Yacht Section January Newsletter

Hi Yachtees,

Happy New Year and let’s hope for better things this year. No lockdowns and fair breezes.

Broken Bay Interclub Challenge

The second BBIC was successfully held on 12^th December following a couple of aborted attempts and 5 days before the Northern Beaches was locked down This was the 3 Island Race. GSC was strongly represented with 12 boats competing. We had 4 boats in the top 10 places. Overall after 2 races GSC is filling 7 out of the top 10 positions with Animal Farm 2^nd and Aeolian 3^rd.

The 3^rd BBIC is scheduled for 13/2/21 hopefully with no Northern Beaches restrictions by then.

Start Assistance Roster

Thank you to those crews who have already done a roster duty which our start crew greatly appreciate. The roster for the next few weeks is:

17/1/21                Rakali

31/1/21 (W/L)   Juvenile Delinquent

14/2/21                Sweet Chariot

I will send you a reminder closer to the date with details of what the duty involves. It is not onerous and each boat will be called upon once a season.

Sprint Series

The first half of the sprint series was held on 6^th December with everyone trying to perfect their starts. It was disappointing that only 3 boats joined the series in Div 2 however. After 3 races Sweet Chariot is leading Div 2.

Summer Series

2 races have been contested so far in unseasonal light and cool conditions. Hoping for a nor’easter soon. Devil’s Lair is currently leading Div 1 on PHS and Geriatric Express on AMS. More Fun is currently leading Div 2 and it was pleasing to see more entries for Div 2 for this series.

Junior Twilight Race

A very big thankyou to the skippers who handed over their Pride and Joys to a junior skipper. They all had a great time and loved the experience.

Spinnaker Twilight

Due to the new COVID regulations having to be sorted out and also a pretty crappy night when we would have had wet saggy spinnakers up, this event has been postponed till Wed 27^th Jan. Hopefully we will get a lovely evening with dozens of coloured sails on parade.

Current COVID Restrictions

As things stand at present. Residents of the Northern Beaches cannot visit our club until at least after 9/1/21 and we cannot visit Pittwater. The indoor club premises is back under the 4sq m rule. But outside on the deck off the boatshed 2sq m applies. You do not need to wear a mask for dining upstairs or for buying a drink in the Boatshed but you do need a mask for the Gaming Room.

There is now a Service NSW QR code to register on entering the club but when racing there is a separate QR code which is on the Sailing Instructions. I am assured this has been simplified to just your name, boat name and number.

Racing Rules of Sailing

The new RRS for 2021 to 2023 have started on 1^st Jan and I would strongly recommend you delete your old copy and download the new version. There have been a few changes. One is the definition of crossing a start/finish line. It is no longer the furthest extension of your boat such as a spinnaker or bowsprit but the hull. There have also been some changes to the definition of a finish line. Our Sailing Manager is in the process of altering the Sailing Instructions to comply with the changes.

Women Sailors Get Together

A very successful evening was held on 17^th Dec. About 30 of GSC’s women sailors attended. We had no idea how many of us there were. Thank you to Kate Haycock for organising the evening, our President and Commodore for manning the bar for the evening and to Deb Wallace from the Sailing Women’s Network for supplying the yummy food.

Coming Events

6/1/21 Twilight Race 8

9/10 Jan Offshore Sydney return races 2 and 3

13/1/21 Twilight Race 9

17/1/21 Inshore Summer race 3

20/1/21 Twilight Race 10

26/1/21 Australia Day regatta

27/1/21 Twilight theme night and Spinnaker Twilight

31/1/21 Inshore Summer races 4 and 5 Windward/Leewards

3/2/21   Twilight Race 11

5-7/2/21 ¼ and ½ Ton Regatta

See you on the water, happy racing.

Penny Dilworth

Yacht Captain.