The following procedures may be varied from time to time. This is current as of 14 September 2021.

Disclaimer:

Whilst GWSC continues to make every effort to comply with both the letter and the spirit of government guidance, members and visitors must accept that they attend the site, and sail, at their own volition and risk. GWSC will not be liable for any illness or other impairment arising from Covid-19 infection. This is without prejudice to wider, non-Covid related liabilities to which the Club is normally subject.

General precautions to ensure the safety of yourself, other club members and the general public

Here is a links to the latest Government guidelines on social distancing and staying safe. Please take the time to ensure you are absolutely familiar with them before visiting the Club site.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do

If you, or a member of your household, are unwell with the symptoms of Covid-19, or have received a positive test result, do not attend the Club.

If you have been instructed by Test and Trace to quarantine do not attend the Club.

Please adhere to any specific guidance in force and do not travel to the club if this would be against the guidance.

• Maintain the one metre plus rule
• Wear a face covering when indoors

Arrival:

Opening times are listed here

The club is required to enable a record to be kept of everyone who visits the site for Track and Trace purposes.  Please download the NHS Covid-19 App to your smart phone and use it to scan the QR code displayed on posters around the site, every time you visit the club.

The Clubhouse is partially open: access is limited to the toilets and hand-wash basins, the changing rooms and showers and the office. You should enter the toilets by the outside doors on the half landing facing the roundabout. There is no access from the internal stairwell.

There is no access to the Coxswain’s shed or the other club buildings.

Changing Rooms:

The changing rooms are open. We continue to ask members where possible to change at home or in their cars. There is limited access controlled by a token system. Before using the changing rooms, please watch this short video and review the guide to use of the changing rooms.

Cafe: 

The Café is operating a take-away service with a one-way system. If entering the cafe you must wear a face-covering unless you are covered by an exemption. Please maintain social distancing while queuing to order and collect food and drink.

Top Deck Bar:

Except if the bar is open, the top deck remains closed.

Safety Cover:

It is important for members to recognise the need for continued discipline and good practice in the use and application of measures to minimise risk of transmission – the virus has not gone away, and the new variants which are now predominant in the UK are considerably easier to transmit and catch. That said, we believe it is now possible to make incremental steps towards a more recognisably ‘normal’ level of safety boat provision, as part of a progression towards the further relaxations signposted for later in June.

1. Safety boat crewing

Volunteers will be given the choice to double crew if they wish, as an alternative to the current position of single crewing or crewing within their own household bubble only.

2. Tasks undertaken by safety boats

2.1 Volunteers and coxswains will be given the discretion to provide more assistance to sailors if they deem it safe to do so. This will extend the assistance they can provide to sailors from the current ‘in extremis’ cover that has been in place since sailing resumed.

2.2 The duty coxswain to have the decision on flying the Red/White flag, dependent on conditions and availability of rescue boats – so, for example, if we have a Sunday with a forecast for stable, unshifting wind direction/strength and double crewed safety boat(s) on the water, the coxswain may decide not to raise the Red & White. By contrast, if it’s midweek, with no on-water safety boat crew and gusty variable winds, the Red & White may be the obvious choice.

All changes are predicated on continuing to maintain good Covid-secure discipline – separation, facing away from each other, disinfecting controls between users, gloves and masks when handling casualties, etc.

Club members should remember that sailing events are only possible through the willing support freely provided by volunteers, who give up their time and own opportunity to sail to crew safety and committee boats. The regrettable instances of abuse directed at them by sailors does nothing to help make up the shortfall we constantly face in finding enough volunteers. Members may wish to reflect on their own behaviour in the event that racing has to be cancelled or curtailed due to lack of volunteers. Any members that can put themselves forward for training to crew safety and committee boats will be most gratefully welcomed aboard!”

Day Sailing: day sailing can be booked online via WebCollect.

Club Boats: Club boats, windsurfers and stand up paddleboards are available for hire by members. Please contact the office on 01480 812752 or 07943 196522, it is essential that you book in advance. Stand up paddleboards can be booked online via WebCollect.

Staff on site:

There will be a coxswain on site all the time the site is open, based in the coxswain’s shed. To talk to him, do not enter the shed and do not cross the 2 metre line marked at the shed entrance.

The Office is open daily except Tuesdays. Please wear a face-covering, follow the one way system and observe all signage. The hours when the Office is open are shown on the website. They can be contacted on 01480 810478 or  07943 196522.

The Chandlery is also available, please do not try to enter the chandlery, give your order details at the desk in the doorway.

Strimmers: Strimmers are now available for members to borrow to strim their boat berths.  You should arrange with the coxswains and collect from the coxswain’s shed.  You will need to bring your own PPE (safety glasses, gloves and ear protectors) and will be responsible for sanitising the contact areas of the strimmer both before and after use.

Risk Assessment: click to access the Club’s Covid-19 risk assessment.

Compliance:

Compliance with these Operating Procedures is a requirement of the Club Regulations.
In the unlikely event that there are observed misdemeanours, a member of staff or Club Officer may ask the person(s) concerned to desist.  If a further request is not complied with, the matter will be reported as a disciplinary matter and be dealt with in accordance with the Club Rules.