Stewartby Sailing

“Radio Project” Update

Karl Pountney — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:50:24 +0000

We pleased to announce that we’re close to completing a project to update the sailing support radios.The ‘Radio Project’ represents a significant financial investment in on-the-water safety at the club and from today the system is available for use.

Key features of the system include:

A fixed radio base-station in the Race Hut.
Fixed radios in each of the support boats (Orange Aid & Avon RIB available soon)
Portable sets for Committee Boat & OOD
A marine radio system with better performance in all weathers.

The club has been awarded a ‘marina’ licence under which the system will operate and that requires all users to use a simple, easy to learn, radio procedure featuring call signs in place of of proper names. No formal training is required but we may put on a practice session if there is enough demand Please read the whole article for more details.

Thanks goes to Chris Janes for his work on the licence and sourcing the radio equipment. Installation was by Chris Janes, Karl Pountney & Steve Ivory.

Overview

Our new radio system uses widely available Marine VHF Radio sets with fixed units installed in the Race Hut (Base Station) and the 4 support boats. Portable radio sets are available for the Officer of the Day and the Race Officer when the committee boat is in use. All the sets are waterproof. If the portable sets are dropped in the water they will float and flash a red-light to help you pick them up again.

The club’s licence limits us to a number of assigned (public) frequencies with channel 37a (M1) selected for all sailing section radio traffic. All the radios have been pre-set to use this channel by default and users should not change this or any other settings on the radios.

Because of the licence and the use of public frequencies it’s important that CALL SIGNS are used in radio messages in place of proper names. This also makes messages much clearer which is important in a safety situation.

The work completed on May 11th means that the Race Hut, Dell Quay Dory, Ribtec 355 RIB “Rosie” and two portable radios are available for immediate use. The Rigiflex and Avon RIB will have radios fitted shortly.

The old PMR radio sets (Binatone & Motorola) have been withdrawn from use and should not be used.

Basic Dos and Don’ts

The OOD should switch on the Race Hut radio set as soon as the race-hut is opened at the start of the day or session.
All boats should be launched with the radio set TURNED ON.
When leaving the jetty, boats should REQUEST A RADIO CHECK, returning to shore in the event of a problem.
All radios should be switched off when boats are returned to the garages. Battery isolation switches will shortly be fitted to 3 of the boats to make this simple.
DO NOT change channel from 37a (M1) or alter any other settings on the radios, fixed or portable.
Always use CALL SIGNS (See below)

Call Signs

Race Hut Base-station – STEWPOT (SHORE)*
Red Ribtec 535 RIB – ROSIE
Grey Avon Searider RIB – AVON
Orange Rigiflex – ORANGE AID
Dell Quay Dory – DORY
Officer of the Day (Portable Radio) – OOD
Race Officer / Committee Boat – COMMITTEE BOAT
Training Senior Instructor – TRAINING SHORE

*STEWPOT is our Ofcom assigned call sign. STEWPOT SHORE or STEWARTBY SHORE, which provides greater clarity, is acceptable. SHORE, RACE HUT or STEWARTBYare incorrect.

Other call signs may be assigned from time-to-time, most commonly for events. (e.g. BEACH MASTER, RESULTS OFFICE, etc.). Details will normally be displayed on the race hut notice board or provided via a briefing.

Personal names as call signs should be avoided whenever a boat or role-based call sign is available. If absolutely necessary, use either your first-name or surname: STEVE, KARL, KEV, NORMAN, GRUMMITT, etc.

An Example Conversation

ROSIE, ROSIE THIS IS STEWPOT SHORE OVER
STEWPOT SHORE THIS IS ROSIE go ahead OVER
ROSIE THIS IS STEWPOT SHORE, please attend to the capsized Laser near number 1 mark, OVER
STEWPOT SHORE THIS IS ROSIE, we’re on our way, OVER
ROSIE THIS IS STEWPOT SHORE, thank-you, OUT

Notice that the conversation starts with the receiver’s call sign (ROSIE) being said twice. When Rosie responds you only need to say it once in each message. See how OVER is used to indicate it’s the other party’s turn. At the end of the message, STEWARTBY SHORE uses OUT to end the message. Never use OVER AND OUT.

