Hello Everyone , With the temperature dropping this week to single digits it has certainly been a bit fresh early in the mornings but the days have been perfect with sunny skies and good winds , all we need now is for similar conditions on the weekend especially early unlike last sunday where it was definitely lite early and only just sailable by the afternoon.
MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS:
Please note that all P.P.S.C. memberships are up for renewal as at 1st of July 2020 , if you havnt recieved a reminder via email just let the club know and one will be emailed to you
BOAT STORAGE
For those members who have a boat stored at the club please note that storage fees ( $300.00 ) are also due as at the 1st of July 2020

Sunday Juniors 8.30 am Session
With blue skies and nearly perfect sailing conditions we soon had a big group of new sailors and some experienced out rigging boats and even swimming prior to the morning briefing . Everyone with a bit of help from the instructors and parents soon had a mix of Tera,s and Bic,s ready to go . With current covid 19 rules we held the briefing just standing up in front of the white board which seemed to keep everyone a bit more focused so maybe a good idea for the future . We wrote a course on the board and engaged everyone with questions about sail zone no sail zone and tacking which generally everyone got right so without to much more effort we soon ahd everyone on the water . Conditions were a bit flukey with the wind coming from the n/n/w at first with a wind speed of around 3/5 knots it was not the most exciting sailing but a few of our new sailors like madison who was trying the bic for the second time and even her brother tim out with Mason as instructor it gave the two of them more time to work on their skills . Even Jack and Dean who sailed with their friends actually let them have a go at steering in the light winds which generally worked out well . But as you guessed the winds firstly went west which even caught the crew on sarah cooper out but with a little adjustment of the course bouys we had a light reach going until it dropped out as well so next minute everyone is singing ! not sure what they were singing but at least they were having fun.
Thanks to Declan , Charlie Abby ( boat driver ) and Mason for volunteering their time and yes Abbys driving is getting better !

Sunday Junior Training 10.30 am
Luckily by the time everyone rigged up ready for a sail the wind had returned well kind of with a lot of shifting around and dropping out but still it was wind . With a big discussion about boat speed ( chasing the wind ) rather than pointing the boat before everyone hit the water we wer trying to get everyone focused on the tricky conditions and at first it wasnt working well with everyone struggling to find the wind direction . Emerson and Jade were the first to start sailing to the conditions with Ross and Mason just struggling a bit . It was amazing to watch Emerson and Jade really start working the wind conditions especially with it moving from n/n/w to n/n/e so I set them the task of sailing under the bridge and back again which the both completed several times while we worked with Ross and Mason who unfortunately kept over pointing and stalling out , but yes we did get them going finally well when I say we it was me and Abby as Charlie and Declan were playing flip the bottle ! so thanks abb,s for your imput . I personally was very impressed with everyones effort in what was really hard sailing conditions which at the de brief I let them all know how well they went even Mason and Ross who although the didnt make it under the bridge they did finally started keeping more in the sailing zone so again well done everyone.

Open Race Practice 1.30 pm

We were a bit late starting the race practice as we had to go and help one of our old instructors who had run aground in his pontoon boat off Ephriam , I must admit it wasnt much of  a surprise as it was Aidan who always had a bit of a reputation with sand banks so in true sailing club form we took photos and put them on Facebook and yes we were all laughing and that included his wife and mother in law !
Ok with official racing still two weeks away everyone was quite happy to just do windward leewards again with a minimum of five gybes on the downwind . The wind was around 4/7 knots with an outgoing tide so not too bad well at least it was better than last weeks bucketing rain were we even lost sight of everyone at one stage and Charlie and I ended up wet as shags . The starts were close but the stand out was Tom who started badly in the first race and was way to leeward in the second still managed to come home first , we dont know how he did it in the second race but the first race saw him tack out to the east and snagged a nice lift to the top mark . Everyone was pretty close together in these short races with nearly everyone running full rigs ( Ben borrowed Charlies ) that made it pretty clse all round .
 We have to mention Tom effort in race three as it was a classic finish very similar to some of Charlie,s legend finishes , so what happened well he didnt come across the line first It think it was third but you guessed it he was casually broadreaching over the line and leaning the boat to windward and you guessed it the wind died and he just rolled her over into the drink . The general reaction was you guessed it laughter not only from the start boat but everyone around him so well done Tom and even Charlie gave you the tick of approval as he,s the expert in that manouvre !

