Hi Everyone, 

Hi Everyone,
Well another eventful week for Paradise Point Sailing Club , Firstly we now have a club sailing committee who are being tasked with helping to co ordinate club events , input into Junior Training, seek sponsors and when visiting other clubs work with those clubs to create a interaction between P.P.S.C. and interested clubs.

The Committee is ;

David Lynch

Sylvia Caban

Mark Whitbourn

Allan Morton

The committee and management are presently looking at Events such as Try sailing day/Fundraiser and Club Xmas Party on the 15th of December, NSW States in January, Laser Traveller Series in March, Midwinter cup in June and possibly other Events on the sailing Calendar.

Junior Sailing 8.30 am;

The Junior sailing had a great turnout at 8.30 with 14 budding sailors trying out their skills in light winds of around 6 knots, a couple of dad's volunteered to help Aidan on the rescue boat while Eden's Dad and I took a Tera each to show the kids how its done. As usual I ended up with sore knees as I have to kneel in the boats to sail. It was a lot of fun especially running into Sienna's boat with Lachy and Taylah (the screamer) on board .

Sunday Juniors 10.30 am;

With a group seven in the session and winds around 8knots from the SE we decided to try off the beach racing which proved popular with everyone, there was a few crashes especially with India who seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was taken out in several races. This format is great as it teaches the kids to become more efficient in both tacking and gybing and general speed. Everyone came back at the end of the session absolutely grinning.

Open Bic 1.30 ;

Firstly I have to tell a tale of three intrepid sailors who went out on Saturday (weather forecast said dropping after lunch to 10knots ???) in the Open Bic,s for a training session with me. It all started well with Sienna just being a bit conservative and Dylan ( CT ) and Luka going for it especially Dylan who had some awesome broad reaches but then mother nature who hadn’t obviously read the forecast started getting windier and windier ending at gusts around 27knots. This of course sent everyone upside down as boats nosedived and some seawater was swallowed, the boys capsized plenty but Sienna only once due to the rudder falling off !!! It was certainly wild so well done to you all.

We had a couple of new people in the BICs on Sunday with Mark and Patrick deciding to give racing a go with Patrick coming out on top in a Tera with the others hot on his heels. Aidan (trainer) told me that the all had a bit of trouble with tide at first but then started to navigate the race course with relative ease. I should point out that Aidan volunteers for this session and all day at the club so thank you Aidan your help is greatly appreciated.

Club Racing;

With only a small fleet of lasers but a big fleet of windsurfers we had some good racing in winds starting at around 12/14 knots but dropping toward the end of race two to around 6/9 knots with Roger coming out on top. There was talk of adding a couple of besser bricks to both Rogers boat (because he's too light) and some mumbling about doing the same to Andrews as well .

The windsurfers were awesome with their speed and agility on the water, they certainly gave our resident windsurfers Paul and Toni some strong competition. I was told by Brendan that amongst the fleet were X world champs and national champs , it certainly showed on the water and it kept Ted and I enthralled as they battled each other for the best position.

Thanks everyone for readying the newsletter this week

CU on the water

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397

Hi Everyone, 
Another week sailing in Paradise with good winds good attendance and good news.

Sunday Juniors 8.30 class;

Unfortunately last Sunday 8.30 juniors was cancelled due to winds in excess at times of 18 knots which made conditions unsafe for our learners . Thank you to all the parents who turned up anyway and I hope you and your children enjoyed the Ride on the new club rescue vessel.

In future for those of you especially who come from as far away as Canungra and you want to check if sailing is on just give me a ring at the club from 7.00 am and I can let you know if sailing is on.

Sunday 10.30 class;

The 10.30 class went ahead in winds occasionally reaching 18 knots in the gusts which generally took place at the Gybe mark so consequentially there were a lot of swims with at times several boats deciding to capsize on top of each other which made for interesting work for the safety boats trying to assist those whos centreboards had fallen out.

In amongst the swims and capsizes there was some good sailing shown by everyone out there with special praise going to Jonah (4 capsizes) and India the two smallest sailors who managed the winds well  despite their small stature . Everyone else said that they had some great speed sections and much fun was had by all.

