While talking with council yesterday they informed me that our grant application to replace the rusty cage area is in its final approval stages so hopefully there will be good news there soon as well .
We have also been approached by the Open Bic Skiff people about running the bic states in june and off course we said yes now its just a matter of sorting dates during the school holidays , this is all thanks to Nicola our secretary who talked with Bevan from bic at the recent lake catharaba event so well done Nicola
Finally our Hospital Fundraising day raised $620.00 to go to the hospital so many thanks to our awesome volunteers and our local councillor Shelly Curtis who organised some funding for the event , we did have to shut down about an hour early just because of the wind increasing to around 15/17 knots so considering everything it was still a great day.
Our canteen is looking for casual volunteers on sundays so if you think you could spare some time the club would really appreciate your help just ask at the club !!!
8.30 am Sunday Juniors
After receiving several bookings on saturday night we knew we had at least seven sailors for this class which included some new sailors from the try sailing fundraiser .
The day started absolutely boiling with hardly any wind and lots of sun but thankfully by the time the kids hit the water we had a nice light n/e breeze around 3-5 knots . Most of the guys like archie and tom were soon out there cruising around while Daniel and Guy kept an eye on them on a nice leasurely reach while Harvey and I took our two new sailors aside and did a capsize routine and then we put jacob on steering while anna his sister worked the main and after a few practice turns we started them out in front of us and then out with the rest of the fleet and they even swapped skippers so that anna could have a turn and yes she did well for a first timer steering straight and only occasionally gybing instead of tacking but so did jacob so all even at the end .
Although Iam sure it was accidental all the boats toward the end accidentally capsized and everyone was forced to swim around in the cool water but they all managed to survive and right their boats before returning to shore .
10.30 am Youth Training
Charlie who is right into training and coaching since his time in Yepoon and then Green fleet coach at lakee catharaba recently already had a plan for the group before they arrived .
It was a big group with 9 boats rigging on the lawn without my or charlie,s help so yes its finally a job where we can stand back while they all help each other rig there boats which I think is awesome!
Charlie decided that they should work on lay lines plus tactics and strategy yep you read it right tactics and strategy !
It was actually a good class session as the group actually asked some good questions as charlie went through the process so at least they were paying attention.
So what happened on the water well the course was a gated course which most everyone had never done so there was a bit of confusion so when in doubt follow Harvey which would have been good only at the start even harvey went the wrong way around the course but eventually he did remedy that with Gemma following him around . The smartest sailor was Tristan who instead of going around the outside of the triangle went up the middle smart move mate . The bearaways wer very ordinary at first with people not letting sails out but after a half hour of yelling at everyone to let their sails out everyone finally started nailing the manouvre which resulted in no out of controls or capsizes down wind .
The one funny point for me was when Charlie started getting frustrated early in the session and started making comments such as what are you doing? pull the sail on its upwind! why are you going that far ? as it sounded just like me when I was teaching him all those years ago welcome to club coaching Charlie !
Upcoming
Sunday the 28/1/2024 the club is open for juniors and training.( australia day weekend )
Racing is scheduled to start late february as is youth racing
CU on the water
J Murphy