July 2019

Frank Wendy and crew having fun on the Anniversary Regatta

Last Month

Anniversary Regatta 

The first race was to  Yorkeys Knob and back in 10 – 15 kts of breeze. With 3 multihulls and 4 yachts it was a good turn out. Barefoot and Lighting Storm had a good tussle for lead with The Hully Trinity not far behind. Ketchup and Impulse put a good distance ahead of Centinela and Volare. A good day was had by all, it was nice to have winds below 25 kts for a change.
Day two saw light winds for the first of the bay races (a windward, leeward course), but for the second race (a triangle course) the winds pickup to a nice15- 18 kts. Close racing was enjoyed by all and another great day on the water was had.
A big thanks go to Gordo and Bob for setting good courses and taking some great photos.
Results are as below. A very close regatta with three boats scoring 8 points.

Two Islands Race

Still the weather is not totally cooperating. The scheduled Two Islands race had to be postponed a week due to a strong wind warning. This race was to involve a sail to the Fitzroy Island port lead thence to a position 100m west of the Green Island jetty then back home.

Fortunately the weather cooperated the following weekend with winds forecast to be reasonable if perhaps a bit strong at 20kts. The race started in lightish air with four entrants, Impulse, Volare, Ikigai and Leitning Storm (the only cat). My belief that engines are only fitted to yachts to ruin a good day’s sailing was affirmed correct when Ikigai could not leave the Marina due to a uncooperative engine. Nevertheless, Impulse & Volare jockeyed for position at the port end of the line while the starter, holding a radio in one hand and an iPhone in the other managed to drop the starting flag off the wharf at the Wharf One Cafe. Needless to say, I doubt anyone noticed in the head of the start with Impulse over the line slightly ahead of Volare. Leitning Storm took a few minutes to sort their rig out confident they could catch the fleet. These were not the only dramas for the day. Following is a first hand account by Frank sailing on Impulse…

Up to T7 against a light southeasterly breeze followed by a spinnaker run all the way to channel marker 6 saw Impulse pull away from the others to take a healthy lead. The breeze built rapidly as the yachts entered Mission Bay with some reporting 27kts!  The blue cat started to fly!
Just as Impulse was putting in their first reef a crew member noticed a problem with the rigging. A rapid easy on the main was called for and the boat slowed to investigate the problem. It was not safe to continue the race so the decision was made to retire and return to Cairns under very reduced sail.
That left just two boats to continue on to Fitzroy and across to Green Island with a higher than expected wind strength. However, both boats were happy to sight Humpback whales during the day!
The blue catamaran was first boat home but unfortunately Volare ran into a patch of no wind whilst inbound along the channel finishing 2 hours 20 minutes after Letting Storm. Congratulations to Mark and crew on being this year’s champions in the Two Islands Race.

Results 2019 Two Islands Race

Equipment Auditors

Attention all keelboat skippers / owners.

Do you want to know if your yacht is up to the racing standards set by Yachting Australia?

We race under Category 5 which allows races with limited rescue availability in protected waters in daylight and sheltered waters at night. To see if your boat complies download the check list here. 

We now have two equipment auditors that can sign your boat off for the next 12 months. Contact Frank Brace 0438 405 800‬ or Hew Mills. 0409976888.

New Pacers

A big thanks to all that turned out to unpack our eight new Pacer dinghies. The job was complete within an hour allowing the container to be re-loaded onto the truck without delay.

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

The “Pink J” has had new anti-foul applied, thanks to the dedicated volunteers that scraped live oysters off her bottom. We look forward to some more competition on WAGS and, of course, our monthly races. The “Pink J” is available for hire to approved members. Please contact Adrian or just go sailing with him. This is a much better option than owning your own boat… guaranteed!

The keelboat learn to sail in “The pink J” is well subscribed with increasing participants keen to try out a bigger boat. Please contact Margie at the office 07 4031 2750‬ or email cyc@cairns.net.au

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ATTENTION – Prepare for this fantastic October 5-7th event

With the wonderful people at the Fitzroy Island Resort we are planning a  three day Regatta at The lovely Fitzroy Island on the long weekend of 5 – 7 th of October. The management are very willing to support this event with both our vision to build this into a major sailing event of the sailing year over the next 5 years.

We are hoping to get a fleet of dinghies over there as well with other small boats for Juniors and Learn to Sail graduates to join the regatta.

We will need a lot of help from members to make it happen, with onshore organising over the weekend and with fundraising for prises. So if you have any ideas for raising money let Neil know 0417 625 236

Keep a look out for up dates..

 

BOOK NOW TO STAY AT THE RESORT – This is a busy weekend and rooms go quick. They have a very generous cancellation policy so there is no risk. No cancellation charge applies prior to 12:00 (local time), 72 hours prior to the day of arrival. Click below to see a video or call 07 4044 6700

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Coming UP – This Month

Weekend of 27-28th July ELLIS BEACH REGATTA Call Barry 0428 369 303

This two day event starts with a briefing at 11am Sat. Sailing starts at 12.30 , Sat night dinner is provided at a cost lunch also, free camping, dust off the boats , prizes and games for the little ones. 
Volunteers please ,please contact the amazing Barry, he can do with a hand.
Come out even if you don’t sail and just sit on the lawn and enjoy the the magnificent views.
Please contact Barry if you are attending as he needs to cater for you. 0428 369 303. You can also book one of the three Lasers or two little Nacra’s, they are awesome fun and go quick. Once again, call Barry 0428 369 303. It will be good to see the Townsville, Mission Beach and Tinaroo clubs to compete against the Cairns club members
Lets all have a awsome weekend

Sunday 4th August Fitzroy Island & return Race

Another opportunity to head over to Fitzroy. For more information call Frank 0438 405 800‬

WAGS – Every Wednesday. Yep, still going so no excuses for not sailing. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns. (Backpackers WELCOME, we love the international flavour).

Tackers Fun Friday – 4-5:30 pm very Friday

Trackers sailing program

The Tacker Fun Sailing program is romping along every Friday from 4pm to 6pm thanks to Riely and his team. We get “kids” of all sizes and there’s room for more. Bring your kids and grandkids down to the Boatshed and celebrate the end of the working week

The club bar is open so while the kids are out having fun you can sit back and have a wine and watch them sail.

Riley Munro, Harrison and Daniel Brace are there to run the show – bring the kids or the grandkids 4pm to 6pm 
www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/23610/

New Pricing for a New Season

SAGS – $5 per head, non-members $25

Keelboat Race Nominations – $20 per head, $30 non members. Payable at the boat-shed with the nomination form. One owner or skipper from each participating boat free.

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June 2019

Rumour has it we will be seeing more of this boat… WELCOME

Last Month

Cyclones, rain, strong wind warnings, aargh! The climate has played havoc with our sailing schedule since Xmas.

Fitzroy Island race on the 4th May didn’t happen, Bay Race for the 2nd June didn’t happen, even WAGS has seen several cancellations, so there you have it, mother nature doing her best to ruin our sporting endeavours.

Port Douglas Race Week

Nevertheless, Port Douglas Race Week DID happen. We were well represented with Impulse, Yes and Anastasia in division one, Volare and Centinella in division two and Out of the Blue in division four.

Check out this video from Yes

The forecast was for 20kts+ for the first two days and all boats enjoyed an exciting down wind run on Sunday & Monday ready for the first races on Tuesday. In the first race Impulse & Yes jockeyed for the bottom of the ladder getting the crew warmed up. The second race saw Yes leap to 3rd place and Impulse creep up to 8th out of 12. By day two, the passage race around Snapper Island, Impulse managed 3rd place while Yes slipped to 7th. 

After a breather on Thursday, Frank & Wendy did their homework and rocketed to 1st place for the first race on Friday. Yes crept up to a respectable 5th place. In race five and six, both our boats managed a respectable 5th & 6th place. By the end of the regatta Impulse secured 3rd & Yes 8th out of a fleet of 12. Unfortunately Anastasia went missing for the series.

In division two, Centinella started well with a first in race one and Volare 3rd in a fleet of six. They changed places in race two but were overpowered in the passage race finishing 4th (Centinela) and 5th. Friday saw Volare manage a 2nd & 3rd, Centinela 3rd & 5th, clearly the red cans ran out about lunchtime. The last race, Centinela 4th and, Volare 5th giving an overall score 2nd place to Volare and 5th to Centinela. 

Our only entrant in division four, Out of the Blue was crippled with equipment malfunctions on day one & two scoring a DNC for the first three races. In spite of having the 2nd fastest time for the last three races the handicap inherited from last year and a few unfortunate spinnaker prawning exercises meant that they stayed on the bottom of the ladder. Looking for a win with a 30kt upwind home run on the trailer on the way back to Cairns, a trailer wheel decided it could not take the strain and did a bolter into the side of a parked car at Ellis Beach. Fortunately no one was hurt and all were thankful insurance premiums were paid up.

Sailing is easier

Check out this epic guy. Washed up at Trinity Beach after rowing across the Pacific without support, what a monumental achievement.

Perhaps we can offer him a free Learn to Sail course so he can get home.

