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November 2015
Since our involvement in 2011 with the Lipton Cup Regatta, and with Port Melbourne Yacht Club joining the organising committee, we have seen a rise in competitors and the development of a high level regatta. It continues to provide our members and the wider sailing community with a highly competitive event and provides the opportunity for race management development and regatta delivery.
Two other very important International regattas take place on the water of Port Phillip Bay over the next few weeks:
- The 2015 Para World Sailing Championships are being held at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria (RYCV) between 24 Nov to 3 Dec 2015
- The ISAF Sailing World Cup will be conducted on the waters of Port Phillip Bay near the St Kilda precinct between 6 Dec to 13 Dec.
The 2015 Para Worlds is the final country qualifier for the 2016 Rio Paralympics Sailing competition. This elite sporting event is the pinnacle event in the IFDS sailing calendar and determines the World Champion, only 35 sailors can qualify for Rio. So far 84 boats, 142 sailors from 31 countries have entered with sailors competing in three classes. The 2.4m class for solo sailors, the SKUD18 class (mixed crew of two) and the Sonar class which is a three person boat.
The first few days will be taken up with registration, boat measurements and medical classification. A practice race will be conducted on the afternoon of the 27 November, with formal racing from 28 November through to 3 December.
Williamstown Sailing Club has agreed to assist RYCV in running this important event and has committed the following resources:
- use of clubrooms for race management personnel between 27 Nov - 3 Dec
- use of three boats between 27 Nov - 3 Dec (the use of our boats has three caveats: reimbursement of fuel, fee for use of boats, and one RIB be available Sat 28 Nov 8:30am - 1:00pm for delivery of our sail training program.)
The event racing areas will be in Hobsons Bay. PMYC will be able to conduct their club racing further south or south east towards St Kilda.
A few days after the Para Worlds the ISAF Sailing World cup will be conducted on the waters of Port Phillip Bay near the St Kilda precinct. Port Melbourne Yacht Club a partner club in this event will be assisting Yachting Australia and Yachting Victoria in the delivery of this important International event.
As one would expect both the 2015 Para Worlds and Sailing World Cup are fully supported by the Victorian Government and Yachting Australian and Yachting Victoria.
Club racing for WSC and PMYC sailors
On Sat 28 November - WSC Handicap Race (Race 2 of Series 2) will be hosted by and at Port Melbourne Yacht Club. A race briefing will be prepared by PMYC and sent over for our Officer of the Day to brief sailors on the racing conditions and the event. PMYC racing generally kicks off at 13:30 so stay tuned for updates and announcements on these arrangements.
On Sat 5 & 12 December - PMYC racing will be hosted by and at WSC.
Whilst these regattas are slightly disruptive to all sailing clubs in the running of club events, it's important to remember that as sailors we should always strive to give back to sport where we can.
Simon van den Berg | Commodore
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Lipton Cup results
Wow what a cracker of a weekend the Lipton Cup Regatta turned out to be! Fantastic weather, ideal race conditions and a friendly but competitive group of sailors out on the water!
Each year the Lipton Cup continues to grow in the number of sailors and boats participating. Last year the Off The Beach (OTB) Divisions totaled 55 entrants, this year we saw 27 boats competed in five divisions in Port Melbourne Yacht Club races, and 42 boats competed in three divisions at Williamstown Sailing Club bringing our total Off The Beach boats to 71.
I'm incredibly proud of the small group of members who entered and won trophies and prizes in both the OTB races and keel boat divisions this year, most of our sailors who entered finished in the top three positions.
In the Trailable Yachts and Sports Boats events congratulations go to WSC members Sue Burke (Swallow) and Peter Wright (Fiz IV) for coming 1st and 2nd respectively on [PHS] in Division D of the Keelboat Races.
In the Off the Beach events congratulations go to the following club members:
Division 2
- 1st place (Phantom) Skipper Trevor Burke & Crew Detlef Becker
- 2nd place ( Rincewind) Skipper Doug Vockler & Crew Basil Sharkey
- 3rd place (Sea Somfin) Andrew Keil
Division 3
- 1st place (Fire in the Sky) Skipper Stefan Gevers
- 3rd place (LOL) Glenn Charlesworth
Check TopYacht for all race results: Off The Beach results and Keelboat results
Volunteers
To all of the volunteers who assisted on the day, well done a fantastic effort. The on-water race management was once again of a very high standard and great to see many club members involved. Without our volunteers events such as this simply wouldn't happen, they are truly the backbone of a successful Regatta. As special mention for the crew on board our Blue RIB Willy 3 in their very timely assistance to one of our capsized boats returning from races conducted at Port Melbourne Yacht Club.
