Sunday February 14th, 2016

Hi Everyone , I have heard our sailors went well at the masters at Port Stephens and with over 200 entries it sounds like a massive Regatta , even the guys at PSA ( Performance Sailcraft Australia ) who manufacture lasers said they were absolutely rushed off their feet .
So it sounds like sailing is alive and well in Australia so lets get our young sailors up and out there .

8.30am Sunday Juniors

Even with it being Valentines Day we still had over 25 children sign on for sailing in this class . The weather wasn't the best with winds around 15 knots from the south with the occasional gust of around 18 knots, and so it was decided to sail the Laser with our Junior racers taking people out and a few of the more experienced kids having a go in the Teras . With these conditions we did have a few capsizes and a few boats ending up on the other side of the bridge so Kyle and Ben were busy towing people back . Kyle even towed Ben back when Rescue one stopped ? I couldn't believe she stopped as it is so reliable !

10.30am Sunday Juniors

With conditions not improving we decided with this session to stay at the club and just let everyone sail across the channel. It was a bit of a struggle at times with some very strong gusts making life difficult and ending up in some good capsizes right Dan !
I did some work with Dan as he was really struggling with the Bic but once he started pulling the sail on and hiking out away he went .

Racing

With most of the fleet away down south, it was up to our Junior sailors plus Steve to rig up for what looked like a very windy race . We set a triangle in front of the club which included an extra windward mark half way down the channel . The start was hectic especially with Jess and Dan having their first taste of a race start line , there eyes were certainly wide ! Casey , Pat , Dallas , Sienna and Jas were all out there with the boys intent on giving the girls a run for their money, but they forgot about Casey's skills and she romped away and finished right behind Steve ( radial ) with the rest well behind . Bad luck cursed Jes with some early tangles and then we discovered she had a too small mainsheet which kept pulling through the main block and Dan had rudder trouble , Jas had one too many capsizes near the bridge with Ted and I towing her clear a couple of times until she finally was too exhausted to continue .

Additional Notes

Don't forget that the club championship presentation is on this Sunday after racing .

The Bendigo Bank Mid Winter Cup has been discussed at our last committee meeting and dates have been picked for late June now all we need to do is check with our sponsors for 2016

CU on the water