Junior Sailing – from Scott

I just wanted to say a big THANKS to everyone who supports junior sailing

A few years ago we started with almost no juniors ( and these kids are now young adults Lloyd Bennett Jai Tooley Jai Miller Miranda WilsonVictoria Roy Celeste Lyons Daniel Brace . etc ) but today we have so many young people down at the club with their families ( mum and and Dads ) that it is giving so much life and energy to the club

I thank the older members who offer their support to our new youngsters coming through

The future is bright for the CYC

Learn to Sail

Congratulations to the LTS students who completed their training today, 26th May. The next Learn to Sail has already started (8th June). Great to see so many incoming sailors. Don’t forget to tell somebody (Scott) if you would like to crew on a bigger keel boat. There’s plenty of opportunities.

We hope you join in our club activities and join our community

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

The “Pink J” is about to get her bottom scrubbed and new anti-foul applied so we look forward to some more competition on WAGS and, of course, our monthly races. This is available for hire to approved members. Please contact Adrian or just go sailing with him. This is a much better option than owning your own boat… guaranteed!

The keelboat learn to sail in “The pink J” is well subscribed with increasing participants keen to try out a bigger boat. Please contact Margie at the office 07 4031 2750‬ or email cyc@cairns.net.au

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Coming UP – This Month

Saturday & Sunday 15th & 16th ANNIVERSARY REGATTA – Frank has devised a great programme of sailing for this weekend. There will be a race to Yorkeys Knob and return on Saturday and two short races on Sunday followed by a BBQ at the Boatshed., We are celebrating 111 years this year! Hope to see you all at the briefing 0900 on Saturday.

Friday 21st June – NEW PACERS ARRIVE – YEAH!! Our much awaited new Pacers will arrive in a container and have to be unpacked. It will be necessary to hand the hulls to a crew on the ground that will put them on their dollies. The masts and sails will be separate and will need to be rigged, presumably at a separate time. We probably need a crew of around six to help out. Call Scott if you can help out & have not indicated your willingness to help on the FB page.

Saturday 29th June – TWO ISLANDS RACE – Strong wind warning!!! (Just joking, it’s going to be perfect weather). Details TBA but promises to be something new and different. Keep a watch on our FaceBook page.

WAGS – Every Wednesday. Yep, still going so no excuses for not sailing. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns. (Backpackers WELCOME, we love the international flavour).

Tackers Fun Friday – 4-5:30 pm very Friday

Trackers sailing program

The Tacker Fun Sailing program is romping along every Friday from 4pm to 6pm thanks to Riely and his team. We get “kids” of all sizes and there’s room for more. Bring your kids and grandkids down to the Boatshed and celebrate the end of the working week

The club bar is open so while the kids are out having fun you can sit back and have a wine and watch them sail.

Riley Munro, Harrison and Daniel Brace are there to run the show – bring the kids or the grandkids 4pm to 6pm 
www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/23610/

New Pricing for a New Season

SAGS – $5 per head, non-members $25

Keelboat Race Nominations – $20 per head, $30 non members. Payable at the boat-shed with the nomination form. One owner or skipper from each participating boat free.

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April 2019

Last Month

Ellis Beach Opening Regatta

A two day event kicked off with a complete lack of wind. ‘Volare’ had sailed up from Trinity Inlet to act as the start boat. Thanks go to Neil for making the voyage. Two of the three Laser’s were rigged as well as the little Nacra 350’s. These were joined by two bigger Nacras, a 5.6 sailed by Adam and the other a 5.5 purchase by Kevin, rigged and ready to go. A wisp of a breeze got up in the afternoon but generally drifting was the exercise of the day.

Day two saw a more reliable Sou-Easter come in past Double Island and Barry was out laying out a course early. Racing got under way with three Laser’s, two Nacra 350’s and the big Nacra’s heading out for a bit of fun. They shot around the course however Kev & Allan did take a dive to practice there righting skills. (More gym memberships required I think)

Discover Sailing

24 eager participants came to try out some sailing and it was great to see a lot of keen children dragging their parents along so they can avoid soccer or footbrawl. The weather was a bit inclement with showers marching down the Inlet from time to time. A warm thank you to all the volunteers that, in many cases, provided their own boats and otherwise made the day an enjoyable one for all. We have had several new members sign up as a result.

Lady Skippers Race – sponsored by Splishsplash Swimwear

At last some reasonable sailing weather in spite of dire forecasts of strong wind warnings the week before. The usual Trinity Inlet 2 to 25kts of breeze kept everyone on their toes trying to decide if a reef was needed by which time it wasn’t. A match race ensued between Bec Tuma on Out of the Blue and Wendy on Impulse. An early rig failure let Impulse round the first mark, T7 (yellow “admiralty” buoy) ahead then head out the C12 as the breeze freshened. This was perfect for the blue cat, Leitning Storm. They screamed past everyone, so far ahead in fact that the rest of the fleet, who were hoping they would indicate which mark C12 was, but were too far behind to see. Bec snuck past Wendy on the way back to T7 against a strong tide. Some quite exciting tacking duels ensued thence a spinnaker run to “Outer Red”. On the last run out to Outer Red Out of the Blue botched their spinnaker drop and Impulse slid past again to hold the monohull lead to the end finishing only 50 seconds ahead of Out of the Blue after 3 hours & 40 minutes of racing. Meanwhile Leitning Storm had romped in 38 minutes ahead of the fleet. Well done!

Well earned BBQ hamburgers washed down with appropriate liquid refreshments topped of a great day.

And here are the skippers with the sponsor, Francis, 2nd left.

Results on corrected times were…

1 Leitning Storm, 2 Out of the Blue, 3 Impulse, 4 Centinella, 5 Volare

SAGS

It’s on again, well a “fun regatta” on Easter Saturday & Sunday. If you want to join in, everyone welcome, costs is just $5 per head ($25 non members) to go towards a BBQ at the Boat Shed after. Call Frank to find out more. +61 438 405 800

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

The keelboat learn to sail in “The pink J” is well subscribed with increasing participants keen to try out a bigger boat. Please contact Margie at the office 07 4031 2750‬ or email cyc@cairns.net.au

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Coming UP – This Month

20th & 21st April – Easter Saturday & Sunday – Fun regatta

Sunday 28th April – Ellis Beach dinghy sailing. Regular end of the month event. BBQ lunch available.

Saturday 4th May – Fitzroy Island Race – fabulous prize of two nights at the resort for the winner, prizes awarded to only those boats staying for Saturday evening at Roxy’s bar, great live music too.

Saturday 4th May – Learn to Sail course starts. Continues on four consecutive Saturdays, register here…

Click here

…or call Margie on 07 4031 2750‬

20th – 25th May – Port Douglas Race week.

WAGS – Every Wednesday. Yep, still going so no excuses for not sailing. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns. (Backpackers WELCOME, we love the international flavour).

Tackers Fun Friday – 4-5:30 pm very Friday

Trackers sailing program

The Tacker Fun Sailing program is romping along every Friday from 4pm to 6pm thanks to Riely and his team. We get “kids” of all sizes and there’s room for more. Bring your kids and grandkids down to the Boatshed and celebrate the end of the working week

The club bar is open so while the kids are out having fun you can sit back and have a wine and watch them sail.

Riley Munro, Harrison and Daniel Brace are there to run the show – bring the kids or the grandkids 4pm to 6pm 
www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/23610/

New Pricing for a New Season

SAGS – $5 per head, non-members $25

Keelboat Race Nominations – $20 per head, $30 non members. Payable at the boat-shed with the nomination form. One owner or skipper from each participating boat free.

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March 2019

Since December 

Xmas was Fun? (Well that’s a long time ago)

Washouts, blow outs and stalker cyclones. January & February have been busy but not for sailing.

The first race for the season, Fitzroy Island was blown out, strong wind warning, so the first race for the season was the Lindsay Joice race on Sunday 3rd March.

Lindsay Joice

This was to be a bay race but due to uncertain weather conditions it was turned into a modified WAGS course. The Inlet lived up to it’s indeterminate reputation with most boats sailing backwards after the start in occasional zephyrs and a strong outgoing tide. This didn’t help the bigger and heavier boats until a Nor-Easter came in at 15+kts propelling the fleet around ‘Outer Red’. Optimism and enthusiasm prevailed and the event organisers called for three laps of the course. Unfortunately the weather Gods were listening and decided to frustrate the fleet by re-establishing the doldrums at the Marina. Adrift and powerless at about one-and-a-half  laps the organisers called for a shortened course of two laps. Unfortunately, the lightest boat, Out of the Blue, almost completed two and a half laps so the course was shortened to two and a half.

Much hand wringing and vexation was put to rest with hearty liquid refreshments at the Boat Shed. At least our sailing season had started.

Results on corrected times were…

1st – Out of the Blue – 3:04, 2nd – Volare – 3:32, 3rd – Wee Wish Dragon – 3:36, 4th Centinella – 3:47

SAGS

On the other hand a re-vamped SAGS (Sunday Afternoon Gentle Sailing) has got off to a great start with invitations to all comers filled and some new faces and boats. This is a relaxed format is an opportunity to sail in company for all comers especially those new to the sport. There is no racing and no rules except to have a fun and enjoyable day on the water, try out a spinnaker or different sail combinations, no pressure. 

