Sunday August 7th, 2016

Hi Everyone, is it really winter ? Have you seen the weather this week, blue skies, good winds. Warm out of the water but a bit cool in, as a couple of first time students from Nerang State High School found out yesterday when they either didn't change sides while tacking or mistakenly gybed, but they only did it once !

8.30am Sunday Juniors

Each week we seem to have a few more new juniors wanting to try sailing, with two new boys turning up last Sunday to try the sport we all know is great. With winds from the South / East, it was perfect for everyone to sail and work on improving their skills. Thanks to Dan and his encouragement for Ava, he managed to get her steering the boat, and I have to say once she got into it she did very well, well done Ava !
There were a couple of crashes early especially in the Bics with people not looking, but after some stern encouragement not to, everyone sailed well.

10.30am Sunday Juniors

With winds now settling in from the SS/E around 6 knots and setting just two buoys on a close reach and a broad reach return, everyone settled in to both tacking and gybing around the course, but it was soon obvious that we could easily send them all off to the yellow mark down at the canal. Although it was a bit of a struggle at times heading down it was a cruise on the way back with plenty of smiling faces. I couldn't pick the best sailor on the day as everyone did well with people like Cody and Hado, Parker and Rowan showing improved form.

Open Bic

We have lost another Bic sailor to Lasers (Charlie), so our racing fleet was down to one on Sunday with Jonah the sole starter who whipped around the course in good time. We do have a few people coming up to speed in the Bic but they will need to do some serious introduction to racing before we can let them head out with the rest of the fleet .

Open Racing

What a great race it was on Sunday, with a very nervous Charlie lining up for the first time in his Laser, but he shouldn't have worried as he blasted out of the start and led for over half the race until Casey managed to overhaul him and take the lead. Pat would have had a great start except he was on the wrong side of the line before the flag dropped, but didn't that create confusion with the fleet as we gave him a recall sound signal but the whole fleet turned back until some frantic waving from the start boat set everyone back on course. Who won, Casey with Charlie second and Steve third.

Additional Notes

Tera race morning : We are looking at having Tera team racing again in September after the success at the Bendigo Bank Cup racing.
We should have a flyer out this weekend and a registration sheet for the teams who want to compete so get into it and have some sailing fun Date 11th September start 8.30 am.

CU on the Water
John Murphy