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Hi All, With the season underway at many clubs it seemed a good time to give you a quick update & reminder of VS matters. In no particular order, here goes: National Championships. This season’s national championships are to be held at Port Hunter from Monday 2nd January to Sunday 8th. Final details are still being sorted but the club has confirmed that camping will be available at the club. The harbour is a unique place to sail and, with shipping movements increasing on the harbour each year, the likelihood of sailing at this venue in future years might be limited. We are looking to schedule our races around the shipping and might even consider an offshore race. So if you missed last years nationals because of cost or distance, strike those excuses off and mark the dates in your diaries. There is word a few locals are looking to get on boats too….. State & Travellers Series. In case you missed them the NORs for these series have been posted on the web site but here is a summary of the dates:
Please note that entries for the state & travellers series both close on 22 October. (It’s near impossible to run a series when you don’t know who is in it). Entry is free to members and can be done by either ticking a box on the membership form or completing the entry form in the NOR, or if that is too hard email a committee member! Just let us know…. Memberships are due. It always seems like a drain on the wallet at the start of the season but the good news is the fees are the same as last year! (and the year before). $10 per member & $150 boat registration. I’m sure payment before or at Taree would be appreciated by treasurer Mark Nugent. But if you cannot arrange that cheques via post or bank transfer are options. Contact Mark to discuss. I might be preaching to the converted but why join? The VS association has insurances & other fees (YA) that need payment to keep us as a recognised sailing class. The majority of money disappears here. We also have to pay clubs to host our nationals each year. There are other costs, such as website & trophy maintenance but too. Outside of this we try to return the money to members by the way of prizes. But the prizes always go to the same boats? On scratch there are a few established contenders, but don’t forget all boats are more than capable. For example, who could forget the scratch results at the Nationals: Wobbygong winning 1 heat & leading another; Add123 getting two 2nd places & leading another heat by a leg until a wind shift; Ol’Yella winning a heat with daylight second. The VS handicapping system is pretty well refined, giving all boats that sail a good chance of victory. Of the boats that competed in the Travellers series last year only 1 didn’t get a victory somewhere in the series. Similarly at the nationals there was only 1 boat that did not get a victory on handicap (Firestorm). The bottom line is the more you sail the better your chances… But I can’t sail in all the regattas so it’s not worth entering the States or travellers or being a member? For those members who have other commitments or cannot sail at all the regattas, not all is lost. Remember each association regatta race is run as a separate event, with all registered boats eligible for the daily prizes. All boats are allocated a handicap at the beginning of the season. So if you don’t want to enter the States or Travellers series, but decide it would be good to come to say race on Sunday at Teralba – come along!! You can drift around with the rest of us & might get a prize. It would be a shame to have your best race of the season and not be in the race! And if I haven’t convinced you yet to join/rejoin think about the intangible benefits the VS association offers. Not many associations will help with all aspects of boat rigging or tuning, has a hull mould available, nor helps arrange replacement crews, boats & equipment, etc. Where would we be without Tim? Heard on the grapevine…
Regards John Comments are closed.
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