Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

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Minutes of the General Committee Meeting

Held on Monday 13^th July, 2020 at 7.30pm

Apologies

Outstanding Actions:

Use of clubhouse for RYA and RTC summer courses – it was agreed that the clubhouse can be used by Keep Sailing as part of their social distancing measures along with an outside marquee should a covered area be needed. Ben Kimbell outlined all the safety precautions in line with the RYA advice as follows:

• Maintain social distancing (2m where possible/1m+)

• Maximum number of people in the clubhouse at one time

• 1 entry 1 exit

• No use of stairs

• Signage for top and bottom floors

• Regular hand washing (outside basins only)

• Regular cleaning of surfaces

• Colour coded zones for groups

• Spread tables out in and out the clubhouse

In addition the committee asked that windows be kept open to maintain air flow.

Use of the clubhouse for members during club opening hours – it was agreed that the preference is still for everyone to stay out of the clubhouse. However, we need to plan for when the weather will not permit this to happen. All agreed that we should limit any opening to the main area upstairs and the continued use of the toilets (training room and changing rooms remain closed). Gareth and Uta agreed to assess how many members we could accommodate in the clubhouse and maintain the current social distancing and hygiene guidelines.

Tea, coffee and snacks – it was agreed that teas, coffees, cold drinks (including from the bar) and snacks would be served from the main entrance to club. This would allow for people to get refreshments without having to go into the clubhouse. Money would be collected via an honesty box and tea and coffee would be increased to £1, canned beer/cider to £2 to minimise the handling of money/change

General Committee Updates

Commodore – Nick Marley

Club strategy day – waiting to agree a date so as we can possibly hold the meeting at the clubhouse

Nick thanked everyone for their efforts over recent weeks to getting the club back to as close as possible to normal.

Vice Commodore – John Oldham

John gave an update on the recent Thames Water rent review.
We have provided TW with what we are doing at the club to grow water sport activity, build community and the increased costs at the club around renovation and repairs after the storm. Overall we believe the TW team manging us were sympathetic but the representative from Savills (estate agent) was less receptive.

Rear Commodore House - Mike Barrett

An exterior bin will be provided to reduce litter from the opening of drinks and snacks outside of the clubhouse.

Nick and Mike B will move the salt bin to the winch cupboard to stop it from being used as a rubbish bin over the summer.

It was agreed that soap dispensers would be installed in the clubhouse, Jonathon to provide and Mike to fix.

Fixing the loose floor tiles would be investigated between Gareth and Mike B, Mike B would brief a local flooring company/person

New splashbacks from Howden joinery to be costed

The committee agreed to the cost of a new lawnmower at circa £600

Mike B requested that Uta investigate if more cleaning would be required in the clubhouse if Keep Sailing start to come inside it.

Mike B will get some costs for window fitted extractor fans and work with Jeff on volumetric and extraction rates.

Hon Treasurer -Tessa Groves

Tessa reported that there were no significant changes to the club finances since her last report 3 weeks ago. However, we did received an electricity rebate of £450

Hon Sailing Secretary - Gareth Griffiths

In addition to the many unofficial fleet races – and great to see the resurgence in laser numbers unofficially racing - we are now back with a racing programme.

While Sunday had very little wind and only a handful of boats it was a good shakedown for the procedures. I’m tweaking the instructions slightly to only show the start numbers 10 seconds either side of the hoot (gives 10 seconds rest to change number). The revised procedures are on the web site and will displayed in the clubhouse windows.

Otherwise the 30 second start intervals worked nicely. It is a bit more work for the RO getting the start done but it keeps the line not too busy and keeps the start times reasonably accurate. Pursuits always suffer a bit from the granularity of fixed intervals – handicaps can change by about 1 in a 1000 – or about 3 seconds in a 45 minute race, but we have to round to nearest 30 seconds. Worst case that could mean two classes that should be one point apart are effectively about 27 seconds or 9 handicap points – for example the Byte CII and Aero 5 differ by just one handicap number yet are 30 seconds separated in the pursuit.

Some people asked why can’t we have shorter pursuits – and this is the reason. The rounding errors become too big, but until we have larger on the water teams to record results and times I think pursuits are still the best option. I hope we can change that maybe in a month or so if it becomes reasonable to have two people in a boat and start using committee boat again when we can revert to more normal practice and have the lunchtime B2B handicap races again to get a mix of pursuit and handicap.

Until we can have multi-person committee boat as standard I want to stay with shore starts so it is always the same. We could do with the course board being available to display by the start line.

