Dear Member,
We are very excited that, in less than 2 weeks (assuming the government does not introduce any delays) your Sailing Club site and water will be open again! Yes, Monday 29th March is the scheduled date for re-opening, and we are planning a bumper first week back on the water!
It’s easy to organise a mass of activity for the racers, but people who like casual sailing and windsurfing are equally welcome to use the water as much as they can from 29th March – we’ve missed it for so long, so please get your fill! And you don’t have to pay until June!
However, we have to be cognisant that we are still in a pandemic, with strict rules on social distancing, and the fact that the weather can still be very cold, and we have no changing rooms and no Wet Bar. There is little opportunity to warm up having been on the water till you get home. So the plan, in terms of organised activity/racing, is that, for Steps 1 & 2, people turn up, get a decent amount of time on the water and then go home.
This will be achieved on Sundays by running two races in the morning, back-to-back, with 3 starts and then it’s time to go home. For Step 3 (no earlier than 17th May), when hopefully the situation with regard to Covid-19 has improved still further, we plan to return to fleet starts and Sunday afternoon racing.
We have prepared a simplified Road Map to show how we see things opening up, but we have to be conscious that this is subject to the detail of government and RYA guidance which has not been published yet.
The plan for our first week
w/c Monday 29th March: Water opens at 10am and closes at 7pm
Wednesday 31st March: Wednesday evening racing starts (1st warning signal 18.30): 1 average lap race, 4 starts:
- Start 1: Handicaps of GL 1100 or lower (incl. Fireball)
- Start 2: Flying Fifteens
- Start 3: Lasers, Laser Radial & Laser 4.7
- Start 4: Handicaps of GL 1101 or higher (incl. Solos & Aeros (9,7,5))
Friday 2nd April: Good Friday Double (1st warning signal 11.00): 2 average lap races back-to-back, like the Draycote Double after Christmas, There will be 1, 2 or 3 starts depending on the numbers competing.
Sunday 4th April: Club racing (1st warning signal 11.00), 2 average lap races back-to-back, with 3 starts:
- Start 1: Handicaps of GL 1023 or lower (incl. Fireball & Flying Fifteen)
- Start 2: Handicaps of GL 1024 to 1108 (incl. Laser, Aero 7 & Aero 9)
- Start 3: Handicaps of GL 1109 or higher (incl. Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, Solo, Aero 5 & Topper)
Monday 5th April: RNLI Pursuit Race: Datum 11.00
The racing for this week will be run by staff. Volunteers from the Committee and Fleet Captains will then run the racing till the end of Step 1. From Step 2 (no earlier than Monday 12th April) the racing will be run as per the schedule of ODs published on DutyMan.
Everyone coming back to the Club should have read the latest RYA guidelines which is a legal requirement to follow. In particular, we refer you to the RYA Covid-19 FAQs valid in England and, for those sailing double-handed boats, the RYA Guidance on sailing & racing with participants from different households during COVID-19 in England. It is your responsibility to ensure that you stick to these guidelines and not the staff or committee’s duty to police them.
We look forward to re-opening the Club and welcoming our members back on the water!
The Committee