NEWSLETTER Summer, 2017

Transcription

1 NEWSLETTER Summer, 2017 The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its set of wonder forever. Jacques Y ves Cousteau. CLUB WORKING PARTY DAY Saturday 11th March A number of members, both old and new, came to the Club on a bright Saturday to clean up the Club ready for the year s events. Amongst the tasks undertaken was the clearance of undergrowth from the eastern end of the boat park. Members young and old, new and long serving lent a hand and exposed flat ground. Look, there s one of Alan Chinn s boats released from the jungle! NOTES FROM THE COMMODORE Cleaning the Committee boat were Barry Burden and his grandson Tim while Lou Plowman -Hart and Sophie scoured the Club site for litter. Hugh Tetlow once again manned the galley and provided all the workers with drinks and a splendid lunch During the afternoon the Commodore thanked all the members for their hard work and hoped they would all return on the following day for the first event of the year, The Spring Warm Up which incorporates the Banbury Chaser and Triangle against Lyme Regis and Castle Cove. Club Commodore Phil Bailey sends his compliments to all members but at this time he is moving home and has asked the Editorial Team to excuse him from providing notes - hence the Team found Phil showing his best side earlier this year, note ankle hooked into the shroud...

2 SPRING WARM UP INCORPORATING THE BANBURY CHASER & TRIANGLE Sutton Bingham triumph against local Sailing Clubs - Sunday 12th March The season kicked off for Sutton Bingham Sailing Club with first leg of their annual three way challenge with neighbouring sailing clubs, Lyme Regis and Castle Cove. The event attracted the best entry for many years with 28 boats including representation from 19 different dinghy classes. Both visiting clubs fielded teams of six with the total points from the best five carrying forward to the team scores. The lake was as glassy as a millpond as sailors arrived to rig up, but after a short postponement racing got underway in a light, shifty 6-8 mph breeze which gradually increased and veered northerly throughout the day. The victors in each race were those that extracted themselves successfully into clear wind from a busy start line and used the wind shifts and patches of strongest wind pressure to their advantage. Young local sailor, Andrew Frost, who has recently been awarded a bursary by The Rotary Club to support his sailing and competition this summer at the inaugural RS Aero World Championships, won the first two races to secure overall victory and win the Icicle Trophy. Runners-up were Sam and Megan Pascoe form Castle Cove sailing a Merlin Rocket and third Jerry Rook and Fraser Earle in an Albacore from Lyme Regis. Sutton Bingham had strength in depth and so took a convincing win in the Triangle Challenge between the three clubs: Sutton Bingham 92 points, Castle Cove 137 points and Lyme Regis 235 points. The next leg of the Triangle Challenge takes place at Castle Cove Sailing Club, Portland Harbour in June. In the head to head between Sutton Bingham and Lyme Regis for the Banbury Chaser Cup Sutton Bingham won 63 points to Lyme's 143. Full event results are available at Thanks to Rob Jamieson as Race Officer assisted by Phil Godfrey and Merv Clark. Also thanks to the OODs, Trolley Team, Galley and to Chris Jones who presented prizes and wrote the report. Chris Jones NEW SHED TO STOW CLUB BOAT S SAILS, RIGS AND EQUIPMENT One of the tasks taken on at the Club s Working Party Day was to clear the area behind the Race Office ready for a specially designed shed to stow all the rigs and sails for the Club s fleet of Oppies, Teras, Fevas, Trios, Lasers and Solo. Currently items are spread between the Boat Shed and Secure Store. The building will also be used as a training room. Planning permission has been requested and hopefully the shed will be built during the summer. See the back page for an artist s impression of the proposed building. CLUB COMMITTEE FOR Commodore: Phil Bailey Vice Commodore: Mike Riley Rear Commodore: Chris Jones Hon Secretary: Phil Godfrey Hon Treasurer: Nigel Leveridge Hon Membership Secretary: Mervyn Clark Committee Members: David Thomson - RYA Training Principal Jim Withers - Health & Safety Rep Andy Roxburgh Brian Etherington 2

