Newsletter:May 2020

A Practical Guide for Returning to Sailing following the Covid-19 Restrictions

PHASE 1 : 18th May - 8th June 2020

Covid-19 update
Greetings from Wicklow S.C. We hope you are staying safe and well and surviving the pandemic. Heading in to the summer months we have Some good news!

Wicklow Sailing Club will be opening up on a phased basis from the 18th of May. While adhering to Irish Sailing and government guidelines we will continue to review the current situation and open and expand our Junior Sailing program, as permitted.

Based on this information and guidance, the following protocols will come into effect.

The Club house will remain CLOSED to all members for the moment.
Cruiser sailing can go ahead as long as the guidelines listed below are strictly adhered to.
ISA Sailing and Training courses (see information below)
Dinghy Sailing will take place in a different format (see details below.)

Cruisers.

The Boatyard will be opened on Monday - May 18th ,

The boatyard will only be available for Cruiser teams to work on their boats.

We recommend the use of Hand sanitiser and the wearing of gloves entering and leaving the boat yard and also while working on your boat.

Cruisers are advised while working in the boatyard to remain 2 metres apart and to observe social distance guidelines.

Only Families that share a household are allowed work together on their boats.

Our current proposed date for lift in is June 6th subject to the current Government roadmap.

Sailing during this period is strictly confined to single handed sailing and family crewed boats.

Dinghies.

Karen and the training team will be emailing you re ISA Sailing and Training courses at a later stage.

As per the guidelines we need to ensure that we are able to manage launch and rescue safely.

Sailors are required to be able to sail competently and safely Single Handed and not need rescue.

At the moment we only envisage running training for ISA Level 3 and level 4.

The centre principal will send out more information at a later date.

PLEASE NOTE

Sailing dinghys outside of course times will be on a booking schedule for Thursdays and Saturdays and is confined to those who are competent and are able to self right their boats in all conditions.

FOLLOWING GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES sailors are only permitted to sail singlehanded or as a family unit. This is ultimately to keep you and our rescue all safe.

Finally to facilitate the dropping off of dinghies in the boat park and in accordance with Covid guidelines, sailors will be accommodated on Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons. Sailors are reminded it is their responsibility to ensure their trailer is picked up by a family member, for launching and retrieval.

PLEASE NOTE

Dinghy sailing is NOT permitted outside the specified days and times, Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons when rescue will be on hand should the unforeseen happen.

The Club house will NOT be open and there will be NO access to toilets or changing rooms. Sailors must come down ready to sail and leave immediately afterwards.
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We are asking our dinghy sailors to please adhere to the above guidelines and not to sail on their own.
This is to ensure that you don’t put any outside rescue at risk of getting covid-19.

If we manage the initial phases well, and keep everyone safe, we will revisit our offering later in July and August. We absolutely must be as safe as possible, adhere to all guidelines and not deviate, otherwise we run the risk of closure. It will be hard, but if we do, it will benefit everyone and get us back to some kind of normal.
Our priority remains to get everyone, where we can, and within all guidelines, back sailing as safely as possible.

Please refer to the ISA Q&A guidelines.

If you have any further queries for training – training@wicklowsailingclub.com, or query to the committee info@wicklowsailing.com.