The Club Exec agreed the following resolutions as part of Up River Yacht Clubs response to the national emergency created by the Covid-19 / Coronavirus epidemic.
Note these resolutions were passed prior to the 23 March 2020 ‘lock down’ which places additional responsibilities/restrictions upon members beyond the social distancing principally covered here.
- Club house – with immediate effect the club would no longer be open for social gatherings. The bar will not be open on either Friday nights or Sunday lunchtimes.
- Cleaning the clubhouse – cleaning with special attention to detail in the Ladies and Gentleman’s toilets is of paramount concern. Our cleaner has agreed to continue this work assuming the Government allow cleaning as essential work and regulations do not prevent her travelling to the club. This is also subject to our cleaner not having to self isolate. The toilets will remain accessible to members. However we must ask everyone to consider the showers out of bounds and any members sailing should change and shower at home.
- Sailing programme – in light of the recommendations from both the Government and the RYA the club has suspended our sailing programme. The club cannot prevent individual members taking out their own boats, however this will be the sole responsibility of the member.
- Push the Boat Out/Discover Sailing – 10 May event cancelled.
- Sail training sessions – as they are not due to start until 23rd May, these sessions will be reviewed nearer the time. Social distancing would make this very difficult to achieve with special reference to recovering the dinghies and safety boats after sailing.
- Cruiser events – suspended
- Cruiser launching April/May – suspended. Following extensive consideration, and a test to see if it was practical, regrettably it proved impossible to launch cruisers and comply with social distancing.
- Summer layup – Any cruiser that would normally be launched but because of the virus the owners decline to launch will not be charged the usual summer layup fee. The cruisers that are in long term storage will still be liable to the layup fee. Currently this applies to just three boats.
Club members will have received detailed information and explanatory notes about the impact of the Coronavirus on the club programme for 2020 separately with a club email. This covers the practical issues around laying up boats for the summer, river license and mooring fees etc.
The 8 points above are principally for non-members who might have an interest in the club and want to know how this has affected our programme for 2020.