That Ketchup Bottle situation

I heard an expression on Match of The day this morning which was, " This is a ketchup bottle situation."  It refers to a situation where nothing happens for a long time then it comes all at once. To avoid an unfortunate stain on the breakfast tablecloth the Castle cove committees have been working hard to make sure that everything is in place to benefit from the enthusiasm and activity that is about to be released.


So, Welcome to the new sailing season. That feels great to say. After all the frustration of the past 12 months it looks like we are going to get a great season of sailing activity.

We have a full programme of racing, cruising and training activities which will hopefully enable you to find something that you can join in with and enjoy. The programme will be published in the handbook but it is also available from the link on the website.

As you will see it is a full calendar but let me give you some of the highlights.

Afternoon Start times
When Monica was Sailing Secretary, she held a dinghy annual meeting during which the weekend race starts times were discussed. The meeting felt that it might be beneficial to move the Sunday races to the afternoon. It was felt that this would allow the sea breeze to build and give better sailing. Accordingly, this season we have moved the Sunday race starts to 2 pm from June until the end of August.

Weekend racing for keelboats

We have also re-introduced Sunday racing for the keelboats. For the summer there will be an all in Z class start after the dinghies. I suspect this might take a while to build in popularity but I am hoping that, with the afternoon start time, it will appeal to those racers that cannot always make the evening starts.

Sonata Invitational
To encourage the Sonatas we have an invitational weekend where we hope some Sonatas from the  Solent and from Brixham will join us. This will run alongside our normal racing and will not lead to any lost club racing.

Open events and championships
We have a couple of open events in the calendar this season beginning with the Contender / International Canoe open meeting at the end of May and the RS 700 / 800 national championships in September.

Carry on Cruising
The Cruising calendar is as extensive as ever. Lots of favourite destinations on the list plus a few new ports to visit. Mike and Monica will be keeping the events interesting and fun. 

On the training front, I am really pleased that Andrew Eastaugh has agreed to lead the Sail for All sessions. Andrew has some great new ideas for Saturday afternoons which should appeal to those seeking more experience or the opportunity to practice with safety cover in place. There is also an Optimist SW regional training weekend early in the season alongside the Cadet land day.

Ladies Sailing will continue to fill Friday mornings with activities while the Cadets will make Saturday morning as much fun as ever.  That does leave Friday evenings free and I am gathering opinions on what we might do on a Friday evening.  If you have any ideas of what you would like to see then please let me know.  

Personally, I am looking forward to a great season and will be sailing at every opportunity. I hope that you will be able to join me. If you have any questions or suggestions please email me or catch me at the club. I am always open to suggestions for how we can improve our sailing. 

Richard

Richard Bowers
Sailing Secretary CCSC

Popular posts from this blog

  Castle Cove Sailing Club Open Day  Saturday 26th June 2021 Our Clubhouse and grounds will be open to visitors and members alike from 10.00 until 16.00. Everyone is welcome so do come along and enjoy a day out at your remarkable local Sailing Club. There will be: - Various boats rigged for display - Friendly boat owners and sailors willing to share their experience at every level  - Many members available, happy to talk with you and show you around - Our gardens will be open to wander around and play 'spot that plant' - Our bar will be open 12-2 to wander around and play 'spot that pint' - Light refreshments and picnic areas available all day - And a 'Can't wait to buy it' 2nd hand sailing kit sale. Make yourself known to one of our welcoming crew in the blue jackets for the best experience. We look forward to seeing you there
Read more

Sail4All - Man Overboard!!

Sail4All on Saturday 17 July (14.00 on the water) maintains July's "safety" theme for our confidence builders, with "Man Overboard" recovery. Please click on the  LINK  to open a short briefing on  the RYA's favoured Reach/Tack/Reach method for recovering a man overboard from a dinghy, and an excellent  video of Dame Shirley Robertson demonstrating the technique. Single-handers may think this doesn't apply to them; however, the technique does practise boat handling skills that often apply in other scenarios (e.g. coming alongside, picking up a mooring or even recovering gear that has fallen overboard). Sail4All remains a free sail on a non-race day with safety boat cover and beachmaster support. Full details of Sail4All and its embedded confidence builder themes may be found on the club website training page ( http://www.ccsc.org.uk/training ). Come and join us.
Read more