We had the training day today down at the club. It was somewhat disappointing that only 2 members turned up, but they received very thorough training. Many thanks to Matt, Paul and Martin for helping out and also to Graham and Robert for attending.
On a serious note, members who joined during the course of last year and have not received any training, really should make an effort to get familiar with the rescue boat. As you all know, it is a condition of membership to assist with duties and this may require you to assist in a rescue. Spending an hour or so getting familiar with what is needed could be the difference between a successful rescue and a serious incident. So, I would like to ask all members to consider whether they feel confident to assist in a rescue and if not, to get in touch with me. I will organise further rescue boat training if that is what is needed. Also, if you feel you know what to do in theory but practise is lacking, then please feel free to take the rescue boat out for a spin on a Sunday. Lunchtime, between races is a good time and there will also be lots of people down to give advice. At the end of the day, it is all about familiarity.
OK, enough of the rant. The season starts next weekend with the first Early Bird and Spring Series. Lets try to get as many boats as we can on the water to get the year going. If you sail a Laser, take heart, your handicap has increased by 2 points to 1082. If you sail a Solo, commiserations as our handicap has dropped by 2 points to 1153.
Finally, I would like to give a big thanks to bosun Pete who has drained the rescue boat such that it now weighs only half as much as at the end of last season. It is now much faster, which of course is important to get to someone in distress. We will get the small rescue boat out of the water in a few weeks to dry it out as well.
Hope to see you all there next weekend.
Hope to see you all there next weekend.
Rob Sears
Captain
Presumably we have plugged any holes?
Interesting comment on the Chelmarsh "facebook" to the effect that Solos are now as fast as Lasers (modern build methods?) so shouldn’t the yardsticks be closer?