Newsletter: 31st August 2020

Let's Get Back to What We Do Best!

This Thursday sees the Club’s first “official” mixed keelboat race of 2020 and to celebrate the Club is doing several things:

Entry for the racing is free to all competitors as usual. The Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions and Online Entry is now available. There are class starts for Lymington Adjusted Handicap, IRC & J/80s. The first warning signal is at 17:00hrs. We are extending our Club’s happy hour to welcome you all back into the bar after racing.

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We hosted a super Junior Regatta (16^th – 21^st August) which several people described to me as the best ever, and many of our sailors have participated in Folkboat week over the last few days. 

The XOD’s had an intrepid seven boats out on Wednesday in blustery but exciting conditions eventually reaching 30 Knots.  Hopefully Lymington XOD week, which is already attracting entries from other XOD Divisions, and starts on 12^th September will have slightly lighter winds and sunnier weather.

Last weekend we cooperated closely with the Harbour Master and the LTSC to run two concurrent events: LTSC ran a Merlin Rocket open and we ran an Optimist event for ~30 boats.  This shows that we are slowly returning to normal and we can run multiple events on the slipway whilst safeguarding competitors.

The Scow Committee have confirmed that the Figure of Eight Race is going ahead on Sunday 6th September 2020; the race briefing will be held at 1130h, and the first warning signal will not be before 1327h.

More Fun on Thursday Evenings

We have teamed up with the guys over at the Lymington Pop Up Restaurant to bring you a whole new exciting dining experience. This Covid secure Pop Up will be situated adjacent to the Club house on Bath Green for the month of September and our members have been given priority booking for Thursday evenings following the racing.

This week’s food offerings include:

• Kwackers Original  
• The Curryman 
• The Nags Bar and Kitchen
• The Dessert Box

Pre-booking is essential so don’t miss out on this great opportunity to try something different. Book online now via our exclusive link now: https://lymingtonpopup.co.uk/rlymyc

Kirsty Husband, General Manager - Operations 

UKLA Laser National Championships Success

We have had excellent results at Laser Nationals which have just finished.  Our Captain of Lasers, Nik Froud, reports that Club sailors secured the top three spots in 4.7s:

1st - Ollie Allen-Wilcox

2nd - Jack Graham-Troll

3rd - Freddie Howarth

There were good results also for Oli Woodley in 19th and Finlay BK in 24th.

Nik has been providing coaching but modestly says “it's very much their own achievement - their main advantage has been having each other to train against, and we can take pride in the fact we were able to offer them a good training base in the lead up to the events.”

This is a fantastic achievement for all three sailors, between them won every race of the regatta and were some distance ahead of 4th place.  Well done everyone!

On the Shoulders of Giants - Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge

Club Member Justin Houlton and his team are completing their preparation for rowing the Atlantic for charity.  You will have seen their rowing boat on the pontoon in recent weeks.

Justin says “We are doing a 4-5 day training row from the River next week.  Coming out of this we should be in the fine-tuning stage of our preparation ahead of the start of the race. It is really exciting that we are closing in on being ready for the race.  We are planning to hold an event in Lymington where guests can meet the team and see the boat on Sunday 6th September.  We are holding this at the Yacht Haven as there should be sufficient space for people to drop by whilst maintaining social distancing.  I want to invite Club members to come down so we can tell them a bit more about what we are doing.

Training

Plans are progressing to restart our training programme in September.  It is probable that some of these courses will need to charge more than before as the number of participants will need to be reduced.  Some can’t realistically be started yet: for example, life-saving requires a manikin per trainee which makes the course uneconomic in practice.

Cruising

The View from Cruising Division as Summer 2020 comes to an end

RLym cruisers have had an interrupted summer like everyone else at the club, but because they operate their boats as independent units, they have been able to enjoy the best of the summer weather by taking quick decisions on destinations and dates.

Our last organised events have been the overnight meets at Island Harbour on 9 July, and the RIBAX cruise up the Itchen a few days later.

But our boats have crossed the channel, shown up in S Brittany in small numbers, and explored the West Country as far as the Scilly Isles with more confidence. One observation is that the boats with the least crew go the furthest.

Nearby destinations in the Solent and across to Poole and Studland have enjoyed frequent visits, and nearer home the relatively unknown joys of sites like Thorness and Tothill Bays, and the old favourites of Cowes, Beaulieu and Newtown. One member told us he had ditched his planned trip to Galicia and was exploring the Hebrides instead: but we haven’t heard how he fared.

As the season draws to its close we have a leisurely agenda of organised events on the water, starting next week-end with a two-night rally at Bucklers’ Hard, a day cruise to West Cowes in October, and another to Gins Farm in November, The final event on the water coincides with the Needles Relief on 12 December. 

