Archived News Items 2021

12 December  Rodger organised Christmas nibbles, moved from Wed 15 due to worsening Covid Omicron. The intention was to sail first but there was drizzle at 13:00, 0.6 knot current and only 3 to 7 mph wind; half the forecast, no one wanted to sail. 10 members had Pizzas and Indian snacks.   

04 December  53 members attended the AGM and prize giving; the most members at the club for a long time. Thanks to Rodger for providing refreshments and to Alastair for making the mulled wine. John Botterill has been Commodore for 6 years and was standing down; as no member had offered to take on the role of commodore the club reverts to the President plus three Vice Commodores structure in place before John Botterill had taken on the role. The roles of Rear Commodore (External affairs) and Publicity are vacant. The only other committee changes are Bryan Clements joins as Boatswain, Paul Bryan joins and Jamie Wilson leaves. Covid had reduced activities so members were allowed 2 years membership for one years payment; we still have adequate funds and all fees are unchanged for 2022. John Botterill was presented with a tankard recording his two periods of service as Commodore. Josh had compiled an excellent video of AQSC 2021 sailing highlights; we were entertained by Nigel projecting it on to the large screen. Graham helped Richard distribute the trophies; Graham had won 8 of the 15 trophies.

14 November Fine warm day for fhe first Sunday of the extended sailing season. The forecast was N 8-16 mph but at the weather station it was half this and force 0-1 sailing; there was 0.3knt current. Graham launched his Gull and could only make way upstream very close to the bank. Nigel decided he would be better working on a patrol boat. No one else wanted to sail. Di Cowley and Jean Maracchi provided cakes for about 14 members.

07 November The last race day in the season's programme was fine and sunny with a 7 to 15 mph NW wind, force 1 to 2 gust 3, rather shifty but a reasonable sail for a change, 7 boats were sailing, 6 racing.

30 October Work party. Fortunately although the day started very wet later it was fine and dry for the 24 members who got a lot of jobs done. Details and jobs.

16 October We have decided to remain cautious and keep the club at step 2/3 until 17 October. We have moved the club to step 4 of the road map to resuming activities. There is no change to Sundays; there will be patrol boat cover from 11:30 for informal sailing and other activities; there will be race starts at 13:00, 14:00, 15:30 and refreshments at 15:00

03 October A very shift and gusty windy and a squall near the end of the 2nd race that made sailing almost impossible. Video by Josh (4:20).

Saturday 2 October Raining from 12:00 so the decision to cancel the workparty was fully justified.

Saturday 11 September The Mid-Thames Trophy Inter Club Team event at Desborough SC had a good 9 mph West wind. NOR. Five boats were towed there, by the patrol boat, with masts down for going under bridges. There were only 3 clubs participating and AQSC were the only one with five boats, the maximum allowed. Desborough won and AQSC were 2nd. 8 minute. Mid-Thames Trophy at Desborough SC 9:00 video from leaving AQSC by Josh.

18 July We have decided to remain cautious and keep the club at step 2/3 of the road map to resuming activities. There is no change to Sundays; there will be patrol boat cover from 11:30 for informal sailing and other activities; there will be race starts at 13:00, 14:00, 15:30 and refreshments at 15:00

Wed 23 June Very little wind for sailing to the Weir Hotel for dining; Don Barnett towed 2 Bosuns with his cruiser. Returming Nigel and Roger had an hour long battle to outpace the current in near zippo winds, they both hopped back onto the bank, torches in hand, expressing their enjoyment from the challenge! Sailors, I don't know. Graham

13 June Hottest day of the year. The lowest wind speed forecast I have seen; 1 mph gust 2 mph any direction. Fortunately at times there was more.  For the last race boats were towed up to the Channel Marker. Some juniors in Picos had much more fun praticing capsize recovery; a link to some photos taken by Rob Britton.

