Youth Sailing @ Chasewater

Please come and see us, be prepared to get wet! and have some fun!

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RYA Regional Instructors’ Conference  

On Sunday 16^th March the great and the good of the sailing world converged on Chasewater for the annual instructors conference. The most noted special guests included John Thorn the national coach.  The morning kicked off with various talks and the much fabled On Board plaque presentation. Libby Constance (Principle Training Officer) accepted the plaque on behalf of The Chase Sailing Club which Youth Sailing at Chase (YS@C) forms part.  Attempting to follow on from the On Board presentations John Thorn gave the 50 + instructors in attendance an update on the National Sailing Scheme and Youth Sailing Scheme. Very little seems to have changed but there will be a few new modules introduced. The most notable of these modules is a stage 3 in the NSS intended to bridge the gap between level 2 and the advanced modules.  

The morning’s entertainment ended at around 11:15 at which point there was a time for coffee and networking with other instructors. The morning sessions began prompt at 11:30 there was a variety of sessions available or the opportunity to “play” with the latest boats the manufacturing companies had to offer.  After a hard morning’s work, sailing (and swimming for those sailing the topper vibe) lunch was taken. The fun and frolics were to continue on into the afternoon with the main coaching sessions. These varied from asymmetric to power boating, each session as invaluable as the other.

 Many tired and wet instructors finally ended their day at 5:00. To many the day had been the most successful instructors’ conference there had been for years. Thanks must go to the regional coaching team who organised the event and to the team at Chasewater who worked out the practical logistics of the whole event. Well done all! 

By Tom Churchill (Topaz Vibe) 01/04/08

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23rd March 2008

It’s Started

We had a cold slow start to the youth sailing season on Easter weekend with a very cold and windy day – until the weather gets warmer – usually the May day open day-  the conditions are only suitable for  well equipped ( winter wet suit or preferably dry suit and RYA level 2 and above)  sailors.

May Day weekend will see the start of our season proper and all levels welcome.

This year the cadet series for new starters will be run as 2 day courses and at the open day we will be taking names for these over the forthcoming season.

Any parents or adult helpers who are keen to join in the fun can sign up for powerboat or sailing courses with Chase. 

The committee have been busy over the winter – spending money that has been raised updating the fleet and getting more instructors trained up. 

We have taken delivery of:

3 new Feva’s - thanks to an ‘Awards For All’ lottery grant

3 Optimists donated by Youth Afloat  

1 Topper

2 Lasers  

We have also used a donation of £1500 from Birmingham Midshires Building Society to buy a new safety boat hull, and used the £800 that you as youth sailors raised in the sponsored sail to help buy the £1600 engine needed to power it.

We have since had a further spare engine donated from Chase member Mike Bradley – thankyou Mike – which will be a useful back up across our fleet of 3 safety boats

Congratulations go to the newly qualified Dinghy instructors:

Sam Coxon

Tom Churchill

Katie Statham

Mike Flint

…and Me – yes it is about time isn’t it –

Personal thanks from me to Libby, Richard and Simon for helping me get prepared.

Remember YS@C is here to help you all take your sailing qualifications as high as you can – instructing not only allows us to give something back but is a valuable experience. Its not just about your sailing skills but being able to plan and  run a lesson – put across your knowledge in a competent and confident way. Good life experience and always useful on your CV.

Remember at the AGM in November  the Youth sailors voted in the Youth committee representatives  Guy Poxon and  Matt Lutwyche  - Guy and Matt are already playing an active role on the committee so don’t forget to let them know how its going – what you would like us to do, what works,  and what could be improved

Chase sailing club have also been busy and we can benefit from improved facilities in the club house with a new floor laid in the wet room, and a new ceiling in the Lichfield room. Compound Parking facilities have been improved and as more and more new sailors come through both our own training and the  chase adult programme and buy their own boats then more boat storage facilities have been made available. 

The Chase Sailing Club as an RYA training centre acquired full On Board status and as such the profile of the club – hosting regional events and benefiting from funding for training – has been raised. OB (OnBoard), developed by the RYA, is a special new programme to help introduce sailing and windsurfing to young people. In the next ten years, OB wants to get half a million kids into sailing or windsurfing. On 16^th March the regional RYA Instructors conference bought instructors from across the area to a very successful meeting and development session. 

Chase will host one of the events in the RS Feva regional racing series on May 10th. 

More social event are now being held in the club house so keep your eye on the website, look for posters in the clubhouse and give them a  go – let the committee or youth representative know what works and what you would like to see.

Finally keep an eye on our website as I’m trying to get the Video section working.

See You Down At Chase.

Mark

Chair: YS@C

Find Out More: www.ysacw.org.uk

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1st December 2007

Chair Report 2007

Thank you all for coming, hope you’ll enjoy the evening and have some fun.

