Lunch on the Lake

Lunch on the lake 2025 will be returning for another year, starting on Saturday 03-May-25.

For any new members interested in doing something other than racing round marks or simply going up and down the lake, then come and join in.

We generally sail in the morning ( optional ) and then meet briefly on land to discuss where we will anchor up and have our lunch aboard our boats, whether that’s a pre-made packed lunch, something from the galley or something cooked up on a galley box while afloat, it’s all about mucking about on our boats, anchoring, having a natter or lazing about reading a book for an hour or so (weather permitting of course )

If you’re interested in dinghy cruising it is also a great opportunity to see how other boats are rigged and to discuss opportunities in the coming year to go dinghy cruising on other waters.

Visit here for more information.

Alteration to Lake and Cake start date

Will now resume on Saturday 12-Apr-25 (not 5th April)

Details as follows:

Lake and Cake is friendly group aimed at encouraging less confident female sailors to meet and sail with more seasoned female sailors who
are keen to share their experience and skills and enjoy getting to know you.
If you do not have confidence in your sailing skills then this is the group for you (although there is no formal teaching/ training element)

Hilary is looking forward to meeting you all at 13:45 for your first group sail of the year, followed by Cake and tea in the bar!

If you wish to buddy up either in a single hander or double hander then let us know in advance and we will do our best to to accommodate you!

The following Lake and Cake meet will be on the 03-May-25

A reminder of the format – be rigged and ready to sail and meet on the lawn at 13:45 Sail until approx 15:00 Come ashore and put away the boats meeting in the bar for tea and cake when all sorted

Safety Policy Update

We have made some updates to our safety policy, primarily to ensure the wording reflects more realistically the expectation for RIBs and OODs to patrol and observe sailing activity on the water, and to clarify how the electric boats can be used in the context of the policy. The principal changes are shown in the extract in blue below:

  • ………dry suits are usually more appropriate, and buoyancy aids shall always be worn.
  • A safety boat should consider patrolling on the water when there is any sailing underway as there is the risk of undue delay in attending an entrapment if the safety crew are on the balcony.
  • A watch over boats sailing must be kept throughout the day by the OOD relaying relevant information to the safety boats with a handheld radio.
  • Electric boats are equipped in the same way as the RIBs and can be used to perform rescues but are not a substitute for the minimum 2 RIB requirement for safety cover. The electric boats are primarily an additional resource for coaching or training. Boats used for coaching or training (and not as primary safety boats) may be crewed by an individual rather than two people.

The full policy can be read here

Duty teams – a reminder

Please can I remind all duty teams that at the end of the day a little time needs to be taken to put the RIBs away correctly. In particular:

  • They should be drained of any water
  • The painter should be secured to the trailer to prevent any danger of the boat slipping off on the ramp
  • The stern mooring ropes should be tidied and not left trailing down over the side
  • Any training marks and bouys should removed from the boat and stored in the bouy room
  • Radios should be removed from the boats and put onto charge in the secretaries office

A few points from Chris Meredith, Rear Commodore

Thank you to all those involved recently in the spring cleaning of weeds and brambles around boat park spaces, with special mention to the Chew Topper team who came out in force to help

Gus Cameron has created some QR codes to facilitate the logging of issues and faults around the club. These are displayed around the club and all you need do if you encounter a problem is scan the appropriate code with your phone camera and it will link you to the appropriate place to log the question/issue ( see example below)

New Garage electric doors – if faults are encountered there is a manual procedure on the wall in the RIB side of the garage (also in the Duty book)

Training Opportunities

Saturday 05-Apr-25 Advanced Rescue Helm Safety Course, this is a follow on from the PB2 course where we show you how to recover people and right a variety of boats. It is an in house course not an RYA one and the aim is that all rescue helms will have done the RYA safety course or this course. The only prerequisite is that you hold the PB2 certificate. It is free to book email jeffstratford@btinternet.com this is the first of 5 courses this year.

Saturday 12-Apr-25 and Saturday 19-Apr-25 the RYA PB2 course, no previous experience required, it is an RYA course over two days and you must do both. Still only £40 please book via your Webcollect account.This is the first of 5 such courses this year details in Club calendar and on Webcollect.

We also offer introductions for new members and people who have done their courses elsewhere and refreshers for people who may not have helmed a RIB for a while.

Any questions please ask jeffstratford@btinternet.com.

