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Please be advised that the Maldon Annual Joint River Safety Meeting which was to be held at the Club on Tuesday 17th March HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
They have advised us as follows:

Dear Harbour Stakeholder

In view of the coronavirus situation and following guidelines from Maldon District Council,  the Maldon Harbour Commissioners have taken the decision to cancel the Maldon Joint River Safety Meeting scheduled for Tuesday 17 March 2020.

The Commissioners would like to thank stakeholders for their ongoing support.  Notes will be made available, compiled from the reports that were tabled for the meeting.  If you have any questions or comments that you would like added in to those Notes, please let me know.

Regards

Julie Stuchbery

Clerk, Maldon Harbour Improvement Commissioners

On Sunday 12 January a new record number of almost 60 members turned up to help at our third work party with 48 staying for lunch. The BSC fitness trainer, AKA Warden Julie, inspirationally detailed jobs to be done as ways of toning different muscle groups essential for sailing. Relocating the inflatable rack was in fact a lower back workout. Removing rust from and repainting the stairs became a knee and quads strengthening work out. Sadly, the Aquarobics session had to be postponed since the ditches were too full from recent rain - it would have needed a team of bog snorkelers. The weather gods again smiled on us and the whole site was like a scene from ‘ground force’ with lots of jobs getting done and a fantastic atmosphere throughout the Club.

A big thank you to Julie for organising us all and to Kathryn and her team in the galley for keeping us fed and watered. Some say “there is no such thing as a free lunch” well, at Blackwater we now throw in a free workout as well! The Vice Commodore commented that if work parties continue to be this popular then we will have to start selling tickets and limiting numbers! Thank you to all those who gave up their Sunday and came along to work together to get so much done. Our next work party workout is on Sunday 09 February. Put it in your diary now – what a great way to get fit for the rapidly approaching sailing season.

Photos © Nigel Butler

On Thursday 12^th December when most of the country were heading out to vote, Blackwater Sailing Club descended on Forrester Park for their annual Christmas Lunch. After a delicious traditional X-mas Turkey meal followed by X-mas pudding, we were entertained by our very own talented Blackwater Ensemble with a variety of favourite carols to sing along to.

This was the first of several Christmas events organised for our members building up to the Friday sailors X-mas sail on the lake with all the boats decorated. This is followed by another not to be missed X-mas lunch. Rumour has it that Santa will be appearing again this year and all those boys and girls who have been good this year will get to sit on his lap and receive a secret Santa gift and a sticker!

Photos (c) Nigel Butler

On Saturday 16^th November, 91 members and their guests packed into the Lion House function suite at the Lion Inn, Boreham for our black-tie Laying up Supper. Everyone looked very smart in their finery and there was a great atmosphere. Of particular note were the Friday Sailors with their ‘Great Gatsby’ themed dress with some very impressive flappers on display.

After grace from the Rear Commodore, everyone settled down to enjoy a delicious three course meal with friendly and efficient service from the house. During coffee, the raffle was drawn. Thanks to the generosity of members, we had some amazing prizes which were divided into five goodie bags for the winners.

Without further ado, DJ John entertained us with his mix of music and the dance floor was quickly full of people showing off their moves. This year, the Friday Sailors limited themselves to ‘fortified’ apple juice and led the dancing. It was good to see the fast handicap fleet having “The Time of their Life” but sadly, their attempt to recreate the iconic lift from ‘Dirty Dancing’ didn’t quite come off. As the evening went on, everyone still sitting was dragged to their feet to form the longest conga seen at the Lion House since our event last year. This wound its way around the premises for some time and then the dancing continued late into the night.

All in all, a great time was had by all and evidence that there is still demand for a black-tie dinner. Many thanks to all at the Lion House and to Tracy Haigh and her team for organising a most enjoyable event.

