ELBOURNE IN OCTOBER… forecasts of varying inaccuracy, gale force winds, the inevitable weather change on Saturday afternoon which destroys Sunday…. Business as usual! The Opening Regatta was the only day of racing we got in October with a small fleet but fantastic winds starting in a nice 10-12 knots building to around 16 by the end of the afternoon. Then followed three weeks of blowouts and a nonsailing day when BYC was out in force at the Beaumaris Primary School fete. All in all, not the best start to the season but certainly not unusual for October. What followed was worth the wait. The first two Sundays in November treated the hardy BYC sailors with two of the best northerlies we‟ve had in a long time. Perfect sailing weather with 15-20 knots (and occasionally more!) with almost flat water… it all adds up to one thing – speed!
tions, a current that wouldn‟t let the boat sit straight at the start line and doing it all on a Championship Race day to top it all off! Around this time of the year many sailors are getting ready to head off to Nationals over the Christmas/New Year period. Nationals are a great way to increase your skill level. Nothing compares to being able to sail almost every day for a week. In my experience you learn more at an event like this than during the rest of the season combined. Not sure about going? Have a chat to others who are going (or have been in previous years). Chances are, they‟ll have a wealth of information about the club the event will be hosted by, the likely weather conditions and myriad other hints and tips. Check out Glenn Ashby‟s tips for those heading to Nationals this year on page 9.
Last but not least, this season there are changes afoot in the Race Management side of sailing at BYC. In previous seasons the starting sequence for Go Sailing Day was a multiple starts has been huge success at BYC this a 4,3,1,Start/3, 1 Start year with a high turnout sequence where the from the public on the start signal for the first back of the big promotion start was the warning push this year. Well done to everyone who Roger Wotherspoon and Tim Rance signal and the preparashowing Port Phillip who’s boss tory signal for the sechelped out to make this ond start. No longer! In event the success it was. A full report on the promotion effort and Go the interests of simplifying matters the new start sequence is a standard four minute seSailing Day can be found on page 7. quence for all starts. That is, in a two-start Both training programs kicked off in style on sequence the sound signals will go like this: November 13 with both the Adult and Junior 4min, 3min, 1min START/4min, 3min, 1min programs filled to capacity. Indeed, we have START etc. This will cut down on confusion a record number of participants in the Adult for new and visiting sailors and make life easprogram this year, 21 keen souls are who ier for everyone. The new start sequence is getting involved in this great sport. With the detailed in the updated BYC Sailing Instruccontinual works being done on the training tions available on the BYC website under the fleet these programs are improving more and “Racing” tab. more every year. Welcome to our new members. I hope you find the training at BYC fun With the weather fining up nicely I hope to see and useful and hopefully this is the start of a the BYC fleets building in the run up to Christmas, the bigger the fleets the more competilifelong love affair with sailing. tion and the closer and more fun the sailing is Our not-so-new recruits in the Rescue and for everyone. So break out the sailing gear, Race Management team are continuing to pack some sunscreen and get the boat wet, improve in leaps and bounds with Geoff and it‟s sailing time! Chris Perkins running their first afternoon of racing in November. They did extremely well Will Sharp, in what can best be described as trying condi- Rear Commodore. tions. Vastly varying wind speeds and direc-
MERCHANDISE The BYC merchandise range is still available! Currently the range is comprised of stubbie holders, a limited stock of hats and BYC branded polo shirts in both a standard and a CoolDry style. Samples of sizes and styles are available. For all orders or range suggestions please contact Will Sharp (contact details inside front cover).
CHEAPO! Anchor Marine is now offering 10% discounts on all stock if you are a member of a class association, club or event. Be sure to mention the discount when paying. Fitting out a new boat? Head on in and have a chat, they can do much better than 10% for that!
BENDIGO BANK GRANTS 2011 BYC was again successful in the latest round of Community Grants issued from Bendigo Bank. BYC received a cheque for $1500 to pay for two new Pacer mainsails for the BYC training fleet. Thank you again Beaumaris Community Bank!
THE REEF GOES NATIONAL! Those who are regular readers of the popular sailing magazine Australian Sailing may have noticed a familiar story in the May/June issue this year. After some serious editing bringing the original article down to less than half it‟s original size, 50 Years Fast from the Summer-Autumn 2011 issue of The Reef was featured in the magazine. Who knows... Maybe Motivations of Champions will soon be gracing the pages of Australian Sailing....