Last Month 

 Quicksilver Port Douglas Race Week.

The first serious regatta for the season, Port Douglas Yacht Club turned on a good range of winds (all from the south-east though) and not too sunny skies. In division one we were represented by “Yes”, “Impulse” and “Volare 1”. “Centinela” battled it out in division 2 and division 4, the sports boats & one design were represented by “Kaizen 2” (J24), “Grannnuaile” (the pink J24), “Out of the Blue” and “X2”. (Yes, I know, X2 is from CCYS but, as they are the only boat from up the creek that races, well… they are one of us).

Getting there was pretty exciting with a strong sou-easterly speeding everyone to “Port” on Sunday or Monday. “Out of the Blue” had a pretty exciting ride hitting 20kts in a 25kt puff with a reefed main and small asymmetric spinnaker tugging the boat northward surfing the swell.

Day three start, light winds for a change

The strong winds persisted on Tuesday with a strong wind warning covering the whole of the coast so racing had to be cancelled for that day. Fortunately, most skippers opted to sail on the lay day, Thursday, to make up for the dropped day. Sailing started in earnest on Wednesday with winds consistently around 20kts. Two races around a mile long upwind “sausage” course with each division starting ten minutes apart. Day two, Thursday was a repeat of day one for division four but division one and two got to head out to Snapper Island and back. By day three the winds had dropped to be around 12kts and most boats could hang their big kites from the masthead making a pretty sight. The course was a repeat of day one. The final day, Saturday, winds picked up again to near 18kts in the morning but dropping off as the day progressed. The course was a nearly two-mile upwind leg with a triangle which let the asymmetric spinnakers do their magic and the sports boats surfed down the following sea only to be hampered by an upwind finish.

The bidding gets hot!

Results were “Volare” a credible 6th out of 15 boats, “Impulse” 9th and “Yes” 13th. In division 2, “Centinela” came 2nd only missing out on 1st place by one point. In division 4, “Kaizen 2” did their usual sailing magic and came 2nd out of eight boats in spite of starting with a handicap of .80 as compared with the other “J’s” on around .77, “X2” came third, “Out of the Blue” came 6th having missed two races with broken gear and “Grannuaile” came in 7th having had to pull out of one race. Even so, the all-girl (?) crew put in a great performance with one crewmember having a $460 sex change then auctioning her pink outfit (down to her knickers) raising an amazing $1140 for Sailability Cairns.

Month-end Social Night

This was postponed as a large contingent were away battling in the Port Douglas Race Week.

Ellis Beach Month-end sailing postponed

The next Sail Ellis day, last Sunday of this month is Sunday the 24^th June. See you there.

Sailability gets a shot in the arm – Andy Murray

Please disregard the “fake news” above. Mal Stevens, you’re a bloody legend!!
Mal decided that because he’d been asked by about five boats to crew for them for the Quicksilver Port Douglas Race Week, we should auction his services to the highest bidder and donate the proceeds to Sailability Cairns! What a top idea!
Being a modest sort of bloke, he put a reserve of $5 on himself. The bidding was enthusiastic and much to everybody’s delight he ended up being purchased by the all-girl crew on “Grannuaile” (otherwise affectionately known as The Pink Granny) for the amazing sum of $460 on the condition that he wears a pink dress for each race.
The girls bought him a different outfit for each race.

Grenouille “all-girl” crew, ready to race

That wasn’t the end of it though, because we then auctioned 3 of his outfits (including the one he was wearing) on the last night. Thanks to the successful bidders for their generosity: John the Baptist, bid $200, Cambell Corbett, who bid $180 and Townsville Yacht Club, who bid $250 for the dress he was wearing. Combine that with the $460 auction money and $50 that someone pushed into his hand and we come up with $1140 for Sailability Cairns!!
How good is that?!?! We are forever grateful to Mal, without doubt, the bravest sailor at the Quicksilver Port Douglas Race Week and is Sailability Cairns’s very favourite person.
THANK YOU MATE !! And thank you to all the bidders.

Dinghy Learn to Sail – Third Course has started  

Ellis Beach

Ellis monthly Regatta on the 24th June. Here are the boat hire and event entry fees. Get in early as boats will soon be snapped up.

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.

DOWNLOAD AN ENTRY FORM HERE

Coming UP – This Month – download nomination form here

Saturday 16th – Anniversary Regatta. Race 1. The Robert Leitner Memorial Trophy Yorkeys Knob Race, down to the port entrance marker at Yorkeys & back.

Sunday 17 June – Anniversary Regatta continues. Race 2 and 3. Bay Races, most likely a windward – leeward (sausage) followed by a triangle race. Prizes will be awarded at the annual presentation event Saturday 1 December 2018

Sunday 24th June – Ellis Beach. Off the beach racing & just mucking about in boats. BBQ available.

Sunday 24th June 8am to 1pm – Boatshed Sale (Garage Sale) – Bring your boating related surplus stuff to the boat shed by Saturday 23rd with price and sellers name marked thereon and we will sell it for you on the day with a 10% commission going to junior sailing. Contact Wazza 0427994450. Of course, you can also buy some of the goods too!

Saturday 30th June –  2nd Ladies Race – Sam Cadman Series Race 4

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.

Commodore’s Commands

“Pollyanna”, our trusty support boat is presently out of the water getting her bottom sandblasted in preparation for the application of anti-fouling paint. This should keep her weed & barnacle free. She should be serviceable for the Anniversary Regatta.

“Pollyanna” gets pampered

Thanks to positive discussions with the new Ports North management the J24 berths have been relocated from the mud at F finger to a deeper location at the beginning of G finger. There is now just room for three J’s so our training J24, “Grannuiale” has a home together with “G&T” and “Summertime Blues”.

Technical Corner

The handicap system using Top Yacht.

When a boat enters a club race, it will be allocated a performance handicap for that race, called its Allocated Handicap (AH).  This AH will be taken from the TopYacht database or will be supplied by the Club Handicapper. TopYacht calculates the results of each race and also recalculates the handicap for each boat for the next race.

After each race a Back Calculated Handicap (BCH) is generated/calculated for each boat. This is the HC a boat needed to be placed equal on HC corrected finish time with every other boat in that race. This is a direct measure of this boat when compared to others in the fleet. For most fleets the reference boat for this calculation is the boat that was placed 45% down the fleet. This reference boat is presumed to have sailed exactly at their AHC. Those in front of it are assumed to have sailed above/better than their AHC and those below conversely. Time has shown the 45% works well for most fleets but may need a small adjustment for some fleets. It the reference point is incorrect then the HCs for the whole fleet will slowly drift over the season.

Time Correction Factor (TCF) and is used to convert a boats elapsed race time to a corrected time. (Cord T) Thus if a boat takes 100 minutes to complete the race and its Performance Handicap  (or TCF) was 0.75 the its corrected time (CT) will be 75 minutes (100 x 0.75). The boat with the lowest corrected time (CT) is the race winner.

Results from race 6, Port Douglas Race Week. Division One

 

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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)

Last Month 

 A generally windy month with not much big boat sailing. Lots of other activities though.

Lindsay Joice Inlet Race.

The last of the Lindsay Joice series finished with an inlet race. It was great to see Jai thrashing the big cat, Bagatelle, around the course to come over the line first as well as on handicap. He was closely followed by Impulse only 11 minutes behind considering the difference between a cat & monohull. Impulse ended up fourth on handicap. Volare made a very laudable third over the line and second, only two minutes behind the cat on handicap. Centinella took out third place on handicap with Vanguard following only thirteen minutes behind after over four hours sailing.

Sam Cadman Fitzroy Island Race

Continuing strong winds made this race a bit of a struggle. Once around Cape Grafton the smaller boats were punished having to fight into the sou-easterly. Impulse got to Fitzroy in an impressive time of only 3hrs 33 minutes but blew out a jib in the process. Volare was half an hour behind. Several hours later Alibi struggled in with half the crew ready to mutiny followed half an hour later by Blue Bottle taking six hours and 33 minutes. Well done.

The handicap system had no effect on the overall results.

Impulse on their way to Fitzroy Island

Alibi heads out on their first big race. Well done, it’s great to see a new boat in the fleet.

Month-end Social Night

Mal Stephens has volunteered to host the next social night. As the last Friday, this month clashes with Prot Douglas Race Week and with quite a few boats & crew attending, Mal’s social night will most likely be Friday 2nd June. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for further details.

Ellis Beach Month-end sailing continues

Another great turnout at Ellis with nearly all the Club boats out in blustery conditions that turned into considerably more. Good to see the big cats out as well to show us how it’s done. All boats made it back pretty well in one piece. Thanks to Scott for setting the course and manning the start boat, riding it like a bronco in the increasing chop. A lovely BBQ kept everyone fueled up and keen to revel in the conditions. A big thank you to Barry for the great job he does to keep the whole place organised and boats packed and put away ready for next time.

Don’t forget, the next Sail Ellis day, last Sunday in each month. The next is Sunday the 27^th  I’m sure the weather God’s will be a bit more compliant then. See you there.

