While Hugh Lewis is away you can read about the Small Cats on the Large Cats blog.

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A sunny warm 21 degrees Celsius day with a gentle to moderate NE breeze of between 8 to 10 knots with gusts up to 15 knots. Eight (8) catamarans came down to make the most of a fantastic day.

Bill Ledger on Billyo Nacra 14sq , Jodie Matthews on Blue Tongue Windrush S/S, Ross Boyd on Symphony 2 A Class Classic, Paul Leaudais on Silver Fox Windrush S/S, Kurt Griffiths on Wreckless Nacra 16 sq, Paul English on Playtime Nacra 16 sq , Hugh Lewis Hot Pepper Windrush S/S and Tony Sanderson on Groove Thing Windrush S/S. Ross Fyfe also coming down to catch up, a bit stiff and sore not being able to sail due to a dog walking incident. After a famous PKSC burger and briefing. everyone was out on the water at least ½ an hour before start time.

The NE breeze allowing an easy reach from the beach out into the lake. Most of the cats cruising out around the lake checking out the course set up by duty crew Andy Blakey, Trevor Dunn & Allan Bennett. Start out near the middle of the lake, top mark over near the entrance to Illawarra Yacht Club and the wing mark near the NE corner of Gooseberry Island. Twenty or thirty wind surfers set up a course in the middle of  the lake adding an extra set of marks and plenty of colour. The TY and Mono classes started promptly and allowed the Small Cats to get away at around 14:10:15 and Large Cats around 14:15:15. Small cats all starting on Starboard tack. Billyo followed by Groove Thing , Silver Fox, Hot Pepper and Blue Tongue. All heading towards the club house side before tacking to head up to the top mark. A good breeze allowing a number to trapeze.  At the top mark, large cat Symphony 2 caught the small cats except for Billyo. Bill liked the conditions and gradually built a good lead and held off the A Class until the bottom mark. Silver Fox and Groove Thing, Hot Pepper and Blue Tongue also having a good tussle. The wind was a bit shifty and wind strength fluctuated challenging the sailors. On the windward return most chose to work on port tack out to the shallows and tack down to the top mark. With the wind being a little shifty a couple of different sailing lines were used. By the end of the race Symphony 2 lead the way followed by Billyo, Wreckless and Playtime. Next, less than 7 minutes separated the Windrushes led home by Groove Thing, Silver Fox and Blue Tongue. An enjoyable day was had by all.

I’ll be jealous next few weeks as I am going over to Europe for around 5 weeks. Will catch up upon my return.

General:

1. Jervis Bay Regatta at Callala Bay is being held on Labour day long weekend. Saturday 1st October and Sunday 2nd October. Tony Sanderson has booked accommodation and has plenty of room. Anyone interested in going down, advise either Tony Sanderson or Paul Leaudais and they can fill you in with the details. This is a great regatta with a multiple short race format. It is a beautiful part of the world on a sunny day with crystal clear waters it is not unusual to see dolphins.
2. Kurnell Sunday 16/10/2016. Rowan from Hero Hoists has invited PKSC Windrushes to come up to  Kurnell to promote this class in particular for their juniors. He has contacted myself and Tony Sanderson. Tony suggested he (and anyone else interested) could make it on Sunday 16/10/2016. Anyone else interested in heading up to Kurnell let Tony Sanderson know and he will be able to give you further details. It is quite a nice place to sail and for those who have not been before would be a great experience. Ross Boyd and Les Porter are regular visitors and can fill you in regards what it is like to sail  at Kurnell etc. They have a short course format consisting of 2 races in the afternoon.

 
Regards Hugh Lewis

This first sailing day of the 2016-2017 season showed some promise. A warm 20 degrees Celsius day with a stiff westerly breeze of between 12 to 15 knots with occasional gusts up to 30 knots.

Around nine catamaran sailors came down with 6 boats. With the prediction of a strengthening breeze Bill Ledger came down without his craft, however, Tony Sanderson, Paul Leaudais, Paul English, Kurt Griffiths, Ross Boyd and myself had our cats in tow. This week Bob Porter senior and Johnny taking their turn for duty.

Rebecca and Tony were processing this year's memberships. Existing members only having to check that the pre-filled application form detail were correct and signing the bottom topped off with the Eftpos machine making it a very simple process.

After a burger with the lot and catch up with off season activities it was time for briefing. Richard Hipsley acknowledging all the good work done on the off season refurbishing the kitchen.
The new Holfuy website displaying current wind conditions on the lake was on the television in the club house and may have influenced the decision to call off sailing for this week. This combined with a forecast of breeze strengthening during the afternoon. Hence none of the cats set sail this week. There were some discussions by some when the wind died down a little to around 12 knots however this thought was thwarted when a westerly bullet came through dusting up the lake surface. The only craft leaving the shore were two Sharpies  and they appeared to revel in the conditions.

It was great to catch up and discuss included plans for the upcoming season. A number are planning on attending the Jervis Bay Regatta during the October long weekend. Anyone interested should speak with Tony Sanderson or Paul Leaudais as they are looking at accommodation and may have some spare room.

Hayden and a number of the other juniors parents did some work installing new wash down hose reels in the boat shed and carrying out some more boat rack adjustments.

Overall it was great to catch up with everyone, would have been even better going out for a sail. However we are now saving up our anticipation for next week. Hope to see you all then.

Regards Hugh Lewis