If you want to join in, anyone is welcome usually on a Sunday in the middle of the month. The next one is on Sunday the 17th and costs just $5 per head ($25 non members) to go towards a BBQ at the Boat Shed after.

School Team Sailing

With only a month since school went back we have had several schools getting ready for the School Team Sailing event held on Sunday the 10th.

Two teams from Atherton, the Blitz & Thunder came down from Tinaroo to battle the tides of the Inlet. Saint Augustines provided two teams and one from Trinity Anglican School. A Cairns team made up of various schools keen to try the sport composed the final team.

 

15 races with six boats in each did battle against a ebbing tide and variable winds. Fortunately the wind cooperated unlike previous years where it deserted the course and left dinghies drifting out to sea.

Results…

1st – Atherton Blitz, 2nd – Atherton Thunder, 3rd Saints 1, 4th – TAS

Massive hamburgers were prepared by keen volunteers to fill the voids that are hungry sailors stomachs. We were all indebted to their efforts.

A big thanks to Scott and his team of volunteers that managed to glue and screw the ageing Pacers into some semblance of a racing fleet. Scott’s talent (and commanding voice) for organising the dinghies over the past five years is well recognised and appreciated. His reward? Eight new pacers for next year. Yes, we have ordered eight new ready to sail pacers. They are being built in Malaysia and should take five months to be delivered. Wahoo!

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

The keelboat learn to sail in “The pink J” is well subscribed with increasing participants keen to try out a bigger boat. Please contact Margie at the office 07 4031 2750‬ or email cyc@cairns.net.au

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Coming UP – This Month

Sunday March 17th – SAGS – Sunday Afternoon Gentle Sailing – $5 per head, $25 non members.

Saturday & Sunday 30th & 31st March – Ellis Beach opening regatta, all welcome, camping available in the beautiful beachside grounds.

Saturday 6th April – Discover Sailing Day (To be confirmed, watch Facebook)

Sunday 7th April – Lady Skipper’s Race – must have a lady on the helm for the duration

WAGS – Every Wednesday. Yep, still going so no excuses for not sailing. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns.

Tackers Fun Friday – 4-5:30 pm very Friday

Trackers sailing program

The Tacker Fun Sailing program is romping along every Friday from 4pm to 6pm thanks to Riely and his team. We get “kids” of all sizes and there’s room for more. Bring your kids and grandkids down to the Boatshed and celebrate the end of the working week

The club bar is open so while the kids are out having fun you can sit back and have a wine and watch them sail.

Riley Munro, Harrison and Daniel Brace are there to run the show – bring the kids or the grandkids 4pm to 6pm 
www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/23610/

New Pricing for a New Season

SAGS – $5 per head, non-members $25

Keelboat Race Nominations – $20 per head, $30 non members. Payable at the boat-shed with the nomination form. One owner or skipper from each participating boat free.

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Technical Corner

How to sync your iPhone with the Club online calendar? A repeat from December)

Go to CYC web page, click on Calendar then click on Google Calendar. That will create a Google calendar that you can sync with other devices.

Go to https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/99358?co=GENIE.Platform%3DiOS&oco=0

 

 

December 2018

Last Month 

Saturday 1st December

Annual General Meeting, in the Club Rooms – 4:00pm

Great to see a good roll-up for the AGM. All members should thank the committee for taking up these positions that keep your Club running and providing you with a multitude of events over the years. Of course, they all volunteer their time and energy and although the load is spread there is still plenty of room for any ordinary member to come forward and volunteer a bit too. (There is the position of secretary to be filled, it’s not difficult so don’t be shy, your help will be warmly welcomed).

The following office bearers have been elected for 2019.

Commodore – John Pool
Vice Commodore – William Munro
Rear Commodore – Neil Robson
Treasurer – Hew Mills
Yacht Fleet Captain – Frank Brace
Ellis Beach Fleet Captain – Barry Craven
Dinghy Fleet Captain – Scott Davis
Sailability Fleet Captain – Andy Murray
Committee Members:
Kevin Spies & Malcolm Johnson. 

Summary of reports from the AGM

The Commodore continues his great relationship with Ports North and the Cairns Port Advisory Group which keeps our role in the Port foremost in their minds. Although minor, things like the refurbishment of the car park and repairs to our ramp continue to benefit the Club, the powers that be appreciate the effort the Club goes to keep members aware of their roles and responsibilities while operating in a commercial port.

The Vice Commodore, although only in the job of organising onshore activities for a while, there are more plans for Friday night socials next year and coordinating social events with our new sailing calendar. Maintenance and use of the Polyanna and the J24 have resulted in a positive outcome to the Club both in monetary return and getting new members up to speed with keelboat sailing skills. Some of these graduates have moved on to crew on other keelboats in the fleet and others intend to get their own yacht someday.

The Rear Commodore says that lack of crew is one of the biggest impediments to getting enough boats out sailing in the regular events. However, it’s great to see potential crew coming through the J24 program, thanks to Adrian & Bill for running this vital training. The dinghies continue to be well-patronised thanks to regular sailing at Ellis Beach, the School’s sailing program and the Learn to Sail schools. Many of these young participants are moving toward sailing on the keelboats which is pleasing.

The Treasurer pointed out that although we showed only a small profit as compared to the year before, we must be aware that it is important to collect revenue from those that have a tendency to slide by unnoticed capitalising on the easy-going nature of our Club. It is not fair on those that pay to enjoy our unique facilities so, freeloaders, fess up when you know you should contribute. Importantly, we have a reasonable cash reserve to fund future developments and no debt. However, we are working toward grant funding to renew our Pacer fleet.

The Yacht Fleet Captain has given us an excellent calendar of events for 2019. To make it easy for crew and boats to plan their sailing activities there will be a keelboat race on the first weekend of each month starting on the 2nd Feb. In addition, the second weekend (usually a Sunday) will be a social/fun sail, maybe a day trip to the reef, a practice day or just sailing in company. There is a new calendar both online and posted in the Boat Shed. You can get the calendar synched to your phone so any changes are immediately apparent. (See below, the technical section for how-to-do this, it’s easy).

The Dinghy Fleet Captain says that the extra dinghy activity at Ellis Beach has given members a great opportunity to get out and practice their skills from the Learn to Sail courses, on the Lasers and Nacra’s. (Keelboat crew & skippers participate too!) The School’s Sailing Program continues to be well supported and we look forward to introducing more young people to the skills and pleasures of sailing. Out hard working Pacer Dinghies are in need of replacement to keep these important programs attractive.

Ellis Beach has seen a great revival due to repainting of the Clubhouse and the increasing use as a wedding venue. This, yet to be discovered beach, is one of the most beautiful and private parts of the tropical coast, and it’s ours to enjoy. The monthly (last weekend) sailing is a fantastic opportunity for all members to enjoy the enormous benefits of their membership with this Club brings. A great place or kids & dogs too!

Sailability continues to grow largely due to a dedicated band of volunteers who enjoy helping others. Sailability is a now “Deductible Gift Recipient” charity and can welcome sponsorships and gifts from public and corporate generosity. This year Sailability has received two new boats from Rotary and Sea Swift and are well equipped for the year ahead.

Presentation Night – 5:30pm

Another great evening with great food at the Boat Shed, a pleasing turnout of members. The raffle for the much-admired Kingchrome tool chest was won by Mal Stevens who then auctioned a dartboard raising well-appreciated funds for Sailability.

A year of good sailing produced these results…

 

The prize for the most prizes goes to Frank & Wendy Brace & Impulse crew.

 

Junior Member of the year – Daniel Brace

Most Improved Sailor – Harrison Oates

December 8th Fitzroy Fizzer

CYC Xmas party at Fitzroy Island was going to be a good’un, the last sail for the year with eight boats showing interest. However, a strong wind warning for Friday & Saturday made a cancellation necessary. As it happened the strong wind warning continued until Sunday then it bucketed down with around 200mm flooding low lying areas. Just as well we weren’t trying to get back from Fitzroy.

 

Top line, Fitzroy Island. The red line is the actual wind in Cairns

 

Centinela has been on an extended cruise into southern waters, their return voyage will be published next month. Thanks to Bill & Eileen…

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

Adrian has completed yet another “Learn to Sail”  course with some participants coming back for a refresher course. More courses to follow. Please contact Margie at the office 07 4031 2750‬ or email cyc@cairns.net.au

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Coming UP – This Month

December 15 – 16th (Another fizzer due to impending cyclonic activity)

Ellis Beach break-up weekend has been cancelled.

 

So far a pretty wobbly track, predictions are for it to come back and have another go at us.

 

December 25th

Santa’s coming… If you’ve been good.

WAGS – Every Wednesday. Yep, still going so no excuses for not sailing. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns.

Tackers Fun Friday – 4-5:30 pm

Trackers sailing program

The Tacker Fun Sailing program is romping along every Friday from 4pm to 6pm thanks to Riely and his team. We get “kids” of all sizes and there’s room for more. Bring your kids and grandkids down to the Boatshed and celebrate the end of the working week

The club bar is open so while the kids are out having fun you can sit back and have a wine and watch them sail.

