Hi Everyone , Well it has certainly been a busy week at paradise point sailing club with christmas fast approaching and 2021 right behind it its getting closer to our two major events for this year and then we have 2021 which will be a back to normal year fingers crossed . Despite early dire predictions regarding the corona virus and its long term effects the club has come through this years problems well as has our other sailing facility at Varsity Lakes with our general participation numbers showing good results with all our current activities showing significant increases in participant numbers . Its great to see all the smiling faces every sunday from juniors to adults just out to either learn more about sailing or just learn more ! from children like Tristan all the way up to our adults like Lance who are out there learning to sail and have FUN!
8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
With the weather forecast predicting doom and gloom sailing conditions I did my usual thing and fell back on the BOM website to check out the actual weather charts for the next four days so that I could gain a better understanding of what to expect . Most people just watched the news so decided not to come as they predicted 20 knots plus but my reading of the charts said more like 15k from the north which we are somewhat protected from and as it happens the winds on the day were actually just right for everyone with wind speeds around 5/8 knots . We had a few new sailors for the first time and thanks to Mason for taking them out and showing them the ropes he even had Jason steering on his first sail . Taylor was out in the laser and her brother had a Tera on his own and was sailing well with good tacks now all we have to do is get him gybing like his sister who showed some very smooth tacks and gybes on the nice reaching course , all in all a very productive lesson.
10.30 am Training ;
We had a new member for this group in Taylah yes we finally convinced her to step up to 10.30 training and see how she goes . We all sat down for a briefing and again worked on upwind sailing including where we sit sail trimmed on using telltales and how to take lifts instead of bearing away. As is usual with this group we set triangles and everyone except Jade was told to start with reaching , why did Jade have to start with triangles and noone else ? well she is just getting that good at working the most efficient angles . We soon had abby and ross doing the same while we left Taylah and Mason doing reaches with tacks and gybes at the buoys . Roos was struggling at first so Charlie swapped places to show him better upwinds and also the main sheet flick in the gybes as he was using a radial for the first time and to his credit once he jumped back on his boat he started emulating what Charlie had taught him . With Jade we just improved her gybe technique ( body position ) and we also had Abby going upwind better and flick gybing as well . Finally we stretched out Masons and Taylah,s course so that the could work on boat speed and turns . Did anyone go in ? well yes Ross had a swim but that was early before Charlie showed him how to use the gusts .
1.30 pm Open Racing;
The winds had turned toward the n/e when we ventured out to set the course so we set a start down at runners with the first upwind in our channel up on the east side then a long run up the east channel just short of the top green nav mark . Conditions were choppy with the wind and tide against each other and the wind speeds were around 12 to 15 knots but at times early in the race somewhat flukey with Nic just in front on the first lap and Greg and Tom close behind . After two laps the then had to head north in the main channel but Nic got it wrong and went up the west again and even though we tried to get his attention he got about half way up before he realised his mistake and had to tack accross the sand bar put him right down the fleet . Chris took over third place but no matter what he and Tom did they couldnt catch Greg who just literally sailed away finishing minutes before everyone else in 1hr 13m then Tom and Chris . Steve came home last but considering he forgot his pfd and had to go back for it then start not a bad effort and he nearly caught Lance on the finish leg except he made that fatal decision and just let the outhaul off just a bit more and you guessed it in the drink !
We are looking for some volunteers on Try Sailing day on the 13th of December so if you can spare even an hour to fill our positions just let us know
Beach controller
Sign on
Rigging
canteen
barbeque
jumping castle observers
all help greatly appreciated
CU on the water
J Murphy
8.30 am Sunday Juniors :
With the weather forecast predicting doom and gloom sailing conditions I did my usual thing and fell back on the BOM website to check out the actual weather charts for the next four days so that I could gain a better understanding of what to expect . Most people just watched the news so decided not to come as they predicted 20 knots plus but my reading of the charts said more like 15k from the north which we are somewhat protected from and as it happens the winds on the day were actually just right for everyone with wind speeds around 5/8 knots . We had a few new sailors for the first time and thanks to Mason for taking them out and showing them the ropes he even had Jason steering on his first sail . Taylor was out in the laser and her brother had a Tera on his own and was sailing well with good tacks now all we have to do is get him gybing like his sister who showed some very smooth tacks and gybes on the nice reaching course , all in all a very productive lesson.
10.30 am Training ;
We had a new member for this group in Taylah yes we finally convinced her to step up to 10.30 training and see how she goes . We all sat down for a briefing and again worked on upwind sailing including where we sit sail trimmed on using telltales and how to take lifts instead of bearing away. As is usual with this group we set triangles and everyone except Jade was told to start with reaching , why did Jade have to start with triangles and noone else ? well she is just getting that good at working the most efficient angles . We soon had abby and ross doing the same while we left Taylah and Mason doing reaches with tacks and gybes at the buoys . Roos was struggling at first so Charlie swapped places to show him better upwinds and also the main sheet flick in the gybes as he was using a radial for the first time and to his credit once he jumped back on his boat he started emulating what Charlie had taught him . With Jade we just improved her gybe technique ( body position ) and we also had Abby going upwind better and flick gybing as well . Finally we stretched out Masons and Taylah,s course so that the could work on boat speed and turns . Did anyone go in ? well yes Ross had a swim but that was early before Charlie showed him how to use the gusts .
1.30 pm Open Racing;
The winds had turned toward the n/e when we ventured out to set the course so we set a start down at runners with the first upwind in our channel up on the east side then a long run up the east channel just short of the top green nav mark . Conditions were choppy with the wind and tide against each other and the wind speeds were around 12 to 15 knots but at times early in the race somewhat flukey with Nic just in front on the first lap and Greg and Tom close behind . After two laps the then had to head north in the main channel but Nic got it wrong and went up the west again and even though we tried to get his attention he got about half way up before he realised his mistake and had to tack accross the sand bar put him right down the fleet . Chris took over third place but no matter what he and Tom did they couldnt catch Greg who just literally sailed away finishing minutes before everyone else in 1hr 13m then Tom and Chris . Steve came home last but considering he forgot his pfd and had to go back for it then start not a bad effort and he nearly caught Lance on the finish leg except he made that fatal decision and just let the outhaul off just a bit more and you guessed it in the drink !
We are looking for some volunteers on Try Sailing day on the 13th of December so if you can spare even an hour to fill our positions just let us know
Beach controller
Sign on
Rigging
canteen
barbeque
jumping castle observers
all help greatly appreciated
CU on the water
J Murphy
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