Get Racing Club enables participation in Chichester Harbour Race Week

HISC Get Racing Club participants improving start-line techniques © Melvyn Cooper

The success of the HISC Get Racing Club initiative in encouraging non racers to start racing has been so successful that a number of its participants were confident enough to take part in the recent Chichester Harbour Race Week. In 2015, the 'club within a club' that aims to encourage non-racers to get out on the water through volunteer-led coaching and fun, informal racing, has seen 160 sailors take part this year in its twice monthly summer events.

The first August HISC Get Racing Club event enjoyed blue skies and light winds and saw a mix of 10 boats and 16 racers take to the water under the watchful eye of the HISC Flying Fifteen mentors including Mark Darling, Roger Palmer, Greg Wells, Chris Waples and Hamish Streeter. A freshening breeze and warm sunny weather enabled the mentors to put on an extra fourth race in near-perfect blue-sky sailing conditions. Learning points from the session included the importance of sitting forward to reduce stern drag as well as being tight on the line for the best starts and early preparation for rounding the leeward mark. The Flying Fifteen mentors noted that all the participants progressed well throughout the lesson and they were encouraged to seek the mentors in the bar to ask additional questions!

Father and son duo's were the theme for the second August Get Racing Club event, hosted by the HISC RS800 club, with Simon and Paul Childs and Roddy and Harry Bowerman mentoring the group of 20 participants. Sunshine, blue skies and warm weather greeted the mixed fleet of 13 boats, which included 7 newcomers. The learning topics for the day included start line techniques, tidal conditions, mark rounding, hiking to keep flat and first beat tactics.

Mentors Simon and Paul Childs commented, "The standard of the Get Racing Club has developed noticeably from this time last year, creditable progress has been made throughout the GRC fleet."

A clear endorsement of the success of the Get Racing Club initiative was the fact that 12 GRC participants felt confident enough with their racing abilities to take part in Chichester Harbour Race Week. Commenting on this achievement, GRC Class Captain Tony Sanders commented, "I spoke to 12 people at HISC last week who were racing in the Chichester Harbour Race Week and they had all learnt their skills through GRC, that's quite an achievement for which I'm very proud."

The next Get Racing Club event will take place on Saturday 5th September 2015 with an all star team mentoring. For more information about the Get Racing Club initiative please visit www.hisc.co.uk/sailing-racing/club-racing/hisc-get-racing-club or the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/HISC.GRC.

The GRC dates for the rest of the season are:

• 5th & 19th September
• 3rd October 2015