Club News

Message(s) from the WSC Committee.

From Kerry O'Brien: Our Club sailing this Saturday 30th has been cancelled because the forecast is for strong wind just before our scheduled race time. This is a Club sailing day and in consultation with our Racing Secretary it has been decided it is not worth the risk involved. See the Chat message
 As Flag Officer Fri 29th 10:59  

From Kerry O'Brien: This is a weather watch notice for sailing this Saturday 30th on behalf of our Racing Secretary. The forecast wind is in the range 22-43kts, rain and temp 9degrees. A further notice will be published Friday and if this forecast prevails then sailing will be cancelled. 
 As Flag Officer Wed 27th 09:58


Sailing snippets from around and about.
From Kerry O'Brien Sunday 24 Sep 15:25. The first two rounds of our Club Champs were sailed on Sunday 24th in interesting weather conditions. The wind was from the NE through to ESE in the range 3-14kts with sailors reporting a difference across the river. To add to that a drizzle came in as we briefed and at 10 degrees it was a day for the most hardy, warm clothes and good tactics. We had a fleet of 5 juniors and 11 seniors. Most numerous class were zephyrs(6) followed by firebugs(4). Thank you to the support crew, particularly those on-water who also braved the conditions to lay the course and keep us safe. From Joanne Jones Sunday 17 Sep 08:56. LEARN TO SAIL, SUNDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER CANCELLED TODAY due to the high winds. From Kerry O'Brien Saturday 16 Sep 19:32. A small group turned up for sailing on Saturday 16th and by popular consensus decided that racing would be cancelled due to the strong North West wind. Some then did some rigging checks on their boats, Warren mowed the lawns, I put up a sail rack in shed two and Murray launched our support boat Waimak3 to do a quick run up the creek to ensure all was working. A small group then had a chat and drink in the lounge before locking up. Just to note that at around 16:00hrs the wind was 21kts with gusts to 29kts. Traditional boisterous conditions. From Kerry O'Brien Sunday 10 Sep 16:37. Our sailing season for 2023-2024 was declared open by the WDC Mayor Dan Gordon at a ceremony after sailing on Sunday 10th. A fleet of 25 yachts entered to sail however because the wind was averaging 20kts with gusts to 30kts only 14 made it onto the water, three from SGYC. In the end 13 started and not all finished and there were many who capsized. At stake were the Northern Outlook cups which were won by Matt for the seniors and Brian for the juniors. A thank you to Cameron who took over the helm of one yacht to bring it back to shore because of the strong wind. Pictures posted by Wednesday. From Kerry O'Brien Sunday 10 Sep 16:35. Our sailing season for 2023-2024 was declared open by the WDC Mayor Dan Gordon at a brief ceremony after sailing on Sunday 10th. We had a fleet of 25 yachts entered to sail however because the wind was averaging 20kts with gusts to 30kts only 14 made it onto the water. In the end 13 started and not all finished and there were many who capsized. At stake were the Northern Outlook cups which were won by Matt for the seniors and Brian for the juniors. A thank you to Cameron who took over the helm of one yacht to bring it back to shore because of the strong wind. Pictures posted by Wednesday. From Kerry O'Brien Sunday 10 Sep 16:31. Our sailing season for 2023-2024 was declared open by the WDC Mayor Dan Gordon at a brief ceremony after sailing on Sunday 10th. We had a fleet of 25 yachts entered to sail however because the wind was averaging 20kts with gusts to 30kts only 14 made it onto the water. In the end 13 started and not all finished and there were many who capsized. At stake were the Northern Outlook cups which were won by Matt for the seniors and Brian for the juniors. A thank you to Cameron who took over the helm of one yacht to bring it back to shore because of the strong wind. Pictures posted by Wednesday. From Kerry O'Brien Sunday 03 Sep 07:36. We could not believe our luck with another excellent winter sailing day. Today there was a total fleet of nine. You will be able to find breakdown of the fleet by class under "Club sailing history" and you can see who was there under "Race day times". The race day times shown are actually race two as there was a computer glitch which scorched race one times. The wind was interesting as explained in the "sailing history". Thank you to Brian who was RO for the first time since completing his YNZ RO training last weekend. Looking forward to opening day next weekend. From Kerry O'Brien Sunday 13 Aug 19:37. Yet another perfect winter sailing day on Sunday 13th. There were three races over two hours where the wind averaged 8kts from the North with some unexpected gusts getting to 12-13kts. This direction also made returning to the ramp interesting for some. We had the biggest fleet for Club sailing in many many months with 14 seniors and 3 juniors. Jo used the web-based race progress form so the results went straight to our website and can be viewed from the members page. A special thank you to Cristian who picked up the cleaning duty at the end of the day. A big smile on all faces. From Kerry O'Brien Sunday 30 Jul 17:08. Another perfect winter sailing day on Sunday 30th, the third day in a row. A fleet of 14 yachts sailed in an average wind of 8kts with an occasional gust to 10kts under a clear ski. Could not have been getter. Two races were scheduled then the four zephyrs and two starlings did a third race, so as not to waste good conditions. We also had a sunburst fleet of three and four starlings. The race times have been published on the website. A big thank you to those who preregistered and our support team Joe, Murray and Warren. From Kerry O'Brien Saturday 22 Jul 19:57. As the Southerly swept through on the evening of Saturday 22nd our wind station at the Club recorded an average 36kts with a gust to 60kts at 18:22hrs. Even beyond sunburst sailing. From Kerry O'Brien Saturday 15 Jul 18:30. Give credit where credit is due, the forecast was spot on for our second winter sailing day Saturday 15th. A fleet of 11 sailed in a steady 5kts Easterly. The fleet consisted of six seniors and five juniors in four firebugs, two zephyrs, two starlings and one each opti, P-class and sunburst. Sailing the sunburst solo I ran the spinnaker in both races. Great fun. A welcome to visitor Peter sailing zephyr 147 (ex Alex's). A big thank you to the support team Murray, Jo and Heather and those who pre-registered. We can do it all again in two weeks. From Kerry O'Brien Sunday 02 Jul 20:35. This afternoon, the 2nd July, our Club held our 96th Annual General Meeting with 38 members in attendance. We re-elected past Committee members and added some new members to our Committee. A full list of the Committee will be posted in our Fleetsheet newsletter in coming days. After the formalities of the meeting were completed we held a prize giving and handed out cups, trophies and pennants for the past seasons sailing. A full list will be available under the new trophies web-page in a couple of weeks. A pot-luck meal concluded our evening (my pick was the apple crumble and ice cream :)). From Kerry O'Brien Monday 19 Jun 14:31. On Saturday 3rd June we held our first winter sailing day for this series in very light wind conditions of 4kts average. There was a fleet of seven seniors and three juniors. We started late to allow the wind to build and the second race was just one lap however it was good fun and close racing. I sailed my sharpie with the new lugg sail for the first race then Stalena sailed it in the second race. It is quite a smart mover for a work boat. A big thank you to those Club members who preregistered, it made the decision to sail easy. Also thank you to our support team Murray, Warren, Jo and Lyn. From Kerry O'Brien Monday 19 Jun 14:31. On Saturday 6th May we had our closing day for the 2022-2023 season. The race started on time with barely enough wind at 3kts and the odd puff to 7kts. The RO decided we would do a simple triangle and at one hour the horn would go to indicate the finish. I think most of us managed three laps in time so it was very slow. With a Mark Foy start for the fleet of 21 seniors and 8 juniors and the light wind meant the fleet was close packed for most of the hour. The Closing Day trophies were won by Bret de Thier for the seniors and Cate Ambury for the juniors.