There is always the risk that someone will propose a pop-up cruise between these dates when the weather looks right – for sail boats or powerboats or both.  The Connected Cruisers WhatsApp serves well for this.

Ashore we are planning to re-start the Winter Lecture Series, but on Thursday evenings rather than Wednesdays, with a new seating format and a limit of 60 pre-booked places.  More of this later from your new organiser Steve Law.

Our Photography competition, open to all who can mail a JPEG,  will have a wistful title the year: ‘Searching for the Sea in the Time of Covid’, to reflect the thought that though we may not have made it to the sea this year, we will have dreamt of it.  A broader format for a difficult time. Closing date at the end of October.

 The annual log competition will also reflect that not everyone will have completed a cruise worth recording this season, probably by inviting unsubmitted logs from other years to compete with the new.

 We hope to hold our first Cruising Supper on 9 October, followed by the Engine Maintenance morning on 10 October: but like many things these await confirmation.

George Trevelyan, Captain of Cruising

FRIDAY NIGHT SUPPERS

Friday theme nights continue this week with Forest Favourites.  See the menu here & book a table here or with me directly on [email protected]. Please confirm how many in your party & what time you would like to come. Here is a peek at next Friday’s ‘Chef’s Favourites’ menu so you can plan ahead.  Please do email me directly to book a table for next week. Friday evenings are getting very busy so book early to not miss out.

SUNDAY ROASTS

Sunday lunches are back, in full swing and popular!  Please book your table here to join us for a Sunday Roast.

HAPPY HOURS

Don’t forget that we are running happy hour on Thursdays from 17:30 – 19:00 every week, we look forward to seeing you there.  25% off selected drinks!

FRONT OF HOUSE VOLUNTEERS

We have been very grateful for all the hard work & support received from our Volunteers so far and it has been such a pleasure for me personally to be working alongside Club Members to ensure a great service is provided. If you are keen to help out and be part of the team, please see what is involved and read volunteer testimonials by clicking here, We also have a list of shifts available that you can add your name into – click here to view. All volunteers have a free meal & drink!

Click here for more info and to book a table.

Please contact me on [email protected] if you have any questions.

Gillian Poole, Clubhouse Events Manager

A note from Vice Commodore

Earlier this year the General Committee formed three groups to look at improving the way the Club works: Organisation, Governance and Strategy.  The last two of these are a work-in-progress and will report in the Autumn. 

The Organisation Group was originally tasked with producing an organisational structure and cost model to support the service requirement of the Club.  

The objective is to have the right people, doing the right jobs, at the right salary level with the right contracts, in the right structure delivering the right service.  In addition it was asked that we respond to the concerns raised by the recent membership survey and help rebuild the reserve.  

The Organisation Group finished its deliberations and made recommendations that were reported to the membership back in July. 

So what have we done?

Structure:  we have designed a new, flatter employee structure.  This has required us to move to one senior manager and reduced our headcount and our costs.  Unfortunately this has resulted in the difficult decision to make redundant General Manager Finance and Administration, Kerry Priday, after many years’ service, and Alex Thompson our Receptionist.  Kerry has agreed to work her notice, which will terminate on or before the end of January, and we wish Kerry and Alex well for the future.  We have also reduced temporarily the contracted hours and the salaries of the Boatmen while endeavouring to provide as full a service as possible on the Waterfront.  We anticipate that these moves will deliver savings of around £50k in a full year.

Service: The new structure specifically creates a Membership Services Team which is expected to improve the offering to Members by encouraging our employees to be flexible in how they respond to Member's requirements, and better empowering them to deliver better service to Members.  The revised structure chart will be posted on the website in the next couple of weeks.

As previously reported the project to consider the viability and desirability of outsourcing our food and beverage operation continues apace.  Rear Commodore House Peter Blick has set up a team (under General Committee member Mike Derrick) to evaluate possible suppliers in order to improve the quality and the profitability of our restaurant and bar service.  We are very excited that we have had a lot of interest from some very high-quality providers.  In parallel with this and in case in case the external option proves unattractive, we are also looking at how we would keep the service in house.  A decision should be made in early October.

We are also continuing the project to outsource our Housekeeping function.  It will be obvious that demand for cleaning services (and the resultant cost) has increased due to Covid but we are hopeful we can make a sound, economic, decision to do this in October.

A complete review of Job Descriptions, contracts, operating procedures and training requirements, as well as launching the new Membership Services Team is next on our list of tasks.  We will keep you advised of progress.

John Tudor - Vice Commodore