TSC DINGHY GROUP MEETING 15/1/17

17 members attended a meeting held at the club to discuss the proposed programme for 2017 and other dinghy related matters. Copies of the programme were circulated. The following points were discussed and agreed as relevant:

1. 2017 PROGRAMME

• The booklet as to be printed this year will have limited space. More complete details will be available on the club website.
• Jilly Wilkinson requested that tide details for the first three months of the following year should also appear, to assist in planning winter sailing. Passed to the Commodore for consideration.
• The Old Gaffers Association will come to TSC again for the weekend of 29/30 April. TSC participation in sailing both days was requested. It is hoped that the event will be wholly based at TSC this year, including prize-giving. Presume catering will be required.
• Mention was made that Fireflies would be a good addition to the OGA weekend. George Rogers undertook to look at this.
• The GP Open may also be a two-day event, with training on the Saturday and Racing on the Sunday. This is currently under discussion with the Class Association.
• Agreed that the Laser Open cannot continue for the present with our current small number of Laser sailors. Agreed therefore that sailing on 3^rd Sept will be a ‘Trophy” sailing day, including for Single Handers, Double Handers and Lady Helms and will not incorporate Autumn Points. The principle of only being to win one trophy will NOT apply, eg, a lady helm could be both first single hander and first lady.
• Otherwise the programme was agreed and will go forward for publication.

2. CADET PARTICIPATION

• It has been agreed with the Cadets that older/more experienced cadets will join in with Sunday racing as is appropriate for them. The intention here is for cadets to achieve a follow-on to training, with a view to retaining as many as possible.
• Details remain to be finalised, but down to numbers may involve separate starts, sailing one lap out of two or two out of three. It is hoped that a cadet co-ordinator will be present on the committee boat alongside the OOD.
• Cadets will have their own trophy series, but will be eligible for ‘overall’ results when they have completed the same courses.

3. DUTIES

• Due to generally lower numbers, the availability of experienced people to act as OOD or Safety Boat driver is lower than would be ideal, potentially resulting in more duties being allocated to each active sailor than would be expected.
• The DUTYMAN system will be used once more. All dinghy helms are requested to advise the Dingy Captain (DC) of known non-available dates as soon as possible.
• The DC will organise a seminar for OODs near the End of March.
• In the meantime, the Guide for OODs, produced last year, will be updated and circulated.
• In order to make course-setting and starts easier to organise, an additional permanent mooring may be established for the Committee Boat nearer the centre of the Fleet. The YP would however continue to rest at its present location, being moved on racedays.

4. PERSONAL HANDICAPS

• Agreed that we will establish and publicise before the start of the season, a system of personal handicaps in order to encourage our less experienced helms.
• This will be a parallel system to overall results and will have separate trophies attached.
• To keep the system as simple as possible, all helms who have never won a club trophy will start the season with a 15% ‘allowance’. Once any helm has won two races on PH, the allowance will reduce to 10%, and then likewise to 5% and 0%.
• The system will be kept under review for fair working and may be altered in the light of experience.

5. DISCARDS

• The current system of discards was discussed. The meeting was advised that this system is or was common in the East of England.
• Our system however varies from that commonly in use elsewhere, which involves a maximum discard of one in four races. For example, sail 4, discard 1. Sail 5,6 or 7 discard 1, sail 8 discard 2 and so on. The penalty for DNS will be the number of starters for that race plus 1 point, not the number of starters for the series (plus 1) as at present.
• Whilst no agreement was reached on this, the DC will work points series on both bases this season, to see which gives a fairer outcome, with a view to establishing a change to club sailing rules for the 2018 season.

6. DINGHY PARKING AND USE

• Steve Graham made the widely accepted point that many boats that never sail are parked at the most convenient points in the yard, whilst regular sailors are left hunting for space.
• The Commodore advised that more details will be requested from owners at this year’s membership renewal to identify unused boats. This information will be shared to the DC and to Steve, who will see what can be done to encourage participation.
• The intention will then be to move unused boats to the far end of the yard, allowing regular sailors to have a more convenient location, be they single or double handers.

7. CONTACT SERVICE

• It was proposed after the meeting that the website could be used as a contact point, to enable volunteers for crewing or duties to make themselves known, and likewise for helms looking for a crew. Perhaps the Webmaster could look at this.

Phil Rayner
Dinghy Captain
15/01/17