Bartley Sailing Club Blog

As a follow on to our feature on safety a number of members got in touch to reinforce the importance of sailors carrying a whistle to draw attention when in trouble. To help us all a number of whistles have been left in the OOD hut for members to take 'free of charge' if they do not already have one. First come first served - when they are gone they are gone so pick one up quickly!

Just a quick reminder that Rockley will be running Push the Boat Out at Bartley tommorrow should you have any friends or family who would like the opportunity to try sailing for the first time.

Thanks to the Bartley SUP team who spent last Sunday cleaning up the area surrounding the water and as the photo shows there was a lot of plastic waste collected. Some of this will have been thrown in the water by passers by, some will have blown into the water from the surrounding area, and some may have been an accidental 'overboard'.

The team did a great job and the quantity of waste just highlights the wider problem faced with single use plastics. Lets all do our bit to pick up litter, prevent litter, and recycle where we can to keep the reservoir and the planet clean and sustainable.

Congratulations to the 7 Lasers from Bartley that travelled to the Earlswood Laser open last week. After storm Hannah had passed through on the Saturday (Windsurfers - you missed out it was sailable on Saturday an I had the reservoir all to myself!) the weather was more gentle on the Sunday.

John won overall for being good at winning

Jeremy won the Great Grand Master prize for being mature

Harrison won the 4.7 prize for being little

Jennifer won the lady's prize for being, well, a lady!

Kerry, Tony, and Ollie were clearly beyond categorisation and will have to work on making themselves unique in some way!

Well done all - a great turn out with more than a third of the boats coming from Bartley maximising the prize bounty. Next open is at Blithfield next weekend with training on the Saturday and the Open meeting on the Sunday (if you are looking for somewhere to sail whilst the Birmingham Velo keeps things closed closer to home).

Hi All At the risk of giving late notice, last year the club ran a successful Wednesday evening series of sailing sessions. It is intended to do so again this year starting this evening. There will be coaching which is informal for those who can already sail and wish to improve their skills. It is hoped that these will cover a range of abilitities but they are aimed at encouraging those who currently do not race to have the skills to do so. Improvers are also welcome. As last year the sessions will start at 6.30 with those who are a little later being able to join in as they arrive. The club boats will be available as last year but if you have your own thats fine as well. Last year a number of sailors came to sail on Wednesday evenings who do not wish to race and simply enjoyed a sail without lots of others on the lake. You will also be very welcome again. At present I have not arranged for food to be available but this may be possible in future if numbers are sufficient. It may also be possible to have the bar open afterwards for a short time. See you there Steve

It was a close contest at the Rooster Zest RS400 Sprints at Queen Mary last weekend between the Bartley crews of Knight / Knight and Whitehouse / Cliff. Sam and John started strong then tailed off whilst the reverse was true for Caroline and Tony.

Great to see two Bartley boats on the podium in the Gold Fleet only a single point apart in this competitive field.

Bartley looks forward to welcoming the Midlands Optimist squad for training on Saturday and Sunday. The club will be open from 9.00 for breakfast and early rigging. The weather looks like it will be lively so plenty of opportunity to practice those strong wind skills! Theo secured a place in the squad after his success at the Regional Championships last year and will be representing Bartley. We hope you all have a great training session.

Three of our K2O club went to Ogston to compete in the RYA Youth Midland Series. There was a great turnout from clubs around the Midlands, but sadly the wind didn't turn up and the racing had to be cancelled.

However, not all was lost as the RYA coaches laid on a free coaching session to help the attendees with their starts and light wind tactics which all found to be of great benefit.

The next event is at the Chase S.C. on 19th May if there are any Juniors wishing to attend. For info the fleet ranged from sailors who had recently started to sail right up to those who had just competed in the RYA Youth competition in Weymouth so all abilities are welcome.

Safety First!

4 Bartley members achieved the RYA First Aid certification on the course provided by Rockley Watersports. It included the usual emergency response actions as well as training in the use of our recently purchased club AED with some watersport specific training on hypothermia and cold water shock. This is a course that is well worth booking onto if you haven't updated your first aid skills recently.

Safety Second!

Reminder to duty crews for Tuesday and Wednesdays during the summer

This guidance is intended for OOD and safety crews covering duty where safety cover is provided by the attendees and participants. (Typically but not exclusively Wednesday afternoons and Tuesday Evenings during the Spring and Summer Months)

Responsible person.

The Officer of the Day (OOD) is responsible for provision of adequate safety cover on the water for the prevailing and forecast conditions.

Sailors are responsible for evaluating the conditions and sign on at their own risk and judgement based on prevailing conditions and their sailing ability. If in doubt don’t go out.

Safety Cover.

It is the OOD’s responsibility to ensure that safety cover on the water is adequate to manage the risk. Risk increases relative to:

• Wind Speed: higher wind = Higher risk
• Age: Juniors / Over 65 = Higher risk (less strength / risk of health complications)
• Experience: Novices = Higher risk
• Quantity of Boats: More boats = Higher risk

A combination of the above factors can result in a significant increase in risk. It is the OODs responsibility to ensure they are satisfied that sufficient cover has been provided for the risk factors evident on the day. If in doubt put another safety boat and crew out on the water.

For info the RYA provides guidelines for Junior sailors of 1 safety boat for 15 sailing boats. There is no guideline for general sailing.

The minimum requirement at the club is 1 Safety boat on the water at all times. When in motion as a safety boat it must have 2 crew (1 driver, 1 assistant) to ensure recovery can be administered safely.

Responsibility to assist a boat in trouble.

Sailors are reminded that vessels in the vicinity of a boat / crew in trouble have a duty to assist. This may be just a quick check to confirm the crew of a capsized boat are in control of their situation, or in extreme circumstances may require active rescue to recover the crew of the vessel in trouble.

Club Winners

Congratulations to John Ling and Jeremy Higson for a 1st and 2nd at the Whitefriars Laser Open and to Sam Knight and Mike Gibson for a 1st and 2nd at the Bartley Supernova Open - great to see our club sailors competing at the top of their game!

Traveller events for your diary:

Junior RYA Midlands regatta is this Saturday at Ogston SC - details on their website

Plus 2 Midlands events - full details on Shustoke and Draycote websites:

Finally - Are you getting this message multiple times?

Hopefully not as we think we have found the glitch and are working to resolve it. If you are still getting multiple copies please be assured we are working on it...

The clocks have gone forward, the evenings are lighter which can mean only one thing - Tuesday evening sailing is back!

So come on down for a 7pm start. Main fleets are Lasers and Solos but others welcome.