Hi Everyone , Well another week of sailing starting with another big sunday and continuing into the week . We still cant believe the response to our sailing camps with the biggest groups that we have ever had in both camps and a special thanks to all the instructors ( Charlie , Declan and Mark ) who helped me make it all come together , without their help these camps would not be as successful as they are !
There will be a big surprise for everyone on Sunday with our pontoon finally afloat again now all we have to do is repair the damage to the southern end caused by all the sand buildup.

8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
It was looking like a pretty quiet day with not as many bookings as we normally have but still around 12 experienced and a couple of new sailors rolling in from 8.15 . We even had a visit from one of our old sailors from pre covid days in Aithan and his sister and yes like all of them he has definitely grown.
Conditions were very light early so we set a course from the beach to the bridge to take advantage of the light n/westerly at around 2/3 knots It was a great morning for everyone to practice steering and general sail trim with some of our youngest sailors in Harvey and Harrison really coming to terms with these new skills , nothing like seeing smiling faces as they all succeed in sailing their boats around the course . With the light conditions and everyones skills improvement boredom did set in toward the end but its still not quite warm enough for capsize tyraining but I bet its not far away!

10.30 am Youth Training :
With only a small group turning up for this session with Abby away in Yepoon and Jack and Dean off at nippers everyone was soon rigged and ready to go . Conditions had improved with the wind increasing to around 6 knots and moving more east so we set them off down to the port mark opposite the canal with very little instruction as is now normal when we want them to find their own way on the water.As you would guess Jade was soon on her way but Ross and Kaia decided to sail along the shore in amongst the fishing lines? until we got them to tack out . It was a good upwind with a broad reach return . Jade with a batten adjustment seemed to get the top of the sail working better with the battens popping easier on the roundings while Kaia , Ross and Maddy slowly came to gripps with the upwinds ( watch the luff right guys !!!) With Kaia in the Tera she was always going to be slowest but we showed her a technique on the broad reaches where she could at least keep pace with the laser which included catching waves and the occassional pump ? all in all a good day .

1.30 PM Open Racing:

With the winds turning e/n/e at around 6/7 knots our new PRO in training Charlie decided to set a start between Ephriam and Soverign with an upwind leg to the top of Soverign and then a broad reach down past the bottom of Ephriam with a combination of Triangles and windward leeward legs . Charlie worked on around one hr fifteen to complete the course but didnt factor in the current which just got stronger just ask Steve who when on port tack was visibly going backwards although he did come back from an early last place to overhaul John B and Stewart . Greg was just too good as no matter how hard he tried Peter just couldnt keep pace and after one hr Greg was over half a lap ahead . With a predicted wind increase not happening we decided to shorten the race by one lap which still saw the last boat over the line in 1hr 20m . Perfect spring day just not enough wind .

News ; Club building Changes , We are negotiating again with council to slightly increase the foot print of the club its a slow process but fingers crossed for a positive outcome .
Xmas Party ; Its looking more and more like we will repeat last years event by having our party at the club with morning sailing and an early lunch , if anyone would like to help with set up just let us know 
Try Sailing Hospital Fundraiser ; Lets make this the biggest year ever in support of our local hospital and its staff so get the word out!

CU on the water
J Murphy

Hi everyone , We cant believe it ourselves but both our sailing camps are full as the resp[onse has been overwhelming with booking starting over a month ago . We normaly set our participant number at 12 but we have had to up these numbers to accomodate everyone , We have a full range of participants from beginners to some of our more experienced sailors so myself and the other Instructors are going to be flat out , now all we need is for mother nature to give us some good weather . We also have one of our sailors heading north to participate in the Youth Champoinships so good luck and good sailing Abby Roake we will miss your help with all our sailors at both camps .
8.30 am Junior Sailing;
Summer is definitely coming with blue skies and warming temperatures greeting us on Sunday and a big group of regulars plus a couple of newbies soon out there rigging boats and talking sailing .
The weather was perfect with a light breeze out of the s/e at around 4 knots and an occassional burst of 6/7 knots so off we all went for a briefing just to sort everything out and organise crews which it seems nearly everyone had already done . The safety boat crew set a nice reaching course so everyone was soon on the water including abby who volunteered to take a new sailor out on the Tera and despite the usual reds knees when she returned ( tera hulls are rough ) and the fact she fell backwards out of the boat she said she had a great time . Brendan ( dean and jacks dad ) who has been helping me with club repairs lately did a great job with Tristan in improving his steering and he soon had him out amongst the fleet cruising around enjoying his sailing . all in all a good morning of sailing.

