Winter is truly upon us, and sailing has slowed down but not stopped. Remember every Wednesday afternoon we have the Hearnes Heroes series and on Saturdays, we are running the Blizzard and Costello series alternative weekends.
There is as always plenty going on in the office getting us ready for the new season.
The 2023/2024 sailing calendar is being finalised and should be published early July. Presentation night is on the 14th of July and trophy winners have been decided and preparations for a great evening are underway. Remember this is a club event not just a presentation night so we hope to see as many members as possible come and join in. If you are a winning skipper, we hope you and your crew, come along to celebrate, skippers will be contacted.
Harry T and Redeemer are in for their annual service down at SYC as well as the servicing of the outboards on our Rhibs, ensuring they are ready for another busy season.
We are planning the annual MOB/Skippers briefing for September, keep an eye on the newsletter for a formal date. Skippers who plan to sail in the 2023/2024 season must attend or at least send a representative on their behalf.
Safety is always a priority for us, and it’s been great to see most boats are now actively using the Sign-on App. Unfortunately, there are still too many boats signing on but not signing on all the crew for the day. This is a requirement of racing but also a safety aspect in case of an emergency. In the new season we will be monitoring this and boats that don’t comply will get a scoring penalty. Safety audits and MOB declarations need to be sent to the sailing office before the season. For the safety audits, Cat 4-7 are still self-audits, but we will be commencing independent audits in September. MOB declaration is done online and information on both can be found at https://rbyc.org.au/sailing/sailing-documents/
With regard to Club and Race communications, getting information to members quickly is important. With mobile phones being in our pockets almost constantly we will be using text messages via the sign-on system as the primary means to communicate with skippers, crew, and members so if you don’t already have this on your mobile device, please contact the office.
Training is in its winter period and over the last 6 weeks, all the OTB fleets we use have had their annual wintering, fixed little issues, and ensured that they are in the best possible condition for course participants.
Annual opening day is also being arranged and organised, more information on this will be announced in a few weeks but keep the 7th October free in your calendars.
We are still actively looking to recruit a new Sailing Coordinator and Training Coordinator, as Mohammed will be heading back to Sweden end of June. We are grateful for the time Mohammed was able to spend with us, helping us get our fleet organised for next season.
So, it’s still all systems go here at the RBYC sailing office ensuring we are ready for another great season of club racing and regattas, we always welcome members to get involved so please contact me if you would like to help out with what we have coming up.
Colin Burgess
Boating Manager