Hints & Tips

You are busy and can’t answer immediately to a message sent to you? Try using: “ROSIE THIS IS STEWPOT SHORE STAND BY.”
Want to add emphasis to part of your message? Example use: “ROSIE THIS IS STEWPOT SHORE, Please remove the flag from mark 4 I REPEAT mark 4 OVER.”
What to send a message to everyone? Use: “ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS THIS IS COMMITTEE BOAT, beginning race starting sequence in 1 minute, OUT.”
What to request a radio check? Then use: “ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS THIS IS ROSIE REQUEST RADIO CHECK OVER.”
Didn’t quite hear who transmitted the message to you? Respond this way: “STATION CALLING THIS IS ROSIE, please repeat your message, OVER.”
Use “YES YES” or “AFFIRMATIVE” for the word ‘yes’, and “NEGATIVE” for the word ‘no’. It’s much clearer over the radio.
Use the phonetic alphabet to spell out words if necessary.
Give the receiver time to answer your message. Wait and then repeat your message if necessary.

Further Information

A downloadable guide will be available shortly.

If you have any questions when you’re at the club, please see either Chris Janes, Karl Pountney or Steve Ivory.

Regulations

As with much in life, there are a few important things you should be aware of.

The Marine VHF channel 37a (M1) forms part of the Sailing Section’s Ofcom Marina Licence and is reserved for sailing section radio communications including safety boat messages, race management, sailing school messages and other authorised radio traffic; and no other channel may be used to transmit sailing section messages.
No radio messages shall be disruptive or trivial; cause offence or contain foul language; or in any way, bring the Sailing Section, or club, into disrepute.

Use of personally owned or non-SWSC Marine VHF Radios

Members or affiliate organisations may only operate personally owned radio sets if the set has a valid licence from Ofcom, and the equipment owner holds an appropriate operator licence (SRC, typically).
Affiliate groups and external organisations using other channels must inform the OOD at the earliest opportunity of the channel in that is in use. A typical example is channel 6 ‘Safety’ for Sea Cadet groups.

Dinghy Racing & Radio Communications

Members taking part in racing are reminded that they are not permitted to send or receive radio messages while racing (see the club sailing instructions). All messages between members of the race-committee and safety boats shall be considered confidential.

Membership Renewal Update!

Karl Pountney — Mon, 06 May 2013 22:43:22 +0000

The 2013 membership renewal period has gone quite well. Many members have renewed in time and we’ve on-boarded a good number of new members which you’ll read about our new members in the next Windshift.

We still have a little work to do and are two really important points we would like all members to consider:

If you haven’t renewed your membership yet please do so as soon as possible. If you haven’t renewed yet, or you’ve renewed recently and not recieved your new membership cards, you may get a call from a member of the committee in the next 10 days. If this reminder has prompted you to send your form in, please let us know (email link below).
If you’ve renewed before the 7th April and not received your membership cards, boat stickers, or payment hasn’t been cashed. Please let us know immediately. Mistakes are rare, but we’d like to clear this up quickly.

The email address for all enquiries is membership@swsc.org.uk.

Pursuit Racing Series & Bank Holiday Weekend

Karl Pountney — Mon, 06 May 2013 22:18:25 +0000

It’s been a very busy weekend at the club and the opening two races of our 2013 pursuit racing series. The Pursuit Series results are now available on the website. We’re interested in what you think about Pursuit Racing, so please take part in a short 2 question survey, courtesy of SurveyMonkey

The Saturday recreational session was attended mainly by dry-sailors working on their boats while the wind whipped across the lake. The Ampthill mob and the Bunyans took to the water later on in the session as the clouds broke and the sun came out. In the race-hut, the first of two small working parties made a start on the “Radio Project” which is a significant investment in safety for the sailing section. Look out for more information in the very near future.

