Hi Everyone, 
Well what a week what with cancelling Mondays camp due to wild weather and then being lucky enough to run the second day with much better conditions.

Even though we did have to tow the boats up to Soveirgn Island to keep out of the still strong winds everyone had a great day on and in the water. There was lots of laughter and plenty of sailing with Flora being the stand out on the day, I could pick the best capsizes as there were so many accidental? ones but again all you could near was laughing. Thanks to Will, Jack and Michael for coming along and helping out by sailing with the students and helping out on the start boat.

Although there was no sailing on Saturday I was kept busy with boat and jetski license courses and even caught up with a couple of original club sailors in Adam (first club junior champion) and Brian, it was great to catch up and they even passed their boat course.

Sunday Juniors 8.30 am class: 
Well how wrong could Aidan and I be, we thought we wouldn’t have many students in the first class as it was overcast and a bit windy and boy were we wrong as we had the biggest 8.30 group since the club opened with over twenty current and new students. After rigging every Tera we have and one laser we sent a few of our more experienced junior sailors out but a couple had some difficulties with the conditions so as a safety precaution we brought everyone back in and Dallas, Alex, me, Andrew and even Aidan sailed with everyone. Buy the look of the smiling faces at the end everyone must have had a good morning except all those people who I took for a sail as despite numerous requests I refused to capsize (toooo cold) As far as capsizes went young Alex Caban had the best with him taking out two boys who weighed at least four times his weight and he ended up upside down as he just couldn’t compensate for everyone else on the boat, a good try anyway Alex.

Sunday Juniors 10.30 am class: 
The conditions were quite tame for this session but with only 5 students we decided not to race and just practice instead so we set up a triangle and away they went. Everyone went well at first except for India who seems to like running into the other competitors and capsizing them. She managed to get Buttercup and Spencer and capsized them right next to the moored houseboat so Aidan and I were kept busy righting boats. Spencer capsized again later in the session and despite his best efforts in getting his boat up and going he went in again! could have had something to do with his boat leaking and being nearly full of water. Great effort anyway Spencer. Unfortunately not only have we got a leaky Tera but poor old Exocet has managed to pop one whole side and thanks to the generous offer from Andrew (boat builder) she is going away to be professionally repaired .

There was no Open Bic or Club racing as the new Autumn series doesn’t start until May 4th as Easter is next weekend (don’t forget the Bunnings Barby?) and the following Sunday after Juniors we will be running a Rescue boat familiarisation afternoon with everyone invited to come along and learn how the procedure s work, you don't need a boat licence so if you are interested contact me at the club for the details. The main purpose of the afternoon is to practice for the Open Bic Midwinter Cup as well as club events as we are always looking for boat crews but without any experience most people don’t want to say yes but this way you can!!!  There are two more days already in the calendar for later this year which are form training prior to the Pan Pacific Masters Games and these dates should go up on our website soon, if not ask at the club .

Have a great Easter everyone and hopefully we will see you at our local Bunnings this Saturday and you can buy a sausage and drink and have a chat.

C U all on the water

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397

Hi Everyone, 
I am getting in early this week with all the news from last week.

Easter Sunday: After discussions with Queensland water policy regarding boating numbers expected over Easter and the increase of on water incidents reported to police I have decided to cancel Easter Sunday Junior sailing in the interest of student safety. It is the clubs policy to always put safety first  so to be on the safe side we will not be open. 
That just gives everyone more time to hunt easter eggs !!!

Sunday Juniors 8.30 am class: 
What a turnout again for this class we had eighteen returners including four newbies sign on for the early class with just enough boats and blue helmets to go around. The conditions were great with a slow incoming tide and northerly winds of around 4 knots. I sent 7 boats out with crews and everyone managed to sail around the course that Pieter set out in front of the club. As The tide was coming in anyone who didn’t sail to the mark at the club ended up on the sandbank with Henry winning hands down with 6 landings. There was even a lot of accidental capsizes ???? on the day as well, funny I didn’t think it was that windy! A special thanks to Sienna and Alex Caban for helping out and Mum for running the canteen as the usual helpers were away in Ballina for the day.

Sunday Juniors 10.30 am Class: 
Well what can I say over the last couple of weeks mother nature has not been kind to the boys and girls with again light winds and tide to contend with. We even tried to sail away from the club chasing wind but no matter where we went the wind continued to shift and vary but to everyones credit they all managed to sail the set course with a lot less coaching from the rescue boat. I was very impressed with everyones effort as I know how boring it is in those light conditions, lets hope next weekend that you can all finally crack some decent winds and show all the mums and dads what you can achieve when there is a least some constant breeze.

