Welcome to the latest club news….

Duties Update 2025

The CVLSC Duties Book has just been updated and is available via the club website and on the duties desk at the club.
It has been significantly updated over the last 18 months to reflect enhancements in duty- related policies and procedures, to facilitate safe, secure and efficient use of the club.

For those of you who are new to the club, we would recommend at least reading the sections relevant to your duty in advance of your duty day.

Longer standing members would benefit from reading the changes, which for ease of use, have been highlighted in blue. These include updates or changes to:

  • Fire Policy
  • Legionella prevention actions to be undertaken by the duty team on Saturdays
  • Visitors’ book and leaflets
  • New undercover boat store garage doors
  • Refuelling policy
  • Defibrillator guidance
  • Accident and near miss forms
  • Use of electric boats
  • Poor visibility

We hope the Duty Book is a useful reference manual for how things should be done at the club in relation to duties, and will hopefully answer many of the questions that you may. As always, we would welcome suggestions for how it can be improved.
Mark Dinwoodie
Duties Secretary
duties@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

Youth Program Update 2025

This year’s youth instructing team are gearing up for an instructor prep day on 13th April ahead of the programme starting on the weekend of 26/27 April. There are still a few spaces available on Chew Crew RACE (For those sailing at stage 3+ level) and plenty of spaces for the Saturday morning stage 1 beginners course. The Chew Crew FUN programme has unfortunately sold out.

Seafaring Thriller to be filmed at Chew

In a surprising twist for local sailing enthusiasts, Netflix has chosen Chew Valley Lake as a key filming location for its upcoming pirate thriller series, having aquired the rights of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The production will blend historical drama with high-stakes adventure, featuring a cast of rising stars as well as local resident Jonny Depp and Keira Knightly.

Joe Kerr, who is to produce the new series, said that they “were drawn to Chew Valley Lake for its scenic beauty and secluded atmosphere”, which she said provides the perfect backdrop for dramatic on-water sequences. Filming is set to take place from early May and last several weeks, with some areas of the lake temporarily restricted to accommodate the production crew.

The Spanish galleon to be used for filming is pictured below on its mooring in Herons Bay yesterday evening, and construction of the pirate harbour will commence in the next few days

We are also delighted to confirm that sailing club members of all ages will have the opportunity to get involved in the production, with the production team now seeking experienced sailors locally to assist with handling period-style boats used in the series and also potentially to star as extras.

“We are looking for some salty sea dogs to fill a variety of roles and would encourage everyone interested to start sprouting an appropriate pirate beard now. Lady pirates and juniors do not need to grow beards, but everyone taking part will need to be comfortable having buckets of cold water thrown over them and be comfortable talking ‘pirate speak” oooh arrrgggh.

Sailing club members wanting to take part in the filming should please register their interest here

While filming is expected to bring some temporary disruptions, with the spanish galleon occasionally firing its’ canons for dramatic effect as it port tacks the fleet off the start on a wednesday evening, it also presents an exciting opportunity for us to be part of a major production. Netflix has promised to work closely with us to minimise impact on other lake activities.

Thursday evening sailing starts on 08-May-25

(Safety cover from 6pm)

Includes Improvers and Start Racing,
details below

This is a great way for all to develop your sailing and try a little low key racing in a fun, friendly and sociable group

There are 3 ways to participate:
1. Have a lovely sail on our lovely lake

2. “Improvers” (you can sail but maybe have only just learned or haven’t sailed for a while)
You might like some help with rigging, a bit of advice or suggestion of an activity on the water.
An experienced sailor will be on hand from 6pm- meet by the flagpole.

3. Start Racing,
For anyone interested in taking up racing or looking to build a bit more confidence to race, this is for you…
The start racing sessions kick off on Thursday 29-May-25 and run over 5 successive Thursday evenings providing an informal and relaxed introduction to racing at Chew.

Meet at 6pm, rigged and changed, for a short briefing, ashore by 8pm, debrief and bar open.
To get the most out of these sessions, please try to attend at least one Thursday session before 29-May-25 to refamiliarise yourself with your boat.
No need to book, just turn up as and when you can. You’ll need your own boat or access to a club one – any class is fine.

If you have any questions, do contact us
Helen Martin helen.martin@sandsfoothouse.co.uk
Chris Meredith cncm63@gmail.com
James Williams sailing@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

Frostbite Series 2025 – Fleet captain Updates

Solos

12 Helms took part in the series with Chris Goldhawk and Steve Penfold dominating the series, by a) by turning up, and B) being fast!.

Well done to Chris & Steve and we were also glad to welcome Nigel Chapman as a Frostbite Member and Graham Crawford-Smith as visitor. With luck better winds and warmer weather will drag more Solo helms out for the Spring Points series.

ILCAs

The 2024-25 Frostbite series began in the depths of January and finished last Sunday with the perfect wind, glorious sunshine and victory for Chris Sunderland who sailed the perfect series. In the end, no-one else came close. I was second and Sarah Harding came 3rd in her 4.7, winning a bunch of first and second places along the way (although probably not as many as she deserved). Special mention to Giovanni Bianchi, who got better as the series progressed and drove through the fleet to grab fifth place, congrats to Simon Cummings in fourth place. Wednesday evening sailing starts next week and we’ll be changing to the green ILCA 6 flag as a start flag. Not only does it reflect the change in the name of the boat, but it will be easier to see from the start line. If you need a little help getting to the start line, drop the fleet captains a line on ChewLasers@gmail.com and we’ll be more than happy to help.

Helen Martin and Gus Cameron show off the new Laser / ILCA start flag, in use from April 1st

Peggy Taylor

Sadly news reached us during March that ex member Peggy Taylor died peacefully at her home in Poole on 14-Feb-25 (dob 30.05.1926). Although I didn’t personally recall Peggy, some members may and I understand she was the first lady commodore at CVLSC, and perhaps the first in a UK sailing club, quite some milestone.

Andy Jones

Commodore