Hi Everyone , After a great weekend with perfect sailing weather even if it was a bit hot on Sunday our Queensland wet season has come back again with torrential rain and then just to round it off near gale force winds with wind gusts at the seaway measuring 39/40 knots which you have to admit is pretty wild but at least no cyclones as yet which is always a good thing .
8.30am Sunday Juniors ;
Last Sunday dawned with blue skies and light winds and heaps of humidity which Charlie , Casey and I really felt while setting up even at seven thirty in the morning even Casey was drinking water . With what has become pretty standard for this session we had a good group of seventeen sailors signed on with a couple of newbies so it was all hands on deck rigging boats and doing quick repairs and finding new rigging ropes as the clubs phantom rope eater has been active again especially with the tera downhaul ropes ? The winds were basically north / west so it was perfect for everyone to practice not only their tacks but also their gybes . Jack and dean are getting really good at rigging and sailing the Taz with a little bit of help from Dad with rigging and Mary and Taine just cruised around while most of the reat just had a good session . There was the accidental bucket of water problem which was always accidental ! and we wont talk about Charlie's and Mason's efforts at mastering this skill and then of course we finished with lots of accidental capsizes so all in all there were a lot of minor water accidents on the day .
10.30 am Sunday Juniors ;
It was amazing to watch the transformation in set up speed from a month ago where it took until 11.20 am to get people on the water and on last Sunday everyone was ready by 10.45 absolutely great work everyone .
With the sun really beating down the effect on the wind as to set it from n/w to n to n/e so I set a long reach across the water with three buoys sounds easy right well it wasn't as the wind constantly shifted making everyone really get their thinking hat on . I have to say it was a great effort from everyone as they at times struggled to find the wind but everyone finally got there with Addy, Ollie, Aidan, Eddie, Abby, Ben really standouts and although a few of the others struggled a bit with the conditions they at least had a go . As part of the clubs endeavors to teach our kids even more about sailing its been decided to add a third session for our up and coming green fleet sailors buy now running a 12.30 class dedicated to green fleet racing which will be run by Simone and Andrew which is really great news for our keen young sailors .
1.30 pm Open Racing;
With ten boats setting up to race Declan and I went out to try and set up a decent course in what was very shifty and flukey wind conditions and to top it off the tide was really picking up speed out the run out .Again at the start we didnt have to use any recall flags as everyone really nailed the start and then the struggle began . It was one of those days where the sailor 50m metres in front of you just sailed away in good breeze while you just sat there going backwards getting more frustrated by the minute and then when you finally did get started and managed to make the turning buoy you of course hit the buoy causing more frustration having to do a penalty turn . Greg managed to break free of Andrew and Roger and was first over the line and then the chaos started ? So what happened well as Greg went through the finish line a large cruiser nearly ran him down but instead ran over our bright yellow finish buoy setting it off down the broadwater so Dec and I up anchored and took off after it and after managing to grab it and finding that this inconsiderate waterway user had actually cut the Buoy rope chain and anchor off we just finished everyone under a blue flag and gave everyone average times . All in all a very different end to the days racing !
Upcoming ;
Our Midwinter Cup is getting closer and its getting bigger with now four green fleet divisions and the inclusion of laser radials it should be a great weekend as long as mother nature gives us a bit more wind than last year .
Pan Pacific Masters Games preparations are also starting to gather momentum even though its 8 months away yes it takes that long to set everything in place especially for such a large event .
Volunteers ;
We will be looking for volunteers for both these events from beach control to greeting competitors and their families to on water so if you would like to help in whatever capacity you are comfortable with just let us know at the club.
CU on the water
John Murphy
8.30am Sunday Juniors ;
Last Sunday dawned with blue skies and light winds and heaps of humidity which Charlie , Casey and I really felt while setting up even at seven thirty in the morning even Casey was drinking water . With what has become pretty standard for this session we had a good group of seventeen sailors signed on with a couple of newbies so it was all hands on deck rigging boats and doing quick repairs and finding new rigging ropes as the clubs phantom rope eater has been active again especially with the tera downhaul ropes ? The winds were basically north / west so it was perfect for everyone to practice not only their tacks but also their gybes . Jack and dean are getting really good at rigging and sailing the Taz with a little bit of help from Dad with rigging and Mary and Taine just cruised around while most of the reat just had a good session . There was the accidental bucket of water problem which was always accidental ! and we wont talk about Charlie's and Mason's efforts at mastering this skill and then of course we finished with lots of accidental capsizes so all in all there were a lot of minor water accidents on the day .
10.30 am Sunday Juniors ;
It was amazing to watch the transformation in set up speed from a month ago where it took until 11.20 am to get people on the water and on last Sunday everyone was ready by 10.45 absolutely great work everyone .
With the sun really beating down the effect on the wind as to set it from n/w to n to n/e so I set a long reach across the water with three buoys sounds easy right well it wasn't as the wind constantly shifted making everyone really get their thinking hat on . I have to say it was a great effort from everyone as they at times struggled to find the wind but everyone finally got there with Addy, Ollie, Aidan, Eddie, Abby, Ben really standouts and although a few of the others struggled a bit with the conditions they at least had a go . As part of the clubs endeavors to teach our kids even more about sailing its been decided to add a third session for our up and coming green fleet sailors buy now running a 12.30 class dedicated to green fleet racing which will be run by Simone and Andrew which is really great news for our keen young sailors .
1.30 pm Open Racing;
With ten boats setting up to race Declan and I went out to try and set up a decent course in what was very shifty and flukey wind conditions and to top it off the tide was really picking up speed out the run out .Again at the start we didnt have to use any recall flags as everyone really nailed the start and then the struggle began . It was one of those days where the sailor 50m metres in front of you just sailed away in good breeze while you just sat there going backwards getting more frustrated by the minute and then when you finally did get started and managed to make the turning buoy you of course hit the buoy causing more frustration having to do a penalty turn . Greg managed to break free of Andrew and Roger and was first over the line and then the chaos started ? So what happened well as Greg went through the finish line a large cruiser nearly ran him down but instead ran over our bright yellow finish buoy setting it off down the broadwater so Dec and I up anchored and took off after it and after managing to grab it and finding that this inconsiderate waterway user had actually cut the Buoy rope chain and anchor off we just finished everyone under a blue flag and gave everyone average times . All in all a very different end to the days racing !
Upcoming ;
Our Midwinter Cup is getting closer and its getting bigger with now four green fleet divisions and the inclusion of laser radials it should be a great weekend as long as mother nature gives us a bit more wind than last year .
Pan Pacific Masters Games preparations are also starting to gather momentum even though its 8 months away yes it takes that long to set everything in place especially for such a large event .
Volunteers ;
We will be looking for volunteers for both these events from beach control to greeting competitors and their families to on water so if you would like to help in whatever capacity you are comfortable with just let us know at the club.
CU on the water
John Murphy
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