Open Bic Racing 1.30: 
This weekend was Ballina's turn to hold a round of the Open BIC River Series so everyone packed up at 8.00 am and headed for Ballina. Just like here they had a n early storm prior to racing and then the had three races with winds  5 knots up to 15 knots. Charlie had the best result coming fourth overall with Luka seventh and Dylan and Dallas tying for ninth. There was a fleet of thirteen boats overall which was a great turnout so thank you to the Ballina Club for putting on such a great day. Dallas has also learnt a lesson and that is to check his gear (forgot the mast?) so Dad had to jury rig a windsurfer mast which of course broke in the middle of the last race. Now all we have to do is get rid of the mozzies at the club around dusk, everyone was getting eaten alive unpacking.

Open Racing 1.30 pm: 
With conditions slowly going bad we decided to have a start so everyone launched and we headed for the start line at Runaway Bay but no sooner had we set up that I saw three lightning strikes right behind Runners so I immediately postponed the race and sent everyone back to the club. Although the storm was intense it was over in 15 minutes so we decided to run a sausage just to Runners and back to the club. We started in 12 to 15 knots and finished in 1 knot but at least we got a race in. There was hopefully a good lesson learned by some of the teenage laser sailors and that was to wear more clothing as the all failed in race two because they were cold, maybe it was because they were running around in the cold rain in the break just maybe?

There was only one sour note to the day with someone either running over one of our yellow race buoys or possibly steeling it. When Lachy and I went to pick it up from the top of Soverign it was gone . Ted joined in the search and we looked as far as Tipplers and over to Straddie but to no avail. Cost of these buoys is three hundred dollars so we will need a good day at Bunnings on the 19th to replace the missing one.

Upcoming event: The club will be holding a Rescue Boat Operation course on the 27th of April from 1.30 pm to train new people and even refresh people's memories as part of the safety management plan for this years Mid Winter Cup (4TH July) AND FOR GENERAL RESCUE CREWS FOR CLUB STANDARD EVENTS. If you would like to take part just give me a ring or email me at the club as spaces are limited.

Click here to Email Now!

C U all on the water

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397

Hi Everyone, 
The wind was so slow on the weekend I think it affected me in writing this weeks Newsletter.

Sunday Juniors 8.30 class; 
As I just mentioned there was very little wind for the first session but at least the tide was high and not much run. We had sixteen budding sailors out there even a couple we havn't seen for a while in Taylah and Sienna 2 who as usual kept us entertained with their usual falling out of boats and capsizing. I continue to be impressed by some of our other juniors who are really doing well and should progress to 10.30 class soon. A special pat on the back to Henry who took his friend out for his first sail and after a few early slipups started steering like a pro, I think there was even a couple of capsizes thrown in for good measure. At the end of the session nearly everyone capsized just to have some fun and escape the heat.

Sunday Juniors 10.30 class; 
Again we had a good turnout with at least some wind but an ever increasing tide which made the course difficult. After a tryout on Saturday we put Mat and Max in Bics so that they can hopefully progress up to racing which is their goal, even Dad has brought a laser and he says we will see him out racing soon. We did try a race but conditions were so slow that we shortened it and went for a sail down past the canal just to find more wind. Things then went from bad to worse with everyone struggling to get back to the club even us in the yellow boat especially after Charlie again kicked the fuel hose off the tank again!

Open Bic and Lasers: 
Most of the laser fleet stayed away because of the conditions which had deteriorated to rain so we put the Bics and the lasers (3) together with the laser set to do four laps and the Bics one and a half. In the lasers Andy and Roger managed to drift away from Steve and actually managed to complete two legs before Aidan and I shortened the course, otherwise we would have been out the till 7pm! yes it was that slow. In the Bics Dallas and Patrick drifted out in front of Mark (Tera) and Charlie and Luka. I even gave Mark a tow just so he could catch up seeing he was in the slowest boat but as soon as I turned away the wind dropped out on him again and away he went south again, at least he had company with Charlie and Luka. After shortening their course also they all managed to drift through the finish line so at least well done for trying boys.

Dallas, Charlie and Dylan (if he doesn’t fall off the swing again! are off to Ballina to race against the Ballina Bic fleet so good luck boys!!!

Yes you guessed it after we shortened the course and everyone struggled home the wind came in around 5 knots, just typical!

Sunday 6th April is the club Marathon so lets hope we get some wind .

Things to remember:

1. Volunteers needed for the Bunnings Barbeque on Easter Saturday just check with John at the club orf just put your details on the notice board list.
2. Mid winter cup we are looking for volunteers to help us look after all the competitors and their families plus our own people so if you can spare some time over the three days just contact me at the club. All help will be greatly appreciated
3. We are also looking for volunteers for our new canteen, the canteen needs volunteers who can spare a bit of time on a Sunday to help out. If you havnt got the spare time perhaps you would like to donate items to sell at the canteen as all products sold are presently donated by members and families . Dont forget every little bit helps your club. If you think you might be able to help in some way just check in at the canteen on Sunday.
4. Holiday Sailing Camps 7/8 and 14 / 15 April
   

Cu all on the water

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397