Sailability forges ahead – Andy Murray

Dinghy Learn to Sail – Second Course has finished  

Congratulations to the current LTS student who graduated 28th April from our latest program..

Again, congratulations to all new sailors. We look forward to seeing you on the big boats and honing your skills at Ellis Beach on the 27th. Don’t forget, the best way to find a boat is join Sail Connect, look for an event you would like to sail in and ‘Register your Interest’. Once you have crewed on a boat you will get invitations from them in the future.

Crewing on a keelboat is easy at CYC  (download the ‘SailConnect’ app, click here)

1. Download the App
2. Enter your name and details as crew. Tutorials here

3. 

   Use the “filter” to select Cairns Yacht Club as the one nearby

4. 

   Go to Events, click ‘Upcoming’ and all of the events you might be interested in.

   When you register an interest, all boats sailing in that event will see your interest and get in touch via the app. Be realistic in describing your abilities; some boats can take crew that have no sailing experience whereas some like to know if you have sailed in dinghies, keelboats or whatever.

Ellis Beach

Ellis monthly Regatta on the 27th May. Here are the boat hire and event entry fees. Get in early as boats will soon be snapped up.

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.

DOWNLOAD AN ENTRY FORM HERE

Coming UP – This Month – download nomination form here

Tuesday 22 to Saturday 26th May – Quicksilver Race Week – Port Douglas. Book your time off work, this is a biggie, and plenty of boats need crew.

Saturday 26th May – Next learn to sail course starts.  Call Scott on 0410 477 166

Sunday 27th May – Ellis Beach is on again. Bring a boat or borrow one of the Club’s fleet of one man Lasers or try a Nacra 360. Book with Barry early as these will soon be snapped up. Great fun.

Friday 2nd June – Mal’s social night at the Boat Shed. The continuing monthly off the water get together.

Saturday 16th – 17th June – Anniversary Regatta – includes “Rob Leitner Memorial Race”

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.

Commodore’s Commands

Welcome, Kevin Moore, incoming Ports North General manager commercial, replacement to Micheal Colleton who’s held that position for 29 years.
Kevin had done his research on CYC, he’s well informed I just filled in a few gaps and grey areas and at no time did we discuss the past in a negative way, it looks like we can move forward now. Kevin has moved from ports Tasmania where he managed 5 ports for the past 5 years so is well versed on how it all works.
I feel the meeting was excellent and very positive for the CYC, for over an hour we discussed the history, our current position, increasing our lease footprint, improvements to the boat shed, SWD, junior sailing, sponsorship, car park, storage and the possibilities of increasing that space as well as shade for SWD sailors.
Kevin was very positive and attentive to all subjects discussed. I’m looking forward to a very good working relationship. He encouraged us to send proposals and requests and he will give his best.

The free parking on Ports North property has been fantastic and just when we were wishing it would be a new continuing arrangement, it ends. Unfortunately, from Monday 14th May and we can only park in the CYC marked locations. Apparently, Ports North will book anyone without a CYC parking sticker in our signed parking spots and if you see someone without a CYC sticker in one of our spots, call Ports North 4052 3866‬.

P.S. As of today our members have approved the new constitution. A big thank you to everyone that turned up to see out the old rules.

Last Month 

 Some pretty wild weather, a great month for stories

Double Island Race.

Windy – here’s what happens when you take a journalist racing & things don’t go quite to plan. Click here to read”

An Outing With the Cairns Yacht Club: Cairns, Australia by Lee Wagner

It was a seven-hour race for G&T, the smallest boat in a fleet of three, understandably we came 3rd and got back in one piece, nothing was broken so that was a good outcome.

First on handicap was Volare revelling in the heavy weather and 2nd went to Centinela after blowing out a spinnaker.

Lady’s Day Race by Niel Robson

What an interesting race we had on Saturday Splish Splash Lady Skippers Race with four boats braving the inclement weather conditions. A downwind start with light changing wind, spinnakers were up till C16 and up again after we rounded C9. The wind keeper moving to the west and then west north-west so down with spinnaker and pull the sails on.
After rounding the mark at Yorkeys, lead it was one tack back to C9 in steady wind and rain. Centinela led all the way up till just before C9 when Volare slowly slid by as the wind picked up with Vanguard then Anastasia with her all lady crew. After a lot of tacking to get up the leads, the positions were unchanged.
On handicap a well-deserved win to Anastasia then Centinela, Volare and Vanguard. Well done to all.
All in all, everyone was very happy after a wet but enjoyable race. A big thanks to Frances for her support for these races it great to see women having a helm and crewing.
Last race in the series is on the 14th April see you then.

Wet’n Happy – Volare crew romping home to third place.

Easter Bunny came & went as did April Fool’s day which probably explains the lack of stories from the Easter cruise to Fitzroy Island.

Ellis Beach Season Opener – by Barry Craven

Cats doing battle at Ellis Beach

Well, what a weekend, a great opening regatta. It was so pleasing to see so many classes of boats enter. On Saturday there was a stiff breeze blowing but all, like great sailors, battled on. In the Taser with Greg on Saturday race 1, a first, race 2, a first race 3, a third closely followed by Kelsey race 1 with a second, race 2 a second, race 3 a first,  This was set for a battle set for Sunday, the laser and pacer was a good fleet with Darryl beattie winning 3 races on Saturday with the flying Dutchman very close taking out second on the Saturday racers. Reuben boat had a mishap on Saturday but like true champs they were back for more on Sunday. Hobie/Med Nacras was great to see Don there again. He was first to turn up on Saturday getting set up early. Great work Don. Jamie Leitner was out on the water, good to see you back with three races on Saturday won by Jamie. A/class with Adam Beattie winning all three races on Sat. Maybe we can get some more A/class next sail day to give him a run for his money.

On Sunday the breeze was a little lighter which turned out to be ideal for the dinghies.  This was going to be a great day

Tasers race 1 saw Kelsey winning that one with Greg coming in a close second

Race 2 Kelsey got the money again

Race 3 and again Kelsey first with Greg and crew in second ( and on another note well done to Kelsey at the Nationals well mate you did CYC proud

Lasers and Pacers race 1 Darryl Beattie was first with the flying  Dutchman (Marja) with Giles  in 3^rd

Race 2 Darryl Beattie 1st, Marja 2^nd

Race 3 Darryl Beattie 1st, Marja 2^nd

Hobie/med Nacras race 1, Jamie Leitner 1^st with Don 2^nd

Race2 Jamie Leitner 1^st with Don 2^nd

Race 3 Jamie Leitner 1^st with Don 2^nd

A/Class Race 1 Adam Beattie 1^st

Race 2 Adam Beattie 1^st

Race 3 Adam Beattie 1^st

Race results for the weekend.

Tasers first place Kelsey and crew well-done guys.

Laser and Pacers first place  Darryl Beattie.

Hobie/med Nnacras Jamie Leitner.

A/class Adan Beattie.

And our encouragement award went to Harrison well-done mate a never give up attitude.

A big thank you to Kincrome tools and equipment for the prizes and we will have more for the mid-year regatta so would be great to see the Guys from Townsville, Tinaro, Mission Beach, and Port Douglas attend.

And thank you for all the volunteers to make this a successful day and really big thank you from me. Without you guys these days just don’t happen. Sailing is back at ELLIS

Don’t forget Sail Ellis day, last Sunday in each month. The next is Sunday the 29^th  It would be great to get some more boats out at the best place to sail in FNQ, Ellis beach.

Jai Tooley smashing it in Singapore.

Ashleigh & Jai in Singapore – WELL DONE

Ashleigh Swaddling from gold coast and I, recently flew to Singapore to compete in the Singapore youth nationals. The regatta hosted 393 sailors from 7 different countries. We competed on the Nacra 15 class which had really close racing between Singapore and Aussie boats. Leading into the final day of competition, there was only 1 point between the top three boats. We managed to get first in the final race which tied us for first place, but we gained second on countback, leaving the Singapore boat to win the regatta. We learnt heaps throughout the regatta with a broad range of wind conditions and made lots of new international contacts. While over there we took part in a homestay setup between Singapore and Aussie sailors while also taking part in their Clean Regatta initiation, which encouraged sailors to limit any plastic waste or water bottles. We also had beach cleanups before racing where all the sailors would clean the local beaches along Singapore. All in all, it was a fantastic regatta that taught me heaps, if anyone from the yacht club would like to take part or join me on some sailing opportunities just feel free to contact me. Jai Tooley

Crewing on a keelboat is easy at CYC  (download the ‘SailConnect’ app, click here)

1. Download the App
2. Enter your name and details as crew. Tutorials here

3. 

   Use the “filter” to select Cairns Yacht Club as the one nearby

4. 

   Go to Events, click ‘Upcoming’ and all of the events you might be interested in.

   When you register an interest, all boats sailing in that event will see your interest and get in touch via the app. Be realistic in describing your abilities; some boats can take crew that have no sailing experience whereas some like to know if you have sailed in dinghies, keelboats or whatever.