Open Bic;

Our normal group of Bic sailors sailed at 10.30 due to the forecast of stronger winds so George, Lachy and Oscar took the boats out for the open race in a short course format, both Lachy and Oscar after several swims decided to just do some reaching at the club but George went the full short course with one swim before the start and that was all . George started with the open fleet and had a blinder of a start beating most of the Lasers over the start line. Good sailing George!

Open Race;

Due to increasing winds (18/24 Knots) only five boats went out to brave the conditions, conditions down near runaway bay were windy and choppy with the course set as a close reach upwind towards the club and a broad reach down to crab island . The course was short due to forecast 35knots which didn’t eventuate so that everyone was back at the club in around 45 minutes.

Even though Trisha failed to make the start due to two capsizes she still completed the course which was a gutsy performance considering her size and bad start.

Finish Positions;

1 Peter F

2 John P

3 Roger M

4 Pieter V

5 Michelle

News; The club took delivery of its new Rescue vessel on Saturday with the honour of first ride with me of course going to Charlie Bratten who although very nervous at first said he had a blast . The new Jetski was put through its paces as a rescue vessel on Sunday and performed above my expectations by delivering a smooth ride and excellent manoeuvrability.

Catch You all on the water,

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397

Hi Everyone, 
Yes I'm back after missing last week due to Email problems at club which finally needed IT specialist intervention and even he had trouble solving the problem.

There is heaps to catch up on so here we go. Due to the problems with not only email but the phone also had issues so I would like to apologise to anyone who I have missed contacting after either sending an email our leaving a phone message to the club as most of them disappeared.

Sunday Juniors 8.30 class: Even though we have just been through school holidays our first class numbers have still be up on last year with a great bunch of kids turning up to have a go. The first weekend of the holidays was windy with winds increasing as the morning went on so consequently there was a fair bit of capsizing mixed in with some high speed sailing. The looks on some faces was precious as our budding juniors found out that yes, sailing boats can go fast. Last weekend was blue skies and 3/5 knots so ideal for the new kids who came along to try sailing for the first time. Our resident screamer (Taylah) was out there with Flynn a new sailor who said he enjoyed the experience despite the noise and several capsizes.

Sunday Juniors 10.30 class: Again numbers were good over the two weekends with strong winds forcing us to run the 1.30 race class with the 10.30 due to increasing wind strength (20knots) on the first weekend. There was some wild rides dodgy tacking and fast sailing not to mention Mark keeping the rescue boat busy with many capsizes mainly near the bridge. Aidan in the end just waited over at the bridge rather than have to keep coming back for mark (Yes Open Bics are fast Mark!). Last weekend went back to light conditions (4/6 knots) mixed with a killer tide which made sailing the set course very difficult. I have to congratulate everyone on their efforts and especially India who showed how to adapt with the ever changing wind direction, good sailing India.

Racing: Racing started last weekend with Dallas, Charlie and Luka sailing in the Bic series (Dylan and Sienna away) with Luka coming out on top overall in what were even more challenging conditions than the 10.30 group Luka's dad Mark ran the racing and was kept busy chasing them around the course so that they could beat the tide and Current. From what I saw it was good racing with Luka having the advantage of weighing around the same as two peas and a carrot at least thats what he tells me.

The firsts race of the spring series only attracted 4 competitors with only a triangle course set due to light conditions which of course changed just before the start with the wind increasing to around 10/12 knots making the race around forty minutes . Even though the fleet was small there was good racing by everyone not to mention crash John's capsize at the gybe Mark after getting in front of Peter, don’t you just hate that John? Peter went on to win with John a close second (19seconds) and Roger third (radial).

New Equipment: We had good news also last week with our grant application to Jupiter's Casino community benefit fund being granted with the club now able to purchase a rapid response rescue vessel (Jetski) which should either arrive this weekend or early next week . We were unsuccessful with the second part of our grant which was for four more BIC's  but we will try again in the next round.

Finally, I have recently had a meeting with the funding department of the Gold Coast University Hospital and we are looking at Sunday the 15th of December for our annual fundraiser and try sailing day I will keep everyone informed as the date comes closer .

CU on the water

John Murphy

President/Sailing manager

Paradise Point Sailing Club

Gold Coast Qld 4216

Mob 0407 145397