HISC Get Racing Club – Successful end to second season

by Sarah Johnson on 4 Nov 2015 The second year of the HISC Get Racing Club finished with a flourish earlier this month with the HISC Flag Officers hosting the final on-water event in October, in exceptionally warm and sunny conditions. The hugely successful initiative, which uses experienced club volunteers to mentor non-racing members and encourage them to learn new skills and have a go at informal racing, succeeded in transiting some of its members into main club racing and regatta events this year.

Taking full advantage of the mild autumnal weather, the first September Get Racing Club event bristled with experienced volunteer mentors in the form of Rear Commodore Racing Andy Partington together with Karen Partington, Debbie Darling and Gareth Edwards. With a perfect 10 knots of breeze and warm sunshine, the aim of the session was to hone race starting techniques including line transits, holding positions and line bias. Seven short races were organized to enable a good number of race starts for the mix of RS Ventures, Qubas, Lasers, Aero and RS 200 participants.

A good level of improvement was noticed as a result of the session, with GRC Participant Selina Strowlger commenting, “We are so lucky to have such superb support from top mentors and volunteers in a great sailing environment. Thanks Debbie, Andy, Karen and Gareth for giving us a great afternoon's sailing.”

The penultimate event of the 2015 season once again enjoyed idyllic late-season sailing conditions. Hosted by a mix of hugely experienced Laser 4000 and Fireball sailors, Doug Baker, Dave Watson and Toby Hamer, the Get Racing Club event welcomed back the RYA Sailing Development Manager Hannah Cockle. Starts, laylines and leeward mark roundings were the focus of the day with the sailors benefiting from the light winds and blue sunny skies. Mentor Toby Hamer added to the learning experience by videoing participants which was used to great effect in the post-race debrief.

RYA Sailing Development Manager Hannah Cockle commented, “I had such a great time at the HISC Get Sailing Club; I haven’t been out sailing for a while so thank you for having me. Jo, Rachel and Ian were fantastic sailing partners in the RS Venture; it was great fun.”

The final Get Racing Club event of the 2015 season was hosted by the HISC Flag Officers in the form of Commodore Greg Lamb, Vice Commodore Sailing Mike Dawe, Vice Commodore House John Rees together with very experienced sailor Victoria Payne. Once again the Get Racing Club participants enjoyed incredibly warm and sunny conditions with a perfect 10-12 knot breeze. The All Star mentor team put on an excellent series of three back to back, triangle/sausage races for the 19 sailors. Learning techniques for the day included roll tacking and light airs boat handling.

Regular participant to GRC Claire Lewis commented “Thank you for a great final GRC for this year and for the positive feedback; I really enjoyed it. Huge thanks to all who have volunteered to run GRC and put time in to running this great stepping stone to helping us all improve our sailing.”

In 2015 the HISC Get Racing club saw 252 sailors participate across the 12 events held from April to October. 12 Get Racing Club members felt confident enough with their new racing skills to take part in mainstream club and open regatta events.