Dovey Yacht Club are back boating

Their Active August sailing program has been going far betterthan expected. They lost a few days of sailing due to thunder and lighting, butmost days they’ve got out on the water withnot too much wind.

Embracing technology

Ensuring participants remain below 30 to stay within WelshGovernment guidelines is important.

“We have used webcollect to book participation in sessions andmaintain event numbers to below 30. A daily sheet is printed off and a registerof attendees or non attendees recorded daily” said Des George clubCommodore. 

“Key to making it work has been the employment of two husbandand wife teams who are currently furloughed from Outward Bound. Their racemanagement knowledge may not be the highest but working with groups and safetyboat driving is” added Des. 

The “new normal”

Abandoning their traditional sailing programme, the club havehad to adopt new procedures to get sailing underway.

“We do an outside briefing daily and set up an adhoc dailyrace series when on the water. Some choose to join in others do not.Participation is restricted to those who are well within the competence levelfor the conditions prevailing so rescues have been limited to only a couple ofgear failure incidents done following the RYA protocols” said Des. 

Recovery of boats up a soft and sandy beach requires the help ofclub members and cannot be done by the crew alone. Following social distancingrules whilst recovering a boat requires some out of the box thinking!   

Des explains “We now have a 30 metre rope marked at 3m spacing’swhich is working well. Protocol is wash hands after handling the rope and thenwe soak the rope in soapy water over night.”   

RYA Cymru Wales CEO, Gerwyn Owen said “I’m delighted to hearthat sailing is happening in the Dovey Estuary, the 30m rope to recover boatsunder social distancing rules is a fantastic idea, and another example of howour clubs are adapting.”

Find more information on a safe return to boating.