From the Tiller

The season so far has been marked by extreme weather at both ends of the spectrum. It was great seeing some F11s doing ‘speed trials’ in the howling westerly last weekend (Sunday 6 October)...while I chose to watch from Red Rib. 

In the meantime we had some of our young sailors (Freddie A, Emma T) representing the club at regattas.

The start of the season has been busy with the Working bee, Opening day and we had Jim Colley inspire our young sailors on Sunday, 15 September.  

Last weekend was Pittwater at its best. We had dolphins, whales, good music, sailors, a flock of commodores and even some gatecrashers on a tender off the beach at our deck party on Friday, with a stunning sunset in the west and some distant lightning in the north, followed by one of the best sailing days on Sunday 13 October. 

The gathering was a good opportunity to exchange commodore burghees and to thank Ian Craig and the shed floor builders for their efforts to complete the floor in record time. 

We are looking forward to hosting the Spiral States at ASC on 23/24 November and will need volunteers. Separate email to follow. 

We are conducting a member audit and a rack audit and will be in touch with members whose registrations are incomplete over the next week. Please pay your fees by the end of this October.

There are lots of dates for your sailing diary in this newsletter. Please read through to the end.

Helena van de Linde

Commodore

Opening Day 8 September 2024

Opening day was a lot of fun despite there not being enough wind to start a yacht race. Commodore Helena was enjoying her new role; saluting the fleet and showering them with treats from the stern of Lucinda. The Centreboard fleet managed one and a half races in shifty conditions with winners for the Rudder Trophy, Emma T & Fred A in their Flying 11 Zephyr 1388. Jeff C Spiral 906 placed first for the Adults. The red group also had a great first outing to sail past Lucinda.

Blue Group Learn To Sail Start day

James Colley visited Avalon Sailing Club, fresh from representing Australia at the Olympics in France, on Sunday 15 September to inspire our junior sailors,. Jim sailed with ASC from 2007 to 2010 in his Manly Junior, Bullet 2775 and together with his brother Tom won the MJ Nationals in Cronulla in 2010. Jim commented that we have a great group of young sailors and coaches, and nominated ASC to receive a $1000 Woolworths sports grant as a donation to an Australian grassroots sports club that holds a special significance for them. Legend!

Spring Deck Party

The skies cleared, the weather was perfect and we were treated to a superb sunset. Local duo “Last Men Standing” provided the sound track, whilst members enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, cooked dinner on the BBQ and made good use of the bar. Kingsley was out on Red Rib with some foilers, kids had fun on the water. It was great to see many familiar faces, including five former Commodores, and really good to meet new members. I think we will try this format more often as it seems to suit most members and our location very well.

There are plenty more Photos of the evening in our online Gallery: https://www.revolutionise.com.au/avalonsailingclub/gallery/13871

2024 NSW YOUTH SAIL - Teralba 

By Anja Attrill

245 sailors in 11 different classes from around Australia got on the water off Teralba Amateur Sailing Club, Lake Macquarie over the long weekend for the 2024 Youth Sail NSW Regatta. A 2-day coaching clinic was held leading up to the regatta, providing great opportunity for fine-tuning skills.

Fred A representing ASC joined his friend Nic D from Belmont 16s in a Flying 11 in a strong fleet of 24 boats. Nic and his older sister Sophie both learnt to sail at ASC before moving to Belmont some years back. Tricky conditions with fickle winds made for challenging sailing, but the boys sailed really well and came away with 9th place overall, which they should be very proud of. Sophie and her crew Harriet had a very successful regatta and won the F11 overall. Well done all!!!

I can only emphasize that if your goal is to improve your sailing - Go to Regattas! Sailing in a bigger fleet provides a fantastic opportunity to build your skill set. Busy start line, boat handling in a crowd and generally learning from others by watching is the best way to grow as a sailor, -it doesn’t get better than that! 

WildCat Regatta - Forster - October long weekend 

By Sarah Tallis

Emma T has been lucky enough to participate in many regattas on a Hobie 18 part of Olympian John Forbes Hobie 18 Reimagined programme. (Lake Keepit, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Pittwater)

https://www.facebook.com/Hobie18catamaran

John refurbished ten Hobie 18s to immaculate condition, for youth sailors to compete in various Hobie Regattas around the country. He encourages parents to sail with the kids. The inspiration for this programme was to spend more time with his teenage daughter and give back to the sport of Sailing and making it fun for all.