Dinghy Learn to Sail – Second Course has started  (Register here)

The course will be held on Saturdays from 8.30am on 2pm,

The program which will go for four weeks and is designed to teach all the key skills required to sail a small sailing vessel safely.. You can register here (click).
See you on the water.  Call Scott on 0410 477 166

Ellis Beach

Ellis monthly Regatta on the 29th April. Here are the boat hire and event entry fees. Get in early as boats will soon be snapped up.

Food / meals / BBQ will be available, lunch dinner and breakfast. 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.

DOWNLOAD AN ENTRY FORM HERE

Coming UP – This Month – download nomination form here

Saturday 14th April – Lindsay Joice race five, an inlet race

Friday 27th April – NEW- Curry night & low key trivia night organised by the crew of Volare at the Boat Shed. This will be a monthly off the water get together.

Sunday 29th April – Ellis Beach is on again. Take a tent and camp the night. Bring a boat or borrow one of the Club’s fleet from two-man Pacers to one man Lasers. Great fun. There is also the sporty little Nacra cats. Have a go on these; they need to be used.

Saturday 5th May – Sam Cadman Series, Race 1. Another Fitzroy Island race for a fantastic prize, two nights on the island including transfers if you don’t feel like sailing. You can only win one of these per year, so everyone has a good chance.

Saturday to Monday 5th-7th May – Not a keelboat fan? Go to Tinaroo for the May Day dinghy regatta. Find out what sailing in fresh water is like!

Saturday 12th May – Sam Cadman Series Race 2, Bay Race – Race 2.

Saturday 20th May – Sam Cadman Series Race 3, Double Island Race – Race 2

Tuesday 22 to Saturday 26th May – Quicksilver Race Week – Port Douglas. Book your time off work, this is a biggie, and plenty of boats need crew.

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.

Commodore’s Commands

RIP carpark -For the next 12 months the CYC Carpark is closed due to refurb on Shangri La, However, current CYC members displaying the orange, soon to be green, windscreen labels will not be issued parking infringement notices by P/N to any vehicles parked in the marina point area until the P/N Carpark and barrier has been resolved .
Do not feed the meter.
Capt John, out

We are hoping the CYC car park will remain this size when we get it back

Racing into the 2018 – Last Month

Not much wind for the start of the Fitzroy race, even less later on.

I didn’t say it was pretty, plenty of pink for a good cause.

In between these two races we supported the Lil Cortis Memorial Race, a charity fundraiser for breast cancer hosted by the Yorkey’s Knob Boating Club. Pink was the dress code with female skippers at the helm. Most boats had all female (looking) crews with some scary disguises filling the decks. All in all  25 boats headed out from Yorkey’s into a light northerly for Double Island. Once around some beautiful spinnakers blossomed for the run home. All were winners, prizes were handed out to all boats that participated from some very generous local business sponsors. $8600 was raised toward this worthy cause.

Cairns Vessel Traffic Service – This visit was an eye opener for a good turnout of skippers and crew from our Club. Firstly, the people behind the voices, are friendly and helpful. Cameras mounted in strategic locations allow them to see movements in the whole of the inlet and out into the channel. They appreciate the effort the Club makes to remain clear of commercial vessels reserving their vitriolic for fishermen in tinnies with no radio trying to catch dinner in the path of a large vessel. The importance of staying clear of ships in the channel was clearly illustrated. To ships, the channel is narrow and shallow. To navigate this, they have to maintain a good speed, usually 8 to 10 knots. This gives them steerage and allows the pressure beneath the hull to lift the ship through the shallow spots. It must be remembered that the channel is not as wide as the markers. For all intents and purposes, ships have NO room to manoeuvre whereas a yacht, even under sail, does. I was surprised that they can’t track vessels in real time on a map in a similar way to air traffic control, but I think that’s coming.  All large vessels now have AIS (Automatic Identification System). This uses VHF or satellites to relay the ship’s position to ground stations. These can be seen on a map but, the report giving vessel name, speed and direction, can be several hours old. You can see a list of major vessels coming and going on the MSQ web site. Click on ‘Ship Movements’, top left of your screen.

VTS control centre – they’re watching you

Big Sign-on Day / Discover Sailing day. – Once again our tireless volunteers in the Club turned out to both these events to help raise the awareness of sailing as a sport and the Club. What surprised many was there is more to a sport than chasing balls, cricket, footy & thugby. Dinghies, Sailability and keelboats were kept busy ferrying enthusiastic potential sailors around the inlet for a unique experience. Yes, we even had a jet ski couple wanting to slow down! (Their backs were killing them).

Signing on for the Discover Sailing day

Discovering sailing. It’s not so hard?

Crew for You or You for Crew  (download the app, click here)

Crew for You – We now have ten boats on SailConnect, a great start. However, boat owners. You have to tell SailConnect which events you are interested in sailing. It’s important to show intent even if you are not sure if you can make it on the day. It’s easy to cancel later and doesn’t cost you anything until you actually sign up for the Club nomination form. Go to ‘Events’ and ‘tap’ on a race you might like to enter in then, ‘tap’ on “ATTEND ON YOUR BOAT”. Then you can invite or find crew to sail with you. You are also visible to the interested crew, and they can indicate their availability.

You for Crew – Once you have registered (there is no cost), use the filter so you only see Cairns Yacht Club then go to “Events” and ‘tap’ on and event you would be interested in sailing in. ‘Tap’ “REGISTER INTEREST” and all boats sailing in this event will get a notice that you are interested. If they have space for you, an invite from boat(s) should be forthcoming, and you are on your way. It’s helpful if you can be realistic in describing your abilities so boat skippers can better assign a role for you on their boat.

Dinghy Learn to Sail  (Register here)

It has been a big month for dinghy sailing and the club more generally
Our Learn To Sail program had 16 participants most of whom were adults who have developed their skills and have indicated interest in both dinghy and yacht sailing.
The discover sailing day attracted over 100 people ( a little down on numbers from last year ), but already we have seen an increase in participation numbers across the fleets a big thanks to everyone who made the day such a fun event.
Last week we welcomed over 50 kids from across the region for the annual school team sailing regatta. This year the wind was favourable, so we managed to do a full round of races, but unfortunately, the storm came in, so we had to finish early – great racing great fun and a big thanks to our volunteers.

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 on 2pm,

The trusty Pacer’s with new sails from Ports North – THANK YOU

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.Next Learn To Sail program kicks off on the 7th of April. You can register here (click).
See you on the water.  Call Scott on 0410 477 166

Ellis Beach

Opening Regatta on the 17th & 18th March. Here are the boat hire and event entry fees. Get in early as boats will soon be snapped up.

Food / meals / BBQ will be available, lunch dinner and breakfast. Bring some cash.

If you are hiring a boat please help keep equipment together so the next person hiring the boat doesnt 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.

DOWNLOAD AN ENTRY FORM HERE

Evry one helps at Ellis Beach – it’s gonna be a great weekend

Coming UP – This Month – download nomination form here

Sunday 11th March – Lindsay Joice race three, the first Double Island race. Out to C9, down to double Island to starboard and back via C9, around 30nm, the longest race in our series.

Saturday & Sunday 17th/18th March – Ellis Beach opening regatta. Take a tent and camp the night. Bring a boat or borrow one of the Club’s fleet from two-man Pacers to one man Lasers. Great fun. There is also the sporty little Nacra cats. Have a go on these, they need to be used.

Saturday 24th March – First Lady Skippers race and continuing the Lindsay Joice series.

Friday 30th March – EASTER RALLY to Fitzroy Island. This is a casual fun sail over to the Island to see if you can spot the Easter bunny.

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 synch the calendar.

Commodore’s Commands

Want to thank you all for generously offering your time and boat to give the sailing experience to those that otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise.
From what I saw a lot of visitors did the trifecta, dinghies, SWD, keelboats, so some thought had gone into their visit as a good half day was spent at the club.

I would like to thank those CYC members that made an effort to visit the VTS office at MSQ yesterday, Cairns .I’m hoping you are more informed on what they have to do to control shipping in a busy commercial port like Cairns. VTS and the harbourmaster have indicated their appreciation of the CYC showing interest in what happens on their watch

Feature Story

Wazza is found. Romping back into Cairns after his jolly jaunt to Sydney, here’s his final instalment.