- Race Control Tower: Noel Craven and Graham Knight
- Course Boat (Willy 1): Race Officer - Stephen Meddings, Crew Rod Assafiri & Kevin Holland.
- Rescue (Blue RIB Willy 3): Bruce Mansfield, Michael Attard & Howard Hughes (from Royal Geelong Yacht Club)
- Committee Boat (Jack Cox): Race Officer: Simon van den Berg; Time keeper & finish times: Brian Fentiman; Line sighter & finish order: Sue Harman (from Royal Geelong Yacht Club); Signals (flag): Richard Vuat (from Metung Sailing Club); Course board & signal (horn): Jarrod Meddings
- Canteen: Noel Craven and Dawn Beattie
More information about the day is on our website.
Bernie Kaaks has now posted all of his photos from the Lipton Regatta on Flickr. If you would like a digital image or print, please contact Bernie at berniekaaks@bigpond.com
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Learn to sail course - volunteers needed
Our annual learn to sail program will be starting at the club in early November. On the Saturday morning session Saturdays in November - Allan, Gary and Doug need extra helpers and experienced OTB skippers where we need one-on -one help. Please let them know of your availability and come down and help for a short period, the more helpers the easier it is for everyone. Ensuring a positive experience results in more trainees wanting to join the club.
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Discover Sailing Day – 10 Jan 2016: boats and volunteers needed
The planning for our Discover Sailing Day on Sunday 10 Jan 2016 has begun.
Discover Sailing Day is a great a day to allow non-sailors to come and try sailing. It’s an important day to promote our club and attract new members. This is a wonderful chance to bring down your own family and friends to enjoy our club facilities and get out in a sailing boat with an experienced sailor, or even a RIB to see what life is like on the water.
To make the day a success we need as many club members to assist as possible. We need:
- about 25 club members (hosts, registration desk, sailors, rescue boat crew,observers in the tower, and helpers in the BBQ and bar)
- at least six Off The Beach boats
- as many trailable yachts as possible.
Last year the most interest was in people getting out on trailable yachts. So we will need members who own trailables to bring their boats and share the experience of sailing with others. We will also need some people to take out guests in club Pacers and other OTB boats.
Peter Behrendt will be the coordinator, so if you can lend a hand in any way please either send an email to secretary@williamstownsailingclub.org.au or call Peter on 0410 403 578.
Find out more about the Discover Sailing Day program
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Social calendar
Upcoming events
- Mexican Bar Night - Friday 4 December. Simple Mexican food, with great live music from the ‘Angelicats’. The bar will be open from 6pm, food from 6.30 pm, and live music from 6.30 till about 8.30. These events are open to non-club members and are a way for us to attract new social members to the club. For those in the know, the Williamstown Sailing Club donkey will be making an appearance!
- Christmas party - Saturday 19 December. We have ‘The Long & Short of It’ to entertain us with some lively foot stomping music for dancing to. There will be a great spread of food, lots of merriment and festive celebrations. Tickets will be on sale from 21 November. Adults $30, children (5-18) $10 Families $70. Order tickets through secretary@williamstownsailingclub.org.au or buy at canteen on Saturday mornings.
- XMAS hamper raffle. The Social Committee is re-introducing the Xmas Hamper raffle that will be drawn at the Christmas party, as a fund raising activity. We will use these funds towards purchasing more games activities to be used in the upstairs area, and to purchase extra catering equipment. We are looking for club members to donate items for the hamper. All donations can be handed in at the canteen on Saturdays. Tickets for the hamper raffle will be on sale at the canteen during December. Please help us to make this a super duper hamper. Your generous donations will be appreciated.
A successful pizza night
What a great turn out we had at the club on Friday 6 November for our first Friday night with live music. We are providing opportunities for some performer members from the Newport Fiddle & Folk Club to get some “live gig” opportunities at some of our first Friday of the month Bar Nights. This month we had ‘The Good Earth’, and Isabel Rose performing. It was great to see members of the Newport Fiddle & Folk Club join in the evening, supporting the musicians and enjoying the view and the pizzas. Jude, from the bar informs me that they enjoyed our quality wine selection, which helps our coffers. Thanks to ‘Team Pizza’ who helped provide the tasty pizza slices which went down a treat.– Julie & Jim, Tracey, Catherine, Marg, Sue and Lois.
