Hi Everyone,
Yes we are back in action as of yesterday with racing starting and Juniors alive and kicking.
Firstly, we should talk about the trip to Port Stephens for the Bic Nationals, suffice to say David and I had a few Trailer problems with the recently modified double trailer cracking a couple of welds on the uprights which we put down to the extra loads it now carries, not bad for a trailer thats over twenty years old but I also had trouble with the new yes! new Jetski Trailer with firstly buckled wheels and then a bearing seal burnt out all of which happened before I left town. I managed temporary repairs but even with these repairs I couldn’t tow past 90 kph without the trailer vibrating, it made for an interesting drive. Port Stephens itself is a great place with a laid back atmosphere and friendly people, the club is situated right on the beach and a great expanse of open water right in front all in all a perfect sailing venue with no sandbars and minimal powerboats and Jetskis.
Sunday Juniors 8.30:
With perfect conditions of blue sky and a S/E wind of around 6/8 knots we sent the kids out to practice the steering and tacking which included a few capsizes mainly from turning the wrong way right Abbey & Taylah and a few collisions mostly un intentional (Charlie Bratten?). We also had amongst the usual crowd a few new people to tryout on the day and even they got to experience capsizing. Its always good to see the smiling faces and a few worried ones when the boats go over especially when they realise hey there's not much to this capsizing thing as John said you fall out you get wet and you get back in and go again.
Sunday Juniors 10.30:
This session has absolutely taken off over the last couple of months with an average of ten boats out there firstly practicing and then racing. We have given Dallas an Open Bic to sail as Charlie has his own boat now and you could see the effect on the water with Dallas sailing faster than I have ever seen him sail before. We had three races on the day with Dallas winning two and each time young Jonah was right on his tail (definitely someone to watch). To be honest the whole group is improving weekly with Callum, Corey, Sam, Jasmine actually everyone just getting better each week. Sam will be leaving this group as of next week as he is going to try his hand at club racing, he is keen and both his Dad and I think he is ready for it so good luck Sam!
Open Bic:
Firstly here are the results from Nationals George Morton 4th in Gold Fleet (40 entries) then Silver fleet Dylan 8 Charlie 10 and Luka 12 (18 entries) not bad considering the silver sailors only started on Bic's last June. The boys sailed in varied conditions with winds from 5 to 25 knots which included ocean swells so it was definitely not for beginners. Saturday was the worst day with conditions going bad when the winds reached 25knots? with only George and Dylan completing their respective races with Charlie while coming 4th crashing at the Gybe mark and unable to get his boat up due to the conditions and Luka pulling out for the same reasons. Sunday was much better with good winds up to 12/14 knots still with a lot of swell but the guys handled it perfectly. The outstanding part was the quality of sailing in the Gold Fleet remembering the oldest is 13 it was impressive to watch with everyone trying their hardest to beat each other but the best part was back on the beach where all the on water efforts were forgotten as they all got together and laughed and talked and just had fun together. Charlie Bratten came home with a new boat which he christened yesterday by turtleing it during racing, well sort of racing it seems their was a bit of confusion as to the course with everyone missing the start and then missing the buoy so now after a talk back at the club it was decided to put some more effort into their race diagram! Despite the initial confusion they all still sailed well in testing conditions even if they did go to far !dont worry guys and girls there is always next week .
Open Racing:
We again had a good fleet with sixteen boats at the start line and excellent wind conditions for racing, I purposely put a nice long reach up to Sovereign and back and the some short sections in the west channel with a challenging gybe which for some people was definitely a challenge. All in all the race lasted approximately 1hr with Jason 1st Peter F 2nd and John P 3rd.
The Club Champion trophy for 2013 went to Peter Fell with Roger Margot 2nd and Pieter Verstoep 3rd with each competitor receiving a winner trophy and Peter Fell having his name inscribed on the Club House Trophy kept on display at the club . After my little speech about sail numbers??? hopefully everyone will keep me up to date with their everchanging numbers and in that way I will be able to award them points for racing ! We will organise a barby after everyone gets back from masters which is in two weeks time .
Opps! I forgot Club Champion the under 19; George Morton, 2nd Lachy Read 3rd Thomson Hand congratulations to you all
P.S There is no truth in the rumour that David Lynch was giving everyone the finger last Sunday at Port Stephens yep you should ask him about what happened !
C U on the water
John Murphy
President/Sailing manager
Paradise Point Sailing Club
Gold Coast Qld 4216
Mob 0407 145397
Yes we are back in action as of yesterday with racing starting and Juniors alive and kicking.
