Hi everyone , well we have had a big week so far with one of our sailors appearing on the local news for all the wrong reasons and what were those reasons well they included a visit to the hospital , stitches and a swollen shut eye . So what happened well young Daniel while sailing with Jade in the pacer was sprayed by a jetski and the force of the water on the sail ( yes he was that close ) flipped the boom onto the other side and connected with Daniels head just missing his eye resulting in multiple  stitches , luckily we managed to have a tv station show interest and interview Dan so lets hope we get the message out there regarding powered watercraft and sail boats and what is fun and what is bloody dangerous , yes its also been officially reported to Maritime Safety Queensland . 
Our annual Club Xmas Party is only a few weeks away now ( 19/12/2021 ) so if you are keen to meet all the sailors and volunteers book yourself in by either emailing the club or sign up over the weekend while your kids are sailing $15.00 for adults $10.00 for kids and a family of 4 $40.00 . It will be held at the sailing club starting around 11am should be lots of fun like last year.

8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
As usual we had a large bunch of kids turning up for sailing either for practice or just their first go at sailing so we were soon all out there well except for Taylah who was off doing her instructors course and yes she passed rigging boats and generally getting everyone ready . The weather was mild with light roughly northerly winds at around 4 knots which was just perfect for the beginners and even the bic sailors were managing to get around the reaching course in light conditions which the bics dont like so you really have to sail . Our newest assistant assistant sailing instructor Reece took one of our first time sailors out and showed him the ropes , we say assistant assistant because reece wants so much to be an instructor but australian sailing says he has to be 12 so we decided to start him early anyway as he is so keen and doing a great job and yes Reece I do watch you on sundays and so far thumbs up mate . Speaking of instructors both Jade and Dan completed their assistant instructor courses as well and yes they passed. Jason and Guy set a reach course which they had to adjust as the wind constantly shifted but everyone had a good sail on the day I think there was even some capsize practice .

10.30 am Youth Sailing:
For this session the wind started to slow up even more and was really shifty but with Jade and Dan in the Pacer and Charlie and Scott in the 420 and mason on andrews laser we sent everyone off for a drift mainly down toward Runners while Reece and I took Tristan and Harvey out for their first round the boat training session ? whats that mean well it means we allow the safety boat to drift along while the sailors go round and round the boat ? and why do we do this well its really good for boat control with tacking / gybing and bear away manouvers while chasing a moving boat just ask the boys next weekend how difficult it was ! then to finish them off they had to sail upwind back to the club so well done boys . They rest of the fleet managed to make it back slowly toward the club as at times there was no wind well except for Mason whos out haul got stuck all the way off and drifted to crab island while darren also needed a tow back to the club . So why was Charlie out there well he and Scott are competing in the Marathon Race next weekend as is Jade and Daniel providing his swollen eye has gone down , the marathon is the last official race of the 2021 season so lets hope for good winds and plenty of boats .

1.30 pm Open Racing : 

With conditions staying light and it not being a championship race I sent Charlie off to set a upwind / downwind course so he set a start line down near runners with a turning buoy up at ephriam but in our channel why our channel less outgoing current and the wind was the same strength in both channels .
It was only a small fleet but everyone was still keen at the start and with the tide picking up speed on the out everyone stayed above the pin end buoy . There was some fun at the start with Greg trying to sneak in above Tom but Tom in true sporting fashion pushed him backwards so well done Tom in the end it didnt matter as Greg hit the start buoy anyway and DNF . We had two more one lappers after that with greg dnf again as he was a boat lenght early in the last race . Tom had consecutive firsts with John and Chris vying for the minor places while Nic was right there and by the third race both Matt and Trish had come to grips with the light winds and current and by race three were much closer to the finish fleet . We decided three races were enough especially with the light winds as we didnt wantr everyone caught out there when the wind dropped out later in the day.

