April Update 2021

April 21, 2021 Off By Oban Sailing Club

Dear members

We’re charging ahead with the start of the sailing season. More boats are appearing on moorings in the bay and there is plenty of activity down at the dinghy park

Start Sailing

We are still anticipating that we’ll get back on the water on Monday 26th April for a very relaxed Monday Mayhem session where everyone can get reacquainted with the dinghies. Help will be on hand with rigging and launching but we must of course follow the Covid guidelines which worked so well for us last summer:

We hope to very quickly get the dinghy racing started and then keelboats when restrictions allow. For those keen to plan the summer remember we have Round Mull Race in July

Safety Boats

The two club safety boats are all ready for launching in preparation for the season. We’re hoping to be running socially distanced safety boat refresher courses for drivers to refamiliarise themselves with the boats and the techniques for assisting dinghy sailors. Keep a look out for notices about this.

Communication with Volunteers

Through the season we will continue to use email and social media to keep you regularly informed about what is happening. In addition we will use WhatsApp groups for quick messaging and requests between members. This worked really well last summer and in the end we had WhatsApp groups for Bosuns, Dinghy Sailing, Monday Mayhem … However, it’s easy to lose track of which group is which and who to contact; so to make things a little easier we’re going to have just two Groups which we hope members will join, these are:

– OSC Safety Boats

– OSC Shoreside Volunteers ( which incorporates help with dinghies, dinghy park, clubhouse)

If you’ve already been a member of one of these groups don’t be surprised if you see a few things changing on your WhatsApp. If you haven’t joined one of these groups and would like to help please indicate through this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdppCTLB9SiEp0wrG4-aYMOmuJ4_-Ud2lgFNRS77GOxEE0aYQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&usp=mail_form_link

Drascombe Project

Amazing progress is being made with the Drascombe. The hull is looking in great shape now and it’s all starting to come together. We have had some wonderful donations from trusts, businesses and individuals and the interest and support from the community has been truly staggering. You can see the fundraising progress here:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/help-us-restore-our-drascombe-sail-training-boat

Related to the Drascombe project is the acquisition of a new mooring for OSC. We have recently purchased a mooring just off the landing stage which we will use to moor the Drascombe once it is afloat. Having increased flexibility with ownership of another mooring is really important for the club development. With a new mooring comes increased costs of maintenance etc, but I can confirm that we have recently renegotiated our phone/internet contract for the clubhouse and we will be saving in the region of £450 per year. So we’re doing what we can so that your membership subscription is spent well.

Membership

Which leads me seamlessly onto my regular request to encourage you to renew your membership if you haven’t already done so. Renewing your membership allows you to come and join us on the water at any time during the season when we have organised sessions and to access the program of training courses we are hoping to advertise soon. So please follow this link, and sign up before the season gets underway.

That will do for now I think. Lots more to tell you, but emails can get too long. Many thanks to everyone for their efforts over the last weeks. Hopefully on April 26th it will all come together.

Finlo

PS – for those who were wondering, I didn’t find the festering packed lunch under the covers of the family Mirror dinghy. But I did find a rather mouldy cap!!