Starcross Yacht Club - a bumper year in 2021
by Starcross Yacht Club 21 Dec 2021 10:32 GMT
A bumper 2021 at Starcross Yacht Club © Paul Kelley
Starcross Yacht club is on the banks of the River Exe in Devon, and reputed to be the oldest sailing club in the country. Originally founded in 1772, it will celebrate its 250th anniversary next year.
2021 has been an exceptional year, with increasing membership, record breaking turnout at racing and free sailing, and several new events.
Racing
SYC managed to keep Covid-aware racing going throughout the pandemic when not restricted by lockdowns. The experience gained after the first national lockdown enabled a smooth and swift return to sailing at the club. SYC runs a wide range of club races, with weekend race series running throughout the year, a summer evening series, a short Easter series and various one-off events through the year including a long-distance race.
Racing turnout was extremely encouraging, with the spring/summer of 2021 being 60% higher than before the pandemic. One race in May had 65 entrants, and 12 races had more than 50; some on horrible days. One particularly memorable day had more than 50 boats, with cold rain hammering down and then a nasty squall! These were amongst the largest fleets in southern English clubs.
Multihull sailing continues to be very active at SYC, with competitive one-design fleet racing and opportunities for cruising both on the river and out to sea. The Hurricane fleet was further boosted in 2021 by the addition of three new boats taking the total to 19, the largest in the country. Weekly club racing was complimented by two training days which focussed on setting up the boats for maximum speed and provided plenty of opportunity to practise race starts. Of particular note is a surge in interest in multihull sailing from juniors. The club's Dart 15 is heavily used during the Friday evening junior sailing sessions with some progressing to a Dart 18, and six juniors now regularly race Hurricanes at SYC every week with some starting to join the national Nacra youth squad.
Solo Sailing and racing has also really taken off this year, growing from three boats and now totalling twelve boats. Starcross hosted its first Solo Open Meeting on July 31st, with a great fleet of 23 boats taking part, and Paul Bartlett from Starcross taking the winners rostrum. Some of the SYC Solo fleet took part in the Nationals in Mounts Bay during August, enjoying a fantastic week's sailing and racing, although the conditions were rather tricky and fickle, affecting what would likely have been better results for the fleet. The club racing has been extremely well supported, by Solos with the fleet enjoying very keen and close racing. The fleet has also been travelling and competing in some of the SW series events. Olly Turner, who has recently joined the fleet, took third overall in the Inlands. These results and other well-placed finishes by fleet members, gives a good indication of the standard of racing we enjoy at the club.
The club ran open meetings for Lasers and Merlins (a Silver Tiller event) as well as co-hosting the Exe Regatta.
The inaugural Junior Regatta attracted strong entries, including visitors from the South West and beyond. With two fleets, there was strongly competitive racing for more experienced juniors, and a coached regatta fleet for others; as well as non-sailing fun, evening entertainment and overnight camping.
Free sailing
SYC runs Free Sailing sessions, where safety boat cover is provided for members to confidently get out onto the water. These were especially popular for those who wish to sail but were less confident at sailing alone. As well as sailors, they have attracted paddleboarders, kayakers, rowers - and even enthusiastic juniors trying to climb the mast of a Topper!
Junior sailing
With Friday evening training running from Easter through to the summer holidays, 50 or so junior sailors from age 8 upwards enjoyed structured training sessions and general messing about on the water, working within Covid guidelines. This year for the first time, informal sessions continued through the summer holidays, leading nicely into the highly successful inaugural Starcross Junior Regatta which was run in August over 4 days.
The season has been a great success, with juniors now regularly joining in club racing, and forming strong friendship groups. Some are keenly competitive racers (junior participation in Sunday racing has been it highest for years), while others just enjoy playing around on the water. The club tries hard to encourage and develop all young sailors, with a focus on fun and sociability.
A strong contingent of 18 Starcross Juniors travelled to the RYA Regional Championships in Weymouth in September, which was the club's best attendance at the Regionals. Starcross has organized a series of Winter Race Training events over the next few months, lead by external RYA coaches and assisted by Starcross' own team of RYA Race Coach Level 2 members, and this has been oversubscribed.
RYA Outstanding Contribution Community Volunteer Award
Jane Hill, who has been Junior Chair for many years until handing over to Helen Scott this year, received the prestigious RYA Outstanding Contribution Community Volunteer Award from Princess Anne at the RYA AGM and Awards Ceremony in London on 25 November 2021. This extremely well-deserved award recognizes the huge contribution which Jane has made to junior sailing at the club over a long time.
Round Britain!
SYC have a strong cruising section, with regular cruises in company on the Exe and further afield. In 2020, Derek Hathaway sailed his Westerly Fulmar Thalmia singlehanded around Britain, in support of Rainbow Living the learning disabilities charity. He was away for 3 months and arrived back at Starcross to much celebration on 25th July
RYA OnBoard Status
During the year the club gained RYA OnBoard status. OnBoard is the RYA's grassroots programme to get young people aged 8-18 into sailing and windsurfing and, nationally, since 2005 has introduced 750,000 young people to sailing.
Training
As an RYA accredited training centre, the club has continued to focus on providing a comprehensive suite of training courses for members, running various courses including an RYA Powerboat Level 2 course for 5 candidates; an RYA one day first aid course for 8 candidates, including a family of 4; an SRC VHF Course and Dinghy Instructor courses.
Because junior race training is progressing fast, SYC organised an RYA Race Coach Level 2 Course for 6 candidates within the club over a weekend in October.
Membership
Water sport activity including racing, leisure sailing, cruising, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding and windsurfing have all become hugely popular in 2021. As the club is able to offer facilities for these activities, membership has grown across all age groups, especially for families.
Starcross is about much more than competitive dinghy racing, and many new members have joined to enjoy the beautiful scenery and wildlife of the Exe estuary as well as some excellent sailing. There has been an increase in paddleboarders and kayaks as well as dinghies and yachts.
Investment in infrastructure
Under the leadership of Commodore Ian Purvis, a range of site improvements have been carried out, including a race analysis video system to aid OOD's decisions on potential start and finish line controversy, where race recordings can be viewed remotely by Race Results Officers in case of finish line protests. This has been a very successful addition. There has also been new decking for the clubhouse, and a large project to replace over 500 tyres used in the riverside boat park. This innovative project was completed during the period of lockdown at the start of the year, and was to remove all of the car tyres which were supporting dinghy trolleys in their berths. The tyres were responsibly recycled by Evans and Sons in Oxfordshire and replaced by a simple tanalised wooden stand, making ground maintenance easier and removing a potential health risk of foul water within the tyre body.
Starcross continues to go from strength to strength, and looks forward to another successful season in 2022
See www.starcrossyc.org.uk for more details about the club
If you would like to visit the club with a view to joining then please contact www.starcrossyc.org.uk/contacts/syc-officers/80-sarah-peat
The 2022 program is available on www.starcrossyc.org.uk/sailing-programme