Commodore s Log Datchet steps up as a key club in RYA s Pathway to Podium

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1 March 2018 Commodore s Log Datchet steps up as a key club in RYA s Pathway to Podium Welcome to the latest edition of Datchat. In line with the Council s desire to step up communication, I am really pleased to see Datchat being published on a regular basis with so many articles about club activities and news from members about what you are doing. The weekly 15 second update has been very well received and I am de-lighted to see that the Facebook and Twitter statistics are also on the up. All members can help to spread the word about what the club does and what we have to offer. I am delighted to tell you that the RYA has recognised the club as a key club in its Pathway to Podium initiative. We were invited to attend the stakeholders conference and worked with the class association and the RYA to see how we can deliver the Pathway to Podium scheme. The RYA have noticed how we set out our club values at open meeting briefings to ensure all who come to Datchet understand what we are about. The direction of the club is grounded in our core values which reflect how we see the club and how we want the club to be seen by others. - Social - We are a club that offers friendly and welcoming environment to all individuals who share in our common passion for sailing. - Supportive - Working together as a team we provide an environment whereby we learn from each other and develop together. We are respectful of the views of others and by working together we achieve our goals. - Inspirational - We actively encourage new ideas and empower individuals to realise their potential. We are innovative in our approach to new challenges and maintaining a sustainable club. - Competitive - We strive to improve in everything we do in a way that is fair and respectful to others. Our drive and ambition gives us purpose and a sense of pride in ourselves and our club. In this edition I am really pleased to see the report from Giles Baker who is the youth sailor we sponsored a couple of years ago and is well worth a read. It is also great to see so many more contributions to this news letter from you our members and please continue to share with us your experiences so that we can share them with other members. Our new Council members have been very busy working on how we grow our membership. At the AGM Council sought permission to look into different options for membership. I am pleased with the progress and you can read about this in more detail in the newsletter. Your opinion matters and I want to draw your attention to our request for you to get Congratulations to Oliver Laurenson-Gore you involved. and Kirsty Meredith who got engaged on the Those of you who are RYA members 29th December 2017 on Hastings Pier. Oliver will also see that our club is featured is part of the Wayfarer fleet at the club. in the latest RYA member s magazine In this issue Page 2 Club racing update Page 4 Champion s ambition Page 6 Datchet Flyer Page 7 Junior news Page 8 Training & development Page 10 Membership news Page 9 Green Club of the year KENNETH KEN WILLIAM STEVENS 25th May th January A memorial service was held on 15th February to celebrate the life of former Datchet Commodore who served the club from DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 3/4 March - The Dinghy Show at Alexandria Palace 10/11 March - Contender Open 17/18 March - Topper Nationals 4 April - Marlow Ropes Splice Night 18/25 April - Fun Wednesday racing 2 May - Wednesday Series starts for winning the Green Club of the Year Award, obviously winning the award is fantastic but also the RYA recognition of this is important. The Sailing Committee are coming up with some great new ideas for innovative racing, if you have any ideas please share these at the Wacky Racing meeting on the 25th April or send your input to the sailing committee. I am delighted to welcome all our new members. Membership matters and I thank you for your support in promoting membership for the club to your friends, family and work colleagues. We hope the new initiatives will help you do this. Let me know what you think? See you all at the Dinghy Show this weekend. Mike Beckett, Commodore, Datchet Water Sailing Club