02 June The start of Wednesday afternoon activities; there was a variety of them and a gentle wind from the East. Nigel and Mike sailed Bosun 34 to the Magpie for lunch. Sonia McGrath and her daughter Isabel kayaked upriver with Alastair. Don headed up river in Aquarius to keep an eye on them. Nigel, Mike and Graham rearranged some trailers in the trailer park, then Graham kayaked to Molesey lock in his new kayak. Five had food and drink on the quarter deck as the sun set.

23 May  We are at step 2/3 of road map to resuming activities. On Sundays there will be patrol boat cover from 11:30 for informal sailing and other activities; there will be race starts at 13:00, 14:00, 15:30 and refreshments at 15:00

09 May One video for three races and Virtual races (Josh and Mike B) 07:45. More sailing videos.

06 May  When DutyMan was enable unfortunately Duty Swapping wasn't working; it has been fixed and is now working.18 April Josh W and Mike B were wearing Josh’s GPS watches and Josh has created Sunrise Virtual Race replay (3 minutes at 10 x speed): https://youtu.be/A2LkSbmKugo.  

04 April  The first racing since 3 November 2019 after relaxing of Covid restrictions. Easter Egg Trophy results, photos and story.

25 March The RYA have revised their Roadmap for starting sailing.

23 March Every 4 years a new edition of the RRS (Racing Rules of Sailing) is published by World Sailing; this year’s edition, 2021-2024, has been published which means sailors should be aware of the changes. The RYA published “RYA Racing Rules Guidance 2021-2024” which includes “Changes to the Racing Rules from January 2021”. It is very long, 116 pages, fortunately only pages 16 to 24 deal with changes. I don’t think there are any game changers.  

19 March Good news!

Road map to resuming activities    
Provisional Program  

We intend to resume sailing at the Club on Sunday afternoons from Easter Sunday, 4 April. Each week thereafter until restrictions are lifted further, there will be 3 series races (at 13.30, 14.30 & 15.30). The patrol boat will be manned from 13.00 and members may also sail recreationally or kayak. On Easter Sunday itself we will be sailing for the Easter Egg trophy.

As always the Committee have followed Government advice and taken heed of RYA advice. Accordingly, and most regrettably, the Clubhouse itself has to remain closed for the time being. The "Rule of 6" applies and members who are not involved with sailing should not visit the Club. Members who are present to sail must keep their social interaction to a minimum.

We hope that these restrictions will be relaxed at the next step, effectively from Sunday 23 May, when all members will be able to congregate outside. At this point we anticipate resuming a full day's sailing programme and some form of teas/lunches will be available.

From Sunday 27 June we hope that the customary programme of activities will be possible. We hope to hold a Club open Week-end in early July.

Members who do come to the Club to sail etc in the first few weeks will need to be self sufficient, as only limited assistance will be available. They must follow the safety protocol set out in "PROCEDURES TO BE OBSERVED  FOR AQSC SAILING AND BOATING ACTIVITIES".

Sadly the opportunity for members to crew (what the RYA term "mixed household sailing") is likely to be very limited. Note that the changing rooms will not be available, although access to the toilets will be permitted. The bar and refreshment facilities must not be used.

04February The water is just over the bank for the full length of the moorings. There were red board warnings for all reaches of the Thames for all of January.

28 January Thames Water have installed a new combo lock on the outer gate to Lower Sunbury Rd; after setting the code the button on the bottom needs to be pressed to unlock. This replaces the old multiple locks. You should all have received the new combo number from Graham Thompson. If not please contact him.

27January Unfortunately the government Covid-19 restrictions and advice that members must follow, mean that it is impossible to hold any events at AQSC in the foreseeable future; all events in the program are cancelled or suspended until further notice. The AQSC Management Committee will keep the situation under review and will provide further information to you about the club’s on going sailing and social programmes by email and on the website when it becomes available.

06 January Environment Agency waterways: Coronavirus (Covid-19 update.

01 January Take great care; one of my Hawker mates, who has shielded since the first lockdown, had Covid-19; he had only met family members who all tested negative. Fortunately he survived but said it was 4 very unpleasant weeks in hospital.