A message from our Principal
You may have noticed the new logo as you opened the website. We have updated our working title to ‘Sail HYSTS’ and ‘Fun on the Water’ the strapline. Havant Youth Sail Training Scheme says who we are and what we do, and we will include it in most articles and all formal documents.
Welcome to Sail HYSTS and enjoy Fun on the Water
If you are aged 8 and upwards and fancy having fun on the water, then we may be just what you are looking for! We offer affordable sailing with fully qualified Sailing Instructors. Even if you have never sailed before, we will guide you through the initial stages and have you on the water in no time. You will follow the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) training from Stage 1 through to Stage 4 and quickly become a good sailor.
How we select dates for sailing and assemble the volunteers
We think it would be helpful to explain how we select sailing days, it is not as random as it may seem. Because of tides and the depth of water in Chichester Harbour, we can only sail for two hours on either side of high water. In January every year, we do an analysis of tide times from March to October. We identify weekends when Saturdays or Sundays have high water between 1000 and 1400, which means the earliest we ask you to arrive is 0800, and the latest time to collect your sailors is about 1630.
We send these dates to the volunteers and our pool of senior instructors and invite them to put their names forward for sessions. Once we have most of the volunteers committed, the dates are posted on the Schedule page of the website for your access. We then try and fill the gaps in volunteers as the dates draw nearer.
I should like to mention our volunteers. They are a brilliant team, who really want to help young people enjoy sailing. Sadly, HYSTS is like many charitable organisations relying on volunteers. After the COVID period, it is proving difficult to get everyone back together. So, if you are interested in helping us, please email to let us know .
We are not asking for you to commit to every session, but occasionally would be helpful. You do not need to be a sailor yourself and we will help you with training and could send you on a course to drive the rescue boats. Because we work with young people, we will also arrange a DBS check at no charge to yourself.
Why some sailing sessions are cancelled
It is sometimes unavoidable that we must cancel sailing sessions. Our absolute priority is safety for our young people and volunteers, followed closely by making sure they have a great experience. Full sails, flying along the water, the noise of the wind, and the lashing of spray over the sailors is great fun once you are confident. Our aim is to help young sailors gain that confidence, without putting them off sending them out in too much wind. Thus the main reasons for cancelling sessions are:
- Adverse weather conditions – mainly too much wind, but on one occasion in 2022 because it was too cold.
- Not enough volunteers to cover the session
- Not enough young people to make the session viable.
Any one, or a combination of all these can result in a cancellation. In the week leading up to the session, we scrutinise the weather forecast. If we have doubts, we agree on our go/no go decision on Thursday or Friday afternoon, leaving everyone time to reschedule their weekend.
I hope this has been useful and explains the reasons why we must cancel some sessions. Fingers crossed for more luck as the Season continues.
Bill Walworth Principal HYSTS
