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Notice of the Annual General Meeting 2020

The Annual General Meeting for the NSSA will be held on Wednesday 29th July 2020 at 19.30pm and, due to current circumstances, will be taking place via Zoom.

If you wish to take part please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and the meeting invitation along with any other relavent information will be sent to you closer to the time. We hope as many of you join us as possible as we want to hear what you would like to see from us in the next year.

How can you 'keep your toe in the water' during lockdown?

It is has been an unusual time for all of us during lockdown and we are all missing being out on the water but things are starting to look up as some sailing clubs are beginning to open back up again. However whilst we wait for this to fully take off here a few places you can go for great on the water tips and videos to add to your knowledge of our great sport;

The RYA youtube channel has lots of great videos as well as regular updates about how sailing is going to start up again;

https://www.youtube.com/user/RYA1875

The British Sailing team youtube channel also has great content including their 'Tune-in Tuesdays' aimed specifically at young people starting out or wanting to improve in racing;

https://www.youtube.com/user/BritishSailingTeam

As well as all of this why not have a look at our archive site for lots of great history about the NSSA and the various trophies awarded at our events;

https://sites.google.com/a/nssa.org.uk/thearchive/

If you have found anything you think others will find useful then please share them with us on Facebook or Instagram.

Keep safe everyone and we look forward to seeing you a back on the water as soon as possible!

Event updates due to COVID-19

Although for some of us it may feel like far longer, it has now been seven weeks since the unravelling COVID-19 situation caused the last-minute cancellation of our Double-Handed Team Racing Championships at Farmoor Reservoir. In that time NSSA have been reviewing published guidance, having discussions with different members of the organisation, and considering the impact of this situation on our membership as a whole. The outcomes of these discussions are as follows:

- We will not attempt to reschedule the Double-Handed Team Racing Championships at another date in the 2020 calendar

- The 2020 National Youth Regatta at Plymouth has been postponed until 2021

- At the time of writing, the 12-hour race will remain in the calendar and we will work flexibly with Aztec Adventure Centre and Worcester Youth Sailing Association to reschedule the event if required

- At the time of writing, the Single-Handed Team Racing Championships at Jumbles SC will go ahead as planned

We appreciate that the cancellation of the Double-Handed Team Racing this year and postponement of the National Youth Regatta until 2021 will be disappointing for a number of our sailors. We’d like to thank both Oxford Sail Training Trust and Plymouth Youth Sailing Club for all of the work that went into those events this year.

While it may be some time until we’re all able to be on the water together again, we’re pleased to report on some alternatives our Sailing Committee have been working on to keep our members connected to the sport during this strange time.

First, we’re delighted that members of NSSA will be able to take part in Q&As with well-known figures in the sailing community, asking questions of:

- Karen Thomas, chair of the British Universities Sailing Association: the governing body for sailing within higher education in the UK

- Meg Pascoe, former Para World Sailing Championships medallist and two-time (and current) world champion for the International 2.4mR class

- Alison Young, Team GB sailor who represented Great Britain in the Laser Radial class at London 2012 and Rio 2016, and will fly the flag again at Tokyo in 2021

If you’d like to be involved in these Q&As please get in touch with Rob Mallett on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Second, we will be organising an NSSA eSailing Team Championships to take place later in the Summer. Member organisations are invited to organise their own e-sailing events to nominate a representative to take part in the final. Those representatives will e-sail alongside the British Sailing Team’s Sam Whaley in an exciting event, and be in with a chance of winning a number of vouchers kindly provided by RS Sailing Store. We will post further details in a follow up announcement soon.

We are very grateful to Karen, Meg, Alison and Sam for being part of these online activities, and would like to say a huge thanks to RS Sailing Store for their sponsorship of the Virtual Regatta Final. You can take a look at RS Sailing Store’s website here: https://www.rssailingstore.com/.

We are also working on some potential on-the-water activities, and more information will be posted here should the public health climate allow us to go ahead with those.

Looking further ahead, we are pleased to confirm that the 2021 Double-Handed Team Racing will take place at Alton Water and be organised by Royal Hospital School on March 20^th and 21^st, so get the date in your diaries now. We envisage hosting the 12-hour race at Upton Warren again in late June or early July, and expect the National Youth Regatta to take place at Plymouth’s Mount Batten Centre between July 26^th and 31^st.

We will post further updates both here and on our social media channels soon, but in the meantime very best wishes from everyone at NSSA for your continued health and safety.

Opportunity to compete in Aspire Merlin Rocket Nationals 2020

We are really pleased to, once again, be teaming up with the Merlin Rocket Owners Association to offer the opportunity for up to three crews to have free entry to the Merlin Rocket Nationals which this will be held at Tenby Sailing Club between 8th and 14th August.