Hi everyone , With the end of school holidays fast approaching its time to start on our 2023 club racing and special events so to check out whats happening just check the club website for our 2023 sailing calendar which includes some away events for both adult and youth sailing and a special; thanks to Kelly and Greg for their imput in hopefully getting all the information in the right places . This year maritime safety added a new section to our aquatic permit application with a captain incapacitated risk section which after several emails and phone calls I managed to obtain the right guidelines and send off to pass the criteria to operate on the water for 2023 and yes we were successful so away we go !
A special thanks goes out to everyone who popped in and helped make our recent Try Sailing Hospital Fund Raiser a great success with the club raising over $800.00 on the day which is the highest amount ever raised for this worthy cause.

8.30 am Sunday Juniors 
Well what a day last sunday was with only 8 people booked in a 19 turning up it was surely a a hectic morning . Firstly we had four boats out of action with broken fittings and sails being repaired so scott was looking for spare masts and sails while Charlie was running around drilling holes and replacing screws and rivets but luckily we just had enough boats to get everyone on the water . Conditions were just right with sunny skies and wind around 4-6 knots from the s/e so the guys set a nice reach so that even the first timers sailing with our instructors had a great introduction to sailing . There were a couple of changes with Torsen having to show his skills in an effort to advance to 10.30 youth training and yes he showed that his tacking and gybing and general sailing were up to standard to advance . We also gave Hallie ( wetsuit ) a chance at sailing a Open Bic which of course she was very nervous about at first but with the help of Jade and Taylah she actually got the hang of Bic sailing pretty fast even if there was the odd capsize along the way and yes it was one very happy sailor who returned to the beach at the end of the session.
10.30 Youth Training
With Tristan back from overseas it was great to see him back sailing with the group even if he was a bit rusty .
We started with a briefing to discuss how to resume sailing after a downwind capsize as we had a few issues with this just recently so hopefully from now on they will have a better grasp of how to avoid more capsizes ? so whats the secret well its all to do with angles but you will have to join youth training to find out !
For on water we used the 8.30 am juniors marks which seems a bit simple but it was actually again about angles mainly close reach to broad reach sail sets and body position . I was personally impressed with the bearaway mark with Zack , Laya and Tristan dropping main sheet to flatten the boat in the bearaways creating more acceleration and then sheeting on to tack and come back close reaching maintainin good boat speed . The two top sailors in Jade and Dan were sent of to practice upwinds and downwinds with a minimum of 6 gybes on the downwind which we had to watch and count as counting gybes seemed to be a problem at first but once charlie go on their case  so well done everyone .

UPCOMING
Open Racing starts 5/2/2023
Sail GP Information day 11/2/2023
Innagural Youth Racing starts on sunday the 12th of February

CU on the water
J Murphy

Hi Everyone , I hope everyone had a great Xmas and New Year and are ready for another year of sailing and who knows I might even get on the water once my broken ankle heals hopefully in around 4 weeks . Our Xmas Party was a great event as usual with plenty of fun some drama ( broken ankle ) and good food . Thanks to everyone who set the club up with all the xmas deco,s and music really made it a great day . 2023 is looking good for the club with another division of racing starting with  a Youth / Junior race series starting in februray which is designed to give our ever improving sailors a challenge to test their skills .
Our Open Series is also back in February with a pretty full calendar plus a few away events that the guys say they would like to go away for and with all this happening we will soon have our 2023 calendar out once I stop making mistakes ?
Our first major event is on saturday the 11 /2 2023 with a visit by the Sail Gp team especially designed for our young sailors to check out other options in their future sailing career , should be very interesting and yes it will include sailing... Then on Sunday its our annual Fundraiser for the Gold Coast University Hospital starting at 8.30 am with all money donated going to the Hospital so bring your friends along and support this worthy cause .
8.30 am Sunday Juniors 
With everyone desperate for a sail we soon had a good group signed on for their first sail of 2023 including a few newbies , As I was partly out of action with the injury it was up to our club instructors to organise the group  and thanks to Guy who not only rigged boats but also drove the safety boat . Conditions were good with blue skies and light winds which were slowly increasing as predicted While charlie looked official on the beach , Ross Jade , Harvey and Reece helped the new sailors by either sailing with them or practicing in the shallows while people like Hallie and wetsuit ( leila ) showed people how to accidentally fall out of a boat and also capsize yeah right girls accidentally ? Lilly and Maddie sailed well as did Torson who is definitely a sailor of the future as he is always keen to learn more so much so that a 10.30 training spot might be possible soon !
10.30 am Youth Sailing 
With most of the usual crew plus a first timer in Zack we sat down for a discussion on upwind sailing and how we achieve the best results and I have to admit there were some good questions and answers amongst the group. While we were having our briefing the wind started to increase so that by the time they all headed out the wind were around 12/15 knots so for people like Zack , Layla ,Gemma it was a tough slog with lots of capsizing and frustration . Harvey and Jade of course just took of as did Reece but Reece ended up a bit puffed  and had a couple of big capsizes but still managed to sail back to shore . Gut and his crew had a big day on the safety boat as well with laya caught down at the canal and not able to get back on her own wile the rest did manage to make it back to shore and wlk back . Once everyone was packed up we had a debrief and discussed things like why did layas boat not want to bear away , Zacks boat nose dive and Gemmas boat capsize down wind ! so what was behind all this well sail setting  so guess what we will be working on in a fortnight.
1.30 PM OPEN RACING STARTS ON 5/2/23
Upcoming
TRY SAILING FUNDRAISER SUNDAY 15 1 23 STARTING AT 8.30 AM
SAILGP INTRODUCTION DAY 11/2/23

CU on the water
J Murphy