Valentine Edition February 2014 Commodores chocolates and flowers Port is red, the sea is blue, no cover for duties, what will we do? We have sitters for Valentines night so heading for the most exclusive venue in town. Where will that be? I always thought the idea of Valentines was the???? but I keep being told that's annoying. New Years Eve was a good night, the wind was a bit strong for the fireworks but they still went off well, the bonfire burned fiercely once it got going. The karaoke was interesting as ever, we will give that another go as a stand alone event, I don't mean solo singing just a one event evening. The xbox has revealed some bowling talent in the club, just beware who you play if you have a go. I will say no more but there will have to be some return competitions soon. Richards games proved too confusing for some, the inexperience of youth and the intoxication of the experienced. We will have another go at that as we discovered a bag of tights and balloons when we were tidying up. They are needed for a game? Can t wait! I have to mention the NYE decoration, thanks to all who helped, but what a great idea from Steve and Udo, such a simple idea but so effective. This years membership renewals are going well, I appreciate right after Xmas is a difficult time. Existing members, you can renew by paypal on the website as well as by the renewal and new member form. New members need to fill in the New members form as we need more details than we can gather via paypal. I and others use our Facebook page or Twitter to let people know what is going on, that is in addition to emails and the website, for those who have Facebook or Twitter accounts look NSSC up and like us or follow us. I know some of you don't embrace the social media communications, but give it a try, you may be pleasantly surprised. It does work as a quick reminder to people and you can keep in touch with other members. I am a convert, mainly because it s the only way I can find out what my (now adult) children are doing.
A tidal clock has been put on the wall at the Seaford clubhouse, so now there will be no excuses for not knowing if it's on the way in or out. It has been cunningly placed so you can see it over peoples heads, well nearly everyone's head. So when asked, if you don't know, a casual glance will come to your rescue. If you still end up afloat without knowing, well you'll find out soon enough. Plumpton college have started using the pond for training and are really enthusiastic, the lecturers have a tidy ethic, so look out for us going back to boats, sails, rudders and dagger boards all being matched up. This was their first taster day. Thanks to all the helpers on the day. Fourteen new memberships so far and all happy to do duties. Burns Night was brilliantly set out with plenty of Scottish flavour, including the whisky. There is a very busy February with plenty of Friday night workshops, Valentine dinners on Friday 14th and Valentines Quiz Night on Saturday 15th. There may be a cadet night at Seaford Clubhouse on the Wednesday in the middle of half term, so far it s a plan, look out on Facebook, Twitter and the website. It will be, pool, table tennis, Xbox Kinect games, and the usual board games too. Finally NSSC are entered in Barts Bash a world record attempt on 21st September 2014. Ian Johnson Commodore Volunteers Night Friday 7th February 7.30pm @ Seaford Clubhouse Discussion on duties, come along and find out what they all entail and how to get involved. Want to be an Assistant Instructor, Dinghy Instructor, Senior Instructor? Interested in doing a powerboat course or becoming a powerboat instructor? Would you like to help out with the bar but need to find out what is involved? Have you got skills, knowledge or abilities that you think would be helpful, drop in and have a chat. The bar will be open.
Safety Boat helm and Crew Workshop Friday 21st February 7.30pm @ Seaford Clubhouse With Bill Giles and guest speakers If you are a safety boat helm or crew or would like to learn more about safety boat duties please make an effort to attend this workshop. We can refresh our understanding of the procedures in taking safety boats out of Newhaven and what the requirements might be once we are in the bay. We can discuss some of the practical issues in assisting different types of boats who may need our help. The bar will be open Please also note that there is a practical refresher day on Saturday 23 rd March to take RIBs and Ark in and out of the berths and maybe out into the bay. If you are a qualified helm who maybe volunteering for safety boat duties please try to sign up for one of the limited places duty points are allocated for attending this day which is divided into a PM and AM session. Race officer Workshop Friday 28th February 7.30pm @ Seaford Clubhouse Whether you are an experienced Race Officer or would like to know more about becoming a Race Officer this workshop will run through the procedures for Race Officers and an opportunity to discuss and explore some of the issues that can arise. Please try to attend so that we can all share our ideas. We hope to have an RYA Race Officer trainer in attendance. The bar will be open Working parties at Seaford 1st and 2nd March The great spring clean, painting, cleaning, fixing, sorting, jobs for all ages and abilities, come along and help out. Veolia have promised two roll on roll off skips so we will be getting rid of a lot of rubbish, all help welcome.
