Hi everyone, Well its back again strong winds and heavy rain and looking at the weather maps its looking like its here for the week but hopefully its going to clear by the weekend so that everyone can have another great Sunday sailing experience like last Sunday so fingers crossed .
8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
After having to cancel sailing last weekend due to the previous Sundays wild weather we we expected a big group for this class and we weren't disappointed with 17 budding junior sailors signing on grabbing their helmets and PFDs and straight into rigging boats with parents with Charlie, Edwina and me helping the process.
With a good high tide and winds around 5 knots it was perfect conditions for setting up a nice reaching course out to the middle of the channel. Everyone went really well and our newest junior instructor in training ( Edwina) with a crew of 4 new sailors just cruised around in the laser showing the new kids what sailing is about . Taine and his crew Joshua really nailed it as well as did Jack and Dean who not only did most of the rigging on the Taz but also sailed the best in the conditions with perfect tacks and spot on sail settings and for their efforts on the day they received a Hungry Jacks award . A special thanks goes to the kids their parents and our volunteer instructors who all got stuck in de-rigging the boats which always makes Casey's ,Charlie's and my job at the end of the day much easier when it comes to pack up.
10.30am Sunday Juniors:
With the midwinter cup fast approaching and everyone keen to do well especially our green fleet sailors we had a good turn out for this session . The conditions were much the same as the 8.30 class with just a bit more runout tide and probably around six knots of wind so I decided that an upwind, downwind course would be not only a great challenge but also good practice for the Mid Winter Cup . Everyone at times struggled with the upwind even after I explained how the have to watch the luff on the upwind not the top mark . We did manage to succeed with nearly everyone but it was definitely a serious sailing learning curve . The standouts were Eddy, Addy and Ollie well that was until the drone started flying around the fleet which caused everyone to look up but unfortunately not at the sail! so there was a bit of luffing followed by tacks to get back on course to the upwind mark down at the canal . The drone also showed certain people not going around the buoy which will cause a penalty in the mid winter cup just so you know Ollie and Addy.
1.30 pm Open Race :
With the winds basically staying in the s/e at around 6/10 knots I set a start /finish in front of the club with a short upwind then a long upwind with triangles down near runners . Tom had a good start and slowly got away from the fleet and looked unbeatable until I opened my big mouth and caused him to go to the wrong mark allowing Greg to catch up on the way to the finish but just not enough to beat Tom across the line . It was a day for me giving wrong advise as I also did it to Casey when I sent her on a different tack when she was chasing Charlie ( radial ) sorry case I will shut up in future . The whole fleet of adults sailed well as did our newest Youth sailor Torin who has definitely improved in the last few weeks and our other youth sailor Ryan found out the importance of a clew strap because when its not on you cant let the outhaul off on the downwind ? so where was his clew strap in his PFD of course yep forgot to put it on .
Upcoming :
The Mid Winter Cup now known as the John Murphy Invitational Mid Winter Cup is really taking shape and with a new sponsor in Hungry Jacks coming on board and the Event now open to both open fleet and green fleets in the Opti , Sabot , Laser4.7 and Open Bic plus also now Laser Radials being added to the fleet it looks very promising for a even bigger event than last year now all we need is more than the average 1.5 knots that we suffered through last year fingers crossed! Enter now!
The Pan Pacs in November already has competitors registered so even though its a while away don't forget there is a discount for early registrations.
Easter Holidays: The Club will be closed Easter Sunday due to it being a long weekend and not only are a lot of people going away but the waterway and the park usually becomes very crowded especially on the water causing safety concerns.
School Holiday Sailing Camp Date's : 5th/6th & 9th/10th April booking is essential as positions are filling fast
CU on the water
John Murphy
8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
After having to cancel sailing last weekend due to the previous Sundays wild weather we we expected a big group for this class and we weren't disappointed with 17 budding junior sailors signing on grabbing their helmets and PFDs and straight into rigging boats with parents with Charlie, Edwina and me helping the process.
With a good high tide and winds around 5 knots it was perfect conditions for setting up a nice reaching course out to the middle of the channel. Everyone went really well and our newest junior instructor in training ( Edwina) with a crew of 4 new sailors just cruised around in the laser showing the new kids what sailing is about . Taine and his crew Joshua really nailed it as well as did Jack and Dean who not only did most of the rigging on the Taz but also sailed the best in the conditions with perfect tacks and spot on sail settings and for their efforts on the day they received a Hungry Jacks award . A special thanks goes to the kids their parents and our volunteer instructors who all got stuck in de-rigging the boats which always makes Casey's ,Charlie's and my job at the end of the day much easier when it comes to pack up.
10.30am Sunday Juniors:
With the midwinter cup fast approaching and everyone keen to do well especially our green fleet sailors we had a good turn out for this session . The conditions were much the same as the 8.30 class with just a bit more runout tide and probably around six knots of wind so I decided that an upwind, downwind course would be not only a great challenge but also good practice for the Mid Winter Cup . Everyone at times struggled with the upwind even after I explained how the have to watch the luff on the upwind not the top mark . We did manage to succeed with nearly everyone but it was definitely a serious sailing learning curve . The standouts were Eddy, Addy and Ollie well that was until the drone started flying around the fleet which caused everyone to look up but unfortunately not at the sail! so there was a bit of luffing followed by tacks to get back on course to the upwind mark down at the canal . The drone also showed certain people not going around the buoy which will cause a penalty in the mid winter cup just so you know Ollie and Addy.
1.30 pm Open Race :
With the winds basically staying in the s/e at around 6/10 knots I set a start /finish in front of the club with a short upwind then a long upwind with triangles down near runners . Tom had a good start and slowly got away from the fleet and looked unbeatable until I opened my big mouth and caused him to go to the wrong mark allowing Greg to catch up on the way to the finish but just not enough to beat Tom across the line . It was a day for me giving wrong advise as I also did it to Casey when I sent her on a different tack when she was chasing Charlie ( radial ) sorry case I will shut up in future . The whole fleet of adults sailed well as did our newest Youth sailor Torin who has definitely improved in the last few weeks and our other youth sailor Ryan found out the importance of a clew strap because when its not on you cant let the outhaul off on the downwind ? so where was his clew strap in his PFD of course yep forgot to put it on .
Upcoming :
The Mid Winter Cup now known as the John Murphy Invitational Mid Winter Cup is really taking shape and with a new sponsor in Hungry Jacks coming on board and the Event now open to both open fleet and green fleets in the Opti , Sabot , Laser4.7 and Open Bic plus also now Laser Radials being added to the fleet it looks very promising for a even bigger event than last year now all we need is more than the average 1.5 knots that we suffered through last year fingers crossed! Enter now!
The Pan Pacs in November already has competitors registered so even though its a while away don't forget there is a discount for early registrations.
Easter Holidays: The Club will be closed Easter Sunday due to it being a long weekend and not only are a lot of people going away but the waterway and the park usually becomes very crowded especially on the water causing safety concerns.
School Holiday Sailing Camp Date's : 5th/6th & 9th/10th April booking is essential as positions are filling fast
CU on the water
John Murphy
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