Board Meeting and other stuff

Our Anniversary Regatta was reasonably well attended with 22 yachts competing.   Unfortunately, as has happened so frequently this season, the weather Gods did not help us with light and shifty breezes frustrating both the competitors and the officials.   This was further complicated by a really vicious looking storm circling the area towards the end of the afternoon.   Fortunately it seemed to go north and dissapate.   Well done to Peter and Kay who did most of the organising and catering.  Bar sales were up!!!

Make sure you use the crews wanted/available service that Dieter Greiter has organised, you can access it HERE or on any page of this site.

Carpark rebuild.    The Port Stephens Shire Council are going to re-surface our carpark with a concrete slab in the next few weeks with works commencing on the 5th of March.    We may not be able to use it and will have limited access to our Clubhouse during the duration of these works so, please be patient and follow the signs.   Hopefully it will all be finished by the beginning of Pacrim.   Nothing has been done to this area for over 40 years so we wont know ourselves!!!

Pauline is arranging a cruise on the Imagine on the 28th of February leaving Nelson Bay at 5.30, there is a sheet on the bar.   Price is a reasonable $35 per head and includes the usual slap up meal!

On the Social Side, Deirdre is organising another Irish Night to co-incide with St Patricks Day on Friday 16th of March.   Bring along a stew or taters, plenty of Guinnes and dancing on the night!!!

Winding down to the Pacrim Regatta, have a look at their website HERE to keep up with events.

See you at the Bar!

Some new news

Have been having a bit of trouble with editing this site recently and the update from the January Board Meeting did not appear, but, at last, here it is!!!

Pacrim
We are getting well down the track to Pacrim which starts on the 17th of March.   The program has been drawn up and, subject to some minor alterations will be the one that we will be following.

We now have 92 overseas visitors, 22 from Russia, 21 from USA, 10 from New Zealand, 20 from Japan, 19 from Canada.   Add our own representatives and Club Members and we will have a great party!

As usual, we will need quite a few volunteers.   Bill Haskell who is the Chairman of the Pacrim Committee needs all the help that he can get over the week.

There is the usual sheet on the Bar.   We don't really need much help on the Wednesday as it is the lay day and the Sunday (18th) is really a "get to know the Port and the Boats day".   Anyway, please have a look at the program on our site and have a look at the Pacrim site HERE to know what is going on.

Bar Purchasing Officer
Debbie Simm has volunteered to take over the ordering of stock for the bar from Craig Tucker.   Thanks very much Deb, we will give you every assistance and really welcome your willingness to help both in this job and as a very capable Bar Volunteer.

Crew Placement Person.
Dieter Greiter has volunteered to take over here and has created a new database and contact details for anyone either looking for crew or wanting to sail on one of our yachts.    You do not have to be a sailing member to register here.   You can upgrade your membership if you decide to crew in more than three races.

Parking.
As usual, with the holiday season, we have had several incidents in our small car park with visitors to the area thinking that it is a public place!   Most have been warned off with notices on their windscreens and not so gentle hints.  We are having larger, more prominent signs made which may help to some degree.

We must however, be better organised ourselves and a lane must be kept clear from the street to the entrance door of the clubhouse.    This will enable people holding functions to park outside our door to unload food etc and then move off and park elsewhere.

We can still park each side of this lane but we must not block it.   Hopefully we will have some Council work done on the whole area shortly which may increase the number of parking spots but the above must still apply. So PLEASE DONT BLOCK THE ENTRANCE WAY!

Racing Rules
There is a new handy summary of the Racing Rules on the website which really does summarise most of them in an easily understood format and is in PDF format so you can download them and print them out to carry as assistance to understanding the Blue Book.    Well worth a look.

Anniversary Regatta
Will be held on the 11th of February preceded by a Bring Your Own BBQ on Friday 10th when teams will be selected and the format of the day explained.   This is a major event on our sailing calender and is also very interesting to any spectators.   Come along on the Friday evening and on the Saturday.  More details later.

Received From Dave and Pattie Bowden (scroll down for Board Report)

Happily cruising around in the Phillipines.

Hi John,

Photo as requested.  The recipient was John the very sociable ex Brit owner of the Abinico Yacht Club in Peurto Princessa Palawan Island Philippines. It is a private yacht club but opens its doors to all visitors and a stay at their anchorage is most enjoyable.  We stayed 2 weeks but other cruisers have stayed for months.

I like the construction!

December Board Meeting

Held on Monday 19th December.    

