Skippers or their representative from 75 yachts attended the briefing on Wednesday September 28.

Important information related to maritime regulations, safety and obligations when racing at GFS were discussed.

If you were unable to attend or wish to review the presentation it is on the Yachts  Page or can be found here.

As always the camaraderie of GFS members was evident by the robust discussion following on the crowded ‘Deck of Knowledge’.

With great sorrow I advise that our current club Patron, Hans Kannegieter, passed away this last weekend on September 18.

After over 40 years of membership at GFS Hans was elected Patron at our Annual General Meeting this year. He accepted the role with great grace and courage and just a few of us knew the effort he made to be able to attend the Annual General meeting and pass the vote of thanks to the retiring Patron John Notley. I am pleased that I have kept a copy of Hans’ speech on file.

Hans learnt his sailing in Holland and first sailed in Sydney in the early 50s with business friends. In the 1955 – 1956 season Hans sailed with Keith Tierney, Alan Grundy and Arthur Foster in the 16 footer Zest. The 60’s were very active sailing times for Hans and he spent time in 18 footers, sailed with John Kennedy in the Javelin Pan Pacific Championships in Fiji, sailed with Geoff Ottewill in Ynglings at RSYS and sailed in 16s at Middle Harbour with Keith Tierney and others.

In the 70’s Hans joined GFS and sailed with Geoff Ottewill and Harvey Porter on the J24 Grott.

Hans and John Hurlstone owned and sailed the Bonbridge 27 (2750) Force Four for many seasons until John acquired his own Bonbridge, Firefly. Hans continued to be a keen competitor in Twilight Orange Division with his great mate John Wood, son Tim and other crew members.

Hans will be well remembered at the club and will be listed on the soon to be commissioned honour board for GFS Patrons.

Our sincere condolences go out to Beth his wife, his family and good friends for their loss.

David Edmiston, Commodore

At last Summer-like conditions. Course 11A proved a little short as the wind came in a bit stronger than that which was predicted. The results are still provisional and are on the Yachts – Results page.  Finish times have been corrected and yachts are in the correct divisions.  Some housework still needs to be done before the results are official.

However the race highlighted the division of labour required to successfully sail a race at GFS. These responsiblites are –

Skipper – initially pay money and buy a boat and then look at the divisions and start times to get them right.  These are posted on the GFS web site. Just to confuse, Saturday Series Divisions are different to Down Harbour Divisions.

Navigator – read the course sheet carefully to understand that words listed in order are marks which need to be actually rounded in that order.  Also recognise that a word with (P) next to it means leave the mark to Port, if there are no (P)s it means leave them to starboard (There were no (P)s in Spring race 2).

Crew- be nice to the skipper and keep a look-out especially for little stuff on the water like Flying Elevens. Give constant advice to the skipper; both positive and negative.

Despite some teething problems all went swimmingly!

Please look at the web site for information at least once a week.

Just a reminder that Saturday Divisions are very different from last year. Some boats on the list may not be entrants.

Well done to the hardy skippers and crews who ventured out to race in DH 1.

The wind funnelling along the Lane Cove River resulted in a delay to hopefully allow it settle (??) and then a lively start.

The revised divisions caused some initial confusion but all yachts managed to sail in their assigned groups, albeit requiring a couple of returns to correctly re-start.

Results have been updated and the couple of strong gusts which blew through the computer have disappeared with the meeting of great minds on Tuesday night.  Results are on the Yachts page.

After the start Flair returned to the safety of Tambourine Bay! However, watching the fleet sail home past Greenwich wharf showed not only the wind strength but the excellent sailing ability of skippers and crews in puffy conditions.

The BOM and Seabreeze forecasts proved accurate and the resulting wind signaled the end of the winter doldrums and the start of the 2016 – 2017 Saling Season. Pity it had to begin with an abandoned race.

When they were raised the N over A flags, which I hope survived, were almost blown off their halyard as would have any small dog chained to the Deck of Knowledge or the pontoon with tsunami like waves breaking over it

Hopefully next Saturday will allow an easier start to the season for the Down Harbour Series. Divisions will be emailed later in the week to yachts which have registered for the series.

What a success! Thanks to the many participants who performed a myriad of tasks in a convivial and collaborative manner.