3 WATER SAFETY AT THE CLUB By the time you read this newsletter, the summer sailing season will be in full swing with many members, visitors, students and guests enjoying the facilities at Sutton Bingham. It is perhaps timely therefore to remind you all of the importance of safety at the Club. Without Safety Cover, sailing at Sutton Bingham is not possible and we all have a duty to ensure that the safety of members and visitors is protected at all times. If you have a duty allocated, please make sure that you fulfil your duty on that day. Our OODs are a vital part of ensuring that all of our activities are conducted in a safe manner; both on and off the water. It is easy to become complacent, especially if you have been undertaking safety duties for many years, note an incident can happen very quickly and without warning. The first priority is the safety of persons using the water and all other duties are ancillary to this. Remember that you need to be capable of reaching an unconscious sailor in the water within three minutes if you are to have a chance of saving someone from drowning. I would therefore ask all OODs to ensure that they have all sailors in sight at all times and, if you are not patrolling the water, then you need to be able to reach a distressed person within that time. Please ensure that two safety boats are available for any sailing activity and that both have sufficient fuel, engines are warmed up and ready to go with the appropriate safety kit at short notice. Time wasted in starting a cold engine can be life threatening. OODs should be When you are in the Safety Boat - keep a good look out all around you! suitably dressed to undertake the duty and be willing and able to enter the water to assist someone. The revised Operations Manual has a section dedicated to OOD activities for your information. Ensure that all sailing boats are kept in sight and don't be afraid to issue instructions to casual sailors to ensure that they remain in a stretch of water that is reachable by a safety boat within a reasonable time. Remember, as OOD, you have absolute authority over the activities of members and visitors on the water. If you are not comfortable with any of the sailing that is taking place then you have the backing of the Committee to call a halt. Finally, remember that dinghy sailing is a sport that should be enjoyed by all. Please do your bit to ensure that we continue to have sailing available at Sutton Bingham by keeping everyone safe. Phil Bailey, Commodore CLUB S ANNUAL PRIZE GIVING AND SOCIAL DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: SATURDAY 28th OCTOBER This year s Prize Giving and Social Event will be held at The Royal George, West Coker (opposite Lanes Hotel) on the A30, 3 miles west of Yeovil. The programme for the evening will be similar to previous years and the Committee have agreed to keep the ticket price the same as previous year: 6.00 per person 7 for 7.30pm, a served hot buffet will be available after prizes are presented. Entertainment - possibly. Dress: smart casual. Parking behind the pub. Tickets available in August from Nigel Leveridge and Rob Jamieson. 3

4 COMET, TRIO & SUPERNOVA OPEN Saturday 29th April saw an influx of visitors from nine Clubs to race in the Comet, Comet Trio and Supernova Open Meeting. 13 Supernovas started with the two Comet Trios followed five minutes later by 11 Comets. Three races were run during the day with the usual variation of wind strengths and directions that the reservoir often serves up. Unfortunately it was only in the Comet Trio races that our Club triumphed, Mike Burke and Marcus Patten beat the only other Trio crewed by the Scout Instructors Stephen Sharp and Helen Harding. In the Comet Class (single handers), National Champion Chris Jones had several awful starts and could only score two thirds to come 4th overall. Equally, in the Supernova Class, Club top helm Adrian Neal had to be content with 4th with Mike Riley came 6th. Supernova winner Andrew Snell of Datchet Water thanked all the members of the Club who organised the racing, safety boat cover, galley and administration and the other competitors for a good day s sailing. PHOTOGRAPHS Photographs in this issue were taken by Saffron Gallagher, Chris Botomley, Ian Jay and the Editor, thanks to all for allowing the Club to publish the images in the newsletter.. NEW MEMBERS AND OODs BRIEFING The briefings are designed to give members a run down on how the Club is run, how to open up the Club on weekdays when OODs (Officers Of the Day) are not on duty, where keys, stopcocks and switches are located and a run down on what is required when you are an OOD plus practical experience in the safety boats. The briefing programme: Sign in Briefing on the workings of the Club Walk around the site Coffee and change into boating kit Practical Safety Boat handling. Members can spend as long as they like on the boat handling but we are usually finished by WHEN: SATURDAY 22nd JULY, Plus for those members who find a Saturday morning difficult: WEDNESDAY 28th JUNE at 7pm More dates will be arranged later on in the year. There is no requirement to book a place, just turn up with your boating kit. Corporate Groups wishing to have a separate briefing for their members should contact Phil Bailey, chocks.away@talktalk.net BLAST FROM THE PAST While going through some files I came across a newspaper cutting from the Western Gazette dated 8th June, 1984: Sailing Spring Series Results at Sutton Bingham: Miracle Fleet: 1st Vic and Junior Johnson, 2nd Clive Rogers and Les Lang, 3rd Tom Harrison and Sara Kelly. Solo Fleet: 1st John Askew, 2nd Tom Abbott senior, 3rd Tom Abbott junior. 420 Fleet: 1st Alan Brown and Brian Litton, 2nd Laurie Campbell and Simon Kerswell, 3rd Dave Hockley and Arthur Civill. Fast Handicap Fleet: 1st Pete Barnstable, 2nd Jonathon Kerswell, 3rd Chris Bottomley. Slow Handicap Fleet: 1st Nigel Leveridge, 2nd Jan Porter, 3rd Richard Cordell. Ah, the happy days of class racing; to have a class start there had to be an average of three boats starting in the previous series. A few names are still with us at SBSC. 4