The only thing the RO has to be careful about is where training is taking place with the Oppie to make sure start line isn’t in the middle of an Oppie fleet. RO just needs to check where training may be happening.

Membership secretary - Dave Baldwin

2 paddleboarders had joined the club

Membership numbers are rising thanks to the new Keep Sailing category

2 more shelters almost ready to go and 1 was launched last Sunday

Committee boat shelter tbc

RFID disks were agreed to keep track on boats and boat numbers

A discussion was held over the number of scout boats, the number originally agreed and being charged. John O will pick this up with his management of the scouts relationship.

Rear Commodore works - Dave Simpson (Temporarily being covered by Jeff Davison)

Jeff ran through the Draft Outline Work Plan for the coming months which had been emailed on 8 July.

1. Galvanised Mini Ramps - 2 plastic pontoons. 4 ramps currently being repaired, quote not yet received, thought to be £150. Procuring a further 2 ramps (anticipated to be £500 total) on HOLD to see if needed once others repaired.
2. Committee Boat - fibreglass repair to address cause of the capsize early in the year has been completed. Fore hatch replacement, flag masts reconfiguring and attention to top cover attachments to do, estimated at £100. Use of the top cover is needed while Com Boat is not being bailed every week.
3. Plastic Pontoons - Several needing to have their moorings reset - just time / labour. At least 2 need to have better anchors after repeated drifting and need to reset. Agreed to purchase 4 x drag anchors and 2 x 30m chain (£500 + Transport). Expectation is that this enhancement would be done for the other plastic pontoons over the coming years.
4. T Pontoon - The ramp and 2 floating sections have been refurbished by Alexis (ramp wheels, decking, buoyancy and fendering). The pontoon is now back in service with the plan to do the 2 outboard sections (outer one being transverse) including replacing a buoyancy tank in situ. The bank end landing area needs cement work to create a smooth area for the recently installed ramp wheels - £40.
5. Rescue Boat moorings - the current needs are being met with 4 new temporary independent moorings installed on the NW side. Recovery and reconfiguring the 2 trot mooring spreads in front of the club house has been unsuccessful, greater lifting capacity is needed with the plan to use a scaffold lifting frame between either 2 rescue boats or sections of a plastic pontoon. We have scaffold poles and fittings, but a chain block / hoist is required - est £80.
6. Misc Running Repairs - as and when needed.

The above plan was agreed - items 1-5 with the new mini ramps on HOLD.

It was also agreed to purchase small anchors, chain and line for the 4 new temp racing marks for the Junior Sailing School. Estimated cost / max £200.

Club Development plan 2019/20 – Nigel Thomson

Nigel provided a PowerPoint update on the Keep Sailing Progress. It showed that the courses are fully subscribed over 4 weeks in the summer, there would be a contribution to the club of about £4,000

SUPs and Kayaks

• Keep Sailing
  • Keep Sailing have advised that they will provide a proposal to IBRSC to run SUP courses.
  • Due to the non-availability of SUP’s they have advised a proposal for 2021 will be shared at the end of the season
• IBRSC
  • Due to the non-availability of Kayak’s and SUP’s proposed this investment is moved to the next financial year

Nigel provided some thought/discussion points for the autumn strategy day on training boats, small grants and membership.

The committee agree to the purchase of a marquee for outside training

Social Secretary – Mike Jones

The final virtual friendly Friday quiz is this coming Friday (17^th July) and will be led by Jeff

Health and safety considerations - Dave Ryder

It was agreed to use an online system to report sailing related near misses or injuries.

- Bring the whole duty officer report to online add to the check of whom has attended

- Add near misses to online duty officer report

- Accident book to be kept as is (manual book at the club) and to be filled in asap after an accident

AOB

Members not washing (hands) enough.

An idea that rope is put across steps with sign was ruled out as not practical, Nick will investigate ground and steps signage.

Double Hander Boats

Ideas were suggested to allow doubler hander boats to sail on the water for people not from the same family. After much deliberation the committee decided that now was not the right time. The committee understands that there are many members that sail double handers who want to be able to come and sail at the club. However, unlike other team sports that such as football, sailing requires people to sit in close proximity for prolonged periods. The committee will review this decision at the next meeting or sooner should government advice change.

Membership Q&A Session

It was suggested that a Zoom meeting for members might be helpful to keep those interested up to date with current activities at the club. Nick agreed to find out who would be interested and plan a meeting in the next week.

Actions arising

Next meeting Monday 10^th August at 7.30pm