iN SYnC Winter 2019

Page 7

VICE COMMODORE SAIL Drew Jones Dear Members As the days get shorter, and the nights longer, the summer sailing season comes to an end, we have enjoyed marvellous weather for the majority of our sailing events with all fleets going from strength to strength. With all fleets now aligned, May will see the start of the new sailing season for all divisions. This has been a huge effort by the sailing team at Hollywell and the divisional representatives, to prepare the new sailing calendar in time for this start. Congratulations and many thanks for the many long hours these hardworking sailing team members contribute to our successful sailing at SYC. We now oversee over 400 races across our 6 fleets. With the conclusion of our summer series we have many winners and my congratulations go out to all these skippers and their crews. But it goes without saying that there can’t be winners without other competitors and thanks to all the others skippers and their crews who turn up to race every time. These larger fleets have experienced tight competitive racing across our divisions with many close results. The post race camaraderie enjoyed by our sailors at both Hollywell and Main Beach is fantastic to see. The offshore and twilight racing has been very close sometimes with only a few minutes separating the top placings. Also a great thank you to all our sponsors who provide prizes for our racing. Not the main reason we race, but a nice incentive and icing on the cake at the end of a hard day’s racing. The lady skipper’s race again was sponsored by our great supporter Telemachus Jewellers. This was his 28 th year of sponsorship for our Club. It is much appreciated by all our sailing members. As well as our Club racing we have had many Club sailors travelling to regattas in Australia and overseas, to compete under the flag of SYC. This is very satisfying seeing both our junior and senior sailors reaching such a high standard and vindicates all our efforts in fostering coaching and training, especially in our junior ranks. Flying the flag as always is Mat Belcher and Will Ryan as they race in regattas around the World in preparation for their tilt at 2020 Olympics in Japan. Joel Turner and his new partner Tom Needham are also members of the Australian Sailing team and trying for a spot at the next Olympics.

At the 2018/19 NSW Nacra State titles Rob Wibaux and Brett Kelly finished a very commendable 3rd overall. At the Australian Youth Nationals in Tasmania, Blake Wilson and Lachlan Wheatley finished in 15th place overall in the 420 class. Also Sam Maryland was 26th in the Laser 4.7 , Melanie Watson 31st in Laser and Dylan Lynch 34th in Laser Radial. It takes a great effort by these competitors and parents and support teams to compete at these regattas. Well done ! At 5th National Titles for the Open Bic class we had some great results in the gold fleet. Jonah Parry was 2nd, Lachlan O’Gorman 4th, and Ariel Ding 7th. Ariel was also 1st female in U16 and 5th in U16 overall. Graham Sherring and his crew on Retuned had a great 3rd result, at the Australian Sport Boat Championships held at the recent Sail Port Stephens Regatta. It is pleasing to see all these sailors from our Club representing SYC at such an elite level. All of our racing is dependent on our volunteers and we thank them. Without them our racing would be severely limited. I would also encourage more of our skippers, crews and friends to become actively involved in volunteering when they can. I am sure you will find it rewarding to watch other fleets than your own racing and it’s a great way to meet other members with the same interests. With the closing of the sailing season all fleets are now looking forward to their respective presentation events where the winners are deservedly rewarded for their efforts throughout the year I encourage all of our junior and senior sailors to attend these presentations to acknowledge and support the great efforts of their competitors during this year. So put on your glad rags and let’s celebrate a successful sailing year. I look forward to another even better year of sailing and I am proud to be involved with SYC. See you on the water. Drew Jones Vice Commodore Sail

A big fleet of our sailors had a fun but very wet weekend down at the Big River Regatta at Harwood recently with some very commendable results with Chris Holdt, Ben Lowrey and Larry Dean 1st in their divisions,Emma Hutchison and Shane Smith and Melanie Watson achieving 2nd in their divisions. Kelvin Holdt came 3rd, David Vincent 4th, Steven Humphris 6th, and Damien Widdy a creditable 7th. Well done to all participants.

Southport Yacht Club | iN SYnC | 7


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iN SYnC Winter 2019 by Southport Yacht club - Issuu