Slipper Happenings July 21st
Published 09:06 on 24 Jul 2020
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Slipper HappeningsHi All | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A brief update..... Dinghy Sailing: Apart from a few Covid tweaks, dinghy racing is all but back to normal. Simon Boylin and his team, along with his opposite number Simon Langford at ESC have done a brilliant job filling duty slots, designing a new sign on/off app and encouraging some great racing. Over the last week we have enjoyed a Tango race, A Re-start series race and Ladies race, all well attended with some excellent racing. Radio Sailing: John Galyer reported that Dave Cockerel topped the leader board on their latest Lockdown Ladder series. Well done Dave! To adhere to the latest guidelines Sailing bubbles are now the latest development, with six yachts competing together in a new ladder/knockout series. It is great to see so many members (of both clubs) enjoying this very popular sailing activity on The Pond. Bar: Well, I had a most enjoyable pint on the terrace at the club last Friday! It was a gentle, cautious return to more normal club life for the few that chose to venture out. The rules and controls were relatively unobtrusive with everyone appearing chilled, relaxed, cooperative and delighted to be able to enjoy a drink from the club bar. Paul, Mike and Sandy must be congratulated on a very successful re-opening of the best bar in town! Refurbishment: The gents' loos have been stripped out and the kitchen area prepared. The break through between the two rooms is likely to take place this week. The disabled and ladies toilets are currently still available for use. Please ensure the builders, their vehicles and deliveries continue to have free, unobstructed access to the club at all times. Many thanks. Junior Sailing: Stuart Cole reports: Following on from the latest updates to the COVID-19 restrictions, and the successful return to some club dinghy racing, plans are now being made to get some junior sailing back in action. Initially this will be some sailing and short races on the harbour, aimed at SOTTS sailors with some experience sailing on the harbour. Please contact Stuart Coles at s.c.coles@btinternet.com to find out more and get involved. The first session is likely to be this Saturday afternoon (25 July) with timings and details to be sent out by email. We will need to manage the number of sailors, meeting times and patrol boat crews carefully, but with a bit of Slipper spirit will get some good sailing! Patrol boats and double handed boats need to be same household crews, which is a challenge for managing patrol boat crews but an opportunity for parent/child sailing! This can work really well and be a lot of fun, please do get in touch if you're keen but would like some guidance or to see if there is a suitable club boat available. Although the initial aim is to get SOTTS sailors back out, joining in as a parent/child team could work well and be a good way to get involved, especially for relatively new SOTTS sailors still building experience and confidence on the harbour. Hopefully in due course this will lead to opportunities to get more general junior sailing back underway. At the moment the guidance is restrictive for formal training, but it has been great to see some of the juniors on the water with parents, both on the millpond and on the harbour sailing, windsurfing and just messing about in boats. Although we can't run formal training yet, please feel free to contact me if you would like some help getting back on the water with your children. Opportunities are starting to open up and the instructors are keen to help facilitate some sailing over the summer. Thanks and best wishes, Stuart. Cruisers: Baldur, Wombat, Duet and Phoenix are all enjoying the perfect cruising weather in the West Country, all making it as far as Falmouth. Shearwater's weather has been a little more variable but I am sure it is a fair trade to sail around the less crowded Scottish Lochs and Islands! Will Whatley's Henry has crossed The Pond! Henry arrived into Jersey 15 July. Transatlantic statistics:- Total engine hours - 37 Total generator hours - 37 (what a coincidence) Total fuel burned - 155 ltrs Average water usage 122ltr/day Propane - still on original 6kg from when we left Fish caught - nil. Every time we put the line out it attracted a flock of birds Lost overboard - one shackle and one baseball hat Total distance logged 4193nm Average speed 7.5kts We lost count of the number of ships Yachts seen - 1 (French) Plenty of dolphins 1 whale seen No lightning Max wind strength 27kts even in squalls Injuries - none Whilst sailing Henry home was never plan A it has turned out to be a fantastic trip and throughly enjoyable. As this exciting chapter of Henry's adventures comes to a close we are now beginning our preparations for 2021 adventures and many