The Wildcat Regatta had a fleet of 91 boats, over ten different classes of Cats, with eleven Hobie 18s. The sailor’s age ranged from 75 down to 14 with eight of the boats crewed by Father/ Daughter or Father/Son combinations, with the kids steering and dads crewing. There was intense competition as well as plenty of friendly banter.

Emma sailed with her Dad, David, in light and shifty norwest winds. They managed some great results finishing 5th overall. They got a couple of 2nd places and learnt a lot sailing with many different boats on the course. It was all close racing, and the race committee did a fantastic job getting six races in.

After the racing Emma and her friends decided they had not had enough and went back out and blasted around in Hobie 14s when the NorEaster came in. Most of the kids learnt to sail in Open Skiffs and were well suited to the fast-moving pace and using trapeze on the Hobie 18s.

Emma is looking forward to the F11 states with Freddie A at Middle Harbour Yacht Club, then the Open Skiffs in the famous Dolphin Chaser in Mannering Park, followed by the Hobie  ‘Beware of the Bullets’ regatta in Pittwater. 

Registrations

All members should have completed their annual registrations by now, those who haven’t risk having their scores disqualified. There are still a few spots left in Blue & Red learn to sail - so if you have some friends who may be interested, make sure they register ASAP so as not to miss any more of the tuition. 

During October we will audit all members to check the correct items have been selected for sailing participation (racing, learn to sail etc), storage and invoices paid.

Registering children with the right details can be confusing, especially when registering multiple members of the family. Some parents have inadvertently registered themselves, instead of their child, for learn to sail - we will work through these with you to correct them. 

Note that once any person (Adults & Children alike) has registered as a member, they will be assigned an Australian Sailing number, which will stay with that person for their sailing life and against which can be recorded all certifications (learn to sail, instructor etc) and participation - so it’s important to have this correct.

Each members’ registration for Blue, Red and Gold forms the basis of our sign on sheets. These are an important safety protocol, ensuring everyone attending is accounted for as returned at the end of the day, as well as a record of attendance which feeds into the certificates of completion of the Australian Sailing courses. Please ensure your child signs on and off each day. If you are racing and you do not sign on/off you your race results do not count. Yacht skippers are required to radio in before starting to confirm their boat’s attendance for the day.

Yacht Crew

Yacht Crew are reminded to renew or activate their membership, failure to do so could see the boat disqualified under rule 46 of the Australian Racing Rules of Sailing (See below). Yacht Crew Membership is only $145 for the year and provides the member with eligibility to race in any Australian, or international, sailing events.

Australian Racing Rules of Sailing:

46 PERSON IN CHARGE 

A boat shall have on board a person in charge designated by the member or organization that entered the boat. See rule 75. Australian Sailing prescribes that the person in charge shall be a member of a Club affiliated to Australian Sailing and have an Australian Sailing number, or, if an international competitor, a member of club affiliated to a World Sailing recognised Member National Authority. 

Furthermore, except in an international event, any crew member who sails in more than 3 races in a season shall be a member of a Club affiliated to Australian Sailing and have an Australian Sailing number. From 1st January 2022, all persons on board a boat while racing shall be members of a Club affiliated to Australian Sailing and have an Australian Sailing number, or hold a valid Sail Pass, or if an international competitor, be a member of club affiliated to a World Sailing recognised Member National Authority

A Sail Pass is a free registration valid for 3 races, designed to cover those circumstances where a new crew member isn’t a member of any sailing club, and isn’t ready to join one. If you have an unregistered crew member joining you in a race, you can have them signup for a Sail Pass, via our membership page online to ensure you comply with the Racing Rules of Sailing. 

Select and then when prompted:

Volunteering

The season has begun, and we need to ensure we have an Officers of the Day and Canteen and On Water support for Centreboard racing rostered on for every Sunday leading up to Christmas.