20 knots is a fun speed on a Sailing boat but if you hit something at 20 youre gonna do some Damage!
Barefoot was sailing past Seal Rocks with all the laundry out, Masthead screetcher, Full Main and Jib, Heading North in a Southeast wind and the boatspeed was between 17 and 22 knots …. lots of fun! Then BANG! The starboard rudder hit something and broke clean off!
The port rudder was still working fine so we sailed all the way to Yamba with one rudder and didnt even reduce sail.. Luckily it was Starboard tack all the way . When we crossed the rough bar at Yamba the steering was a worry as the only rudder was often in the air when a wave came under the stern! Barefoot made it in safely for a well earned rest.
Stuck in Yamba with only one rudder wasnt a great position to be in .
I read on a facebook post that the famous race cat XL2 had recently updated his rudders so i rang the owner Mike Pebbardy who said i could have one of his old rudders for a bottle of rum!
It was almost a perfect fit with little modification and this will get us back to Cairns! Cant thank you enough Mike!
When the green boat arrived in Brisbane we decided to do the twilight races at Royal Qld yacht club, They gave the Green Boat the last off handicap time for the course but we ended up coming in second behind Cut Snake who started before us. It was a fun race. Thanks to Peter Hacket for crewing and also introducing me to Shaun who invited me to crew on MCJACK , A Diam 24 trimaran in the Surf to City yacht race which we won the big three…. Line honors,
O M R,
Perfomance Handicap !
Thanks shaun!
I was totaly exhausted after finishing the race but was smiling for days!
Being the crew and not the Skipper means ya gotta work hard and i will now show more respect for crew on Barefoot.
BAREFOOT is on her way home to Cairns and is riding on a big high pressure system with strong southeasterlies, a sled ride… Yeehah

What a bottle of rum can buy you

Kerry D has done Adelaide and the Adelaide to Port Lincoln Race plus a few other jaunts around. Click here to see some spinnakers behaving badly. I hope you had nothing to do with this Kerry. Kerry uses the SailConnect app to find fun places to sail. You can too, download the app (click). Good to see you weren’t alone down there, especially when it came to inspecting the vineyards.

Hmmm…. Beanie, scarf, coat + 6 layers under. I’m convinced, sailing below the Tropic of Capricorn is not a good idea…

… but drinking wine is. The CYC cheer squad in SA

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ED: We’d love to have your stories too. 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)

Back to Work

And get ready for some great sailing in 2018. Every keelboat has a chance at ELEVEN major prizes.

Choose the column or row you have the best chance in and give it a shot. As we saw last year, the boat that participates the most has the best chance of picking up the most prizes.

Normally a boat’s handicap reverts to the starting value after each series. This year we will carry the Top Yacht adjusted handicap forward to the next series for the first two series (six months). This means if your boat (or your crew) doesn’t perform as well as the starting handicap you have a good chance of picking up a prize especially if you sail all races. You have to be in it to win it!!

This year race nomination fees are remaining the same as last year.

Fitzroy Island are, once again, generously sponsoring races to the island with their fantastic two nights in an Ocean View suite including breakfast & dinner. However, to win it your boat must stay overnight at Fitzroy Island to collect the prize. If you can’t manage that you’ll still get the points for the series but the prize will be raffled. We have four of these prizes to be won but you can only be awarded one each year. This means that coming second on handicap is really worth the effort if you just can’t get past that fast boat. In any case, second and third prizes are a bar tab at Roxie’s Bar on the night so that makes it worthwhile staying too.

Looks like the whole crew could join you.

Get ready for racing

It’s important to remember that we race under the authority of an Aquatic License which can easily be revoked if we don’t abide by the rules. Boat owners are ultimately responsible for the conduct of their vessel.

This means you must have…

• A written safety plan on board
• All items on the Cat 6 checklist checked as applicable especially…
• A copy of the Yachting Australia rules (can be on an iPad or phone)
• A First Aid kit
• Fire Extinguisher
• VHF radio in working order capable of monitoring Ch16 and Ch72 for starts. (One person on board must have a marine radio license)
• Buckets on a lanyard
• An anchor
• Some other stuff. Check out the Cat 6 Checklist.

You also must have insurance with public liability of at least $10m

When sailing in the inlet remember, you must give way to commercial vessels. The commodore has more to say on this below.

Last Month

WAGS has valiantly continued with bottles of rum, vodka and wine liberally handed out to those that do well. Congratulations and it was good to see up to eight boats participating.

Dinghy Learn to Sail

The first Learn To Sail course continues each Saturday until the 24th Feb. Make sure you are there at 8am to get the boats ready. We have 20 buddying sailors 18 of which are adults. So keelboat skippers, if you need crew, that’s where they’ll be.

School Team Sailing starts on Tinaroo on the 25th Feb followed by Cairns on the 4th March and finally Mission Beach on Sunday 11th. Help is always needed, especially in Cairns. Call Scott on 0410 477 166

Coming UP – This Month

Sunday 11th Feb – Half yearly General Meeting. Come along, be informed and have your say, tell us what’s gone well and what could be better. In the Regatta Room at 11am, a chance to buy a new CYC Polo Shirt.

Saturday 17th Feb – Lindsay Joice Series kicks off our sailing season with a Bay Race. Briefing at 9am, start at 10 or otherwise as advised in the sailing instructions.

Sunday 18th Feb – Discover Sailing Day (or Try Sailing). We need volunteers to show newbies the ropes, take them for a sail and, hopefully, get them to sign up. Remember, if you are having difficulty getting crew, here’s your chance to get them on board.

Saturday 24th Feb – Lil Cortis Memorial Race Day. Dress code is pink, boats & crew. You should also have a skipper that looks like a lady even if she doesn’t behave like one.

Saturday 3rd March – Lindsay Joice Series Race 2 which will be the first Fitzroy Island race. (Fantastic prize on offer)

Saturday 11th March – (In case the newsletter is delayed) Lindsay Joice race three, the first Double Island race.

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.

Connect to the calendar HERE, you can download a .pdf copy to your phone or synch the calendar.

Commodore’s Commands

Stamping out bush fires again. A reminder that sailing vessels have to give way to a commercial vessel in a restricted waterway in a commercial port. Apart from displaying ignorance and poor seamanship here’s what will happen if you get too close.

The bow pressure will initially force the yacht away from the ship. As the flow tracks along the ship to midships there is a tremendous suction created which would suck the small boat into the side of the ship and hold it there until it is spat out at the stern.

Large vessels transit the channel at 10 Knots. The reason is to increase the under-keel clearance and reduce squat which is what happens when the ship slows. In some tidal situations, this could mean grounding.

The Master will have you sighted and call on Ch16. It is imperative that you have a radio on and tuned to Ch16 so if you are called you can make your intentions clear. These transmissions are recorded. You should also make your intentions clear by clearly changing course.

Not anyone we know?

All skippers, owners or at least one crew member should hold a radio license

VHF Radios should be on at all times

If the radio is below and can not be heard top sides, the ship’s radio must be operable from the cockpit, or a hand-held should be carried in the cockpit at all times.

All vessels are deemed unseaworthy if they put to sea without a suitable VHF, especially within port limits.

We may have spot inspections and any vessel that does not have this very basic requirement cannot partake in CYC yachting events which includes wags.

When there are large ships you must GET OUT of the channel as some of them need a clear passage especially between markers C16 to C20. Preferably, sail to the west of the channel as you will get stuck in the mud inside the channel around C18 and that would be a BAD look. As a general principle, think of manoeuvrability. Large vessels have no room or agility to manoeuvre whereas it’s easy for a yacht especially as you could use your engine. Finally, indicate your intentions on Ch16 and at least be listening on Ch16.

Want crew??

There is a new crop of sailors doing the dinghy Learn to Sail course. 18 of these are adults and would love to have the opportunity to crew on a bigger boat. I suggest to be at the boat shed on Saturday lunchtime and make your wishes known.

Keelboat skippers and crew – if you want to broaden your experience there is an easy way to find boats that need crew or an easy way to find crew. Get the “SailConnect” app on your phone. It’s free from Yachting Australia. (Click here to load on an iPad). Click here for an overview.

Cyclone Season

Review the Ports North Cyclone Contingency Plan. Click this link.

Happy New Year.

2017 went out with a bang

No, it’s not the Boat Shed exploding, it’s the fireworks

Last Month

The dust has settled & heads have cleared after the Fitzroy Island end of year party. (See the previous newsletter). The time for eating and drinking too much has also passed. It’ll soon be time to get back into sailing. Congratulations to Scott Davis for convincing Santa to bring him a new boat. We are all eager to see it at the Marina and screaming past us on the water.

We had two significant CYC voyages this month.

Wazza’s adventures in Sydney mixing it with the Sydney Hobart leaders out of the Heads (He said he could have passed them if he was trying). See the Feature Story (below) for more exciting adventures of the Big Green Cat or Barefoot.

Anastasia also sailed south for the big event, 18 days of sailing including 9 or so nights got Gary & Shari down to experience the magic or Sydney Harbour where they were joined by Kerry D for a couple of days. If anyone is looking for a trip back on Anastasia call Gary on 0418 381 656‬

Dinghy Learn to Sail

If you are interested in training, please contact the CYC office for more information, 07 4031 2750. There is no age barrier and, especially if you crew on a bigger boat, this is highly recommended. It’s only four weeks of Saturday mornings with a BBQ after. The first course starts on Saturday 3rd Feb. Please call Scott Davis (the dinghy fleet captain) on 0410 477 166 to confirm you are coming.  Bring a stinger suit (or long sleeved shirt), hat and shoes that you don’t mind getting wet (no thongs).

