IN THIS ISSue...◆ 75 Years Old ◆ Government Funding ◆ Wet etchells

◆ Membership Structure ◆ IT updates ◆ Guess Who Don’t Sue

An Avalon Sailing Club Publication April 2013

www.avalonsailingclub.com.auPhoto by Kingsley Forbes-Smith

Wet etchells Regatta

left to right:

Josh, Isacc, Brenden, Guy

Junior members enjoy the Deck Party Photo By Torsten Statz

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From the TillerDear Members,

Wow the 2012/13 season has really flown past quickly!As usual the centerboard divisions have had a busy and successful regatta season with the MJs, Spirals, BICs, and Flying 11s all doing very well in their respective state and national rounds. Thanks needs to go to Jan and the centreboard committee, plus the committed hard work of all the parents who back up the kids and the club at these events. We would not be so well represented without such fantastic support.Similarly the yachts have had a full season of racing with mixed weather and results. The Challenger Head race in particular this year was a unique event in that there were still winners and a celebratory dinner even though there was no race! (see story on page 14)The Don McLachlan etchells Regatta too was a great success this year with 9 boats competing in sometimes very light conditions. Thanks go to Ian Craig for organizing a very successful event and also to an enthusiastic group of volunteer race officials.Off the water the club is having a big year also…Firstly we held a member’s information evening on Wednesday 27th March to give everyone a chance to hear of the club’s new plans for our new membership structure, the building plans for the front of the club house and the 75th Anniversary celebrations.You’ll find information on all these initiatives in this issue of the JibSheet, but in short:

Membership changesThe committee elected a sub-committee to have a long look at our membership structure, fees and entitlements about 12 months ago. The club has changed a lot in recent years especially with new facilities and a more varied use of the club.As you’ll see in this issue, the fees themselves haven’t really changed, but we have put a lot of thought into defining the various membership categories and sought to clarify member’s entitlements. Particularly we also sought to engage a far greater number of members in the running if the club. This is a very important issue. We are a volunteer club and it only exists with the support of its members – parents and sailors – young and old.Unfortunately in recent years we have come to rely on a small core of people to do the majority of the work. This is not the spirit of Avalon Sailing Club. So our new membership structure seeks to address this imbalance by encouraging far greater participation by ALL members, young and old, to do their bit for the club.

Please remember: ASC membership = sailing, fun, friends and volunteering for all

New entranceway to club houseAs you’ll see in this issue, we have just recently become the recipients of a $25,000 government grant! This is for disabled access to the club house and it provides us with the opportunity to completely re-vamp the front of the club and replace our temporary timber walkway (which we had to patch up last year for safety reasons).Enormous thanks has to go to Ross Trembath for his persistence and success in applying for government grants – the club could sim-ply not afford to carry out such major work without this assistance. Particular thanks also must go to Ian Craig who, with his architectural expertise, has given us an exciting vision for the future look and design of Avalon Sailing Club. Again, the club could not afford such skill and expertise, so we are extremely grateful to Ian for generously putting in his own time, to work on this exciting project for us.

75th AnniversaryBack in 1938 an enthusiastic group of Pittwater sailors founded Avalon Sailing Club on Clareville Beach. 75 years later we’re still going strong which is pretty amazing in this day and age of pokies and other forms of fundraising that keep other clubs afloat.To celebrate we’re having a full weekend of celebrations on the 1st, 2nd & 3rd of November this year, and it promises to be a fantas-tic weekend. See the separate notice in this issue.We’re keen to make contact with former members of the club to invite them to the weekend, dinner or sailing activities. We’re also keen to find old memorabilia, photos, stories – things that help convey what it has meant for people to be a member of ASC over the past 75 years.So if you know of people or contacts please let us know. Contact details are in the notice in his issue. Have an enjoyable winter season

Richard RasdallCommodore

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ASC reCeiveS more government funding

We are very pleased to report that we have been successful winning another government grant, this time to assist with building a new disabled access ramp and entrance way to the clubhouse. Three thousand applications were received and 250 of these applications funded. We were granted the maximum funding available of $25,000. This government funding has to be matched dollar for dollar with our own money which in turn can be made up of in kind volunteer support and pro bono contributions. Work will start this winter after sailing finishes and the job will be completed in time for our 75th celebrations. We have all the paperwork in place and we have the funding. So watch this space as we move towards the build phase of this project.

Summary of recent funding success to date:Government Grants - Community Building Partnership Program. $75K for the pontoon and ramp. Grant approved 2010 and work completed in 2011Government Grant - Community Building Partnership Program. $25K for a new disabled entrance ramp. Grant approved 2013. Work scheduled for winter 2013We have another application in the 2014 round to start work on the new internal stairs.Stay tuned and please get in touch with Ross Trembath if you can help in any way with fund raising. We are always keen to work on new ways to raise funds for your club.

