Dear member ,

I hope you have been able to make the most of the summer despite the restrictions. Autumn can bring some of the most memorable conditions and beautiful sailing around North Berwick. There is still plenty of time to enjoy the water this year. 

With the resumption of outdoor contact sports, we can remove many of the restrictions on our club activities. Naturally easing restrictions are associated with accepting higher risk. While the Scottish and Lothians infection rate remains low, we all know local spikes and clusters are still possible. The club will take reasonable precautions but risk cannot be eliminated. Members should take individual responsibility for deciding whether to attend club events. 

Phase 3 - Outdoor contact sports update to members

Please review the updated ELYCCovid-19 Operating procedures on the club website.

PDF link here.

The main changes are:

• Outdoor club organised sports events of up to 30 people are permitted provided contact tracing is in place.
• Registration is still required for all club events to enable contact tracing.
• The maximum number of boats in a club event is increased to 20.
• We will no longer launch and recover dinghies in flights.
• The wind limits are at the discretion of the OOD.
• The 2 season minimum sailing experience is removed. Club sailing events now require an RYA2 cert or equivalent.
• Mixed household dinghy crew and rib crew are permitted. ELYC strongly encourage a single crew buddy that you keep for the year.
• We continue to allow single handed RIBs for RYA or ELYC safety boat certified helms; PB2 certification alone is not enough to single hand a club rescue boat in our waters. 
• Rescue crew will only intervene if sailors require an ambulance, first aid or separated from their boat.
• Club boats may be hired for all club events.

Bar is open, Cafe next

• The bar is open! Thanks to Pete, Ruth and Alastair for putting all the work in to open up the club bar. We have limited the capacity, spaced out the tables and ensured plenty of ventilation, the intent is to be a relaxed place to meet up.
• We are looking at how and when we open the cafe. We have a little more work to do here. If you would like to help define or influence our future catering, please step forward with your ideas.

Sailing Update

• Social sailing continues to be popular, we have increased the number of boats that may register and plan to run events through the balance of the year.
• Yacht skippers are running ad hoc cruises whenever the tides and forecast suits. 
• Racing has been blown off more than on recently, but we expect the covid guidance has stabilised for a few months so Matt has created the Autumn series on the club calendar.
• Squad activities are about to get started with structured coaching for cadets who want to advance their racing skills.
• A club closed regatta will be run end of September, with first weekend of October as reserve. Thanks to Steve Fraser for being chief regatta wave maker.
• Our instructors pulled together 2 weeks of training just in time for the end of the school holidays.
• Our maintenance crew are hard at work keeping all the wheels greased and the club boats water tight. Take a moment to say thank you in person whenever you see Donald, Ted, Ricky, Mike, Angus. And if you break something, please remember to email bosun@elyc.org.uk and let them know.

Club Duties

With the latest update allowing mixed household Ribs, our pool of rib drivers may increase, but many members are not comfortable breaking social distance. If you are signing up for club events, plan on taking a club duty around once a month. And if you have not done a duty yet, right now is the best time to sign up on dutyman. 

Subscriptions 2020

At the start of lock down in March we  allowed members to defer their subscription as we figured everyone would have more important tasks to attend to. As the club approaches the end of our financial year, now is the time to chase outstanding subscriptions. We'll send out a reminder shortly and ask everyone to pay their dues by Wednesday 30th September. We'll assume you wish membership to lapse if we don't hear from members before that date. Of course, if you need  more time or a little help, and wish to continue membership, please just let Ron (Treasurer), Alison (Membership) or Nick (Commodore) know.

Fireworks 2020 cancelled

We have decided to cancel the fireworks display this year. East Lothian Council guidance is to avoid large outdoor community gatherings http://orlo.uk/N0A6W, and we could be left with fireworks that we could not use and the associated costs. We'll put the funds aside for a display in 2021.

See you on the water soon,

Nick Roche.

ELYC Commodore