Club News - 6th July
Published 11:27 on 9 Jul 2021
It was great seeing so many sailors afloat this weekend with Club Racing, Spinnaker Youth Training and Salisbury Sea Cadets afloat for their own training! Some of you may also have noticed 3 more Fireflys turning up on a very tall triple stacking trailer on Sunday, and these were the last few boats coming onto site of new members Portsmouth University Sailing Club! There is lots going on at the club which is great to see, so please see some updates below.
Club Racer Practice
Following another great practice session on Friday 26th June led by Tom looking at starts we are already planning our next one on Friday 30th July. This next session will be led by Paul Gray, looking at upwind sailing and better decision making! Spaces are limited to 12 so please book on via the website!
Fish and Chip Supper
Following the popularity of our Fish and Chip Supper after the Memorial Race last month we are going to organise another this month, and one in August! The date for this month is Wednesday 14th July. Orders can be made from Sunday 11th July, and must be placed by 1200 on Wednesday 14th July on the club website so that food can be pre-ordered.
Emailing Technical Issues
We are still experiencing technical issues with our bulk emailing system, which is also affecting our invoicing system. This is not affecting our normal email systems using "@spinnakerclub.co.uk" email addresses.
Weed Cutting
Thanks to a huge amount of work (and persistent badgering of Wessex Water) by Main Committee member Dick Meredith I am very excited to be able to let everyone know that on Monday 19th July part of the lake will be having the weed cut and removed! This will see approximately 15% of the lake bed being cut, in an area between the large central island and the club house. The lake will still be available for use whilst the weed is being cut but please check with the office before going afloat to find out where it is safe to sail, kayak and paddleboard!
Thank you Dick for all your work on this!
Racing Rules Compliance and Help Learning the Rules
We like to think that taking part in racing at Spinnaker Sailing Club is a competitive form of sailing, in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. The Racing Rules of Sailing are written around an ethos of sailing being a "self-policing" sport, and we are keen to follow that ethos here at the Club! Amongst our racers we have a range of experience from current and former national champions to 8 year olds who are just dipping their toes into racing for the first time. This means we have a variety of experience, and knowledge of the rules and how to apply them.
We are keen to encourage anyone who wants to race to take part, regardless of how detailed their knowledge of the rules is, however, we also know that at the front of the fleet when we are all pushing to take 1st place it can be frustrating when rules are bent or broken and the sailor continues to sail as if nothing has happened. The Sailing Committee would like to ask all racers with a working knowledge of the rules to be honest with themselves, and other racers, and if a rule is broken take a 360 penalty for the infringement as per the Club's Sailing Instructions.
For those of you who are newer to racing and are unsure of some of the intricacies of the rules then do not fear the race course or making an innocent mistake, we all had to learn once, and we all make mistakes! If you are flying one of the red streamers, indicating you are new to racing other sailors will be aware of you potentially not knowing some of the detailed rules. We would also encourage anyone who is unsure of whether they were in the right or wrong at any point to speak to one of our more knowledgeable sailors for some advice. As a club we are very fortunate to have Tom (Rear Commodore Sailing) and Neil (Firefly/Solo/Laser Sailor) who are both qualified umpires, as well as several other members such as Keith (Laser Captain) with very good knowledge of the rules who are all more than happy to provide advice. Should there be enough interest we can also arrange another Rules talk, possibly at the club with the bar open one evening now restrictions are hopefully easing!
For those who are slightly more competitive and at the front of the fleet if you feel that rules have been broken and this has negatively affected you there is the option for Arbitration, rather than a formal protest, where an experience member of the club will look at the situation, and make a decision over whether there was an infringement.
Please do not let this put you off racing, we want to see you all on the water!
BUSA Summer Team Racing Championships
The BUSA Summer Team Racing Championships are running at the club Monday 12th July to Wednesday 14th July. During this event there will be no club equipment available to hire.
Contacting the Club
Due to circumstances beyond our control this week the club is currently experiencing a slight staffing shortage this week. All lessons and groups are running as planned, however this does mean myself and Neil are spending slightly more time out of the office over the next few days and so our response times are slightly delayed. Please accept our apologies for this.
Neil is also taking some well deserved time off next week, and will be returning fresh after a week off ready for the busy summer holiday period.
If you need to get in touch with the club please email us, and we will respond as soon as we can. For urgent queries the quickest way to contact us for the next 2 weeks will be via my email address "training@spinnakerclub.co.uk".
Last updated 09:41 on 20 December 2023