Ross Trembath

With the fantastic news of us securing a grant for the disabled access into the club comes the responsibility of us contributing $10,000 cash as a condition off the grant. So the gauntlet has been laid. A massive fundraiser is required. This time it had to be different and engage the local community ,there was noway we could raise these funds within the club membership. We also wanted to engage the children so that they were involved and took ownership of their club after all they are the future of Avalon Sailing Club. What do kids love? Chocolate! So the massive chocolate fundraiser has begun. For every box of chocolates they sell Avalon Sailing Club receives $20.00 . We had 150 boxes delivered, which have been distributed to all the kids . I am very proud to say that’s every child within the club has taken up this challenge. With 150 boxes sold this will generate a fantastic sum of $3000 for the club.. We have encouraged the kids by offering a prize of a GoPro for the family that sales the most boxes.Well done Avalon youth your club is already very proud of you ..

Now it’s the turn of the adult membership to do their bit. We will be joining the Rotary Christmas raffle this year, with the chance of winning a car. Again the reason for this is so that we can engage the wider community, and not just the membership We also want to promote Avalon Sailing Clubs 75th year. Raffle tickets will be sent out to all members, again we will be offering a fantastic prize of free family membership for the year for the family that sells the most tickets . We really do need everyone to do their bit for the future of our fantastic club.

Sue Whitlock

even more funding

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it innovAtionSCentreboard Race Scoring SoftwareCurrently we are using TopYacht software to score both the yacht and centreboard results, however this software can be challeng-ing at times and does not support some features particularly well. For the centreboards we have evaluated alternate packages and selected ‘ScoreIT’ as the system we will use for the start of the new season later in 2013. This is the same software that is currently used to score the Flying 11’s at State and Nationals and is a new ‘cloud’ (hosted on the internet) style solution. It has some great new features such as being compatible with recording results on iPads and tablets, automated web-based results publishing, support for results on mobile devices, race scoring by multiple administrators and SMC communications with boats/skippers. Keep an eye out for the new look results at the start of the new season. Bulk SMS AccountTo facilitate timely communication with the club membership, we will be setting up a web-based bulk SMS account during the winter period. Members have often asked for a way to get simple reminders of club events etc., but currently this has to be done on some-one’s personal mobile account. A bulk SMS account can be a cost-effective mechanism for providing members with timely informa-tion and reminders of club events such as member information evenings, working bees, club social events etc. Don’t worry: we will be using it sparingly and it is not planned to replace any of the existing forms of communication such as email and the website. Club Webcam upgradeWe are currently exploring the possibility of upgrading the club webcam environment to include a camera with programmable move-ment and zoom. The idea is that we can get much better, and more varied, views of the club deck, pontoon and moored boats. We are also hoping to be able to offer a service where we are able to zoom in on specific members boats on the moorings and provide detailed pictures on the website, updating at various times throughout the day. Our current thinking is that there would need to be a one-off fee for yachts wanting this service to help cover the costs of acquiring and setting up the camera, and minimising costs to the club. If you have a mooring and are interested in such a service (as a way of monitoring your boat), please contact Kingsley Forbes-Smith (94777979) or Steve Read (99430506) to register your interest. Website upgrade Over winter our club website software (Joomla) will be getting more upgrades (up to a new major version). These are a part of ongo-ing maintenance to keep on top of functionality, features and security patches. We do not expect these to have any impact on the general usage of the site however it may look different at various times and, as you may guess, there are lots of hours of work going on behind the scenes to make this happen.

Steve Read

2 sail on the NetHave a look at KIngsley’s new and great on-line learn to sail program...open for all ages to hone those sailing skills on shore .. put it all into practice later down at the club or on the high seas!To have a go just get to “2 sail on the Net” Sailing Simulator gets sailors going faster.Avalon’s MJ sailor Alistair is right up there in the winners circle, in his real sailing and online, honing his skills about telltales, trim and windshifts. He is not the only one, other Avalon sailors secretly competing online at night include F11’s, 29ers, Yachts, Etchells and BIC’s. The image shows the telltale level, if you can get under 65 secs you are a “Master”, but just like sailing it isn’t easy to get that last little bit of speed.

www.2sail.net

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gueSS WHo, dont SueGuess who got involved in the “best laid plans of mice and men” that came unstuck for the Quartet Bowl on February 10 this year. Geoff and I were the duty ‘Young Generation’ crew for the race and had arranged with duty officer, David Hyde, to be delivered to ‘Lucinda’ and on station by 1215 for the start sequence at 1225 . Delivered accordingly to be met with pandemonium by the centre board group on board, surrounded by the shouting sailing group on the water wanting to know where the ##*** the start and finish lines were due to the sudden wind change to a 20 kt sou-easter.

