Sunday May 8th, 2016

Hi Everyone , with Mothers day on the Sunday we expected a quiet weekend but with Sunny skies and good winds it turned out a perfect weekend for sailing at all levels .

8.30am Sunday Juniors

This introduction to sailing class still attracts a good crowd of beginners, with 16 juniors turning up on Sunday morning after giving Mum a big hug, ready to enter the water in winds around 6 knots from the south creating the perfect conditions for everyone to work on their sailing skills. As part of this class now we have introduced the Open Bic for those who want to give the race boat a try, but they have to be at level three to be eligible as the boats are a bit testing. With everyone sailing well it is getting harder to pick out the best sailor on the day, but I did pick out young Mary who finally conquered her fears and steered her boat all the way around the long course for the first time.

A special thanks goes to Cody Reid for coaching her in the boat and Tianna for giving her the encouragement .

10.30am Sunday Juniors

Again we had a good turnout in this class with 8 boats on the water initially practicing their tacks and Gybes, but with winds now around 6/8 knots we decided to practice racing by firstly setting a reaching course and then adding the third buoy and racing triangles. The triangles did challenge a few especially on the downwind with a couple of capsizes but generally everyone had a lot of fun .

This practice should come in handy as we are looking at having some races on the Sunday of the Bendigo Bank Youth Cup on the 25/26 of June .

Open Bic Racing

With this class slowly rebuilding with people moving on to lasers, we only had Jonah , Charlie and Alec out there in very testing conditions (tide). It was good racing, but in each race it was Jonah with experience and least weight who came home first with Charlie second and Alec third .

Open Racing

With winds around 8/10 knots from the s/s/e, we decided on two races for the day as the tide seemed a bit fast ? Yes, that is an understatement, with race one taking nearly an hour to complete three laps of windward leeward racing, but the finish was fantastic with Tom crossing the line one second in front of Greg . Race two was shortened to one lap, which everyone was happy with, but still the finish was again fantastic with both Greg and Peter in a dead heat over the line as both Peter and I on the finish line couldn't separate them . Casey finished first in 4.7, and Dallas would have finished second if he hadn't fallen out of his boat twenty metres from the finish line allowing Sienna to come home third. Yep he fell out !

Additional Notes

Don't forget the Bendigo Bank Youth Cup is on 25th & 26th June, and the Masters Games from 4th to 13th November.

cu on the water
​John Murphy