2 Club racing update Datchet hosts the Brunel Badger The Brunel Badger ran on 20th-21st January 2018 and was a great success yet again. Brunel University Sailing Club hosted 11 teams over the weekend at the Queen Mother Reservoir. It was the largest that this competition has been in several years. The weather sadly was not favourable, low wind on Saturday and snow on the Sunday meant racing was a challenge but despite this all the competitors finished their races and had an amazing time. A total of 45 races took place over the course of the weekend in two fleets of Firefly s so all involved gained some valuable race experience at this event; for the first time Brunel had a mix of competiton including two secondary schools, two alumni teams, a Datchet Water Sailing Club team, teams from Reading and Kent universities and of course the host team the Brunel Blues. A huge thank you to Nigel Vick, George Ehlers and Jeremy Spencer-Cooper who all did a fantastic job as race officials and carried on despite the cold weather. Autumn Series results The Autumn Series ended with the following results: Start 1 (Flying Fifteen) 1st John Hanson/ Helen Selden (3954) 2nd Mervyn Wright/ George Caspall (3904) 3rd Mike Clapp / Peter Morris (4027) Start 2 (Fast Handicap) 1st Nick Harris/ Luke Howells (Wayfarer 10984) 2nd Andrew Wilson/Sue Risbridger (Wayfarer 11093) 3rd George Hoskins (Laser ) Start 3 (Asymmetric) 1st Daniel Goodman/Debbie Robertshaw (RS ) 2nd John Curran/ Tom Tindall (RS ) 3rd Joe Cic/ Mark Greenstreet (RS ) Brunel Alumni: Gordon Lester, Olly Provan, James Britton, Andy Jack, Saul Parkinson. Start 4 (Catamaran) 1st Kit Lewis (F16 119) 2nd Jon Senior/ Martin Locke (Nacra Inter ) 3rd John Patterson (Hobie ) The Pink Elephant Trophy: Congratulations to winners Andrew Wilson and Martin Wilson (below) Queen Mother of all race challenges: low wind on Saturday ahead of snow on the Sunday. Brunel University Team Racing Competition Datchet entered a team in the Brunel University Team Racing Competition, a good fun sociable event held on 18th January as a warm-up to the Badger writes Andy Snell. The competition saw six people in each team sail three Firefly s with entries mainly from university and school sailing teams. The races were short, 5 to 10 mins long, and sailed over a specific team racing course - square shaped, starboard, handed to enable specific team manoeuvres to be applied, which alter the progress of a race. Datchet had a mix of people in the team, with both experienced team racers and some who had never done it before. We certainly represented our club well, with some race wins and a respectable placing in the results (but apologies - I really can t remember exactly where we came!). Team Racing is an exciting, technical and strategic form of the sport. There are some unique manoeuvres involved in team racing, that aren t normally applied in fleet racing. It is quite intense with a lot of content crammed into a short race. Datchet are looking to get more involved with team racing and maybe partnering with Brunel. If anyone is interested in getting involved, let Tristan know in the office. Page 2 Datchat - March 2018

3 Champion s ambition Datchet s Giles Baker reflects on his four year journey to becoming 2017 Topper 4.2 National Champion I started sailing Toppers 4 years ago, completing my RYA Stages 1-4 at DWSC and then joined the 20knt Squad to learn to race. My big break came at Christmas 2014 when Topper and DWSC helped me by sponsoring a new boat so I could qualify for the RYA National and Zone Squads in I trained through the winter, sometimes sailing when it was snowing! The next year all this training and competing enabled me to win a sailing scholarship to Royal Hospital School in Holbrook near Ipswich. Things really took off at the start of the 2017 summer holidays, when I competed in regional team racing events and qualified for the Team Racing National Championships at Alton Water where my school sails. Sailing against competitors up to five years older taught me that I have a lot to learn. Next up was the Topper Worlds at Loctudy in France, where I was sailing in the 4.2 fleet. I had a goal to finish in the top 10 and ended up 13th due to some mistakes and some great competitors. In August 2017, we travelled to Pwllheli for the Topper National Championships, my target was to finish in the top five and there were 33 boats in the 4.2 fleet. My dad even took my bait of a holiday in Barbados if I came first!! The races were set for around 25/40 minutes long with up to 21 races over six days, and up to four races could be discarded. Day 1: heavy weather and 25knt of wind but we started the first race and I was in the lead when the race was abandoned and racing was called off for the day. What do you do when in Wales and it s raining...go to the movies?. continued on page 4 Page 3 Datchat - November 2017