Bradwell 18 for sale This trailer sailer was dumped at the Seaford boat park a few years ago and we have not been able to identify the owner. It has plenty of potential for restoration and would make a good project. There are no sails or outboard motor but generally could be put back on the water for a few hundred pounds. The Directors would like to dispose of this boat and it will be advertised on E-bay in a few weeks time unless we have a member who would like to buy it. You can find more about the boat class here http://www.bradwell18.org.uk/. Please feel free to have a look at the boat in the boat park. If you are interested please contact Rupert Smith or Ian Johnson. If there are several people interested we may arrange some sort of auction.
It s still all go at the pond, with the Numb Bum series keeping the 25 entries working hard. The results are not going to the form book either, with some grey haired helms calling on their years of experience to know when force stupid on the Beaufort scale is just too much. For the first time I know of, we have a Pico leading the series, sailed by Dave Murley. Thanks must go to Alan & Bett Simmons for the Streaker Ramblings blog and all the photo s. If you haven t found Alans Blog yet, there is a link on the club web site, where you can find full entertaining reports of each race so far in the series, as well as the Freeman Iceberg. Series results are also on the web site. Work Parties kick off in March for 3 weeks, with plenty of jobs that need doing at all three sites. Please do your best to put in at least a days graft to make sure we re ready for the new season. Work on the rescue boats is going well, with Chris doing extensive work to the Honda outboard. This was brought about by a fishing line wrapped around the prop and wearing through the oil seal. Please take great care of the engines, as this seemingly minor thing has caused hours of work to put right. Both outboard propellers have also suffered damage from being too close to the beach. Grey RIB is getting a new tube ready for the start of the season, so with the engine complete, it should be as good as new. The Dinghy Show is over the 1 st & 2 nd March at Alexandra Palace. If I can sneak away for one day, I will be going up, with a couple of spare seats in the car if anyone would like to come along. It s the sort of show where you can have a look at the more exotic and less commercial classes, with the class stands run by enthusiasts rather than salesmen. All types of classes are on show, from the humble Mirror and quite basic Lasers & Toppers, to all out thoroughbred extreme machines such as International 14, Int. Canoes, Moths, Cherubs and Merlin Rockets. If you thought Fireballs had lots of string... With all the maintenance work at the club, don t forget to check your own boat over and fix those little niggles from last year (or just make sure it hasn t blown away.) And spare a thought for those of us with wooden boats, painting and varnishing into the wee small hours. Rupert
Member Survey 2013 Thankyou if you completed the Member Survey that was circulated a few weeks ago. If you have not taken part and would like to add your views there is still time to do so. The Directors can use the results to support club development. You can access the survey here. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/75kz25c If you do not use a computer but would like to add your opinions you could send your responses in writing, or by writing on this report, to Terry Jones. The results so far - 66 responses received. 25 from Family Sailing with duties, 16 from individual Sailing members with duties, 9 from Social members, 6 form life members and 9 from memberships who have opted out of duties. In response to question. Which best describes your reason for membership of the club? Number Percentage I race a dinghy/catamaran as often as possible. 27 41 I sail a dinghy/windsurfer mostly at Piddinghoe. 13 20 I sail a keel boat out of Newhaven. 6 9 I am a member so that I can help with duties 13 20 I am a member so that my children can sail at Cadets. 5 8 I am a former sailor who enjoys supporting the club. 11 17 I am a member because I enjoy the social events. 14 21 I am a member so that I can eat and drink at the club. 15 23 Members were asked to rank the following statements results shown are percentages Statement Having to do duties creates difficulties for me. Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree No opinion 26 48 15 6 2 Members who do not do their duties should be penalised. 