Hi Everyone , Firstly just a reminder that the club will be closed this Sunday for the Australia Day weekend , we do this because in the past we have found that the general boating traffic becomes extreme especially regarding vessels speeding past the club and general unsafe behaviour from a large portion of the boating public yes they just seem to leave common sense and courtesy at home ! so for the safety of all our sailoors we feel its safer to just come back the following week.

Sunday Juniors Beginners Class:
Well what can I say sunday was just a perfect day so as we expected we had a good rollup for this session with over a dozen new sailors signing on for this introduction to sailing session . The weather conditions were perfect with winds around 4/6 knots from the s/e and absolutely clear water conditions . We set our usual course ( a reach ) well it started more upwind downwind thanks to a slight miss read from casey and a hurried fix up back to a reach . With Declan taking a couple of new sailors in the laser and a full fleet of Teras on the water it was a busy session on the water and with the occassional drift under the bridge and collission with Public Nuisance everyone slowly got their act together and started cruising around the course with some really good sail sets and even better tacking and of course the occasional un intentioned gybe . As usual the question started being asked after some good sailing and that of course was can we capsize please so of course capsizing became king right in front of the club beach with kids of all ages tipping over boats and generally having fun !

Sunday Sail Training 10.30 Session :
The wind conditions increased in both speed ( 4/7 knots ) and the wind turned a bit more towards the east so again with a very keen fleet of sailors rigged and ready we sent everyone out in front of the club just for some tack and gybe practice and finally we changed the course and sent everyone off to the yellow floater down at the canal so they had an upwind and a broad reach return . Addy and Eddy did their usual thing and just took off especially Eddy who after a couple of laps of coaching upwind just took of all the way to the red channel marker on each upwind leg just wait and see how she goes when the new club laser is fully rigged and ready I think there is going to be some serious speed there . I have to mention a new member of this team Ebony who just transferred from the early class who just couldnt stop smiling as she left the beach and really took to the challenge of coming up to this level of sailing and to top it off she was just as excited when she came back in so well done Ebony . These sailors will have the opportunity to go further in their sailing experience as we are starting a new racing format from the 10th of February after 10.30 training and it will be a Junior Club Championship Series finishing in late November with the first target the Mid Winter Cup in June where we hope to have a new team of green fleet sailors signing on for this years event .

Sailing Camps ; I dont always write up about our Holiday sailing camps but because of the success in both numbers and skills achieved by mostly novice sailors in our last two camps in these Holidays I believe a big thank you should go to all our young volunteer sailors starting with Charlie B who turns up every day and is always last to leave followed by Addy and Eddy who are just awesome with especially all the girls and then Declan and Torin who have really matured as assistants and then we have Kaleb who is starting to learn what teaching sailing is all about so great work everyone its truly appreciated !

OPEN RACING STARTS ON SUNDAY THE 3RD OF FEBRUARY the club calendar will be posted this week , it only has our club racing listed as there is too much on the state sailing claendar to even try listing so for other club and state events check wit Aust Sailing Qland .

CU on the water
John Murphy

Hi Everyone , Well already we are coming up to week three of 2019 with our Sunday Juniors up and running and aleady three successful sailing camps and one more to go next week . The sailing camps have definitely benefited from the volunteer help of our junior and youth sailors ( Charlie , Addy , Eddy , Declan , Torin and Kaleb) who not only improved their own skills but taught valuable lessons for all the kids who have participated in each camp so well done everyone . As an addition to our current Junior and Youth programs this year we are starting a Junior Race Group Series with the first target the Annual Mid Winter Cup ( 29/30 June ).