4 Champion s ambition continued from page 3 Day 2 Monday; much better weather 12/15 knt with sunshine and after five races I was 2nd overall and 7 points behind the leader. The only cloud over the day was a protest against me. The essential thing is to know your racing rules and present your case clearly and, having a good witness, after a tense 30 min hearing, the protest was dismissed and my result stood - so time for dinner. Day 3, Tuesday; We had four races and I don t know how, but I came first in all 4 races. At times, felt like mother duck with everyone following me. I realised how lonely it is being first round the course with everyone waiting for you to make a mistake. So end of day 3 and I find myself 1st overall and 15 points ahead of the 2nd boat, this feels good until you realise the pressure to hang on to your place!! Day 4, Wednesday; I continued with another 1st place in race 10 and was beginning to think I can do this I just needed to keep focused, sailing one race at a time. Races I managed two 4th places and a 3rd and finished the day 1st 12 points ahead of the 2nd boat, I wished the event could stop now as I was getting very stressed! Day 5, Thursday; another windy day of 20knt. I now had to concentrate on where boats number 2 and 3 were and think about positioning. Races 14 and 15 went OK and I held my overall position then, disaster struck! We were in the race sequence for race 16 and I was on starboard and on a reach, a port tacker came towards me and hit my head with its boom. It really hurt but I had to pull myself together and concentrate as we only had three minutes to the start. Then we were off and I sailed on the first windward leg until another competitor called out that I had blood streaming down my head and I realised that I had a gash on my head - who says sailing is not dangerous! I managed a 5th place but now felt unwell, the safety boat called me over and told me I couldn t sail the next race and had to go in for treatment. This meant missing the race would hurt my results, it s another time to know your rules and I requested redress under Rule 62.1(b). After reviewing the evidence and my head injury, I was granted redress and average place of 5th for the last race of the day and still had a margin of 11 points on the 2nd boat. Day 6, Friday; after a very tense night and a headache, the day stared with a forecast of 20knt gusting 25knt and the launching was delayed and we stood around on the beach for over an hour. Finally, we got the sound signal to go and we were off. The starting sequence was down to the last 10 seconds before the start gun and there were many boats that had capsized on the start line due to gusts of over 30knt which made starting very difficult. The race committee abandoned the race and sent us back to shore to await further instructions. Back on shore and we waited for 20 minutes before the signal that all racing was abandoned for the day and I realised I had won! I was the 2017 Topper 4.2 National Champion! - and more relieved than happy! So what s next? Well I have received an invitation for the Endeavour Trophy. This is the Champion of Champion s event for the best dinghy sailors in 2017 dating back to This is a double handed series over three days in October in the RS 200 and organised by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at Burnham on Crouch. I have also been invited to race the Battle of the Classes Pursuit Race at the Southampton Boat Show. This is similar to the Endeavour event where the National Dingy Classes compete in their own boat, in a pursuit race. So the journey continues. I go out onto the water to have fun and do my best and am thankful to the support of everyone who has helped me along the way and DWSC for introducing me to the Topper class and racing. Giles Baker 2017 Topper 4.2 National Champion Page 4 Datchat - March 2018

5 Let it snow: Datchet Flyer braves the weather We had great feedback from competitors and from organisers Sailjuice after this event was held at Datchet on 9-10 December. It was also good to see that 12 of the fleet racing were Datchet boats.the Toppers were the biggest entry with seven boats and a strong youth entry encouraged by the GJW Direct grants offering reduced entries for those entering multiple events in the Series. Congratulations to Leo Wilkinson of Datchet who won the Topper fleet. Several competitors were trying out new classes by taking the opportunity to race demo boats as part of the Try a Boat Scheme. The forecasts for Sunday predicted very strong winds building very quickly from 13 knots in the morning to almost 45 knots so principal race officer Barry Peters made the wise decision to announce an earlier start for the non-discardable final race. However, Sunday morning dawned much snowier than forecast for West London, with many competitors (and helpers) struggling even to make it through the treacherously icy roads to Datchet. With snow settling on the ground, the Datchet Team battled to clear the slipways in order to allow the ribs and fleet to launch. But it was a struggle to maintain safe launching conditions and with the wind building the race committee were forced to cancel racing. The efforts made by the team to clear the slipways was recognised by the competitors and the event organisers and was very much appreciated. The Sailjuice winter series Ralph Singleton reports The Sailjuice winter series features seven events at Draycote, Datchet, Yorkshire Dales, Queen Mary, Grafham, Rutland an Oxford. However, this year Queen Mary ran out of water and was replaced by the King George Gallop at which DWSC staff helped out. The series includes events with several different formats mixing Pursuit races and handicap races, some sailed on the same course configuration, some use different courses, some are one day events and some are two day events. So all in all a good mix of formats. There are also various events within the events including a ladies championship, junior championship and a Top Speed championship amongst others. So why go travelling over the cold winter just to enter some random handicap racing? Well variety is the spice of life would be my main reason although meeting up with sailors from different classes is good as is meeting old friends who I had not seen for over 35 years in some cases. Now, handicap sailing can be frustrating as results are very dependent on the wind strengths, size of the courses, number of competitors on the course, Club member Stuart Jones flyby at Grafham Grand Prix. the shape of the course and even whether there was a 10% wind shift in a race which will favours one class over another. But when you look at the series results there were eight different classes in the top 10 and 14 classes in the top 20. So the revised Great Lakes handicaps seem to be working better than the RYA Portsmouth yardstick numbers on these lakes. As a whole, this was was a light airs year with only Grafham (very windy great for the Contender) and Rutland (quite windy) suiting the likes of the 420 or RS 800. So whilst it did not quite even out over the series with 15 slower classes and five faster classes in the top 20, it is still a good test for one and all. Finally most of you will recall the days that a Laser could never win a handicontinued on page 6 Page 5 Datchat - March 2018

