Well, we have certainly had a BIG week at the Club, all starting with a group of 45 kids from Wynnum North Primary school coming down on Thursday for a learn to sail day. Not only did they have a great day but even the weather was kind to us with winds from 5 to 12 knots all day.

Thank you to the volunteers ( Pieter Verstoep , Aidan Verstoep and John Musgrave) for all their help, especially to John Mus for all the swimming he did on the day resulting from capsizing and jumping in the water to help right boats.

Greetings to all the frustrated sailors out there!

We finally managed to have a Sunday without rain and wind speeds in excess of 30knots.

Our morning Juniors had a great sail with conditions perfect for the 7 year-olds to learn their steering skills. They were then able to venture out and sail around the buoys with the other, more experienced, kids.

Our second Junior session which includes Junior race practice was also well attended with 8 competitors on the water including a couple of newbies in Richard and Kayla. They both gave a good account of themselves against the more experienced kids. At times they reminded me of the Senior race fleet with boats running into sandbars, yelling rules at each other (pity they were the wrong rules) and confusion as to who has to give way. Yep, definitely sounds familiar .

Racing was held yesterday with winds from 7 to 16 knots which made it a fast race, especially for Chris Connell who established a healthy lead by the time he crossed the finish line (cant beat a full rig for speed).

A special thanks to Maurie's wife Trisha for organizing a barby after racing yesterday. It definitely hit the spot and its great to get together with everyone and have a chat and a few laughs.

We have to say good bye and safe trip to Maurie and Trish as they are heading off for three months to Brazil and Florida. Should be a great trip, lucky sods.

Oh, I nearly forgot: Trish said I had to remind everyone of Maurie's win a couple of weeks ago. So job done, have a great time guys !

Well it looks like the weather finally gave us a break this week with good conditions on both Saturday and Sunday.

Our Junior sessions were well attended with over twenty juniors attending both our learn to sail and also the Junior racing program. In the Junior racing Dillon Lynch continued his good form from last week with a first in 4 out of the 5 races with Charlie Reece coming a close second in 4 races and after main-sheet repairs winning the 5 race with Dillon a close second.

The open Summer Series was held in 6 to 10 knots with a strong outgoing tide making the start very tricky with the current trying to push everyone over the line. The conditions also made seeing the sand bars difficult but I did notice a few competitors trying the system of: "If you come to a sudden stop, yep you've hit the sand!"

After racing, the Club held its 2012 Season Presentation
and AGM with an excellent turnout by members.

The top positions in 2012 Sailing Season were:

Election of Committee at AGM

Peter Crouch retained the position of Secretary ( unopposed )
Pieter Verstoep retained the position of Treasurer ( unopposed )
and
John Murphy retained the position of President ( unopposed )

OTHER NEWS

As part of our community involvement we have offered the use of the club premises to Sailability Gold Coast until such time as their facilities at SYC Hollywell have been repaired following the recent cyclone which severely damaged their pontoons .

Sailability is running at test day on Tuesday the 12 February to work out the changes needed to operate from our pontoon.  Providing everything goes well they will hopefully start inviting their clients to Paradise Point so they can continue their sailing activities.

Hi everyone!

Well, the last couple of weekends have been very interesting weather, race two of the summer series was obviously cancelled with wind gusts reaching in excess of 50 knots and sustaining those strengths over the next 36 hrs . The club suffered some damage with building and electrical damage but all in all we came out a lot better than some other parts of the coast .

Then we had last weekend with race three of the series where we managed to complete the first race.

Due to increasing winds 30 + knots and an outgoing tide the second race was shortened.

This made Pieter Verstoep very happy as John ( JUDGE ) Brown was on his transom .

We had a few away at the titles as well and we should be able to let everyone know next week how they went.

Our leading Junior sailor George Morton after competing in the NZ Open Bic Nationals came home with a 4th overall and 3rd in under fifteen , he then backed that result up with a 5thb overall and 3rd in under thirteen in the Youth Nationals ( Open Bic ) in Foster . The competition was fierce with both state and national champions competing in both events so Well done George .

The clubs annual AGM and Presentation is this weekend ( Sunday 10th ) starting with the presentation at 16.30 hrs and then the AGM to follow. All members are invited to come along and cheer everyone at the presentation and then stick around for the AGM to hear how your club is progressing for the future.