LSC Sailing Newsletter Feb 2021
Published 16:38 on 17 Feb 2021
Sailing update Feb 2021
Happy New Year to all from your new Rear Commodore Sailing (Stewart Johnson) and Sailing Secretary (Jane Noble) !
Although we are not able to go to the club, we are currently working remotely on our plans for 2021 sailing. In anticipation of a relaxing of the rules but still with many constraints, we will shortly be publishing our provisional calendar that includes cruiser rallies, dinghy racing and social sailing as well as RYA training.
For Juniors there will be Juniors In Boats (JIB) sessions and even Junior Week 2021 with RYA training.
As ever, we will be looking for volunteers to crew safety boats, run races etc - more on that soon. To help the club manage duties please ensure your duty preferences are up to date by logging on to the website and updating your profile.
The first hurdle will be lift-in, currently provisionally set for 27th March - 14th April but open to change as the lockdown situation develops.
In a "normal" year dinghy move would immediately follow lift-in but that again is likely to be different this year. It would be nice to think that as we go through the season we can be a little more sure of events taking place but at all times we will be trying to interpret and follow government and RYA rules and guidance - so please be prepared for changes as we go.
At all times, the calendar on the website will have the latest information so please get into the habit of going there to check what is going on. We also have separate Facebook private pages for Cruisers, Dinghies and Juniors - just search for them on Facebook and request to be included. These are a good place for discussion or asking questions, but remember the definitive calendar is on the website!
We hit the 2020 season in the middle of lockdown 1, and from the perspective of trying to organise a calendar and events had a lot to absorb and understand and learn.
A Covid Committee was formed - but as our understanding of the virus and its consequences improved, the virus and the scientific and political advice and rules kept changing. There was a lot of debate and differing opinions over what we could and should be doing on the water. There were many reactions both from our members and from other local clubs - some looked for maximum security and shut down operations whilst at the other extreme some looked for a way around every rule and tried to carry on as though nothing was different from an ordinary year.
The LSC Covid Committee took a middle road - trying to keep our members safe whilst still allowing sailing to take place - within the spirit of the rules, not just the letter of the law.
In 2020, Lift-in took place, but over an extended period and not all cruisers made the decision to launch. We should expect the same in 2021.
In 2020 once the cruisers were in the water or moved to the back of the boatyard, dinghies slowly took over the dinghy park and a number of members spent a lot of time "independently sailing".
This year we intend for dinghies to move to allocated slots rather than the free-for-all of 2020 - and although we hope to have planned events, independent sailing should still be a safe option.
In 2020 we got in a tiny bit of racing, stopped as much by the weather conditions as Covid. For 2021 we are planning race series and one-day events as well as social sailing .
In 2020 we managed "Junior Week.lite", without RYA training but allowing our more experienced juniors to sail with support.
In 2021 we are hoping to once again be able to offer RYA training in Junior Week - later this year than usual - Sun 22nd August to Thursday 26th August.
In 2020 it was then an early lift-out to beat lockdown 2 and our season was effectively over. Although there will almost certainly still be restrictions we hope that after the summer in 2021 we may be able to have a more conventional lift-out and dinghy move - all to be confirmed of course !!
In 2020, following RYA advice we were forced to restrict access to the water and club dinghies to "independent sailors" - people who could launch, sail and recover without assistance. This particularly affected beginners and our younger juniors. We really hope to be able to cater for everybody this year but we will continue to be driven by RYA guidelines on safety boat use, sailors experience level, mixed crewing of dinghies and group sizes so again flexibility will be key. Please bear with us as the situation develops through the year - we will be looking at every opportunity to get safely and responsibly on the water !
If you have any comments or questions you can contact us on :
Stewart - rearcomsailing@langstonesc.org.uk
Jane - sailingsec@langstonesc.org.ukLast updated 15:57 on 15 March 2023