0 13 45 38 5 All members should attend at least one work party day. 5 19 50 20 6 Members with young children should not have to do duties. 23 60 7 2 8 Elderly members should not have to do duties. 5 43 27 14 11 There should not be an option to opt out of duties. 19 39 24 10 8 The duty opt out at 100 is not enough and should be increased. 18 48 10 8 15 Dutyman is simple to use and an effective tool for volunteering for duties. The email updates from Dutyman are welcome. 7 11 41 28 13 3 0 56 31 10 I would prefer to be allocated duties rather than choose my own. 33 40 8 6 13 So interpreting the results. Over three quarters of our members do not have a problem with duties and agree that members failing to do their duties should be penalised. They also agree that all members should attend at least one work party day. They do not feel that elderly members and family members with young children should be excused duties. There is strong support to keep the duty opt out and that 100 is enough. There is good support for Dutyman as a good way to arrange duties and members welcome the email contact that Dutyman enables.
Barts Bash 21st September 2014, NSSC are in! The Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation is planning a monster sized attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for 'The Largest Sailing Event in the World Ever', which we are calling 'Bart's Bash'! The idea is to have a mass participation club race across the UK and the whole World. We know that pretty much every club has a race on Sunday morning, with all kinds of boats taking part, the goal is to get everyone participating together to create one big event race. If we can get hundreds of clubs taking part, with just their normal sailors racing on the water, we will generate thousands of Guinness World Record Holders in Andrew 'Bart' Simpson's name.i
Hi All, some of you will have heard me say it s on the list or I ll add it to the list when given a job suggestion. A lot of jobs have been done or are in progress but the list below has possible working party jobs. I am of the opinion that if you don t ask it won t happen so if you want to take ownership of a job or volunteer to sort it please let a Rear Commodore or myself know. There are a mixture of jobs needing various levels of skill and ability. There will be the usual, paint, varnish, tidy jobs. List of Jobs Tie downs for cat fleet gas bottle piddinghoe, get full one keys and locks at piddinghoe, sort out lower signal mast-new halyards-fix stay Keys sort out at Seaford cooker canopy seaford puddle outside clubhouse clear DPC seaford fit new cooker piddinghoe get new fridge/freezer piddinghoe land drill rig at Piddinghoe, weld and put on concrete area reupholster blue metal chairs seaford shelves showers gents seaford finnish fixing clean windows seaford training room floor piddinghoe driveway piddinghoe, fill holes windsurfer jetty piddinghoe door to ladies at piddinghoe needs privacy bit bank erosion piddinghoe clean cladding seaford paint white wall under decking paint shed buildings walls swing door seaford move pile of beach next to ramp racking under balcony for toppers etc showers piddinghoe, separate upholster or remove bench piddinghoe cables tv seaford tidy up Freesat Don t forget that thanks to Veolia we will have some big skips at both sites during working party weekends, so there will be plenty of opportunity to get rid of scrap. Materials needed either have, or can be sorted prior to weekends, just ask. Ian Johnson Commodore
NSSC Statistics Races and numbers of Boats raced 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Sub Total Piddinghoe Winter Races Sailed 15 12 17 22 29 Sub Total Seaford Races Sailed exc Opens 90 91 76 84 97 Sub Total Open races sailed 2 4 10 12 11 No. of races planned 125 133 133 141 152 No. of races sailed 107 107 104 118 137 Races NOT sailed 18 26 29 27 18 Races NOT sailed if PM series not inc 15 20 18 16 14 No. of boat/races sailed Sht 1/5 289 311 327 299 397 No. of boat/races sailed Sht 2/5 258 299 215 271 367 No. of boat/races sailed Sht 3/5 291 333 281 256 512 No. of boat/races sailed Sht 4/5 122 183 273 497 481 Total No of Boats/Races Sailed 960 1126 1096 1323 1757 Ave Number of Boats per race sailed 9 10.5 10.5 11 13 Percentage increase/decrease per year 14.7% -2.7% 17.2% 24.7% Percentage increase in activity over 5 years 45.4% Statistics, statistics Many thanks to Laurence our recorder for compiling the above data. It certainly shows what a good year we had last year. We