Hi everyone. This is likely my last message as Commodore. The BSC constitution sets a limit of 3 consecutive years for the position of Commodore. Thanks for having me!
PRESENTATION EVENING Our presentation evening on 11 May was very successful, thanks to Laurie Hoffman’s organising skills. For the first time in some years, all of our patrons attended, being representatives from HMAS Penguin, Mosman Mayor, Carolyn Corrigan and Member for the NSW electorate of North Shore, Felicity Wilson. VOLUNTEER LUNCH AND RECOGNITION Our annual lunch to recognise the achievements and contributions of our active volunteers was held 15 June. We had a record turnout and gave out some neat 3D printed boats for some of the more notable achievements (see picture). Also pictured is Pete Conway receiving the “Awesome” award. He gave us an inspiring talk about his recent volunteering exploits on the water in remote parts of PNG. AGM Our AGM will be held at 1.00pm on Saturday 3rd August at the clubhouse. As usual the main formal actions will be to elect up to 9 directors and to adopt the annual financial statements. It is also a chance to the informally discuss plans and BSC’s direction with the new board. WORKING BEE A working bee is planned for Saturday 13 July. More details to follow. POWERBOAT MAINTENANCE Since returning from volunteering in PNG, Pete Conway has agreed to take charge of maintenance of our powerboats. He is very qualified to do so being a marine engineer working on warships at Garden Island. It might be handy to install torpedoes on Yellow Fin. NSW GOVERNMENT GRANT – OPEN SKIFFS BSC has been successful securing funding from the Community Building Partnership Program. The funds will be used assist with the purchase of Open Skiff (formerly Open Bic) dinghies to support our junior sailing program. Tristan Whitehorne and Andrew Dent are developing a plan to add momentum to our junior program. NATIONAL RO Many of you are already aware but I wanted to let all members know that Karen Savery achieved accreditation as a National level Race Officer from Australian Sailing. She joins Peter Moor as the other club member with this accreditation. See link to She Sails article: News - Australian Sailing - SheSails DONATIONS Our upcoming capital expenditure includes:
If you wish to contribute a tax deductible donation to help fund these items, “projects” have been set up on the Australian Sports Foundation site, see links:
ROLY WEBB – RETIREMENT Roly has let us know he is retiring from volunteering at BSC. As many of you know, Roly has had a distinguished innings at the club. He is a life member, sailor, mentor, powerboat driver, former director and led the powerboat and premises maintenance work for some years. We wish Roly all the best. See you on the water! Michael
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Hi everyone. Welcome to our new sailing and volunteer members, BSC is a special place to get on the water.
This is my last note of the year ahead of our last 2023 racing day on 16 December. The first 2024 BSC racing day will be 13 January. SAILING EVENTS As foreshadowed BSC hosted events in October and November for NSW Windsurfers, Manly Junior teams racing and the NSW Aero states. On 9 December we hosted NS14’s. It was a super blowy day. We had no major incidents other than Alex Holmes (the Calamari Kid) landing a squid in his Aero after a tangle with a fishing line. For those who don’t see Robbo’s pics on Facebook, my favourite Robbo pics from the day can be seen below as a separate blog entry. Good luck to our sailors competing in their upcoming regattas.. PROTEST COMMITTEE A gap in our capabilities is handling protests. This was tested at the recent Aero NSW state titles where we had a formal protest. I would like to develop a pool of people to help with this. Australian Sailing has online resources to help train people. Nick Collis-George has kindly offered to chair the protest committee. Please let Nick or me know if you want to get involved (as a judge that is, not so much as a protestor). A great personal development opportunity! START BOAT TO BE NAMED “BUNGAREE” Bungaree (1775-1830) was a local legend and seafarer. Amongst many other accomplishments, he accompanied Matthew Flinders on the first circumnavigation of Australia. See link: Bungaree - Wikipedia . Our start boat will no longer be named after a royal castle in Scotland. RACE RESULTS SOFTWARE Richard Shaw successfully implemented Sailwave for the Aero class. It was used at the recent Aero NSW state titles. Other classes may wish to consider it, the cost is zero, otherwise keep enjoying excel! BLOG Let me know if you think a blog is a good way to communicate. To be effective we have to post often so that members will look at it often. See you on the water! Michael Message from the Commodore – Spring 2023
The new season has kicked of with some great weather and close racing. Fine tuning of our courses and GPS locations for marks were tested in Spring and have been adopted. Lots of great implementation ideas are being tested on our new start boat (thanks Boyd and others). UPCOMING EVENTS BSC is hosting the following events:
TWILIGHT SAILING Thursday night twilight practice are races open to all. On the water at 5:30 for as many 15 minute races as we can fit in. JUNIOR SAILING PROGRAM This season the fleet is transitioning to the Open Bic class. Over a dozen kids are sailing with us. Objectives include gaining regatta experience and developing pathways to our other classes. RACE MANAGEMENT TRAINING As part of a push to increase the skills in our team, several members have completed formal Australian Sailing courses including:
NEW VOLUNTEERS We regularly look for new volunteers. Social media groups are proving a useful source. We recently had 45 expressions of interest via Facebook and so far we have converted several into keen volunteers. RACE RESULTS SOFTWARE Richard Shaw is investigating software to replace the myriad excel spreadsheets we have for the various classes. INDIGENOUS RECOGNITION We intend to start on a journey that respectfully recognises indigenous connections with the land and water that BSC uses. This might include website references, flags, our new start boat name. If you have ideas or expertise in this area, or if you have indigenous connections yourself, please let me know. See you on the water! Michael New season starts 9 September
We will be trialing some refined courses instead of holding the usual Spring sprint series. ![]() Hi everyone This coming Saturday is the MARATHON for all classes. The start is 30 minutes earlier than usual at 1.30pm. Pre-race briefing will be 12.15pm. The Mirror/Moth/F11 are the duty classes. Please advise me who will be the duty officer for the day? The list of duties is on the website. NB the BBQ is back on the list. I have given up giving you the BOM forecast, as whatever it is today will be completely different by Saturday. I suggest you check out these two websites. https://www.seabreeze.com.au/weather/wind-forecast/sydney https://forecast.predictwind.com/overview Please sign off PROMPTLY when returning to the beach, use the tablet in the foyer, your phone or a friend’s phone as the RO has to complete safety checks and prompt signing off makes it easier for our volunteers to ensure you are all safely back on shore. The sign on and off forms are on the BSC website home page. Woollahra Sailing Club has asked us to help them try to stop the Woollahra Council's proposed playground development from threatening public access to a family-friendly boat ramp. If you want to help, please click on this link to sign the petition. Regards Kevin Wadham (Club Captain) |