Bartley Sailing Club Blog

The above is a 'quick guide' . More detail is available on the blog and the 'duty' section.

Some of you may be aware that Derek Campbell one of our ex-commodores and long standing Bartley SC member has been suffering from ill health for a while now. I received the following from Gloria Rickard today which she asked me to pass on so sailing club members know where they can visit him;

'I spoke to Christine Campbell on Monday and Derek was hopefully being transferred from the place in Tipton to St. Josephs Home in Harborne: 71 Queens Park B32 2LB. Tel.No. 0121 427 2486'

With the lifting of some of the restrictions from lockdown hopefully you can all get out and about, see 6 other people, and take a trip to the club to sail or at least watch the sailing. This hopefully means that you are not reliant on an in-box full of photos to break the boredom so I will drop the posts to 1 or so per week to keep you updated on news and events with the odd photo thrown in for good measure.

I hope you have enjoyed the photos and a big thank you again to Debbie and others who supplied the photos for the last 10 weeks or so - there has been a lot of appreciation shown by isolated members

It has been 10 weeks since our first race of Virtual Sailing back in the last week of March and 4 series later Baker Boy is clearly the outstanding winner - big congratulations to him. The rest of us? Well we have been getting better and the competition has been getting harder, the game has broken down some age barriers and helped many club members get to know each other through the competition as well as providing a lifeline through isolation. Thanks to all who have participated - it has been great fun. 

Now as the shoots of spring blossom into summer the shoots of Virtual Sailing are now blossoming into real sailing as the club is once again open for exercise. During this transitional period I will continue to run 3 races in VR Inshore on Wednesday and Sunday evenings just for fun and monitor participation over the next 2 weeks. If numbers are holding up then I will keep it going, if they drop off any further then I will draw it to a close and let those who enjoy the game continue with the public races on offer.

To keep you updated on the easing of lockdown restrictions I will be participating in a 'return to racing' webinar and a 'return to training' webinar both run by the RYA Midlands team in the next 2 weeks which will hopefully provide useful discussion and estimated time-frames for the next steps for the club. I will keep you posted as more information becomes available.

It has been great to see so many people out on the water (over 30 boats on Saturday) enjoying the champagne sailing conditions, we hope you continue to enjoy the weather and all Bartley can offer at the present time. Unfortunately we did have a member slip and cut their knee on  Saturday as the algae has been growing whilst we have been isolating. A stiff broom cleared a lot of it (thanks Nigel and Freya) but please take extra care when launching as it is slippy.

See you on the water soon.

Caroline and Tony getting the RS400 ready. 

Sailing may be back on but we are looking forward to seeing Leanne and Lorraine at Tilly's Galley again - lets hope its not too long to wait... 

Another one from Wednesday and it looks like the weather will be as warm with a bit more wind on Saturday. If you are coming along don't forget your food, drink, sun cream, and any Covid cleaning essentials you rely on.

I will open the gates at 10.00 and close them at 4 pm on Saturday for those that have been asking. 

25 boats enjoyed a leisurely sail in light and variable conditions yesterday afternoon. The system worked well with people keeping their distance and sailing sensibly. and no issues with car parking or use of the facilities. Thanks to Howard for the photo taken from his drone high above the sailors.

I will open up at 10.00 on Saturday. If you are coming for the  day don't forget your sandwiches and plenty of sunscreen / water.

Josh battles the elements 

Look forward to seeing a few members this afternoon for a leisure sail. Please respect the social distancing and conditions of attendance so we can keep the club open on the current basis!

Michael gets that Solo onto the plane.