Dear Member,
Q&A For Members
Having gone through several phases of the reopening plan, we are inviting members to join us for a Q&A session via Zoom on Monday 13th July at 6.30pm. This is an opportunity for us to hear feedback and to answer your questions ‘in person’.
Click this link to join the meeting, and the password is: DWSC Q&A
Phase 3 Opening
It was good to see a good number of members enjoying our Phase 3 opening last weekend, with the Wet Bar and Bar being used. Saturday was the better and busier day, but that’s the weather for you!
Our thanks to Dave and his team for getting everything ready for such an important milestone in our gradual return to normal.
Phase 4 Opening
But just as we were going into Phase 3, new guidelines and a change in the law (about gatherings) has allowed us to move swiftly onto Phase 4 – as from Monday 13th July.
This is a big step forward as we are now not restricted to gatherings of 6 on the water. But please remember that we still have to obey social distancing on the water as well as on land (2m distance or 1m with mitigation outside households / bubbles) and only 6 people / 2 households can meet together onshore.
As a result, we will be re-introducing:
- Club racing on Wednesday evening and Sunday mornings – run by staff, so no duties required – no food on Wednesday evenings.
- Youth Club – initially on Friday nights only.
- Regional, Saturday-only, open meetings.
We will also be extending our water opening hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to 20.30 (as always, this will go back to 20.00 on 27th July).
We will continue to allow members to bring members of their household to the club as guests (with no limit on the number of times) – this will last until at least the end of August – and use the club SUPs free.
The changing rooms remain closed and it remains against the law to use them or change in the toilets.
The poster sums this all up and the updated road map and risk assessment are available here.
Double-Handed Sailing
While we are delighted to have made great progress opening up the sailing club, responding as quickly as we can to the government’s changing regulation and guidance, the area we have not been able to progress yet is sailing double-handed boats outside a household / bubble. This is a bitter disappointment to us, particularly with half our Covid-19 group and over half of the Committee being double-handed sailors.
We have tried to compensate this as much as we can, allowing double-handed sailors (helm and crew):
- To sail with members of their household even if they are not members
- To use the club boats (& SUP boards) for free
- To register a single-hander at the club for free
However, as a Committee we have a responsibility to operate within the regulation and guidelines from our landlords, the government and the RYA. Clubs which use water which is not privately owned (for example coastal clubs or those in the Lake District) don’t have the additional requirements of a landlord and some have (in our opinion) decided to risk bending the rules. We sail on a water owned by our landlord and a condition of using it is that we follow the guidelines.
It is very frustrating, with widespread breaches of guidance and regulations, but the current guideline is that, outside your household / bubble, you must maintain 2m distance, which can be reduced to 1m if you adopt addition mitigating measures. That is always maintaining a distance of 1m – when launching, recovering, tacking, gybing, hoisting the spinnaker and on all points of sailing. There is no room for a reduction in the distance from 1m – this isn’t subject to a risk assessment, it has to be maintained. We do not believe this is feasible in the boats that are sailed at Draycote.
If it is, the mitigating measures to allow the 1m+ distance are likely to include:
- Wearing face coverings
- Marking up the boat to ensure that the 1m distance is kept
- Cleaning any equipment that is used by both people between each person using it
- Not facing each other at any stage
- Not shouting
Again, it is the Committee’s considered opinion that this would not be possible in boats sailed at Draycote.
We want double-handed sailing to start as soon as it can within the social distancing guidelines and the announcements on Thursday suggest that there might be some movement on this, but we have to wait till this is followed through with detailed guidance. The Covid-19 group spend many hours a day monitoring the developments and will continue to do so.
In Conclusion
The Committee will continue its drive to see a complete return of all activities and facilities at Draycote when allowed by the guidelines and regulations.
We hope you enjoy the increasing opening up of the sailing club.
The Committee