Appeal for RYA Sailability

Appeal from the RYA
Help create more opportunities for disabled people to enjoy the sport we all love by sponsoring RYA Sailability Ambassador Major Phil Packer as he walks the 25th mile of the Virgin London Marathon in aid of RYA Sailability.

Phil will be walking each mile of the Virgin London Marathon with a support walker, for a different charity. He will set out at 10am on Saturday 25 April and aims to have completed the 26 miles by 12pm Sunday 26 April. The 25th mile is dedicated to raising funds for RYA Sailability, when he will be accompanied by, Paralympic SKUD sailor, Alexandra Rickham.

About Phil
Phil is a truly inspirational character. After sustaining a spinal cord injury during operational duty in 2008 he has worked to raise funds not only for his fellow injured personnel but the wider disabled community.
“I have now realised that whilst in hospital, the support from many people assisted me through the dark times. The question that I keep asking myself now is “What if I did not have this support; what if I went through this when I was younger?” I am now committed to ensuring I give as much as I can to those young people that need support through those dark days.” Phil Packer
Phil was introduced to sailing during his rehabilitation through Help for Heroes and fell in love with the sport; particularly as it is such an easy sport for people with disabilities to get involved in.
In 2009 Phil undertook three gruelling challenges; rowing the Channel with Al Humphreys, walking the London Marathon over 14 days and hauling himself up El Capitan with a support team of some of the country's best climbers. Phil inspired millions and gained unexpected National recognition, including Fundraiser of the Year at the Pride of Britain Awards and the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

RYA Sailability is the leading UK charity for disabled sailing and is the official charity of the RYA. Through RYA Sailability over 20,000 people with a disability have been able to experience sailing and sail regularly. Registered Charity Number: 1084351.


For more information on Phil's remarkable challenge, visit www.philpacker.com

Adult Race Training Day

This year’s Adult Race Training Day was a Class Self Help Day !
16 members took advantage of the training day at the Club on Saturday. Neil and a team of 6 ‘Class Experts’ run sessions off and on the water during the day.

On shore we looked at the set up of everybody’s boat so that each of the boats were best prepared, control systems work and tips and advice exchanged.

Then on the water, racing in fleets we looked at tacks and gybes, going slow (only at the right times), mark rounding (wide in, tight out) and finding the best route to the next mark.

For the first time in many years of running a Race Training Day in April the weather was glorious, with bright sunshine and a south westerly force 2 to 3, giving good sitting out conditions and the occasional gust to get the boats planning. A good day for being out on the water

Thanks to the Fleet Captains for rallying their fleets to attend and to the ‘Class Experts’, Topper – John Simms, Streaker – Clive Wood and John Goodyear, Laser – Pete Slingsby and Adam Simms and Honorary Solo – Howard Chadwick for helping out throughout the day.

John demonstrating how climb over a streaker after it has fallen over !

And the prize for the largest fleet turn out, was won by Mike Bowers and the Laser Fleet with 9 boats out on the water ! Luckily they did share the sweets with us all at the end !

Adult Race Training Day - Class Self Help Day

This years Adult Training Day on Saturday 17th April is going to be a Class Self Help Day !


The idea being if the Fleet Captains could rally their fleets to come down on the day then we could work with each fleet with the help of the Fleet Captain and / or a ‘Class Expert’ for the day to get the most out their sailing, racing and preparing for any up coming Open Meetings.

The morning session to be spent on shore checking everybody’s boat set up, sail controls looking at RYA best technique details on the Coaching DVD (Laser, Topper and Mirror) as necessary, swapping advise and tips and the like.

Then after lunch we can get out on the water and do some short course fleet racing with separate starts for each fleet to represent ‘Open Meeting’ type conditions and see where we go from there.

John Goodyear and I are gathering a fantastic group of ‘Class Experts’ to help out on the day. So currently the team for the day will comprise of the following ;
Topper – Adam Simms
Laser – Pete Slingsby and Adam
Streaker – Clive Wood and John Goodyear
Solo – Bill Wilson
National 12 – Howard Chadwick
Herons / 2 man boats generally – Howard Chadwick
Handicap fleet – Neil, plus support from others depending on the type of boat

Hopefully it will be an informative day and everybody will get something out of it !