Coming UP – This Month

16th January 2018, Tuesday – Sailability gets going again, thence every Thursday and Tuesday. If you want to help call Andy 0435 013 709.

3rd Feb 2018, Saturday – Week one of the learn to Sail course. Call Scott 0410 477 166

4th Feb 2018, Sunday – Skippers Briefing at 10am – all you need to know about getting your boat ready for some fun sailing with the rest of the CYC fleet in 2018. To get an idea of the equipment you need on your boat, check out the EQUIPMENT AUDIT FORM – CATEGORY 5 MONOHULLS or MULTIHULLS.  Call Neil ‭0417 625 236‬

10th February 2018 – Biggest Sign On Day – Organised by the Cairns Convention Centre, the free, fun, family day out is an opportunity for young people to discover that there is more to a sport than chasing balls in footy, cricket & thugby. We hope to have a stand with several dinghies set-up and of course we will need enthusiastic members to go along to show young and old that sailing with the CYC is low cost and high fun. Call Kevin 0412 306 130

10th Feb 2018, Saturday – Week two of the Learn to Sail course.

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.

House Keeping

We still need more people with RSA’s so we can keep the bar running longer. A big thank you to those volunteers that have been keeping thirsty sailors throats wet, but it’s not fair to leave it to just a few. They’ll burn out.

Keelboat skippers and crew – if you want to broaden your experience there is an easy way to find boats that need crew or an easy way to find crew. Get the “SailConnect” app on your phone. It’s free from Yachting Australia. (Click here to load on an iPad). Click here for an overview.

Want to sail a little catamaran?

Help, I need sailors

We have several Nacra 350’s at Ellis Beach that are available for anyone to sail. (Best to have done the Learn to Sail course first though). If you don’t use them, they will be SOLD. Same goes for the Lasers so, contact Barry at Ellis. Even though the Ellis Beach opening is not until 3rd March I’m sure if several members got together Barry could organise something. 0428 369 303

Cyclone Season

Review the Ports North Cyclone Contingency Plan. Click this link.

Feature Story

Continued from last month…. (thank you Wazza)

Well, the old “Wreck in a paddock” has finally made it to Sydney.

On arrival yesterday the Green boat sailed in under the rarely used black and green spinnaker right amongst the multihull fleet that were racing in a stiff 20-knot northeaster. The wind picked up fast, and I was massively overpowered and had to get the kite down FAST!

Gaining control, I watched as the very fast “Quickstep” came screaming by (another Cairns built boat ) followed by the great looking tri, “Lukim Yu”. These boats were smoking along looking like huge balls of spray making the very expensive, and big, local racing mono’s look like slow semi-trailers.

 Catching up with Nolwenn who has crewed on “Barefoot” in Airlie, Cairns and Port Douglas was great, and it will be sad to see her leave the country for France… We’ll miss the arrogant frog!

Awesome Sailing moment….

Comanche sliding past Barefoot

We were motoring along Sydney’s Beautiful Harbour on the Double Gherkin when the fastest sailing monohull in the world comes by blotting out the skyline with its towering mast and sails while practising starting manoeuvres for the Sydney to Hobart race in a couple of days. This is an amazing boat and to see it powered up sailing this close was pretty cool.
The sound of the sheets being wound on was heard over 1000 meters away. Can’t wait for the start on Boxing day.

Next on the calendar will be going for a sail on “Panther” the ex “Cynophobe” from Airlie beach. The new owner wants to get her moving a bit quicker, so I’m going to share the things that I’ve learnt along the way.  Hopefully, we can squeeze some speed out of her. This will be followed by the boxing day spectator fleet for the Sydney to Hobart race then the fireworks for Sydney Harbour New Years Eve!!
The Sydney to Hobart yacht race, The second most significant day on the Harbour and the Green boat was part of the spectator fleet. 

Knowing how wild it gets at the start line we decided to go outside the heads to avoid the traffic, and it was awesome to have the big guys coming straight at you with overwhelmingly tall sail area and boat speed. Blackjack was first out of the heads and Barefoot sailed alongside for a few miles keeping a respectable distance when Wild Oats 11 came up behind, and I had to tack away to stay clear of the old girl.

The scene is pretty intense with the big powerful 100 footers and the out of control spectator fleet, big planing powerboats that push out large wakes and confused seas tossing you about. It sure was a spectacle that would be hard to beat.Was under Mainsail only and about to pull out the screecher like those guys had, but it was insanely rough, so I didn’t unfurl it. I’m sure I would have passed them with it. 

I wish I had the opportunity to take more pictures but hands were full.

Several friends had rung telling me that they had seen the Green cat on the TV coverage which was exciting as Cats aren’t actually invited to the party in this neck of the woods. Barefoot has not broken anything on this trip, and it will be good to do the same thing on the way home!Now for the big day on Sydney harbour….. New Years Eve fireworks!

Thanks to Kerry D for the photo

Its a fantastic party and it doesn’t get any better than being on a boat.

9th Jan 2018.

Sitting at Yamba on the northern NSW coast waiting for the next weather window to head north, Barefoot has racked up some miles, adventures, exciting mishaps and of course being in the best spot in Sydney Harbour for the NYE fireworks.
Freinds came down from Cairns and Melbourne, and we escaped the dramas of boats anchoring too close that is always a problem in the Harbour at NYE. It was happening all around us though with people losing control of their big expensive boats and crashing into the bows of other boats while others dragged anchors and picked up other boats’ anchors as they got blown with the wind. It was entertaining and sad at the same time.

Sydney harbour is such a beautiful place, but an unseen force was influencing the decision to head north so up came the shiny stainless steel anchor and Barefoot sailed out the harbour in light east winds heading towards home with no plan or timetable.
As we sailed past Pittwater, we saw the big Monos that were doing the Pittwater to Paradise race.
The wind had gone light northeast, and we were close hauled. The green boat jumped on the tail end of the race fleet and started catching the boats out in front, Wishing that all that cruising gear onboard wasn’t there so we could go a bit faster and was hoping a bit more wind would come in so she could lift her skirt. We got our wish off Swansea when the breeze freshened, and the windward hull started to fly (always exciting no matter how many times I do it) the boats in the race fleet disappeared in the distance and Barefoot was topping 14’s to windward! Oh yeah!
The excitement was shortlived though as a massive thunderstorm was rolling in and that suggested we bravely run away to the shelter of Newcastle while the race fleet stayed out at sea and I hope they didn’t get battered by the front too much??
Next adventure was breaking a rudder at 20 knots fully powered up, but I’ll save that for the next story.

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ED: We’d love to have your stories too. Please call the editor, Hew on 0409976888 or email at iwantone2@icloud.com (We can fix spelling and grammar slip-ups)

Xmas Special

• Presentation night
• Fitzroy Island Race
• Dinghy wrap-up
• Next month
• Feature Story – BAREFOOTS CRUISE SOUTH FOR THE SUMMER

Last Month

Wrapping up the year. We’ve had a great year’s sailing with huge opportunities for all sailors to complete during the year. The mass of combined events will be repeated next year. We’d love to see even more boats out enjoying our seas. The events “grid” is made up of four sequential races carried out over five or six weeks. Within each of the four sequential series, there were five additional series to be competed for over the calendar year. This means it was not necessary to sail in every race in a series to have a chance at getting a place. For example, each sequential series included a “Fitzroy Island” race and a “Lady Skippers” race. This gave us potentially nine winners in the series events. That was in addition to the “Flagship” events of ‘Commodores Cup’ and ‘Anniversary Regatta’. The sequential series was replicated across the dinghy fleet, so a lot of sailing and some great racing was had by all.

To top it off, presentation night wrapped up a busy year with really great catering from …

Trophies presented this year include…

Festival Cup – Sponsored by Shangri La – ‘Fast Forward’ including Commodores Cup – ‘Impulse’ – Frank & Wendy.

Anniversary Regatta  – ‘Wee Welsh Dragon’ – Kevin, This included the Rob Leitner Memorial sponsored by Sue & Jamie Leitner – ‘Fast Forward’ – Brian.

Sequential Series

Lindsay Joice Series – ‘Volare’ – Frances & Neil

Sam Cadman Series – ‘Volare’ – Neil & Frances

Dick Cater Series – ‘Centinella’ – Bill Munro

Summer Series – ‘Impulse’ – Frank & Wendy

Calendar Series

Fitzroy Island – Sponsored by Fitzroy Island- ‘Volare’ – Frances & Neil

Double Island – Sponsored by Pickers Vinyl & Canvas and Allied Bearings – ‘Volare’ – Frances & Neil

Bay Races – ‘Volare’ – Francis & Neil

Lady Skipper – Sponsored by Splish Splash Swimwear – ‘Impulse’ – Wendy

Inlet Races – Sponsored by Coopers – ‘Volare’ – Frances & Neil

Special Awards

Member of the year – Wendy Brace

Junior Member of the year – Celeste Lyons

Most Improved sailor – Kerry Dent

Most Consistent WAGS competitor – ‘Volare’ – Frances & Neil

Most Consistent Female – Francis

Most line honours WAGS competitor – ‘Yes’ – John

Most Line Honours – ‘Impulse’ – Frank & Wendy

Aggregate points – ‘Volare’ – Frances & Neil

Club Champion – ‘Volare’ – Frances & Neil

“Captain Crunch” (the only boat who admitted running aground) – ‘Wild Spirit’ – Bob

Ellis Beach – sponsored by Allied Bearings & Pickers Vinyl & Canvas

Last Hurrah – Fitzroy Island Race

The last race of the year and the Xmas breakup for the yacht Club attracted ten boats including four catamarans. The sailing instructions commanded a 9:30 briefing and a normal but unconventional downwind start in front of the coffee shop at 10:00. The forecast was for a light south-east wind getting stronger as the day progressed.