CU on the water
J Murphy

Hi Everyone , Yes after three months of self isolating we seem to havge weathered the storm and although it will take the club some time to be fully up and running at least we are on the active pathway with Junior Sailing , Youth Racing Holiday Camps and Open Race Training all back on Sundays .

Junior Sailing 8.30 am session
With the weather forecast not looking goood and the rain starting at 4am I was a bit dubious as to whether sailing would be on but by the time I arrived at the club around 6.30 am things were looking good for at least Junior and Youth Sailing .
As per the Covid 19 guidelines we restricted our numbers to 12 students which included some of Jack and Deans friends as first timers so it was a busy rigging area especially with the odd boat part missing and the odd boom put on upsidedown but we soon sorted everwthing out and had a short briefing before hitting the water.
Charlie and Abby set a nice reaching course in the roughly northerly wind and with the wind speed around 4/6 knots it was perfect for just a cruise around the buoys . We had a couple of bics out with Jade taking Issabella for a sail and Madison in the other bic having her first try , we did warn her that she would probably capsize but I think the excitement at having her first sail in a race boat just overrode everything else oh and yes she did capsize several times and she only came in when she just got too cold . With her boat on the beach we took Issabella out of Jades boat and gave her a go in the Bic and she now agrees they are hard to sail! Everyone just cruised around for the session and there were plenty of happy smiling faces at the end .
Youth Sailing 10.30 am Session
While Charlie went off to get everyones chip order we soon had all the baots raedywith a mixture of both bics and tera,s lined up ready to go . The wind conditions had changed in as much that the average speed was around 8 knots and the gusts were reaching 14/15 knots and quite quick but generally short in duration at first but they increased as the session went on . We stretched the course over two thirds accross the broadwater so that everyone had a good long sail with one way a close reach and coming back a broad reach which was very exciting at times . The fastest on the water was Jade who is really starting to show her skills especially in the gusty bits where she always looked in total control with great balance and boat speed  Emerson also went well with him keeping his sail on and working to stop the knocks and mainsheeting furiously at times to generate max speed . Ross and Mason forgot the main sheet pressure at times which fior Ross resulted in a couple of swims and with Mason he struggled to keep aiming at the buoys but once got him to keep the sail on away he went . There were a few gybes but everyone generally kept to tacking as the water was cold and the gusts were a bit nasty just ask Ross , all in all a great fierst session back.
Open Racing 1.30 pm

Hi Everyone , Well we have weathered the storm and are now looking at re opening the club on Sunday the 14th of June so lets keep our fingers crossed that the weather is great so everyone can finally get back to having some fun.We will also be re opening our facility at Varsity Lakes from Saturday the 13th of June.
Covid 19 
The club has been delivered a strict set of opeerating guidelines that we will adhere too designed  by the Qland Govt and the Department of health just to name a few interested parties and will continue whith these rules until we are notified of any relaxation to the current rules .
All those wishing to resume sailing will have to book a place in a session as numbers are limited until further notice. To make a booking either email the club at ppdcinc@bigpond.com.au or phone 0407145397

All visitors to the club will have to sign in and out and that includes students and race participants members and their guests 
Hand sanitiser will be available at sign on and in the amenities and we enchourage everyone to use these products to hepl us keep a safe sterile enviornment.
If you have any symptoms that might indicate a possible infection we would advise you to not attend the club until you have consulted a medical professional
Social Distancing;
The current governmentrules for social distancing will apply so we ask everyone to be conscious of the surroundings at this time . Toilets and Shower areas will be limited to a maximum of 4 people at nay time 

Canteen : Our canteen will not be open innitially as we will need to restock as most of the stock had to be disposed of and we will have to re stock as funds become available 

Like everyone the club will slowly regain its momentum after such a major global event and with everyones support we should soon be back to normal operations .

CU on the water
J Murphy