Sunshine but not a lot of wind for the first of the Transitional Training sessions for those fresh off the Start To Sail Course. After rigging their boats, Phill set a triangular course to give the recruits a chance demonstrate their skills on the different points of sail.
Despite the lack of breeze, all sailors competently negotiated each leg. Hints and tips were given from Scorpion sailors Phil, Jon and Jake, who followed in the safety boats.
After a couple of hours the wind completely died, and the gang retired for a debrief on the shore. On the balcony we chatted over a sausage cob and a well earned cuppa courtesy of Mandy.
Next week we look closer at boat control, and get an insight into racing at the club. If you have recently completed a Start Sailing course at Notts and would like to begin the transition into independence on the water, please drop us a line at transitionaltraining@ncsc.org.Uk and join the team. A few photos of the first evening.
There will be four online training sessions on race management. These sessions are open to anyone who helps on the committee boat and not just race officers.
The sessions are:
13 Sept – Flags, what they all mean
20 Sept – Starting procedures
4 Oct – Monitoring the race and finishing procedures
11 Oct – Preparation, Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions, arranging protests and other paperwork.
Start time 7.30 pm. Each session will last about an hour. More details will be provided nearer the time. Contact racemanagement@ncsc.org.uk if you would like more information.
Nadina Lincoln a long time member of the club, past commodore and our rules guru (and for that matter the Midlands guru!) was awarded a RYA Volunteer award last year. The Award is the regional Award (which appears in the book before the lifetime award we submitted) was such we think it is the highest Volunteer award presented too a club members, and deservedly so.
Unfortunately Covid put paid to the normal RYA Awards dinner where Princess Anne presents the award, so the club prepared a substitute, with Philippa Logan as Princess Anne (well she wore a skirt !). You can see excerpts and a shortened speech and the presentation on this video.
Thanks for all who came to share this with Nadina for the anonymous cake donation but most of all to Nadina herself who has done and continues to do so much for the club.
Busy day at club, not only due to Nadina’s volunteer award (more soon on that) but over 40 boats out from young to not so young. goos representation in all the fleets, and Pauline ran out of cowpats !
Meanwhile Adrain finished RYA Safety boat course helping a few to qualify as SIs and providing a higher RYA qualification for several members.
Norman Parr has been a member of Notts County for many decades, he was Training Principle, Commodore and President. He celebrates his 90th birthday this weekend, so the Thursday ‘summer winers’ had the traditional lunchtime celebration with cake and wine.
Thanks to Hillary and Alison for photos.
Happy Birthday Norman, lets hope there are many more to come.
An interesting evening as the wind gusted through pre start and for first lap, thanks to those who stepped into the safety boots to supplement those on the water. A few photos from the evening.
The foilers had a good time as did those on windsurfing course (though it was a little windy for them), quite. a few dinghies also got rinsed out !
The Notts County SC laser open attracted more than 25 entries, and what a change from the day before, a relatively steady breeze with occasional planing, but lighter most of the time. There was even some sunshine and it was warm at 21’C. Luckily the thunder held off for the racing (just) allowing all to have a good days sailing.
Rebecca Ogden set a square course, aided by mum Lindsey who was taking and doing results. The afternoon course added a reach giving some interesting racing. George Fereday (Bartley) won the first race with Nathan Smith from Staunton second and Alex Piggott from Notts County third.
The second race after lunch got off to a clean start, along with some gust which allowed planning for short periods. The two leaders on the first lap echoed the first race, until both Nathan and George missed a mark out completely, leaving Nigel Lindley with a win, followed by Matthew Potter and James Dalby.
So the final race was the decider, George Fereday was buried at the start leaving Nathan Smith from Staunton to win, with Alex Pigott from Notts County in second cementing his third place overall, only three points separated the first four showing how close the racing was. Prizes were sorted by Kathryn and Ken – the rear commodore gave out the prizes.
Whilst many swimmers come down to swim only, some have seen how wonderful the club is and what we have to offer, we have had 5 full memberships this year from Open Water Swimmers. In addition nearly 20 Notts County members are open swimming and taking advantage of the Notts County SC Members discount (see here for details) to allow them to swim in safety at a reduced rate.