All members have been encouraged in a number of recent communications to volunteer through the SignUp software and select a date and role that suits them best. (ie. Blue/Red Parents to do Morning Canteen, Gold Parents to do On Water support in the afternoon, Yacht sailors to do Officer of the Day-pm role)

We strongly encourage you to sign up ASAP. Those that fail to self select a date will be rostered on by the roster manager. It is very much appreciated when members self-select, otherwise it creates a workload on others to work through the data and create a roster - and therefore an unnecessary burden on your fellow volunteers.

If you haven’t already please select a slot that suits you best to avoid getting rostered on for one that may not. Description of roles and detail on volunteering is on the Sunday Sailing Program web page

Volunteer for a morning role Click Here

Volunteer for an afternoon role Click Here

You do not need to create an account nor log in. Simply scroll through the list of dates and roles and pick one that suits you and click the sign on button, and then type in your details and email address. You will receive a confirmation via email, and a reminder the week prior. 

Dates for your diary

2024-25 Season Calendar on a page

You can check the details for all events on our website: https://www.revolutionise.com.au/avalonsailingclub/events

Saturday 5th, 12th 19th 26th Oct, 2nd 9th 16th Nov U25 Gold Training

Saturday 5th, 12th, 19th Oct Adult Back into Pacers

Saturday 26th Oct, Saturday 9th, 16th Nov Adult Learn to sail

Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th Nov NSW Spiral Championships (No Blue, Red or Gold that weekend)

Saturday 21st Dec Xmas Party from 4pm, BYO food

BYRA - Saturday Adventure Sailing

Can’t get enough of sailing in Pittwater? Is the Saturday forecast better than Sunday? 

BYRA is holding Adventure Sailing events on Saturdays once a month. BYRA sailors will depart the beach at 12:00 and head for an adventure destination on Pittwater (could be Towlers, Portuguese Beach, Basin). Avalon Sailors are welcome to join. If we have more than 5 we will need to provide our own support boat.

• Saturday 19th October

• Saturday 9th November

• Saturday 21st December (we have our xmas party then in the afternoon)

• Saturday 15th February

• Saturday 15th March

Here is information about the Adventure Sailing event

Centreboard Class Regattas:

10 Nov F11 NSW Round 1 Middle Harbour Yacht Club

16-17 Nov Open Skiff Dolphin Chaser regatta – Mannering Park

23-24 Nov MJ States – Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Newport

23-24 Nov Spiral States at Avalon Sailing Club

7-8 Dec Open Skiff Manly Cup

26-30 Dec MJ Nationals

14-19 Jan F11 Nationals Belmont

Cruising Dates

2-3 Nov Smiths Creek

23-24 Nov Hallets Beach Xmas Cruise

Working Bee 7 Sep 2024

Thank you to all the members who helped to prepare the club for the season. We exceeded our expectations of what could be achieved. It was great to see so many young sailors help as well.

Keep Pittwater clean 

The downstairs floor rebuild and the working bee has given us the opportunity to clean up the club. Please keep it that way. Any drink cans, popper packs, Styrofoam coffee cups and lolly wrappers will blow off the rigging deck or balcony and end up in Pittwater. Let’s work together to keep Pittwater clean. If you see something left lying around that is clearly rubbish please pick it up and put it in the bin upstairs. This seal was spotted off Stokes Point on 26 August, and we had a whale and her calf and dolphins off the sailing club while setting up for the deck party on Friday 11 October. 

Donation to Hornsby Scouts

On 7 September we donated four Optimist Hulls, 2 rigs and assorted parts to the Epping  Scouts group. 

RPAYC - 11m One Design 30th Anniversary 13 December, 6pm

RPAYC is organising a celebration and walk-down memory lane. Some ASC members sail in this class; Peter G (Force 8), Helena vdL (Ultimate Tune). There will be a great band!

Twenty-three of these competitive boats were built in NSW from the early ‘90s onward and they still have a strong presence at RPAYC, in Newport. The organising team has been researching the history of this class in Australia, talking to the instigators of the class in Australia, boat builders, designers, owners and sailors past and current.   

This event is open to non-members and you can book here: 

Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (nowbookit.com)

RPAYC Hansa Worlds 23-30 March 2025

The Hansa World Championships are on their way to RPAYC and will be sailed on Pittwater 23 - 30 March 2025. 

This is a Paralympic World event with up to 150 attendees. It will be BIG, COLOURFUL and FUN for everyone involved. They need volunteers to help in various capacities. If you want to be involved you can register HERE