Seasalter Sailing Club

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Introduction to Racing at Seasalter Sailing Club

Let’s go sailing – but let’s do it safely and knowing what we are doing!

A good book to get is the RYA ‘Handy Guide to Racing Rules’ as it gives all the information regarding races that is really essential knowledge when sailing in close quarters with other pot hunters as well as cruising the waves. For the more dedicated the RYA have published a new revised edition of ‘The Racing Rules of Sailing’ – did you get your copy for Christmas!

Should I go sailing today? – Whilst most of the following sections cover the running of the Club events this question is one that each individual must ask themselves each time before going on the water at any time (Club event or not). It is your sole responsibility for ensuring the safety of you and your boat together with those who may sail with you on your boat and for ensuring that you have adequate insurance – uninsured claims can seriously hurt your pocket.

Sailing Instructions and Insurance (What happens if?) - All members must comply with the Sailing Instructions. These are normally posted on the notice board to the left of the Course Board in the club house – and please note there are changes for 2005. It is also a condition of membership that all boat owners maintain a relevant insurance that will cover them, their boats and anyone sailing them for both public liability and third party damage.

Duty Teams (Why me?) – We rely on each duty team doing their duty or finding a replacement before the day. The committee will circulate a rota to all sailing members with relevant contact numbers. Please, keep an eye of your duty dates and if you cannot make a day then ring around and swap with another competent member. If you do swap a patrol boat duty then let the Race Officer for the day know by telephone before the duty day. If you swap a Race Officer duty let Steve Willis know by telephone before the day.

There was a lot of discussion about failure to do duties at the last AGM. The key message was if you fail to turn up or find a replacement (& even not tell us at all!) why should you be allowed to race next time you come. On several occasions people have driven many miles to find they cannot sail because someone failed to turn up for a duty.

Duty Time (Get out of bed!!) – Both Race Officers and Patrol Boat crews must aim to be at the Club at least 1 ½ hours before the listed start time in order to go through the duty check lists (new for 2005 onwards) and prepare for the event. On completion of sailing the duty team has responsibility to secure all the equipment and the Club – again go through the check lists. We have new requirements to ensure we do things safely and can demonstrate it - the check lists are an essential part of this and will be introduced for the beginning of the 2005 season.

Entrants (Well I had to go to the shops first!) – All members wishing to sail in an organised event should sign in at least 1 hour before the due start time of the event. This will enable the Race Officer to determine which races and courses to arrange. If you arrive late do understand that, with our limited tide times, the Race Officer may refuse your boat entry to an event.

The Race Tower (the inner sanctum!) – This is a plea to everyone. The Race Officer has a lot to do before and during racing. We reduced the tower team to one person for most sailing events to help reduce the number of duties we have to undertake. However we have suffered a number of race management ‘errors’ and starting delays because people keep wandering into the tower to have a chat, ask the RO to talk to prospective members, ask where things like the toilet rolls are or report that the toilets are blocked etc. Leave the RO alone and stay out of the tower - unless you need to do or report something related to the race they are organising.

Check the Boat! (Well how was I to know it was broken?) – Do you check over boat and equipment before you sail, your own or the Club’s. We can cite several close calls over the last few years where the fairies have removed shackle pin rings or plates have cracked and masts have come down – both in light and heavy conditions.

Sailing (Are you sure?) – Please have regard to both the condition of your boat and equipment – including your clothing - AND the competence of you and your crew. Look at the conditions and read the weather forecast for the local inland waters area and by all means ask the Race Officer if they have received any other relevant information. It is your sole responsibility to make the decision to sail or not. Do not let yourself be persuaded to sail if you are unsure.

REMEMBER - Do not become another statistic – anyone needing to be rescued by the Whitstable Lifeboat will never live it down if it was existing equipment failure - they could even be on film!

Race Start (What’s with all the flashing lights and noise?) – Before you go sailing next season spend some time looking at the flag and hooter sequences on the notice board to the left of the course board – in the extreme they could save your life!

We use the modern 5,4,1,Go sequence for starting races and we use lights instead of flags in most cases. Due to celestial influences on the tides and our limited water level (as well as waiting for some to crawl out of the changing rooms!) we may have to postpone race starts and will use the answering pennant - hoisted to the accompaniment of two hoots.

So if the postponed flag is up there will be a single hoot (no lights on) as it is dropped – indicating that there is one minute to the start of the starting sequence proper.

The starting sequence is then:

At 5 minutes to start one hoot orange lights on

At 4 minutes to start one hoot white & orange lights on

At 1 minute to start one hoot orange lights on only

At start (Go, go ,go!) one hoot all lights out

Now the important bit – you should have made sure before going out what the hoots and flags (or flag boards) mean once you have started (or think you have!). The Race Officer may hear on the radio about severe weather coming that you may not be able to see and may call everyone ashore by use of these facilities – I say no more!

Free-Sailing (I do it my way!) – If you are going out ‘free-sailing’ on a club event day then please try to let the Race Officer know before the end of the race briefing to avoid confusion over which boats are racing or not. If you wish to ‘enjoy’ the presence of others sailing nearby then be mindful to stay within sight of the club and the patrol boat but avoid impeding those racing. The patrol boat is part of the race management and will be taken ashore after the last boat racing goes ashore and the race tower will not then be manned. It is always advisable when going sailing that you let someone know of your intentions and have an adequate means of indicating if you require assistance.

Packing up (Going home!) – The duty team should normally check and lock the Club. However if you intend to hang around and catch some rays (or stars) then they may reasonably wish to leave and ask you to lock up (check you have keys first). The duty team should lock up the tower, patrol boats and petrol store and ensure the front doors are closed and on the code latch. If you have been last to leave then please ensure you lock the ramp barrier, field and sail locker, then make sure all doors and windows are closed/locked and put the keys back on the hook as well as finally locking the main club doors as you leave.

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