Training 2006

First Aid Courses:

If you’ve ever wondered how to put on a plaster, apply a sling, recognise and treat someone who’s hypothermic, handle a helicopter rescue, and lots of other exciting topics, then sign up for the RYA First Aid Syllabus Course.

This is the course that the RYA prefers its Instructors and as many sailors as possible, to attend.

I need between eight and twelve stalwarts who would like to attend the one-day course. It will be run at the Clubhouse on a Saturday, hopefully in April or May.

Please let me know if you want to attend, - there will be a charge of £25 for the course, which includes the Certificate - and if there are any Saturdays in April or May when you are not available. I will make a list of interested Members, and then contact you to let you the arrangements. If there are more than twelve, I’ll see if I can arrange a second course.

RYA Safety Boat Certificated Courses

I’ve already had a number of Members wanting to attend a Course. If you want to add your name to the list, please let me know.

The course, or courses, will be on two consecutive Saturdays, as early as possible in the season. There will, unfortunately, be a maximum of six people per course. It won’t be limited to Adult Members – juniors are most welcome

Please let me know as soon as you can if you want to attend, so that I can decide upon the number of courses I’ll run, and the dates.

Safety Boat Refresher

As several of you have asked, I’ll run a short refresher, for those who’ve got the Safety Boat Certificate, on a Sunday. I’ll have to limit the numbers to four Members. If there are more than four, I’ll organise a second refresher. The refresher will cover boat recovery, crew recovery, and towing and safety boat checks.

If interested in any of the above courses please contact George Billington on 0151 604 1055, or E-mail georgeb999@tiscali.co.uk.

RYA Level 1 & 2 and Youth Level 1 & 2

We will also be offering sail training courses under the direction of our Training Officer, Jeff Morgan. Jeff anticipates offering beginner courses in June and August with an improver course in August. If interested in learning to sail, or to pass the second level, please put your details on the Sail Training Form in the galley or contact Jeff on: jeff.pyg@uwclub.net

Setting a race course

When its your turn to be the Officer of the Day and after allocating the tasks of the duty team according to their experience, you will need to think about setting the first race course designed to test members in all of the points of sailing. After the start, helms are faced with a beat against the wind which will involve tacking a number of times before reaching the windward buoy. Hence, the course actually sailed takes the form of a zigzag and isn’t a straight line. The beat is a very tactical part of the course - many places are won or lost on the beat. Next will be a reach across the wind and after rounding the windward buoy the helm sails downwind on a run to the leeward buoy before beginning their final beat to the finish line. A gybe will form part of most courses.

Brenig has a number of buoys and if you imagine the lake is a square then, when standing on the end of the pontoon looking to the north (your left), the buoys are numbered 1, 2 and 3. Facing you is east with 4,5 and 6. On your right and parallel to the dam wall are 7, 8 and 9. That leaves 10 which is just to the right (west) of the head of the pontoon. Additionally there are three buoys A nearest the pontoon with B and C further across the lake with buoy E to the right of A and D to its left. Confused? Then look at the blackboard by the OOD hut which shows all the buoys which aren’t in fact buoys but racing marks. Occasionally buoys do go missing from their moorings so do check that those you are planning to use are in position by asking the safety boat to check the position of all buoys before laying a course. One of the difficulties of laying a course is the proximity of trees at the water’s edge on three sides of the lake with only the south side (dam side) tree free. This means that, depending on wind direction, marks, 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 can be affected by wind shadow, ie the wind is lifted by the trees causing those marks to be left with little wind or fluky wind. Most races at Brenig start and finish at the pontoon and its rare for a boat start from the middle of the lake which would allow for a start line in clear winds with an accurate beat to the first mark. A pontoon start is going to be a compromise as to the start line and the first mark. Luckily the prevailing wind allows the use of mark 9 as the windward mark on lots of occasions and mark 9 is nearly always in clear wind. If the wind has any north in it then marks 1, 2 or 3 would appear the best first mark but be aware of wind shadow. Mark 1 has some notoriety in this respect.

If the wind is north westerly, there are no fixed marks to beat to and the temptation is to use a vacant cruiser buoy as the first mark. This isn’t good practice as the wind in this area is very fluky and the sight of a racing boat picking their way through the cruisers is not something that will please the cruiser owners. If the wind is blowing from the club house then it is clearly impossible to set a windward mark. In both of these cases, don’t dismiss the idea of having a reaching or running start from the pontoon to take racers to a mark from where you can start the first beat. Marks A or 10 are the ones mostly used for the start line together with the flag staff.

You can make a start line on the day as there are spare buoys usually located in the single container along with suitable mooring line. Finally, the course you set is what you as Officer of the Day decides. By all means seek advice, but don’t be persuaded by a committee of racers wanting to give you their opinion, as what pleases some will not also entirely suit others.

Good sailing

Peter Davies