The Gosford Etchells Fleet has enjoyed a resurgence of late with several new members joining, bringing the total number of boats on the hardstand to eleven of which ten are regularly on the water. The growth in the fleet has led to a crew shortage on a number of boats. Fortunately GSC has a very successful adult Learn to Sail program using our fleet of Magic 25’s and this has provided us with a number of very able recruits of suitable strength and weight.

Hosting the NSW States in February 2019 was very successful however it confirmed that we as a fleet need to lift our standards in order to be more competitive at regattas. To this end we have implemented a number of initiatives; The services of the one and only Nev Wittey have been engaged to run a total of four coaching days this season. Long days on the water and in the seminar room reviewing the videos have been invaluable. We have also adjusted our season program to include more multiple race days in order to build our starting and mark rounding skills. Finally we have simply agreed to be more open with each other with regular discussions on rig tuning and boat handling techniques in person and via our WhatsApp group. We are also fortunate to have as fleet members John (Whale Spars) Denton and Simon (Sly) Smith who between them can deal with pretty much any Etchells issue that may arise.

The hard work seems to be paying off with intense competition on the water resulting in four different scratch winners so far this season.

Andrew Heenan

Fleet Captain