BRISTOL SAILING ASSOCIATION

Newsletter November 2013

Contacts:Kath Liddiard (Commodore)01443 227928

Jock Playle (Secretary)0117 973 8855

Jane Jenkyn (Treasurer) 01275 880318

At the meeting on November 11th we welcomed Reuben Woodbridge as a visitor and prospective member.

After a short visit to family in Australia, Mike Berry was due to go for his operation in Birmingham on November 26th. We wish him all the best, and a speedy recovery.

Future Trips

Phil will skipper his ‘Christmas Party Trip’ on the weekend of December 14 – 15th, again on the PYC yacht ‘Quartette’. This replaces his “Christmas Lights Trip’ of previous years; from past experience, a party is more likely than seeing Christmas Lights! This is fully booked.

1.2Phil is also planning another ‘January Sales Trip’ next year, on the weekend of January 18 – 19 also on the PYC yacht Quartette. There is one place available for a lady.

News and notices

Membership renewal. A membership renewal form was sent with the AGM minutes in October to all whose membership expired on October 31st. Several renewals are now overdue. Please return the form with any amendments to contact details with your subscription to the Treasurer, or follow the instructions on the form to pay by bank transfer.

Christmas dinner. The BSA Christmas dinner will be at the Avon Gorge hotel, Bristol, on Tuesday December 17th. Bookings are now closed and menu choices should have already been sent to Gordon Ogden (01275 462473, email gofmo18@talktalk.net ).

Smoking policy. Following the discussion at the AGM about smoking on board the committee have considered this and sought the views of all skippers. A majority view was agreed, and the following statement was made by the Commodore at the November meeting.

SMOKING ON BOARD

After the discussion at the last meeting the views of all committee members and skippers were sought. Apart from one, all who replied, including the skipper who raised the issue initially, agreed that a change to the Safety Notes backed by a reminder that Rule 20, which has to be agreed by all crew and gives the skipper the authority to specify behaviour on board, was the preferred option. One skipper added that this should be tried for a year and, if it proved unsatisfactory, then we should again consider the contentious option of a formal rule change.Many expressed the view that the BSA Rules are in place to govern the organisation of the club and charter procedures, including bookings and payments, and not to proscribe individual actions on board, so they are not an appropriate place for a ban on smoking. This had also been voiced by some members during and after the AGM.The net result is that just one committee member/skipper is in favour of holding an EGM to propose a formal Rule change. The other five committee members, and all the skippers who have given their opinion, support substituting 'No smoking on board' for 'No smoking below deck and care with cigarette ends when smoking on deck' in the Safety Notes, and reiterating Rule 20 'All decisions regarding the conduct of the trip will be taken by the skipper ..... All crew agree to abide by the decisions of the skipper.' The overwhelming view of the eight skippers who commented is that the decision should be theirs.Skippers are of course at liberty to make their own positions known.

The Safety Notes will therefore be amended to advise ‘No smoking on board’ and skippers will continue to have the authority under Rule 20 to decide what is or is not acceptable, which the crew, also under Rule 20, have agreed to accept.

3.Recent Trips

At the November meeting Gordon Ogden reported on the midweek trip he skippered from Gosport on October 14-16. Alan Howells and Jeff Birkin gave reports on their training trips from Plymouth and Hamble, and Phil Steele gave a report which he called ‘nearly sailing’ from Gosport on a stormy weekend. All these reports follow,

Trip on Spellbinder, skippered by Gordon Ogden

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Trip on Pantalaimon, skippered by Alan Howells

Trip on Quartette, skippered by Phil Steele

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Trip on Shropshire Lady ll, skippered by Jeff Birkin

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