Hi Everyone,
Another great week on the water with a holiday camp Mon/Tue with a great bunch of kids attending with conditions from 8/12 knots on day one and 6/8 knots on day two.

As special thanks to Dylan, Charlie, Oscar and Mark who volunteered their time over the two days, I am not sure who had the most fun the students or the volunteers. The work continued through to Friday with preparations for all the 2014 events and ongoing repairs to club equipment and I better not forget the multiple trailer which is now set up to transport the Open Bics to Port Stephens this week for the Nationals. Everyone wishes Luka, Dylan, Charlie and George all the best for this major event with at last count 45 entries in the Open Bic Class in the waters around Port Stephens. See you there on Sunday!

8.30am Sunday Juniors: 
Sunday dawned with blue skies and 3/5 knot winds which were excellent for beginners. A nice e/s/e wind came up allowing everyone to sail right in front of the club so that Mums and Dads could watch from the shore. There was some very good performances on the day with a few boys being offered the opportunity to advance to 10.30 class based on the days performance on the water. I have to also give Abbey (better known as Pizza) a big wrap as each week her sailing especially steering just keeps improving, well done Abb's. Also thanks again to Charlie, Dallas and Jasmine for helping with a few of the new people especially teaching them how to steer.

10.30 Sunday Juniors;
The Sunday group was quite large with all the available Tera,s being used with two lasers (Sam & Jasmine) and one Bic (Dallas). We set everyone a triangle course in winds around 6/7 knots and lots of tide so the windward mark was unmakeable without tacking, it took everyone a few laps but they all finally got the hang of it with Luka, Sam and Mark being the standouts .

We then reset the windward mark a bit closer and had some off the beach start races with everyone making the best of getting around the course with some excellent skills being shown especially around the gybe mark (Luka) and general boat speed (Sam) all in all everyone came back to shore with smiles all around and happy with their individual performance. Now all we need to do is teach the boaties how to keep clear so the kids can enjoy their morning.

Open Bic;
We had the final training session in the Bics on Friday afternoon prior to the Port Stephens Event with the focus on starts with Sienna being the standout by being at the line with 10 seconds to go each time and also Dylan (CT) with the most consistent finishes (second) . These guys (Dylan, Charlie, Sienna & Luka) are set very difficult courses and in recent weeks have shown that they have actually been listening to their coach and are making each challenge look easy, all we need to do now is get Luka to let the sail out more on the downwind to stop the Gybing and capsizing.

Charlie thought he had a great idea to get the mud off his sail after capsizing at the start line and that was to capsize again and you guessed it it didn’t work all it did was put more mud on the sail which he then managed to flick over everyone else out there. I think we will scratch that mud removal idea hey Charlie.

Club Racing; Club racing starts on Sunday the 2nd of February with a 10 race series including a round of the Queensland Laser Traveller Series on March 23rd and I mustn’t forget the start of the innagural Open Bic River Series starting on February the 16th. The Calendar is available on the website or at the club.

Trivia: I have to mention a incident involving a sailors hat, it seems that Sylvia while sailing lost her hat the other weekend and once back on shore with her eagle eyes spotted it floating just out front of the pontoon and convinced Phil to swim out and retrieve her prized hat! unfortunately all Phil returned with was a black pot plant holder (didn’t look much like at Hat! To me) so for future reference if Sylvia spots something on the water and before you dive in to retrieve it make sure its not a pot plant holder!!!

PS: The Club is closed next weekend for the Australia Day weekend, can you imagine how many boats and jetskis will be out there?

CU on the water

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397

Hi Everyone,
Well its here 2014 and I hope everyone has a great year with good health and good fortune for 2014 .

The club officially reopend for Juniors on Saturday the 5th but there was some time set aside over the break to finish training Tara for the Youth Nationals 6th Jan and also some training for the Open Bic racers for Port Stephens on the 24th Jan. The waterways were as expected completely overcrowded and at times quite dangerous with a lot of dangerous driving by both powerboats and Jetskis. Boats were seen aground, speeding outside channels , towing children under bridges and Jetskiers operating with no regard to other waterway users so all in all it was a good time to be shut.

Sunday Juniors 8.30 class: 
Juniors started with a bit of a whimper on the 5th with a lot of people still away on their xmas break but this weekend gone it was back to normal with old favourites back (buttercup, Sienna and Taylah) just to name a few. We had around 6 new first time sailors as well and thanks to Buttercup, Charlie, Dylan and Dallas for taking the new people for their first sail. The conditions were perfect with S/E winds around 6 knots creating perfect sailing for some of our new steerers in the likes of Abby and Shikalea who have only just learnt this skill. Of course there were the standard capsizes which were generally on purpose mainly just to cool down, there was a great deal of laughing which is what we like to hear.

Sunday Juniors 10.30 class: 
Like the 8.30 class this weeks group was again back to normal with 9 boats out in around 10 to 15 knots of S/E breeze. I set everyone a challenging course with a long upwind and then a run back toward the club. This created a lot of problems at the start of the session with the smaller people especially having difficulty with the slightly blustery conditions, but with perseverance and some help from Charlie Bratten everyone managed to grasp the idea of how to get around the course especially the newer people and smaller ones on the upwind. There was a fair few capsizes around the gybe marks and some hairy down wind moments with some stand out saves such as Xavier who had a few wild ones but generally managed to save it. I also heard that Jasmine in the laser was trying to give Oscar a run for his money with some blocking going on and trying to match Oscar speed? not much hope there Jasmine but who knows with some more experience you might just catch him.

Open Bic 1.30: 
As part of the training for Port Stephens the Bic sailors were given what would be classed in competition as Gold fleet race course with a difficult upwind a fast down wind a difficult cross current upwind and a quick reach between Marks. Racing was excellent with close racing in each race including some close moments at the gybe marks and even some tactics around the buoys. There were a few penalties given and grudgingly accepted by all competitors. Might as well get used to it now people as Port Stephens is only two weeks away. The best of the racers on the day were Dylan and Sienna who both won races with Dylan winning the last race by a good margin. Dont forget training on Mon/Wed/Fri for the Bic people at 4pm.

Club Racing:
After a few updates with our calendar I have set the dates for the Summer Series racing , these races will start on Sunday the 2nd of February with the first sound signal at 13.25 hrs. This Series will include a round of the Queensland State Laser Traveller Series on the 30th of March. Presentation of Trophies for the 2013 season will be presented on Sunday the 2nd of February at the conclusion of the days racing. Who won? even I don’t know yet so don’t ask me as I have to re check all results just to make sure.

Dates to remember in 2014 ;

Open Bic Midwinter Cup 4/5/6 July

Laser Traveller Series 30th March

Masters Games 31st October to the 9th of November

Regards

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397