Junior Sailing 8.30 am
With the heat and hu8midity already evident at 7.00 am we expected a busy morning and we werent disappointed with not only our regular sailors but also a few first time tryers signing on for this session . The conditions were reasonably light with the winds roughly out of the east ? at around 4/6 knots so Charlie set a standard reaching course just in front of the club which was perfect for all the mums and dads to check out what their kids were doing . Some were a bit slow to start with a bit of wayward steering from some of the newer sailors but with some coaxing from our instructors everyone slowly got their act together . Ebony who has been really keen lately was allowed to solo sail in an effort to progress to 10.30 class and showed us that she is definitely capable of the next level with her ultimate goal Club Racing . Our Taz has been out of action for a couple of weeks due to loss of centreboard but it should be back up and running soon so we can continue teaching in a two sail boat .
Advanced Junior Sailing 10.30 am 
With this class becoming more popular as more junior 8.30 sailors want to not only learn more about sailing but also show a desire to compete and the opportunity to move on to our new Racing program this class is steadily improving in numbers . By the time we started this class the winds had moved more S/E at around 6 / 10 knots with a bit of chop . We firstly set a reach just to get everyone settled in then we set the chaallenge of an upwind section by sending everyone off to the yellow mark down at the canal . Just about everyone struggled with the upwind with a lot of sailing luffing at first but as the session wet on it started to click that what John said about constantly watching the sail actually works ! so tha went it starts to luff steer away until it stops luffing and what causes it well apparent wind of course ! I was especially impressed by Tain who worked out that when you no longer can point near the mark Tack then tack again great effort mate . Addy and Eddy just cruised around the course and Abby took friends for a sail as did Ben so they canned the upwind and just sailed the reach , all in all a good session for everyone ..

FUN ! Casey Addy Charlie and I opps forgot Russell went for a sail on Sunday afternoon in 16/18 knots and half metre swell , for me it was my first sail in nearly six months due to injury but did we have some fun ! we went down towards runners and set up an absolutely screaming reach where we were just hooking into waves and just flying accross the surface awesome fun ! Charlie even jumped on my full rig yes charlie in a full rig ! and after being a bit tentative at first started really hooking int it and as usual allwe could hera was yelling Yahoo so yep another one hooked on speed in boats . I shouldnt forget Casey did also have a go for a few laps in the full rig as well and camp back with eyes bulging from excitement at the speed especially on the broad reach . Monday was a bit tough though as my muscles reminded me how long its been since I seriously sailed but it was definitely worth the aches !
REMINDER :
CLUB CLOSED ON THE 27TH OF JANUARY AUSTRALIA DAY WEEKEND 

OPEN RACING STARTS SUNDAY THE 3RD OF FEBRUARY 

LAST SCHOOL HOLIDAY CAMP 21ST / 22ND JANUARY ( nearly full )

CU on the water
John Murphy

Hi Everyone , We are back for 2019 with Sunday Juniors starting last weekend and two sailing camps already taking place and more to come as we wind up for what we hope to be a fantastic year for our sailors , supporters and volunteers . We have already had one of our sailors ( Jonah Parry)  compete in New Zealand in the Open Bic worlds with what I believe was an overall fleet of 170 boats with Jonah finishing 31 which is an absolutely a fantastic effort .

8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
With a few phone enquiries we knew we would have at least 10 sailors for this class with a few first timers mixed in and with light conditions and heaps of humidity conditions were looking good .
We set up some Teras and a laser to accommodate everyone and with Declan taking family out on the laser we had everyone pile into the Tera,s for what turned out to be a very light wind sail with basically an easterly wind around 2/4 knots so it was perfect for tacking and even some gybing . We sent Athenia out as captain with one of our new sailors and after an early altercation with Public Nuisance of she went sailing straight lines well until the sand banks started getting in the way plus the odd circle so once that happened Addy jumped on and helped out but a great early effort from Athenia .Everyone else generally cruised around including the safety boat crews in the light conditions but despite the conditions some good sailing was achieved by everyone with the odd tow of sandbanks and drifting south with the current then finally it was capsize time which was also an excuse for cooling down with much fun had by everyone .
10.30 am Sunday Juniors :
With conditions improving wind wise with a steady breeze of around 6/8 knots from the East I decided with this group to introduce everyone to some distance sailing starting at a mark near the club and going all the way to the x mark just north of runners . With a mixed fleet of Lasers , Teras and Open Bic when had the Laser turning back to the rest of the fleet when they got too far in front just to keep everyone together . Eddy and Abbey after some rig tuning from the instructors just took off every time we let them go with Addy in the Bic in hot pursuit . The boys in the Tera,s struggled with a lack of speed and Ben and Mason ( laser ) better known as the wrong way twins managed a complete tour of our channel in every lap of the course . It was great to see everyone enjoying this long course with a few tacks and gybes thrown in and some very speedy reaches as well and lets not forget the large smiles on all the faces . This session will probably have some changes this year which Iam currently working on and should be ready in a week or so !
Upcoming : 
Open Racing starts on Sunday the 3rd of February with basically the same format as last year with the calendar due out soon.
Mid Winter Cup . planned for the weekend of the 29th and 30th of June ( tbc)
RQYS Youth Week 5th to 9th of July 

​
CU on the water
John Murphy