We are very pleased to announce that we are planning to restart club coaching for adults and juniors with two experimental sessions, on Saturday 4th July and 11th July. Lessons learned on 4th July may lead to us amending the plans for the 11th. If the format is successful then we intend to extend the sessions. The café will be open from 10:00 on Saturdays. Update: the sessions on 4th July have been cancelled due to forecast very strong winds.
Initially sessions are open to those who are self-sufficient according to the ‘red and white flag’ protocol, i.e. you are able to right your boat and return to the shore unaided in the prevailing conditions. This is because we are only able to provide a very restricted rescue service for real emergencies. We recommend that you consider using a mast head float.
We have created a risk assessment specific to coaching and training in the Covid-19 world. This supplements the full risk assessment in the Training School Operating Manual.
Advanced Adult Club Coaching: this will run from 10:00 to 12:00. Please book via WebCollect by the Thursday before the session. The booking page is now available.
Advanced Youth Race Training: this will run from 13:00 to 15:00. This is open to sailors who have achieved at least Stage 3, have attended Team Grafham sessions last year and are able to sail round a race course unaided. The coaches may insist on the use of a mast head float. Please book by emailing the office before 15:00 on the Thursday before the session.
Please ensure you are familiar with, and follow, the Covid-19 Operating Procedures published on the club website. Despite the government’s announcement of the ‘One Metre Plus’ guidance, we will be maintaining two metre social distancing on site.
Please arrive ready changed or change in your car – the changing rooms will not be open.
There will be two groups of five sailors and one coach for each session. We expect most people to be sailing single-handers, but doubled-handed sailing is allowed for members of the same household. In this case the number of boats in the group will be reduced to maintain the limit of five sailors.
The coaches will hold separate outdoor briefings in socially distanced circles marked with traffic cones on the grass near the water. Both groups will carry out the same exercises. Afterwards there will be a debrief in the same way as the briefing. If the weather is bad so that people would get cold, this will be very short and be followed up by an online Zoom debrief later in the afternoon.
Because the number of participants is limited by the rules on gatherings, in order for this to be financially viable we are charging £10 per person per session.
At this point this is a trial; we hope that it will allow us to run more training, including mid-week sessions over the summer. We are also looking into starting some windsurfing coaching.
At all times the coaches reserve the right to exclude anyone from the group who they consider is not of a sufficient level of experience for the conditions. In this situation we will not be able to refund the joining fee.
We reserve the right to cancel the sessions if there are insufficient numbers or the conditions mean it would be unsafe to run the session. In this case the joining fee will be refunded.
The coaches are really looking forward to getting back to working with you. Currently what we can offer is restricted by the government guidelines in order to keep everyone safe. However we would love to hear your ideas about what we could offer in the future.