Programme :

Morning session 11.00 to 12.30
On shore : checking everybody’s boat set up, sail controls looking at RYA best technique details on the Coaching DVD (Laser, Topper and Mirror) as necessary, swapping advise and tips and the like.

Lunch 12.30 to 13.30

Afternoon Session 13.30 to 16.30
On the water – We shall run some short course fleet racing with separate starts for each fleet to represent ‘Open Meeting’ type conditions and develop things from there

Debrief and Review 17.00

Come down and support your fleet !
And there be a prize for the largest fleet turn out !!!!!

Rules Night at Rotherham SC

Rotherham SC have let us know of a Rules Night they are having.

If any members are interested in attending a Rules Night to be held at Rotherham SC on 22nd April, places must be booked in advance, Please see their website for more details.

http://www.rotherhamsailingclub.org.uk/

Easter Fun

The second weekend of the season proved very busy at the Club ! The good weather on Saturday saw a lot of people down and the varable winds caused some interesting mark rounding as the fast fleet converged at the end of the some long down wind legs !
Luke sailed his Dad's Laser and demonstrated some good technique to master the varable conditions to sail away from the rest of the Lasers in race one while there was frequent place changing behind !

A good test of your knowledge - Mark Room ! Please....................

Sunday was very windy and as a consquence the racing fleet was smaller and the specators many. Katie demonstated how fast a well sailed Topper can go in those conditions by keeping ahead of most of the fast handicap boats for 3/4 of the race !

Thanks to Yvonne for the photos.

The New Season Starts !!

The new season started on Saturday and good number of competitors and spectators turned up at the Club in the bright weather for it. OODs Howard and Rob set some good courses to test everybody after the long Winter layoff, however an open window did cause the Toppers some confusion which was quickly rectified once realised !

The sunny, but gusty, conditions did lead to some brave souls testing the water temperature but whether that was due to the wind or they were just being been keen and wanting to check the buoyancy of their boats for the new season I’m not sure ?

Sunday was equally bright but much windier with white caps on the waves. The keen ones turned up and milled around a bit but no one was eager to make the first move and get their boats ready ! In view of the conditions and due to the lack of enthusiasm Clive, the OOD, waited until he was sure no one was going to race and then cancelled the races. The potential sailors didn’t seem too disappointed !!!!!!


Let’s hope for better conditions next weekend.

     

Pre Season Warm Up Weekend

It was a busy weekend at the Club as we got ready for the new season.

On Saturday 10 club members attended a RYA First Aid Course at the Club.

Within a short while they were learning how to deal with patients who had many conditions such as being unconscious and not breathing or suffering from hypothermia, as well as the more ‘normal’ incidents such as dealing with cuts, etc.

The course was subsidised as part of the RYA ‘More Adults Sailing More Often’ Programme which is putting regional support into the clubs to get more people out on the water. So if you any ideas on how to encourage more Adults to get out on the water (both existing sailors and newcomers) please let us know and we will see what we can organise (email to training@yeadonsailingclub.co.uk ). Also email if you are interested in doing the first aid course later in the year if we can organise a repeat course ?

Thanks to Adi Benson for the instruction and to Liz from the RYA for organising the course.

Then on Sunday everybody had the chance to get out on the water, check their boats over, familiarise themselves with the safety boat, if they wanted, and have a sail as well. Luckily the weather was reasonable which encouraged many people to come down to sort their boats out.
Most people wanted to get out on the water and find their sea legs and we had 12 boats out on the water. So once people had an initial sail around to get used to sailing again after the long winter lay off we ran some short races and practice starts to really wake people up .

Sarah especially appreciated trying to hold her Topper on the line for the 2 minute period before a start ! Whilst Trevor was kind and capsized, allowing David to get some safety boat practice in.

All in all I think everybody enjoyed the day and don’t forget the new season starts on this Saturday. See you at the Club !