Saturday 13 October 2018

The Keelboat Section AGM was held at Southwick Clubhouse on Saturday 13th October 2018.

Please view the Minutes here:

For those boats sailing near the Rampion Wind Farm the following Notice To Mariners may be very useful as it sets out the position of the Cardinal Marks very clearly. See details here.

In order for yachts to race at SYC we need skippers and crews to take their turn to carry out Race Officer Duties.

The dates for these duties are published below and are based on skippers' choices made at the Pre-Season Keelboat Sailing Meeting each year, with the remaining dates allocated to boats by the Keelboat Sailing Committee.

The purpose of the table below is to report any issues with our racing marks. If you are aware that one is off station or missing then please inform the sailing section by email to the sailing section or contact the office.

The information on this page should be used by Race Officers when planning racing.  

Racing Mark Information at 23rd February 2019

As discussed at the Keelboat Sailing meeting on Saturday 2nd March, we need to record the activity of both skippers and crew involved in keelboat sailing. This applies to all racing and rallies and will form part of the essential record for CASC for our section and will be used in the event of any HMRC inspection. The form is designed for a series but needs to be completed for every outing and returned after each series preferably by email to the sailing section or as hard copy through the office. Because of the importance of this requirement the Keelboat Sailing Committee will take a dim view of any persistent failures to complete and ultimately boats may not qualify for a result.

Competitors should note that Sussex Yacht Club implements the RYA Racing Charter and that they will be required to undertake to sail in compliance with the Charter, which is detailed below.

If you have some feedback on the racing, rallying or any other aspect of the Keelboat Sailing Section activities which you want to put to the committee then there's a specific email address for you to use. Email all your constructive comments to us at sailing-section@sussexyacht.club.

In addition to the regular racing, David Skinner continues to organise the Pursuit Racing. If you wish to try racing, train crew, tune up your own performance or just have a fun sail for an hour or two on a Saturday, then Pursuiting could be for you. No mass starts or pressures. You start in order of your handicap number (slowest go first) the courses are short and simple, very suitable for beginners to both racing and crewing. Pursuit Racing is an ideal introduction to keelboat racing and takes place on Saturday afternoons throughout the season. If you want to join in then speak to David Skinner (Moonlight Saunter) or David Nunn (Escape) at Southwick on the day or email sailing-section@sussexyacht.club beforehand, they will also arrange a handicap number for your boat if you don't already have one.

The Keelboat Sailing Handbook contains an overview of all the Keelboat racing at Sussex Yacht Club and functions both as a guide and as Notice of Race for each of the individual events and series.

It also contains the general keelboat sailing instructions, guide to mandatory keelboat safety equipment and other useful information for 2019. Revised 19/01/19 and may be revised again during the season but any changes will be emailed to all registered skippers.

Download the Keelboat Sailing Handbook v2 in PDF here ›› 

Updated January 2018

If you are a racing skipper at SYC you'll need this document, so click, download, print and take it afloat. The chart is based on the position of the Marks on 22nd February 2017. See the Mark Status section on this page for current details.

Download the Inshore Racing Marks chart  ››

The current NHC and IRC numbers are shown below. If you need help applying for an IRC number then please speak to someone on the Race Committee, see the Sailing Handbook elsewhere on these pages.

Whilst boats can apply for a revised IRC number a yacht will not have her rating within the club changed midway through a series. It is therefore possible that a yacht may have two different ratings when different series are run concurrently.

NHC numbers are the Base numbers and may change after each race according to the particular rules. IRC numbers shown below are currently valid for the Spring 2019 series onwards.

The base handicaps for 2019 Pursuit racing are shown below with an explanation of how they are derived. They may then be amended after each race according to the Pursuiting rules, boats will then continue with their revised handicaps and these will develop during the year depending on actual performance on the water.

Skippers do not need to do anything more than turn up on the day to be able to enter a Pursuit race (there is a small £3 a race fee that will be collected later). Just turn up, read the instructions on the Southwick notice board or if in doubt ask David Skinner (Moonlight Saunter) or David Nunn (Escape) and they will make sure you have an easy introduction.

Being Race Officer is nothing to be apprehensive about; we all know how chaotic it can be on the beach when the clock is counting down and your flags are all tangled or you can't quite read the sail number of that boat that insists on staying right out at the far end of the line.... relax, it will always work out OK!