My polite request that we needed ‘Lucinda’ for the yacht start was met with similar statements, so David was appointed Judge and Jury, all this by radio.He said we would have to use ‘Blue Peter’ for the yacht’s start.

Meanwhile, the C/B group decided it was all getting too hard, adjust the finish line for the current race and use ‘Blue Peter’ for the final race. Of course we did not have radio silence while all this was going on, so there was a continual stream of radio requests to ‘Lucinda’ for the handicap start times. The now hi-jacked “Lucinda’, still with some of the C/B group on board, was powered to the yacht start line by our boat lad, with the anchor going down and the DIV flag in position at 1225. And yes, David Evans, the “P” flag went up at 1226 and came down at 1229 and the zero number was displayed at 1230. No need for a delayed start.

Whlie all this was going on, yachts were charging back and forth,port or starboard, requesting to be signed on and start handicap time. One of the best ones was ‘Casbah’ roaring past shouting he had a new sail number. Took the 3 of us a “woddidy say” quizz for a while.

The wind was around 30 kts at the time ‘Ozad’ started 55 minutes after boat #1 and our boat driver was doing a ter-rific job trying to keep on station with a dragging anchor,but Pete, I think we were moving faster than you at your start. I said last season I would never do another Quartet Bowl duty after two in a row, so I guess I had a brain storm again this seaon or maybe it was the broken headsail halyard. Just to confirm it, the clipboard with the entries on it, blew overboard in a big gust. No problem, just remember the boats and confirm them from the Mainsheet list Wrong, the Main-sheet list is in error. Most of the yachts (including mine) are not listed. However a vey nice lady managed to download them from the website.

Guess who was getting ready for the Wet Elchells Regatta on Saturday and was spied towing her dinghy off the mooring, That is one hell of a way to get a good handicap Toni ,but we watched you from Sandy Point and minus the dinghy you were sailing very well, even ahead of Bruce Dey and his dirty hired boat.

Norm Field

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The Flying elevens are really flying at ASC!!As we come to the end of the 2012 / 13 sailing season we can look back on an amazing year for the F11 fleet. Our junior sailors have come a long way from those early 7am starts on those cold winter training days back in July and August. Under the watchful eye of coach Will Chapman, our enthusiastic fleet of some 10 regular boats have travelled to Woollahra and Belmont for the two rounds of the State Championships and St Georges River for the Nationals. Amongst too much wind, no wind, the hottest Sydney day on record and torrential rain ASC has notched up some impressive results too - 3rd, 4th and 5th overall and 1st All Girl crew in the State Titles and a best overall result of 6th from Sarah and Harry Parker sailing #1393 “WaveRunner” in the Nationals. Our special thanks go to Will for imparting his skills and knowledge and encouraging all our sailors to achieve their best - his valuable input has clearly reaped just rewards.And if these results aren’t impressive enough, what is really encouraging is the strength in depth of the class. Following in the foot-steps at those at the front of the fleet are a core group of keen sailors making excellent progress under Will’s guidance. And then of course there is the Gold AM fleet where another key group have been honing their skills ready to move on into Gold PM racing next season. Even though we say goodbye and send our best wishes to a couple of the older skippers moving on to 29ers, their boats remain in the fleet with new skippers taking over. With initial estimates suggesting another 5 or 6 boats are being bought over the next few months we anticipate we’ll have a very healthy fleet of 15+ boats racing regularly next year and representing ASC at the State and National Titles. Building on the solid foundation we’ve laid this year we hope continued training and practice will see prominent ASC representation and results in the years ahead. Never has the F11 fleet been so strong!This growth also provides a great oppor-tunity for aspiring Blue and Red sailors to join the F11s as crew. Keen lightweight crews are in huge demand so if you’re enthusiastic and looking for exciting sail-ing, great tuition and loads of fun next year come along and join the F11 fun - we’d love to see you there.Well done everyone, here’s to the next season and see you at Winter Training - dates and arrangements to follow

David Biddle

Blue GroupIt has been an incredible season for this hardy bunch of Blue groupers. We had very blustery conditions three weeks ago but it didn’t stop this intrepid team of thrill seeking sailors from hitting the water and showing off what they have mastered since the season begun. It was stunning to watch (if not a little nerve wracking for the oldies). They have all made extraordinary progress under the guiding hand of Jan Scholten and our junior coaches Ruby, Ella, Jess, Shane, Harry, Clare, Nicola, Oliver and Hannah (have I missed anyone?). Our Blue parents have also done a stellar job of volunteering their time, taking on any job thrown their way with enthusiasm and aplomb. Thank you! Sailing doesn’t happen without volunteers.It is time now to start thinking about plans for next season. Skippering or crewing, going solo or two-up? Manly Junior, Flying 11 or O’Pen Bic (and no 29ers are not an option at this stage)? As a parent, do I want to get my boat and VHF licenses so I can help out on the water?

