Sailing Club

Tell Tales

If I could choose the weather for the 1^st race of the season then I would have chosen something just like we had on Saturday, light, but not too light breeze from the east, swell almost nonexistent with very little tide and enough sunshine to make it comfortable and turning the view of the water in the distance to sparkling jewels. I could go on but you probably get that it was an absolute pleasure to be out on the bay.

Boats need a lot of tweaking at the best of times but that is especially true if they have been laid up over winter. Halyards and rigging need to be checked, pulleys and furlers serviced, sheets adjusted and things that have been set for years seem to have spookily adjusted themselves and need sorting out.

By 11 the wind had settled from the east (upwind was pretty much 90°) and was a consistent 5-8nts with good pressure. After welcoming everyone to briefing and hearing about the junior sailing (which has already kicked off on Friday nights) and the Paella night coming up this Friday 7 th, it was time for Anton and John M to set a port course and get going.

The start was interesting with Black Pearl starting closest to the pin. Affrodite pointing Ziff (now sailed by Gary and Jesse) so far up that they both had difficulty disentangling themselves, allowing Skifflebeat (who had been forced to throw in a late turn) time to sneak past the duty boat to windward and get a better than expected start. 10+ 1 was the only keel boat on their start 2 minutes later. They had a good first beat and triangle given the wind strength.

By the first top mark BP, who had stayed on stbd the longest, had made a handy jump. Behind them SB and Affro were beginning a duel that would carry on for 3/4’s of the race and provide a number of lead changes between them. A thrilling race within a race.

A few of the high points for us watching were the tack around the top mark by Affro, putting them 10mtrs ahead of SB. Then the overtake by a 2 sail reaching SB as Affro carried a very shy spinnaker and who couldn’t quite come up enough to make SB work a bit harder for the overtake. And then the second reach spinnaker duel between them that saw Affro just pip SB, regaining the front spot in that pairing and allow them to take a bit out of BP’s lead.

We were both honoured and delighted to have the Apollo Bay Acoustic Youth Band present to bring great vibes and joy to the Season Opener BBQ directly after sailing. The Apollo Bay Acoustic Youth Band, lead voluntarily by Wayne Simmons is a rapidly immerging talent pool of inspiring capable and talented musicians. We were immensely impressed with their performance and the beautiful harmonies and sound quality.

Keep in mind that next weekend the club is hosting a Paella night on Friday 7 November from 7pm with the traditional great night at Ken and Pauline's from 7pm. Pop that in your diaries and note that the L2S participants can come straight over from sailing. Just Brilliant! What a way to welcome in the new sailing season for this Summer!!

Learn to Sail 

Held off due Haloween last week but the week before…participants were thrilled to hear from Vice Commodore Paul Heland in a Special Guest address on 24/10; Friday night’s LTS briefing. Paul reported that the Apollo Bay and District Community Bank had awarded the club a $3000 grant to support the delivery of the club’s Learn to Sail Program!! Cries and cheers and celebrations followed. It is a real struggle to deliver a low cost inclusive sailing program to ensure sailing is accessible for the Apollo Bay Community. The Club, LTS participants and administrators are so completely delighted, excited and relieved to know the Bank is excited to Support the LTS program.

We will ensure the Bank is well acknowledged and celebrated for their kind generosity and sound investment in community.

Following this great news, we had a fabulous on water Season Launch on the 24^th of October from 4-7. Our collective goal for pre xmas is to ensure everyone can rig, launch, retrieve and stow a club training boat so that the boats can be used over the summer holidays for leisure and training. Over beautifully smooth harbour waters 6 training dinghies enjoyed whizzing around in the 5-10 knot west southwest breeze. Smiles for miles and joy to behold as we welcomed and reconnected with new and returning participants alike. Please be sure to pay your membership fees. This year there is a $120 fee for each participant in the LTS course. We endeavor to run 12 sessions over term 4 and term 1 of each sailing season. Contact Pete on 0409 224 649.

Results

Life is good. Come Sailing!

To find out more please see our Facebook group - Apollo Bay Sailing Club.