See the website for more information.
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Buy/swap/sell news
Sabre for sale: Goblin - recently painted and varnished, trolley included - stored indoors. Sail in good condition. $990 ready to sail. Call John 0439619330
See the board in the club for all other buy/swap/sell news.
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Fishing competition
It was a great turn out for the inter club fishing comp this year between WSC and Albert Park Yachting & Angling Club (APYAC) hosted by Williamstown Sailing Club in November, with around 25 club members competing as well as around 10 from Albert Park Yachting and Angling club. It was even good to see a couple of sailing members Jim and Julie Reeves getting into it on Leigh Farrell's boat Elvis rocking and rolling out at the Gellibrand mark. The only big fish caught by member was a 5.78 kg snapper by Rod Assafari and a 5 kg snapper by Trevor Burke still not good enough to win any prizes. All prizes were taken out by Albert Park members with the largest snapper weighing in at 5.88 kgs, heaviest bag at 9.6 kgs and the heaviest other was a salmon at 1.18kgs won by one of the youngest members from APYAC 8 year-old Tristen.
A great day was had by all finishing of with a BBQ and drinks at WSC. A big thanks to Lois Hunt for organizing the BBQ as well as Mara Patchet. Sue Burke for tending the bar and Leigh Farrell for cooking the BBQ.
The competition was cost neutral to the club due to donations from Budge, Trevor Burke and Jim Hawkins all items donated went toward prizes for raffles that were held throughout the year and proceeds went into paying for prizes and food.
James D’Aquino
Help needed for a WSC fishing comp in the new year
WSC is hoping to arrange another fishing competition for club members only in the new year (late Jan to early Feb). James d’ Aquino is looking for helpers within the fishing members to help out with organising and ideas to run it. Any club members interested in helping or wanting more details should contact James D’Aquino on 0410597550 by the end of November.
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Changes to club memberships
At the Annual General Meeting in July this year, the members voted for changes to some of our membership categories. We have not been good at promoting these changes, so it is time to start to talk about them as these changes may be relevant for you and your family, or friends who you feel may want to get involved with our club.
Changes we have made:
- Introduced a Social membership – attend club events, make us of club facilities, do not participate in boating activities, cannot hold a position on Committee, and do not have voting rights. (A social member could participate in our annual river boat cruise as this is a social event)
- Added a Student membership for full time students between 18 to 25.
- Changed Family membership to also include any full time students between 8 to 25.
- Re-introduced Associate Members - this is a long standing partner of a Senior member, does not participate in boating activities, no voting rights and no independent access to club. There is no cost involved to be an Associate member.
One of the aims of introducing the new Social membership class is to attract new members to the club, who don’t want to be involved in water activities but want to be involved in social activities at the club. So if you have friends and family who you feel this may suit, please let them know about the club. Information about our various membership classes are on the website, or can be sourced from Leigh our Secretary at secretary@williamstownsailingclub.org.au
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TACKERS sailing programs
Don’t forget that any club members who have either done a TACKERS program, or would like to give it a go, that they are welcome to attend the Saturday morning TACKERS sessions from 10am till midday. Grace and her team of assistant instructors will be on hand to supervise some games and activities on and off the water, and provide opportunity to practice some sailing skills.
School holiday TACKERS program
If you are looking for something for your kids, grandchildren or other friends to do for the last week of the school holidays, don’t forget our TACKERS programs. There are still some vacancies in the TACKERS 1 and TACKERS 2 programs being run at the club from 18 to 22 January.The TACKERS 1 will be in the morning from 8.30am-midday, with TACKERS 2 from 1-5pm.
Information and enrolment forms are on the website.
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BBQ roster for sailing members
Please check the BBQ rosters up on the noticeboard near the canteen. If you are rostered on for BBQ duty and you are not available on that day, it is your responsibility to swap with someone else.
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Canteen helpers needed
We always looking for a few extra people to help with canteen duty on Saturday mornings from about 10.30am till 1.30pm. We have a small number of regulars and they would always love an extra helper or two to share the load. Helping in the canteen is a great way to get to know people around the club. If you would be available to help us in the canteen, even if it's just once over the summer, please call Lois on 0412341223.
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