SpiralAvalon success at the 2013 Spiral State Titles The 16/17 March weekend saw 44 Spirals converge on the friendly Mannering Park Amateur Sailing Club on the southern shores of Lake Macquarie. Avalon fielded four boats along with our singlehanded coach, James Burman, in support. Conditions for the six races ranged from comfortable through to absolutely howling, thoroughly testing sailors and equipment. James won the visitor division, winning three out of the six. Shane Conly was hot on his heels, winning the Junior division and achieving fourthoverall. At the end of the first day Shane was actually half a point ahead of coach James and won the bragging rights for a few very brief hours. Simon Hill achieved a hard fought 2nd in the well contested Great Grand Master division. Harry Hall had an excellent regatta, getting better with every race, to take out 2nd in the Junior division. Sister Jasmine received the President’s trophy for skillfully completing the last race on the Sunday in extreme conditions that caused almost half the fleet to retire. The series was won overall by BYRA’s Glenn Hammond with a masterful display of consistency against a very competitive fleet. Spirals continue to go from strength to strength. A fantastic boat tosail, giving affordable high quality, yet family friendly, racing for all ages. Have a closer look - http://www.spiralsailing.org/

Jeff Conly

CentreBoArdS

The F11 Fleet under spinnaker

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Calling all Ocean Going Seafarers Global Community Science Project

Scientists are enlisting sailors and fishermen to help with what they hope will be the world’s biggest study of plankton in the oceans.The marine phytoplankton account for approximately 50% of all photosynthesis on Earth and, through the plankton food web that they support, they both underpin the marine food chain and play a central role in the global carbon cycle strongly influencing the Earth’s climate.Living at the surface of the sea the phytoplankton are particularly sensitive to changes in sea surface temperature. A recent study of global phytoplankton abundance over the last century concluded that global phytoplankton concentrations have declined due to ris-ing sea surface temperatures as a consequence of current climate change.We need to know much more about these changes and you can help by making a simple piece of scientific equipment called a Secchi Disk and using the Secchi App.

http://www1.plymouth.ac.uk/marine/secchidisk/Pages/default.aspx

You can participate in this project by making a Secchi Disk and using the free to download iPhone or Android ‘Secchi’ application.Join in and make this the World’s largest, ongoing Citizen Science marine biological study.

Tracy Walker

Howling day at Belmont - disappearing into the sheets of rain

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75th Anniversary weekend Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd November 2013 A whole weekend of activities:

•Historicaldisplayintheclubhouse(contributionswanted)

•Formermemberstobefoundandinvitedtoattend

•FormaldinnerundermarqueeonthedeckSatnight

•ComeandsailoldsailingcraftsuchasVJs&18’skiffs

•SpecialSundayRegattaforallyachts&centreboards

•Special75thmerchandisingandawholelotmore!

Can you help or do you have some other great ideas? To register your interest or for more information contact: 75th_ann@avalonsailingclub.com.au

JanTrembath0427790288orDavidEvans0438224925

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75th Anniversary weekend Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd November 2013 A whole weekend of activities:

•Historicaldisplayintheclubhouse(contributionswanted)

•Formermemberstobefoundandinvitedtoattend

•FormaldinnerundermarqueeonthedeckSatnight

•ComeandsailoldsailingcraftsuchasVJs&18’skiffs

•SpecialSundayRegattaforallyachts&centreboards

•Special75thmerchandisingandawholelotmore!

Can you help or do you have some other great ideas? To register your interest or for more information contact: 75th_ann@avalonsailingclub.com.au

JanTrembath0427790288orDavidEvans0438224925

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MANLY JuNIOR GOLD FLeeT Report 2012/13 SeasonWe started the 2012/13 season with a fleet of 8 MJs and are finish-ing with 8 slightly different MJs. Reflex had to pull out due to health reasons, Water Spider joined us and there was a crew swap on Vincent van Go for the Nationals regatta.