6 The Sailjuice winter series continued from page 5 cap race as the yardstick was so influenced by their performances on rivers and ponds. On this occasion, however, Alistair Goodwin s Laser won the overall series - with former Datchet members Andrew Snell sailing a K1 coming second and Ben Schooling, sailing a Musto Skiff, finishing third. Datchet saw the glorious Uffa Fox designed National 18 win, with Andrew and Tom Wilson coming third in their Wayfarer. Grafham had three winners, a Formula 18, a Contender (well done Stuart Jones) and a GP14, as winners of the three fleets on three different courses in some very testing conditions - which at one point saw our RS 800 hull completely under water despite the fact that the pointy bit was still vertical!! The Musto Skiff sailed by Ben Schooling won at King George Gallop with Andrew and Tom Wilson in a Wayfarer having a well earned second place. Intense racing on glorious day 1 of the Datchet Flyer Two world champions in Ian Dobson (Fireball) and Tom Gillard (505) came first and second at the Tiger Trophy with yours truly coming 3rd in the RS 800 with Sophie up front. We lost by a point Andrew and Tom Wilson ready for the downward leg at the King George Gallop Father and daughter Ralph and Sophie Singleton hanging out at the King George Gallop but were awarded the Trophy on the day due to a hiccup in the results. Just as well I did not get it engraved overnight! We did keep the Everard trophy for the best score without discard with 2,2,4. The final event of the year was the Oxford Blue where 40 Aeros tuned up for their Winter Championship. It was perhaps appropriate that the overall series Winner Alistair Goodwin in a Laser won this event with Andrew Snell coming third in the K1, and Andrew and Tom Wilson fourth in the Wayfarer. Had Andrew and Tom been able to get to one of the other events they could well have won the series overall. Indeed in 34th overall they were the leading boat having to count one DNC. Mind you other Wayfarer sailors may be concerned what impact these results will have on the Wayfarer Great Lakes Handicap next year!!!! Its all about the competing as they say and in reality the events also stand by themselves all with very worth winners. We finished 7th overall in the series (our best result so far) and will be hoping for a bit more wind next year. Other notable performance from the Datchet team include Jess and Hugo Berney in their National 18. We also finished 2nd in the SpeedSix adjusted top speed division which was won by the Musto Skiff. Datchet did not quite hold on to the overall club prize but a good performance at Oxford saw the club climb from 5th to 2nd behind Rutland - great performance from the Datchet team for the second year running. Emma Stevenson sailing an Osprey was Top Lady in the series although Sophie was Top lady on the water even beating me across the line!!!. Page 6 Datchat - March 2018

7 Junior sailing at Datchet Datchet juniors scoop trophies in Island Barn Barn Stormer Datchet juniors Leo Wilkinson, James Crossley, Maddie Childs and Sam Gilbert travelled to Island Barn SC for the annual Island Barn Barn Stormer on the 17th February Winds were light but after a 2 hour delay racing got underway. Leo Wilkinson won the overall event with James Crossley winning the Under 13 category. For Maddie and Sam this was there first time racing away from their home club and they did remarkably well and learnt lots from this experience. All are looking forward to taking part in the Topper National Series being held at Datchet over the weekend of the 19th 20th March. James Crossley with his Under 13 category trophy 2018 National School Sailing Association National Regatta The 2018 NSSA National Youth Regatta will be hosted by Datchet Water Sailing Club from July and will welcome all sailors who will be under the age of 19 years on the 31st August 2018 to come along and enjoy the fun. We hosted the event for the first time 20 years ago in 1998 and again in 2010 and we are delighted and very proud to be hosting the 2018 event. Over the past 12 months DWSC has hosted very successful events for youth sailing including the Optimist National Winter Championships and numerous RYA youth events. We will provide camping and food facilities along with the sailing and part of the entertainment programme at the Queen Mother Reservoir site. The site will be able to accommodate tents, caravans and camper vans. Extra toilets, showers and marquees will be brought in and arrangements are being made with the caterers to provide nutritious food. Helping hands required! Datchet successfully hosted the Optimist National Championships in 2017 Can you spare some time to help ensure that Datchet delivers a fabulous 2018 National Schools Sailing Association Regatta? All help gratefully accepted. In particular, throughout the week long event we need club ambassadors, friendly faces, data inputters, race team, safety teams and beach masters. We will also need to bolster our social media team and would love to have extra photographers, bloggers, tweeters etc on hand. Also needed is content for goodie bags - stickers, key rings, memory sticks etc, plus sports equipment for evening games and prizes. Corporate sponsorship is also beinbg sought as is help providing food is also appreciated - are you part of an FMCG could you provide drinks/snacks/ pies etc. If you would like to volunteer for this event, please contact Events Organiser Tristan at sailing@dwsc.co.uk or call on Note to DWSC racers: Sunday and Wednesday evening racing are not affected by the NSSA. Arrival is Sunday night, Wednesday night the children go off site and then leave on the Saturday morning. Page 7 Datchat - March 2018

