Sorry to say that, owing to the chilly and wet forecast, the organisers have reluctantly decided to cancel the Fun Day originally scheduled for tomorrow. The event was largely an outside activity relying on reasonable weather. This is obviously a big disappointment for those who have worked so hard to organise this ‘thank you’ event to the staff in A&E at Yeovil Hospital. There is currently no plan to try and run it at a later date.
Thursday series update
The first race took place on Thursday 7th April. Despite strong winds, nine boats raced and all finished.
Hopefully the Series can continue as we used to run it before the ‘Lockdown’. Three mini series of seven races with two discards each mini series. Prizes as before but you can only win one. The overall 21 races will also count and prizes awarded at the Club’s Prizegiving and Social.
If there are enough boats racing we will introduce Gold, Silver and Bronze Fleets and, for those of you new to racing, we will introduce two starts to get you away before the main fleet. Novices starting at 6.25pm will have the 5 minutes to get started which will not be counted in their ‘elapsed’ time. The main start will be at 6.30pm.
The Racing can only happen if everyone takes their turn at Race Officer and OOD, note the OOD Opt Out only applies to weekend duties – if you race on Thursdays, you do the duties. Sign up on the Club’s Dutyman Roster.
If you have any queries, check with the Race Officer on the day. If you don’t know how to run a race, volunteer to help as Assistant RO and along wit the OODs and RO you will receive average points for that race.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the water,
Nigel Leveridge
Spring Newsletter
The spring 2022 newsletter has been sent to your email address. Keep and eye out for it and remember if you don’t receive it check your spam mailbox to see if its gone into there. You can also find it on the website under the news tab.
Working Party Days
We have two working parties over the next two Saturdays. The first one is shown on the Club year planner, but clashes with the Dinghy Show, so we have a second one on the following Saturday, 5 March.
The work is pretty manual and generally undemanding , so everyone can be found something useful to do. As always, there are loads of brambles and other weeds to clear, litter- picking, tidying the boat shed, plus other routine maintenance tasks.
Both sessions will begin at about 0900 and continue for as long as members wish to stay. The forecast for this coming Saturday looks good at present: no rain and not too much wind.
I hope you will be able to attend at least one session. Wear suitable clothing and bring some useful tools. There is currently no plan for lunch, but we will probably rustle up some bacon rolls for a mid-morning snack.
Dave Saddington is leading the efforts, so let him or me know if you suggestions for jobs or have any questions.
Cheers
Merv Clark
Duties – A Reminder
Each year you need to volunteer to help your fellow club members by doing either the safety boat or galley duties. A reminder of what is required –
Single members (16 years+) & Family members where 1 adult sails – a minimum of 2 duties
Family members where 2 adults sail – a minimum of 3 duties
Non-sailing members – no duties required
If you volunteer for more duties you can apply for a £10 discount on the following years membership fees.
There is the £100 opt-out so you don’t need to do duties but it is preferably that you don’t as we all work for each other.
Icicle Open Win for Curtis
Terry Curtis sailing an OK won the 2022 Icicle Open on the 30th Jan. SBSC’s Hamish Walker finished in 2nd in a RS Aero 7 and Sam Thomson was third in an OK. All the top 5 boats were extremely close to each other at the end and only a few more minutes of racing could have seen the victory go to Walker. Just as a pursuit race should be.
Full results can be found by clicking on the link – Full Results
Icicle Open Entries Open
The entries for the 2022 Icicle Open are open. The event is a 150 minute pursuit race starting at midday. It is part of the Sailing Southwest Winter series. Entries need to be made online though payment for entry will be taken on the day. You can find the link to the online entry as well as the NoR and SI’s on the event page at https://www.suttonbinghamsc.net/w/events/icicle-open/
Good news…..The Cold Turkey event will be going ahead on Sunday with a Festive Spread kindly laid on by Julia Green and a race (of sorts) arranged by our Race Officer.
Following Government advice the following precautions will be taken to help protect everyone attending and their families, friends and co-workers:
1. All doors and windows will remain open in the clubhouse to ensure good air flow. This means it will probably be cold so please bring warm clothes!
2. Hand sanitiser will be available – so please do use it. Its not the horrible sticky kind!
3. Please be mindful of the social distancing rules and apply them wherever reasonably possible.
4. Please consider taking a Lateral Flow Test in the morning particularly you have been in contact with people from other areas of the country and you’re planning to use the clubhouse or changing rooms. Don’t come if you get a positive result or if you have symptoms – for Delta a persistent cough, loss of or change to sense of smell or taste and a high temperature, for Omicron a sore throat, congestion, body aches and a temperature (anecdotal evidence).
Despite these measures we hope you’ll come and enjoy the sailing, the food, the drink and the company.
Best wishes from
All on the Sutton Bingham Sailing Club Committee
Omicron
The identification of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus is a reminder of how important it is that we maintain our awareness of the continuing threat of the virus and our vigilance in combatting the spread of it. We must not allow the freedoms enabled by the success of the UK’s vaccination programme to conceal the real threat of Covid-19, which is still wreaking huge health, social and economic damage in many countries, including several in Western Europe.
Pending more information about Omicron, the Committee is not proposing any changes to the current advice for members of and visitors to the Club, but it does urge all to observe the principles of the ‘Hands, Face, Space’ regime:
Wash or sanitise your hands frequently
Keep internal spaces well ventilated and wear masks when appropriate
Avoid close contacts generally, especially with groups of 6 persons or more indoors
MOST IMPORTANTLY – don’t come to the Club if you – or a member of your household – are exhibiting Covid symptoms or have been told to self-isolate or are awating the results of a Covid-19 test.
Let us not give up the hard-won progress we have made by the sacrifices of the last two years.
The Committee will continue to monitor any further Government guidance as more is learnt about this variant and will issue further updates and revisions to the Club’s COVID operating procedures where necessary.
The Covid-19 Working Group