​TY Delegates Report 9 - 10 November, Lord Mayors Cup
Having a few more TYs to sail with makes for a more exciting race day, and I can honestly say that I enjoyed Saturdays Lord Mayor’s Cup Race. PKSC contributed 5 TYs to the 18-total registered for race one, Rosstered Off, Momentum, Serenity, Whitewash and Frou Frou. Sundays around the lake race was a little less crowded at the start due to Rosstered Off, Momentum and Serenity being unavailable for this race.  
It was wonderful see Rod Nairn’s new acquisition, the Ross 780 Whitewash, out on the water both days of sailing for her shake down cruse. As you will agree, no matter how experienced you are it’s quite a daunting task for any crew to get familiar with a new boat (from my experience they all feel slightly different, which requires learning how to get the best performance out of them) and to pit yourself against other similar craft in a race. One advantage of throwing yourself in the deep end is you can learn what works and doesn’t work to make your boat go, and having other similar yachts around you to benchmark against is probably the quickest way I know to get a boat and crew up to speed. Congratulations to Rod and his crew for giving it a go.
You will also probably agree that Saturday was a very good day for a shakedown cruise. The 10 to 15 knots from the north- north east and a decent sized mixed fleet was enough to make life interesting at the start and around the traditional triangular course. Rosstered Off crossed the finish line first thereby upholding the good credentials of PKSC sailors. Most participants agreed that It was a wonderful day on the water.
Sunday could not have been more different with a strong westerly filling in by start time at a constant 20 plus knots with gusts over 30 knots. It does not happen very often but Frou Frou and crew made the sensible decision to set her smallest headsail before the start. Other boats were putting reefs in along the way as the wind strength increased which didn’t look much fun. Good job Frou Frou’s relatively new crew members Jess, Alan and Stephen, didn’t fully understand the consequences of getting a manoeuvre wrong in the strong gusty winds, although they may have twigged when my voice got a little anxious sounding in preparing for a tack or jib.
In my opinion the yachts that finished that around the lake race deserve a medal for being stupid and the ones that retired deserve a medal for being sensible. We did notice that Whitewash was having a rough time in the conditions and was a member of the sensible division by pulling out at a convenient moment.  We hope that Rod and crew ended up surviving intact.
Frou Frou’s young and spritely crew (comparatively speaking as age is relative remember, and I am viewing things from a perspective of significant maturity) of Jess, Alan and Stephen performed magnificently on both days to put us 4th overall in the 2-race regatta series.
Results for Saturday’s race Pointscore 8

Position       Boat Name        Corrected time PBH (CBH)
First                Serenity               78.76 (79.5)
Second          Frou Frou            79.52 (79.52)
Third              Rosstered Off     82.08 (81.21)
Forth              Momentum        82.09 (84.1)
Fifth                Whitewash         88.96 (88.96)

 Next Saturday’s race is Championship 4 so I hope as many of you as possible can make the effort to participate.
The end Trev 

TY Delegates Report 29 October 2016.
It was fun for a while but now I am over the windy days.  Gust over 25 knots again Can we please have a few not so windy days to get new crew member familiar with which rope does what?
Today we welcomed back Momentum and Serenity after a considerable absence due to gear breakages and other commitments. Momentums new keel looks the part and we wished her a successful passage today. Serenity had some new stays and likewise we were hoping her mast stays up for the race. Obviously our good wishes worked because both boats finished very respectfully.
Rosstered Off had her new shiny gooseneck and Frou Frou had her equally new and shiny traveller. Hopefully we would all survive the Saturday race intact.
We are making an effort to accommodate anyone, particularly parents of junior sailors, along for the afternoon race. Please indicate if you can oblige so I can organise a ride for them.
I thought for a while that Frou Frou s new crew members Jess and Alan were frightened off by last week’s conditions but lo, they did turn up for a repeat performance. This time we had Jess on the bow and Alan in the middle. It meant a quick learning curve for both of them tacking and spinnaker handling. The both did exceptionally well I might add.
After significant and wide ranging consultation undertaken in the rigging area we decided to reschedule the abandoned Championship one race to today.
Thanks to the Porters Rob, Bob, and Josh, today’s duty crew, for looking after us on the water they did a great job setting the course and rendering assistance to upturned boats.
Results for Championship 1.
Position   Boat Name       Time in minutes CBH (PBH)
First            Rosstered Off     73.95 (74.39)
Second       Frou Frou            76.20 (76.91)
Third           Momentum        76.25 (74.01)
Forth           Serenity              77.97 (72.17)

 Next week there is no sailing for us but we are needed to assist with the flying 11 States. I hope you can spend some of your weekend helping out.
Finally don’t forget the TY Staycation 4 December
 

​TY Delegates Report 22 October 2016
What do you think is the sort of weather that best suits introducing first timers to sailing? Do you think it’s one of those perfect lazy sunny days with the wind steadily wafting in from the north east at around 10 knots. The sort of day when there is time to point out the finer things of sailing, where all the ropes go and what they do, what a cleat does and how to us it, which way a winch turns and how to tie a bowline, why you cannot sail straight in to the wind and how to set sails, the type of conditions that allows a person time to gain their sea legs.
Sounds good doesn’t it? But when you think about it that description of perfect conditions does not happen very often, it’s rarely just right.  As I have been reliably informed (by the PKSC table of knowledge brains trust, which is where I get most of my important decision making information, sailing isn’t about only going out in perfect weather all about adapting the best you can to the conditions on the day (at least better than your competition you hope). Conditions often change during the course of a race anyway, so why should we think otherwise.
Getting back to the point I was hoping to make, I reckon that the weather on Saturday could not have been much further from the mythical perfect conditions. Starting off drizzling with rain, temperature maxing out at 15 degrees and wind gusts up around 30 knots from the South (according to Holfuy). It was an important championship race as well so there were no doubts about heading out into it. Added to that mix was Jess and Allen, brand new people to the club and new to sailing that we were about to expose to the “joy of sailing”. Rossterered Off with the experienced skipper Jim and accomplished crew of Richard, Shaun and Oscar aboard taking on Alan for his first time sailing, and Frou Frou with Stephen, Andy and me aboard taking on Jess for her first time on a TY.
Spare a thought also for Barry and Ray our duty boat crew for today’s race. Conditions were particularly challenging for a duty crew and they were in the middle of it laying course marks, setting the start line (a very good one I would like to say), keeping an eye out for our safety, rendering assistance to upturned boats and generally getting soaking wet bouncing around in the waves. Thanks Barry and Ray for you dedication. It is much appreciated.
There were waves across Frou Frou’s bow as well plus some less than perfectly planned and executed tacks and jibes, and, a few exciting reaches and downwind runs that stretched our combined sailing skills. The good thing is that Frou Frou’s very considerate crew blocked most of the white water and wind thereby keeping me dry and warm.
On the second last work of the race Rosstered Off decided she had had enough of the nasty conditions. Her gooseneck failed leaving her boom flailing around the heads of those aboard. That was the end of her race. Frou Frou continued but decided to retire before finishing. So there you go, another Saturday race without finishers.
What amazed me was that Jess and Alan thought it was all great fun and have committed to returning for next Saturdays race . Perhaps ignorance is bliss, but I think sailing is contagious. Jess and Alan have been infected by the sailing bug and the experience can only improve for them from here.
The end Trev