8 Training and development Book now for adult training courses Adult course are booking fast. We are running our first level 1 of the year on the 3rd and 4th of March with only one space left on it. We have booking for other dates as well. Dates are as follows: Level 1 14th-15th April 5th-6th May 9th-10th June 7th-8th July 11th-12th August 6th-7th October Level 2 28th-29th April 26th-27th May 16th-17th June 21st-22nd July 25th-26th August 27th-28th October RYA Safety Boat Course successes Huge congratulations to Niall Tutt, Katie Lee, Hugh Mcadoo and Phil Holiday for passing their RYA Safety Boat Course. Niall is a Brunel University Student who wants to expand his sailing knowledge into Safety boating for big events. He has given up lots of his time to come and get experience before taking the course. Katie is a highly experienced windsurf instructor also wanting to expand her knowledge into safety boating for looking after large groups of windsurfers. Hugh and Phil are part of the Datchet Water Radio Sailing Club; they knew that this course would help to widen their abilities. Laura Hodges wins Heart of Sailing award Laura Hodges was awarded the Handicap Fleet s Heart of Sailing award for coping with sailing with her father Matthew Hodges in their Wayfarer. Laura, a hardy air cadet, can be found competing most Sundays throughout the year, whatever the weather. A sailboat wall clock will hopefully make sure they don t miss the start. We can see the team here practicing what Stuart has taught them about efficiently and quickly righting a catamaran that is full of water. This takes lots of skill and confidence. This is why we value all of our Club and Event Safety Coxswains for the duties that they carry out. If you are interested in becoming a Safety Coxswain please contact training@dwsc.co.uk to find out more details. Page 8 Datchat - March 2018

9 Training and development Help your kids develop life skills: Junior Courses start from Easter Discover everything that being on the water has to offer - Try new activity, learn new skills - Feel good, have fun - Boost your confidence increase your independence - Meet new people make new friends Sign up your child for one of our great junior courses. Please help us and spread the word about the benefits of sailing to friends and family. Building a CV is easier than you think for sailors as the illustration below highlights. This Girl Can moves to Wednesday This Girl Can sessions are moving to Wednesday nights. All are welcome, regardless of experience. To sign up, please use the following link: First Aid courses - new dates RYA First Aid Courses available every month. Places are limited. Please book early via the club website. Note. All courses are scheduled for Sundays Page 9 Datchat - March 2018

