Hi Everyone,
Sorry I'm a day late but it was such a big weekend its taken me some time to catch up.

Sunday morning Juniors:
We only had our early class on Sunday with 16 budding sailors turning up to bright sunshine, clear water and 3/5 knot winds. More and more of our junior sailors are wanting steering lessons so I spent the session in the water trying not to be run down buy our new learner skippers while Aidan looked after the rest on the water. With all the new sailors we had to call upon a few of our more experienced sailors such as Charlie and Luka to take a few new people out for either their first try or to improve on their basic skills, even Forte took a new sailor out and didn’t even capsize her! well done Forte. The outstanding sailor of the morning was young Mac who sailed the last part of the session on his own and totally impressed me with his skill level, his Mum tells me he is busting to get up to 10.30 class and with a performance like Sundays I cant see a problem with that happening in the very near future.

Queensland Lasers Traveller Series:
Firstly thank you to everyone who helped with this important event from the girls in the canteen to everyone either on the water or on the beach who worked tirelessly at  making the twenty nine yes 29 Laser sailors feel welcome at Paradise Point Sailing Club .

Racing was intense with the start boat crew under pressure to set up a suitable course which the wind didn’t help in race on by shifting east before the start resulting in having to move the start boat south to gain a better line bias. Unfortunately race one was a no go as virtually everyone missed one leg of the course which our scribe Peter told us but we went on competitors info? oh well next time we will listen to you Pete. Race two was again a hectic start with Dom and Aidan having to race of to the top buoy and move it east to again get a better upwind and then they were off. To me it was great watching everyone giving it their all including the fleet of 4.7's who started after the main fleet so they were all racing around the same buoys together with the open group, what a great experience for our budding 4.7 fleet. In the main fleet it was truly a case of who would make a mistake as the racing was so close and we have to feel sorry for Brady who lead until the last gybe around mark C resulting in a capsize and to his credit when I asked him what happened he said a rookie mistake he forgot to let the Vang Off !!!.

Once racing was completed everyone adjourned to the barbeque and presentation in front of our canteen with COFFEE MACHINE! and what a hit that was, again a special thanks to all those who manned the counter during the day as it was a great success for the club.

Things not to forget :

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED TO WORK THE Bunnings barby on Saturday the 19th of april just see me at the club to put your name down as there are plenty of positions to fill .

Easter Holiday Camps , these camps are only on Mon/Tue 7/8 and 14/15 April booking Essential!!!

VOLUNTERERS & COMPETITORS NEEDED for the 2014 Open Bic State titles July 4th to 6th 2014

 VOLUNTEERS AND COMPETITORS NEEDED Pan Pacific Masters Games  October 31st to November 9th

 

Cu on the water

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397

Hi Everyone,
What a hot weekend especially Saturday cooking sausages at Bunnings, all I can say is thank god there was a breeze.

Our first of two Bunnings fundraising Barbecues was held last Saturday and was an overall success raising over $1,250.00 for the club to purchase more safety equipment and general running costs. This amount was raised due to the generosity of the club Secretary and President who supplied all the food, drink and condiments for the day at no cost to the club. The club has always paid its own way in the past but it was not able to this time around having just paid out some large invoices for Insurances, affiliation fees, Electricity and Gas .

Thanks to everyone who turned up and helped on the day especially the cooking people as it was murder over the barby with heat and smoke. Don't forget if you are free on the 19th of April and have a couple of hours to spare put your name on the list at the club as we will hopefully have an even better day being a long weekend, you better bring your sense of humour as their was a lot of laughter including our Treasurers nightmares about Coffee machines and James Bond Movies.

8.30 am Sunday Juniors: 
The 8.30 juniors had again a few new faces who signed up to give sailing a try and with light winds and blue skies it was absolutely perfect for a morning on the water. Aidan was in charge out on the water and I was in the water teaching Henry how to tack and with a nice n/w wind he was able to sail out to the first buoy and back and even tell his crew when to let the sail out. Forte did her usual and capsized with a new sailor on board who looked a bit cold when she brought him back so we sent him off for a shower. Even Abbey (Pizza) had a good sail despite the boys being a bit disruptive as usual. Even her dad went out and managed to kind of get out on the trapeze (not quite enough wind !) sorry they weren’t in a tera they were in a Tazar .

10.30 Sunday Juniors: 
We again had a great rollup in this session and the decision was made to give them a race from Ephriam over to the club and back. Unfortunately they didn’t take enough notice of my briefing when I said to watch out for the current so it took some time to get them behind the start line so that Aidan could start them with me and my crew having to tow a few people back from down south because they were trying to sail in the no sail zone right Alex, Buttercup and I think Mat! if I got that wrong sorry Mat. Once we got them started the soon came to grips with the difficult conditions and had four good races with the majority of boats doing well even if a few missed the Ephriam mark right India! Lastly don’t forget you guys that there is no 10.30 class next Sunday due to the club hosting a round of the Laser Traveller series.