We also welcomed a number of new members to the club this weekend and took a potential member afloat for her first taste of sailing. If you want to give sailing a try or find-out about membership at Stewartby, please contact membership@swsc.org.uk and arrange to come along to the club.

With light-variable winds, the racing wasn’t as close as previous years. But a mistake by Race Officer Tim Browning in starting the sequence a little bit too early lead to an exciting finish and a protest for redress in the second race. As the conditions improved towards the latter part of the race, Matt Butler’s boat began to move through the fleet towards the front eventually passing race leader Andi Riley. However, Andi’s start had been hampered by the race starting early. He missed his starting gun by a margin similar to the gap between him and Andi at the end of the race. A short arbitration hearing was held with the outcome being both boats being awarded 1st place by redress (RDG on the scoring sheet).

Remember to take part in our survey.

Recreational Sailing & Something New

Karl Pountney — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:51:54 +0000

Saturday May 4th is the start of this summer’s recreational sailing program. As usual the support boat is available from12.30 until 4.30 but this year we’re trying something new. For 10 Saturdays between now and the end of July, a duty instructor will be available to offer advice, tips and exercises to help you improve your sailing.
We hope this new initiative will be popular with those who want to improve. If getting started in racing is your thing, look out for the Saturday morning session in a few week’s time immediately before the Houghton Cup.
The duty instructor this Saturday is Karl Pountney.

2013 Results Now Available

Karl Pountney — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:28:01 +0000

We’ve published the 2013 results page on the site. Take a look.

Wednesday Evening Sailing Returns – Tonight! 6.15pm

admin — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 06:30:19 +0000

Yes, that’s right, Wednesday Evening Racing has returned at 6.15pm this evening. What’s more, the Galley will be open this evening for meals thanks to Samantha Fossey coming forward to cover our sailing programme for a few weeks. So, even if you’re unable to sail this evening, why not come along and have dinner at the club and have a drink from the bar.

See you there!

2013 Duties

Karl Pountney — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 08:32:28 +0000

This year’s duty list allocation has been delayed for a number of reasons, some technical and some logistical. You can view the duty list by following this link: 2013 Duty List.

You can apply for your duty in 2 ways:

Complete the 2013 Duty Request form that will be included in your copy of Windshift, which is due shortly.
Complete an Online Duty Request form.

Very soon you’ll be able to book directly into the online duty list.

Working Party – 24th March – Cancelled

Karl Pountney — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:49:02 +0000

With the weather not improving and Wickes unable to deliver the working party materials today, the working party on Sunday 24th March is cancelled. There won’t be any sailing either, and I’m sorry for any inconvienience.

Much of the planned work needed dry conditions with temperatures above freezing: painting, concreting, timber treatment, etc. This work still needs to be completed and we’ll keep you posted about a re-arranged date. — Regards Karl Pountney, Commodore.

Become a Committee Member

admin — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 08:00:58 +0000

The AGM on February 24th saw the 2013 Section Officers and Committee elected with new Commodore, Karl Pountney, taking the helm from retiring Ruth Ivory. We’ve a busy year planned and we’re keen to hear from anyone interested in helping out either on the committee or in some other capacity.

If you can help, please contact Karl Pountney by email at: karl.pountney@swsc.org.uk

Icicle Series – Duty Crew Required & Results

Karl Pountney — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:17:40 +0000

The 2013 Icicle series continued on Sunday 3rd March. Turn-out was good in-spite of the Dinghy Show luring members away to Alley Pally. Both races were won by Richard Hargreaves who looks likely to take the series in two week’s time. The results table has been updated.

Richard is next week’s race officer and we really need a few volunteers to step-in and be support boat crew. If you are interested please go to the 2013 Icicle Series Duties and sign-up. Clicking on a link will send an email to the duty manager. Simple.

Also: If you don’t currently receive news by email, please subscribe now and you’ll get an notified every time we add a news item. It’s easy, use the Subscribe by Email link in the top right of the website homepage.