Starcross Yacht Club

Dinghy Cruising

• The main contact for dinghy cruising is Jim Vallis (see the race card for his contact details). Alternatively, please post any questions to the web site cruising forum.
• All destinations are subject to weather conditions on the day
• The "start times" for the dinghy cruises listed in the SYC sailing programme are the times for setting off from buoy 29. There will be a pre-cruise briefing usually about 15-20 minutes this time.
  Please note - this is a change to previous years when the advertised time was the briefing time - it is now the departure time from buoy 29 so leave plenty time to get rigged etc
  
• For dinghy cruises, it is requested that all boats gather at buoy 29 before setting off on the cruise. This is to enable the safety boat to confirm which boats actually set off on the cruise. This allows for the situation where the crew of a boat believe the conditions on land are to their liking but decide otherwise when on the water (perhaps out of the lee of the clubhouse / trees). The safety boat(s) needs to know the boats actually taking part in the cruise.

Safety guidelines for SYC organised dinghy cruise events

• All boats must be confident in their ability to sail to the destination and back – the safety boat is there for unforeseen circumstances only
• The faster dinghies must tack back or heave to, if they believe it is safe to do so, so that the fleet does not get too spread out. As a minimum, the faster boats should aim to remain in sight of the safety boat at the back of the fleet
• Boats of similar speed should ‘buddy up’ and sail in company. If a boat capsizes, then the buddy should stay close to the capsized boat to give support.
• Dinghies should try and keep out of the moorings where they can be swept on to yachts by the tide and they can be out of sight of the RIBs.  Ideally within 50m of the channel would be a good guide.
• Consideration should be given to the Guidelines offered by the club to sailors going on the water. These are published in the clubhouse window and by the day cruising signing out sheets. They are also available on this website.

Free Sailing

• Free sailing takes place on the estuary in front of SYC
• There is safety boat cover as well as a lookout from the SYC race box
• The area covered by the look out and safety boat will be advised on the day of the free sailing
• Not specific to free sailing days, but it’s worth mentioning that the club now has 6 Oppies, 3 Toppers, 2 Lasers, a Wayfarer and a Wanderer available for hire. Some of these boats are clearly ideal of dinghy cruising days. See Nigel Howe’s details on the contacts page if interested.

Start to race

• New for 2010 is the "Start to Race" series. This is aimed at
  
  • adults who are new to racing and would like to get some experience without having to join in with the Sunday races
  • juniors coming up from the Friday evening Junior sessions
• At the time of writing, the first start to race session has just taken place and was very well attended. Why not have a read of the details here and give it a go.

Hauling out dinghies on your own

The slipway at SYC can be quite steep if you are trying to haul out a heavy dinghy on your own. If this is likely to be the case for you, have a look at the page on how to retrieve a dinghy on your own. A PDF version of the page is available for download here.

... and finally, the beach cafe

It has to be admitted that a high percentage of dinghy cruises seem to end up at the Exmouth Beach Cafe (as shown in the photo below)