RS200s – Primrose Salt

Sailing Club News 11th April 2019

What a great weekend of sailing we have just had! The Club was busy on both days with the RYA Level 1 course and then on Sunday Race Officer, Steve Smith, giving 30 or so of us racers an invigorating explore of most of the lake!
The results of the two trophy races were well balanced with most of our regular racing classes getting a look in – perhaps the handicap system is working well after all…. The morning all-in handicap race for the John Jarrett trophy was won by Peter Sherwin in a Laser followed (in 7 seconds on corrected time) by Paul and Harry Smalley in their new Mirror and Nick Martindale in the first outing of his new Solo. Nice to see these new galleons on the water!
The afternoon pursuit race for the Commodore’s Cup was won by Andy Jones sailing an RS 100 being chased by Tim Johnson in a Devoti D1. There were lots of happy faces at the prize giving in the sunshine on the balcony.

Membership Renewals

If you haven’t yet renewed your membership, please can you do so as soon possible as the 2018/19 memberships expired at the end of March!
If you can’t find your Membership Renewal Email, or would like guidance please let the Membership Secretary know – Rosie can be contacted on membership@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

Chew Valley Recreational Trail – revised application

If you would like to take a look, go to the BANES planning website – reference 18/02543/FUL
A printed copy of the revised route is on the General Committee board in the clubhouse.

RS200 and 400 Open Meeting – 30/31-Mar-19

The fleets had two contrasting days of light winds on Saturday and a more testing 15mph chilly North Easterly on Sunday. Race Officer, Keith Harris, managed to finish two races on Saturday which meant the 4 races on Sunday challenged the sailors.

The 21 strong RS 200 fleet was won by Olly Turner and Sam Mottershead from Starcross, whilst the 11 boat RS400 fleet was won by Sean Cleary and Annalise Dixon from Oxford SC.

There were 9 boats entered from Chew with Dave Sweet and Derian Scott finishing as 11th RS200.

Adult  RYA Dinghy Training Courses This Year at CVLSC

This year’s adult beginners RYA training schedule is now published for members on the website and Webcollect.

At the moment we have planned:
11-12 May: RYA Basic Skills (Level 2)
8-9 and 15-16 June: RYA Combined Start Sailing and Basic Skills
20-21 and 27-28 July: RYA Combined Start Sailing and Basic Skills

We are also hoping to schedule a Dinghy Instructor course for experienced helms keen to pass on their skills.

Other training opportunities include the 1-day, CVLSC-specific, Safety Boat course and the very valuable First Aid courses run at times through the season.
We are hoping to improve the way those members keen to get training qualifications are identified and helped through the process from Assistant Instructor to Senior Instructor and beyond.

More details to follow. Please feel free to contact Dave Orme about any of these courses on training@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

RYA Level 1 Course 6/7-Apr-19

Well done to the 8 members who successfully completed their RYA Level 1 qualification over the weekend 6/7-Apr-19. They are: Keith and Bobby Orchard, Madeleine Trowsdale, Annalisa Checci, Clive Mays, Julian Carr, Sue Wise and Sue Conway.
It was great to help such keen newcomers onto the water. They all coped really well with what on the first day were lively conditions for a Level 1 course, and benefitted from a steady improvement over the 2 days. We hope they book onto a Level 2 course soon.
Ellie Kew helped on the course, building her experience as an Assistant Instructor. Big thanks are especially due to Colin Walsh, who kindly crossed the Channel to return to the club and act as Senior Instructor for the weekend.

Powerboat Courses – Jeff Stratford has the following vacancies on his Powerboat courses:-
The PB2 course on Sat. 20th and Sat. 27th April has one place please – book via Webcollect.
The Advanced Safety Helm course on 18th May has two places (this course is FREE!) – please book direct with jeffstratford@btinternet.com
The PB2 course on Sat. 25th May and Sat.1st June has four places – please book via Webcollect.
The First Aid course on 15th June has currently four places please left – book via Webcollect.

