Help get sailing back on the agenda!

Boat owners who store their boats at the Club would have received an email on 11 June with a request to borrow 15 minutes of your time. Australian Sailing Victoria has been lobbying the Victorian Government in an attempt to get sailing back on the calendar and are asking for your help. See below for the email that was distributed.

 

Dear SYC Boat Owners,

Together with Australian Sailing, SYC is advocating to get the following exemptions added to the proposed June 22 COVID-19 easing of restrictions:

• Competitive sailing be allowed
• Exemption from the 4m2 per person rule when participating in sailing activities; Proposed solution: Replace with “Comply with 4m2 per person where practically possible”
• Exemption from 1.5m rule when participating in sailing activities; Proposed solution: Replace with “Maintain 1.5m physical distance where practically possible”
• Exemption from the 10-person limit; Proposed solution: Permit sailing vessels to be manned with crew numbers to facilitate their safe operation

If you could find 10-15 minutes to spare and help the cause, we would encourage you to write to your Local MP advocating for this as well. I have attached a template of a letter (filename: SYC Members MP Letter June 2020) you could modify as you deem appropriate – then google your local MP and email them the letter.

Thanks for your consideration. I have attached the letter Australian Sailing have been using and I have also enclosed below the correspondence SYC has sent to a number of relevant State MPs.

Warm Regards & Stay Safe

 

Richard Hewett
Chief Executive

 

For the Australian Sailing correspondence, click here

For the MP letter template, click here

 

—

 

Minister Letters

 

Dear…

Hope you are well.

As a Membership based organisation, the Sandringham Yacht Club (SYC) has been working hard during the Covid crisis to keep our 2800 annual and 700 sail pass members engaged. It’s been an incredibly challenging time and continues to be so.

SYC plays a pivotal role in our local community on many levels. For most of our several thousand stakeholders and for many of our Members, we are their second home. We provide an outlet for physical exercise, sport, and in turn we provide a platform for better mental health and general well-being. Importantly, when trading normally, SYC and related onsite businesses collectively employ well in-excess of 120 full time and casual staff. Without permission to run our core activity of competitive yacht racing, we are in limbo on many fronts.

Sailing occurs in an open air, salt-water environment, on a field of play without rigid boundaries, where competitors in the same race are often separated by several hundred meters, run with no ‘on-field’ officials, without spectators and racing occurs a safe distance from land. Moreover there is no difference to the risk profile in sailing whether conducting “training” (as we are now) or “competition”. Please also bear in mind sailing boats need multiple people onboard working together to perform maneuvers, as well as providing ballast in order to counter the force of the wind so that the boat has forward motion.

With these things in mind, on behalf of the entire SYC Membership and stakeholder base, I write to ask that you strongly advocate for the following exemptions to be added to the proposed June 22 COVID-19 easing of restrictions:

• Competition sailing be allowed – let us start racing again on Port Phillip Bay
• Exemption from the 4m2 per person rule when participating in sailing activities; Proposed solution: Replace with “Comply with 4m2 per person where practically possible”
• Exemption from 1.5m rule when participating in sailing activities; Proposed solution: Replace with “Maintain 1.5m physical distance where practically possible”
• Exemption from the 10-person limit; Proposed solution: Permit sailing vessels to be manned with crew numbers to facilitate their safe operation

These changes will enable us to get our core activity back up and running, which in turn will start to get our Club back up and running. It would return our Members to the club which in turn will help facilitate the ‘long journey back to viability’ of the Sandringham Yacht Club as a member based organisation.  These changes will enable us once again to get our Members physically active, which in turn will contribute to the positive mental health and well-being of our membership and community. 

Australian Sailing wrote to Mr. Peter Betson, Head of Sport, Recreation & Racing at the Victorian Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions on 29 May 2020 requesting that these specific exemptions be added to the 22 June easing restrictions. A copy of this letter is attached for your reference.

I look forward to hearing from you so that I may update our collective 3,500 person Membership and other onsite stakeholders.

Warm Regards & Stay Safe

 

Richard Hewett
Chief Executive
Sandringham Yacht Club