Hi Everyone , We have just purchased three sabots on behalf of Sports House Varsity Lakes to help them cope with their ever expanding sailing program with more and more adults and children turning up each week and it is all run with volunteers so well done everyone for introducing all these new sailors to our sport .
With our pontoon being damaged in last decembers storms we have this week recieved news that our Insurance company has approved its replacement with a new pontoon and it should be in place in about 6 weeks . We have also recieved an update from the building company for a march update of our cage including the repalcement of some very rusty uprights on the cage so we are so far having a good year. 
Finally , just a reminder that if you want to book your kids into the next school Holiday Camps places are filling fast just like the last holidays so check with the office for a booking form as it looks like places are running out fast .
8.30 am Sunday Juniors ;
Sunday morning started very muggy and overcast and predicted light winds so we as usual assumed that we wouldnt have a big crowd but you guessed it we had all the usuals with Riley , Lincoln ,Tristan,Ben , Henry Willow , Reece just to name a few and then we had five first time sailors as well so it was all hands on deck getting boats ready including a few rushed repairs but we managed to have everything ready for the 9am briefing . Winds were light from roughly the west but not as windy as the week before where there were a lot of visits under the bridge . Thanks very much to Taylah and Torin for jumping on lasers with some new sailors and miinor experienced sailors while Charlie ( getting over a cold ) and Abby set courses and Jason and Nigel ran the white boat . Its interesting to watch how some of our young sailors are improving with people like Tristan and Riley just to name to showing more confidence every session even Willow had her first go at Lasers last week with Taylahs help and found it a bit tough but fun !!
10.30 am Training :
This group comprising of Abby , Taylah , Jade , Kaia , Ross and our new saiolor Bailey are really coming to grips with their sailing futures but I still can manage to throw in a curve ball occassionally like last sunday where I brought up apparent wind and its effects on sailing in general , it was clear that everyone had forgotten but on a day like sunday where conditions were light it was essential that they bring this into their sailing . It was Baileys first sail with us but he soon showed he had a grip on general sailing so much so that next week we are putting him in a laser 4.7 as we think he is good enough to give one a go ! We had everyone doing upwind down wind then triangles with the focus on boat speed which as the session continued became harder to achieve as the conditions lightened .
To my surprise and enjoyment everyone sailed the conditions really well probably the best I have ever seen them sail as a group and yes I even told them so at the de brief so again everyone well done for last Sunday!

1.30 PM Open Racing :
With the race on the day being a club Championship Race and the conditions become shifty we decided to set a triangle course from our canal down to near Runaway Bay Marina with the start at the canal . The wind was roughly south  east so we set the A mark pretty much in no sail zone and we only made it four laps with two triangles and two and a half windward leewards . The start was good with Greg and Steve right up the front and Russel right behind them and you guessed it after they left the wind shifted even more south so everyone had to sail wider to make A . Of course there were the odd lucky lift for some people with the best going to Steve who was right up with Greg and next minute he was pointing higher and maintaining boat speed as well ! I shouldnt forget our youth sailors who also did the race behind the adults with Jade and Daniel in Bics and Taylah in her laser and three nervous faces as they went through the start line . We had them only do half the course just to give them a taste but they all did well even with the top mark in a tough position and despite the two different classes of boat they all stayed reasonably together throughout the race with Jade crossing first with Talylah right behind her and Daniel a close third . In the open race Greg was first over the line after a good tussle with Steve who came home second with his now non leaking boat ( thanks John M for repairing it ) and Russel third ., Tom needed more wind as he just couldnt get the boat going ( should have put the full rig on ?)

P.S. Theres a rumour going round that Taylah is getting a newer quick laser and yes its true , she will be sailing a 216 boat , now the family just has to decide who gets her old boat Dad on Daniel ?

Upcoming : Easter School Holiday Camps 6/7 - 12/13 April spaces are filling fast booking through the sailing office .
Mid winter Cup 26th / 27th June

CU on the water
J Murphy

Hi everyone yes we are back with our weekly newsletter for 2021 , we were going to start on the 7th of February to line up with the beginning of club racing but I had to travel to sydney for business and to catch up with family now the border is open again . To begin the year I would again like to say thank you on behalf of the club to Charlie, Declan , Abby and greg for their volunteering efforts over the summer holidays because without you people we couldnt have had such a massive success with both camps and school sport sailing between december and january . Each camp had numbers far exceeding our normal numbers and a school group of over seventy students on one day . Both the treasurer ( andrew )and I have also worked behind the scenes to set up ppsc for 2021 with the view to make your club even more successful post covid 19 especially in promoting junior and youth sailing plus we have also worked with our team headed by Tom Bourke at Sports House Sailing at Varsity Lakes which has also seen an increase in sailing since the return from lock down in 2020 and with the increase in numbers we have been supported by Gold Coast City Council with a grant to buy more boats including lasers and in the future Sabots to cater for the increase in its junior numbers .