Main FleetSpeed Demon 2688 Natasha and Nathan Bryant

Fast and Furious 2742 Lewis Molloy and Vinny Willman … (first), now Harry Parker

Full Throttle 2746 Alistair Read and Jasper Hudson

Stingray 2779 Juliet Costanzo and Zoe Tulk

Novice Fleet:Vincent van Go Max Oughtred and Alfie Dumas

Quantum Leap 2767 Liam Rodgers and Noah Rumbold

Pandamonium 2622 Zoe Whitlock and Rose van Mierlo

Reflex 2661 (part) Elyse van Mierlo and Sarah Rodgers

Water Spider 2583 (part) Vinny Willman and Quentin Willman STATe TITLeS ROuND 1 PORT KeMBLA October 20 to 21 2012The conditions at the first round of the MJ States at Point Kembla were certainly ‘testing’ the crews of the 36 boats that participated.

On Saturday as the wind pushed towards 20 knots the novice fleet were advised they would not be sailing. The wind grew stronger throughout race causing 7 of the 19 open boats to retire but all four of the open Avalon boats completed the course.

2746, Full Throttle came in second place, which was a great start to the season for Avalon.

On Sunday morning the novices headed out for their first race in a moderate breeze and completed race one on a short course.

In race two Speed Demon came first and Full Throttle third and Jules and Zoe in Stingray, 4th. In the novice race two, 7 boats finished in the tough conditions.

STATe TITLeS ROuND 2 MIDDLe HARBOuR November 24 to 25 2012The racing in perfect weather in the open waters of the sound proved to be very competitive.

Race Three was completed on Saturday morning but race four had to be abandoned due to a top mark drifting away.

In Race 4 on Sunday, Speed Demon came in second place and after a high drama protest including 3 boats and a shortened course, Stingray came 6th. Full Throttle won race 5 on Sunday.

Max Oughtred and Alfie Dumas in Vincent van Gogh performed strongly in the novice fleet coming 3rd and 2nd scratch in race 4 & 5 and they and Quantum Leap (Liam Rodgers and Noah Rumbold) both consistently performed solidly in the handicap and scratch finishes in 2nd and 3rd rounds.

NATIONAL TITLeS St.GeORGe SAILING CLuB, SANS SOuCI: December 27-30 2012.Sailing conditions on Botany Bay over three of the four days could not have been better and our healthy fleet of 40 boats produced an 8 race Championship. 10 clubs were represented. Even Channel 7 took an interest in the MJ Nationals in a story about the popularity of junior sailing in Australia.

Some highlights: Race 1 2746, Full Throttle won Race 1 comprehen-sively by over 2 minutes. Race 3 saw Full Throttle leading at the first top mark. However the leaders were quickly knocked back by an eel which wrapped itself round their centreboard which would cost them a strong finish but earned them the miner’s helmet.

Lewis Malloy and Vinny Willman in Fast n’Furious put in a fabulous last race to come first on handicap in the open fleet, boding well for next season’s racing Cool Beans from Manly 16’SSC became Manly Ju-nior Australian National Champions for 2012-2013, beating the highly fancied Shotgun crewed by Zac and Jake Barnabas into third place through their consistency.

In the Novice division the National Championship was awarded to Vincent Van Go from Avalon SC.

Main Fleet Results:2746 Full Throttle Alistair Reed & Jasper Hudson 5th Scratch, 21st Handicap

2688 Speed Demon Natasha and Nathan Bryant 10th Scratch, 14th Handicap

2779 Stingray Juliet Costanzo - Zoe Tulk 12th Scratch, 14th Handicap

2742 Fast n Furious Lewis Molloy & Vinny Willman 22nd Scratch 7th Handicap

Junior Fleet Results 2688 Speed Demon Natasha - Nathan Bryant 3rd

All Girl Scratch2779 Stingray Juliet Costanzo and Zoe Tulk 1st

Girl Skipper Scratch

2688 Speed Demon Natasha and Nathan Bryant 1st

2779 Stingray Juliet Costanzo and Zoe Tulk 2nd

Novice Fleet Handicap

2737 Vincent van Go Max Oughtred & Sarah Rodgers 1st

STATe TITLeS ROuND 3 PT WOLSTONCROFT Feb 16-17 2013There were 24 Open class MJ’s, 16 Novices, 13 Rookies.

We started race 6 at noon on Saturday in light breeze conditions, which were a bit of a trek for our now experienced sailors. Race 7 was a quicker race with a bit more breeze and race 8 was completed on Sunday after a long wait for suitable wind.

