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From the Editor Another season is upon us and already, as you will no doubt read herein, the complaints, lies, sarcasm and bribes offered to the handicapper have started. It didn't take long, did it. Love to add to it, but I think it has all been said. Look forward to seeing you on the start line, Di Pearson Commodore's Report June 2003 The last twelve months has seen the addition of several yachts to our fleet and a strengthening of our laser fleet with several new and very competitive young sailors. In the yacht fleet, Scott Ryrie has shown glimpses of the potential with his 11 metre one design. The 5.5 metre class will soon have four boats in the clubs fleet, while David Arnold has shown us all what comfort on the water is all about with his purchase of 'PAROO' in which he will depart for an extended cruising holiday (four years) next May. We all wish Dave and Sue our best for a great time and are all green with envy. We also say farewell to Ron Royle from Yandoo - he and wife Robyn have moved north to Seals Rocks leaving John Formosa to fend for himself. Duncan Mair has joined our winter fleet with his Cavalier 'Watermark' and will sail the summer pointscore this season. The Laser fleet is steadily expanding with the addition of new members, Darren Davis and Chris Rodowicz who are keeping our regular frontrunners honest. Arvi Millar has taken training so seriously that his new body shape is making him less competitive upwind, but faster downwind Go Arvi! Graeme Read is still hard to beat in Radials. The clubhouse has benefited with the installation of a new drawbridge and sliding door beam. This will make access to the deck and catwalk easier for all concerned. The south wall got a second coat of paint and will soon have it's bottom plank fitted! The clubroom is overdue for a facelift and that will be the committee's focus for the coming year. A new ceiling, upgraded lighting, new sliding windows and miniaturized results boards are just a few of the changes being discussed. New tables and chairs, plastic blinds enclosing the balcony and a new red roll out the carpet' are also on the agenda. The club's cash reserves are recovering from the recent major maintenance items such as new kitchen, new decking, concrete cancer etc., and the above intended improvements should make the clubroom a more attractive letting proposition. The Old Buffers Night, held in June was a huge I success, with over 120 guests drinking more than we could have imagined. The theory that drinking capacity diminishes with age was disproven that night. It was delightful to hear the reminiscences of members from the 30's relating their exploits as if they were yesterday! It was also fascinating to hear from the girls that were not accepted as club members back then, sailing off the beach and beating the blokes occasionally. Didn't they realize back in the thirties the advantages of females in a sailing dub? Nowadays that policy would result in a severe depletion of the male (mainly bearded) membership, besides being illegal! Video interviews were recorded with several old buffers and we will endeavour to reproduce these on a video or CD for those interested. It was a shame that the blokes (Messrs Annand, Bailey, Grose, Burcher, Wrigley, Murchison and Hastie) talked for so long that the girls didn't get a chance to record their memories. Val Hendry was one of the girls we missed recording. A highlight of the night was Graeme Read's animated address to the gathered throng. Unfortunately Bunny Littlewood had to retire early, before we could announce his Life Membership. See full report on Old Buffers night in this newsletter. The season's prize giving night was a roaring success - the room filled - it gets better every year, particularly with the ongoing support of Tony Muir -couldn't do it without him. The yacht results were a reflection of the effectiveness of a fair (that will always be hotly debated by some) handicapping system with awards being captured by the smallest to the largest yachts. Congratulations go to Dave De Caster who took out the Club Championship on handicap in his vintage 5.5 'Baragoola'. With the imminent departure of Dave and Sue Arnold, we were beset with the task of finding a replacement person to handle dub hirings. However, Nicole Francis has offered her expertise in the field, so we have that problem under control. Many thanks to Dave for his efforts over the years that he has performed such a thankless task. Members should be reminded that 50% of the club's income is derived from these lettings. Morris Stocker is retiring from his position as Bar Stock Controller and we extend the deepest thanks to him for his devotion to the difficult task of extracting money from members with short arms and deep pockets. Liz Mc Cloy has volunteered for this job. We will be endeavouring to make the collection of monies easier by the installation of a card payment facility. Everyone always forgets their chequebook, but rarely their credit card! We welcome Bunny Littlewood back from injury. He's been laid up with a few nurses at St. Vincent's, but they got sick of him and he'll be fit for the start of the season! The recent westerly windstorm saw several boats damaged or beached, but luckily no losses to our fleet, I wish all members and crew all the best for the coming year, Your Commodore, Sailing News and Views..... For the most up-to-date news on the sailing scene,
go daily to sail-world.com and listen to Captain's Quarry
Mio Dio starts in all races come hell or high water (winds also), on the off-chance that sooner or later there will be an occasion that all others will be prudent enough to stay on their moorings to avoid committing suicide by sailing in force 10 gales. Therefore, expect at least one scratch win for him. Bad luck Mike. It takes two boats to make a race. Talk about mad dogs and, etc. . . etc. The 5.5's will be sailing very defensively to preserve their topsides, backsides (already a lot of busted arses) bottom sides and besides, they have spent too much money making themselves competitive. They will not want to risk all that good work by trying to be too competitive. (Think of Baragoola's topsides). She'll maybe stay tied up like her namesake featured in AFLOAT this month. Yandoo won't be much of a challenge; she's been going backwards lately without even leaving her mooring! Rumours abound that her skipper is seeking relief from the handicapper. I was unaware of their