8.30 am Sunday Juniors ;
Well to start with on sunday the 7th we actually ran out of teras to sail as the group was over 20 sailors but with some many keen sailors there was only one thing missing was WIND !! well there was some wind but it was light and moved all over the compas so eventually most everyone went for a drift down the broadwater so with the help of the guys on the white boat everyone got to have towing practice including abby who was driving sarah c and despite a few innitial hickups soon had the boat in the right places to throw tow lines and drag everyone back up to the club . everyone still seemed to have fun anyway despite the conditions so another sunday juniors ticked off . Then we had last Sunday where we thought we would have roughly the same amount of sailors as the previous sunday and although we did have 13 sailors sign on there were quite a few missing until we realised it was valentines day so I am sure there were more import things to do for a lot of Dad,s . The forecast wasnt looking good and even though it started light we soon had boats in trouble being pushed under the bridge so casey and i yes Casey were kept busy towing boats from under the bridge back to the sailing area and of course the odd capsize . It was probably not the best conditions to give willow her first go on a laser but at least she had taaylah on board to help her out in the gusty bits but even they came in as the wind speed increased .

10.30 am Youth Training : 
This group on the previous weekend did manage to get some wind but again it was shifting all over the compas so it was a massive challenge for everyone to successfully sail it . We sent everyone off down to the canal as that was where the wind was well sometimes and even with a briefing on rig set and body positioning its really hard to get a boat goig in such fluky conditions although Taylah did get away for a while but eventually drifted back to abby , mason , Kaia and daniel ah well guys its all experience .
Then there was last Sunday and with Abby ( school assignment ) and Ross ( school team racing ) missing it was only our two Bic sailors in Jade and Daniel plus a very apprehensive Taylah rigged and ready to go . Conditions were becoming Quite windy with gusts of twenty knots followed by 10/12 knots winds so it was definitely going to be hard work but definitely fun . As I knew Jade just took off and had some very fast broad reaches disappearing in the spray as she has definitely sailed in more than that wind before . Taylah had some trouble with power just too much and ended up with a swim and returned to shore where we managed to convince her to go out with Casey and they were soon flying on the broad reaches which is one of caseys favourite angles . Then finally we had Daniel who had never sailed that much wind before so it was a bit wild but finally we noticed him startint to release more main on the breach and was absolutely flying and when I asked him back on the beach if he thought it was awesome fun going that fast I got a massive smile and nod !

1.30 pm Racing :
The first Sunday was definitely a mixed bag as conditions were light around 8 knots when we laid the course so everyone went radial including Abby as it wasnt predicted to go above 12 knots so you know what happened yes it blew eighteen plus so generally everyone was overpowered and struggled upwind well except for Tom who slowly got away from the fleet , the rest of the team struggled with quite a few retirements mainly exhaustion as both the upwind and down wind were punishing . Luckily we had Charlie out on the newly repaired jetski lending a hand to capsized sailors and andreww keeping an eye on abby who after two laps had a bad gybe and retired so all in all a pretty wild afternoon .
Then there was last Sunday and with winds reaching twenty five knots there werent many takers and even the one who turned up were a bit hesitant but like true crazy sailors they decided to give it a go . Charlie and I set a two buoy course with the start in front of the club and a top mark just before Allisee with three one lap races . Race one saw Tom stalled out in the gusts at the start and Casey soon followed while Greg just took off upwind . Casey who sailed radial so was overpowered soon had a capsize but she hasnt lost any of her determination despite 12 months away from racing and was soon off again as was Tom . Everyone was having trouble with the bullets ( up to 35 knots ) and having uncontrolled roundups upwind so it was time to let some vang off and get rid of wind but it was still wild we were evn getting spun around on the start boat in some of the gusts . So what were the down winds like well bloody awesome and these guys made it look easy surfing down the face of waves spray everywhere just awesome to watch !!!.

Upcioming :
School Holiday camps for easter are listed on the website 
Mid winter cup 26/27 June 
Manly Youth week one week after midwinter cup

Ok thats the first news letter done for this year with many more to come and no mention of things like Ben roake walking into glass doors at the club or Charlie being referred to as a girl at school !!!!

CU on the water
​J Murphy