Results for races Rookie Fleet

2639 Bon Voyage Harry/ David 3rd, 1st 2nd

2569 Av Rocket Louis/ Oliver 2nd, 10th and 3rd

2622 Pandamonium Zoe/ Rose 4th, 2nd and 4th

2681 Walk on the Wild Side David/ Finn 13th

Overall awards for the 2012/ 2013 MJ StatesOpen Fleet Scratch

2746 Full Throttle Alistair/ Jasper 4th

2688 Speed Demon Tash/ Nathan 5th

2779 Stingray Juliet/ Zoe 11th

2742 Fast & Furious Lewis/ Vinny 19th

Open Fleet Handicap

2688 Speed Demon Tash/ Nathan 4th

2779 Stingray Juliet/ Zoe 5th

2746 Full Throttle Alistair/ Jasper 7th

2742 Fast & Furious Lewis/ Vinny 12th

All Girl

2779 Stingray Juliet/ Zoe 1st

Novice Fleet Handicap

2737 Vincent van Go Max/ Alfie 4th

2767 Quantum Leap Liam/ Noah 6th

2661 Reflex Elise/ Sarah 12th

Thank you to: Ally Bryan and Ros Read for scribing.

Kingsley Forbes-Smith who is always there to help with advice and who has been the Novice Coach at regattas ably assisted by Steve Read.

ASC parents always are assigned the Pin and Bottom Mark at regattas. Frank Costanzo who is a regular on the ASC White Rib and is supported by a large number of other parents.

Our awesome MJ coach and mentor Malcolm Parker who attended all regattas and leads training on Sunday mornings.

Garry Oughtred

CentreBoArdS yeAr end report

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revieW in piCtureS

The National event for the Open Bics was held in Perth over Easter in warm sunny weather and breezes ranging up to 20 kts at the start and gradu-ally dropping down to 5 kts for the final days racing. All in all it was a testing event over a range of conditions as a national title should be. ASC was represented by Max Oughtred, Annika & Margot Mason. Contestants ranging from age 6 up came from every Aust. state except SA and New Zealand to provide a fleet of 40 boats in the gold fleet and 14 in the silver. Early conditions favoured the bigger local sailors with the ‘doctor’ at full force but as time passed and the winds mellowed to the teens ,the Kiwi Sean Herbert demonstrated superior sailing and surgically precise mark roundings to take a stranglehold on the series

Overall First Place in the Gold fleet went to Sean Herbert, of Manly Sailing Club, New Zealand, who also won the Under 13 Division. Second Place went to Chris Gallen of Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, Western Australia, who won the Under 16 division. Third Place went to Oliver Medd of Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club with Kristen Wadley of Tinaroo Sailing Club, Queensland, taking Forth Place and Zac Littlewood of South of Perth Yacht Club, Western Australia taking Fifth Place respectively. Best result for our sailors was 13th overall for Margot Mason.

Nicholas Mason

2013 Open Bic Cup - Royal Freshwater Yacht Club Perth

don mCLACHLAn etCHeLLS regAttA 2013

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Malcolm Parker, Wil Dargaville & Jack Nairn achieved a perfect score of 5 in the 6th Don McLachlan Etchells Regatta hosted by the Club on 23rd & 24th March. Sailing ‘Dragon Lady’, they won all six races, disproving the optimistic adage beloved of ancient mari-ners, that ‘old age and cunning overcome youth and enthusiasm’. They weren’t the first to the top mark in the 1st race – that fleet-ing honour fell to ‘Koolong’ – but they lead the field thereafter.The field this year was the biggest yet, with 9 boats competing in all races. There were 3 visiting boats: the former ASC gun Bruce Dey borrowed his old boat ‘Sharona’ , Larry Eastwood from WPYC returned to defend his win in last year’s event in ‘Flash Harry’, and Glen Carapiet, also from WPYC, was a first time visitor in ‘Crush’. Six of the seven ASC boats made up the rest of the field. Bruce Dey’s return was somewhat marred (see results) because, contrary to assurances, Sharona’s hull had become host to an underwater ecosys-tem of barnacles and weed. Needless to say her performance improved dramatically on the 2nd day.The article about the forthcoming regatta in the March edition of ‘Afloat’ attracted a number of visiting crew, most notably Tony Clark from Greenwich Sailing Club who crewed on ‘Flash Harry’, and in a remarkable act of generosity donated a Gift Voucher to accompany the winner’s trophy. It seems likely that the number of visiting boats will increase next year with keen interest from harbour based yachts.Behind ‘Dragon Lady’ the racing was tight and competitive – most boats produced at least one podium result, and close finishes kept the committee boat on its toes. Ralph Alldritt’s ‘Sundries 11’ being unavailable this year, committee boat duties fell to the Kid-ner/Maher/Craig syndicate’s ‘Trina’. and she performed her duties very prettily. She was crewed on Saturday by Don McLachlan, Brett Stapleton (PRO), Peter Kidner and Peter Hudson, with Uwe Statz’s brother Torsten as photographer, and on Sunday by Don McLach-lan, Peter Hudson (PRO), Claudie Moffatt and Glenn Sanders. Max Bibby did a sterling job as mark layer and boat boy on both days.The event was blessed with great weather, and was conducted in the usual and famous Avalon spirit of good fun and camaraderie. Administration and catering was provided by ‘CC’ Craig in her customary stylish mannerScratch results speak for themselves, and in one design racing they are all that really matter, but the handicap results speak volumes for the skill of Martin Hickling in getting the measure of the field and coming up with a fair result. However even he couldn’t keep ‘Dragon Lady’ out of a place on handicap.

