Hi Everyone , With Easter just around the corner dont forget that the club will be closed over the Easter break so no Sunday sailing . Members who have their boats stored at the club can gain access to their boats if they want to go for a sail by just contacting me and I will organise for the cage area to be unlocked but they must let me know the day before .
8.30 am Sunday Juniors:
With the ever changing weather lately luckily Sunday turned out well with blue skies light winds plus humidity for our beginner sailors . The group was mainly return sailors but like every sunday the were a couple of new sailors and even one we hadnt seen for over a month ( Athenia ) due to family commitments and yes she has definitely grown . With a light s/e breeze it was easy rigging well except for the sails which are just falling apart but luckily Newhaven have sponsored a new set which should be about a week away . With a quick briefing it was time to hit the water so Casey and crew set a reaching course for everyone to practice both tacking and gybing . Ok it was a bit slow but for our smaller sailors and relative new sailors it was perfect for everyone to nail down the turns . Daniel who usually sails with his brothers took a Tera and sailed it well sitting forward to keep the bum out of the water as did Jade and Athenia even though there was a bit of complaining at the start when athenia found out that she was sailing a Tera and not sunning on a laser ! Finally we let everyone practice capsizing which is always fun to watch as everyone trys the different ways to tip a boat over right Blake ?
10.30 am Sunday Training;
This class has evolved this year into more about racing skills for our keen sailors as they slowly transfer over into our fortnightly racing team . Yes it is a bit difficult especially at first but with the help of Charlie and Casey as Instructors everyone is slowly enjoying this new challenge . Last sundays training centered around gybing as the conditions were perfect with e/s/e winds around 6 knots so off everyone went down to the canal and we proceeded to introduce everyone to whistle gybes . What is whistle gybes ? well its when everytime you hear the whistle you gybe so with a big group like sundays it certainly makes for some wild manouvers which was certainly the case with lots of out of control and a few capsizes but overall everyone started to come to terms with it so we sent them for a sail south and back then you guessed it back to whistle gybes and this time there were no capsizes and only the occassional out of control . Everyone was definitely smiling when the came back to shore even Torin who was on whistle duties . Next weekend is race two of this years Youth Racing Series so fingers crossed for good winds and blue skies .
1.30 Open Racing;
With the winds settling in from the e/s/e at around 8 knots and the storm clouds building all around us I set a course starting at runners heading east then a leg up towards the club but I didnt make it too long a course because of the building storm clouds  . We were a bit late starting with a few people late of the beach so we were around 20 minutes late for the start but what I didnt tell everyone at the briefing was the start was set accross the current which certainly ahd everyone struggling in the first run to A mark but Greg Steve and Matt sorted it out and were the first boats around the buoy . Matts son Finn who was on the start boat and couldnt believe how well his dad was going and like all sons was giving him sailing tips all around the course ? As the race went on greg moved clear with steve holding second and Roger slowly overtaking Matt to come in third with Charlie fifth and Casey sixth but she was in the 4.7 as she is training for racing at Manly in two weeks . It was great to see our Treasurer out there as well with an afternoon off even though he didnt complete the course due to sore hands and it was also nice seeing Lance sailing and Stewart out racing as well .
Yes we did beat the storm and even had time to pack up the club before the heavens opened again and it absolutely bucketed down and it was definitely not a fun drive home >

Upcoming . Manly is only two weeks away and Casey , Simone , Ben , Greg and Tom are all gearing up for two days of racing .
The Mid winter cup ( june 29/30 ) has secured its first sponsor with Ronstan Australia coming back on board so its all guns blazing now all we need is the Sabots , Optis , Open Bic and youth Laser sailors to rock up again for another great sailing weekend NOR will be posted shortly!
Adult Learn to Sail Course :; starts this Saturday 23/3/2019 two spaces left !

