Make a note in your diaries for the 04-Dec-19

Class race day 5 – Sunday 08-Dec-19

The format is for our usual fleets to have one race in the morning and two in the afternoon. Boats can discard their worst score and prizes are presented at the end. Top Race Officers Nick Martindale and Phil Patullo should serve up some excellent courses for everyone to enjoy.

Powerboat Instructor News

Did your PB2 a long time ago? Not driven a RIB for a while and got a rescue duty coming up? Got your PB2 but new to the Club and would like to know about Safety Policy, using the tractor, RIB checks, equipment, refuelling procedure, launch and recovery and layout of the lake or simply feel a short one to one refresher would be of benefit to you then contact the PBI team to arrange a refresher. It can be tailored to your needs and be as long or short as you need. It’s free and with 9 PBI’s we can normally fit in around you providing there is a RIB available.

Now we need your help, the PBI team need a complete, sailable windsurfer for training, have you got one sat in your garage or shed gathering dust you would like to donate? Only complete rigs please. (Note from me – please, please someone find Jeff an old windsurfer – he has been wanting this for over a year…!! His only remaining hope is Santa Claus….!)

Last request, are you servicing your life jacket during the winter months, if so please don’t throw your old unused gas cylinders away as we need them for training and are down to our last one.

Finally the dates for PB2 courses, Advanced Rescue Helm or safety courses and First Aid courses will be announced soon please look out for them and book early to avoid disappointment.

Any questions or to book a refresher contact jeffstratford@btinternet.com
Many thanks and a Happy Christmas.
Jeff and the PBI team.

Biosecurity workshop – Tuesday 19-Nov-19

We are hosting this event organised by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust for all SW water users. If anyone is interested in finding out more and joining me for the day, please do get in touch.
commodore@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

Some notes from Helen…

Site tidy up and clearance.
If you have a road trailer ‘fly parked’ and unmarked at the club you need to ensure that it is clearly marked with your name, membership number and date. When the scrap lorry comes, I assume you’d rather it doesn’t get taken away.

Hopefully you have noticed that some strimming and bramble clearance has taken place. Some has been done by volunteers, thank you Andrew and Simon, and some by Guzz (who does the regular grass cutting). This is the start of a drive to improve the general tidiness of the site.

Many of you keep your boat park space tidy as expected by the rules of the club, thank you. You’ll be pleased to hear that we are in the process of contacting members who need to do some serious gardening. No need to wait for the reminder though.

Watch out for the date of a working party, probably early in the New Year, to clear the upper boat park. It has a membrane below the surface which means that hand weeding is much the best way. Yes, it does sound a horrible job but actually the weeds pull out easily and we estimate that 20 people clearing 2 spaces each would do it in a couple of hours.

The Wednesday sailors continue throughout the winter, slightly mad though they may be, not much stops them sailing. Join them if you can, safety cover from 10 until 2 and thereafter the unis and schools usually provide safety cover.
Sunday was chilly but a glorious day after the rain of Saturday and it was lovely to be on the water in a good breeze surrounded by so many boats both racing and cruising. The Feva training was well attended and they made for a very colourful show.
commodore@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

A Cautionary Note –

It’s getting colder; the lake is cold. The ‘W’ flag is invariably flown from the main flagpole – this means that suitable clothing must be worn – a wetsuit at least covering the torso and preferably arms and legs. This should be covered with a windproof jacket to help keep the warmth in. A drysuit would be perfect.
All members on duty should come prepared for the worst! Rescue helms and crews need all of the above. OODs are well advised to bring the same – they may be needed afloat.
Race Officers and Assistants must be equipped to go afloat on the Committee Boat – these days that will entail a short ‘ferry’ passage in a wet and bouncy RIB.

In the meantime, I hope to see lots of you coming to hear Pete Vincent speak this Saturday evening!
John Smalley vice-commodore@chewvalleysailing.org.uk