Riley Munro, Harrison and Daniel Brace are there to run the show – bring the kids or the grandkids 4pm to 6pm 
www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/23610/

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Technical Corner

How to sync your iPhone with the Club online calendar?

Go to CYC web page, click on Calendar then click on Google Calendar. That will create a Google calendar that you can sync with other devices.

Go to https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/99358?co=GENIE.Platform%3DiOS&oco=0

 

 

November 2018

NEWS FLASH – Cheap tickets $35 for Presentation night dinner.

Call Margie (07) 4031 2750 NOW, they will be $40 on the 10th and no longer available on the 17th

Last Month 

Even though last month was short on racing events, there has been a lot of sailing going on. WAGS, as usual, has been well attended both by boats and casual crew from all over the planet. These temporary members make the event a rewarding day out for skippers and crew. The bottle of rum for the winner of the day is a clearly sought after commodity, witness the number of boats that have had their hairy bottoms cleaned & are resplendent in new anti-foul to improve their performance.

Centinela has been on an extended cruise into southern waters, here is their account. Thanks to Bill & Eileen…

Centinela Whitsunday cruise 2018

After a couple of short cruises to Townsville and Lizard Island in 2016 and 2017. Eileen managed to successfully apply for Long service leave. The first month of which was spent with good friends from New York. July being what the usual strong SE month we only managed a few sails with them but did the next best thing. Road trips. Cooktown via Bloomfield, Undarra, tablelands, Mission Beach and the usual great spots of FNQ.

Visitors gone, we ready to head south. A bit of a hectic start saw us in the mud on Pooley’s pontoon. Thursday the 9^th of August was one of the lowest tides for some time. A bit of push and shove from a few friends saw us cast off at 1330. First stop, Fitzroy Is. Picked up a mooring in Shark Fin Bay. Of all the places we moored or anchored during the 11 weeks we were away this was probably the worst night we had. A strong SE wind and a NE swell.

An early start the next day got us to Mourilyan Harbour then Dunk the next day. Weather was getting better and the whales and dolphins were out to play. Dunk Island has always been one of our favourite stops. The turtles are always friendly. Some great walks here to enjoy one of our interests of bird watching.

Next stop was Goold Is, then down Hinchinbrook Channel to Haycock Is. Spotting a couple of dugong along the way.  Wednesday afternoon we had the pick down in Juno Bay on Fantome Is which is part of the Palm Group.

 Day 7 had us slogging into a 20 knot SE breeze which was more south than the easterly predicted. I can’t remember ever having a pleasant day on the “paddock” going to Magnetic. More Whales. Horseshoe Bay is another one of those great places. There is a pub and a bus to the other pubs. We met up with some cruising folks we had met at Lizard Is last year & made a few new friends. All these cruisers have business cards with their details and boat photo. I felt so inadequate when I had to write my  details on a bit of ripped up wine cask. A couple of days on Maggy, over to Townsville to stock up on fresh food and booze. Back to Maggy for one night then a quick hop over to Cape Cleveland for an early start the next morning. 11 hours too Cape Upstart. Whales again. 

Day 15 and we had a good run from Cape Upstart to Cape Glouster. Caught a Mackeral. This was Thursday and the first day of the annual Shaggers rendezvous. The Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club is based here and have a get together once a year on Shag Islet. It goes for 4 days. It could be said that it is a bit like schoolies for grown-ups. So naturally, we joined up and next thing I know I’m a vice commodore . When they they asked me to join I said: “I would prefer not to join a club that would have me as a member”. But their motto is they are “exclusively non exclusive” . All the proceeds of the SICYC go to raising awareness of prostate cancer.

After 4 days of partying hard and a blurry memory of having a good time, we crept away to Woodwark Bay.

Day 19. Heading off again and the whales are everywhere. A quick trip around the corner and we  docked at Abell Point Marina. We are now in the Whitsundays.

 

Stand by for the next exciting episode next month.

What’s so good about Shag Islet? 

Shag Islet is situated in the Gloucester Passage in the Whitsundays
(20 03.8 S … 148 26.5 E). It is a small rocky islet with a beach which is exposed on the southern end on a falling tide. There is nothing on the islet except at the annual SICYC Rendezvous when hundreds of “Vice Commodores’ gather on the last weekend in August each year. Well done Bill, you were the 6,446 th Vice Commodore, clearly you take that responsibility seriously.

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

Adrian has completed yet another “Learn to Sail”  course with some participants coming back for a refresher course. More courses to follow. Please contact Margie at the office 07 4031 2750‬ or email cyc@cairns.net.au

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Coming UP – This Month – & November

November 17-18 Commodores Cup

This will be the last races for the year, a short series over two days. Neil would like expressions of interest by 2nd November, you can nominate later in case getting a crew together is difficult at this stage.

Division 2 has been introduced so skippers that mostly cruise can have a go. It would be great to see more of the WAGS fleet out there.

Div 1 Spinnakers
Div 2 Cruising/ Non-Spinnaker
Div 3 Multihulls
Please Contact Neil 0417 625 236 or Frank 0438 405 800, or Scott 0410 477 166.

November 24 – 25th

Ellis Beach break-up weekend. Bring a tent, camp the night and enjoy the last fun sail for the year.

Saturday 1st December

Annual General Meeting, in the Club Rooms – 4:00pm

Come and hear all about how the Club is running and what the Executive Committee are planning for next year. There are several positions vacant including Secretary so put your hand up, jump in and help out where you can, it’s not onerous or difficult and helps us all have a great time on the water. Call Margie

After the meeting, saunter over to the Boatshed (with your chair) and have a drink or two in preparation for PRESENTATION NIGHT.

Presentation Night – 5:30pm

Last chance for CHEAP tickets, they will be $35/head if paid prior to 9th Nov – Early bird special! They are then $40/head if paid prior to 16th Nov – Procrastinator’s price! No tickets will be sold after the 16^th as caterer’s need final numbers.  No excuses….no exceptions! Call (07) 4031 2750 NOW

Please let Margie know if you have special dietary requirements (vegan/ vegetarian/ gluten or dairy free, etc) these caterers are very happy to look after you.

Tickets will be pre-purchase only, available from the office or the boatshed.  Or you can direct deposit to the club account, use your name as the reference, and send an email to advise.

Account is Cairns Yacht Club Inc,  BSB 633 000, A/c # 1266 54060.

December 8th

CYC Xmas party at Fitzroy Island. Plan ahead, a great finish to the year. This is not a serious race, so come and cruise over and back. If you don’t have time to sail, catch the ferry!

WAGS – Every Wednesday. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns.

Tackers Fun Friday – 4-5:30 pm

Trackers sailing program

The Tacker Fun Sailing program is romping along every Friday from 4pm to 6pm thanks to Riely and his team. We get “kids” of all sizes and there’s room for more. Bring your kids and grandkids down to the Boatshed and celebrate the end of the working week

The club bar is open so while the kids are out having fun you can sit back and have a wine and watch them sail.

Riley Munro, Harrison and Daniel Brace are there to run the show – bring the kids or the grandkids 4pm to 6pm 
www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/23610/

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Dinghies – Coming up next year

The Northern rounds of the Schools Team Sailing will be held at Tinaroo Sailing Club (TSC) 17^th of March and the Cairns Yacht Club (CYC) 10^th of March with the finals to be held in Townsville on the 23rd/24^th of March hosted by the Townsville Sailing Club.

School Team sailing is growing in strength across the region, schools and clubs put forward a team ( 3 boats which are provided by the school and 6 students).

Aiustralian Sailing is offering discounts on Courses, from 1^stSeptember 2018 to 31^st December 2019. So, if you are considering an instructor or coach course here’s your chance to get $100’s of dollars off! Click the link below.

AS QLD Course Costs July 2018

If you have any question please contact Scott on ‭0410 477 166 or email scott.davis68@bigpond.com

October 2018

Last Month 

Dick Cater Series – Bay Race

The last race of the Dick Cater series, a bay race had three nominees which were just enough to start the race. Impulse, Out of the Blue and Anastasia faced fickle winds. For a bay race, we like to have a windward leeward course to sail. Fortunately, Volare on her way to the reef that morning plonked a large orange buoy one mile to the west of C9 channel, a great saving as we didn’t have to send Pollyanna on a bouncy mission to drop then collect.

A downwind start had the three yachts heading for C9 in a light southeasterly. By the time they reached the mark the wind had veered more southerly which made for a near perfect asymmetric spinnaker run to the buoy rather than a spinnaker run dead down-wind as was hoped for. The sailing instructions called for two laps around C9 and the buoy as the wind temporarily picked up and backed to the nor-east. Back down the channel, and Out of the Blue had a beaut asymmetric spinnaker run all the way to the finish off Sailfish Key. Out of the Blue was first over the line with Impulse second. The favourable wind faded away leaving Anastasia struggling against the tide sapping the morale of the crew. However, the tables were turned once the handicap results were announced, Anastasia first, Out of the Blue second and Impulse third. This proves that the handicap system gives all boats a chance no matter what their speed. Well done Anastasia.

