by Simon Hinnigan

The summer it too good to spend time writing or reading emails, a short one this week and no Bowsprit next week as I’ll be at Chichester.

Last weekend we hosted both the Comet and Classic and Vintage open events.  A fantastic group of sailors and a really enjoyable weekend.  Bowmoor’s own Ian Marshall took first place in the Classic and Vintage, Jacky Stagg was first Comet lady and Maria Hinnigan took the Comet Endeavour prize, congratulations!  We ran two days of very professional racing, John Banbrook was OOD, but it takes around 15 volunteers to make these events work, thank you to everyone!

Chichester harbour race week starts on Monday and many of us will be there to enjoy Hayling Island SC and some excellent racing.  If you are travelling and haven’t already then please make sure you’re on the ‘HISC FED WEEK 2024’ whatsapp group. Through the week we’ll try to organize some Bowmoor get-togethers, I’ve included an invite from David, Matt and Chris below.  Reading between the lines, looks like we’re feeding them again!

After Chichester its the Bank Holiday weekend with the RNLI Cup on Sunday followed by racing on the Monday.

I’m continuing the series on safety, we had two near misses this week, and we’ve had an offer for intermediate powerboat training from the Hamble, see below.

I hope you’re having a great summer!

Simon

The summer holiday continues and the club is busy with training and weekend events.  At this time of year we often have members visit who are not frequently at the club so I’ll let you know about two near misses as we continue to focus on member safety.

1. A stand up paddleboarder became tangled in their friends SUP tether and got into difficulty because they could not free themselves.  They were wearing a buoyancy aid but only the zip was fastened, the strap was not clipped meaning that they partially fell through the buoyancy aid and swallowed/breathed water.   Club members got them back to the shore. Please always check your buoyancy aid fits and is worn correctly. The straps on a buoyancy aid should be fastened so that they grip the rib cage to stop it rising above the head.  Be aware of secondary drowning within the first 24 hrs.
2. A swimmer was invisible when powerboats were being launched because they were swimming in the wrong place inside of mark 11.  Hidden by the pontoon they appeared as the powerboat was moving backwards off its trolley.  Fortunately, our instructor was on the ball and no contact occurred.  Club Rule: You must not swim inside the area formed by the shore and marks 11 & 12 when powerboats are launching, on the lake, or being recovered.  Powerboats can be launched at any time of day without restriction so in practice this means you should never swim there.

From David, Matt and Chris.

Following last years success the Bowmoor skiff association would like to invite you to our premium pitch for a ‘bring your own plate’ evening. I think if everybody could bring a dish along and then we can all share each others food! As we will be packing so many spares and tools to keep our fantastic boats on the water for more than a day, we are unable to provide enough cutlery, plates, seats or tables for everyone, so if you could all bring your own seats and eating tools that would be great. If anybody has any camping tables we probably need about 1 for every 4 people? We would also like to remind you that we take our dress code very seriously in the skiff class so bring out your best shirts!  Also please note that sweetcorn is mandatory for the evening, anyone caught without any on the pitch shall be escorted off the premises.  Currently this is planned for the Wednesday evening but shall be firmed up nearer the date.

Chris Lomax, a club member who instructs with Mendez Marine has availability for an Intermediate Powerboat course running this weekend from Hamble.

While this is not a Bowmoor SC event, there’s a possibility of a car share as Chris is driving down on Saturday and back on Sunday.

If you are interested the link is:

https://www.mendezmarine.co.uk/course/rya-intermediate-powerboat/

Wednesday 14th August
19:00 Summer Evening Series
Saturday 17th August
Ladies who Launch, Cruising Saturday
Sunday 18th August
11:30 Summer Series AM
13:30 Summer Series PM
15:00 Summer Series late PM 
Wednesday 21st August
19:00 Summer Evening Series
Saturday 24th August
Member Training
Sunday 25th August
11:30, 13:30 & 15:00 RNLI Cup (£5/boat donation to RNLI)
Bank Holiday - Monday 26th August
11:30 & 13:30 Pursuit Races

The full calendar is published on bowmoor.com/calendar/