CU on the water
John Murphy

Hi Everyone , Yes I did get in early with this weeks news as Iam away on thursday and I wanted to make sure that all the action from last week got a mention as there was plenty especially on Sunday which for the first time included our Junior racing program .
8.30 am Sunday Juniors ;
With the heat back again and lots of phone enquiries during the week we knew that we had to have everything prepared early for the expected rush and we werent wrong with 18 Juniors signing up for the beginners class so it was action stations for all the volunteers helping rig Teras and lasers to accomodate everyone . With the winds basically S/E at around 6 knots and smooth conditions Casey set a reach accross the channel but no sooner than the course was set it had to be changed to suit a more e/s/e wind change . The conditions were extremely hot so everyone was soon asking when capsize practice could begin which even for the new sailors sounded like a good idea . Blake and crew were the first to have an accidental ?? capsize so I soon had to give in and allow the rest of the fleet the same opportunity so in no time there were boats over everywhere with even the instructors getting into the act . I had a couple of our sailors asking how to capsize alone and in no time they were tacking and rolling the boat over then back in and off again . Its actually great to see everyone purposely capsizing which is all part of the sailing experience .
10.30 am JuniorTraining ;
We had an influx of new sailors in this session comprising of some of our 8.30 sailors who had decided to come along and try out this more advanced class . We probably had the biggest group ever and it showed as we struggled to get enough boats on the water especially amongst the Tera,s where the sails are just starting to tear from age but with some creative rigging and adult looking we managed to get everyone on the water . We started with a reach tacking at one end and gybing the other then as a said at the briefing we then added a third mark to include a bear away and after a lot of intense instructing from Casey and Charlie in Sarah C and me in rescue four everyone yes even the new sailors were tacking , gybing and bearing away and once we got everyone to sail remembering the outgoing tide and its effect everyone as actually sailing good courses . To finish the session we sent everyone from public nuisance to the second green channel mark so they could have a nice long broad each then a reasonable upwind return all in all a great session by everyone .
1.30 Junior Race Series ;
This being a new series had some very nervous young sailors sitting at the pre race briefing where we discussed the course and starting sequence both of which were pretty straight forward . The course was a start in front of the club with a rounding buoy in front of allisee . The winds were around 8/12 knots with the winds at their strongest below Ephriam which made for some exciting sailing . After a good start from everyone it was pretty close heading towards the A mark wel that was until some people decided to follow felix who wasnt at the briefing which gave Edwina the chance to jump in front ( she helped lay the course ? ) with everyone in hot pursuit . Addy had trouble in the gusty bits and we found after racing tha her mainsheet was a metre and a half to short so she couldnt let her sail out far enough . Felix had to be towed home due to main sheet failure ( knot practice ? ) and Kaleb had a couple of capsizes in the laser . Jackson finally learnt the benefit of sheeting on and was a much improved sailor by the finish . Ok so who one out of Edwina and Abbey well just in case you didnt hear the screaming at the finish line it was Abbey who slowly pegged back Eddys lead finishing 50 seconds in front well done girls ! Th whole lot had plenty of stories back at the beach so yep their turning into sailors 
1.30 Open Race Series ; 
Thanks to Glen and Matt who volunteered their time to run the club race so that i could run the Junior racing so after a quick rundown of flags and times I sent them off to start the fleet which apparently went well for first timers even with the starters clock only counting down and not up for elapsed time , next time I will show them the count up position ! on the clock . Most of the news is from the competitors with Tom having a good start as did Charlie but I believe Casey forgot turn turn her timer on so you guessed it she was late as was Tara ( toms daughter ) Greg and Tom had the usual battle but fro what I saw the excitement was in the middle of the fleet with everyone trying to get a break with Charlie breaking away and developing a hand break that everyone else just couldnt get back . The final result was Tom first Greg Second and Charlie third . Matt and Glen did a great job even with having to ask tom for the elapsed time as he went over the line then they could time everyone else .

