Rear Commodore Sailing Report (November Nautical News)

Dear Members

It has been an eventful start to the sailing season and it is pleasing to see the energy and enthusiasm across the sections.  I’d like to congratulate the section captains and their committees for their work so far.  Coordinating the sailing program and the various calendars is a complex task and it can’t be done without the contribution of the volunteers on committees and the highly professional work of Vanessa, our Sailing Activities Coordinator.

Special events

The Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships are nearly here.  Racing starts on Saturday 3rd and runs until Sunday 18th of December.  Our club is providing both volunteers and support boats to this enormous project.  Peter Kennington and the team of volunteer officials have been working tirelessly to get ready.

The opening ceremony for ISAF is planned for Friday 2 December, with a parade of the athletes through the streets of Perth and a presentation at Forest Place.  A team of boats and yachts will then start the Parade of Sail down the Swan River and Nobby Brown from EFYC will be part of this parade culminating in a flag hoist at Fremantle.  Members are encouraged to join in the sail parade.  Don’t miss this historic event.

Well done to the newest bunch of centre boarders – our Sabre builders and sailors.  On last count, we had 9 new Sabres operating in the section.  All credit to Steve Knight and his band of Dads Army warriors getting this fleet in shape.  Beware though these guys show no mercy on the water, even the biggest power boats stand clear of this lot.

The Cape Vlamingh Offshore Race held on 21 October attracted 27 entries.  Congratulations to the all those who participated, my thanks to the sponsor Wild Oats and our race officials who did a great job.

Planning is underway to organise the next Sports Boat Classic Rumble in the Reach scheduled for 14 January 2012.  Last year’s race was a fantastic spectacle and we are hoping to reach the same lofty standards this year.

Sail Training

Sail training provides and an important entry for sailors to our sport and the EFYC now has 4 youth sail trainers and 9 keelboat instructors operating in our training school.  The training program is fully accredited with Yachting Australia and it means trainees who complete the training can rely on this qualification anywhere across the country.

We have completed a Keelboat Crew program in October and another is underway now.  All trainees, who have completed the crew course, have been taken up as crew across the keelboat section and we hope to continue this.  Skippers needing crew should contact either me or Vanessa in the Office.  

We are scheduling a third crew course in February 2012 and planning is underway on how best to integrate a crew and helm course later and a Keelboat racing course.

Cheers

Mick Geaney