Weekly Club News - 16th January 2024
Published 18:10 on 16 Jan 2024
Strong Winds On The Way
We have more strong wintery winds forecast this coming weekend! Can we please ask all members to ensure your craft are secured ahead of the coming winds. If you are unable to check your craft in person please let the club office know and they will do their best to check on them. Please be aware with over 300 craft on site and a small staff team we cannot check all craft and do we need members to help us keep everyone's boats safe and secure.
Hiring Club Craft - Website Bug Fixed
It came to our attention this weekend that a bug was causing problems for members trying to hire craft via the club website. This has now been resolved, and the system appears to be functioning normally. Should you come across a problem please let James or Neil know and they can look into it more.
Winter Maintenance and Improvements
While it is slightly quieter on the sailing front at the moment our team of staff and volunteers are busy making sure we are ready for another busy year on the water.
First up a big thank you to Les for making our new "Course Boards" for the race hut to tell sailors what the race course is. These new boards are much bigger and clearer than our old ones, and have already had great feedback after their first use on Sunday for our Icicle Series (you can see the results here).
Ahead of a busy team racing season our larger committee boat "Greg" is receiving new benches thanks to Neil and Sophia, while James is working his way through our fleet of fireflys with their rudders currently receiving some love and care as they are filled and faired. Sanders Sails (based in Lymington) meanwhile we have a large selection of our sails in for repair, and these will be back in late February ready for the summer.
Today a team from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust are heading out to the islands to begin clearing them of vegetation, improving the habitat for ground nesting birds and improving the wind flow across the lake for us sailors!
2024 Training Programme
All our training activities in 2024 can now be booked via the website calendar! We have wide range of activities suitable for every level of sailor, from beginner to racer. Some of the highlights this year include:
- Our new "Youth Sailing Development Week" which is for those looking to develop their skills having completed the RYA Advanced Modules
- New 2-day windsurfing courses for children and adults
- Options to book onto just Monday and Tuesday or Thursday and Friday of our 5-day Stage 1 & 2 Courses
- New RYA courses for adults running on Tuesday evenings as part of Let's Go Sailing including a Sailing with Spinnakers course
Club Staff News
On 23rd March 2020 James Oborne joined us as Chief Instructor/Boatswain, infamously starting on the day Boris Johnson put the country into the first lockdown as the Covid-19 pandemic developed. Since then James has taken on additional roles beyond what he was originally employed to do overseeing the day to day management of Spinnaker Sailing Club including our memberships, maintenance and taking on a larger role supporting the racing activities organised by the Sailing Committee. To better reflect the role James plays in the management of the Club his job title is changing with immediate effect to Operations Manager.
What James does will remain the same with this new title reflecting his work with Spinnaker Sailing Club, and he will continue to hold the role of Chief Instructor for our RYA Training Centre Recognition.
2024 Club Regatta
Following their meeting last week the Sailing Committee have made some tweaks to the programme including our new Club Regatta for everyone in July, and revised the race series running in October.
You can see the latest racing programmes here.
Social Sailing and Paddling
Don't forget Social Sailing and Paddling runs every Thursday from 10.30. It would be great to see you this week!
Last updated 18:10 on 16 January 2024
