Hi Everyone Another busy week for sailing unfortunately it didnt start well with the opening day for our annex at Varsity Lakes having to be cancelled due to the heavy rainfall which virtually flooded the lake which filled with tree branches , logs and general rubbish making it unsafe for sailing . We are looking at trying another day to try again but no dates have been set yet so fingers crossed that the next event will be successful.
DONT FORGET THAT THERE IS NO SAILING THIS SUNDAY DUE TO THE AUSTRALIA DAY WEEKEND 
8.30 am Sunday Juniors ;
With the weather finally settling down and the waterway looking safe enough to sail just a bit dirty but no debri floating around like past flooding events we decided to go ahead with Juniors which turned out to be a big group with an extra seven juniors from one family group wanting to give sailing a try.
The winds were light from the n/e at around 2/4 knots so we set a nice reach in front of the club and while Charlie looked after all the experienced sailors we did our usual thing with the family group teaching them basic steering in the shallows . They all picked up the basics well so we slowly sent them out to join the main group and despite the odd unintentional gybe resulting in one or two collisions everyone was soon cruising around the course . Our Bic sailors in the group were restricted to gybes which they both did well especially Jade who was trying to perfect her roll gybes , Aithan had some trouble at the start mainly rigging as he didnt check his boat and had to go back to shore and re attach the boom and the vang then everything was looking good , all in all a good session.
10.30 am Training :
With the winds slowly building to around 4/7 knots from the N/E I set everyone a skills task which was to sail up to a buoy and stop the boat then sail away , seems easy right well no not exactly ! everyone struggled at first with the concept but after some coaching from the safety boat everyone slowly picked it up with Jackson the best . So why do they have to master this manouvre ? well its all about start lines and controlled stopping of the boat . The second drill for the day was to sail backwards and again Jackson mastered it virtually straight off but the best was Aidan in his Bic because its the hardest boat to try the manouvre in as its the narrowest so very unstable but he kept trying and soon started yahooing when he nailed it . Mason wants to go up to laser 4.7 so he had to show us things like forward facing tacking , good tacks and Gybes and boat control he is getting there but just needs to work on boat control but Iam sure he will make it .

Holiday Camps;
I dont normally right much about our camps but this last one especially was a great success with perfect weather if a little bit too hot and a somewhat noisy but great bunch of new sailors . All the instructors put in a big effort to help everyone learn and also have fun and yes we were all shattered at the end but we were still smiling. Day two was the biggest day with plenty of sailing but even more capsizing with boats capsized everywhere mainly on the sand banks and people swimming back to boats after accidentally ??? falling out while the safety boat just buzzed from one end of the group to the other . Iam sure everyone slept well that night because I know I did !
Racing ;
Club Open and Youth Racing starts on the first Sunday of February with the calendar available at the office or on the notice board . 2019 Results are nearly ready for presentation .

CU on the water
J  Murphy

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 Hi Everyone , yes we are back for 2020 we have already had  sailing camp on the 2/3  and juniors and training on sunday the 5th and the year is looking very active already with schools already making enquiries and general sailing enquiries just steadily flowing in
Sailing Camp ; well for our first camp we had seven keen learners who couldnt wait to get on the water and with the weather conditions just perfect with winds on the first day around 4/8 knots which made the instructors job just that much easier . Abby and Edwina sailed with all the newbies on day one showing them what happens while tanami and Tegan worked on tacks and gybes although it soon became evident that they were doing more laughing than sailing . By day two all the instructors were either on the safety boat or on shore as we had succeeded in getting everyone up to sailing their own boat even Tanami who had never sailed an open bic before was just cruising around the course which we set from the club to the canal in a 6 knot easterly . We even had someone who fell out more than Tazman does and that was Griffin who every time we turned around he was in the water at least his brother got plenty of POB practice '
8.30 am Sunday Juniors ;
With a couple of kids from the recent camp and a few of the regulars out there we soon had the boats rigged and after a short briefing we set everyone off in around 4/6 knot w/n/w . It became a bit flukey at first so Charlie was running around moving buoys but it soon settled again and we even had Aidan and Aithan in the bics gybing at the inner mark and reaching off to a mark set in the middle of the channel . Everyone else started on the short course but were soon of to the outer marks with the bics . Jack and Dean sailed Teras separately and sailed well but I had a few tips for them for the 10.30 training session later .
10.30 am Training ;
With the weather improving and the winds coming more from the N/N/E at around 6/10 knots we sent Charlie out to demonstrate roll tacks and gybes showing not only the technique but the extra speed also ( jack and deans tip! ) especially in the light conditions . Once everyone hit the water we set their course from a buoy at the club to the outer red channel marker , so the jade a broad reach and then a close hauled return . In no time Abby and Edwina had it nailed and where Abby showed great speed upwind Edwina showed the same down wind so they were virtually neck and neck for the whole session . There were a few capsizes as well with Jackson , Jade , Jack and Dean all coming unstuck on the broad reach by just letting their sails out too far so hopefully a lesson learned . We did tow Jack in as he was buggered after capsizing and getting stuck in the no sail zone , there,s always next week Jack !

Upcoming ; 
Both Youth and Open Racing begins on Sunday the 2nd of February
Introduction to Sailing Day at Varsity Lakes on Saturday thye 18th of January from 10 am until 2.00pm should be great fun

CU on the water
J Murphy