Hi Everyone , We are slowly organising 2024 sailing and hopefully we should have a race calendar ready soon as we had to sort insurance quotes from the storm damage and reports to council about how the club came through regarding damage and also a report to the department of sport and recreation regarding damage and possible small grants . So what was the damage well both roller doors were buckled , the 420 dinghy has a broken mast , the 14 skiff is probably a write off and the caretakers flat was flooded so it needs new carpets and underlay so considering we got off pretty lightly
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

Hi Everyone , Well its done for another year our annual Try Sailing Gold Coast University Hospital Fundraiser that was held last Sunday and I dont mind saying it was a great success with a good amount of money raised to go to the hospital on the day . People asked me on sunday why we do this event well we do it because it helps our community and obviously the hospital and its staff who I believe dont receive the full recognition the deserve but then again I am a bit biased as the have helped me in the past especially in 2023 .
Thanks to Gold Coast City Council and our Division 4 councillor ( Cr Shelly Curtis ) for making this years event even bigger by financially supporting the event by supplying a jumping castle , face painter and kayaks all of which made especially the kids smile , I even had my face painted yes me ! and its was fun with all the club kids laughing their heads off as I was getting it done .
These events cannot happen without volunteers from the people on the shore to the people on the water especially our sailors in Greg , Nic , Roger Leila, Halle , Zach , Daniel and Jade who wore themselves out just going back and forth , I heard Nic even fell asleep in his car at one stage . I didnt get to sail but I was talked into taking the jetski out for a run by Leila and then of course everyone else wanted a go well some more that others especially a couple of sailors who screamed that loud that I couldnt hear the jetski engine but they still got off smiling right Jade!!! .
Again thank you to everyone who donated their time on the day I personally appreciate everyones efforts as its a project that always been close to my heart..

Upcoming Events 
21/1/2024 Sunday Juniors returns 8.30 am
21/1/2024 Youth Training returns 10.30 am 
Club Racing will return towards the end of february as we are still sorting the years calendar

CU on the water
J Murphy

Hi Everyone , Well 2024 is here but what a wild ride from the 25/12/2023 I was luckily away so I didnt have to go through what would obviously have been a pretty scary experience and I honestly was shocked when I returned home on the 29/12/23 at the extent of the damage . I hope everyone survived ok and didnt suffer too much damage , even the sailing club got off pretty lightly with some boat damage , roller door damage and it looks like carpet replacement upstairs as it was soaked by the rain. Thank you to the locals who helped Geoff pull two dinghys from the water where the wind blew them and carry out temporary repairs to our roller doors just to secure them temporarily . 
Well thats the bad news now the good news which is that the gold coast city council has steeped in and is this year financially supporting this worthy event so we now also have facepainting , jumping castle and kayaking as part of the event so special thanks to our division 4 councillor Shelly Curtis for helping support this yearly event..
So when is it on well this sunday the 14/1/24 from 8.30 am until 1.30 pm so its a great day to bring family and friends to the club to have some fun and also try sailing with our members taking people for a sail and all it costs is a $5.00 donation to go to the Gold Coast University Hospital , no booking is required just rock up and have some fun !

8.30 am Sunday Juniors 
Well being the first sunday of the new year we didnt expect many sailors with a lot of people awayon holidays and as expected we only had 5 sailors sign on but that was ok as originally I wasnt sure if we would be operating as on thursday the water quality was not good but by saturday afternoon the smell had gone and the water was starting to clear. The boys all teamed up in a tera and definitely had some fun and I took two returning sailors and we went through some tacking  before they went out towards the buoys . The wind was roughly south with a bit of gusty moments which did give especially my two some moments but once the let the sail off in the gusts they were soon just cruising around . My two in jared and jule,s had such a good time they are looking at doing next weeks sailing camp so they can brush up their skills .
10.30 Youth Training 
As with the 8.30  class we new that this group would also be small with Halle , Leila and Zach turning up for the first sail of the year . Zach was a bit rusty on laser rigging mainly with you guessed it bowlines while the girls mainly leila were a bit rusty with rigging . The conditions were stronger than the early group with the winds turning more south/south/east and gusting up to solid 12 knots so you guessed it there were a few early capsizes especially on the broad reach back toward the beach . Everyone went in and they were all getting frustrated until they all finally listened to me regarding how much sail to let out and also what to do when the boat started to fall on the on the gusty broad reache,s ( pull the sail on ) Iam in the process of setting both their training and race days and it should be ready by the end of the month as this year there is more focus on training while still retaining at least one race day per month . Hopefully I will be able to start on it after this weekends try sailing day and monday and tuesday sailing camp.
1.30 Open Racing 
Racing back mid february currently Tom has a broken foot and Steve has a knee requiring surgery !

Holiday Camp 
With six sailors signing on and all of them having sailed before it was a pretty easy camp especially on monday where they all trained until lunch  and after lunch we let them have some fun on a tera . Annabel and Joseph sailed their own boats for the first time so there were some wild turns and occassional capsize but they had great fun while mitchel , jack , Leila and Halle kind of sailed a tera and I say kind of as they were having fun. On day two with light westerlies we decided to take them for a run to the deep hole and of course the moment we turned around to come back the wind died out so we firstly towed up the teras then went back for the bics who for some strange reason turned around and ended up half way to labrador before we could grab them apparently they thought we werent coming back for them ????? even though we told them  . The two boys got stuck drifting in front of hollywell but thanks to a couple of guys from SYC who had just come from the marina after fuelling they grabbed the boys for us and towed them until the wind came back . So who was the best sailor on the day well it was the least experienced sailor in little Annabel who when the wind died just drifted to the beach and started walking until the wind came back and then sailed home . Jade reckoned that she deserved a chupa chup for her efforts and we all agreed so well done Annabel.

Upcoming
Try Sailing Day 14/1/24 starting at 8.30 am 
Sailing Camp 15/16 january 9am until 3pm daily  

CU on the water
J Murphy