MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS:
Please note that all P.P.S.C. memberships are up for renewal as at 1st of July 2020 , if you havnt recieved a reminder via email just let the club know and one will be emailed to you
BOAT STORAGE
For those members who have a boat stored at the club please note that storage fees ( $300.00 ) are also due as at the 1st of July 2020
Sunday Juniors 8.30 am Session
With blue skies and nearly perfect sailing conditions we soon had a big group of new sailors and some experienced out rigging boats and even swimming prior to the morning briefing . Everyone with a bit of help from the instructors and parents soon had a mix of Tera,s and Bic,s ready to go . With current covid 19 rules we held the briefing just standing up in front of the white board which seemed to keep everyone a bit more focused so maybe a good idea for the future . We wrote a course on the board and engaged everyone with questions about sail zone no sail zone and tacking which generally everyone got right so without to much more effort we soon ahd everyone on the water . Conditions were a bit flukey with the wind coming from the n/n/w at first with a wind speed of around 3/5 knots it was not the most exciting sailing but a few of our new sailors like madison who was trying the bic for the second time and even her brother tim out with Mason as instructor it gave the two of them more time to work on their skills . Even Jack and Dean who sailed with their friends actually let them have a go at steering in the light winds which generally worked out well . But as you guessed the winds firstly went west which even caught the crew on sarah cooper out but with a little adjustment of the course bouys we had a light reach going until it dropped out as well so next minute everyone is singing ! not sure what they were singing but at least they were having fun.
Thanks to Declan , Charlie Abby ( boat driver ) and Mason for volunteering their time and yes Abbys driving is getting better !
Sunday Junior Training 10.30 am
Luckily by the time everyone rigged up ready for a sail the wind had returned well kind of with a lot of shifting around and dropping out but still it was wind . With a big discussion about boat speed ( chasing the wind ) rather than pointing the boat before everyone hit the water we wer trying to get everyone focused on the tricky conditions and at first it wasnt working well with everyone struggling to find the wind direction . Emerson and Jade were the first to start sailing to the conditions with Ross and Mason just struggling a bit . It was amazing to watch Emerson and Jade really start working the wind conditions especially with it moving from n/n/w to n/n/e so I set them the task of sailing under the bridge and back again which the both completed several times while we worked with Ross and Mason who unfortunately kept over pointing and stalling out , but yes we did get them going finally well when I say we it was me and Abby as Charlie and Declan were playing flip the bottle ! so thanks abb,s for your imput . I personally was very impressed with everyones effort in what was really hard sailing conditions which at the de brief I let them all know how well they went even Mason and Ross who although the didnt make it under the bridge they did finally started keeping more in the sailing zone so again well done everyone.
Open Race Practice 1.30 pm
We were a bit late starting the race practice as we had to go and help one of our old instructors who had run aground in his pontoon boat off Ephriam , I must admit it wasnt much of a surprise as it was Aidan who always had a bit of a reputation with sand banks so in true sailing club form we took photos and put them on Facebook and yes we were all laughing and that included his wife and mother in law !
Ok with official racing still two weeks away everyone was quite happy to just do windward leewards again with a minimum of five gybes on the downwind . The wind was around 4/7 knots with an outgoing tide so not too bad well at least it was better than last weeks bucketing rain were we even lost sight of everyone at one stage and Charlie and I ended up wet as shags . The starts were close but the stand out was Tom who started badly in the first race and was way to leeward in the second still managed to come home first , we dont know how he did it in the second race but the first race saw him tack out to the east and snagged a nice lift to the top mark . Everyone was pretty close together in these short races with nearly everyone running full rigs ( Ben borrowed Charlies ) that made it pretty clse all round .
We have to mention Tom effort in race three as it was a classic finish very similar to some of Charlie,s legend finishes , so what happened well he didnt come across the line first It think it was third but you guessed it he was casually broadreaching over the line and leaning the boat to windward and you guessed it the wind died and he just rolled her over into the drink . The general reaction was you guessed it laughter not only from the start boat but everyone around him so well done Tom and even Charlie gave you the tick of approval as he,s the expert in that manouvre !
CU on the water
J Murphy