Upcoming
28/11/2021 Club around crab island race.
19/12/2021 Xmas Party ( booking essential )

C U on the water
J Murphy

Hi everyone , Firstly as part of the club,s junior/youth support package we are again sending some of our young sailors of to complete either assistant instructor or instructor qualifications through the australian sailing training programs . We are sending Taylah ( full instructor ) and Jade and Daniel ( assistant instructor ) away this weekend to attend these courses so we have three very nervous sailors but Iam sure they will all complete the courses easily as they always here on sundays helping myself and charlie run the junior program.I should also mention our latest helper in Reece who unfortunately cant attend the course just yet as the minimum age is 12  so in the mean time he is helping out with rigging in the junior class and is then coming with charlie and I as we traing our youth group and apparently according to mum and dad is really enjoying the whole experience even if he has to put up with charlie and my tall stories .
There is now a booking sheet at the club to secure your places in the Club Christmas Party on the 19th of december or you can email the club to save your places . As in previous years we are holding it at the sailing club which seemed to suit everyone who we spoke to as its more family friendly.
8.30 am Sunday Juniors 
With 10 sailors already booked on saturday we were ready for a reasonable group of sailors for sunday morning and with blue skies and light winds predicted people were turning up from 8.20 am to sign on and start unloading boats and start rigging . We ended up with 18 keen beginner sailors most of whom had already had a least had two sessions so despite a few rigging glitches the boats were soon ready so it was off for a briefing .
I had our soon to be instructors in front of the class despite their shyness so they could get a feeling of what they will be doing this weekend when they attend their australian sailing course and had them do parts of the introduction now we will just see how they go next weekend.
Jason and Guy set a course out the front suited to the n/w winds that were around 4 knots so just perfect for us guys standing in the shallows teaching people how to steer and tack while the rest of the group started sailing around the course . Jason and Guy did end up moving the course and making it longer as the wind shifted whithout instruction from me or charlie so time on the boat is working with the safety crew . The water was a bit chilly so when my team ( vander and Tanna ) had to do a capsize there was a bit of a shocked look as they fell in but they were soon ok with it even if they were a bit cold as were the rest of the beginners taht taylah and dan were coaching . So who was the best on the water on the day well I was told it was Reece  who apparently sailed well show the other sailors how its done now all we have to do is convince him to give the Bic a go !
10 .30 am Youth Training 
With the winds becoming a bit gusty from roughly the west it was always going to be a bit of a challenge especially for our new Bic skiff sailors in Lincoln , Harvey and Tristan . but they were keen to give it a go and sail down the the special mark down at runners . The more experienced sailors in Jade Abby Taylah and Daniel just took of while we followed Harvey and Tristan while Linc who thought there was a spare rigged Bic had to quickly rig a boat with the help of andrew and got a tow from jason to bring him to the fleet. As to be expected Taylah and Abby were really good on the upwind but lacked a bit on the downwind especially in the flukey bits while Dan and Jade struggled downwind also due to waterline length but smashed it upwind so both coaches were pretty happy and yes there is rivalry between the coaches over who is better ? We spent our time with the new boys getting them to focus on the upwind which even with their new wind indicators was still a challenge but they dont give up the just keep going and always end up back on shore with a big smile on their faces . Reece even had his first go with us on the jetski and then charlie took him for a run at the end which was apparently awesom fun!!! 

1.30 pm Open Racing 
With only two races left for 2021 we had a group of 10 sailors ready to line up for the start , we were running a bit late due to shifting conditions which look to favour N/N/W gusting to 12 knots so we ( Taylah and I ) set a course starting down at runners with a at the top of ephriam and b half way up soverign , we set it this way so we could get a good upwind to A which we could only do by puttina over on the n/w side which worked out perfect for the upwind . Everyone behaved themselves at the start but the start of the day went to jade who just smoked all the lasers even greg . Things were going fine for the first half of the race then the winds became really gusty at times reaching in excess of 20 knots causing Adrian , Trish and Chris to pull out while the rest picked up some wild broad reac runs back toward the finish boat . Greg in the lasers slowly pulled away even though he says he is to light for the heavy winds while Jade really got the jump on Daniel who got caught in irons at the start and just couldnt claw it back . Jade did get caught herself firstly while trying to gybe at the bottom marg three times and the like daniel got caught in irons on the next upwind and in Bics its hard to get out of irons again due to waterline lenght . With the lasers it was greg first then Tom who admitted one capsize then John P while jade after her troubles just sailed away from Daniel especially on the upwind finishing well in front but we did have pity on the both and towed them home as they looked knackered  as its hard work sailing well in a Bic in 20 plus knots .