more! Will, we welcome Henry back to home waters and look forward to reading about all your future adventures! I understand a guest appearance in The Yoke is even possible? Best wishes Hugh Old news but still relevant: Refurbishment: Nutbourne Construction have started work! As mentioned before, the plan is to start with breaking through the kitchen to the gents. This effectively puts the kitchen, gents and function room out of bounds. The ladies toilets will remain open in the short to medium term and the disabled toilet will now double up as the gents loo. The builders will be storing some items in the club and at the corner of the car park. The builders will also need access to the car park for their vans and deliveries. Please be considerate when parking your car at the club and leave plenty of space for Nutbourne Construction to operate unimpeded during the week days. Thank you. Bar: Rules, rules and more rules! Sandy Keefe, Mike Balster and Paul Tomlinson have put a lot of work into sorting out how the bar can operate under the latest guidance. Chris Lunn has kindly taken a lot of time, listening and incorporating a lot of views and has designed and presented us with a working document that I think we can all work to - many thanks Chris! As Chris is always reminding us these risk assessments are constantly evolving working documents and although hard copies are available to read, the document on the website is always going to be more up to date. Unless guidance changes further this is the likely way the bar will operated:
Enjoy your pint!! Dinghy Racing: Following on from the great success of the Lockdown Cup we are now planning to return to more normal club racing. Simon Boylin has been very busy negotiating with Mark Langford of ESC, designing two new exciting race series to get us going. Again Chris Lunn has been busy fine tuning his risk assessments so that they fit in with current Covid guidance and the way we plan to operate. A hard copy will be available at the club but please remember that this is a working document that is libel to change. The most up to date version of the risk assessments will always be available on the website. Unless guidance changes further this is the likely way Dinghy racing will operate:
Simon Boylin will keep the dinghy sailors advised of any programmed racing changes. Happy racing! Club boats: The plan is to make the use of club sailing boats more available but their use on the sea will be restricted to times when a patrol boat is in attendance. Normal booking through the website is essential and all current Covid 19 restrictions will apply. Moorings: We have a number of unlet moorings available this year on both short and full time leases. Pro-rata rates will apply. Please talk to Trevor Davis if you are interested. Boat storage charges: This was covered last night. Dinghies that use the limited space in the club boat park will be charged as usual. Dinghies that cannot or choose not to return to the park this year will be offered a credit in next year's renewals. Cruisers will pay the same charge as normal in September. The part of the cost normally attributed to crane lift-in and lift-out costs will show as a Summer storage charge. In other words, cruisers will be paying no more for storage than in a normal season. Club bins: Unfortunately people have recently taken to dumping their household rubbish in our club bins. We do not even think these people are members! The bottle bins are now stored in the dinghy park and the large bins are being locked. Please do not leave rubbish beside the bins, if you cannot gain access to a club bin please either use the public bins or take your rubbish home and dispose/recycle it responsibly. Many thanks. Club Website: Jon Keefe, in between applying the final touches to 'Mad Moment' has been beavering away on the new Sailing Club Manager website. The website is now accessible but has not yet been linked to our main domain address yet. This should happen shortly. For those of you who cannot wait please use the following link: https://members.emsworthslippersc.org.uk (You will need the password sent out at renewal to access the members site - for those of you who have lost or deleted your renewal e-mail, new instruction will be provided when the main domain link is switched over). Many thanks again Jon for all your enthusiastic work - it would not have happened without you!!! General Club Guidelines: Following our recent committee meeting activity to consider the recent lockdown easing of restrictions, Mark Riddington, (our Chairman) has kindly put together the following matrix to explain the club's current position. In conjunction with all current government guidelines please read the matrix carefully and follow these club guidelines, in both in spirit and in rule: Emsworth Slipper Sailing Club A Summary of Club Functions v0.5
Stay safe! Hugh |
Last updated 12:12 on 18 January 2021