With cartons of Xmas cheer stowed the fleet set off in somewhat disarray as only the regular sailors disregarded the sailing instructions and turned up for the briefing at 9am. At least one crewmember was seen roaming the marina in search of a long since departed ride at 9:45.

The 10am start looked promising with about 5kts of breeze. Three spinnakers blossomed early as the fleet passed over the line with the blooming spinnakers becoming limp rags as the light breeze abandoned the fleet. Wild Spirit and Out of the Blue, being lightweight boats, managed to drift ahead and catch any zephyrs that appeared randomly from the north, then north-west, then east and sometimes south. The rest of the fleet drifted aimlessly in the pond of doldrums mostly progressing backwards on the incoming tide. In fact, from T12 it looked as if most had headed back to the Salt House for refreshments.

The first and only mark to round was T12 and Out of the Blue, and Wild Spirit caught the first of the steady easterly and rounded together. Out of the Blue chose a more seaward course while Wild Spirit snuck up on the inside and took the lead. Meanwhile, back in the fleet, a few motors were called into action to break the impasse on a glassy Inlet. Eventually the easterly reluctantly made an appearance over the hills and the race was on. Rounding Cape Grafton the breeze picked up to 15kts for the beat upwind to Fitzroy now in favour of the bigger boats with their weight and length slicing easily through the choppy sea. The light boats by now were so far ahead that only a breakage could stop them. Wild Spirit crossed the line well ahead of Out of the Blue closely followed by Volare in third place having made excellent progress in the strengthening breeze and short chop.

Now the (unofficial) sailing instructions said that prizes would be awarded only to those boats that were at Fitzroy to receive them at 7pm. You can imagine the excitement on Out of the Blue as Wild Spirit turned around and headed home. Sneakily they had dropped one crew member off to collect the first prize, ah well. Leitning Storm was the first cat over the line and after reprovisioning liquid refreshments headed home. Their prize was a great day sailing.

Thanks again to Fitzroy Island for sponsoring such a magnificent prize for first place. We have had five Fitzroy races this year with this magnificent prize, two nights in their Ocean View rooms for two. These rooms are in fact, a small apartment will all facilities for self-catering, but why would you want to? Dinner and breakfast are included and Foxies Bar provides a generous lunch at a reasonable price.

Crews from at least three boats enjoyed the comfort of the resort over “doing it tough” and sleeping on the boats. So, thank you for supporting the Resort in return for their generous support for our Club.

Results

1st Wild Spirit – Well done but had to go home sending one crew member ashore to claim the prize.

2nd Out of the Blue – Hard work once round Cape Grafton into the chop.

3rd Volare – Well sailed out of the doldrums in the inlet.

4th Bagatelle – Cat – Great to so Jai and his crew, Sophie & Miranda handling this big boat like pro’s. (They did have Kay & Ian helping out on the way over)

5th Italina – Cat – no war stories

6th Vanguard – stuck in the doldrums too long.

7th Centinella – stuck in the doldrums too long.

8th Lakatoi – stuck in the doldrums too long.

Ruby Soho – used their motor

Leitning Storm – were in such a hurry to get to Foxies Bar that they forgot to give Neil their arrival time. Too bad, I think they were first over the line??

Dinghy Sailing

2017 Year in review

Well, what a big year for dinghy sailing. Before I get started, I want to thank all the volunteers, helpers and my excellent team of instructors for their contributions over the year.

The year started with the CYC Discover Sailing Day which was well attended. Around 160 people had the opportunity to have an experience on both yachts and dinghies, this event which is become a regular event in our calendar will be held on the 18th of March. I was wondering if we should consider making it a fundraising event, by asking people to make a gold coin donation for a community cause like the youth suicide program?

This year, we made some changes to the calendar, which has meant that our Saturday morning social racing sailing program was a bit limited, but I am pleased that Riley, Jai and Daniel have indicated that in 2018, they will be running this for the club. This is important as it provides an opportunity for new sailors to build their confidence and practice the skills that they have developed in the LTS Programs.

We conduced 4 LTS programs, 1 Naval Cadet LTS Program, 3 terms of school sailing, a hosted a regional round of the School team sailing, 2 instructors course, and I am pleased that our instructor pool in continuing to grow in numbers.

While our club vessels have passed there use-by-date, we are holding them together by sheer hard work, and special thanks to Mal and Co for all the work on keeping our pacers going. If we don’t replace our fleet of dinghy training vessel, we won’t be able to undertake the activities required to continue to grow the youth and increase adult dinghy sailors in the club.

And finally, in 2018, the Youth Sailor of the Year was award to Celeste Lyons for her work with the junior sailing program, the SWD program and her mentoring of other girls into the sport.

One of the challenges we have to work out how to respond too relates to the changing nature of our sport. In 2018/19, I hope that we can give consideration to running a Women on the Water (WOW) program and adventure sail days, both of which have been highly successful at increasing participation at other clubs across the region.

While sailing remains the focus of our activities, we need to consider how we as a club can respond to the changing market, which is demanding more social and family activities for short periods of time, time is now the most precious commodity, which for most of us is harder and harder to find.

Merry Christmas everyone, See you on the water. Scott.

Coming UP – This Month

• 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. Yes, even the 27th Dec.
• December 25th – Santa comes to sailors that have been good.
• December 30th – Informal gathering at the Boat Shed to watch the fireworks. Best view in town. Bar closes at 10pm. Others are gathering on various boats in the Marina so stay around for the New Year.

• January 2, 2018 at 5:30 PM – 7:00 Sailing Committee Meeting Regatta Room CYC, Cairns – have a say in how we run our events, all suggestions welcome.

Attention

• Buy your Presentation Night Tickets NOW. No sales after the 18th
• Ellis Beach Breakup this Saturday-Sunday. Spit roast. BE THERE.

Last Month

Summer Series Concludes

It’s been a great series with some great sponsors which means great prizes for place getters and well worth the effort to get out on the water and enjoy the fabulous weather at this time of the year.

Race One – Fitzroy Island Race, sponsored of course, by Fitzroy Island.
Impulse won two nights on the Island. Well done Frank & Wendy. See the last newsletter for more.

Summer Series Race Two – 14 October. The unconventional but normal downwind start saw the fleet head out of the inlet in fairly light winds. Out of the Blue was first round C9 and headed excitedly off towards Holloways Beach. All eyes were scanning for the buoy while the big asymmetric propelled the boat on a broad reach downwind. A gybe was all that was required as soon as the buoy was spotted about 70° off the bow. Following boats had symmetric spinnakers so headed directly downwind and spotted the buoy sooner. Holloways Beach had mysteriously moved to Machans Beach. By the time “The Blue” spotted it the buoy could not be made under the asymmetric spinnaker. Rounding the mark the big boats had caught up. In spite of another fast downwind run The Blue couldn’t match the big boats upwind in the freshening breeze. Start.,C9(p), Holloways Bch buoy (p), C9(p), HBB (p). C9 (s), Finish. First: Impulse, Second: Volare, Third: Out of the Blue.

Race Three – 22 October. Very light winds greeted the start of this race and the course was shortened to round the Yorkey’s Knob channel marker instead of Double Island. Once again Impulse & Out of the Blue benefited with the asymmetric spinnaker just staying aloft long enough to drag both boats into a glassy smooth hole around C11 & 13. Good fortune had the ‘The Blue’ as the most windward boat when the first zephyr of the North Easterly arrived, and it rounded C9 well ahead of Impulse, stuck in the hole for a little longer. The Blue rounded Yorkey’s well ahead but the superior sailors’ onboard Impulse had them nearly catch ‘The Blue’ rounding C9 on the return leg. Once again, both sailed into the windless hole. Meanwhile, Volare spent over an hour before she got out of the hole on the outbound leg and had a very lonely trip down to Yorkey’s. The consensus was to finish the race around C11 then motor home and lament a sad lack of wind.

Race Four – Splish Splash Lady’s day race sponsored by Moontide Swimwear. 28th October.