Ian Craig

Results Scratch 1. Dragon Lady M Parker 52. Flash Harry L eastwood 163. KoolongG.Barnes 184. Sharona B. Dey 235. Crush G. Carapiet 246. Foxy T. Fox 247. Cazbar u. Statz 258. ImpactII G.Bolton 309. Bangalla M. Hickling 41

Handicap

1. Flash Harry L. eastwood 192. Koolong G. Barnes 193. Dragon Lady M. Parker 204. Crush G. Carapiet 215. Foxy T. Fox 226. Bangalla M. Hickling 22.57. Cazbar u. Statz 23.58. SharonaB.Dey 249. Impact II G. Bolton 25

Photo By Torsten Statz

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ParticipationThe season is nearly over and Avalon has had one it’s most successful yacht seasons for some time.

Participation is up with the Retriever Trophy averaging eleven starters each week. The Quartet Bowl is the next most popular race with just over 9 starters on average.

The Blue Water Shield and Koolong tend to split the fleet, so this is an area we need to keep working on.

The Family Race averages around six starters, so contrary to popular belief, this series still remains popular.

With such a diverse group of sailors ranging from flat out racers to flat out cruisers, we thought it was time to check to see if we are meeting the needs of the members.To this end we sent out a survey to all yacht sailors prior to Christmas.

The response was very good with nearly thirty people putting a broad range of views and opinions across.

A full report will appear on the website in the near future and the Yacht Committee will work to incorporate people’s wishes the best way we can into the program.Many thanks to Toni Fox for having the idea in the first place and also collating the results.

HandicapsOur yacht handicapper Martin Hickling has done a fantastic job this season with the fleet finishing closer and closer after handicap starts. Martin has written a detailed report on how these calculations are done and at the end of reading it you’ll know the difference between an average, a median and a statistical outlier!

The full report can be found on the website and I would recommend it to all of those that wonder why it’s so when it comes to handicapping.

RacingThe second half of the season usually has most of the one off races, so here’s a brief summary:-

Two Island RaceWon by Bob Batchelor with his “other boat”, a Beneteau 31.7 “Beausoleil”Dick and Jean came in second on “Diablo” (also a Beneteau 31.7) with David and Jan Evans third in “Goldfinger”“Goldfinger” has become something of a weapon in the second half of the season, with the addition of a new asymmetric spinnaker; however we are confident that Martin’s numbers will catch up with them!

Australia Day RegattaLife members, Peter and Elizabeth Kidner made a cameo appearance and proved that life on the land has not blunted their sailing skills in any way, by taking out the race. Martin Hickling came in second on “Bangala” with Peter Hudson and the usual suspects on “Laura” third.

We also had a Wooden Boat division with four Couta Boats, “Garriad” Mick Morris, “Southerly” Terry Moran, “Sylvia” Larry Eastwood, “J’Amie” and the beautiful sloop “Response” Andrew Terry.

Challenger HeadThe 2013 edition of the Challenger Head Race had all the ingredients for a truly epic adventure…… a forecast 30 to 40 knot Easterly, a 5 metre swell, driving rain and a plate of fish and chips at the end.

Fish and chips wait for no man of course (particularly when they’re pre-booked) so twenty nine hardy souls made the trip to Akuna Bay by road through storm and tempest (really!) and enjoyed a night of stories of what might have been.

Given the truly atrocious road conditions, the Race Committee decided to award the “Bitter End Trophy” to everyone at the Café on Saturday night. Unfortunately the “Fogarty” could not be awarded as no one was willing to fall into the water from the marina and someone getting wet because their umbrella blew inside out did not qualify.

A big thank you to everyone that came to the dinner and also to those that couldn’t make it but still payed anyway. Very much appreciated and hopefully next year will be a little kinder in the weather department.

Winter SeriesThe first winter series race will be 26th May. All welcome including the cruisers as this part of the limited series. Please come along for this non-spinnaker race. So that’s about it for the yachts this season. Don’t forget the Picnic on April 7th as we need as many people as possible to assist in defending our tug of war champion status against BYRA.

Brett Stapleton

yACHt diviSion report

Brett approaching the finishing line?

