I've been sailing small dinghys for over 30 years and driving motorboats/speedboats for more than that including deep sea fishing, ski-boat driving and it all weathers/tidal conditions. It would be fair to say that I am probably reasonably competant.

So...

I decide to bring my old mirror sailing dinghy back to Suffolk in order that I can teach the sprog how to sail (nice father/daughter bonding thing). Where I live in Suffolk is miles from the sea so I decide to join a local sailing club in order to use a freshwater lake that is closer.

So far so good (including towing the mirror 500 miles!!). I join up with the local club...

Insurance - wtf? Required minimum of £1m 3rd party liability I'm sailing a mirror sailing dinghy in a fresh water lake in Suffolk. The whole boat weighs no more than me, has no sharp edges and is no way dangerous - what do I need insurance for? Never had it before

Then..

Club needs help with various things such as stewarding racing, "officer on duty" and "manning the safety boat". Now the safety boat is a small motorboat that is put out if someone runs out of wind or capability. But I won't be able to do that because I haven't done a recognised course!! Flabbergasted!

I don't normally complain about PC stuff and £19 for the insurance is hardly going to break the bank but the need for a "motorboat course"??

I'm sure there'll be more...

 

What if you dont want to race ? - i spect theyll still want you to conform , its all RYA bollocks .
Cant you find a stretch to sail on without belonging to a club.


If your driving the rescue boat youll need the ticket - when i belonged to a dinghy sailing club it was also a requirment to chip in ( even tho i only ever windsurfed from the place - nothing to do with the rest to them) , but i was only crew so didnt need to do the course .

 

The next year they banned windsurfing between the piers ( brighton) so that was sort of that anyway,

upped sticks

 

Puff

I beg to differ.......the Mirror dinghys had quite a few sharp edges towards the front which could maim an unsuspecting swimmer quite badly..why they did away with the pointy bit at the front I'll never know

http://svc048.wic007tv.server-web.com/M4.jpg

There's nothing wrong with the "James May GP 14" for a bit of classic sailing


http://www.startedsailing.com/images/gp14one.jpg

Shaun

 

Shaun

Quite a new one you have there m8 Same colour as mine is now though, just stripped it down and primered the hull for the first time in a very long time but soon it'll get it's colour back

 

All these regulations etc. are getting well OTT. Villages are finding it impossible now to hold a fete because of all the insurance etc. that is required now, and if you want to have a bit of a parade to celebrate, you have to get it cleared and insured by so many organisations that it is not viable any more. They are doing well in suppressing our age old culture and traditions!

Les

 

James, never knew you sailed (we'll overlook the power aspect ).

We've got a large sailing school at our club, running dinghy's and optimists, and looking at the requirements, I don't see any insurance requirements there, probably covered under the club's insurance, or maybe a waiver on the application form. One amusing thing on the listing is "My Child Cannot Swim" - some answer given, as I've admin rights I'm tempted to put in "Well, they'll learn bloody quickly when they fall in then!"

I know we have insurance for our boat, but then a 24ft sailboat is going to do you a lot more damage than a smaller dinghy.

Rescue boat thing annoys me too. We are on a mooring ball, so need to get out to our boat to use it, either it's try and find a rowboat to get out (club supplied, but most in poor condition or being used by others) or use the Water taxi. Now we could drive the taxi out ourselves, if we have the appropriate license.

Everyone over here will need some pleasure craft operators license come september as well. Some sense in that, as knowing the rules and regulations does help, for example, make sure you do have VHF on board (you'd think people would know that, but some don't!). Still a bloody pain though, and it's rumored the club won't accept your membership renewal unless you offer proof of having the card, which will be amusing as Rose doesn't have one yet, and she's now the membership director for the club, so she'll have to prevent herself from renewing membership with the club

I think the bottom line is it all comes down to people being too scared that something will happen and out comes the legal action, and thus you have to smother yourself in cotton wool with insurance to protect yourself.

I pity the children of this day and age as they can't do most of the things we did due to all this PC claptrap. I'd love to know what would happen in school these days if I slipped on the floor (due to me running around the classroom) and smacked my head on the corner of the desk and it started to bleed a little. Back then, trip to the office and then off home. These days? Probably have to log the incident and tell the insurance company, get H&S involved and all kinds of other crap.

 

James

So you are a sailor boy?

Now things begin to make sense

 

If only your duck-pond were bigger...

 

makes me laugh - a mate and I bought a speedboat on a whim 5 years ago and used it on Loch Lomond. No need for insurance, a licence or anything (which surprised us as it was a handful and could do just over 40 knots) - just £5 for a registration number to stick on it for the Loch. Sorted

Shame we moved and had to sell it - but great fun.

G