HE BOAT IS JUST OVER TWO METRES LONG; white in colour and looks like the box another boat came in. It has a gaff rig, a brightly coloured sail and is battling valiantly to reach the top mark. The 8 year old skipper is working hard in 18kts of wind and is about to sail a 0.7 nautical mile course. That’s a long way in a little boat and big seas. The boat of course, is an Optimist, two of which were recent additions to the BYC training fleet to be used in conjunction with the existing fleet of Minnows. The skipper was Cameron Berry and that afternoon he displayed a level of determination and tenacity that would be impressive for someone twice his age. The best part was, when he reached the beach after the race, he was over the moon that he had completed the course and his only capsize was after the finish. Kids like Cameron are the future of our sport. Check out the video of him rounding the weather mark on the BYC YouTube channel.
Junior Development Juniors sailing in the afternoon have been pretty thin on the ground in recent years at BYC. The training programs always fill quickly but there has been a deficit of kids wanting to make the switch from training in the morning to sailing in the afternoon. Next season, BYC has a plan to change that. Grant Berry (Cameron’s father) will be running an advanced race-based coaching program in conjunction with afternoon racing. The program is aimed at juniors who wish to make the change but want to do so in a gradual and orderly way. The exact format has yet to be worked out but it will be designed to introduce juniors to racing and to help them develop their skills while doing so. Sailing’s future lies in its youngest sailors.
Adult Training It’s a big step to sign up as an adult to learn how to do something brand new and so alien in many ways. Something such as sailing maybe… Well done to all our new adult sailors as you complete your program for the season. We hope you got a lot out of it and decide to return next season because we’d love to have you back! It’s great to see you all getting out on the water in a variety of conditions and enjoying (almost) every second of it. We’ve been lucky this year with some great conditions for training and only a couple of sessions lost due to poor weather and it was wonderful to see a number of you putting your hand up to sail with Peter, Ian and Lachlan at the Pacer States at Parkdale. Again, well done for sticking it out through the challenging times and I’m sure you are well on your way to falling in love with sailing.
State and National success As the front cover announces, BYC has broken the decade-long drought of Australian Champions with Peter and Lachlan Sharp bringing home the top shelf silverware from the 43rd Javelin Australian Championship at Cairn Curran Sailing Club. Congratulations guys! Here’s a bit of trivia: Peter has been sailing Javelins since 1970 and has been Australian runner up 5 times. In the end it took 43 yeas (including a 18 year break sailing Pacers) but he got the win in the end!
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 suggestions for other items to add to the range please contact Will Sharp (contact details inside front cover).
Another Javelin skippered by Peter’s eldest son Michael and with yours truly crewing (and doing all the work) sailed into second place in the Javelin Victorian Championship this season, missing out on the top spot by one point. There’s always next year…
OTB Marine
had only been sailing the boat for six weeks before they competed in the Nationals at McCrae Yacht Club against 34 other Pacers and finished second overall. A great effort and definitely a boat to watch in the future.
Showroom:
BYC would like to welcome a new local chandlery to the Bayside area. OTB Marine is a specialist dinghy, skiff and stand up paddleboard supplier stocking all manAfter recently departing from the BYC Javelin ner of gear and equipment from fleet, Peter Kemp moved back into Pacers sailing the big names in sailing. Head on with his eldest daughter Lauren (age 9). They down and check them out!
Congratulations to Jon Pullham and Silke Weber who took out the 2012-13 Pacer Pursuit Victorian Championship at Parkdale YC over Labour Day. The Pursuit is an up-and-coming class and is a great option for crews who are looking for a bit more power but want to stay with Pacers.
Fleets Our fleet has been in good shape this season, certainly in better health than recent years. Numbers have been buoyed by the addition of several new boats from unexpected quarters. An example is the addition of two Paper Tigers who sailed several times during the season. Welcome to Bryan Anderson and Mark Wiggins, it has been quite some time since we have had multihulls on the beach at BYC and it’s nice to see some back. Hopefully we will see more of Bryan and Mark next season as we try to rebuild a multihull fleet.
6/347 Bay Rd Cheltenham (near Reserve Rd, next to the carwash) Phone: (03) 9917 2554 www.otbmarine.com.au
ISAF iPhone App Want to know the Racing Rules but don’t want to lug a blue book around? Get the new smartphone ISAF RRS app. Just 99c in the App Store, have the Racing Rules at your fingertips. Great for settling arguments and discussions quickly. Study the rules anywhere to know just where that boundary is and how far you can push it.
Shipmate iPhone App At a regatta and cant find a chandlery to replace broken bits and pieces? Get your hands on a Shipmate directory which lists all the chandleries and marine services in Victoria. They also have a great free iPhone app out so you have access to the entire directory anywhere.
It’s April now and we’re winding down towards winter in all its cold, wet and windy glory. Time to start making those lists of repairs now while the detail is still fresh. Then the jobs can be delayed or forgotten about right up until the end of Visit www.shipmate.com.au for September when the mad rush starts. You can’t more information. fight it, it always happens this way…