The 2022/23 season will go down as one of the very best. Not only were we blessed with the most fabulous sailing weather in years, we also saw a return to pre-COVID levels of participation in centreboard and yachts fleets on any given Sunday. We managed a number of social events including the annual Commodore's Ball, Christmas Party and the end of Season Picnic, plus we hosted Sheakespear and an Avalon Centenary Event. Members made great use of the facilities with friends and family enjoying our special location. And the new bar proved to be a big hit for all.

Dates for the Diary

• Working Bee - 24th June

• Commodore's Ball - 8th July

• Winter Racing - 3rd Sunday of May, June, July & August

• Annual General Meeting - August

• Registration Day (Blue & Red Groups) - 27th August

• Next Season Start- 10th September

Working Bee - Saturday 24th June

Working Bees are essential to keep the clubhouse and equipment in good working order. They also offer the opportunity for us to undertake simple repair and building works. All members are encouraged to participate in any way they can - from cleaning through to skilled boat repairs.

All efforts are welcome and needed, so please help out where you can for the time you have available. Click here for a job list.

Commodore’s Ball

Once a year we get to have a big party, make some noise and celebrate a great season, and this year will be no different at the Commodore’s “Ball” with the fabulous seven piece Vicky Turner Band.This years theme is 70s funk & soul and, by popular demand, a return of the grazing plate. $65 a head covers our costs for the band & food, with drinks from the bar at the usual member’s low prices. Friends and family are most welcome, please get your tickets early so we can plan for the right numbers, by clicking here: 

Award Winners

Awards and Trophies for the 2022-23 season were presented on 18th June, congratulations to all winners and those who participated throughout the season. Photos are in the Gallery on our website.

Quartet Bowl

1st Pirihi- Barry Black

2nd Beau Soleil- Bob Batchelor

3rd Kookaburra- Ralf Moller

Blue Water Shield

1st Kookaburra- Ralf Moller

2nd Pirihi- Barry Black

3rd Papillon- Gary Timm

Retriever

1st Pirihi- Barry Black

2nd Iluka- Dianne Mattes

3rd Papillon- Gary Timm

Two Island Series

1st Beau Soleil- Bob Batchelor

2nd Papillon- Gary Timm

3rd Kookaburra- Ralf Moller

Avalon Series

1st Papillon- Gary Timm

2nd Force 8- Peter Gale

3rd Wimmera- Ian Craig

Winter Series

1st Laura- David Boyd

2nd Wimmera- Ian Craig

3rd Cariad- James George

Van Den Bosch Trophy: For perseverance in fair weather and foul. Awarded to the yacht competing in the most events during the year, providing it has not been a prize winner in any series (an event is a series trophy race)

Goldfinger- Jan Evans

Commodores Trophy: A handicap trophy for the fastest yacht in the Club. The winner is the yacht with the minimum points from all races in the major trophy series (AS - BWS/KT - RT - QB) when calculated on corrected times

Kookaburra- Ralf Moller

Shaz II Trophy: A scratch trophy for the fastest yacht in the Club. The winner is the yacht with the minimum points from all races in the major trophy series (AS - BWS/KT - RT - QB) when calculated on the basis of scratch results

Resurgent- Rick Hall

Centreboard Awards

Aero Spring Pointscore 

Handicap - 1st Anja Atril, 2nd Peter Belini, 3rd Hugh Spear

Aero Summer Pointscore 

Handicap - 1st Anja Atril, 2nd Hugh Spear

Aero Club Championship

Handicap – 1st Hugh Spear, 2nd Anja Atril

Scratch –1st Hugh Spear, 2nd Anja Atril

Moth 

Spring Point Score, Summer Point Score & Club Championship (Handicap & Scratch) - 1st Graham Vick, 2nd Paul Chudleigh

Laser

Spring Point Score, Summer Point Score & Club Championship (Handicap & Scratch) - 1st Chris Zonca, 2nd Dylan Zonca, 

Spring Point Score 3rd Matt Lilley 

Spiral Spring Pointscore 

Handicap- 1st Jeff Conly, 2nd Aran Willman, 3rd Nicholas Chan

Spiral Summer Pointscore 

Handicap - 1st Nicholas Chan, 2nd Jeff Conly, 3rd Helen van de Linde

Spiral Club Championship

Handicap – 1st Nicholas Chan, 2nd Jeff Conly, 3rd Aran Willman       

Scratch –1st Nicholas Chan, 2nd Jeff Conly, 3rd Aran Willman       

Rudder Trophy: Opening Day scratch winner of the largest Centreboard fleet:

Jeff Conly - Spiral

 Australia Day Trophy: Centreboarder who sailed well and demonstrated the spirit of Australia day.