The final result for the Dick Cater series was Impulse on 19 having sailed four of the five races, Anastasia second on 31 with three races sailed and Out of the Blue third on 36 with two races sailed. Volare (38) and Balarama (40) both sailed two races and would have had a good chance at a podium position if they had sailed one more race. Guest appearances by Wild Spirit and Yes, one race each, finished the series.

Sail Cairns Regatta

The winds came back threatening a strong wind warning which, if eventuated, would mean a cancellation of the whole regatta. Saturday dawned with strong wind warnings from Cooktown to Cardwell but a close scrutiny showed the Cairns Coastal waters were the only sector without the dreaded warning so, racing was on. It’s unfortunate that the threatened winds put off a lot of participants.

Three monohulls were ready to start at 10 am, Wild Spirit on a .89 handicap were up against Out of the Blue and Impulse both quite different boats on .90. This was going to be interesting racing especially as light air would favour Out of the Blue and the forecast fresher winds favouring Impulse. Three catamarans lined up, Wet’n Wild, Barefoot (the green cat) and Leitning Storm with the latter two sparring for their annual challenge. Leitning Storm, fresh from the Airlie Beach race week had a keen and wound-up crew, Barefoot with a sleek new mainsail looking for a serious challenge.

Potential strong winds frightened off last minute nominations and precipitated a last minute change to the course, worse still, the planned four days was shortened to two. A modified WAGS course would be sailed with a light southerly wafting down the inlet but a strong wind still lurking for later on in the day with showers of rain.

All six boats started together, tacking up to the yellow buoy with Out of the Blue first round. Those with symmetric spinnakers set them in the southerly breeze for the run to Outer Red marker however, spinnakers hung limp as the boats were carried as fast as the wind on the ebbing tide. The catamaran ‘s and Out of the Blue managed to defeat the futile combination by tacking downwind flying asymmetric spinnakers. By the second lap the wind started to pick up & Out of the Blue lost their lead when the spinnaker suffered a botched launch, acting instead as a sea anchor. By the third lap, the wind became more easterly with nasty gusts rolling off the hills. Out of the Blue by now was overpowered with a full main while Impulse flew ahead with a reefed main. Gusts of up to 27kts were recorded as the race finished. Not fun.

The second race on Sunday started in much the same way as the previous day but, everyone, being a bit wary, made sure reefs were set before leaving the Marina. The wind now was tending more easterly, too shy for asymmetric spinnakers. The gusts came soon enough just as strong as the previous day with Impulse shortening to a second reef then shaking it out six times before completing the course.  It was a day for the cats to strut their stuff. They reached up and down the inlet lifting hulls and screaming around the course in clouds of spray to finished their three laps before the mono-hulls had completed two.

It’s unfortunate the series finished after only two races. Of the mono-hulls, Impulse and Out of the Blue won one race each meaning Out of the Blue took out the trophy on countback. Litening Storm took out the cat trophy. A great effort by Wet’n Wild completing the course on both days in spite of several equipment failures and the fact that this was their first regatta. Great to see you out there.

We are very lucky to have sheltered waters to sail in when the weather turns against us, the winds further out were ferocious.

Our Junior Sailors – Having a go!

Sierra Harrison from Weipa had a ball at the Youth Camp and Champs, Keppel Bay (Near Yeppoon) It was 3 days of training with Annie Eastgate and also having Ashley Stoddardt and Matt Belcher on hand was absolutely fantastic and she learnt so much information that will help her along. Then there were three days of competition. It was Sierras 3rd time sailing the Laser 4.7 and third time sailing this year and she ended up 11th out of 18 overall in her division (and 4th girl) 😀😀 In one race she was only 6 minutes behind first place so she was pretty happy with how she sailed overall! (Submitted by April M)

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

Adrian has completed another “Learn to Sail”  course and it’s great to see some of those participants transitioning to the bigger boats to hone their new skills. More courses to follow. Please contact Margie at the office 07 4031 2750‬ or email cyc@cairns.net.au

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Coming UP – This Month – & November

The Summer Series has been cancelled. The first Fitzroy race was cancelled as there were not enough nominations. Even the minimum of three boats makes it difficult to justify decent prizes so, reluctantly, the Sailing Committee had to cancel further races in this series.

Sunday October 28th

Ellis Beach, off the beach, book a laser of a Nacra 350 cat for a fun Sunday at Ellis’s perfect location. Kids & dogs welcome.

November 17-18 Commodores Cup

This will be the last races for the year, a short series over two days. Neil would like expressions of interest by 2nd November, you can nominate later in case getting a crew together is difficult at this stage.

A Division 2 has been introduced so skippers that mostly cruise can have a go. It would be great to see more of the WAGS fleet out there.

Div 1 Spinnakers
Div 2 Cruising/Non Spinnaker
Div 3 Multihulls
Div 4 Off the Beach
Please Contact Neil 0417 625 236 or Frank 0438 405 800, or Scott 0410 477 166.

November 24 – 25th

Ellis Beach break-up weekend. Bring a tent, camp the night and enjoy the last fun sail for the year.

December 8th

CYC Xmas party at Fitzroy Island. Plan ahead, a great finish to the year. This is not a race, cruise over cruse back or if you don’t have time to sail, catch the ferry!

WAGS – Every Wednesday. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns.

Tackers Fun Friday – 4-5:30 pm

Trackers sailing program

The Tacker Fun Sailing program is held every Friday from 4pm to 6pm .. so bring your kids and grandkids down to the boat shed and celebrate the end of the working week

The club bar is open so while the kids are out having fun you can sit back and have a wine and watch them sail.

Over the Xmas holiday we hope to run a full tackers program but to do this we require a number of responsible adults to volunteer their time to supervise the young instructors. Please contact Scott if you can help out with building our participation numbers.

Riley Munro, Harrison and Daniel Brace are there to run the show – bring the kids or the grandkids 4pm to 6pm 
www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/23610/

Connect to the calendar HERE; you can download a .pdf copy to your phone or sync the calendar.

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Technical Corner

The 2019 sailing calendar is now been drawn up, we would love your suggestions/comments so we can improve on last year’s offering. The feeling is that there were too many races & skippers & crew were a bit “sailed out” by the end.

So far the ideas are that we will have one formal race per month over 8 or 9 months. This will include the Anniversary Regatta and the Commodores Cup. In between, there will be more relaxed fleet gatherings. This might include cruising in-company to the reef, a way to introduce those unfamiliar with the reef to get out there and enjoy our wonderful environs.

If you have any ideas, please call Neil 0417 625 236 or Frank 0438 405 800 or email cyc@cairns.net.au

 

September 2018

Last Month 

Dick Cater Series Race 2, the third Bay Race this year.

The strong sou-easterly winds of the last few months died away and some exceptional high and low tides greeted the contestants. The start was opposite the cafe at Pier 1 between T4 and “Pollyanna”, which then raced down the leads to set a windward / leeward course at C7.

A downwind drifting start was planned but the high tide had started to ebb strongly with the contestants struggling to sail into the current with a light southerly hardly helping. Two minutes after the start they had managed to get over the line and headed out to C7 with spinnakers hanging limply or only just filling.

Impulse was first round C7 and, as the southerly wind was directly down the leads, the planned windward / leeward course had to be abandoned. A short consultation had the buoy set for a reach towards Yorkeys Knob allowing Impulse to fly their asymmetric spinnaker out to the mark.

Two laps around the mark and C7 then the light winds died away leaving the fleet struggling to get back up the leads against the ebbing tide. The low tide forced competitors to tack furiously to stay inside the dredged channel. 

First home was Impulse, just 5 minutes ahead of Volare on corrected time with Bellamara only six minutes behind them in third place. (With help from the dog I expect)

 

Bellamara with dog help. (The dinghy was a bit of a handicap I expect)

 

Dick Cater Series Race 3, third Double Island Race

Unfortunately, your correspondent was summoned to frigid Victoria for the weekend so couldn’t report directly on this event. However, the weather Gods summoned one last day of the strong winds which caused quite a bit of carnage. “Volare’s” spinnaker took a dip in the briny & subsequently wrapped around the propellor so they had to retire. “Impulse”, allegedly, went round C9 instead of C7 which only left “Yes” in the race so naturally, they were the winners. (Glad I wasn’t there because last time it took seven hours to complete the course in G&T). (See the ‘Technical Corner” below for a map of the channel and the “C” markers)

Splish Splash Lady’s day race. Dick Cater Series, Race4

Three boats entered the third contest for beautiful swimwear from Splish Splash. Wendy Brace helming “Impulse”, Shari Essex on “Anastasia” and Bec Tuma on “Out of the Blue”.

Unlike the last Lady’s Day where a strong sou-easter blew the fleet apart, a flat calm hung over the inlet. The fleet reluctantly motored out to C9 where more breeze promised.