10.30 am Youth Training ;
After recent weeks with this group which included sailing in 20 plus knot winds and choppy seas Sunday was never going to be much of a challenge with winds swinging s/s/e at around 6 knots so rather than do triangles or race starts I decided to sned everyone south down to the canal ( upwind ) and then a leeward return but just to make it exciting we used the whistle gybing system where everytime they heard the whistle they had to gybe no matter where they were . This is a great training tool especially designed to make gybing less daunting as you dont have much time to think of it just do it . The upwind created the first challenge as it was dead upwind so a bit of a challenge mainly watching the luff but then everyone had to spin around and start gybing back to the club with an average of 12 gybes each leg . The best of the Bic sailors was Ross who kept nailing it and the best laser sailors was Abby , Dean in the tera is improving his upwind  its all about watching the luff right dean! and his brother Jack just needs to not let go of the mainsheet in the gybes and Maddy in her bic mainly needs to waatch her luff as well . Where was Jade ? away camping but she is back on Sunday .

1.30 pm Open Racing ;

With only seven sailors signing on and it not being a club championship race everyone decided on two short races so Charlie and I set a triangle starting at the canal and set the A mark down towards runners and a third mark over on the ephriam side . Once we had been back to the club and briefed everyone we were soon headin fro the start line and wouldnt you know it some dude parked his yacht right next to our start buoy so it was a quick reset and we were soon into start countdown . Mat was doing a bit of sand bar detection after the one minute so he was a bit slow off the mark but everyone else was soon away and you guessed it the wind faded back to around 4/6 knots certainly different from the previous week of 30 plus . Greg slowly pulled away with Chris keeping him honest but our attention was on a couple of relative neebies Peter and Stewart who had there onw race all be it at the back of the field buy still fun . With the wind dropping out race two was just a short windward leeward so that everyone could get back and pack up by 4.30 pm all in all a great afternoon on the water.

Upcoming ; Club Christmas Party Sunday the 20th which is looking like being held at the club again this year as the general consensus is it was great last year so why not do it again . We will be looking for some help in setting it up on the day so if you can give a hand it would be greatly ap[preciated 

Hi again everyone , well last weekend was again a big weekend with Saturday being another day where Brendan , Jack Dean Chrissy and I continued boat repairs and modifications to the racks that the Bics live on plus some cage security issues . We are hopeful to have even more of our Tera,s up and running soon with parts arriving from England to make up some extra masts yes England as there is not much in Australia part wise . Then of course we had Sunday with very challenging weather from Juniors all the way up to Open Racing in the afternoon which I have to say presented some amazing sailing from all groups . Finally after much discussion it is looking like finally that we will be dredging under our pontoon so that she floats again which has been a marathon effort getting approval but fingers crossed it should be starting soon .
Safety , I would like to remind everyone about the dangers related to our boat ramp regarding Barnacle and Oystrer Cuts in that area even though it is cleaned regularly it doesnt stop the build up and as was found last sunday they will cut through thin booties quite easily so best to keep clear where possible 

8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
With mother nature promising to throw some strong winds at us as the day progressed and with our normal big crew of Juniors turning up to sail we soon had 9 boats ready and on the beach so it was off to briefing with a special emphasis on safety . Charlie and Adam set up a reaching course to suit the s/s/e winds which started out around 4/7 knots with the odd small bullet but very gentle . As usual Brendan and I had beach duty which meant standing in the water teaching . The winds soon picked up to around 6/9 knots and everyone was starting to develop more speed but the slightest mistake brought on capsize with even the odd chock top . Everyone were handling these stronger conditions well although it was cold in the wind but I then noticed dark clouds building in the south and heading our way bringing increased wind speeds which were soon above our safe operating speed for juniors so with still about 10 minutes to go we decided for safety to bring everyone back to shore and a shower . 

10.30 am Training :
Originally this session was going to be cancelled as the storm had hit the Juniors earlier but we decided to rig anyway and then we went and had a chat mainly about the conditions and how we could sail them . My thoughts were they wouldnt want to go but I was wrong they all wanted to get out there so with a bit of trepidation from the safety boat crew and me we sent them off but conditions soon worsened so I called them all back in for another talk thinking they would all pull the pin but you guessed it they all said lets go back out as they were having fun!!! I can honestly say it blew me away as we are talking ages from 7 to 12 sailing in 20 knots plus so rather than say any more I though I would just list these legends names :
Sailing Legends 
Jade 
Ross 
Emerson
Jack  wildest capsize of the day
Dean
 Madison
Truly awesome work everyone 