Would like to spend a short while picking out some of our success’s, elect our new management team and the climax of the evening the awarding the prizes and RYA certificates.

So what did we do different ?

Over the winter we analyzed our pupil attendance records and determined we needed to increase RYA trained volunteers and pupil retention.

So what did we do ?

We totally reviewed our training structure, resulting in developing a structured progression path from a non sailor to a Senior Instructor in parallel with the development of the adult training plan operated by The Chase Sailing Club. This include the introduction of our ‘Cadet Courses’ which takes new pupils through 5/6 Saturdays sessions achieving RYA Sailing Stage 1 and includes a good level of on the water experience.

Based on this we set our goals for 2007

The Outcomes were:

·         Student growth

o        RYA Certificate Attained

§         23 in 2006 to 68 in 2007

o        Average Pupil per session

§         13 in 2006 to 16 in 2007

·         Student retention

o        33% increase staying over 5 weeks

o        233% increase staying over 13 weeks

·         Parent Involvement

o        30 RYA Qualifications attained over a range disciplines ( Power Boat 1 & 2, Safety Boat, Assistant & Full Dinghy Instructor and First Aid

·         Fund Raising to increase our boating fleet

o        Several company / charity donations totaling £2100

o        £850 Sponsor Sail

o        £10,000 Awards for All

Financials

Overall this year from a running cost perspective we have broken even.

Accounts have been audited and are available for anyone to ask for a copy. (Copy contained within these minutes).

New Management Team

A list of committee members standing down and new volunteers that have been proposed / seconded was distributed and representations or comment were invited. Going into the AGM there were 2 positions still vacant, Social Secretary and Assistant Treasurer. Lisa Horton volunteered for the Social Secretary position and was nominated and seconded. There were no objections raised and the new committee was accepted. Unfortunately the position of Assistant Treasurer still remains vacant.

The junior members of the committee were voted for on the night by the youth membership.

I’d like to thank the old committee for all their hard work over the year and wish the new committee all the best for the year ahead. (New Committee contained within the minutes).

Summary

Overall a great year, I feel we have really moved this Charity forward.

Key things that stick in my mind:

·         Great to see loads of new pupils

·         Fantastic progression of our students

·         Young Sailors that have progressed and have become part of the training team

Mark Buckingham

Chair YS@S

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7th July 2007

“LOCAL MP PIPED ABOARD @ CHASEWATER”

Last Saturday local MP Michael Fabricant visited The Chase Sailing Club at Chasewater. Michael Fabricant, a past mirror dinghy sailor visited Chasewater to find out more about the clubs development involving local families, and the local community.

The club have introduced a new training programme for youngsters wishing to learn to sail endorsed by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA). During his visit he joined in with the youngsters beach games, enjoyed a bbq with the adult members of The Chase Sailing Club after their race meeting and presented 20 youngsters with their certificates after completing “Introduction to Sailing RYA1”, RYA2 and RYA3 courses.

Principal Training Officer, Libby Constance said “The courses have been run as a pilot scheme this year and have proved to be very successful with a 100% success rate and many youngsters going on to improving their skills. The courses are definitely here to stay and will be repeated next season”.

If you have missed out on the last two courses and have a child aged between 10yrs and 16yrs who would like to learn to sail, The Chase Sailing Club are running a 2 day course on the 9th and 10th August 2007, contact Libby Constance libby.con@virgin.net telephone, 01543 251100 or mobile 07971 009929 for more information.
 

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June 2007

Local Company supports Community

Maier UK Limited based in Burntwood has sponsored Youth Sailing @ Chasewater, which is affiliated to The Chase Sailing Club, a RYA approved training centre.

Youth Sailing has been established for over 25 years and allows children, aged between 10 and 18 years, from all walks of life to gain a RYA qualification in sailing. This year Youth Sailing has introduced the structured 5 weeks Cadet Course which novices follow and gain their RYA 1. This means that they can rig, launch and sail a dinghy single handed.

Training officer Libby Constance says “In an age of computer games and television 24/7 it gives children the opportunity to have fun whilst learning a new sport, exercising and getting plenty of fresh air. We have had a huge take up on our new cadet courses.”  Our regular youth sailors progress through the RYA youth scheme through to instructor status. Maier UK Limited has generously donated £1500 which enables Youth Sailing @ Chasewater to buy a new safety boat as part of our ongoing expansion programme.

Jo Holmes, Human Resources Manager, from Maier UK Limited says “Maier is committed to supporting the local community and the environment in 2007.”

Anyone can join us, if you’d like more information contact clivebrookesward@aol.com or visit our website www.ysacw.org.uk , it’s a “Gr8 way to get into sailing”