5 SERIES RACING RESULTS Since the last newsletters two Sunday Series have been raced plus the First Thursday Evening Mini Series. Freezer Series 1st January to 26th February AM Series 8 races 1st Andrew Frost (RS 2nd Adrian Neal (Supernova) 3rd Kelsey Green (Laser Radial) PM Series 17 races 1st Andrew Frost (RS 2nd Adrian Neal (Supernova) 3rd Richard Frost (Solo) 4th Peter Barnstable (Blaze) Spring Series 5th March to 21st May AM Series 8 races 1st Richard Frost (Solo) 2nd Howard Frear (Streaker) 3rd Andrew Frost (RS PM Series 17 races 1st Andrew Frost (RS 2nd Howard Frear (Streaker) 3rd Richard Frost (Solo) 4th Kelsey Green (Laser Radial) Thursday Evening 1st Mini Series 6th April to 18th May Gold Fleet 1st Andrew Frost (RS 2nd Howard Frost (Streaker) 3rd Adrian Neal (Supernova) Silver Fleet 1st Richard Frost (Solo) 2nd Peter Barnstable (Phantom) 3rd Mike Burke & Lou Plowman-Hart (Kestrel) Bronze Fleet 1st Phil & Jackie Godfrey (Wanderer) 2nd Lauryn Neal (Laser Radial) 3rd Lee Harper (Comet) Racing continues throughout the year and is open to all members. The Thursday Evening Series allows inexperienced helms to start 5 minutes before the main fleet and therefore miss the melee of a mass start. Prizes are awarded every 7 weeks and as experience is gained, helms and crews move up from the Bronze Fleet to the Silver or Gold CLOSURE OF THE YAHOO NEWS- GROUP AND THE NEW FORUM Due to problems with hacking, the Yahoo Newsgroup has been closed down. To ask questions, find out what is happening, post comments, look for crews, volunteer to edit the newsletter etc. Register on: suttonbinghamsc Ian Jay is organising the forum and will accept you for membership of the Forum when pressure of work allows but generally very quickly. Duty List for 2017 All duties are now on the internet. If you are unable to carry out your duty please try and arrange a swap; telephone numbers of members are in the Club s Membership File on the OOD s Desk. OODs should have the Club ready for sailing by Sailing may continue until 30 minutes before sunset but during the summer, OODs can stand down at 6pm after handing over the duty to whoever is still sailing. Galley people should bring milk and cakes (take expenses from money taken) and be ready to serve by and, if possible, stay until completion of the last race. Contact Hugh Tetlow tel.: for a briefing before your first Galley Duty. Race Officers: First race 11.30, afternoon races and (pm races back-to-back in winter). The Race Officer Roster is organised by Rob Jamieson. 5

6 The Committee has been through a process of rationalising the Operations and Safety Manual to bring it up to date and ensure consistency across all of the Club s documents. All members should have at least read the main section and be aware of what is contained in the Appendices. This document is a useful reference manual that tries to deal with all possible situations. If you are unsure of something then please refer to the manual. Whilst we have tried to ensure consistency across the Club documents some items may Fifteen RS Aeros signed in for a day s racing with helms from six clubs joining a home fleet of five including one helmed by Max Robertson in a hired boat for his first race in an Aero. Also racing were five Solos with Richard Frost winning all three races. Race Officer Jo Mahy assisted by Pete Barnstable ran three races with a fresh breeze of 15 knots rising to 20 plus catching out a number of helms out and there were a number of RS AERO & SOLO OPEN - 10th June have slipped through. If you spot something that looks wrong, please let me know as soon as possible. I would like to draw your attention in particular to the section on the use of buoyancy aids which states: Wear a Buoyancy Aid when afloat or on the pontoons. Buoyancy aids should comply with EN 393/ISO (50 Newton/Level and be in good serviceable condition. Buoyancy aids (and lifejackets) should fit each user securely so that, if immersed, they do not slide up the body of the user. Crotch straps should be used if appropriate. If in doubt, use a buoyancy aid that is available from the Club. Life Jackets should not be worn whilst sailing unless required due to an identified medical condition. This applies to all members, visitors and guests regardless of age and swimming ability. If you see anyone on the pontoons or afloat not wearing a buoyancy aid please remind them of this policy. Phil Godfrey Club Secretary. secretary@suttonbinghamsc.net capsizes. Top RS Aero helm was Peter Barton of Lymington Town SC, top home Club member was Chris Jones who came 5th. Andrew Frost was 7th, Ben Poë 9th and Max Robertson a creditable 14th although he scored a 10th and a 13th. Full reports at: Aeros-at-Sutton-Bingham? Prize Winners at the RS Aero & Solo Open 6