Earlier in the year Rachel Repper and her son Fred came down to open water swim. Over the last couple of months the swimming has developed into a love of the other watersports at the club, the family where using the SUP (to start with) then Windsurfing and dinghy sailing have featured. This is her story in her own words.
Open water swimming which started it all
“2021 is feeling very different for The Repper family, thanks to Notts County Sailing Club. My husband Dean and I both work in healthcare, so 2020 was very challenging, with virtually no family or downtime. Having first visited NCSC at the beautiful Hoveringham location in 2010, with a charity supporting children from Belarus affected by Chernobyl, I had always wanted to visit again. So, in early April, as working life started to return to normal, I booked our son Fred and I in for a session with ‘Love Open Water Swim’ at NCSC small lake. The swim was wonderful, but what really caught our eye was the mix of activities on the big lake.
Boats, Kayaks, SUPs were out, and then we saw the windsurfers speeding across the lake, and the thrilling looking Hydrofoil flying along. As very keen skiers and snowboarders, windsurfing looked like a sport Fred and I would relish. When we got home and found we could take windsurfing courses at NCSC. It then transpired that Dean, who had taken the Dinghy Sailing RYA 1 course 3 times (!) over a 30 year period, wanted to get back into a boat.
Rachel using her SUP
We came for a visit in April, met a whole host of welcoming committee members including Ross and Kathryn, and signed up to Family Membership the same day. The ‘Works and Ways’ volunteer day on 24 April saw us cleaning and digging holes, getting to know more members and understand more about members commitments, as well as what the club had to offer. Our next visit was in our motorhome, for a blissful May Bank Holiday overnight and paddle in our Kayak & SUP. It was incredible to wake up at dawn, to the mist rising from the lake, surrounded by wildlife and stunning scenery.
Over the June half term Fred and I completed the RYA windsurfing course run by Tom and Russ, and Dean took the RYA dinghy sailing with Nick. We all had brilliant fun with super instructors and students
Rachel taking our RYA Windsurfing course in June
As we were staying for the week in our motorhome, we signed up for Thursday Sailing Race night duties. Fred and I learnt the role of Race Clerk on the job, thanks to John and Kim, with the unexpected bonus of Fred deciding the sailing looked really exciting and he now wanted to learn to sail. This was a complete turnaround, as he was previously adamant that he didn’t want to sail. So, Race Night Duties was the best thing we could have done, and Fred is taking RYA 1 Dinghy course in August, and can’t wait to get sailing! “
Dean taking our RYA Dinghy course in June
What seems to be a real difficulty for novice graduates of RYA Dinghy sailing courses, is carrying on sailing after the course, if you’re not from a sailing family. However, this time, thanks to helpful club members and NCSC, Dean has been given access to a boat for the year, in return for a donation towards the upkeep of the club boats. This means he can continue sailing, and hopefully won’t be taking his RYA 1 for a 5th time! Of course, the benefit is family wide, with Fred looking forward to getting into the Laser once he has finished his course too.
“In the meantime, after joining us for an alfresco motor home dinner, my stepson Barney has also joined as a member of NCSC, and is on the Tuesday evening windsurfing course too. So as a family we are at Hoveringham several times a week. Dean to sail on a Tuesday night with the novice members, whilst Barney is on his windsurfing course. On Wednesdays Fred, Barney and I borrow the club windsurf kit and practice our skills. Finally, on a Sunday Fred is completing his Duke of Edinburgh Silver by volunteering with Love Open Water, and doing his D of E ‘Physical Activity’ with a 1.5km swim that I join him in.
It has been a wonderful 2 months since we joined NCSC and amazing to have access and enjoy such a range of activities. It’s thrilling to learn new sports and skills, and who knew that learning to be a Race Clerk could be transformational for a 15 year old (I really loved it too!).”
Tuesday 22nd June saw eighteen youngsters from Bleasby School arrive for an afternoon of fun on the water. We like on these OnBoard sessions to get the youngsters sailing, but the day was too windy and so it was alternative water activity – culminating in getting wet off course.
A paddling ‘race’ started proceedings (more going round in circles to start with) soon however there was some direction. Then a mass tow in the Oppies behind a powerboat gave a tour of the lake tooth chorus of faster faster !
A tug of war in the poppies was finished with a paddling then balancing on windsurfers and most managing to fall off.
