Memories (KeithM)
Memories from Keith of last season's inland camping expedition on Ullswater - and extra safety concerns with fully laden boats.
Safely Sail More Than A Mile (SteveR)
Opinion: The Majority of OCSG Members Do Not Possess the Skills to Safely Sail More Than a Mile From the Campsite.
Well, it's unashamedly a controversial statement; I think maybe I'm reacting to having passed on the role of Chair to Jeff - it's quite nice to feel able to be controversial once more! So can I back up the statement with facts? Well, sort of, yes. The survey I did at the Winter Meet indicated that 76% of those present had no experience of at least one of the skills defined by the OCSG as being necessary for inland day trips.
This year we have introduced the idea of assigning skill levels to meets. Most meets have been classified as Level 1 - i.e. suitable for those with 'Basic Skills'. There are some consequences to this. If a meet is advertised as being suitable for sailors who do not have the (Level 2) skills to make a day trip, then meet organisers are in a very dubious legal position if they organise a group outing to the other end of the lake.
I would like, and I suspect that I'm not alone, to classify more weekends as Level 2 meets next year. Sailors would be advised to only attend these meets if they had the skills to make a day trip in their canoe, so it would be acceptable at these meets for a meet organiser to encourage sailors to form self sufficient groups and make their way to a meeting point at the other end of the lake. I do think though, that the number of Level 2 meets in a year should reflect the demographic of the OCSG. This year 78% of the meets are suitable for those with 'Basic Skills'; this seems appropriate if the statistics in my opening paragraph are taken into account.
There is another way of looking at this: are the OCSG's recommended skill requirements for day trips too high? Is that why so few sailors make the (self-assessed) grade? One major stumbling block during self-certification is experience of self-rescue after a capsize. Does anybody know of a capsize involving a sailing canoe with two mini outriggers? I think it is a bit early to say yet, but there may be a case for canoe sailors who always use high quality outriggers to not have to worry about practicing self-rescue after a capsize.
Experience of rescuing others was shown to be quite scarce in the survey too. I think that I may be partly to blame for this; whenever I see a capsize I tend to barge in and take control. Maybe more experienced sailors should stand back a bit?
Are the majority of members interested in sailing more than a mile from the campsite? Am I doing you a disservice by suggesting that you don't have the skills for day trips? I'd love it if you proved me wrong…
Winning The Canoe Championship Of America (Uffa Fox)
Below is an extract from a 1992 journal of the Historic Canoe and Kayak Association, describing Uffa Fox's and Roger De Quincy's visit to Bayside, Long Island, NY in Aug 1933, and scheming is afoot!
...That night, after we were in our room, Roger and I had a yarn over things. To win the cup, we had to win the next two races and if we could only win the next, we should probably win the last whatever happened, for we should be on the upward, while the others would be on the downward path. So we thought, if one went ahead and won while the other stayed back and played about with the American team, and held them back, all would be well. As I was the elder it would be better for me to play Mr. Nuisance if possible, for my football position had been centre half, where I used to fairly successfully prevent the other team from playing football, so I hoped to be able to hold back the two American canoes. By the rules, only the first canoe home counted, so it would not matter where I finished, as long as I attracted the American canoes from Roger, so that
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