We can safely say the with all the cleaning and fixing the Deck of Knowledge is shipshape and ready for the upcoming sailing season which kicks off with Equipment Audits for Saturday Series yachts next Saturday August 20 and with Race 1 of the Saturday Spring Series on September 3.

The July 1, 2016 introduction of the Maritime Safety Regulation has implications that impact on both clubs and sailors regarding lifejackets – CLICK HERE for more information from RMS. Please be aware of these changes and that the club committee has a duty of care to its members and strongly suggest that you read and follow these new requirements.

Sailing Instructions and Courses are now on the yachts page or here SI_pH_16_17 for SI and here Courses 2016_2017 for Courses.  Please be aware that there have been subtle  changes to some courses as well as some changes to Sailing Instructions – for example start times for Twilight Black and Blue Divisions.

The club will not supply a hard copy of the Sailing Instructions.  An abridged version of the Sailing Instructions for ease of download is available.  Abridged version SI_16_17 Download. You will need to refer the full version for any extra details. The download version is a satisfactory requirement for your Equipment Audit.

Hard copies of the Course Sheet and Safety Card will be distributed at the time of your Equipment Audit.

Forget the Solitude of winter and watching Tana coach the Auckland Blues, leave the Mistress to Zig Zag down to the club with Flair in a blazing Fireball on August 13 to share in a Blue Chip experience with some L’Atitude in a Knockabout way at the annual working bee.

Saltbush Bill has devised a plan to rid the club of any Highland Ghosts, Infidels, Cockatoos, Fireflys, Wayward items and Eggshells left over after twilights. Possibly it will take My Turn and have a Dump Truck to remove the rubbish. As well a Beware of the Dog sign will be placed to protect the Irukandji and Dolphin populations.

All Our Girls, Chloe, Annabella, Old Mother, Sami, Izzi, Jester and Rex will be there, and, Gwhizz you don’t have to wear Tartan, just bring Passion and the result will be Worlds Apart. We will avoid any Shemozzle and will definitely improve the Seascape which will not leave you Jayded or be more than you can Bear.  The whole effort will require Vitesse and the Velocity of a Force Four gale (which is really a case of Mind/Matter).

Red William will return from Out of Africa where the Umzimkulus won the Jackpot to play the Soundtrack for the event with Disco Trooper the Foxy DJ. This may turn into a Riverdance to avoid any Agrovation.

Don’t be Pistol Dawn (that’s a bit of a Naughty Call) the night before, jump on a Sweet Chariot and Flashback down to the club Avanti to help out on August 13 from 9.00am. Hasta La Vista.

The final race of the WHWS showed what this season’s racing was like with yet another race failing to be completed. Light conditions and one wet race resulted in only 4 races being sailed and with one race dropped it was a pretty skinny pointscore.

Congratulations to David Leslie and the Umzimkulu II crew for winning PHS Division 3. Also to David Edmiston and the Passion II crew for their 3^rd place in ORC Division 2 and Pam Joy and Leslie Barr and the Tana crew for 2^nd in ORC Division 3.

Full results can be viewed here PHS and here ORC  if you are interested.

From 1 July 2016, the Marine Safety Regulation 2016 replaces the Marine Safety (General) Regulation 2009. The Marine Safety Regulation 2016 has been designed to promote safety, reduce red tape and improve administrative efficiency.

The most significant changes include:

• Reforms to boat driver licensing, including streamlining licence classes and
• application requirements, simplifying the fee structureand the introduction of
• a 10-year boat licence
• New lifejacket standards and simplified requirements for wearing lifejackets
• Vessels no longer need to display a registration label or trade plate
• Changes to streamline the administration of aquatic licences
• Changes to some penalty levels and disqualification periods

Click on the underlined links for details.

It was good to see a good winter turnout following the West Harbour Winter Series race on July 17.

Sadly the race was abandoned but this allowed the Deck of Knowledge to meet and discuss matters of importance some of which related to sailing and boats.

The final race of the 2016 WHWS was Sunday July 31 and the after race presentation for the race and for the series was at Balmain Sailing Club.

An overview of the progressive series scores detailed in a report sent to competitors by the BSC Race Manager can be read here if you are interested.

The sailing Program for the 2016 – 2017 season is available on the Yachts page or here – GFS Sailing Prog_2016 _17