Dear members

Hallelujah - it’s only a few short weeks until your Club reopens!

I hope that you are all emerging in good shape from what has seemed a long winter and looking forward to a great summer. In anticipation of seeing you back at the Club very soon, here’s a taster of what you can look forward to over the coming weeks and months.

1. Key dates and restrictions The key dates and restrictions dictating our reopening plans are: • 12 th April - non-Welsh residents allowed to stay overnight in self-contained accommodation. • 26 th April - organised outdoor activities for up to 30 people permitted

- outdoor hospitality opens

• 17 th May - formal move from Alert Level 4 to Alert Level 3. Opening of iindoor hospitality will be considered after 17 th May with the intention of opening before Whit Bank Holiday weekend. • Meeting outdoors – currently limited to six people from a maximum of two households. • Distancing – 2 metre rule applies

2. Reopening timetable Bar It’s been a long wait but hang on in there! Four barrels of Tim Taylor will soon be on passage from Yorkshire before settling in the cellar in time for the launch of outdoor service on Monday 26 th April from 4pm to 7pm. The same hours will apply until Thursday, when the early May Bank Holiday weekend will herald the return to normal opening hours. As if there were need for any more reasons to head for the Club, the oenophiles out there will appreciate the new Verre du Vin wine preservation system, courtesy of our drinks supplier, Tanners. It preserves opened bottles of wines and champagnes allowing a wider range of more interesting wines to be served by the glass.

Launch Mike and Conan have been preparing the launches since coming off furlough after Easter and the launch service will resume on Saturday 24 th April to enable members to bring their boats over in time for the Bank Holiday weekend. Weather permitting, Mike hopes to have one of the launches in during the week commencing 12 th April. At the time of writing, only two boats are on the moorings but a service will be available once a launch is in and should be arranged by contacting Mike directly.

Cove

Dave and Owen are preparing to launch the Cove’s takeaway service this weekend – Friday 16 th April. See below for more details of Cove operations.

3. Covid Protocol – Club facilities Outdoor socialising is restricted to groups of six people from a maximum of two households. Once indoor hospitality is permitted, the existing Alert level three rules dictate that socialising indoors will be restricted to groups of four from a maximum of two households. Children under 11 are excluded from these restrictions. Those of us who struggle to list six friends will be unaffected, but it does mean that we will be subject to similar capacity constraints as last season. The arrangements agreed with the Cove to cater for non-members are explained below but, other than that, until there is any significant relaxation of the restrictions on socialising and distancing, we will continue with a members-only policy on the premises and in the launches to ensure that the limited capacity is reserved for members. We cannot risk members being excluded because the limited space is taken by non-members – members must take priority.

4. Sailing programme We now have a date – 26 th April – for organised outdoor activities, which will allow racing to take place. The Sailing Committee will be meeting in the coming days to discuss the sailing programme and fleet captains will keep their fleets updated.

5. Events Readers of the yachting press will have read reports anticipating bumper UK race fleets this summer. The press can be forgiven for its optimism in its Anglo-centric bias, and it may well be the case in England if all restrictions are lifted in June, but in Wales the situation is very different. The Alert levels under which we are likely to be living for much of the summer restrict organised outdoor activities to 30 people.

Dinghy Week-Lite – 24 th July As advised in previous Updates, we had intended to open the proposed slimmed-down Dinghy Week-Lite to entries at the end of March, dividing racing into flights of 30 people on the “field of play” at any one time. Indeed, Selina and Tony were on top of their brief and ready to do so, believing that Gwynedd Council’s support for the event had been secured. On 26 th March, Gwynedd advised the organisers of proposed events needing to use Council controlled land that it had agreed a policy of referring decisions on whether events can take place to local members and communities. We can think of no practical alternative to using the slipway and beach, which are controlled by the Council, to access the sea! RYA Wales is assisting and supporting us in discussions with the relevant Gwynedd personnel and community representatives in our efforts to secure Gwynedd’s agreement but the process is likely to take weeks rather than days. The concerns that have been expressed relate to the risks arising from crowding on the beach and congestion on the slipway.

We are very grateful to Gerwyn Owen and Rosy Hearn from RYA Wales for their assistance and support.

Squib Nationals – 11 th September The Squib Nationals are scheduled from 11 th to 18 th September, an event that we are extremely keen to host given the Club’s long association with, and enthusiastic support for, the class. As things stand, organised outdoor activities are limited to 30 people - i.e. 15 boats - and the restrictions on socialising would prevent an organised social programme. This presents obvious challenges but we live in hope that restrictions in Wales will be eased in time for September.

6. The Cove Restaurant Its popularity is testament to the tremendous reputation that the Cove Restaurant has built up over the past couple of years. A successful restaurant operation is key to the financial wellbeing of the Club, but the membership alone is not a large enough customer base to support a viable long-term stand-alone business over what is a relatively short season. We either subsidise a private members’ restaurant from (increased) subscriptions, or offer dining to non-members. Our mutual interests depend upon catering for non-members, but we both understand that members should enjoy special privileges as an important benefit of Club membership. We have discussed how we can strike an acceptable balance between offering dining to the public and preserving members’ exclusivity and have agreed what we think is a sensible compromise that safeguards members’ interests.

Peak periods We have agreed that the key holiday dates, when demand for tables is at its highest, will be regarded as “Peak” periods, these being:

• All Bank Holiday weekends • Start of Dinghy Week until August Bank Holiday Monday

During these periods: • The premises will be closed to non-members until 18:00hrs • 50% of Cove capacity for evening dining will be reserved for members and guests until 48 hours before service starts. It is important to stress that this does not mean that members are restricted to 50%, rather that 50% will be reserved exclusively for members.

Pizza-led bar service We have invested in a pizza oven with the intention of offering an early- evening pizza-led bar service option to members and hope that this will be particularly popular with those coming off the water and younger families with children to feed. We also hope that it will prove to be a popular alternative option to members when they may have made a late decision to eat but the Cove is fully booked.

Takeaways Last summer’s takeaway offering was a big hit and will be continued, the menu augmented with pizzas from the new oven.

The takeaway service will be commencing imminently, but the roll-out of other elements of the above will be dictated by the easing of Covid restrictions. We will, inevitably, be adapting operations in accordance with the restrictions until things return to normal. Dave and Owen will provide updates over the coming weeks.

7. AGM – 27 th May None of us expected the Covid disruption to last for so long and as I have explained in previous Updates we deferred general meetings in the expectation that gatherings would be permitted indoors allowing us to hold a normal meeting in the clubhouse. There is, however, no indication of when larger gatherings will be permitted in Wales, and there is business that we should to attend to, so we are planning to hold an online AGM on 27 th May. The Notice and other material will be sent to you in due course but, before the AGM, to help us with our planning, we will ask for an indication of how many of you can face yet another Zoom meeting so that we have some idea of numbers expected. We won’t be in the bar, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make sure you have a large glass of something strong on hand to help you make it through!

8. Subscriptions A big thanks to the great majority - your support for the Club over a difficult year has been fantastic and ensured that it has remained in good shape financially. To avoid any potentially embarrassing conversations, can I just issue a gentle nudge to the small number who have not yet paid with a reminder that membership is suspended automatically if subscriptions are unpaid at the end of April, and terminates automatically 14 days after that. As ever, I’m very happy to clarify, or provide further explanation of any of the above - or, indeed any Club matter. Feel free to contact me through the office. We’re all hugely excited about re-opening and looking forward to welcoming you back to your Club. Roll on 26 th April, it’s going to be a cracking summer!

Yours Nick COMMODORE