Photos © Nigel Butler

On Sunday 3rd November we were blessed with a calm sunny day after the recent monsoon like rain and gales. A big thank you to the 45+ adults and cadets who gave up their Sunday to come along and help at our first winter work party. The great turnout meant we were able to get lots of jobs done to help keep the Club looking good and to continue to enhance the facilities for all our members. 

Photos (c) Nigel Butler

Congratulations to all the cadets that have been selected for regional and national training squads over the winter. This is reward for the hard work they have put in getting their sailing to the necessary level to be selected and making the effort to attend the selection events and making a commitment to attend all the training weekends through the Winter. It is also a tribute to the BSC Instructors and Coaches who give their time freely to help deliver training at Blackwater.

RYA Optimist Zone Squad East

Osea Evans

RYA Topper Zone Squad East

Jessica Taylor

Jessica Garlick

Sam Glover

Tera National Squad

Jessica Haigh
Lucy Shelter

RYA National Optimist Boys Squad

Hugh Andrews

RYA 420 Youth Squad

Matilda Evans

In addition we have a large Blackwater representation in the following open training groups

Grafham Laser Training

Ben Haigh,  Aimee Taylor, Theo Aers, Marnie Aers, Ellie Shelter 

Burnham Squiddies Feva Training

Jess Haigh, Lucy Shelter, Izzy Evans, Anna Keegan, Jamie Fenton, Charlie Bourne,Ruby Andrews, Sophie Foskitt, Abbie Wallace

Brightlingsea 29er Training

Theo Aers

420 Class Training

Nick Evans, Joey Taylor

IOCA East Optimist Training

TBA

There are still places left on the IOCA East Optimist training, if you are interested in taking part please contact Steve Andrews.

If there was sufficient interest we could arrange a Tuesday night talk at the club on RYA Squads and training groups outside the club. 

A massive thank you to all the members who turned up throughout Dyer Cup day to help with packing up the centre and southern sections of the Club in preparation for the rebuild. Julie Leary expertly organised the process and the fact that so much was achieved was thanks to those who have worked hard over the past few weeks clearing out and tidying our storage areas in preparation for the pack up. Julie efficiently co-ordinated the packing of items and removal to their storage locations and we achieved much more than could have been hoped for with all the hard work now done. The Cadet room has been reorganised as a large meeting room and the Osea room as a small meeting room and dining room for up to 40 people. We will continue our mid-week lunches over the winter in the Osea Room. Any members boxes that were in the members galley can now be found in the mast store.  

Photos © Nigel Butler and Zoe Nelson

Sunday 29^th September was Dyer Cup Day, but the forecast strong winds and persistent rain deterred all but a few from taking part. Thanks to George Whitchurch and team who manned the launch to act as Committee Boat and to all the rescue boat crews. With winds gusting up to 30 knots there were plenty of spectacular capsizes and some pitch poling to keep the rescue boats busy. Congratulations to Dave Hall and Paul Constable in their Fireball who were overall winners of the Dyer Cup and to John Dyer and the crew of “Breezy” who won the Copsey Cup for the first cruiser.

Photos (c) Zoe Nelson

Blackwater Sailing Club is pleased to announce that the club has recently been awarded British Youth Sailing Recognised Club Status.

In order for a club to achieve BYS Recognised Club status, a club must demonstrate that it runs a regular race training programme within at least one of the BYS Recognised Classes. In order to achieve the high standards of training that are expected of BYS Recognised Clubs, training must be delivered by qualified RYA Coaches to RYA Recognised Training Centre standards (or equivalent) with a Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy in place.

This is recognition for the club’s instructors and coaches who give up their time free of charge to help deliver training weekends throughout the year, thank you. It is also recognition for our Sailing School Committee (pictured) who create the structures and support to make the training weekends happen.

Finally, we would not have achieved this award without the cadets who travel away from the club to represent us at National and International events.

More details on the British Youth Sailing Scheme can be found here.

https://www.rya.org.uk/programmes/bys-recognised-clubs/Pages/hub.aspx