10 Membership As we grow the club the interests of all members are paramount. At the AGM in 2017 the following was approved by the members: Council seek approval to trial additional membership types in 2018 before we consider amending the constitution. We want to investivgate different options of membership in line with changing family dynamics and lifestyle choices. We want to assure current club members that as we grow the club your interest are paramount. Getting the balance right between meeting the needs of current members and attracting new members is always difficult. We need your help. If you wish to get involved with Focus Groups or if you would like to run the groups please the office. Young Adult Membership This categories is aimed at twenty-somethings who were keen sailors growing up, who don t yet have the finances to fund a full membership. PROPOSAL: to provide an membership at a reduced rate. These are an obvious target group for new membership that has: - already committed to sailing. - left home and further education, so be either looking for a club near to where they ve settled, or will be looking to continue membership of their club. - Get them early at a point where they re looking for a long term club likely to stick with us long term. Future Corporate Membership Are there any other sailors where you work? Do you have any colleagues who might want to join DWSC? Does your company have a wellness programme, encouraging exercise and subsides things like gym memberships? The club is developing a corporate membership scheme, offering discounted membership where several people work for the same employer. We also want to help members take advantage of the corporate wellness programmes where these are offered their employer. We want to encourage members to introduce colleagues to sailing at the club. We are trying to create a package that will encourage large employers to do some of our marketing to prospective new members for us. We also want to make sure that it is not just the gyms, swimming pools and yoga classes that benefit from employers trying to stop staff burning themselves out, but that coming sailing might be good for them too! The proposal considered by the Council in January involves a number of life blood of the club. Recruitment: For those who have settled near us or in London, we should be the first port of call so we attract new members. Retention: For those who are stepping up from Cadet / university affiliate membership to full membership we want to make sure they stay with us. Convert youth training program sailors to adult participating members. However, there are some issues that we must be aware of: - Millenials / twentysomethings face unprecedented financial pressures, particularly in the south east. They leave membership benefits such as: discounted subscriptions to employees of organisations agreeing to market DWSC to their employees, with increasing discounts depending on the number of members approaching target employers to establish whether they could contribute further to the members subscriptions as part of any corporate benefits programmes, thereby increasing the reduction in subscription seen by the employee approaching specialist corporate benefits providers (who some organisations outsource the creation of corporate benefits programmes) to include DWSC discounted membership among the For 2018 we propose to trial the following new categories: - Young Adult Membership - Corporate Membership - Reduced fee Windsurfing membership university saddled with debt, facing unaffordable rents. Disposable income is squeezed. This is a really significant change over the last couple of decades. If we want to attract them, we need to lower the barriers to entry as well as offering something that works specifically for them. - We re failing to convert cadet members into adult sailors. This may be partly because the step up to adult membership is too steep, so we re not capitalising on our gateway into the club. SOLUTION: For 2018 the Young Adults fee (18-28 membership) is 50% of full fee at 95. packages they provide to organisations with employees in our catchment area. We are looking at the discount being 20% where there are more than 5 members working in the same organisation, rising to 25% for more than 10; and 30% for more than 20. Any assistance targeting employers would be very welcome and may help you secure a reduction in your own membership subscription. Similarly, if your employer has a benefits programme that you think could support DWSC membership, we would be pleased to help you make the approach to get your sailing included, and thereby also recruit new members from among your colleagues. Page 10 Datchat - March 2018

11 Membership Reduced fee Windsurfing Membership Datchet has always been a fantastic place to windsurf, with easy access, deep water and long reaches of nearly a mile, and it now is open to some new activities for the sport. PROPOSAL: The 2018 windsurfing fee is reduced to 185 for To get you started Datchet will be arranging some taster sessions for windsurfing, including the new windsup and foiling activities. As well as reducing the membership fees for windsurfing, we have also upgraded the changing facilities, with comfortable indoors rooms and food, there is some storage if you need it too. The shop on site also provides bits and pieces needed whether you are starting from scratch, or simply dusting off your existing gear. Catering for develops in technology is crucial. Hydrofoils are now emerging as a new thing to try on windsurf boards, you can retrofit foils to many existing boards and there are already one design fleets for racing. Foiling windsurf boards are agile and fast even in winds traditionally considered too low to windsurf, offering a new excitement to experienced windsurfers of all ages, but especially young sailors aspiring to a likely new class of Olympic racing. Another area for windsurfing adds a light weight rig to a stand up paddle board so-called Windsup activity, making learning easier and more accessible than it has ever been for the whole family. We need your help. If you wish to get involved with Focus Groups or if you would like to run the groups please the office. Page 11 Datchat - March 2018