An unconventional (but effective) start line was conjured up by lining up C9 & C10 with boats passing to the east of C10 with a countdown over the radio. Bec, showing her advanced dinghy skills, was first over the line closely followed by Wendy. A beat up to C1 in the light and variable air sorted out the fleet setting the order for the day. An 8kt northerly indicated a reach down to the Yorkeys No2 outer marker. Impulse managed to carry their asymmetric spinnaker all the way. “Out of the Blue” carried their asymmetric most of the way and losing a bit of ground doused the spinnaker to reach the last mile to the mark.

Once around, a long reach back to C9. The wind had swung more nor-easterly blowing directly down the leads at 8kts. Out of the Blue set their asymmetric again and by gybing back and forth to the finish line off Sailfish Key managed a credible 6kts in 8kts of breeze. “Impulse” set a normal spinnaker for the run home but the wind continued to fade. Meanwhile, it was imagined that “Anastasia” were conjuring up a sumptuous four-course lunch from their beautifully equipped galley. However, Shari had to remain at the helm so that didn’t happen, just bread & water for the crew I think.

“Out of the Blue” finished 30 minutes ahead of Impulse with Anastasia left to wallow, at times almost becalmed, as the wind died away completely, finishing just before the time limit of 6pm.

 

The Splish Splash winners, Bec 1st, Wendy 2nd & Shari 3rd. Naomi helped out on Impulse

 

Some surreptitious swapping of the generous vouchers from Splish Splash meant that all the ladies would now be clad in the latest swimwear. Well done all and, a reminder to everyone that we have one more Lady’s Day race this year on the 27th October.

Cairns Festival Parade

PRIZE WINNING Cairns Yacht Club/Sailability float in the Cairns Festival Parade. We equalled 3rd for a prize of $1000. Special thanks to Amanda McKormack for the amazing mermaids, Tina Seaton for the fantastic crabs and fish from ARC Disability Services and, to Mudgee and his family and Kitty for the hours and hours of work that went into the costumes and decorations. A great parade. Here is a video of the event.

 

Airlie Beach – Litning Storm

Our only representative with Mark and Michael Leitner sailing Leitning Storm. Riely proved invaluable winning the dance competition at the presentation. Mark says its a great week. The club down here goes nuts for the competitors. We better try harder next year.

Ellis Beach

The monthly gathering saw four cats and a laser on the water, three races of two laps were set but, as usual, this month, the wind died to just 5kt with only two full races completed and one lap of the last one. It took until nearly 3pm to finish, everyone was hungry so headed for shore.

Nevertheless, it was beautiful weather and the beautiful location made for a perfect Sunday. We look forward to the next end of month sailing day with a reminder that we have two Nacra 350’s and three Laser’s for hire at very reasonable rates. The next OTB sailing day will be on the 28th. Book a boat now with Barry.

Jai Tooley in Sweeden

Congratulations Jai for your great achievements in the other hemisphere. Mixed class: 1st: Leff Dahl / Ida Svensson SWE; 2nd: Lucy Nissen / Jai Tooley AUS; 3rd: Jakob Thun / Linda Holtsjö SWE. Also winners of the youth class Lucy Nissen (18) and Jai Tooley (17) (AUS) who were 5th overall. Considering that they are a very light team in heavy conditions, that they normally don’t sail together, that they haven’t had to navigate to dodge rocks before and that they sailed a C2 for the first time this achievement was outstanding! Not to mention the temperature of the water, a little contrast to our latitude.

They pushed themselves to the limit, leg after leg, mile after mile through all the islands, rocks and open sea in quite tough wind conditions.  What an adventure, they made it to the remote islands and skerries where seals and seabirds live to be rewarded in the end with food so tasty, the sauna hot and the beer cold. (Well, Jai is used to living in a sauna but I bet his feet were cold, everyone else had wet-suit boots!)

 

Guess why there are no trees on that island? It’s too cold for them to grow! Sailing in Sweeden

Dick Cater Series, Race 5 – Bay Race.

Once again greeted by light winds. However,  some creative “free range” course setting by Frank had three boats having a really good sail. It was a down-wind start opposite T2 with Frank calling the 5-minute gun when everyone was ready. A light sou-easterly allowed spinnakers to be set for a short way until the breeze backed to the north-east giving the fleet a reach out to C7.  “Volare” had kindly set a buoy one mile west of C7 so we headed for a couple of laps around that. The wind continued backing further to the north and the course was changed, and a final port rounding lap from C5 then a finish between C3 and C5. That gave the fleet a beat to windward to finish as well as some good spinnaker runs before heading home. A fantastic day on the bay.

 

“Out of the Blue” crew, first over the line in the last race of the Dick Cater series.

 

The winner on handicap was “Anastasia”, “Out of the Blue” then “Impulse”. Thank you Frank for your creative genius when it comes to course setting.

Final results for the five races in the Dick Cater series was first, “Impulse” on 19 points, second “Anastasia” on 31 points and third “Out of the Blue” on 36 points. Thanks to all the other boats in the series, any of which, if they had sailed one more race would have been on the podium.

 

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

We now have a beautiful little J24  available for hire and to conduct sail training on keelboats. The next course is booked out but one on 6th – 7th October is still open.  Click HERE to book

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Coming UP – This Month – download nomination form here

Saturday 15th September – Race training for OTB fleet Sail Cairns racers, yes here’s your chance to get up to speed for Sail Cairns

Saturday 22nd September – Tuesday 25th – “Totally Work Wear” Sail Cairns Regatta 2018. Get your crew together, challengers coming from Port Douglas. We have Secured 3 cat berths on G finger and 3 mono on F finger for Cairns sail week Sept 21-26th, nominate NOW! (You can nominate & pay directly on-line which makes it easier for evryone)

Nomination Entry form 2018

Saturday 6th October – Summer Series Race 1, Fitzroy Island Race – Race 4, last chance to nab one of these fabulous prizes, two nights on Fitzroy plus transfers. Remember, all the fast boats would have won one by now so it’s your turn coz they can only win one of these prizes even if they come first this time.

WAGS – Every Wednesday. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns.

Tackers Fun Friday – 4-5:30 pm
Call out to 7-14 year olds who have completed Tackers or Learn to Sail courses….use this link to register…only $15 per session!!!!
www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/23610/

 

Our little “Opti’s” waiting for their eager young crew. (Every Friday evening)

 

Connect to the calendar HERE; you can download a .pdf copy to your phone or sync the calendar.

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Commodore’s Command

We have secured 3 cat berths on G finger and 3 mono on F finger for Cairns sail week
Sept 21-26th, only one nomination so far so, get your nomination in now.
Nomination Entry form 2018
“YES” will not be a starter due to crew commitments outside of sailing, at this stage planning to be the finishing boat on days one and two.

Talking with the Hutchison project manager, re the Shangri la refurb ,they are well ahead of schedule and plan to be finished by November, thanks all for your patience as far as the carpark is concerned, I know Ports North and myself will be happy not to receive any more flack and look forward to moving back to what will seem a somewhat smaller carpark.

I have been meeting with the new P/N commercial head to discuss a roof extension for the boat shed to make better use of dinghy storage, relocation of the double gates to the west to allow easier trailer access, and shade on the pontoon for SWD. Plans, kindly drawn by Bruce Clark, have been submitted to Ports North so we hope to have a positive outcome

Thanks Capt John ,out .

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Technical Corner

Confused by the marker names, C5, C9, etc.?

They are the Cairns channel markers and are in pairs starting at the north-eastern end of the channel with C1 & C2. Odd numbers are on the western side, even on the East. They finish at C20 about half a mile from T2, the start of the “Trinity Inlet” markers. T10 is the last of the T markers at the southern most end of the inlet, familiar to all those who sail course “A” on WAGS, as the red buoy.

Chart of the leads into Cairns Port

 

August 2018

Last Month 

A bit of everything.

Strong winds continued for the start of last month with the last race of the Sam Cadman series fielding only three yachts in spite of the series having five starters. The series finished with ‘Volare’ first with a score of 15, ‘Centinella’ & ‘Out of the Blue’ scored 16 each. This demonstrates the importance of sailing in every race. If you came last in three races (4th) and second in one you would have won the series! So, get those weedy hulls off the piles and enter the next series, you’ve got a good chance even if you drink champaign all the way around the course! (not recommended). A big thank you to the race starters and timekeepers who sat out the choppy conditions bouncing around on the end of an anchor all day.

Tinaroo wooden boats – something different.

A small contingent of CYC members made the trip up the hill to Lake Tinaroo to enjoy a bit of fresh water sailing. Though not an official Club sailing day, Saturday saw a collection of wooden boats appearing from backyards and farm sheds around the district. Notable was a beautiful yawl of about five meters, recently finished. An excellent vessel for day sailing especially on the lake. Another stand out was a steam-powered boat, perfect for lake Tinaroo to consume those dead sticks of bygone forests to feed the boiler. Once again exquisite workmanship. In all about 10 boats ranging from canoes & rowing boats to trailer sailers graced the placid waters.

Steaming around Tinaroo, a wood powered steamboat and a beautiful yawl.