Upcoming Events 
Club marathon 28/11/2021 (and there s a rumour that Charlie and Scott are competing in the 420 ?)

Club Xmas Party starting 11.am sunday the 19th of December ( catered ) booking essential

CU on the water
J Murphy

Hi Everyone , Last weekend was a vast improvement on the previous sunday with the previous weekends wind speeds toping out at 38 knots at the seaway by 11am so even the adults pulled the pin ! where last weekend was back to perfect sailing conditions from Juniors to open racing .
Our marathon race is nearly here ( 28/11/2021 ) and then our school group sailing days take place early december followed by our annual Xmas Party ( 19/12/2021 ) plus two school holiday sailing camps so yes its a busy run up to christmas . Charlie Bratton has completed all the elements for Australian Sailing Open Dinghy Sailing Instructor , charlie has worked hard for this qualification and deserves a big round of applause for his efforts including this years Mid Winter Cup where he stepped in at the last moment when I came down Ill and he aquitted himself extremely well showing leadership and skill so again well done Charlie !
8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
With threatening storms predicted in the afternoon everyone was at the club early and the experienced junior sailors were soon out in the rigging area getting boats ready then as the numbers grew it was all hands on deck helping both the experienced sailors rig boats but also showing the first timers how its done . Although we were running a bit late we soon had the fleet on the water with Guy and Jason in sarah c and Charlie in banana boat while Myself , Taylah and Daniel were either showing tacking in the shallows or sailing which was the first time daniel sailed a laser following in jades footsteps from two weeks ago .
The winds ere perfect with an e/n/e at around 4 knots so we allowed gybing as well as tacking and generally speaking most people missed each other with some of our newer sailors showing some good sailing skills as in Reece , Josh , Xavier especially Reece who I was told after the session was just killing it with good tacks and gybes and even good boat speed . Lincoln , Tristan and Harvey just cruised saving their energy for 10.30 class but still sailed well so all in all a good morning sailing.
10.30 am Youth Sailing
The youth group especially the original sailors are really starting to show some skills with the lasers improving each week even with upwind sailing and our new group of Bic sailors in Tristan Harvey and Lincoln are following suit . The boys were set the task of sailing to the X mark at runners which for especially tristan was a first time so the eyes were a bit wide never having sailed that far away from the club before and yes he did struggle on the upwind at first until Charlie and I took over with Reece watching on and we coached him on upwind sailing all the way back to the club while Harvey and Lincoln made it back together . Taylah and Abby were really going upwind with Taylah just edging out Abbs on the upwind on boat speed but the girls are doing well . Jade and Daniel asked to sail the pacer and despite a few rigging issues like no starboard bung? the sailed it well and didnt even capsize which I must be honest and say we thought they wood ! Wind speeds really suited the session with a good solid 5/7 knots and minimum tide .
1.30 pm Open Racing
With a few people away we only had a small fleet which yes included the Pacer with rigging changes ( forestay tension ) and some on shore instruction for both skipper and crew . We went out to set a start line down near runners with just a upwind downwind course as it wasnt a championship race and the wind was n/e favouring east at around 6/10 knots but even before the start we soon struck trouble with the current which was the strongest I have seen in years so much so that after four attempts at anchoring we ended up with anchor down and engine in gear just to maintain station yep it was that strong!!! Matt cleaned the field in race one while the pacer after a bad start found the sand bank and was a definite last while roger was second and the ever improving Lance was third . Race two was even harder with the current absolutely roaring but everyone nailed the start even the pacer and were soon battling their way up the track , Lance sailed over the sand bank all the way to ephriam while the rest had tacking practice going up the channel . I even had to call Charlie back in the ski as the finish buoy started going south . Roger snuck in front and just beat matt and the pacer guys sailed much better and were right up there with the fleet at the end so all in all a good day and no late storm..

Upcoming 
28/11/2021 Marathon around crab island 
19/12/2021 Club Xmas Party being held at the club again

CU on the water
​J Murphy