I am getting in early this week with all the news from last week.
Easter Sunday: After discussions with Queensland water policy regarding boating numbers expected over Easter and the increase of on water incidents reported to police I have decided to cancel Easter Sunday Junior sailing in the interest of student safety. It is the clubs policy to always put safety first so to be on the safe side we will not be open.
That just gives everyone more time to hunt easter eggs !!!
Sunday Juniors 8.30 am class:
What a turnout again for this class we had eighteen returners including four newbies sign on for the early class with just enough boats and blue helmets to go around. The conditions were great with a slow incoming tide and northerly winds of around 4 knots. I sent 7 boats out with crews and everyone managed to sail around the course that Pieter set out in front of the club. As The tide was coming in anyone who didn’t sail to the mark at the club ended up on the sandbank with Henry winning hands down with 6 landings. There was even a lot of accidental capsizes ???? on the day as well, funny I didn’t think it was that windy! A special thanks to Sienna and Alex Caban for helping out and Mum for running the canteen as the usual helpers were away in Ballina for the day.
Sunday Juniors 10.30 am Class:
Well what can I say over the last couple of weeks mother nature has not been kind to the boys and girls with again light winds and tide to contend with. We even tried to sail away from the club chasing wind but no matter where we went the wind continued to shift and vary but to everyones credit they all managed to sail the set course with a lot less coaching from the rescue boat. I was very impressed with everyones effort as I know how boring it is in those light conditions, lets hope next weekend that you can all finally crack some decent winds and show all the mums and dads what you can achieve when there is a least some constant breeze.
Open Bic Racing 1.30:
This weekend was Ballina's turn to hold a round of the Open BIC River Series so everyone packed up at 8.00 am and headed for Ballina. Just like here they had a n early storm prior to racing and then the had three races with winds 5 knots up to 15 knots. Charlie had the best result coming fourth overall with Luka seventh and Dylan and Dallas tying for ninth. There was a fleet of thirteen boats overall which was a great turnout so thank you to the Ballina Club for putting on such a great day. Dallas has also learnt a lesson and that is to check his gear (forgot the mast?) so Dad had to jury rig a windsurfer mast which of course broke in the middle of the last race. Now all we have to do is get rid of the mozzies at the club around dusk, everyone was getting eaten alive unpacking.
Open Racing 1.30 pm:
With conditions slowly going bad we decided to have a start so everyone launched and we headed for the start line at Runaway Bay but no sooner had we set up that I saw three lightning strikes right behind Runners so I immediately postponed the race and sent everyone back to the club. Although the storm was intense it was over in 15 minutes so we decided to run a sausage just to Runners and back to the club. We started in 12 to 15 knots and finished in 1 knot but at least we got a race in. There was hopefully a good lesson learned by some of the teenage laser sailors and that was to wear more clothing as the all failed in race two because they were cold, maybe it was because they were running around in the cold rain in the break just maybe?
There was only one sour note to the day with someone either running over one of our yellow race buoys or possibly steeling it. When Lachy and I went to pick it up from the top of Soverign it was gone . Ted joined in the search and we looked as far as Tipplers and over to Straddie but to no avail. Cost of these buoys is three hundred dollars so we will need a good day at Bunnings on the 19th to replace the missing one.
Upcoming event: The club will be holding a Rescue Boat Operation course on the 27th of April from 1.30 pm to train new people and even refresh people's memories as part of the safety management plan for this years Mid Winter Cup (4TH July) AND FOR GENERAL RESCUE CREWS FOR CLUB STANDARD EVENTS. If you would like to take part just give me a ring or email me at the club as spaces are limited.
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C U all on the water
John Murphy
President/Sailing manager
Paradise Point Sailing Club
Gold Coast Qld 4216
Mob 0407 145397