The "interregnum" series has been extended by a further four races in September.  So a full series of nine races with five to count.  Please check the Programme page for details on start times and duties.  Put your surname in the search box and it will find any events for which you have been allocated a duty.

Entries for August Race 3 should open up on Tuesday 11th August - use the Race Registration Quick Link.  If you want to race please sign on at least 24 hours before the race starts.  For the last two weekends we have had too many people trying to enter on the day which makes the OOD's job (and mine!) unnecessarily difficult. From this weekend the link to sign on system will expire when the entry data is transferred between systems - so if you want to race make sure you sign on before 16:30 on Saturday.

Also - remember to sign on with the sail number you are going to be using for the race - the OOD can't be expected to give you a position if you are using a different sail number.

As before if you are planning to race a new boat (or a new boat to you) - send me the details and I'll create the record so that you can use the sign on system. 

The relevant documents for the races in August and September are linked below.

Instructions for Sailors

Instructions for OOD  / Beachmaster

Instructions for Safety Boat Crew

Amendments to the Sailing Instructions

Using the New Sign-on System

What a wonderful sight on Sunday, with all those boats on the water racing again. With 36 entries for the first SYC race in four months. Seeing the pleasure on so many faces was a real treat.

With the galley open for takeaway food and drink, the Club was back in working order, if in a slimmed-down structure.

I would like to thank all those who put in so much work to get this event together and operating. I know there were many hours behind the scenes to make it work.

Free sailing and racing is planned for every weekend in August, and through most of September too. I hope you all enjoy it.

Ian Purvis, Commodore

  
Club dinghies may be hired once again from Friday 29 May. Bookings are open as of now.

There are now 14 dinghies available for hire, each clearly numbered for identification. 

The Hire Dinghies page of the website has been considerably revised. Please be sure to read the new page before hiring your boat, because a number of changes have been made in order to enable all members to hire safely at a time when Covid-19 precautions are essential to safeguard both you and the hirer who comes after you (not to mention volunteer members undertaking any maintenance needed).

I am pleased to let you know that SYC will be open from tomorrow morning, Friday 15th May, for individual free sailing. There will be no safety boat cover.

If you decide to take advantage of the fine weather and venture out on the water, please make sure the conditions are suitable for your craft and your own capabilities. The RNLI is short-handed and would not wish to be unnecessarily called out. Also please remember the constraints of social distancing, which are a Government requirement. The Coronavirus has not gone away, it is just not currently acute in our area. Let’s keep it that way.

Some restrictions for Club use are already in place.

• The Clubhouse and Galley are strictly out of bounds. Make sure you bring sufficient food and drink with you. There will be nothing available on site. Drinking water can be run from the tap in the Members’ Room.
• Changing rooms have severely limited spaces and using them for changing into or out of sailing gear is discouraged. Please try to arrive and depart in your sailing gear or change in the car park.

The Club has been open for eight days now following the lockdown which began in March. Many Members have enjoyed the very pleasant weather and sailed, canoed or paddled on the river. It is sometimes difficult to maintain the social distancing rules but in general most people have adapted responsibly.

To make life a little easier, sanitiser dispensers have been placed at strategic points and shortly, wash hand basins will be placed outside the changing rooms to reduce the necessity of entry. Drinking water is available from the tap between Galley and Race Box.

The Sailing Committee has produced a list of two-handed boats that may be sailed single-handed and another of those which are strictly not to be.

We hope you have enjoyed the weekly Virtual Sailing races made available to SYC members by the RYA (Royal Yachting Association).

The RYA has published this poster, plus other advice and guidance for a considerate and safe return to the water. We are all anxious to avoid incidents such as recent RNLI rescues of people who had put themselves unnecessarily in danger, with potential health consequences for the RNLI volunteers involved.

There's more - click on the image above to see the full poster.

SYC always welcomes new members and you don’t necessarily need to already have - or even buy - your own boat.

For more experienced sailors, the club maintains a small, varied fleet of dinghies that can be hired by members at very reasonable rates.

The Starcross Steamer, a winter-months 2½-hour pursuit race for monohulls, has become one of the classic British open sailing events, drawing competitors from the length and breadth of Britain. 

In the Eighties the popularity of the Pompey Perisher and Bloody Mary annual pursuit races, attracting large entries of small boat racers, emphasised the vacuum of a similar event in the South West. The first Starcross Steamer was created in the early months of 1991 by SYC’s then Flag Captain, Nigel Bath. It has now been repeated in the early months of the New Year since that time. The 2020 event was therefore the 30^th.