This lady is not a typical skipper

Once again a great turn out and great to see new ladies testing their skippering skills. This was especially so as the wind was a Northerly blowing directly down the inlet necessitating multiple tacks to get upwind and a great spinnaker run downwind. The Blue could only sport an Asymmetric spinnaker so had to gybe constantly to keep it flying. Congratulations to Kerry who had little experience in keeping the boat under the monster and managed to keep ahead for much of the race. Impulse took out first place, congratulations Wendy. Are we going to see you in your new outfit?

Race Five – Salthouse / Coopers bay race.

A spectacular turn out of yachts starting opposite the Coffee Shop and, once again an unconventional downwind start with all boats bolting out of the leads in a good wind and an ebbing tide towards C8. Then a starboard turn into Mission Bay where the buoy had been laid earlier. The catamaran, Leightning Storm, was well ahead expecting to round the buoy first. Frantic radio chatter revealed that the buoy could was lost or Leightning Storm was lost. Impulse, next on the scene had no greater success in finding the wayward buoy and, reluctantly, the official race was abandoned. An improvised course was set to return home via C1 at the entrance to the leads and although not racing all had an enjoyable trip home in perfect sailing weather. The attraction of Coopers Beer at the Salthouse meant no one stayed behind to fish. A great night followed thanks to these two generous sponsors wrapping up the Summer Series.

Dinghy Learn to Sail

Our recent learn to Sail program attracted more than 12 new sailors to the club. It was an excellent training program and was well supported by our training team who made everyone feel welcomed. I am confident that our learn to sail program will continue as the years go by.

On the 18& 19th of November, the CYC is hosting a Dinghy instructor course for many of the regional clubs. This opportunity highlights that CYC is now seen as a real asset to the regional clubs.

I would personally like to thank Jai Tooley and young Riley Munro who have taken up the role of organising our fun social Dinghy sailing program on Saturday and Sundays. These events are very important as it provides a pathway to allow those who have completed the learn to Sail program to build confidence and refine their skills before joining the proper racing fleet

It has been a big year in Dinghy and junior Sailing terms, and for me personally, it is also a slightly emotionally time as many of our youngsters leave their hometown for exciting adventures. I wish you all the best, and I hope to see you all soon racing around the pins back at your home club

Scott

Coming UP – This Month

November 11, 2017 – November 12, 2017 – Ellis Beach Break Up “Off the Beach” sailing for all and a great night is planned by Barry with a spit roast. There will be NO Karaoke so all members with pending stage fright can come along and their vocal talents will remain hidden.  

November 18, 2017 – Last day to get your tickets for Presentation Night.

November 18th – 19th, 2017 – Festival Cup – Incorporating Commodores Cup on Saturday. This will be a Yorkey’s Knob race. Sunday will be two bay races with a fabulous prize for the weekend sponsored by Shangrila (A night for two in their fabulous rooms overlooking the Marina). Minor prizes will come from Coopers Brewery.

November 25th, 2017 – Presentation Night, All fleets. Eat Real Cairns are our caterers. Big platers of antipasto & yummy stuff for starters. Cold cuts of chicken and beef with chutney for mains with salad. Desert will be tropical fruit platters and a choc slice.

December 9th, 2017 – Fitzroy Island Christmas Party. Plan on staying overnight either on a boat, in the camping area or in the lovely resort. Here’s an idea. Get a few of you together and book a ‘Butterfly Bungalow‘. These sleep five and have one queen bed (for the skipper of course), $205 for the night. That’s $41 each & sure beats putting up a tent, trying to find it in the dark and getting bitten by a snake.

Oh, just one more thing. You won’t be eligible for a prize if you are not there to receive it on the night.

Sailability – Every Tuesday and Thursday – see below for some exciting developments

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.

Commodore’s Commands

Don’t forget presentation night… BE THERE.

Last Month

TWW Sail Cairns Regatta

Day One. Carnage. Fitzroy Island and back was race one of the Sail Cairns Regatta bringing early havoc to the fleet. A 25kt breeze tested every boat as they pounded around Cape Grafton. The big green catamaran, ‘Barefoot’ broke a daggerboard which gaily folded back to severely bent a rudder killing the regatta for them. This avoided the anticipated grudge match with ‘Leightning Storm’ and reduced division 4 to just two boats. In division one, ‘Spank’ got spanked and retired and ‘X2’ broke their spinnaker tack line. Vanguard decided to test a new spinnaker furling technique… around the mast. This had not been tried before, so Mr Moule had to go up the pole with a sharp knife and refashion a perfectly good spinnaker into several smaller ones. First over the line was ‘Yes’ in a credible 4 hrs 25 min for the round trip. Impulse was first on handicap with 4 hrs 30 minutes.

The new spinnaker furling system. (prototype only, needs more work)

In Division 2, three J24’s lined up to do battle with ‘Kaizen 2’ taking out first place in the first race. On the second race, it was ‘Fast Forward’s’ turn, race three ‘Kaizen 2’ fourth race ‘Fast Forward’ took the honours. This set up the fifth and last race to be the decider. No wind and drizzly rain promised to ruin the day for everyone but by lunchtime, a wee zephyr wafted down the inlet and the race was on. ‘Kaizen 2’ took out the series and ‘Viva La Beaver’ has the honour for the longest distance sailed to get to the regatta, all the way from Port Douglas.

The strongish winds continued for the next two days. Day two was a race to Double Island and back. An unconventional downwind start had the lightweight boats, ‘X2’, now joined by ‘Out of the Blue’, flying ahead on their asymmetric spinnakers. A gybe around C9 sent them towards Double Island catching waves and having some exciting moments. Meanwhile, the big boats bided their time knowing that the increasing breeze would soon put the small fry in their place. Once round the island, the bigger, heavier and longer boats sliced through the chop clawing their way passed the lightweights who were pounding and diving all the way back through the swell. Impulse took out line honours and handicap this time. Some nice sailing by Frank & Wendy. 10 minutes behind was ‘X2’, a fantastic effort after five hours of sailing in choppy seas. Unfortunately, their handicap put them in third place behind ‘Volare’ which finished 30 minutes after Impulse.

Day three was two bay races, one sausage (windward-leeward) and one triangle (windward – wing – leeward) which kept crews on their feet with hoisting & dousing unruly spinnakers. ‘Out of the Blue’ kept up with’ X2′ for a short while until a couple of tack line failures put the boat on her beam ends and the crew scrambling to stay on board. X2 took handicap honours on both of these short races only one minute behind ‘Yes’ over the line in the first race and two seconds ahead in the second race.

The last day, race 5, an inlet race. Light winds and light boats meant ‘X2’ and ‘Out of the Blue’ captured every little puff. Out of the Blue popped out of the confused start ahead but blew the advantage with an incorrectly rigged spinnaker. The big boats wallowed in the light air leaving ‘Out of the Blue’ to win on handicap & ‘X2’ first over the line again.

Every morning a magnificent bacon & egg roll, together with the regulation shot of coffee, greeted sailors on their way to rig their boats. Of course, this and the yummy dinners, would not have appeared if it were not for our generous club members volunteering their time to make all this nourishment come together. This is what makes our Club such a nice place to hang out. Thank you all.

The regatta wrapped up with a hearty dinner and presentation at the Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron.

TWW Sail Cairns Regatta – results

A big thank you to TWW (Totally Work Wear) for their generous sponsorship. Remember also. Take your membership card along and get a discount on their range of practical clothing. Presenting your membership card helps them measure the effectiveness of their sponsorship so go along and buy-up some good gear and hopefully we’ll have them on board again next year. (The ‘Out of the Blue’ crew shirts came from TWW)

TWW Sail Cairns: Dinghy Fleet

This year the number of competitors from the OTB and dinghy fleets were a little down on last year but those who did compete enjoyed the event and the racing was very tightly fought. The Dinghy sailors would like to thank the support team led by Daryl Beattie for their hard work over the regatta.

Peter Taylor (a new member of the club) raced well and secured first place in a laser, followed by Jai Miller and Miranda Wilson in 3rd.

It was also great to see Daniels new 29er out racing. I am sure that next year will be bigger and better.

Scott (Capt Dinghies)

Summer Series Race One

Great start to the Summer Series of races for the keelboats. Four boats participating, ‘Vanguard’, ‘Volare’, ‘Out of the Blue’ & ‘Impulse’ in ideal conditions, 14kts SSE most of the way. Impulse was first over the line in 3 hrs 18 minutes with time for a leisurely lunch & a swim in the crystal clear waters before heading back. ‘Volare’, 2nd on handicap in 3hrs 40minutes and ‘Vanguard’, taking 4 hours and 15 minutes stayed the night to recover and was joined by Pete in ‘Summertime Blues’ who sailed over for the party. There was some confusion as to whether they were racing, especially when they were seen heading down the leads with an upsidedown spinnaker just before the start. ‘Impulse’ was so far ahead finishing first over the line and on handicap ahead of ‘Volare’ and ‘Out of the Blue’ third. Frank & Wendy got themselves two nights accommodation with breakfast at the Fitzroy Island Resort as first prize. It will be interesting to see if they take the free ferry over to the island or sail to enjoy their win?  Another huge thank you to the Fitzroy Island Resort for sponsoring our club by providing the generous prizes once again.

