An introduction to the club and to our current committee members. Look out for more of our key people who appear on their own ‘sections’  throughout this website…

WHERE IS CHIPSTEAD SAILING CLUB?

Chipstead Sailing Club is situated at Chipstead Lake in Chipstead near Sevenoaks, Kent. It is located at the end of Chevening Road which itself begins opposite The Bricklayers Arms Public House in Chipstead Village. The Club offers class and handicap racing, sailing and powerboat training from beginners onwards, social events and a large and well appointed clubhouse overlooking the lake with a well-stocked bar with draught beer and lager as well as a varied and extensive lunch menu at weekends.

SAILING – CLUB RACING & CLASSES

The Club has a highly active racing programme with events during the ‘Summer’ (from the beginning of April to the end of October) on Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons. In mid Summer there is a Wednesday Evening Series and races on Sunday mornings in Winter. The Club runs class fleet racing for 10 classes which includes a handicap fleet for boats not within one of the adopted classes. The overall length of a boat must be less than 15ft and because of the nature of the water, trapezes are not allowed in Club racing. The Club also supports many ‘Open Meetings’ for visitors to come and compete and the Club’s members have achieved significant success at Open National, World and Olympic competitions. Whilst the Club sailing is predominately ‘racing’ there are several members with boats who don’t race and who just like to ‘potter about in boats’ or sail with their children and family. There are times when safety boat cover is provided on the lake for this purpose and members can also sail at weekends when racing is not actually taking place.

TRAINING

The Club is a recognised Royal Yachting Association Training Centre and RYA courses ranging from complete beginners to courses for those who want to improve their skills or racing competence are held throughout the season. Instruction can also be tailored to individual needs. A ‘novices’ series of races is held throughout the Summer for those new to racing. Courses are also held for powerboat operation to help Club members support the Club’s racing programme or for members who wish to obtain an RYA certificate to enable them to hire a boat whilst on holiday.

JUNIOR SAILING

There is a highly active Junior Club – ‘The Chipmates Saturday Club‘ which operates during the Summer as well as race training for those who want to progress to racing. There is a Junior racing series run on Saturday mornings and other events for Juniors during the year. In August, the Club runs Chipmates – a 3 day Summer camp for children to either learn to sail or improve their sailing skills with typically 60 children attending. Chipmates is always oversubscribed and the emphasis is on ‘fun’.

SOCIAL PROGRAMME

There is an extensive social program, with some events organised by the Club but many organised by the various classes and ranging from quiz nights and barbeques to barn dances and outings. Everyone is invited to join in and indeed help run the events. In Winter a series of evening talks are usually arranged. Food is provided by Pirouni Catering and is available at the Club on Saturday and Sunday lunch times in the summer season and lunchtimes on Sundays in the winter.

THE CLUB’S OPERATION

The Club is run entirely by its members and volunteers and does not employ any staff. Whilst this does keep the subscriptions down to very reasonable levels it does mean that the Club depends on its members to take on a wide range of tasks from helping to run the bar, to providing tea and coffee for members using the Club at weekends to maintaining the Club and the grounds and premises. This is in addition to having members run the racing and the associated patrol boat cover on the lake. To enable the maintenance of the Club and grounds the Club suspends its racing program for the first 6 Sundays in January and February so that members can turn up to carry out a wide range of building, painting, gardening, and other tasks.

A Guide to Duties

To enable the race programme to be run and the Club facilities to be maintained, adult sailing members are required as a condition of Club membership to undertake four duties each year, and also to participate in two winter working parties. All other members are also welcome to join in and assist with duties. Duties should be enjoyable and a great way to meet and learn from other club members. If you need further guidance on what a duty entails please contact the OOD a week before your duty.

All adult family members may choose which Class they wish to join. Duties are allocated between Classes based on their membership, with each Class taking turns in running races for other Classes. You may indicate when you would prefer to carry out your duties, and your duties will then be organised at the start of the year by your nominated Class and entered into the Dutyman system which can be accessed through the Club website.

Duties will be rostered where possible in your preferred duty class, and any unallocated duties may be rostered centrally across other sailing sessions in the Club programme. These may fall on Saturday afternoons, Sunday mornings, Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings.

Responsible adults for Junior Members are asked to assist with four duties for the junior Class. Adult full family sailing members who have chosen to be members of the Junior Class will similarly have up to four duties allocated on Saturday mornings and may also be asked to carry out duties across other sailing sessions in the Club programme.

The trained RIB squad is also rostered centrally to improve safety cover.

The duty roster for the year is available on the Dutyman system accessible through the Club website. It is the responsibility of each member to arrange a swap if he or she is unable to fulfil their allocated duty. The Dutyman system is helpful in arranging swaps, and can be used to request swaps both within and outside your Duty Class.

Duty teams should assemble one hour before the start of racing. Depending on the race programme, Saturday afternoon teams are normally required to run races which start from 14.20. Sunday morning racing normally starts at 10.30 and Sunday afternoon racing normally starts at 1410. Depending on the race programme on the day, Sunday afternoon duty teams are required at times additionally to run single handed races from 16.00.

The categories of club duties are:

• Officer of the Day (OOD)

The OOD is an experienced person who has the responsibility of organising their team to run the racing according to the race programme.

The OOD will set the race course and organise the other officers in the race box. It is their responsibility to oversee the efficient and safe running of the racing both on and off the water, and to ensure that the results are correctly recorded.

The Club organises training sessions for new OODs as well as providing refresher training. New OODs are always welcome. Further guidance on running races is provided on the Club website.

• Assistant Officer of the Day (AOD)

The role of AOD is that of supporting the OOD on the day of the race. Usually there are two AODs who assist in starting and finishing the racing by raising and lowering flags as well as recording the position of competitors in the different races. They also help to enter these results on to the club computer. It can be helpful for AODs to read through the guidance on the website for running races in advance of their duties. It is anticipated that some AOD’s would like to actively learn from the OOD on duty and then be in a position to perform the role of OOD themselves when confident.

• Power Boat Helm

There are usually two patrol boats on the water during racing to assist members who may require assistance during a race.

A club RIB will only be helmed by trained members of the RIB squad. The orange Commando patrol boat may be helmed by club members who have sufficient skills and has been properly assessed. We recommend that anyone helming these boats completes the FREE Chipstead course. Details of the Club’s training programme are available on the website.

• Power Boat Crew

Members allocated to the role of patrol boat crew can be in either the RIB or in the Commando patrol boats. Their role is to assist in recovery of members during a race or to recover boats after racing has finished. Patrol boat crews should be expected to enter the water if necessary to assist with a recovery. A wetsuit or drysuit will be required to be worn from 25 December to 31 March.

Again it is recommended that members taking part in this duty participate in the Club’s FREE training course to help them carry out these duties effectively.