Matters discussed were: The highly successful repainting of the lower floor and bar area, the installation of the new TV set up behind the bar, which features some of the latest photos of our yacht races, and advertises our sponsors very effectively.     We are constantly updating this and adding news as we go.

The planning for the Pacific Rim event in March 2012 is going well under the Chairmanship of Bill Haskell.  We are expecting over 100 crews and supporters for this event.    It will be followed, a few weeks later by Sail Port Stephens.    A couple of very big events.

The Wedding Cake Rounding Mark has been renewed and now features a large beehive shaped yellow dome with a light on the top.    Our thanks to Waterways for this.

It was a real guessing game to try and find it up until now as it was small and seemed to disappear if the sun was not shining on it!  (Rare to see sunshine these days!)

Our Board has decided to create a new division to cater for Radio Controlled Model Yachts featuring the RC Laser.   This is a scale model of the Laser Dinghy and has the same strict one design rules.  

The great thing about these is that they come in a bag, ready to sail or race and are all exactly the same.

We feel that we may cater for people who would like to sail but not necessarily get wet!   Unless it rains of course!   Have a look at them HERE

Dieter has installed some new speakers and sound equipment both upstairs and down which will be a great asset for both sailors and social members of our Club.

New Members:   A big welcome to Tim and Sue Murray whose application for membership was accepted at this meeting.   Both hail from Sydney but have a weekender here.  Tim is a keen sailor, bike rider, fisherman and Sue approves!

Please accept the best wishes of our Board for the Christmas Season, and of course, 2012.

Berman Day

Held on Saturday 15th of December.   Had 23 yachts competing.  Won by Bruce Statham in "Escapade" "Pennyfarrthing" second and "Distant Drums" 3rd.   Ulunga was voted best dressed yacht and "Venom" had the most people on board. 

The Open Bic dinghy was formally christended and handed over to the PSSASC before an excellent crowd.

Some photos taken on the water by Karen Nye, Commodore of the PSSASC are to be found HERE

The Christmas Party

What a night!   80 plus of us really enjoyed a great night.   Deirdre and her merry band of helpers once again organised a great night of fantastic food, great company who actually DANCED to music provided by Roger Yeo's iPod through the new speaker system organised by Dieter.  The night went on until about midnight and was voted by all as the best yet.

Great Working Bee

14 of us gathered at the Clubhouse armed with screwdrivers, paintbrushes, pots, dropsheets, paint rollers and enthusiasm and went to work removing all the stuff screwed to the walls, washed down the bits that needed it and applied two coats of off white paint to everything that stood still.

Frank has many skills!The result is amazing.   The room looks twice as big, all the flags and photos stand out and the place has a new, fresh feel about it.

Deiter installed the new flat screen TV over the bar and the new speakers upstairs.  He will finish off the new wireless  microphone installation today,

We tried out our new espresso coffee machine at morning tea time and are setting it up at the bar, more on this later.Smoko

 

Vale Margaret Larnach

Margaret, who passed away on the 25th of November,  was an extremely popular member of our Yacht Club for many years.   She had a great sense of humour, a happy laugh, enjoyed a joke and was willing to pitch in and help.   She was one of our most regular bar assistants and helped constantly with social functions and with the general running of the Club.     We will really miss her.     We feel privileged to have been able to share the last few years of her life with her.

November Comments

We had our monthly Board Meeting last night and here is a summary of the main points raised and discussed:

The Christmas Party.   3rd December...We are limiting the number of tickets available so that we do not overcrowd our venue, consequently, any tickets not picked up and paid for by next Saturday afternoon 26th November (will be REISSUED!!!    We need cash not promises!!   Only $15.00 per head which includes BBQ goodies, Christmas Pud and Jenny’s Brandy Sauce.  Deirdre has put together what promises to be a great night.    Dancing (to our new speakers which Dieter has masterminded) “Island in the Sun” is the theme so come along on the 3rd, around 6.30 with some salad or vegetables to share and have a great night.  Don’t forget to dress to the theme!!!  Topless entries will be barred at the door!

Pacific Rim   Now starting to come together as we enter our final planning stages.    Have a look at the full story on our webpage link but the main thing to remember is that it is an INTERNATIONAL EVENT!!   

This could be a chance for you to represent your country!   We need crews for our Etchells and also for our Hood.    Three for our Etchells and four for our Hood.  Each nation will have a turn in each boat to make it nice and even!

Cost will be $200 which will include a special T shirt, cap, entries to the opening and closing functions, four or five days of racing, lunches each day, aprè race BBQ’s and the envy of your friends.    A sheet will be on the bar for you to signify your interest and further details will be communicated to the lucky sailors later.