apparent close relationship. Saltair may be more competitive with her underwater shape undergoing a recent remodeling job. Drag has been reduced, but steering has yet to be tested. Poo Poo to PAROO! Dave will be busy finding a cup holder, stowing his cut glass Bundy tumbler and working out which button to press to hoist his self-furling protest flag. Rippertune is being fitted with a low-drag fishing line, so watch him Mr. Handicapper. Peace & Quiet has undertaken an off-season course in burglary, so expect a refined version of the usual from them. Gold Dust attended the same course, so I've been told. Clandestine is rumoured to be approaching professional skippers to find a way to sail downwind, having worked out last season how to go uphill on the odd occasion. The NS 27's will probably keep turning up on a monthly basis; SSSH !!!, let's not tell them that there are weekly races. Oceanis will be suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (recently beached) for a few months and by that time she'll probably be out of it anyway with more weed (on her bottom). A rumoured anonymous application for handicapping relief is to be lodged from a certain yacht crewed by individuals all in their twilight zone. The handicapper will be directed to make a very sympathetic assessment of their predicament in view of their crew's degenerative condition. Not only are they debilitated by approaching senility, failing eyesight and hearing-aid failure, they cannot lure any new crew to the boat despite repeated offers of free Bundy & Coke and other unspoken pleasures that only senior citizens think they can extend. Taking into account the above revelations! think that all and sundry should stop making excuses and cease complaining about:-
To all skippers: I hope that the above confidential revelations will soften your approach to the less-than-intimidating opposition this year and we all have an unforgettable season, Yours, Whinging letter from no-good skipper Dear Mr. Handicapper - President elect, (Doug 'doggy' Cameron) With 2003/4 season upon us the people of Yandoo need to bring to your attention a number of key facts: We have already noted the accumulated evidence of a plot -and bring to your attention:
For this season we have had 4 members do the full rules training course to finally dispel any rumour that we don't know the rules. This coming season
On this basis, we advise you that it is entirely appropriate that Yandoo be given a seven-minute relief on the handicap position prevailing at the end of last season. We look forward to your proper consideration in the hope of a more even outcome on handicaps this year. Skipper Reply from hapless Martyred Handicapper Dear skipper at Yandoo, As the handicapper, I have given long and meaningful thought to your predicament, and on many points I agree with you, but one has to look at the BIG picture. Many boats in last year's fleet had their handicaps affected for many reasons. Bad sailing, poor tactics, badly tuned rigs, dirty bottoms, and in some cases I simply did not like them. This year the allocation of handicaps will probably remain the same due to the great success of last year's results although there will be one notable exception. I felt that some of the heavier cruising style boats were penalised too greatly and had decided to try and give them some assistance in this area but as I write this some of these boats have been changing their performance capabilities and trying to get under my guard. I am aware of Twilight Zones new asymmetrical but I am not sum they will be able to handle it well. There could be mutiny, as their forward hand now has nothing to do. Mio Dio has been sandbagging during the winter series so I intent to penalize them, for no good reason other than I am the handicapper. David Arnold has to be thanked for protecting some of the fleet from the wind at the start. Baragoola already has a handicap, as David will steer her again. The new yacht Hanse appears very aggressive as only this week she dismasted two boats without even leaving the mooring. I don't expect her to perform too well since she will be required to sail with her current headsail which some good Samaritan cut from the forestay last Sunday. As for Saltair, she has been forced to undergo a minor maintenance procedure, which should not affect her performance. After suffering some slight damage last week it has been decided to repaint her bright red, remove her cabin, TV, CD player and lengthen her to about eleven metres. There is even a thought of re-naming her, but I don't see anything clandestine here, so she will probably need an adjustment to make her competitive. Good Sailing, Old Buffers Night - 14 June Over 130 people from all over Australia attended Vaucluse Yacht Club's 71st Anniversary celebrations on Saturday June 14. Ninny of those in attendance, whose ages ranged from 88 years down, had not seen their mates for 10 years and more, so there were a lot of memorable stories told on the night. Those in attendance included Peter Begg, an early Commodore of the Club, famous yachtsman Gordon Ingate, sailing administrator Peter Hemery, competitive Etchells sailor Jim Annand, former World Master Laser champion Alan Clark and 1999 Grand-Master Laser champion, Graeme Read. Others had memorable stories, so we videoed a selection including Kevin Burcher, Bill Hastie and others. Bunny Littlewood was also made a Life Member of the Club on the night, but was unwell and left before we could make a fuss. Missing on the night was re-designer and builder of the VJ, Charles Sparrow, now 96, who sent his regards to mates from the early 1930's, and 88 year-old Phil Briggs, who was unable to attend, as he was to receive a prize at his local Cleveland Yacht Club, of which he is a Life Member. At 88, Phil is classified as being the oldest skiff sailor in Australia - a fact of which he is proud. He currently sails a 12 ft single-handed Sabre, as does his daughter Anne, 54, Grandson Erin, 24, while his great-grand daughter Sophie, 12, starts this season. Others who sailed at the dub earlier on include famous ocean racing yachtsmen, Peter Kurts and Arthur Byrne, former Melbourne-Osaka winner, Rob Drury, and 'Mr. Clean Up Australia' Ian Kiernan. Timely Reminders: To all skippers and owners we extend a reminder to get the following in order before the first race:
HAVE A GOOD SEASON!!!! Contributions to Newsletter If you have anything you would like to air in the
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