Weekly Club News - 5th September 2023
Published 10:48 on 5 Sep 2023
Our New Apprentice
On Friday 1st September we welcomed Sophia to our staff team! Sophia has joined us as an Apprentice Instructor. While working with us over the next year Sophia will be working towards her Level 3 Outdoor Activity Instructor Apprenticeship Standard, RYA Dinghy Instructor and British Canoeing Paddlesport Instructor as well as other supporting qualifications. The majority of the vocational training is being delivered by our experienced team which includes two RYA Trainers/Centre Inspectors. The Level 3 Training and Assessment is being provided by Channel Training, one of the leaders in providing outdoor instructor apprenticeships.
Sophia has had a varied first week assisting with our Optimist Open, and now completing her RYA Safetyboat Course. As a former Sea Cadet Sophia already has a a great deal of experience in watersports and we look forward to her growing as an instructor.
Please say hello to her when you're at the club.
Singlehanded Class Captain's Training This Saturday!
Our final adult race training session - run from 1030 to 1600 on Saturday 9th September - is titled "How to win at Spinnaker" and will concentrate on the strategies you need to get you around the course quicker that anyone else - or at least improve your average position. Of course, boat handling skills, starting well, dealing with other boats, getting round the marks, and staying within the rules are all part of winning, and the first two training sessions covered these. But now we need to add in those variables of wind direction and strength, shores and islands, trueness and length of beats, and likely much more, all to be negotiated when other boats are intent on being in your way! We'll learn a bit onshore and practice a lot on the water, finish with some short races to put it all into practice and refresh ourselves with tea and cakes to round it all off.
You must pre-book via this link.
Optimist Open
Saturday saw our annual Optimist Open. Due to holidays and other plans this year only two of our Spinnaker sailors competed, Bella in Regatta Fleet, while Monty tried sailing in Main Fleet for the first time!
You can read a full report of the event here.
SYT Returns This Sunday
This Sunday sees the start of Block 3 of SYT for 2023. We still have a few spaces left, and booking is open until Friday!
For those who did their Stage 2 sailing this summer, or have an equivalent skill level, we have the SYT Improvers Group. For those with a bit more experience who want to start racing we have our SYT Begin to Race group, while the more experienced sailors can join our SYT Improver Racing group.
For more details and to book please click here.
Club Activities Update
As we move forwards through the year we have sadly reached the time when the days are getting shorter (even if they are warmer now that school has restarted). With the shorter days several of our activities have ended for the year, or have changed slightly to allow them to continue.
Club Night:
Friday Club Nights have now ended for 2023. It was brilliant seeing so many members taking advantage of the summer evenings and we will be running Club Night again in 2024.
Wednesday Racing:
There are just 4 Wednesdays of racing left this year! Due to the shorter evenings there will be just one handicap race at 5.45pm for these evenings, making our Twilight Series.
However, there is still lots to get involved in! Our Thursday morning social sailing continues all year (except for a two week break at Christmas), and Sunday racing is continuing up until Sunday 10th December.
Last updated 09:41 on 20 December 2023