Big Working Bee   We want to paint the walls of our lower floor on Thursday 1st of December and we need volunteers.    The paint colour has been chosen by our Taste Committee and the work will consist of removing all things attached to the walls, cleaning them down and then applying a couple of coats of paint.   Work will commence at around 9am, lunch will be provided (a good one!) as will morning tea and bikkies.   Depending on the number of volunteers we should finish early in the afternoon and could even put on a beer or two.   Please register your interest on the sheet on the bar.  Some drop sheets could be handy too.   If you have a good big paint brush, don’t leave it at home.

New Members   Ken Arnett and Darcy Geale have now joined our Club, both as a result of our  hosting one of the meetings of the Nelson Bay Rotary Club recently.   They could be interested in crewing too!   

Other Stuff:   The starters are getting a little tired of answering questions from those skippers and crews who cannot read flags or leave their course sheets at home.  PLEASE look at the flags and make sure that your course sheets are up to date!!!   

Wine of the Month is a Devils Lair Fifth Leg Cabernet Shiraz Merlot especially chosen by our committee of experts and will be available for a very reasonable $19.50 per bottle on either bar.

See you at the bar.
 
John Way
Commodore   0412 493586

October Comments

    We have analysed the results of our questionnaire regarding the relevance of the quarterly Quadrant magazine and after a lot of soul searching have decided to continue it but not necessarily on a strict quarterly basis.   Pauline McCarthy will produce one prior to Christmas and we will probably produce another about June, provided, of course, that members keep submitting material to fill it!

I realise that this is a bit of a change from the last announcement but a lot of members did feel that they would really miss the Quadrant, so, for the meantime, we will continue it.

We feel that there is a need for more frequent communication with all of our members, both social and sailing, than a quarterly publication provided and that a more frequent newsletter may be the way to go.     A steadily increasing number of our members are now using email and the Web and a combination of emailed newsletters and frequently updated web pages, plus some hand delivered newsletters to our non email members from, say, Corlette, to Soldiers Point, should keep everyone up to date with happenings at our Club.

We are working on giving the lower floor a real facelift prior to the influx of overseas visitors for Pacrim, and, to make this possible, we want to remove the old bookshelves from the back corner of the ground floor and we want to dispose of all the books and magazines.    Some of these have been there for many years and are seldom borrowed so, if you want one or two, help yourselves!    Any left after the weekend of the 5th of November, (Jack Hollman Day) will be thrown out!!!

    We have placed a large number of old Quadrants on the website.   These make good reading, visit the site and have a browse.    Pauline kept copies of all that she produced and these are available to download.   We do have a few boxes of older ones in the Clubhouse office so all that history is still with us. Perhaps there may be a member with a scanner and a bit of time who would like to convert these to digital form for us.  Please let me know if you would be interested.
    Whilst on the subject of making room for things, we have a few Club Shirts available, various sizes and colours and are for sale for $20 each get in quick for these!  There are mens and womens sizes left.   Details at the Clubhouse.
    Now: Pacrim, we are still a bit short of home host for our overseas visitors.    These are mainly sailing crews and their partners and if you would be prepared to host a couple for the week, please let Bill Haskell know.   They will be arriving on Saturday the 17th of March and it all ends after the Presentation on Saturday 24th.   You will probably pick them up at the Airport, give them breakfast and a lift to the Club.   They will be occupied most evenings and, we are sure, will shout you a meal one evening.   Bill Haskell has all the information.
    The "Jack Hollman Memorial Day" is on on the 5th of November.   A big day.  Kerrie Hollman will be unveiling the new Open Bic Junior Training Dinghy around 4pm after the race.    Try and come along and have a look at it and meet some of the juniors and members of the Sailing and Aquatic Club who will be present.   We are providing a free barbecue for all who attend and we do anticipate a large fleet with four Etchells and a large number of Lasers from the Aquatic Club sailing.
    The racing starts at 1.00 pm from our start line at our flagpole and caravan on the approaches to the Soldiers Point Boat Ramp, well worth seeing.
    There have been a lot of updates and modifications to the website.    We now have all handicap start information on it for both Sternchasers and Wednesday Twilights, the results of all races are up to date.    The Quadrant Archives are filling up, there is a page on Junior Sail Training, we have added a “search” facility and there is ever increasing information for the Pacific Rim Challenge.
    The Weather Links are now very comprehensive and include tidal data, Seabreeze site links and other handy info.
    On the social scene, we will be having our normal Friday Night Socials on the 4th and 18th of November, usual format, bring your own something to cook on the BBQ and a salad, vegs or sweets to share.    As the weather is warming up and the days are getting longer it is really nice on our verandah watching the sun go down so come along and join the fun!
    Our Christmas Party will be on the 3rd of December.   Put it in your diary now.  Will be a memorable night!!  If you want to reserve a specific table, let Deirdre know (0413 113015)
"Island in the Sun" is the theme!   Deirdre is working on it!!
We are participating in the “Try Sailing Day” on Sunday 6th of November, details should be in the local press or on the Club notice board.

