I cant quite believe how quickly the year has flown by and here we are once again with our Christmas news and details of the sailing programme over the festive period. Please read on to see what’s happening but otherwise, on behalf of all the committee, I would like to wish all our members a very happy Christmas and send best wishes for 2025.

Denny Island Visit and Christmas meal – 11-Dec-24 by Jeff Stratford

A reminder that on Wednesday 11-Dec-24 it’s the annual trip to Denny Island for carols and a small service with the Christmas meal afterwards. Organised by the Police Group and Brian Brooks, all are welcome and the plan for the day is as follows:

1030 – ferry service to the Island for (If you wish you can also sail across.)
Both Bristol and Bath Universities have assured me that they are sending lots of good singers. But the more the merrier. Christmas hats optional.

We aim to be on the Island for 1100, we will sing a couple of Carols, remember our friends whose ashes are there, have a minutes silence, a final song before heading back.

Ben and Antonia are timing the Christmas lunch for our return around 12.30pm. You do need to make your menu choice and pay beforehand (details were in the previous news or contact Ben and Antonia here.)

Youth Programme 2025

Our fantastic team of youth programme leaders have been busy putting together an outline of next year’s youth programme. If you’ve interested in supporting (either as an organiser or instructor) please email chewcrew@chewvalleysailing.org.uk and if you have a young person who’s interested in participating please join the ‘Youth News’ WhatsApp group, which we’ll use to share further details, including when the WebCollect sign up links will go live:https://chat.whatsapp.com/DjVdEnURE3bKOujtLYoiMA

Please note that at this stage all dates are provisional. Firm dates and pricing informatoin will be provided, via the WhatsApp group, in the new year.

RYA training

12/13-Apr-24: Assistant Instructor course (four suitably experiences over 14s)
RYA stage 1 course (Saturdays, morning and afternoon options): 26/04, 10/05, 17/05 and 07/06
RYA stage 2 course (Saturdays, morning and afternoon options): 21/06, 28/06, 5/07, 12/07
We hope to offer a combined stage 3&4 course in September or October.

Chew Crew

13-Apr-24: instructor training day
Sessions on the following Sundays mornings: 27/04, 04/05, 11/05, 18/05, 08/06, 22/06, 29/06, 06/07, 13/07, 20/07
These will be for any stage 2+ sailors. We expect to run groups focussing on general sailing practice/confidence building, starting to race and race training.
We’re also looking at extending the programme into the summer/autumn.

Christmas cake Competition in aid of the Alzheimers Society

To all those planning on attending the Club on Wednesday 11-Dec-24 Jo Cudmore will be raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Society by brining some homegrown and homemade Jam , Chutney and Elderflower cordial which can be purchased for a donation!
She will also be running a “ Guess the Weight of the Cake “ competition with the closest guess winning the cake! The weight and winning guess will be announced during the Christmas Lunch!

This is not the actual cake !

Duties Update by Duties Sec Mark Dinwoodie

Thank you to those who have volunteered for duties during the current membership year.
Once the sailing programme for next membership year (i.e.from April 2025) is finalised, I will add the duty roster for the first few months and I would encourage you to volunteer for duties so that you can choose the duty type, date and who you do duties with, rather than waiting to be allocated duties and risk being given an inconvenient date.

When you volunteer for a duty, it counts as one of your duties. Please only volunteer for Rescue Helm if you are appropriately experienced and qualified.

If you know that you will not be renewing your membership next year (i.e. from April 2025), please could you let me know as soon as possible (as well as the membership secretary) so that I don’t allocate you duties for the next membership year.

We are still looking for a few volunteers to help run the festive race programme as follows:

Thursday 26-Dec-24 11am Tap trophy race – the duty team is largely in place (thank you to all the Jones family that have been volunteered by Andy!) but we are in need of an additional RIB crew please

New Year’s Day Race (12.00) – duty volunteers needed
The New Year’s Day race (and Boxing day race) rely on people volunteering for duties as these aren’t allocated (these count as one of your duties).
Please volunteer via Dutyman or contact me if you are able to help

Festive sailing programme by Sailing Sec James Williams

Our thanks to all the members involved with trying to make the RS100 / RS700 Inlands happen on 2 separate weekends, unfortuantely the weather wasn’t on our side for either.

  • Detail the festive days where sailing is available:
  • Sunday 22nd December – rostered duty cover for General Sailing, final Autumn AM / PM points racing of 2024
  • Wednesday 25th December – no General Sailing
  • Thursday 26th December – Tap Trophy (11:00 start) – no General Sailing
  • Saturday 28th December – no General Sailing
  • Sunday 29th December – rostered duty cover for General Sailing, but no club racing
  • Wednesday 1st December – Reslolution Trophy (12:00 start) – no General Sailing
  • Saturday 4th January – rostered duty cover for General Sailing
  • Sunday 5th January – rostered duty cover for General Sailing and first Frostbite points racing of 2025 (AM only)

A reminder to check your boats are tied down (as required by Club Rules). Boats are prone to being lifted off launching trolleys in winter storms and both getting damaged and causing damage to surrounding boats.

Member Travels

With the poor weather over the last month many events have been cancelled and travels have been limited. The club was, however, represented at the ILCA Inland Championships, with Julien Shawyer in the ILCA6 fleet and Ollie Allen-Wilcox becoming our latest champion by winning the ILCA7 fleet, ahead of Ed Baker also competing. Congratulations Ollie!

Our Universities have also kicked off their season, travelling to the Fleet Racing Nationals at Torbay, with best placed boats from Chew being Imogen Wade / Fred Langhorne (Bath) 3rd in the Fast Handicap Fleet in a RS200, and Will Caiger (Bristol) 3rd in the Slow Handicap Fleet in a RS Aero. Back at home the first Chew hosted team racing event was just over a week ago with Bristol running their annual ‘Bristol Brew’ event on the lake. More team racing action to come at the club in the new year.

Andy Jones
Commodore