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Bowsprit - 6th November 2024

by Simon Hinnigan

Commodore's Note

Hello Bowmoor Sailors & Swimmers,

The forecast for next weekend looks challenging on Saturday for Member training and the RS Aero UK Winter Training, two knots gusting two knots. Sunday looks better (ish) and might give some racing before we hold the AGM at 15:00.

At the AGM on Sunday we’ll share more of the options for Club House development. Mike has provided a brief update below and we’ll get into more detail on Sunday.

On November 12th we’re hosting the RYA Connected Workshop, the session will be focussed on Safety Management so is particularly useful for any Bowmoor volunteers on the various committees. All interested members are welcome. Please see the details below to register if you can make the time.

Tickets for the popular 2025 RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show are now available. RYA members go free. Up to four children can go free with any adult, as long as you book their free tickets at the same time as the adults. Find out more here.

We also have an update on Member and Race Coaching below.

Clubhouse and Club Security

We’ve received several messages from worried members about the clubhouse being left unlocked while no one has been on site. There have also been Facebook group messages about the metal gate being left open.

Every member is responsible for the security of the club, it is the minimum volunteering activity we ask from everyone. If you are the last to leave, please take the extra 20 seconds to lock up and padlock the metal gate.

From our induction rules summary:

If in doubt, lock the gate (the metal gate not just the barrier) and clubhouse (all members should have keys).

• The main gate and clubhouse must be locked by the last person leaving the site.

• If camping on site, the main metal gate must be locked before sunset.

• The clubhouse should be locked overnight unless there are 5 or more families camping on site.

RNLI Fund Raising - £175

Lost property. Our lost property fairy has been washing and selling member’s unclaimed lost property and donating the money to the RNLI.

Over the last year we have raised a staggering £175.

Please collect your lost property from the entrance way in the clubhouse. It’s easier to return lost items that are labelled. After 30 days we wash, sell and donate to a lifesaving cause.

Look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

Simon

CLUBHOUSE UPDATE

From Mike Dyer, Vice Commodore

This is a short summary of what we have been doing to provide some background for a discussion at the AGM.

We held 4 requirement workshops which were attended by approximately 50 people with representatives from Sailing, Swimming, Scouts and youth members. They generated a list of desired changes or improvements which we have been working on since. They now have a rough priority order and have been sentenced as Must, Should, Could. There is very little in the Must category. There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of discussion about the priority of the Should’s and Could’s.

The membership has expressed a strong desire to understand in detail what a proposed improvement brings and at what cost. It remains the view of the Exec Committee that investment of this scale should be approved by a member vote, and to do so the members must be able to see: what the improvement looks like, and the benefits it brings, the full costs, and a reasonable understanding of how much disruption to the operations of the Club it will involve.

We have identified ways to look at some of the requirements outside extending the Clubhouse:

The existing 5 Year Plan assumes that the top of the Race Hut is replaced with a similar structure (2026 is the currently planned year).
Instead we are proposing to redesign and rebuild the Race Hut in it’s entirety during summer 2025. This will include a new classroom at ground level, and remove that need from the overall requirement list.

Other Options

Refurbish on existing footprint.
Extend to the West (beyond the current dry area).
Half Width extension, at the back of the Clubhouse.
Full Width extension at the back of the Clubhouse.

At the AGM we will summarise this work, and discuss how we are taking it forward. We look forward to seeing you there.

Member Coaching

From Maria Hinnigan, membertraining@bowmoor.com

The weather has turned and we have stopped organising member coaching for all sailing levels. During the winter months we do organise monthly race coaching for our most hardy and experienced racing sailors.

Adult Race Coaching

This weekend we have race coaching for adults, taught by Matt Banbrook.

https://bowmoor.com/documents/entries/WinterRaceSquad.html

Winter Squads

Also we have three groups of youth race squads: Bytes, Teras and Optimists. Although we do consider other classes of boats for serious sailors.

Winter squads are for sailors who are serious about racing. Your young sailor will have raced a few times (Sunday racing) and would like to compete in competitions next year (Nationals etc).

Contact Maria Hinnigan at membertraining@bowmoor.com to be inviting into the winter squads whatapp groups and receive the link for booking onto the race coaching. Coaching is this Saturday 9th.

RYA Connected Workshop - Cotswolds Area

Developing Your Safety Management Systems Across all of Your Organisation's Activity

12th November 2024

19.00 - 21.00

Bowmoor Sailing Club

Coln Park Lake, Fairford Road, Lechlade GL7 3DT

Come together in person as a group of RYA affiliates to explore what safety management systems you implement across the participation opportunities you provide.

This workshop will target activity which is not covered by and RYA Teaching Centre, thus would be of interest to those involved in managing activity outside of RYA certificated course.

In this session, we will:

Revisit and explore what a safety management system is.
Investigate solutions to potential gaps in your systems.
Enhance what you already do through the sharing of ideas and best practices between those attending.

The workshop will start at 7pm and we will aim to finish by 9pm. The RYA facilitators will be at the venue 1 hour before if you wish to arrive earlier for some informal networking.

Tea, coffee & biscuits will be provided on arrival and during the evening.

We aim to deliver Connected Workshops that are interactive and support the development of your knowledge, while facilitating and the sharing of ideas between the RYA Affiliated organisations. Take a look at the RYA Connected page to gain a full overview of the sessions running throughout the county to enable you to come together with others to share, learn and grow.

Booking link for Cotswolds Event: https://www.rya.org.uk/eventlisting/dgcis3-dev-safety-management-systems-12nov

Click here for a full list of our Connected events.