12 Around the club Anyone for Wacky Races? The Council and Sailing Committee are both continually looking for ways to satisfy as much of the membership as possible not just the stalwarts who turn out on a Sunday morning come rain or shine. We have discussed why we think racing turn-out is important to the club and agree that, while there are many members who enjoy going out and sailing on their own and/ or training, it is racing that brings us together as a club because it gives us a common interest. That said, we are aware that there are many different types of races beyond those we currently running on Wednesdays and Sundays. We are already looking at setting up regular team racing and want to find out what ideas members have for a different format of racing (perhaps one Sunday a month) and are looking for the wackiest ideas out there. Please talk to or Mervyn (mervynwright@live.co.uk) or Nick (nick.harris@usa.net) and come along to our Wacky Racing evening, starting at 8pm on Wednesday 25th April (after the second fun Wednesday evening race). Push your boat out in May May is RYA Push Your Boat Out month and the Fleet Captains and Class Reps are working to promote Datchet and think of activities to mobilise those sailors who have been resting over the winter or, in some cases, longer. So far, the Wayfarers, Laser, Flying Fifteens, RS100 s, 5o5 s, and RS800 s have all come up with ideas some starting as early as March. If you haven t heard about their ideas, get in touch with Derek Lambert, Simon Etter, Mike Clapp, Simon Geyman, Ben Iliffe and Dan Goodman. Tom Mapplebeck in Virtual Rigger is always extremely helpful when it comes to setting up boats so pop in and ask his advice. Wayfarer 5th-6th May: - Fun races before and after lunch on Saturday. - Join in Sunday fleet racing in your own boat or a demo boat or sail with an existing member. - Meet the fleet at lunch both days. Laser 12th-13th May: - Fun races before and after lunch on Saturday. - Learn the best way to rig a Laser. - Join in Sunday fleet racing in your own boat or a demo boat or sail with an existing member. - Meet the fleet at lunch both days Flying Fifteen 19th-20th May: - Join in Sunday fleet racing in your own boat or a demo boat or sail with an existing member. - Meet the fleet at lunch - Mixed adult-child racing in pm Welcoming new members This year we are holding an open weekend for new sailors every weekend of May. Instructors will be available to take anyone interested (and who has booked) out for a trial sail and describe the training programmes on offer. If you or a friend, relative or colleague are looking to try out sailing, sign up on-line for a session by visiting the Datchet website at Several of our most popular classes are organising days to welcome those more experienced sailors who want to try sailing at Datchet or try out a new type of boat. Visitors already sailing one of these classes are welcome to bring their own boat to join in with the Datchet fleet (free, providing the boats are insured). Those without a boat can borrow demo boats free of charge and/ or sail with a member (in a doublehander!). If you or a friend are looking to try out sailing one of these classes at Datchet, sign up for a session at Page 12 Datchat - March 2018

13 And finally.. Datchet Water Sailing Club is crowned 2017 Green Club of the Year at National Mirror Club Awards Datchet Water Sailing Club (DWSC) is celebrating after winning a national award in recognition of our commitment to the environment. Datchet was crowned Green Club of the Year at the 2017 Club Mirror Club Awards held at Doncaster Racecourse on November 30 and hosted by BBC sports broadcaster John Inverdale. Now in their 26th year, the Club Awards celebrate the pivotal role that clubs of all types play in their communities and for their members. From just under 1,000 entries, finalists were singled out for excellence across 28 categories. Head of Judges, Caroline Scoular, said: Congratulations to Datchet Water Sailing Club for winning the highly competitive Green Club of the Year Award. The Judging Panel was hugely impressed with the club s unwavering commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, which it has achieved through putting in several new eco-friendly systems at its clubhouse. They were the first club in the country to run a Royal Yachting Association educational initiative which aims to educate young children about the impact that sailing has on the environment the Marine CSI Challenge as part of the Push the Boat Out scheme. The club also works closely with the Green Blue, a joint environment initiative created by the British Marine Federation and Royal Yachting Association (RYA) to encourage a more sustainable recreational boating sector. Datchet celebrates Christmas in style DWCS General Manager, Gabrielle Boase, added: We re absolutely delighted to be recognised in these national awards as Green Club of the Year. Sailing is fundamentally a green sport and we operate a green clubhouse at Datchet Water. Spreading the word about environmental impact and sustainability with our younger sailors and newcomers to the sport is helping to keep our waters clean and safe. Celebrating Datchet s win and the wonderful Green Club of the Year Award trophy This year club members came and decorated the club on the Saturday before Christmas Lunch. This was a fun afternoon and thanks to all the members who took part and the creative table decorations and beautiful tree they decorated. There were 40 people for lunch. There was a great atmosphere and prize giving for the autumn series was held at the lunch. New committee members were introducing themselves to club members. We are looking at how to build on the Christmas lunch to increase participation - what events we could hold to attract families, how to encourage new members to join in. If you have any ideas, Mike Robinson our new Social Representative on Council would love to hear from you. Craig Buttivant club safety coxswain puts the finishing touches to the tree Page 13 Datchat - March 2018