Wingfoiling and Windsurfing

The wing- foiling and windsurfing season has now ended and so is no longer permitted on the lake until next winter, unless advised otherwise.

Members will be aware that we trialed wingfoiling over the winter for the first time this year, with a few intrepid members out in the wind and cold on a reasonably regular basis. I would be interested to hear what people thought of the trial, please let me or your sailing club representative know.

While the trial has ended, and subject to any additional feedback, we are starting to explore with Bristol Water the feasibility of making wingfoiling a permanent addition, and also potentially expanding the season for both windsurfers and wingfoiling in the future. At this stage we have only had preliminary discussions and no firm decisions either way have been made – I will update you all via this newsletter as thinking progresses

ILCA Fleet News from Gus

As the Frostbite race series approaches its gripping finale, we look forward to April and the start of Wednesday evening racing. The big news is that after fifty years our start flag is changing from the old red flag to the new green ICLA class flag. Look out for it from April.

The Laser Fleet WhatsApp has been buzzing as sailors choose their Local Sail Numbers. The idea is to reduce the cognitive load on race officers by using two-digit sail numbers instead of the usual six-digit ones. If you are a regular racer do consider using applying and using one. The fleet captains, Gus Cameron and Jan Frayne, hold the master list and can advise. Contact them at ChewLasers@gmail.com.

Nationally the ILCA fleet seems to be going from strength to strength. The new season’s National Open meetings began at Weymouth last weekend with 190 entries. These events are filled with young hotshots (the median age seems to be about 18) and the standard is correspondingly high, which is why the addition of GPS trackers is so interesting – you can replay the races and see who did the best / caught the shifts. Two of our sailors, Ed Baker and Oli Allen-Wilcox were there in the ILCA 7s, occasionally ahead of Olympian Michael Bekett. Link to tracking: https://tractrac.com/event-page/event_20250315_ILCAUKNati/3119

Some of these names we might see at our Open Meeting on Saturday 24-May-25, but this event really is for everyone and forms part of the Wessex GP series that kicks off at Whitefriars Sailing Club on the 19-Apr-25. If you fancy travelling let us know about it on the WhatsApp, email us if you need details, want help or have questions.

Wessex UKLA Grand Prix Series 2025

  1. Whitefriars SC Saturday 19-Apr-25.
  2. Chew Valley Lake SC Saturday 24-May-25
  3. Penarth SC Saturday 21-Jun-25
  4. Bowmoor SC Saturday 20-Sep-25
  5. Avon SC Saturday 11-Oct-25
  6. South Cerney SC 18-Oct-25

Club Calendar by James Williams

Wednesday evening racing is less than 2 weeks away! With the sunset time, the practise race on 02-Apr-25 is a 18:30 start, then the series proper kicks off a week later on the 9th with first start reverting back to the usual 19:00. If you raced last year, check your Dutyman for your allocated slot(s) for this season.

The weekend after the Wednesday practise race is the next chance to collect some silverware, with the John Jarrett Trophy (1 all in handicap race) and Commodore’s Cup (70% pursuit race) on Sunday 06-Apr-25. This is a proper trophy day usually with 30+ boats out, and if current conditions are anything to go by the sun will be out and temperatures high!

Alongside our spring club racing April also brings a new hive of activity at the club, with powerboat courses kicking off (check your WebCollect to book on to a Level 2 course), junior courses & Chew Crew warming up along with Lake & Cake and CLADS.

Club Calendar

Gus reports on Ollie / Ed’s efforts at the first ILCA National Open of the year in his fleet news. Elsewhere we had representatives in both the RS200 and RS700 fleets at Queen Mary Sailing Club over the weekend of 15/16 March. Paul and Peter Smalley finished 2nd in the RS200 EaSEA circuit event, including a win in the final race of the day on the Saturday. Alongside this the RS700s had their Inlands rescheduled from the original event at Chew in November (the weather gods were not on our side!). Elliot Booley, James Clark and Rob Higgins all travelled down the M4 to make Chew the best represented club at the event. Rob won every race over the weekend to become RS700 Inland Champion for the third consecutive year. James finished in 3rd and Elliot in 5th at the end of the weekend.

April usually kicks off more travelling, so keep your eyes peeled for more reports next month. As ever, please do let us know if you’ve been away and want to make us all feel jealous by sharing some stories and photos!

Andy Jones
Commodore