Firstly, we should talk about the trip to Port Stephens for the Bic Nationals, suffice to say David and I had a few Trailer problems with the recently modified double trailer cracking a couple of welds on the uprights which we put down to the extra loads it now carries, not bad for a trailer thats over twenty years old but I also had trouble with the new yes! new Jetski Trailer with firstly buckled wheels and then a bearing seal burnt out all of which happened before I left town. I managed temporary repairs but even with these repairs I couldn’t tow past 90 kph without the trailer vibrating, it made for an interesting drive. Port Stephens itself is a great place with a laid back atmosphere and friendly people, the club is situated right on the beach and a great expanse of open water right in front all in all a perfect sailing venue with no sandbars and minimal powerboats and Jetskis.
Sunday Juniors 8.30:
With perfect conditions of blue sky and a S/E wind of around 6/8 knots we sent the kids out to practice the steering and tacking which included a few capsizes mainly from turning the wrong way right Abbey & Taylah and a few collisions mostly un intentional (Charlie Bratten?). We also had amongst the usual crowd a few new people to tryout on the day and even they got to experience capsizing. Its always good to see the smiling faces and a few worried ones when the boats go over especially when they realise hey there's not much to this capsizing thing as John said you fall out you get wet and you get back in and go again.
Sunday Juniors 10.30:
This session has absolutely taken off over the last couple of months with an average of ten boats out there firstly practicing and then racing. We have given Dallas an Open Bic to sail as Charlie has his own boat now and you could see the effect on the water with Dallas sailing faster than I have ever seen him sail before. We had three races on the day with Dallas winning two and each time young Jonah was right on his tail (definitely someone to watch). To be honest the whole group is improving weekly with Callum, Corey, Sam, Jasmine actually everyone just getting better each week. Sam will be leaving this group as of next week as he is going to try his hand at club racing, he is keen and both his Dad and I think he is ready for it so good luck Sam!
Open Bic:
Firstly here are the results from Nationals George Morton 4th in Gold Fleet (40 entries) then Silver fleet Dylan 8 Charlie 10 and Luka 12 (18 entries) not bad considering the silver sailors only started on Bic's last June. The boys sailed in varied conditions with winds from 5 to 25 knots which included ocean swells so it was definitely not for beginners. Saturday was the worst day with conditions going bad when the winds reached 25knots? with only George and Dylan completing their respective races with Charlie while coming 4th crashing at the Gybe mark and unable to get his boat up due to the conditions and Luka pulling out for the same reasons. Sunday was much better with good winds up to 12/14 knots still with a lot of swell but the guys handled it perfectly. The outstanding part was the quality of sailing in the Gold Fleet remembering the oldest is 13 it was impressive to watch with everyone trying their hardest to beat each other but the best part was back on the beach where all the on water efforts were forgotten as they all got together and laughed and talked and just had fun together. Charlie Bratten came home with a new boat which he christened yesterday by turtleing it during racing, well sort of racing it seems their was a bit of confusion as to the course with everyone missing the start and then missing the buoy so now after a talk back at the club it was decided to put some more effort into their race diagram! Despite the initial confusion they all still sailed well in testing conditions even if they did go to far !dont worry guys and girls there is always next week .
Open Racing:
We again had a good fleet with sixteen boats at the start line and excellent wind conditions for racing, I purposely put a nice long reach up to Sovereign and back and the some short sections in the west channel with a challenging gybe which for some people was definitely a challenge. All in all the race lasted approximately 1hr with Jason 1st Peter F 2nd and John P 3rd.
The Club Champion trophy for 2013 went to Peter Fell with Roger Margot 2nd and Pieter Verstoep 3rd with each competitor receiving a winner trophy and Peter Fell having his name inscribed on the Club House Trophy kept on display at the club . After my little speech about sail numbers??? hopefully everyone will keep me up to date with their everchanging numbers and in that way I will be able to award them points for racing ! We will organise a barby after everyone gets back from masters which is in two weeks time .
Opps! I forgot Club Champion the under 19; George Morton, 2nd Lachy Read 3rd Thomson Hand congratulations to you all
P.S There is no truth in the rumour that David Lynch was giving everyone the finger last Sunday at Port Stephens yep you should ask him about what happened !
C U on the water
John Murphy
President/Sailing manager
Paradise Point Sailing Club
Gold Coast Qld 4216
Mob 0407 145397
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