Freddie Attrill - O’pen Skiff

Perpetual Club Trophies - Centreboard

Holiday Trophy: For most enthusiastic sailors in Blue and Red Divisions

Ollie Leech, Joshua Romana-Nicholls,  Jaxon Romana-Nicholls

Archina Cup: For most improved sailors from Blue and Red Divisions

Jenson Lilley, Arielle Lewis, Charlie Quinn, Marcus Cockle

Phillip Baker Trophy: Awarded to an outstanding male sailor for assistance and inspiration to other sailors. .

Graham Vick

Mary Ifould Trophy: Awarded an outstanding female sailor for assistance and inspiration to other sailors. 

Sabine Westley

Head-Ake Trophy: Awarded to a sailor in gold division who shows commitment and perseverance. 

Dylan Zonca

Crews Trophy: Awarded to the crew giving the most support to the skipper during the season. 

Angelina Boomer

Bellingham Shield: Awarded to an outstanding club centreboard sailor or parent for being a good sports person, contributing to the running of the club, inter-club events and good seamanship.

Anja Attrill

Flying Dutchman Trophy: Awarded to the most outstanding junior family for services to the club: 

Cockle Family

Championship Trophy: Awarded to a centreboard sailor for outstanding representation of the club at National State and Interclub events.

Frederick Attrill

Club Trophy: Someone who is particularly helpful to the club but also ‘fun’ (or a bit of a larrikin) to be around.

Larry Eastwood 

Helping Hand Trophy: Awarded to a Person who has put in a lot of effort in helping the club 

Matt Lilley & Tony Cockle 

Ryves Shield: The clubs highest award for outstanding contribution to the club

Kingsley Forbes-Smith

Centreboard Sailing

Tony & Matt have built up a very engaged and enthusiastic cohort of families in Blue & Red groups. Racks are filling up with Open Skiffs, MJs & F11s - which bodes very well for next year. The off season is a great time to get hold of a boat - each of the association websites have lists of boats for sale, if you are in the market keep an eye out for new listings. 

Manly  Juniors for sale: https://www.revolutionise.com.au/nswmjsa/for-sale/

Flying 11s for sale: https://www.flying11sailing.com.au/flying-11-boats-for-sale-and-crew-finder/browse-ads/

O'pen Skiffs for sale: https://www.facebook.com/groups/openskiffausbuyandsell/

Our afternoon Gold fleet continues to gain strength, and was made more enjoyable with the participation of the BYRA fleet. We expect to see a good number of junior sailors competing for club trophies in the afternoons next season - increasing the fleet and the competition further.

We enjoyed a very strong coaching team led by the indefatigable Kingsley providing top level tuition for all our learners and more experienced sailors alike. The coaching team not only runs the Blue & Red Group learn to sail, but also Adult learn to sail on demand, and coaching as required for the afternoon Gold sailors. Many an experienced sailor appreciated the after sailing sessions provided by Kingsley. 

$10K Woody Point Donation

The Woody Point Yacht Club Charter states: “The founding members believed that the Club should not accumulate money, real estate or any other assets of a major nature (other than a Temprite). Food and sufficient kegs are to be applied at the AGM to ensure that a zero balance is recorded at season’s end.”

However in 2022 COVID restrictions meant no AGM could be held and their committee faced the dilemma of what to do with their funds. They decided to donate the funds to promote youth sailing on Pittwater, and donate $10,000 each to Avalon Sailing Club and BYRA. We have agreed to spend this on a Puffin Pacer (replacing one that was destroyed in a storm) and updating the other three. These boats are crucial assets for our learn to sail program and we are extremely grateful for this generous donation from our good friends at Woody Point where many of our sailors are also participants.

ASC Live Cam - LJ Hooker Sponsorship

We have a new live cam at the club that operates 24 hours day & night. The camera sweeps from South to North, zooming in and out to capture the deck, the shorelines and members’ moored yachts. The camera is live streamed via YouTube and available to the public via the home page on our website. It provides a live view of the current weather and conditions on Pittwater and acts as a very good security service for our area in Clareville.

This was made possible by a generous donation from members Jono Gosselin and Angus Abrahams from LJ Hooker Avalon, who supplied the new laptop and screen in the main hall. What should have been a straightforward installation, proved to be anything but and we are indebted to Kingsley who spent days and days solving frustrating bug after bug to get it stabilised.

Yacht Racing

Whilst we’ve had a couple of yachties retire this year, we’ve had a few new members join with yachts and invited PBYC yachts to sail with us in the winter series (reciprocal agreement for the Blue Water Shield). We are also promoting our sailing program to the Pittwater community offering them the ability to sail in one or more series without becoming members, just like RPAYC and RMYC does. We expect this will increase the yacht fleet further and that a number of them will choose to become full time members.

Racks & Moorings

During the COVID years we had many free internal racks which we allowed members to use for kayaks, SUPs and other equipment. Now that the centreboard fleet is building back up, priority will be given to their sailing boats, so if you have a kayak, SUP or other gear in a rack - you may find that it will not be renewed for the next season.