1.30 pm Open Racing:
Well as you can guess the conditions were getting a bit wild out there by the time racing came around with gusts on the water of 25 knots and half metre waves so Charlie and I decided on a triangle in our channel with A set down near runners but just a bit shorter than normal . Mat found the sandbank prior to the start which was a sign of capsizes to come and Ben found that just a simple rigging mistake ( outhaul ) can certainly bugger up your day after looking very competitive early so it was left up to Greg Peter and Tom to race on and yes they all had a swim with Gregs being the worst going over twice , he said he lost control in a 30 plus gust and she just rounded up been there and done that myself ! Tom and Peter fought it out with some incredible speed from both boats and yes I forgot the camera ! Tom finally got in front and came home first with Peter and Greg who was actually making ground after his early capsize . There was talk of a second race but by the look on everyones faces I think they were quite happy to come in ! never seen Tom puffing so hard as he came over the line .

CU on the water
J Murphy

Hi Everyone , Firstly just an update on Corona Virus restrictions in regards to sailing , We have recieved advice from Queensland Health and Department of Sport and Recreation Queensland that we can continue with our sailing activities provided that we keep up with Social distancing , Cleanliness and record keeping which Iam happy to say everyone at Paradise Point Sailing Club adheres to so well done everyone as its an important part of our road back to normal operations .
Last weekend was a great weekend with just perfect conditions both on land and on the water with everyone enjoying their sailing on the day so fingers crossed we are going to have more of the same this weekend .

8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
Well it shaped up early as another great morning for our juniors even the water is starting to warm upand with everyone turning up right on time boats were soon of the racks and being rigged . Guys lake Ransom and Havoc were right into it with setting up their boats and as the numbers grew Charlie , Abby and I were soon busy getting the boats ready to sail and then all the team transfered them down onto the beach .
With the winds coming from exactly the wrong direction ( predicted n/e but came in s/s/e ) and somewhat stronger than the 2/4 knots predicted probably around 4/6 on average which made it a bit of a challenge especially with our new junior sailors who have been sailing in around 2 knots so everything was happening a lot faster so you guessed it there were a few capsizes . We had a new Instructor ( Mark ) on the safety boat learning our way of doing things with Charlie and Abby in control apparently there was veen some laughter as Charlie and Abbs made mark feel at home . Seeing that Mark was on board with the team I drew short straw again and did some tacking with Tristan and his mate in waist deep water and although it did take some time they soon got their timing right and had the boat tacking smoothly so well done boys.

10.30 am Youth Training :
With a few people missing we only had jack dean Ross emerson and Jade out for training . Once all the boats were rigged we all sat done for a debrief on last weeks sailing were the team sailed in very challenging conditions with that horrible westerly gusts and all making for a difficult sail . Both Andrew and I patted everyone on the back for their efforts , we asked what they thought the wind speed was and the highest guess was 16 knots so when we told them more like 18 the all looked pretty impressed with themselves . For training we set a triangle course with the focus on efficient mark rounding . The problem rounding was going from a reaching course around a buoy and going upwind to the next mark which did have everyone tacking to early at first but with Charlie rigging his laser and showing everyone how its done even with a passenger ( brendan ) they all soon got the sequence of sheeting on pointing up and then tacking . I was watching Jack at one stage and I have to say his tacking is becoming really smooth very similar to Jades style . Dean Emerrson ( laser ) and Ross soon had it down pat even though there was a lot of upwind tacking they all did well .
1.30 pm Open Racing :
With it being a non points race we didnt expect many sailors but we still ended up with seven starters and with the winds turning s/e at around a solid 6 knots we set a start down at the canal with a top mark at the yellow cross and a third mark on the eastern edge of our channel opposite the start buoy so yes triangles . Because it was non championship racing we decided on two short races and with everyone again behaving themselves at the start line they were soon off with Greg in the lead and the pack following close behind . Adrian actually had a great start on port but was bluffed by Greg who was coming on starboard but tacked away but Adrian had already tacked missing a perfect run to A . The funniest thing was Chris and Ben getting lost well Chris mainly  who nearly sailed past the finish boat until our yelling and waving got his attention and they both managed to skim past the finish boat luckily with Chris,s boom just missing me in the bow . Race two was a bit slower as the wind dropped but Greg still managed to hold out Chris and Russell third  which was a grteat result for Russell combined with his second p[lace in race one .

Upcoming :
Try Sailing Hospital Fundraiser 13th of December , we are already planning this yearly event so if anyone would like to volunteer some help just let us know !

Club Xmas Party 20th of Dec , we are looking for new ideas for this years xmas party so if anyone has any thoughts on a theme or venus this year lets us know .

CU on the water
J Murphy