Sailing and Social Report 31-Jan-20

John Kelly and Ruth Kenyon – Quiz hosts 07-Feb-20

Sailing Club News – 31-Jan-20

Another two contrasting weeks of weather saw no sailing at all on Sunday 19th, and more than enough wind last Sunday for the Class Race Day. Many of the winter ‘keenies’ took advantage of the ample opportunities to examine the state of their slot gaskets!

The pictures show a very happy race team briefly leaving the comfort of the Race Hut – although our Committee Boat is now back afloat, the wind was blowing conveniently from the South.

The largest fleet was the Handicap with 14 setting out in the morning. Sean Paulich finished third overall in his Finn, Andy Jones came second in a RS100 winning the last race when the wind finally switched off. Paul Smalley and Rob Higgins won the day in a Fireball, winning the first two races when the wind was up, but even they suffered a brief swim.

Ian Cadwallader and Nick Stone triumphed in the Flying Fifteen fleet.
Young Ed Baker scored three first places in his brand new Laser radial. (His Dad was telling me that his last one had to be written off after encountering a freak wave while sailing in Torbay.)

Austen Milner and Julian Cooke each scored a 2nd and 3rd place with Austen winning the tie-break.
Racing amongst the Solos was closer than the scorelines implied; Graham Cranford-Smith won all three races with Rob Mitchell champing at his heels in each of them.

The ‘Meet the Commodores’ evening on the 22-Jan-20

Was enjoyed by everyone that attended. First, we heard from Christine Nichol about how many of the Bristol & Avon senior members were instrumental in starting up CVLSC – several were familiar names from our engraved perpetual trophies. She told us how they cope with their quarter mile, 25 metre wide reach of river, with a large weir and overhanging trees. But this was nothing to the trials and tribulations of sailing out of Lydney according to Sarah Evans. Their dinghies can sail 90 minutes either side of high water, but the tide means their excursion must be up the river and then down, not missing the slipway! The yachts apparently have a five minute window either side of high tide to make entering and exiting the harbour easy. The tide then runs at 8 knots! Nevertheless, both ladies were hugely enthusiastic about their Clubs and our hope is that we may get a visit from the Lydney dinghy sailors when the weather gets warmer, and I fear a Bristol & Avon team may rock up to beat us all at the Quiz (see below!).

Youth News

Chew Crew planning has started, and we’re very grateful for Philippa Power and Angus Penrice for taking over running things this coming year.
To help with the planning, especially around numbers for the various potential groups, we’ll be asking parents to register their interest via webcollect in the next couple of weeks.

Slightly further afield our junior Laser 4.7 sailors have been giving some very impressive performances. At the recent national Laser 4.7 event at Datchet Water SC, Oliver Wilcox was first overall, Emily Elms first girl and Dru Townsend second girl. Well done to all three. (The photo shows Oliver, Emily and Dru at the prizegiving).

Looking Forward

Friday 07-Feb-20 A Quiz organised by John Kelly and Ruth Kenyon

6.30pm for supper and a drink before a 7.30pm start. The Bar and Galley will be working.
John and Ruth gave us a hugely entertaining evening last year with a baffling mix of questions, both nautical, local and general. (From memory our Commodore Helen was in the winning team!).

Please do come along and support this effort – all are welcome; teams can be made up on the night and there will be prizes…..

Wednesday 26-Feb-20 The ‘Nipigegi’ Wayfarer around Britain record.

Will Hodshon is coming to talk to us about this record breaking effort – I have been told that his talks at other Clubs have been fascinating. I hope our Clubhouse will be full to overflowing.
He does this in aid of the RNLI so be prepared ….

BUSA SW Team Trials – Saturday 01 / Sunday 02-Feb-20

Our two Club University members, Bristol and Bath, will be fielding teams to do battle with all the other South West Universities to win places in the ‘finals’ event in April.

I am pleased that more of you are catching on to watching what is a highly spectator friendly aspect of our sport. Two teams of three Fireflys sailing on an apparently tiny course usually very close to the clubhouse – yes, you can hear what they shout at each other! – and multiple races back-to-back which usually last less than 10 minutes. Come along and watch.

Frostbite Racing continues on 02-Feb-20, 09-Feb-20 and 16-Feb-20.

Remember this series is split into mornings and afternoons so you can target one or the other if the whole day is too much.

Powerboat Training 2020.

The dates and costs of the powerboat training for 2020 have now been agreed.
RYA Powerboat Level 2 is the basic course to enable you to helm the Club’s RIBs for rescue duty. It is a two day course and you must do both days; no previous experience is required’ the only requirement is you have to be 16 or over. The “Inland” endorsement has now been abolished and you will get an open certificate which allows you to apply for an International Certificate of Competence.
Please book and pay through your webcollect account, the cost is £40 which includes the start powerboating book, syllabus and logbook, certificate and training by RYA Instructors; the cost elsewhere is about £300 so the Club heavily subsidise it for Club members. Any questions please contact jeffstratford@btinternet.com

Dates:-

An additional course has been arranged on Weds. 25th and Thurs. 26th March
Course 1 Saturdays 16th and 23rd May
Course 2 Saturdays 11th and 18th July
Course 3 Thursdays 13th and 20th August
Course 4 Saturdays 5th and 12th September
Course 5 Saturdays 14th and 21st November
Places are available on all of the above courses – book via Webcollect.

One day lake specific rescue Helm Safety Course.

This is NOT an RYA course but you will get a certificate from the Club. It is a follow on from the PB2 and you need to have the PB2 to do it. We show you how to rescue people and boats. It is one day and it’s free, the aim is for all Rescue helms to do it. To book a place email me jeffstratford@btinternet.com or ask any questions.
Dates:-
Course 1 Saturday 4th April
Course 2 Saturday 30th May
Course 3 Thursday 30th July
Course 4 Saturday 26th September
Course 5 Saturday 17th October

First Aid Courses:-

The first aid course on the 07-Mar-20 is now full.
The next course will be on the 2nd of May, places are going fast but there are still 3 places available. This is the RYA First Aid Course required by all Instructors and recommended for Rescue helms and crew. It specifically addresses the situations we as sailors might find ourselves in; particularly useful is the information about hypothermia and I would recommend it to anyone who has not already done something similar.
The cost is £25 – please book via your webcollect account.

Club Wayfarer – see picture above

The committee are planning to replace one of our training Wayfarer dinghies with another RS Quest very soon. The boat in the picture above is number 9142, in nice condition with a boom-up cover, trolley and Main and Genoa. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing this boat or would like more details.

Apologies to many of you who use the Southern slipway linking with our ‘T’ shape pontoon which broke in the strong winds two weeks ago. The joining parts to re-connect it all together are ordered, and a group of us met with a pontoon company representative this week. It should be returned to full use shortly – we need a calm, windless day!

In the meantime, hopefully I will see more of you at the Club in the coming weeks, perhaps to dip your dry-suited feet in the water or if only to watch the team racing action this weekend.
John Smalley – vice-commodore@chewvalleysailing.org.uk