15

ASC memBerSHip StruCtureOutline Fees for 2013/14 season

Background: A considerable amount of time has been spent over the past 12 months by a specifically appointed Membership Committee to simplify the current membership and fee structure to ensure that in future everyone participating in and enjoying the Club’s facilities make a fair contribution to its upkeep, its operation and its future.

MembershipCategories&Definitions+Outlinefeesfor2013/14

Please note these fees are still subject to a CPI based increase & review by the Main Committee

Having considered and compared many approaches and models the following Membership categories will be available:

Family Membership ($360) – Covering Husband / Wife / Spouse / Partner and all dependent children (regardless of number) under the age of 25

Adult Member ($265) – Membership for singles aged 18 and above – couples using the Club facilities are both expected to join as Adult or Family Members

Junior Member ($145) – Membership for junior sailors who are not part of a family under the age of 18. A Junior Member can only be enrolled with a “Supervising Adult” – see below.

Social Member - Non Sailing ($100) – Anyone (including their Spouse) who wants to enjoy the benefits of membership but is a Non Sailor

Life Member – Membership awarded at the discretion of the Committee

Introduction of a new category “Supervising Adult” – From the start of the 2013/14 season It will be a requirement for each Junior member of the Club to be registered with a “Supervising Adult”. There is no fee for this category but these Adults will be required to do duties and will be encour-aged to upgrade to at least Social Member status to give access to the Membership Benefits outlined which are otherwise not privilege they can enjoy.

Membership Benefits

A paid up Adult member of the Club (Family, Single, Social, Life) BUT NOT “Supervising Adults” can take advantage of the following benefits:

Votingrights–notapplicabletoSocialMembers-Keyissue-DiscountedratesforClubhousehire

ReceiptofClubCommunication(e.g.Jibsheet)- Websiteaccess -ClubSupportboats,bothatASCandatRegattas

Other Fees - Yachts Charged on a user pays basis:: The current Yacht Cruising Fee will be replaced by a Boat Owner Fee ($240 per annum) paid by ALL Boat Owners . All “Boat Owners” have access to Club Cruising events, the Club moorings and the pontoon (with power and water)

AnAdditionalYachtRacingFee($140perannum)willapplytothosewishingtoparticipateinClubRacing

Moorings: First year $2100 per annum, thereafter $100 per month-Keydeposit$50-YAfees$40-compulsoryfeeleviedtoallmembers

OtherFees–CentreboardSailors

BlueGroupTrainingFee$320– Club Membership is required for Blue Group Sailors either as part of a Family or as a Junior Member in which case they must be enrolled with a “Supervising Adult” or a

CentreboardUnder25includingcoaching$220-CenterboardSenior(Nocoaching)$125

Rackstorage–inside$200-Rackstorage–outside$180

Keydeposit$50-YAfees$40-compulsory fee levied to all members but capped at a maximum of 3 fees per family

Definitions

A “Boat Owner” is defined as anyone that owns a boat that is stored in the water or is over 7 metres in length.

An ASC Member with more than one boat only pays One Boat Owner fee Syndicate Boat Owners will ALL be required to individually become members

and each pay a “Boat Owner Fee”. However, if they choose to race that boat only one “Race Fee” will be charged.

David Biddle

16

www.avalonsailingclub.com.auA

For your Diary...Commodore’s Party Saturday May 4th

Presentation Day Sunday 19th May

“For the fostering, encouragement, promotion, teaching and above all enjoyment of sailing on the waters of Pittwater”

Affiliated with the Yachting Association of NSW. Patron Iain Murray PO Box 59 Avalon NSW 2107. Clubhouse: Old Wharf Reserve, Hudson Parade. Phone (02) 9918 3637

Editor Michael Maher michaelm@rtohelp.com.au Co-ordinator Ally Bryan ally@colouredspace.com Website Kingsley Forbes-Smith kingsley@miboat.com

Printed by Pymble Office Supplies phone 9988 3566

BAyvieW SLipWAySLIPPING ◆ PAINTING ◆ SHIPWRIGHTS

Maureen Cuthbert and Mark Barry-Cotter 12/1714 Pittwater Road, Bayview. 2104 Ph: 9997 8588

Fax: 9979 5696 E: bayviewslipway@bigpond.com

Experience,Value,Quality,Serviceand proud supporters of ASC

The History of Avalon Sailing Club by Norm Field

This is a history book you have to have, an investement, a collectors item. Available at the canteen only $10.

A great read with wonderful historical photographs.

Avalon Sailing Club

The history of a family sailing club on Pittwater from 1932 to 1963

The history of a family sailing club on Pittwater from 1932 to 1963

To see the JibSheet in glorious colour go to our websitewww.avalonsailingclub.com.au