Moving forward Pat & Gary will be implementing a tag on each rack identifying which member it has been allocated to, and whether it’s been paid for. This will assist greatly in the management of racks moving forward. Our rack policy, which includes guidelines on what can be stored where, and how internal racks are allocated is on our website under Club Etiquette: https://www.revolutionise.com.au/avalonsailingclub/members/code-of-conduct/

Kitchen Upgrade

Our secretary James George was successful in securing a $20,000 grant to renew our Kitchen. James does an amazing job of applying for every grant that applies to a club like ours, so it’s very exciting when we win one ! The grant must be spent this year so you will see new appliances in the kitchen including a new oven, microwave, dishwasher and freezer.

Clubhouse Capital Works

The amount of capital works completed over the last 10 years has been phenomenal. Cumulatively we have spent over $600,000 on the clubhouse, with many hours of labour provided free of charge from our volunteering members. The biggest item was the deck which cost $220,000 but also the new stairs; ladies toilet; bar and verandah. Our funding has been a combination of grants, donations, events, fund raising and sponsorship.

We have had several meetings to discuss the Capital works needed for the next 5 – 10 years. The list below is a summary in order of priority. A key issue is that we will start next year with only approx $50k in the bank which we have agreed is the minimum buffer to cover unforeseen costs and to avoid insolvency. This means we have no excess for capital works except for minor amounts (a few thousand). Note that this excludes any significant costs associated with our support fleet and training craft which is covered under routine maintenance. 

Downstairs floor: $25 - $50K

The floorboards are rotten. Piers are ok but some joists and bearers may need replacing. Plan is to do it in stages with north bay the first one. Buy materials and volunteer labour. It’s a big job that will be completed over time. Estimate $25,000 for the floor, and up to $50,000  if bearers and joists are also required to be replaced. We are reliant on donations to complete this Australian Sports Foundation approved project, so if you are able to contribute, donations are tax deductible and you can do so by clicking here. 

Essential Services: $7K

Covers items needed to allow a completion certificate to be obtained. Important but not the highest priority. Includes: Exit door to verandah ($1000) ; Emergency lighting and exit signs ($3000); new entry doors opening out ($2000); tactile indicators on stairs ($500). 

Roller door: $3K

This will allow the garbage to move from the verandah to the front and be hidden.

Outside cladding: $20K

South wall is done but the remaining three walls need to be done. This includes replacing the north wall window and rebuilding dinghy racks outside. Assume volunteers so the price is materials only. 

Men's toilet: $50K

Similar upgrade to the ladies upgrade. A combination of volunteer and trades. 

Verandah Doors

Replace the existing doors so the verandah can be opened up fully.

Lighting upstairs: $7K

General upgrade. Nice to have but lower priority. $7,000. 

Kitchen Upgrade: $40K

With the new appliances in place this is now a lower priority. New benchtops; sinks cupboards etc. 

New Roof: $20K

It's OK now but will need replacing 5-10 years.

The total is about $200,000 but is spread over a number of years meaning we need between $20,000 to $40,000 per year to keep our clubhouse safe and functional. If you are in a position to contribute a donation please do via the tax deductible projects listed on our home page. If you have a contact who may help with discounts; sponsorship or donations relevant to the list then please promote our club with them, and let Paul Westcott know (0419013142) We will continue to apply for every grant we are aware of.

Working Bee

A working Bee  is planned for Saturday the 24th June. Below is a (growing) list of jobs. Even if you cannot be there that day it is encouraged to pick a job and then do it in your own time if that works better. Paul Westcott (0419013142) is coordinating the day.

1 Books at entrance - remove them and remove bookshelf.

2 Tidy up the north bay and prepare for floor replacement.

3 More pegs for life jackets above existing location. Label so large ones are higher.

4 Extend the area to store outboard motors and number the bays.

5 Extend the area to store oars.

6 Create a hanger for paddles in the same area as the oars.

7 Fit a strap to the ladders so they will not fall and stand vertically.

8 Build a custom storage for the Opti masts sails and centreboards similar to Nippa storage.

9 Build  a shelf for the blue esky

10 Create recycling bins .

11 Repair and replace Puffins as per Woody Point Donation.

12 Repair and clean BBQ's.

13 Tidy up office

14 Tidy up tackle bay

15 Tidy down stairs

16 Tidy kitchen and optimise storage using new cupboards

Vale Roman Zwolenski

Avalon Sailing Club would like to acknowledge the passing of long time member, Roman Zwolenski. Roman and Phil were active participants in the Club until only recently, sailing Kirin and more recently Valhalla, in both the Yacht Cruising and Racing Divisions. Over the years, Roman made many contributions to the Club including serving on the Committee, organising Working Bees and managing the Racks & Moorings.

For those of us who called Roman a friend, we will sorely miss the fun and warmth of his company. With his ready smile, Roman always looked for the best in people, and even in the worst of circumstances, he showed extraordinary inner strength, dignity and an ever-positive spirit.

The Club extends its deepest condolences to Phil and the rest of Roman’s family.

Vale Roman