Covid 19

The Club has amended the risk assessment for the current Stage 3 management of the pandemic to reflect changes we have made to allow some training, boat hire and the schools to return at the start of their autumn term.  The latest version is here.

It’s great that so many members are registering visits to the club to help the club fulfil its requirement to help the Government’s Track and Trace programme.  In case it has slipped your mind, please remember to email ivisitedbbsc@gmail.com with a date.  Emails are deleted after 21 days.

RYA and Government advice is generally that club changing rooms should remain closed, so the General Committee has decided that the clubhouse will remain closed throughout September.  Conscious that the weather is going to change, we are looking at how we might be able to manage changing facilities from October.  It is likely that the galley will remain closed.

Members should be aware that Tonbridge and Sevenoaks schools will be returning to the reservoir from September.  There will be sailors from the schools present on Monday, Tuesday Thursday and Saturday afternoons.  They have drawn up their own Covid-19 risk mitigation plans and have been asked to observe the clubs own plans.  It looks as though Saturday afternoons will be particularly busy and members will want to take this into account when judging their personal level of risk.

On the water

The Late Summer am series has now concluded.  We ran a total of 10 races from a shore startline and everybody seems to have adapted well to this format. There has been some excellent racing.  Over 50 club boats have taken part in the series which is almost back to pre-Covid levels.

We will start the Autumn am Series on 6 September and the plan is again to run morning races only from the shore.   We are still struggling to find crews to man rescue boats and it is unlikely that there will ever be more than one boat available on Sundays.  Many clubs are setting an upper limit to racing at Force 4 and our Race Officers have been asked to be cautious in their approach to risk, and so racing may be cancelled if conditions become tricky (e.g. gusting 20+ kts) even if the rescue boat remains on duty.

Boat Hire

A reminder that limited boat hire has restarted on Sundays only.  If for any reason the safety boat is not being manned on a Sunday we regret that the hire will be cancelled.

  • Only one household group or “bubble” can hire the same boat on a particular Sunday. 
  • Hirers must be able to rig the boat by themselves and be competent enough to take the boat out in the prevailing conditions. 
  • Boat hire will be administered on a first come, first served basis by Jim King, Bosun Sail. Which boats available for hire will depend on what is needed for club courses that day.  To enquire about availability or book a boat, email bosun-sail@boughbeechsc.org.uk
  • Hirers should come with cash or a cheque for £15 to cover the hire for the day and give it to the OOD.