Open Bic 1.30 race: 
With Dallas out of action due to his attempt at head butting concrete Michael got his BIC with the usual culprits in the rest of the club boats and Luka and Charlie in theirs, we even had three Teras out there with a couple of previous racers in Katy and Sybren coming down for a race. We had two races with a very difficult upwind with a northerly at 10/12 knots and lots of current. As part of George's campaign for the midwinter cup, youth week and the BIC Worlds George is using this series to sharpen his BIC skills and it certainly showed on Sunday with him sailing away in both races with his upwind work great to watch as I hope a few of our regulars did as it was a classic example of how to use the gusts upwind and keep speed. He had close company with Dylan, Charlie and Patrick (Tera) not far behind. Sienna was a bit cruisey as was Michael and Luka although they could not have even completed the course last year so well done everyone. I suppose I should thank my start crew with Jasmine, Ella and Jack running the flags and providing comedy relief while everyone was racing.

Open Racing 1.30; 
Although the fleet was only 10 boats and they all picked Radial ??? for the day they had good conditions wind wise with a good 12/16 knots on the other side of Ephriam, the only draw back was of course the tide. I got a radio call from Ted and Aidan after about half an hour telling me that we might have to shorten the course which of course I said no to as it looked fine where we were in front of the club but after the second radio call half an hour later I relented and said OK to a shortened course which still took everyone nearly two hours except Will (tiller extension broke) Pieter (back spasms) and Lachy (tide). I have to say everyone looked a bit shattered back on shore with everyone complaining about leg muscles and general  body aches ! hey I was just get you all ready for next weekend. Lastly don’t forget next weekend is the big one with a big fleet expected and some hot racing, we have even found the shortened course flag Aidan !

CU all on the water

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397

Hi Everyone, 
Well another week of fickle weather and winds with a school group on Tuesday managing to have 10 knots during their session then back to twenty plus then Wednesday light winds especially for after school training and then anything from ten to twenty for the rest of the week.

Before I get started on all the sailing activities I would just like to remind everyone about the Bunnings Fundraising Barbeque this Saturday the 15th at their new store on Brisbane rd . These days allow the club to gain much needed funds to keep your club running so come down and buy a sausage and drink or even volunteer some time behind the counter, they are always great days for members to get together and have a laugh. C U all there on Saturday.

Sunday Juniors 8.30 am class; 
Due to the weather conditions (15/20 knots) the early session was cancelled which gave us time to get the 420 back up and running , just couldn’t sail it as it was too windy for the eager crew.

Sunday Juniors 10.30 class;
Despite the conditions still being a bit unsettled we decided to send Max , Mat and Jasmine out as the winds had slowed to 8 to 12 knots and it was actually a good session for the boys to hone their skills and for Jasmine to get some one on one lessons on how to bear away and even gybe without letting go of the steering. With a bit of on boat help from me the group could actually see how I tack and gybe without letting go and not capsizing. I hope everyone had a good time and learnt something on the day.

Open BIC; 
Charlie, Dallas and Dylan went to Oxley on Saturday and found out how good they have it here as the tide was roaring up there and the winds so fickle that only local knowledge let the Oxley kids get around the course. Charlie and Dallas had heaps of trouble and didn’t manage to finish all races but Dylan persevered and finished all three races which earned him a prize. Then there was Sunday at the club with winds back around 10 to 14 knots and a sausage course to tend with and despite the odd capsize everyone managed to complete both races. From where I was the broad reaches looked very fast, how great was it to be back home with wind and normal current boys! As a foot note any complaints about the flags on Sunday have to go to Jasmine who stayed and helped for the first time with racing. Thanks Jasmine for the assistance and don’t forget bring clothes to get wet in while in the rescue boats.

Open Racing; 
With plenty of indecision regarding what sail to put on due to the big variances in wind speeds prior to racing everyone went a bit conservative withy most opting for radials and some 4.7 so of course the wind speed dropped to where everyone could have put the bigger sails on and survived quite easily which culminated with a few comments after racing about bad decisions. You should all do what I do just put the big one on and go for it after all its only water right. After an hours racing Jason managed to grab first with a nice gust just short of the line which didn’t happen to Andrew with Crash John coming a close third. The general opinion of the course for the day was good even if the upwinds were a bit punishing (sorry about the legs Jason) and lets not forget George Morton who did the full laser course in a BIC as part of his training for Midwinter cup, Youth week and Germany for the worlds, it must have been awfully lonely out there on your own George at least it s good training for focus and concentration.

The club has a round of the Qld Laser traveller Series in two weeks (23rd March) so there will be no 10.30 Junior class or Open BIC racing on the day this is so that we can focus on making what we hope will be a yearly event for this series with an estimated 35/40 boats here on the day and yes we will be looking for helpers mainly on the beach and in our new canteen which will soon be offering milkshakes and Coffee!!! We are also looking for help on Saturday the 19th of March at Bunnings again (Easter Saturday) where  again we hope to raise more funds to keep our club building and going forward .

Volunteering dates : 23rd March , 19th Apr , 4th/6th July , 31st Oct/9th Nov check your calendars and let us know if you have time to help at any of these events .

CU on the water

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397

Hi Everyone another two weeks on and off the water with plenty happening in general with cancellations two weeks ago due to extreme wind conditions which made it a no brainer cancelling everything on the Sunday and even a couple of things during the week including afternoon junior training. This last week was much better with at least a few sailing days happening.

Sunday Juniors 8.30 am class: