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Hi  John,
Purpose of my email was to perhaps start a conversation on future direction. I
  do this as a long term member and life member. Certainly don’t want to point
  fingers only make some observations based on the lower numbers that are now
  evident this season. Steve and his  committee does a tremendous job.
  Sometimes a forum where members can discuss concerns, raise issue or praise the
  class can be a good thing. I thought a conversation might kick that off.
  Something a member can more readily do than a committee  member. I
sat on the committee as president, registrar and vice president for some 13 or
so years so I know it’s not at all easy to get venues arranged. My
point is that the further we travel the more boats fall away. I think the
nationals is a marquee event for the class. It’s a chance for everyone over a
week  to get enthusiastic, socialise, network, discuss next season etc. I
wasn’t too excited about KI last year and expressed that concern at the Teralba
meeting, Mick Turton also expressed that same concern, Pete Richards and some
others also raised concerns. Apart from not attending the handful of boats that
did go meant the majority didn’t attend and I think this was a lost opportunity.
That’s all. Others I am sure would disagree. That’s OK too. But it doesn’t hurt
to discuss. 
So  please don’t think I am criticising the committee. It’s a tough and sometimes
thankless task and I totally empathise with the difficulty associated with
making a decision and trying to deal with what appears to be a totally lethargic
response from possible host clubs.  
My  comments are just based on observation. I am happy to be proven wrong. Perhaps
the numbers are there but people are for whatever reason not attending. I don’t know.
 As  I said, Firestorm is a great product. Perhaps if we can document your design and
make it easier for new members that are keen to build then I reckon that would
go a long way to getting things moving. Perhaps we need some of the senior guys
to split up and campaign a boat with younger crews. (just an idea) TD tells me
that the Belmont 16s fleet has halved. Perhaps they are a good potential. I’d be
surprised if a bunch of blokes sailing 16’s would shift to an NS a VS may be a
perfect compromise! I don’t think the 49er is something they would jump at. So
where do they go after sailing 16s? 
My  heart (like I know yours is) is the class continuing to grow. This is a class
made up of very good and capable people with good intentions. I’d be surprised
if the 16 ft. skiff  guys rallied around to rig another blokes boat. They’d
probably sneer and start early. Just want to harness that good will and increase
numbers.  
Best  regards
Peter T

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Hi  all,
 Well  versed Peter, I guess we are one of the boats that should be but aren't sailing.
Our reasons are family ones but we still have an affection for the VS and the
great people who sail them. That's where the class's strength is ...and in a
weird way, to a point, it's weakness also. The demographic seems to be either
empty nesters with plenty of money and freedom to take time away, or for a
glorious couple of years at a time we'll get an injection of youngsters that
discover the class, enjoy it but can't fit in with the older crowd...as willing
as all parties may be. Because the numbers are so small, the racing gets boring
after a while as week in week out it's the same comers doing the same things
with a similar result. 
I  can definately say that we dropped the VS last year because the ntionals were in
KI. That's no secret, we were happy for the others to do what they wanted, and
we made it clear at meetings that we would not be able to afford to do the trip,
find baby sitters etc. and with our youngsters becoming more alive to the world,
it's selfish for us to fob them off to others to sit around waiting for the days
racing to end...for a week or so, and then have nothing left in the kitty to
give them a good holiday. That's our story, everyone has a different one, but I
wonder if we'd stayed "in" with a nationals locally, whether I would have upped
the ante and made a new rig, cleaned up the boat and had a red hot go, which may
  have grabbed us for this year. Having experienced cruising with the kids on the
  Careel, and relaxing the constant asking for favours of baby sitters every
  week, the whole exersize of running the VS seems "too hard" and not rewarding
enough. I get to keep contact with the crowd by popping in at Teralba which is
nice. The funny thing is, I had the chance to sail Pete Williams NS14 in the
state titles last year, and depite not having a spinnaker and having to lean
hard etc. I had an adrenalin filled week of dog eat dog racing against 70+ other
boats usually 20 of which at any time in the race could not fart without me
hearing it...which is where the NS14 gets it's fleet filling ability from.
  Excitement in numbers, racing. Sorry, but bucket loads of money to sail a
  "nationals" against 5 or 6 legit boats and a few other trumped up ones doesn't
do it for me. We have travelled all over the country competing in NS14's because
of the fleet numbers and quality of the racing. In the case of the VS I'd
rather save my money for a holiday with the kids than do an interstate nationals
with boats I can race at Teralba every week. That said, We love our VS and enjoy
seeing others use it when we can't ( or can't sell it ) - and cutting it up
would be a tragedy! 
Cheers
all, Mick the rambler.

Hi All,

The Teralba weekend was good fun. Measurement Solutions had some flashes of something good on both days, sneaking into third and fourth  then dropped back. Looking forward to the day where we can keep our act together for the whole race and get a result. Will keep trying.

As a life member and long-time dabbler in VS sailing I wanted to share some thinking on moving forward in the VS world. Just trying to be constructive here.  I am a little concerned about VS numbers that seem to be dwindling.

As we know we don’t buy a VS, or any class of boat, as an investment for return. Rather it’s a life style decision that we invest in. However the this year  we have seen emails with boats threatened to be chopped up and another  sold on E-bay . This is a concern and something  we need to reverse. Other members who participated in the class at a high level (new mainsail changes and pretty vocal about things (in a positive sense I mean)  etc) also gone. It just happens all the time. So I think the class needs to have a real good look at why people do sail a VS  and then stop sailing and what we can do to be attractive as a sporting activity to more people and more often.

The class as we know is brilliant both on and off the water. People new to the class were blown away by the troops rallying around to rig Bobs boat on Saturday because of a late arrival, and the same thing happened with Mick Turton’s boat at Yarra Bay. So where has everyone gone?

I expressed concern over the nationals at Kangaroo Island . I know those who travelled had a great time and I am sure the sailing was good fun however it pretty much took a marquee event out of the calendar  for 2 years (between nationals)  for the majority, me included. As I said back then 2 years is a long time and lots of things happen over that period. Keeping in touch and networking is vital if the class is going to prevail.

I wonder if travelling interstate is an ‘’it would be nice’’ event for the class and on the wish list at some time in the future. With the class struggling wouldn’t it be better to keep the Nationals closer to home and keep numbers sailing. I spoke to Bob about Gosford on the weekend and you might recall we  looked at Saratoga as a possibility. These are locations where you can take a week off and the family can readily travel and the location is great for a holiday and sailing. Maybe it keeps numbers together.

Seems that these days there are so many distractions that it’s tough to compete. You simply can’t twist arms to force people to sail. They have to want to sail. We haven’t built boats for a number of years. Johns boat is brilliant but I don’t see the average punter like me attempting to build a boat like Firestorm. The original plan was to supply a hull and deck mould that made the boat easy to build, look the same and standard to rig. I wonder if we need to get back to basics.

Newcastle (I believe) is a tremendous growth potential for the class. The area is pretty affluent, the lifestyle is great and the market is more captive than Sydney. Lots of clubs dot the lake. I think if we can make the boat easier to get into and people know that investing 17K in a new boat is worthwhile then I think we will be in better shape. Otherwise we will be in a position where the same boats continue to be re jigged and eventually they get too old and soft can’t  then  sold and lost forever to the class. No new boats being built. Older sailors like me and others eventually stop sailing and it’s not pretty.

Anyway just some commentary on how I see it as a long term player in VS sailing.

Best Regards

Peter

Hi All,

It’s taken me a little longer in therapy than I expected, but I’m out now & the doctors expect I’ll make a full recovery.  All that is needed is a nice 18 knot NE’er at Teralba (should be have one before 2020 I hope).  So what caused this condition?  If you were at Hawkesbury regatta you’d know……

Saturday. 

Once again the members at Hawkesbury made us feel very welcome.  With nice hot sand & an even nicer NE’er building, a great afternoon sailing looked assured. With plenty of juniors to look after the course was set inside Junno Point.  With 15 knots+ blowing at the start, this seemed no problem – until about 1 minute after the start.  By that time the breeze backed up the course & left many boats wallowing on the usually favoured LHS of the course.  A few saw this & headed right, against the tide, but into the breeze.  One of those was Measurement Solutions who was amongst the leaders around the top mark.  Most boats headed south down the run, with the wind & tide.  It was a good two stringer, until about the start line, where the breeze ran out.  From here the torture of the mind began…..

Put simply, the closer to the bottom mark the less the breeze.  And the direction the breeze would come from was also a question.  When combined, this resulted in many position changes, smiles, frowns and profanity.  In one example of many Raptor were parked at the bottom mark that long that they were nearly lapped, but then hooked into the breeze & almost caught the leaders.  Every boat copped this, but in the end Runaway picked a good final leg to get the major points from Firestorm & Ol’Yella.  Add 123 were looking set for 4th until Wobbygong brought the breeze to the final mark, sailed around Tim to finish a fine 4th.  Runaway, the result of a juicy handicap, scored the double & claimed the handicap victory from Ol’ Yella & Wobbygong.  With the prospect of sailing Sunday’s race out beyond Junno, everyone looked forward to Sunday.

Sunday.

With fear of showing my age & quoting from an all time classic movie, this was “groundhog day”.  A promising breeze before the start, only to die after the start gun & leave massive holes around the course.   Most boats fell into one or more.  Add a bit of heat from the NW’er & frustration grew.  Raptor was on the game though, & was always on the side of the course the breeze came from.  However, while Ol’Yella & Raptor battled on the last run, Runaway clawed back from a fine last position, slipped inside these two, to take a lead they would never surrender.  In the meantime, Firestorm, Add 123, Measurement Solutions & Stowe Australia were sucked into the ‘super massive black hole’ off Junno.  Only Firestorm somewhat recovered to finish 5th, but the mental damage was done, hence the therapy described earlier for sailing around in circles.  Apart from Runaway & Raptor, the star of the day was local boats Wobbygong & Marengo.  The Gleeson boys hit the throttle in certain conditions & jumped away to get an easy 4th on scratch.  Similarly Marengo sailed well and kept a level head for 6th scratch & 3rd handicap.  With this experience Alex & crew will only get better.  Bob, Hayden & Tarrick easily claimed the handicap victory from Runaway.  Has Raptor peaked too early?     

I need to add here that the Hawkesbury club once again were the perfect hosts.  They ferry visiting boats when required & make us feel very welcome.  The breeze is beyond their control.  Maybe next year we’ll be blessed with 15 knot Ne’ers…

So next up is Teralba regatta next week.  TT only but I’d ask all members to attend for a special occasion.  Noel Robson, son of the first VS association life member Ken Robson, is attending the regatta with the plaque presented to Ken.  Noel was an active sailor himself in the 70’s so it will be nice to hear about the good ol’ days.  We are planning a gathering at 1:30pm to welcome Noel.

Following that is the nationals at Port Hunter.  2nd to 8th January.  NOR will be out soon so keep an eye on the web site & your email inbox. 

If you need more info let me know. 

Cheers

John

Saturday:
·         14:30 start time is what we hoping to have.
·         $10 per day entry fee to Brian Gleeson
·         Getting to the club with your boat and gear: similar to last year if you can not rig up at Parsley Bay and have the club motor boats tow you around with all your gear, etc. it makes for a much smoother transition in the morning. The first tow round will happen at 11:00. With boats coming back round to tow until 12:00. If you are planning on coming and shoot me an email it’ll make it less likely to leave anyone behind if they are running late.
·         There is a canteen with salad rolls, sausage rolls, pies, refreshments, etc at the club. The canteen is the main funding supply for the club through the year and pays for much of our ongoing costs (your support would be appreciated).
 
Sunday:
·         13:30 start time provided  there is breeze.
·         $10 per day entry fee to Brian Gleeson
·         Presentation on the beach after the race.
·         Limited food available – probably sausage rolls/meat pies, possibly bbq??