It’s hard being first over the line

Summer Series Race Two – Next Saturday. It’ll be a bay race. It’s not too late to nominate as there are five races and the final score is based on your best four races.

Dinghy Learn to Sail

Started on the 7th and was well attended. Great to see lots of eager faces lining up to rig the Pacer’s under Scott’s guidance once again. Yes, I know you thought you were going to sail, so I understand your surprise at being tipped into the Marina on your first outing. That is the worst that will ever happen to you in a dinghy so it’s good to know you can get back in and keep sailing.

All the big boat skippers are looking forward to getting some of you as crew. However, dinghy sailing teaches you more about the physics in four weeks than you will learn on a big boat in a year. There is also the fun stuff like how to position yourself for a start and how to use the racing rules to your advantage, all in control of your own vessel. I know you are going to have fun.

Coming UP – This Month

October 14th – Sail Training Pacers only Course 2 – week 2/4

Saturday, Oct 14th – Summer Series Race 2 – A bay race

Saturday, Oct 21 & 22nd – Mission Beach Regatta – for the dinghies. 

Sunday, Oct 22nd Summer Series – Race 3 – Double Island (also Discover Sailing Day)

Saturday, Oct 28th – Summer Series – Race 4 – Splish Splash Ladies Day Race

Sunday, Oct 29th – Summer is Awesome Series 3 – 3 Races Club Championship Race IN TOWN

Saturday, November 4th – Summer Series – Race 5 – Inlet Race

This is the last series for our sailing season, join in & have fun.

Sailability

Every Tuesday and Thursday – see below for some exciting developments

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.

Another lovely WAGS. Where else can you get an afternoon’s fun for $20?

Commodore’s Commands

The car park gets another mention this month. Remember, you must have your car park sticker STUCK on to your car and easily visible to enjoy the privilege of using our limited car park.  Name and shame, here are some offenders.

Ports North will book people without a sticker on their vehicle, you have been warned!

Watch out. These will be in trouble next time

Last Month

As usual, there was lots of sailing but, as your editor was in Japan, there are no stories to tell. A few members were doing their best at Hamilton Island, Airlie Beach and Magnetic Island race weeks, we look forward to stories from the ‘sharp end’ of sailing. By the way, I only saw one yacht in Japan. Leisure craft are notable by their absence, a reminder of just how lucky we are to have so many boats and keen sailors to play with. I’m sure all members will join me in thanking our executive committee for their enthusiastic efforts over the past year. Remember it’s only voluntary efforts that keep our club vibrant and enjoyable so if you haven’t put yourself forward yet, don’t be shy, now’s the time because we don’t want to burn out the dynamos of our Club.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM)

The changing of the guard, thankfully a few new faces to keep new ideas and fresh energy in the Executive Committee.

Our executive is…

• Commodore: Johnny Pool (returned)
• Rear Commodore: Neil Robson (returned)
• Vice Commodore: Hew Mills (Acting)
• Secretary: Vacant
• Treasurer: Kerry Dent
• Keelboat Fleet Captain: Bill Munroe (returned)
• Dinghy Fleet Captain: Scott Davis (returned)
• Sailability: Andy Murray (returned)
• Ellis Beach: Barry Craven (new)
• Member: Kevin Spies
• Member: Nick Adams (new)

Note. We do have the secretary position vacant which needs filling before the next exec. meeting on the 12th.

As is the custom, the meeting bestowed honours for ‘Senior Member of the Year’ to Wendy Brace and ‘Junior Member of the Year’ to Celeste Lyons. Well done both of you, Wendy for the tireless volunteering with Sailability.

News Flash

Our excellent new Polycraft start boat/tender has a name. By a unanimous vote from the sailing committee, it’s “Pollyanna”

Drivers are welcome, but you have to be signed out by Bill to make sure you treat her respectfully and in a manner that will give the Club long and useful service. Margie will hold a list of all accredited drivers.

Coming UP – This Month

September 9th – last race in the dick Cater Series, an inlet race, and presentation.

Sailing instructions, click here. –> dick-cater-series-race-5-sailing-instructions. 11 am Start.

The BIG ONE – TWW Cail Cairns Regatta

Last chance to register…

Four days of excitement on the water, Saturday 16th, Sunday 17th, Monday 18th and Tuesday 18th. Dinghies and Keelboats.

Friday 15th 6 pm at the CCYS 42/48 Tingira St, Portsmith – Registration – Skipper’s kits and racing instructions. Be there. Get your Buffet dinner tickets at the same time, only $20. (They’ll cost you $25 if you leave it until Tuesday)

Saturday 16th -Breakfast at the Boat Shed, Bacon & Egg muffins. 8am-10:30, $5 grab’n go on the way to rig your boat. Take away tea & coffee as required. Racing starts at 10 am, start line off Wharf 2. Check your sailing instructions in case of last minute changes.

• Division 1 yachts – Fitzroy Island
• Division 2 yachts – Mission Bay
• Division 3 Multihulls – Two Island
• Off the Beach – Inlet races

Afterwards – At the Boat Shed – Dips, crackers and pretzels with a few beers. Re-live those glorious moments / stuff-ups with everyone.

Sunday 17th – Breakfast at the Boat Shed, Bacon and egg muffins. 7:30 am to 10 am. Racing starts at 9 am today for these long races. $5 grab’n go with tea & coffee.

• Division 1 Yachts – Double island
• Division 2 Yachts – Yorkeys Knob
• Division 3 Multihulls – Double Island
• Off the Beach – Inlet Races

Afterwards at the Boat Shed – A delicious slow cooked stew by the Ellis Beach crew. Just $10, add a few more beers to wash it down, by now we’ll have some really unbelievable stories.

Monday 18th – Breakfast at the Boat Shed – Bacon and Egg muffins, 8 am to 10:30, $5 Grab’n go. Relax a bit and enjoy. Sip your tea & coffee as it’s an 11 am start.

• All Divisions – 2 Bay Races

Afterwards at the Boat Shed – Bill’s amazing pulled pork rolls $10. Add few beers, or a nice red would go with that. Yes, we have bubbly too ‘coz you’ll be feeling like a winner.

Tuesday 19th – Bacon & egg muffins at the Boat Shed. Races start at 10 am.

• All Divisions Inlet race. This will be a WAGS style race, but you can use spinnakers otherwise pretty relaxed.
• 2:30 – 4 pm a quick beer before the bar closes then head down for the Presentation at the CCYS. 42/48 Tingira St, Portsmith
• CCYS at 5 pm for the Presentation and social dinner. Buffet put on by the wonderful CCYS chef, very popular last year and everyone is very hungry after four days of sailing. Tickets $20, get them now, ph07 4035 5115. They will cost you $25 if purchased on Tuesday.
• 5:30 at CCYS – The presentation Ceremony

We are expecting boats participating the Coral Sea Classic to call in, so we will have a welcome ready for them too. They are departing Cairns on the 23rd heading for Port Moresby and should be there by the 27th for presentations, BBQ and live music by the Royal Papua Yacht Club.

Volunteers Here’s your chance to volunteer in a small way, no ongoing commitment. Please come to help assemble breakfast on Sunday and Tuesday. We also need people with an RSA to help out on the bar all days after racing. Please call Hew 0409976888 or Trish on 0400304813

Commodore’s Commands

Good luck in the TWW Sail Cairns Regatta nominations close soon, get them in.

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This Months Feature – Boats for Sale

YACHT FOR SALE  Elliot 9.6  “Wild Spirit ”

1997 Elliott 9.6 well maintained fast cruiser /racer, winner of several races and regattas, Kevlar hull, 2300kg. disp.,retractable keel and bowsprit, Yanmar 10 hp diesel with SD20 sail drive, roomy, comfortable  fit out below with full headroom, HF and VHF radios, Full instrumentation incl. chart plotter, 17 bags of Hood sails in very good condition incl. 2 mains, 5 headsails. 5 spinnakers, includes 3m. alloy dinghy and new 6 hp Suzuki 4 stroke O/B, Autopilot, Numerous extras incl. Anchors, safety gear, running rigging, etc. …. Full inventory on request ……..   Price $63000 …contact Bob Cleland … 0740513356 or 0435611236

YACHT FOR SALE J24 “G&T.” 

Beautiful J24, recently refurbished inside and out, new paint and interior fittings. 2 jibs, 2 mainsails (one reefable) 2 spinnakers & 1 genoa. Last anti fouled Aug 2017. Garmin wind/speed/depth instruments. VHF radio, electric bilge pump with a solar charger. Portaloo. Emergency equipment including EPIRB, fire extinguisher. Yamaha 4hp long shaft outboard with aux fuel tank.

Excellent performer for racing or comfortable family overnight sailer, easy to sail. Price $12,000, great value. Contact Hew Mills 0409976888

Snap it up now, it’s ready to go. You could sail in the TWW Sail Cairns Regatta

2 x Tee shirts to get you started