We’re now almost three months since the 2015 AGM and past Harbour’s Winter Equinox date to spring Launch, so it’s that time again for the 1st quarterly report of the 2016 season. As noted at the AGM, NSC continues to be one of the largest active racing club fleets and cruising communities in Canada with a very rich and comprehensive Sailing Program. A testament to the current program structure and 7,5K+ volunteer hours invested each year by dedicated teams of your fellow NSC members!
2016 Fleet Committee: You can view this year’s volunteer members of the 2016 NSC Fleet Committee. Along with key Fleet Roles, Fleet Representatives play a critical role in effective and member-driven program decision making by serving as a consolidated voice and communication link for the 18+ individual NSC racing fleets on matters of interest. Please remember to thank them for getting involved on your behalf! If you’re interested in being part of shaping the success of the program, or club affairs in general, please feel free to contact me directly at fleet@nsc.ca.
Your new 2016 Fleet Committee has been hard at work laying the foundation for another great Sailing season of fun and competitive sailing activities. These include some of the Q1 accomplishments below.
2016 Program Priorities: As part of the club’s annual strategic planning, Fleet Committee has set the following initial guiding program priorities for 2016, with the goal of enhancing member participation:
- Improve onboarding of potential new crew
- Bettor bridging with Sail Training(Youth, Adult, Able)
- Promote/Develop our more social, fun sailing events
- Nurture Interclub relations and coordination
- Maintain high quality race management and regattas
These will be fine-tuned and incorporated with the club’s overall priorities in coming months. In addition to the regular large body of work required to plan and run NSC’s Sailing Program, a number of program tweaks and new initiatives will be introduced that support these objectives.
2016 Interclub Sailing Calendar: Work on the joint BYC/NSC 2016 Interclub Race Series and Event calendar is close to complete and will be published later as part of the 2016 Interclub Sailing Instructions. Hugh Morrin has already published the confirmed NSC club events including Fleet events on the NSC Events Calendar. Check it out to see what’s planned at NSC for 2016!
2016 Race Bosuns: Hiring is now underway for the NSC Race Bosun team to be led by returning Head Race Bosun, Wynn Davies. We are seeking interested candidates for the positions of both Senior and Junior Race Bosuns this year. The job postings and application instructions have been published on the NSC website as well as OSA and Sail Canada sites (Senior only).
Race & PHRF Registration: As you’re reading this, you would have received the 2016 Race Registration and PHRF-LO Certificate renewal forms by now along with your NSC Mooring Invoices. To register your boat for 2016, please fill out the Race Registration form and mail it in to the NSC office, or scan and email the form to Jan Huus, the Chief Handicapper/Registrar.
2016 RC Volunteers: The NSC online Race Committee Volunteer sign-up calendar is now live! If you plan on racing in 2016, each participating boat is required to sign-up for RC duties. So please remember to review the RC Volunteers Procedure and sign-up early to get your preferred dates before they’re gone!
North U. Boat Speed Seminar: Jacques Adam is arranging with North U. a racing trim and boat speed seminar to be instructed by Geoff Moore and hosted at NSC, April 16th. This is a fabulous opportunity for those who are interested in obtaining professional education in sail trim, sail shape, and performance upwind and down. Stay tuned for further details.
2016 NSC Regattas: The NSC Regatta chairs have pulled together their core teams and have starting planning for this season. Dates for our key major 2016 regattas so far will be;
- Ottawa Skiff & Cat Grand Prix, June 4-5
- Nepean One Design (NOD), June 18-19
- National Capital Cup Able Sail, TBD
- O’Pen BIC Unregatta, August 13-14
- FANFARE, September 10-11
NSC and the NOD team is excited to be hosting the J/24 Ontario Championships and a J/24 2017 World’s Qualifier as part of this year’s 2016 NOD. More exciting NSC regatta class designation announcements are to come.
Also of important local note, the Lac Deschenes Open PHRF regatta will be hosted by BYC again this year, but has been moved to August 6-7 2016. Since BYC will host the 2016 Canadian Women’s Keelboat Championship the week of September 15-18th.
In the coming months, Fleet will be finalizing changes to the 2016 Interclub Sailing Instructions with BYC, advancing Regatta and major event planning, and putting in place all the pieces for the start of the regular Sailing season.
Just think, only two months plus left till Launch and the NSC Ice Breaker Series start!
Ross H. Ernst
Fleet Captain 2016