Make contact with your fleet captains (please)

Our lovely 7 (yes 7!) representatives covering every boat sailed at Chew, would like to be able to contact you all directly. No matter whether you are a racer, cruiser or bar natterer they all have a wealth of expertise and contacts to offer and want to make your Club membership more fulfilling. Let them know if you are a helm or crew and your type of boat and its number.
Handicap Boats – (everything not covered below!) – Paul Nicholls paul.nichols@shell.com
RS 200 – James Williams – jrwilliams_8@hotmail.com
Flying Fifteen – Claire Jefferis – clairejane64@gmail.com
Laser – Gus and Jan Cameron – chewlasers@gmail.com
Solo – Errol Edwards – erroledwards60@gmail.com
Topper – Andy Southall – asouthall1@me.com
Feva – Claire Sheahan – claresheahan@gmail.com
29er/Youth/Junior – Nick Edmonds – youth@chewsailing.org.uk

Have a go at Team Racing – Bank Holiday Monday 6th May

This represents a unique, new opportunity for all of us to get some training, and then experience some actual team racing. Jim Rosser from Clifton College is keen to encourage club members to try our hand at what we watch the University groups do throughout the winter.

This will be a full day of training and friendly racing open to all (max 14 sailors). Come as a helm/crew/ pair, full team, or individual. Please use the
Application Form

Jim also has offered a “turn up and team race” evening on Thursday 16-May-19 from 18.00 onward.

Cruising / Recreational Sailing – Sail and Ale!

Now that the clocks have changed and the sailing season is getting going we are looking to get those recreational and cruising sailors out on the water and attending some social gatherings over the next few months. Firstly we would be really pleased to hear from as many sailors who fall into the recreational / cruising category as possible. There must be loads of you out there as not every member races. Please just send us an email so we can build up a list of people we can communicate with directly on things that are planned, or even give us suggestions on what you would like us to organise.

To get things going we have come up with SAIL AND ALE. (I would like to thank Chris Streets who thought of the title while hanging about on the Ribs the other weekend waiting for some capsized customers to assist).

SAIL AND ALE is simply sail or capsize, whichever you fancy, followed by ALE in the bar. Definition of ALE being ALE, tea, coffee, water, soft drink plus bring your own cakes. To ensure the ALE element of the above description is met we are both getting the low down of how to operate the bar. Hopefully we can do this once a month throughout the season and continue into the winter months as we sail all year round! Initially we plan on holding this on a Saturday but depending on feedback, it could happen on Sundays as well. First two dates are Saturday 27-Apr-19 and Saturday 25-May-19. We will let people decide when they want to commence sailing, depending on how long they want to spend out on the water, with a meet in the Bar around 3pm. Please do let us know if you intend to attend so I know what size cake to bring.

Thursday Improvers – Starts Thursday 16-May-19

Last year I attended the Thursday Improvers evening sailing which turned out to be great fun. The fourth week is when the Start Racing training sessions start which, even if you do not intend to race, I would still recommend anybody who wants to improve their sailing, and learn how to get more out of their vessel, to try and attend. Last year we had a great group of sailors who had loads of fun, learned a lot, capsized a lot and had fabulous sailing conditions. You will be sailing at a lovely time of day watching the sun go down over the Mendips. I know it can be difficult mid-week but the effort is well worth it. The BBQ came out on various evenings at the end of the series thanks to the Police Group.
Please get in contact – chris.platts12@gmail.com or cruising@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

Push The Boat Out Day 18-May-19

We’re holding our annual RYA Push the Boat Out Day on Saturday 18 May and are looking forward to welcoming budding sailors aged 8 to 80 for a taster sailing session on our beautiful lake.

We want to encourage as many visitors as possible to come and try sailing.
Events start at 10 a.m. and we’ll be giving tours around the club house, offering taster sailing sessions, together with talks about the types of boat we have at the club. CLADS will also be offering taster sessions and all activities will be free.

We’re looking to involve as many club members as possible and you can help in a variety of ways:

  • Do you have friends who you think might like a go at sailing? If so, bring them along – no guest fees apply!
  • Can you help with publicity? If you’ve a notice board at work, your local school, your sports club or gym, or have a ‘what’s on’ page on your work intranet can you put up a copy of our advert or create a link to our website?

Copies of the advert can be downloaded from our website Download the CVLSC Push The Boat Out Poster

We’re looking for volunteers for a number of roles:-

  • Boat helms to provide sailing taster sessions either in the club’s boats or your own.
  • People to meet and greet visitors and show them round the club
  • On shore dinghy demonstrators to show visitors the different types or dinghies at the club and the basic sailing controls.

The RYA Push the Boat Out Day is an excellent opportunity for us to showcase the club and potentially gain new members and your support would be really appreciated. If you think you can help please contact:

Andrew Martyn-Johns
Tel: 07785 331512
vice-president@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

As always, fair winds and good sailing!

John Smalley, vice-commodore@chewvalleysailing.org.uk