Newsletter
From Kerry O'Brien Monday 19 Jun 14:37. The History of the Waimakariri Sailing Club's Fleet Sheet. Extracted and lightly edited from the last Fleet Sheet. Around the mid 1980's Adair Marshall produced a news letter for club members which she typed up and included clippings of cartoons to lighten the articles. Adair would photo copy the Newsletter (later called the Fleet Sheet) and hand it out to club members on sailing days. Originally the editorial correspondents were not named as it was felt that stories might be more freely available. However that changed one night at the Club's monthly committee meeting where the Commodore noticed a commotion from within the committee. It was not a rebellion but was caused by a committee member who suffered a bad case of flatulence. Sorry Mr Commodore a committee member explained, we had a Windshift here on the floor. Subsequently the committee decided that Windshift would cover anonymous contributors to the Fleet Sheet. Some time around the late 1990's Adair hung up her typewriter and ceased producing the Fleet Sheet, unfortunately no one put up their hand at the time to take over the production. Now to 1999 when Stan Price turned 60 and at that party he was foolish enough to display a copy of the Salmon Angler magazine which as a keen member of the Salmon Angler's Association he had started and produced. Peter Shanks and Ron Finch saw the Salmon Angler and made Stan an offer he couldn't refuse, he should re-start the Fleet Sheet. By now the computer age was in full swing and this made the job easier although not enough club members had email so it was decided to photo copy (in black and white owing to the cost) and mail them out with the postage covered by a sponsor. After seven years Stan delivered his last issue in 2006 and handed over to Don Currie who produced some issues before he transferred to Auckland. Another club member stepped up for a short time but then moved on leaving the club without the Fleet Sheet newsletter. In 2009 the computer age had moved on again and most club members now had email. Ron Finch stepped up as the Editor and took over producing the Fleet Sheet from September 2009 through to 2019. With most members by now having email the use of many more photos and colour was now possible and the distribution by email reduced the distribution task and cost significantly. To quote Ron “The Fleet Sheet requires information to be supplied for inclusion in the issue, some members have provided background information and photographs of their life and other interests. It is always surprising to find what other activities and interests members have, as at the club sailing is the main topic. This issue is my 35th edition, please consider providing reports and stories for future issues.” The hope now is to make it possible to bring our Fleet Sheet back online.

Waimakariri Sailing Club (Inc.)

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that fosters friendship, participation and achievement.

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Waimakariri Sailing Club (Inc.)

To promote sailing to all ages within the community by creating an environment that fosters friendship, participation and achievement.

Club news articles

Links to other sites

Photo Gallery

Club News

To promote sailing to all ages within the community by creating an environment
that fosters friendship, participation and achievement.