have to recognise that the good weather played a part, but equally the enthusiasm of you sailors made a big difference. I attend RYA workshops and a lot of clubs have reducing numbers and participation, we have managed a 45% increase over the last 5 years, 25% this year! As ever with data and statistics what they reveal is interesting what they conceal is vital. All the free sailing, windsurfing, cadets, women on water, cadet week, non formal races and other water sports are not shown. So the level of sailing and water sports at the club is very healthy. There was one particular Saturday at the pond last summer, unfortunately I don t have a photo, but we had, dinghies, winsurfers, kayaks, paddleboards all having fun. With Plumpton College now on board there will be even more boats out on the pond and hopefully on the sea too. If anyone out there has a forte for data and statistics get in touch I would like to get as much activity recorded as we can, it s always handy.
Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club Safety Policy The Commodore and Directors of Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club Ltd (NSSC) aim to provide a safe and healthy environment for all sailing and social activities within its facilities and in local waters during organised events. (See Note 1) Safety is of fundamental importance to us all. Accidents are always regrettable, frequently costly and sometimes disastrous. Safety protects human and material resources and is vital for the enjoyment of recreational boating at every level that it takes place. The Club Management Committee has resolved to:- Affirm its ownership of safety and provide clear guidance and oversight of safety issues covering all activities of NSSC. Actively promote and develop the culture of continuous safety improvement within its sport. I and the management team will do our utmost to implement these resolutions and ensure that adequate resources are provided to manage safety effectively and to train instructors, race officers and others involved in managing club activities. We recognise that realistically, we can never eliminate risk completely without terminating our activities. Nevertheless, we will strive to identify and deal with safety hazards in an appropriate way in order to constrain the risks they pose to a level that is justifiable, tolerable and as low as possible. In addition, we will encourage honesty in accident and incident reporting in order to evaluate safety related events, to learn from them and to share any lessons learned; we will amend our own safety documentation and practices as necessary. Club Directors, other club official and volunteers are to understand that they have a duty to establish safe procedures and practices for their areas of responsibility and to work continuously to promote safety among all club members and other using club facilities. They expect RYA instructors, helpers and volunteers to lead by example. In turn, we all expect every individual to take personal responsibility for their own safety and actions at every level of activity and in every discipline. By working together, we can maintain a safe and efficient Club that promotes enjoyable and exciting boating. Ian Johnson Commodore Date 1/1/14 The safety policy is reviewed annually with the NSSC risk register and formally approved by the Management Committee. Note: The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places a duty on EVERY EMPLOYER to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the Health, Safety and Welfare at Work of all their employees. However, NSSC has no employees as such but nevertheless subscribes to the general aims of the Act so as to provide a safe environment for the enjoyment of the sport of sailing and its ancillary activities within the control of NSSC.
NSSC open day 17th-18th May We have moved our open days to coincide with the RYA Push The Boat Out days. Put the days in your diary and come along, bring some friends and enjoy the fun. On the Saturday night, 17th we have Disco night (60 s-70 s) at the clubhouse so make it a weekend. Working parties at Piddinghoe 8th and 9th March The great spring clean, painting, cleaning, fixing, sorting, jobs for all ages and abilities, come along and help out. Veolia have promised two roll on roll off skips so we will be getting rid of a lot of rubbish, all help welcome. Working parties at both Seaford and Piddinghoe 15th and 16th March To finish off any jobs and ensure both sites are ready for a full summer season on the water.