Good Morning,



Following RYA and Government guidance the Sailing Club will be reopening on Wednesday 20th for members. The committees have been working hard behind the scenes over the past two months to agree a new sailing regime to allow us to get back on the water safely.



Please see below the new temporary format:



The Clubhouse, Boat shed and Tower are all out of bounds except the Boat shed toilet during sailing sessions.  OOD’s / Safety Crews and Sailors will be sent out instructions prior to each sailing session via email / Dutyman.  Sailors / Safety Crew to come pre dressed for the sailing session as there won’t be access into the changing facilities.
 
Sailors will need to pre register for sailing online via the website. Sailors are to be from the same household only and we are limiting the number of boat entries to 15. (See below link). The Online Booking system will go live 48hrs prior to the sessions and you can only sail every other session. However, we will monitor popularity. This will be classed as the signing on sheet for the session. If for any reason you would like to cancel your registration and can’t make the session please contact Craig Harrison or myself. 
https://www.ogstonsc.org/sailing-bookings.html 
 
We are kicking things off with some “Casual” racing / Social sailing to test the new system out. This won’t constitute a series but we hope to change this as soon as possible if members stick to the rules. It will show on Dutyman as “Covid Sailing”. Please keep using Dutyman to check who’s on duty and the format. Can I also urge members to try and carry on doing duties going forward. We have cleaning and PPE measures in place to protect our members. 
 
We’re Starting off with a Wednesday Evening Pursuit race at 7pm. The gate will be open so no need to touch anything other than your own boat! However, It is advised that you bring your own hand sanitation if possible please. 
 
Friday evenings will start at 7pm and offer a 2 hour social sailing / practice session. 
 
Sunday’s will offer two races back to back starting at 12pm. Note: All sessions will be restricted to a max wind speed of 17mph. 
 
Can I urge all Sailors to turn up 45 minutes prior to the starting times. This will allow the OOD to get safety boats and retreat launched safely without the risk of infection. Sanitise hands before and after using the keypad. The gate should be opened prior to sailing sessions and closed during the session by the OOD. Then re opened for sailors to leave. If for some reason the OOD is not available then sanitise hands before and after use. 
 
Please stick to the social distancing government guidance whilst on the site including when launching your boat. There are markers in place on the shoreline, so please go between those and leave trolleys in your space. 
 
Access is now granted from Wednesday at 8am onwards for members wishing to do maintenance on their boat or boat berth. However, please DO NOT do this during sailing times.


There will be no access to the Clubhouse or Boat shed other than the WC by the Comet Trios, so please bring your own equipment, Food & Drink.

All members must adhere to the above guidance. 
 
I’d like to finish by thanking the whole of the membership for supporting the club during this difficult time and I look forward to welcoming you back to the Club. 
 
Harry Briddon
Commodore. 

Here's an update to let you know where we are with the process of returning to sailing.
As you'll know the site is owned by Severn Trent, and for this reason they will be making the decision of when we can reopen.
Each of their sites is being classified into categories depending on the risk of the activities which take place there. The lowest risk sites may reopen in some form as early as next Wednesday, while the higher risk ones maybe several weeks ahead.
At the moment we're waiting to see which level we will be put into. Hopefully we'll be in one of the lower ones due to the lack of access to the general public.
The club is making the preparations for when we can reopen. We have completed the risk assessments and have decided on a safe system to allow us to operate. The Commodore is currently pulling all this together into a guide for all members.
I won't go into the nitty gritty here, but as a overview here is some of the plan.
The club grounds will be open for access as required as normal, but the clubhouse will be closed at all times.
Racing and free sailing will be available, but with a limit on the number of boats. Sailing will be prebooked via the website, so if you've not yet registered to access the members section of the website now would be a good time to do it.
We'll be looking for safety crews to be from the same household.
As you can imagine there's much more finer detail to come out, so please wait on the guidance document which you'll receive soon.
In the meantime please remember that the club is still fully closed.
More updates will follow as we have them.