7 SATURDAY 13th MAY It was a perfect day with a good breeze almost too much at times and bright sunshine most of the day. Experienced Club sailors took adults, children and families out on the water in the Club s fleet of Comet Trios and the Raider keelboat, all reefed down to smaller sails to make them safe and manageable for the great training opportunities and a very warm welcome. During the trial sails most participants had the opportunity to take the helm during their 40 minute sessions on the water. Neil from Sherborne enthused, Yesterday I sailed with an instructor called Julian and a young lad with learning difficulties. I thought Julian was fantastic keeping us both involved in the session. Marcus, who joined the Club just a few years ago said: Many people assume that sailing is an expensive sport to get into, as did I, but actually starting out can be a good deal less than your average gym membership. If I d realised this I would have got into sailing much sooner. For those that enjoyed their sailing experience there are plenty of ways to get involved. David Thomson, the Club s Training Principal explained: The Club runs training courses for youngsters and adults at all level from beginners to people who want to improve their skills or get into racing. We ll be following up with everyone who expressed an interest in learning to sail. prevailing conditions. Club Commodore, Phil Bailey commented: Our sailing club was delighted to host Push The Boat Out which encourages interest in sailing. The event was a great success with such a fantastic response from the public, many of whom experienced sailing for the first time. Club members loved showcasing our sport and I am sure that everyone who visited the Club enjoyed their introduction to sailing. New members to our club will be assured of some DATES FOR YOUR DIARY June 10th - Solo & RS Aero Open Meeting 17th - Youth Group 2 18th - Triangle at Castle Cove SC 24th - Sea Cadet Regatta July 1st - Get Afloat Day 6th - End of 2nd Thurs Eve Mini Series 15th - Youth Group 3 30th - Last of Early Summer Series August 5th - Get Afloat Day 6th - First of Late Summer Series 19th - Youth Group 4 24th Last Thurs Eve Series, BBQ & prize giving 31st First of Thurs Eve Extension - start 6pm September 2nd - Get Afloat Day 9th - RS Tera Open 10th - Triangle/Banbury Chaser at Lyme Regis 16th - Youth Group 5 17th - Bart s Bash & Fun Day 21st - Last Thurs Eve Ext - prize giving 30th - Laser Open 7

8 TRAINING ROOM/STORE FOR CLUB S SAILING BOATS RIGS & EQUIPMENT The building will be built behind the Race Office and Secure Store and will be used to put all the sails, rigs, rudders and centreboards currently stowed in the Boat Repair Shed and Secure Store in one place. The room will also be used for training when the Clubhouse is in use by other members. Planning permission has been applied for and it is hoped to have it in place by mid summer. MAX IS FIRST CLUB FOILER For a birthday present, Max Robertson s parents bought him a couple of hours sailing a Laser fitted with foils. After a couple of capsizes, Max mastered the art of rising above the water. Max has certainly experienced some top sailing, now sailing a Laser Radial he also entered the recent RS Aero Open in a 5 and was 14th in breezy conditions out of 18 competitors. EDITOR S NOTES: The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Club s Committee. Correspondence, copy and news should be sent to the Editor: Nigel Leveridge by at: scurs@btinternet.com or by post to: 20, Manor Street, West Coker, Yeovil, Somerset BA22 9BJ. There will be four newsletters a year: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter; deadline dates are on the Club s Annual Programme posted on the Clubhouse noticeboard. Copy for the Autumn newsletter should be with me by Friday 11th August Send copy, pictures and letters to: scurs@btinternet.com or see me at the Club. Nigel Leveridge RS Aeros reaching at the recent Open Meeting at Sutton Bingham 8