Jack Hollman Day

This is a very significant day in our Club year and the full story is published HERE

This year it will occur on the 5th of November and will feature the naming of the "Jack Hollman" Open Bic Sailing Dinghy which we have placed in the Port Stephens Sailling and Acquatic Club's junior training fleet.

Kerry Hollman, Jacks widow, will name the boat and a number of senior and junior members of the Sailing Club will be in attendance.  We anticipate some of the Sailing Club Laser Dinghys will also be racing on the day and we hope that they join in with us after they complete their race.

We try and finish our own race around 4.00 pm to allow plenty of time for socialising.

So if you are a sailing or a social member we would like to see you there.

Oktoberfest Photos

We had a great night.   Here are some of the more printable photos!!

New upmarket wine added to our Bar  See HERE

Opening Day

Wow, our Opening Day Cruise enabled us to find out just why we are not keen on sailing our Etchells in the winter!!!   What started out as a cloudy but reasonable day, wind and temperature wise, ended up being very cold with quite strong east to west winds which, perversely, turned a "go out with the tide, come back on a run against the tide" to a work both ways!   Best shot we could get from Abs WF of the rest of the fleet!!!Sitting on an exposed deck with each tack seeming to take us into the strongest run out tide run was frustrating to say the least.

We realised, when we returned to our nice warm Clubhouse, that the installation of reverse cycle air-conditioning to the lower floor was a very good decision!  

We ended up with 13 starters with a good cross section of our fleet attending.   Many thanks to Doug and Irene Curtis for taking the Starters out for a great day on the water.   Good food, plenty of wine and a nice sheltered cockpit kept everyone on board very happy.   Good to see Marie James and Rhonda out on the water.

The ensuing get together was a good one with a great crowd helping the Rum sales along.   The crew of "Knot Working" (Dom Grundy) won the $200 free meal from "The Deck"   We ended up raffling 13 bottles of wine to the assembled gathering.

Max did a great job on the BBQ, standing out in the cold on his own!Max in chefs hat!

Karen Nye, the new Commodore of the Sailing and Acquatic Club came along and acknowledged receipt of the two Open Bic dinghys which our Club has purchased and added to the fleet of now six dinghys for junior sailors to use at her Club.    More details HERE

We are looking forward to our Oktoberfest Night next Friday in our usual Friday Night BBQ slot (a BBQ will be available), commences at about 6.45.   Bring along some German Sausage, Austrian Potatoes etc or something similar to share, maybe some Strudle or something for sweets.    Music will be provided by Max and Frank and Helga will be in charge of the decoration for both herself and the room!.

Dont forget that you must have your safety audits completed, season entries filled in and a copy of the front page of your insurance policy submitted to the Office by next weekend to be considered a starter for the Spring and Summer Pointscore and Championships which start on the 8th   (Next Saturday)   A list of Auditors, Copies of entry forms and the Season's Programme are all on this site.  (See under "Sailing" link above.    They are also available at the Clubhouse in hard copy.

We are all looking forward to a great Summer Season both on and off the water.   Don't forget the Pacrim Challenge coming up in March.     We are looking for some Home Host volunteers for this, please contact Bill Haskell or myself if you can help us out.

Cheers

John Way

Commodore 

0412493586

From the Board Meeting

The following matters were discussed last night at our first Board Meeting for the current Club Year, new members, Deirdre Roberts, Dieter Greiter and Roger Yeo were welcomed to their new positions, unfortunately, Craig Tucker, our new Rear Commodore is overseas. 

Deidre Roberts, our new Social Director.The Quadrant.   After the results of the poll were discussed and analysed we decided on the following.   We will keep the name but alter the format.   Instead of being published as a quarterly bound magazine, it will appear, both in printed form and on this site as a monthly news bulletin.   We will aim for four pages and it will supersede the "Bridge" the "Bilge" and the "Yardarm" 

It will have both sailing and social news and will feature photos, our sponsors and a lot of, we hope, interesting content.    Pauline will keep her title of Quadrant Editor and will have a lot of involvement.    She did a fantastic job with the old format and we are sure that her talents will benefit us in the new one.