 

Ellis Beach

Teams from Townsville to Tinaroo made it up to fantastic Ellis Beach for the weekend. The expected strong sou-easterlies that had been blowing for months decided to desert the coast for the Ellis Beach mid-year regatta at the end of July. After spending the previous two, month-end Ellis regattas being tossed mercilessly into the sea, it was a relief to stay dry, though probably slightly monotonous, as the fleet drifted around the course. This regatta had two days of three races each and we were joined by crews from Townsville, Mission Beach and Tinaroo.

Race One – Dick Cater Series

Fitzroy Island race saw five starters rounding Cape Grafton into stiff winds and choppy seas. Wild Spirit took podium position on handicap and would have claimed the magnificent prize of two nights on Fitzroy Island if they had stayed to collect it. Close behind was Impulse only twelve minutes and Volare coming in 21 minutes later to take third place. Great to see Bellamara, a new boat join the fleet, coming in fourth with Anastasia gracefully taking fifth place. Unfortunately, some boats could not compete due to crew shortages.

Results – Fitzroy Island, Dick Cater series, race 1

 

Airlie Beach Race Week 9th – 16th

We have a cat contingent in the Leitner family and Wazza heading off to do battle from the 9th to the 16th at Airlie Beach. Rather than sail Leitning Storm down, they packed her up on a trailer and sailed the highway. (Upwind at 40kts always a good feeling). Not a small effort though as, not only does the mast have to come down, but the cross beams have to be unbolted to make the two hulls narrow enough for the road. It takes a good day to re-assemble the craft. Good luck and we look forward to some stories from this adventure.

Honey, I shrunk the boat

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Club Membership – Renew or Join now

Great time to join, benefit from full 11 months of membership only $170 for an adult plus $85 for Yachting Australia Silver Card if you are racing and don’t yet have one. Be part of the most active sailing Club on the Far North, keelboats and dinghies to learn on and for hire. Two great locations, the Marlin Marina in town and Ellis Beach just past Palm Cove. Relaxed sailing every Wednesday from the Marlin Marina, sailing on Trinity Inlet. Keelboat races almost every second weekend and fun in the dinghies between Learn to Sail courses also Laser and catamaran sailing at Ellis at the end of each month. Great social gatherings after each event at the Boat Shed opposite The Salthouse restaurant.

MEMBERSHIP FORM HERE – Just bring it along to the Boat Shed and someone will sign your nomination.

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Dinghy Learn to Sail – Fourth Course starts 11 August  

With the popularity of the CYC Dinghy Learn to sail course on the increase we have decided to open registration for the course early. The course will be held on Saturdays from 8.30am to 2pm,

11th August	08:30 AM	–		2:00 PM
18th August	08:30 AM	–		2:00 PM
25th August	08:30 AM	–		2:00 PM
1st September	08:30 AM	–		2:00 PM

The program which will go for 4 weeks and is designed to teach all the key skills required to sail a small sailing vessel safely.

Great fun for all the family. for more information please contact the office on cyc@cairns.net.au

Fees of $200 per student for the full course or if you are a family group please contact the office

TO REGISTER, FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW

http://www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/22052/

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

We now have a beautiful little J24  available for hire and to conduct sail training on keelboats. We already have had four people complete the course this month. Contact Bill Munroe, 0408 072 152 if you want to organise a session.

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Coming UP – This Month – download nomination form here

Saturday 11th August – Dick Cater Series Race 2, the third Bay Race this year. Briefing at 9am at the boatshed.

Saturday 11th August – Learn to sail course starts, be at the Boat Shed at 8:30am

Saturday 18th August – Workshop for CYC Float for Cairns Festival Parade – 12-4pm, to prepare costumes, boats & trailers.
Contact Graeme Mudge 0416 176 556.

Sunday 19th August – Dick Cater Series Race 3, third Double Island Race.

Saturday 25th August – PARADE is on Sat 25th Aug, (we’ll be getting ready from lunchtime).
AFTER PARTY back at the Boatshed when the parade finishes. Burgers for $7, cold drinks of course, and FIREWORKS at 7:30pm. Best view in town from our club!!

Sunday 26th August – Ellis Beach, off the beach racing, a perfect day out for the family at this beautiful location.

Saturday 8th September – Dick Cater Series Race 5, the third Inlet Race this year, Series presentation after

WAGS – Every Wednesday. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns.

Connect to the calendar HERE; you can download a .pdf copy to your phone or sync the calendar.

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Commodore’s Command

I managed to secure Sea Swift to donate a Hanse 303 to the Sailability group which is a fantastic coup considering the lead time and presentation that Andy put together for the group. Ports North have indicated that they were keen also to donate likewise so now they are in my crosshairs.
I have to say from my association with Ports and various business identities around Cairns the SWD program has certainly lifted the profile of CYC and can only be beneficial to the learn to sail, discover sailing and junior sailing, also WAGS.
Maintenance dredging is scheduled to commence May -July 19 and the planned channel widening to commence July- Sept 19, they still haven’t got Federal approval but are taking bookings for vessels in the 300 m length with 38.7m beam for September on so showing confidence of getting the tick in the box.
Registered depth is proposed to be at 8.8 ALW
Hopefully, the area that is showing the CYC concern re shallow water will be addressed in Novembe18?
David Good, the P/N operations manager and very supportive of the CYC had his last day on Thursday. He has accepted a job in Melbourne as the CEO of Superyachts Australia. Andy, Roo, and I had a couple of sherbets with him at Hemming ways after WAGS to wish him all the best.
The talk was how fantastic it was to watch the yachts sailing WAGS coming in close to Hemmingways setting the atmosphere, even over the lead up to the state of origin. They told me more eyes were on the yachts than the big screen, which suggests, while there are no vessels alongside the main wharf we make a point of doing the close sail by to get more interest in the CYC.
Davids replacement is Richard Stephenson, who is ex-Navy and, I was told worked for the Sultan of Bruni in a past life being was in charge of Port security among many other things.
I have an excellent relationship with Richard also, so feel the CYC has every chance of moving forward with his support.
Yachtstay, from what I’m hearing, is no longer trading and some vessels have been sold.

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ED: Got a story/ drama/adventure to share? Put it down on paper (USB stick?). Anyone can have a go. Please call the editor, Hew on 0409976888. Perhaps you can tell me your story over a drink or two? Email at iwantone2@icloud.com (We can fix spelling and grammar slip-ups)

July 2018

Last Month 

Some challenging sailing

Anniversary Regatta

The Rob Leitner Memorial Trophy kicked off the weekend with a light air start at the Pier 2 Coffee shop. An advantage to the light boats with Out of the Blue rounding the T10 yellow buoy ahead of the pack and breaking out the masthead spinnaker for the run out to C9. Leitning Storm, a sprightly catamaran, quickly caught up by C8 screaming out to sea to make two big broad reaches down to the Yorkey’s Knob port entrance marker.

Leitning Storm on her way to victory passing Out of the Blue in the Rob Leitner Memorial race.

Out of the Blue set off in hot pursuit with the big spinnaker pulling, surfing the waves and maxing out at 16.6 knots in 18kts of breeze. A gybe around the mark brought a painful slog back upwind. The waves that were so joyously surfed on the way down became a serious impediment to the light, short boat. Impulse soon pulled ahead, and Wild Spirit was making ground on our lead. Once back in the shipping channel, Leitning Storm was nowhere to be seen, in fact, they had already finished, and Impulse was closing on the finish line. The battle now was between Out of the Blue and Wild Spirit with Out of the Blue just squeaking over the line ahead of Wild Spirit.

Results: Race One: 1st Leitning Storm, 2nd Impulse, 3rd Out of the Blue

Day two was a windward-leeward and a triangle race in the vicinity of C9 with the start line set between the Polyanna & a pin buoy. Two downwind legs with three upwind favoured the bigger boats especially when the wind picked up. After lunch for the triangle race gusts topped 25kts producing some exciting wing mark runs under asymmetric spinnaker. Out of the Blue hit 17kts then a botched gybe at the wing mark rendered the spinnaker impotent. Finally, a broken sheave on the jib and the big boats to powered past while we wrestled a jury sheet line into place. Out of the Blue came 6th on handicap.

Results: Race Two: 1st Impulse, 2nd Out of the Blue, 3rd Anastasia.

Results: Race three: 1st Anastasia, 2nd Volare, 3rd Impulse

Placegetters, Anniversary Regatta, 1st Frank & Wendy on Impulse, 2nd Hew on Out of the Blue & 3rd Neil & Tom on Volare

Regatta Results: 1st Impulse, 2nd Out of the Blue, 3rd Volare. Anastasia only had to come 2nd. on handicap in the third race to equal Impulse. Unfortunately, they had to pull out of the last race. An excellent demonstration of the effectiveness of completing every race to get a good score.