Upcoming ; 
Easter , please be aware that the club will be closed on Easter Sunday 
2019 Mid Winter Cup 29th and 30th June 
2019 Youth Week Manly 5th / 9th July 

CU on the water
John Murphy

Hi everyone , Sailing was back in action last weekend after the effects of Cyclone Oma and some pretty high tides from the cyclone and full moon phases combined there were plenty of stories from some of the locals about wind gusts reaching 45 knots at the club and waves lapping just below the rock wall in front of the club . Our caretakers gazebo even had to come down before it blew away as the winds were trying to lift it off the balcony so all in all a pretty wild event and lets hope its the last one for the season.

8.30 am Sunday Juniors ;
Well the morning started with rain and squalls so we didnt expect many numbers but by 7.30 things were starting to look good weather wise with the winds dropping back to around 6/8 knots s/e so we pulled out enough boats for around 15 sailors and set a easy reaching course . As usual we had a few first time sailors in the group so with declan / Torin piloting lasers with the beginners we set off for a morning sailing of course only after our morning briefing where we discussed wind direction , no sail zone and capsize drill . TJ decided to try steering again as Daniel normally steers their boat but there are still a few bugs in his technique ! if you can call it that actually I think his biggest problem is just laughing too much which seems to affect the steering way to much causing some wild manouveres and of course capsize but it all turned out well when Dan took over about half way through , still a lot of laughing but straighter lines . The most impressive effort was from our littiliest sailor who ok with Declans help was on main sheet duties just cruising around in the laser well until her hands got tired but still a great effort especially in front of one very proud grandmother.

10.30 Sunday Training :
With the conditions stable at around 6/8 knots we first sat down in the briefing to discuss the set course and especially gybes and centreboard position for unwind and reaching after gybing which even had the assistant instructors thinking hard in question time . We had a mix of lasers , bics and teras out there with addy and alex in bics tom , Aithen and ebony in teras and abbs , ben and eddy in 4.7 lasers . As expected abby and addy just cruised the course especially with their broad reaches with mainly letting the sail out more and very good tacks and gybes . Alex , Aithen and ebony struggled early with a combination of minor errors with things like letting to much sail out on the broad reach especially Alex and Ebony who had multiple capsizes and Aithen just overpowering himself causing a loss of control . So with the tide on the way out I set about pulling each one asside at the inner turning buoy and showed each one how to rectify the mistakes , Alex and Ebony were easy the just werent pulling the sail on enough causing their boats to high side capsize but they did get it and off they went Aithen was doing the age old mistake where he was holding the main when tacking and not the steering but again after some work around the buoy he was off as well . Finally we had Ben whos general sailing is improving everytime he hits the water now all we have to do is get him to look before tacking right Eddy ?

1.30 pm Open Race ;
By tthe time we went out to set the race course the winds had come up to around 12/15 knots e/s/e so we set a start line near the canal with a upwind to A mark and the a long broadreach to reach up to nearly the top of soverign for two laps the a return to A the back to the start buoy and back to a before returning to the finish .

At the start Tom got a blinder of a start and was gone before anyone else realised he had gone and was never headed at one stage pulling out a healthy lead . Greg did slowly close down Toms lead and at the finish line he was only 18 seconds behind with Michelle holding third in a radial for the whole race . Steve and Casey had a great tussle after they both started a bit slow and Simone struggled a bit with the broad reach section but hopefully we have fixed that with a few after race tips about vang tension and body position in her laser in smooth water conditions ( it all helps ) Trish was back from Sydney and had a good sail with Stewart who wasnt an official entry but came out fro a practice race keeping each other company around the course . Where was Charlie ? well apparently soccer is a dangerous game especially went someone does a slide tackle into your right ankle or was it the left ?

Upcoming :
First Race of the new Junior Series is on this weekend finally with conditions looking good for the first series race starting at 1.30 pm in line with the open club race .
P.P.S.C. MID WINTER CUP 29TH AND 30TH OF JUNE
YOUTH WEEK 5/9 JULY

CU on the water
J Murphy