Jibsheet - Weekly Update (5th May)

Hi everyone, and a very warm welcome to our new members who joined us last weekend.

What a week it has been! Last Saturday we held our ‘Discover Sailing’ Day as part of the Horning Boat Show, and guests and volunteers enjoyed a fantastic day on the water, in perfect weather. There was a real buzz around both the village and the Club all day, and we were delighted to take over 150 people for on-the-water taster sessions in Rebels, Yeomans, Yare & Bures, the Hansa dinghy and a Feva. With this being the first open day that we have organised since the pandemic, it was a bit of a challenge, but the feedback from the day has been brilliant, and so-well deserved by our fantastic volunteers, who were just amazing (thank you!) It included:

·       “I most certainly will leave a comment – a great club and lovely place to come!”

·       “Very nice family friendly club!”

·       “Wonderful experience, great to be back on the water. Great chaps. Thank you”

·       “Had a fantastic sail”

·       “Wonderful welcome – will be back!”

·       “Absolutely beautiful experience…made my week”

Sunday saw far more variable winds for Club racing on the river. Although frustrating at times, it was pleasantly warm, and the rain held off! You can read the full report on the weekend’s activities here: https://horning-sailing.club/news/horning-boat-show-club-racing/  More photographs of the Club’s ‘Discover Sailing’ Day are on the Club’s Facebook page here.

Looking ahead to this weekend, we have another packed programme of activities – with a work party Saturday morning – where as much help as possible is needed (please see more below), our Pursuit race and Spring Social on Saturday afternoon, while Sunday sees Club racing on the river.

Commodore’s Update

Last weekend saw the Horning Boat show return after being postponed due to Covid 19, with HSC’s ‘Discover Sailing’ & Open Day. I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who turned up on the Friday to get the Club prepared for our Open Day. The Club looked fantastic with bunting, pictures & display/ video footage on the tv monitor, the tables sporting sailing table cloths etc.

Our Open Day & ‘Discover Sailing’ on Saturday was amazing, we were blessed with glorious sunshine all day & just the right amount of wind to make the sailing tasters a good experience. The Club was packed with visitors looking to see what the Club offered, along with people wishing to give sailing a try; by the end of the day 153 people went out for a sailing experience. From this the Club has gained new members on the day, also others armed with membership forms wishing to join, with new people wishing to sign up for training at our training centre. The club’s galley were rushed off their feet all day keeping both visitors & volunteers fed & watered with the fine array of food they had prepared, great team work.

I was so proud as your Commodore of all our volunteers on the day who worked so hard, their professionalism & enthusiasm showcased our lovely family friendly club, I spoke to so many visitors on the day who could not praise the Club highly enough for being so welcoming & friendly, saying how much they had enjoyed their time with us. I cannot thank you all enough, also for those members who used their boats for the taster sessions, but thank you & well done, what a credit to the Club you are. It was a great day for the Club & members, I thoroughly enjoyed my day being with you & our visitors whether on land or the water.

We have new members who can sail but don’t have their own boats who would be happy to crew, so if you need a crew let people know; Alan Goodchild is setting up a “Whats App” group for this, Alan will advise on the allowed content for this & how to join shortly.

This weekend, Saturday sees the Pursuit Race followed by our Spring Social after sailing, this will be a BBQ with sides @ £4 each, payment on the day, with the bar open, so please come down & join in - all are welcome & it will be great to see you all.

Sunday racing saw a cooler day with light winds, which made racing a bit challenging  with boats at times hardly moving or frustratingly going backwards, well done to all who persevered.

For parents of juniors giving loco parentis to another parent, can you please ensure that person is at the Club before leaving your child & the duty team are aware, also that the forms are completed each time, forms are on the notice board.

Following Abbey, my daughter who was successful in being accepted into the regional RYA training East squad & representing HSC, she made her dad proud again by being spotted by the scouts for the Eastern Counties Rugby under 15’s selection trails & has now been successful in these & will now be playing for the Eastern Counties under 15’s. On Sunday Abbey also took part in a dance show Called “Movie Magic” at the Theatre Royal, this covered all ranges of dance with Abbey’s being Tap & Modern.  They had two performances.

If you or your child has a success story, please let us know so we can showcase the achievement, whether sailing or not, it’s good to see what our members can do.

For members visiting the Club they will see a new planter in the shape of a boat, sporting Horning Sailing Club, it looks great, this was donated to our club by the maker Phil Harrison, these are available to purchase, please see the details in the Clubhouse, & a big thank you to Phil for his generosity.

If I can ask members to use the can & bottle bins so we can recycle rather than send to landfill it would be greatly appreciated.

I look forward to seeing you all this weekend, please remember - as Peter will detail in his report - we need a large amount of help on Saturday to get the dinghy park surface levelled & new surface laid.

Until then that’s all for now.

Keep safe & well

Will – Commodore HSC

commodore@horning-sailing.club

Rear Commodore’s 8 Knot

As we approach the start of the training season thoughts should be turning to the work needed to lay the new area of hardstanding upon which most of the training boats are kept. That gives me the opportunity to remind everyone that it is now less than a week until our big work party on Saturday, 1000 to 1300. We will need to crack on to complete as much as possible before the Pursuit Races in the afternoon. There is also a social function later, so why not make a whole day of it? If you can, do let me know on my email below if you plan to attend the work party. Thank you.

Peter

Rear-commodore@horning-sailing.club

Looking ahead to this weekend

This weekend we have our Pursuit Race on Saturday, with more information from Toby Fields below:

Pursuit Race – Saturday 7th May (Briefing 1:30pm)

What is a Pursuit Race?

A Pursuit Race converts the handicap of each boat into an amount of time. Boats are set off at staggered intervals, slowest first. By the agreed finish time, whichever boat is in the lead of the race on the water, wins! It is a different type of racing, usually with an exciting finish.

Who can enter?

These are Allcomers races so all welcome, we will be using HSC handicaps to decide how long your races are.

How does it work?

We will be using the River Course and a course will be set as normal, although without a set number of laps. You will continue to race around this course for the length of time you have been allocated. Timings for each fleet will be announced at the briefing at 1:30pm.

For a 40-minute base Pursuit (may be changed for race 2) the timings for some classes are below as an indication (if your class isn’t included, we will work out the times on the day):

At the end of the race, code flag S will either be flown from the flag mast with sound signals or from a dory with air horn signals to mark the finish. We will try to note as many positions as we can immediately on finishing.

What is the structure of the day?

13:30 – Briefing for Competitors

Approx. 13:45 – Pursuit Race 1 starts

Approx 15:00 – Pursuit Race 1 ends – the galley will be open for refreshments for competitors and spectators all afternoon.

Approx 15:15 – Pursuit Race 2 starts

Approx 16:15 – Pursuit Race 2 ends

16:30 onwards - Spring Social event and BBQ.

Sunday’s racing

This will be followed by racing on the River, following Programme A on Sunday. The OOD is Peter Goshawk.

The programme is:

Series 1 - Recommend 45-minute race (Cruisers longer)

10.30 Reedlings

10.35 Rebels

10.40 Yeomans

10.45 Yare & Bures

10.50 Juniors & Allcomers “B & C” (e.g. Toppers/Lasers/Splashes)

11.00 Cruisers

Series 2 – Start 11.30 earliest (ideally 11.45)

**.** Reedlings

**.** Rebels

**.** Yeomans

**.** Yare & Bures

**.** Juniors & Allcomers “B & C”

13.00 Allcomers Crews & Practice Race – Approximately 20-minute race (all welcome)

Series 3 - Recommend 45-minute race (Cruisers longer)

14.00 Reedlings

14.05 Rebels

14.10 Yeomans

14.15 Yare & Bures

14.20 Juniors & Allcomers “B & C”

14.30 Cruisers

Series 4

**.** Reedlings / Yeomans

**.** Rebels / Yare & Bures

**.** Juniors & Allcomers “B & C”

**.** The series will start at a time determined by the OOD.

Starts will be separated by a 5-minute interval.

Save the date for the next few weeks

Over the next few weeks we have several events coming up that you may wish to add to your diaries:-

Saturday 7th May – Spring Pursuit Race & Spring Social

Thursday 12th May – Training starts

Saturday 14th May – Single-Handed Open

Saturday 28th/Sunday 29th May – Three Rivers Race 2022

Crewing reminder

By way of reminder, please email me on news@horning-sailing.club if you are in need of a crew/would like to crew and I’ll do my best to coordinate requests.

HSC 200 Club

Fifteen numbers totalling £320 are drawn each quarter with a top prize of £75. If you would like to join the 200 Club, the new HSC 200 Club application forms are now on the notice board on the back wall of the Clubhouse. Alternatively, you can speak to Will.

Easy Fundraising

If you haven’t signed up yet to support the Club through online shopping, you can do so at https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/horningsc/

Follow us on social media

Please do keep in touch and follow us on social media for our latest news and updates. We’re on Facebook (page here, group here), Twitter and Instagram.

Holly