We are compiling an archive of all the old Quadrant issues on this site.   Pauline has kept copies of all that she produced and these will be available to download.   We do have a few boxes of older ones in the Clubhouse so all that history is still with us.

We will print sufficient copies to make it available to all of our non-email members, both social and sailing, and, of course, it will be published here on our site.    The site copies will have more photos and possibly movies if we can find someone to take them!  

On the subject of movies and so forth, we have decided to purchase an up to the minute, flat screen TV to mount on the wall behind the bar so that we can show slideshows and movies of our yachts whilst the bar is open.    This should be really good and with modern technology being what it is, we should be able to make it really attractive.

With Pacrim fast approaching, (March next year) we feel that the downstairs area needs a real facelift.   The walls painted, the tables refurbished, some of the clutter removed and so forth. 

On the subject of Pacrim, if you would be prepared to host a couple of overseas visitors for the week, please let Bill Haskell know.   We have about 100 to place.Pauline Quadrant Editor

We need to make room for new stock and the rest of the Club shirts are now for sale at the bargain price off $25.00 each.   Grab one whilst stocks last!

We discussed the matter of a retractable blind over the western deck area and Peter Collins is going to look into the feasability of fitting one.

Opening Day Regatta on the Ist of October.  Every yacht entered will have a ticket in a draw for $200 worth of meal at either The Point or The Deck Restaurant.   All entrants will also receive a bottle of wine and a free BBQ.   Lets hope for a 15 knot North Easter on a 24 degree day!

Don't forget the "Jack Holman Memorial Day" on the 5th of November.   A big day, plenty of trophies and Jack's family are booking accommodation already.

The Summer Racing Programme is now on the web HERE and so is the season entry form HERE

When you are remitting your membership fees by direct debit eftpos or whatever, don't forget to send them to the right bank!  Several did not!!    Also, as stated before, if you dont let us know who you are when sending your funds, we will just have to put them over the bar!

Quite a lot of yachts have not had safety audits conducted.   Please do so before the 1st of October or you will not be recorded as a starter!

Our Christmas Party will be on the 3rd of December.   Put it in your diary now.  Will be a memorable night!!

"Island in the Sun" is the theme!   Deirdre is working on it!!

Taken by Phil Murray last Wednesday Week.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD LAST FRIDAY

A good attendance, probably aided to some degree by the open Bar, however the election of the new Board went well and we now have 12 directors.   Details, photos etc are HERE

John Sharp was elected as a Life Member in view of his long services to our Club, he has been a member since the late 70's and served four years as our Commodore.

 John Sharp

If you would like to see some of the reports, the Commodores one is HERE,The Secretary's report is HERE

Racing last Saturday was interesting to say the least.   We started off in about 12 knots of north easter which them built up to 20 knots which, with the big run-out tide made for a very short steep chop especially for the last work to Wedding Cake.    15 yachts started, 11 finished.    It was COLD!

Results are HERE

Added 25th August

Several photos added to our Gallery, HERE  

Thanks to Phil Murray for these.   If you would like copies or larger files, contact him on <prmurray@bigpond.net.au>

Updated programme for Summer 2011-12 on Sailing Stuff HERE

Health Hint.   If you dont exercise for one hour a day you will spend 24 hours a day DEAD!   Cant think where I read or head this but I reckon it has the ring of truth about it.    Now that the weather is warming up there is no excuse!!!

Christmas in July 2011

We had a great day, around 50 happy souls, lots of terriffic food, good company a lovely Christmas Tree and music.   And, we were even able to see some sunshine.   Great to have Margaret Larnock with us for the day.

For more photos click here

As promised, here is Jenny's Brandy Cream Sauce Recipe

Jenny's Brandy Cream Sauce

¾ cup of brandy (or rum!!)

¼ cup sugar

2 egg yolks

½ pint cream (300 ml)

Combine brandy and sugar and allow to stand until sugar has dissolved completely.   

Beat egg yolks very well, add slowly to brandy mixture.   Stand for one hour.   Whip cream and fold in egg mixture.. Refrigerate - or freeze (I often do)

Good for Christmas Pudding or with strawberries or other fruit.

Nearly the end of the winter!

Only about 8 weeks to go until the end of the coldest winter that I can remember.   Certainly not the weather to take the Etchells out!  Have been quite content to turn up at the Clubhouse on Wednesdays and Saturdays at around 4.00 and join some other fair weather sailors at the bar.   Rum sales have been up!

Just had to include this photo of a typical winter race!