Sailing update - Spring 2025

Published 5:55pm on 5 Mar 2025

Dear members,

Spring is upon us and it's been a beautiful week so far. Whilst some of you have been actively sailing this winter, either at the club or further afield at winter events, I'm hoping there are many more members who will some join us soon for some regular sailing. 

If you are not sure what we offer at the sailing club please get in touch. From recent conversations it seems that not everyone is aware of when the club is open and how to find out more about it. 

For the next month or so, the club is only open on Sunday. We run some racing from 11.30am onward but it's not mandatory; please join us if you just fancy a casual sail. The opening hours are 10am until approx. 3pm. At this time of the year, the safety boat is on the water from about 11.15 until around 2pm. Some gather after sailing for lunch, a brew and a chat. 

In May the club will open for Wednesday evening and Saturday sailing. 

For our active racers, just a few titbits:

• A new set of yardsticks was introduced in January. Our yardstick is now based on the Great Lakes yardstick scheme, as an alternative to the RYA's version. Whilst similar, the Great Lakes version is probably more suited to inland sailing, and we are also adjusting them to take into account local performance for each class. The aim is make club sailing fair and interesting whatever class you have. There's more detail about the exact handicaps on the "Sailing and Results" tab of the website.

• On the club race spreadsheet we've added the option to choose either a 3-2-1-0 or a 5-4-1-0 start countdown. We'll use the shorter countdown sequence on our sprint events initially so we can fit more short races into the available time. 

• Of interest to Race Officers - we're looking into a purchasing a new lithium style battery for the Race Hut. Hopefully this will be easier to use and lighter to carry.  Later in the spring we'll make that change once we've tested a few options.

• The Exmoor Beastie in on Sunday March 23. Entry details are on the website. Please enter early to help us plan. This is a special club day with lots of visitors and close racing. 

• Sadly we experienced a bit of vandalism at the Race Hut recently, which is very unusual. We are working to replace some damaged equipment and make repairs. Thanks to everyone involved in tidying up. 

• If you have won any "tokens" from club sailing, please consider trading them in for some wine or beer (15 for a bottle of wine). We're running short of prize tokens so please bring them along!

That's it for now. The forecast for Sunday looks great - could we get 20 boats out !! The City of Bristol rowing squad are out practicing for the Heads of the River Race so stay alert!

Enjoy your sailing.    

regards,

Nick

Sailing Sec.

Last updated 3:16pm on 14 March 2025