Splish Splash Swimwear lady’s day regatta

Another day of contrasting elements greeted the Splish Splash Swimwear Lady Skipper’s race. Leaden skies and drizzling rain put a dampener on preparations. Forecasts of more than 20kts looked pessimistic while moisture laden zephyrs wafted down the inlet for the start. Once again this favoured Out of the Blue and an asymmetric spinnaker run all the way to C8 with the wind picking up. The bullets hit gusting over 20kts almost as soon as the spinnaker made it into the bag with the boat rounding up, now with an overpowered main. The skipper, using her vast dinghy experience, soon got the machine going again and we bashed our way up to the orange buoy about 1.5 nm toward False Cape. As we struggled forward under overpowered main the green cat, Barefoot, seemed to slide effortlessly past and rounded the mark ahead of us. Rounding the mark we dared not launch the spinnaker into the unpredictable wind but chose a broad reach with a gybe back to the downwind mark at C8 at times hitting 15kts without assistance from a swell. Heading directly downwind, under goose-winged jib, was Wild Spirit which had made good ground on us. We contemplated, then abandoned, a reef with our inexperienced crew before rounding the mark for the final lap up to the upwind mark again still with an overpowered main. Fortunately, the wind eased a little, but Wild Spirit with a reefed main closed the gap further. The final run back up the leads turned into a tacking duel where we had the disadvantage of signalling the lifts and knocks to Wild Spirit as she slowly closed the gap. The wind dropped, Wild Spirit shook out their reef and passed The Blue 500m from the finish line. After three hours and fourteen minutes, they crossed the line about a minute ahead. A fantastic race and great skippering by Rebecca. Out of the Blue took out first place with Eileen skippering Centinella taking out second place. The blustery conditions tested the skills of the lady skippers, some wisely handed the helm back to the owners. Thank you Splish Splash Swimwear for some great prizes. I look forward to seeing Bec in her new kit.

The sailing ladies on Lady Skipper’s day. Well done.

Ellis Beach Monthly Regatta

The month-end regatta at Ellis Beach saw a good turnout of cats and a couple of brave Lasers determined to defy the prediction of 20+ knots of breeze. Riley organised the start boat and launched into threatening skies to lay the course. Now, an outboard has one desire. To ruin a good day’s sailing and our outboard on the RIB was no exception. Soon after laying the marks the crew of the start-boat were seen madly paddling their inflatable in a futile effort to fulfil their mission as a start-boat. Alas, to no avail. The outboard had lived up to its reputation and the RIB anchored on a somewhat extended start line. Three flags down and the fleet were away. Nearing the top mark, a squall line bore down with the predicted gusts of 20+ knots. All the little boats went into capsize mode showing glistening hulls to the grey sky then started drifting toward the orange flags of the Surf Rescue team further up the beach. Seeing an opportunity to put their well-drilled skills into action, the Surf Rescue RIB put to sea punching into the rising swell. Fortunately, the self-rescue skills of the dinghy sailors saw the small boats heading for shore and the gallant Surf Rescue crew now could tow our limp RIB home. To add insult to injury, they then turned up with a shiny new ‘Can-Am Defender’, (a quad bike on steroids) to rescue “The Duchess” (Our Fergie) from an unceremonious drowning from a splash on her delicate electrics. For those that now have Can-Am envy, remember, our collective poor performance when it comes to maintenance of things mechanical at Ellis Beach precludes indulgence in such a complex piece of machinery. Long live the Duchess!

Riley trying to convince the Life Guards of the superiority of a Fergie in their situation. A swap perhaps?

Another exciting day at Ellis though not quite in the usual format. Well done Riley for battling through the day and maintaining a sense of humour.

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Sailability

On June 15th we launched ‘Trinity Dream’ which is the Hansa 303 which has been very generously donated to us by the Rotary Dream Flight trust and the Cairns Trinity Rotary Club. A perfect day for it, with quite a large turnout for our launch and a heap of people enjoying the sailing and the support boat as we played around for the television cameras. A truly memorable day and it’s just fantastic to now have the ‘Trinity Dream’ as a permanent addition to our fleet.

Jason East single handing ‘Trinity Dream ‘ on Trinity Inlet and absolutely loving it

People love to watch the Sailability boats sailing, which is great exposure for the generous sponsors who have their signage on the hulls and sails. There’s a fairly constant flow of people watching from the observation deck. Get closer, come and volunteer to help get these people with disabilities an amazing day on the water.

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Club Membership – Renew or Join now

Great time to join, benefit from full 12 months of membership only $170 for an adult plus $85 for Yachting Australia Silver Card if you are racing and don’t yet have one. Be part of the most active sailing Club on the Far North, keelboats and dinghies to learn on and for hire. Two great locations, the Marlin Marina in town and Ellis Beach just past Palm Cove. Relaxed sailing every Wednesday from the Marlin Marina, sailing on Trinity Inlet. Keelboat races almost every second weekend and fun in the dinghies between Learn to Sail courses also Laser and catamaran sailing at Ellis at the end of each month. Great social gatherings after each event at the Boat Shed opposite The Salthouse restaurant.

MEMBERSHIP FORM HERE – Just bring it along to the Boat Shed and someone will sign your nomination.

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Dinghy Learn to Sail – Fourth Course starts 11 August  

With the popularity of the CYC Dinghy Learn to sail course on the increase we have decided to open registration for the course early. The course will be held on Saturdays from 8.30am to 2pm,

11th August	08:30 AM	–		2:00 PM
18th August	08:30 AM	–		2:00 PM
25th August	08:30 AM	–		2:00 PM
1st September	08:30 AM	–		2:00 PM

The program which will go for 4 weeks and is designed to teach all the key skills required to sail a small sailing vessel safely.

Great fun for all the family. for more information please contact the office on cyc@cairns.net.au

Fees of $200 / student for the full course or if you are a family group please contact the office

TO REGISTER FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW

http://www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/22052/

 

Check out the following link on having fun sailing

http://www.facebook.com/DiscoverSailingAus/

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

We now have a beautiful little J24  available for hire and to conduct sail training on keelboats. We already have had four people complete the course this month. Contact Bill Munroe, 0408 072 152 if you want to organise a session.

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Ellis Beach – Mid Year Regatta

Ellis monthly Regatta on the 28th-29th July. Generously sponsored by Pickers Vinyl & Canvas with cash prizes and Kincrome Tools with shiny gadgets to fix stuff. Need a shade sail? Pickers are your people.

Here are the boat hire and event entry fees. Get in early as boats will soon be snapped up. BYO Boat too if you wish.

Free camping in this idyllic location, stay overnight. Food / meals / BBQ will be available. Bring some cash.

If you are hiring a boat, please help keep equipment together, so the next person hiring the boat doesn’t have to hunt through the Clubhouse to find missing parts. Each boat has a number to help with this. If something is missing or broken, please let Scott or Barry know. These dinghies only stay serviceable with your help.

 

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Coming UP – This Month – download nomination form here

Saturday 14th – Sam Cadman Series – Race 2 and 5, Bay Races – Race 2 Series Presentation.

Saturday & Sunday 28th & 29th July –  Ellis Beach Mid Year regatta. Sponsored by Pickers Vinyl & Canvas and Kincrome Tools

Saturday 4th August – Dick Cater Series Race 1, Fitzroy Island Race (Race 3) First of the Dick Cater series of five races. Over to fantastic Fitzroy for the night

Saturday 11th August – Learn to Sail commences

WAGS – Every Wednesday. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns.

Connect to the calendar HERE; you can download a .pdf copy to your phone or sync the calendar.

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Commodore’s Commands

Thanks to all, for your patience re the carpark, I feel it’s slowly coming around to our favour. Ports North are keeping a record of regos of repeat offenders so the warning will turn into parking fines. So please inform P/N of repeats and give them rego number.

All new CYC cards now have the amenities access so hopefully, that will ease the inconvenience for members caught short.
Congratulations to Andy and Gordo for the successful launch of their new SWD 303 proudly donated by Cairns trinity Rotary and Trust Flight.
Champagne was spilt on the deck and consumed by some, thanks to David Good, P/N for taking the time to attend and observe first hand the joy and difficulties. He now has a much better understanding of what SWD is all about as far as the operation is concerned.

The lease of the boatyard and travel lift has been taken over by the Big Boat Shed, I attended the meeting at the CCYS last Sunday, they stated it was business as usual but no discount for being a member of CCYS for the slip.
Joel the operator/owner of the Big Boat Shed said he will consider a pre-race hull clean, discount for the CYC yacht owners that store at the CCYS for a splash and retrieve for club racing.

On behalf of CYC and myself I wish Joel all the best for his new acquisition, not sure of the pricing yet, hopefully, it’s favourable for both parties.

Sorry to the boys from Vanguard. Hopefully, they will hit the water with a replacement in the near future, anything that the club can do to assist please let me know.

Hoping also, the weather will ease and we start to complain about being too hot.

Until, next time Capt John, out.

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Technical Corner

If you have read this far I guess you are not an old salt that knows everything. Here’s the most important knot you’ll need on a keelboat.

Bowline Knot Tying Instructions

1. Lay the rope across your left hand with the free end hanging down. Make an eye in the standing end.
2. Bring the free end up to and pass through the eye from the underside (the rabbit comes out of the hole).
3. Wrap the line around the standing line and back down through the loop (around the tree and back down the hole).

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ED: Got a story/ drama/adventure to share? Put it down on paper (USB stick?). Anyone can have a go. Please call the editor, Hew on 0409976888. Perhaps you can tell me your story over a drink or two? Email at iwantone2@icloud.com (We can fix spelling and grammar slip-ups)