Avalon Sailing Club September 2020 Glorious winter sunsets - photo Claudie Moffatt In this issue: Commodore’s Report, 2020 AGM Report, Meet Your Committee, List of Awards, Opening Day Details, Guess Who - Don’t Sue, Favourite Knots, Awards and Trophy Winners, Winter Race Series Results, Foiling is the New Normal, Building Upgrade, History of Avalon Sailing Club and lots more! At The Helm - Commodore’s Report We go into the 20/21 Sailing Season with the Deck will be promoted with special the building works and his tireless efforts the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic hanging events but it is primarily for the kids to as Secretary. like a dark cloud over our heads. For most have some fun in and out of the water and Club Trophy - For someone who is particu- of us Sailing is not just a sport that allows for parents to socialise, albeit Covid style! larly helpful in the club but also “fun” (or a us to compete and enjoy the beautiful and Also feel free to promote amongst your bit of a larrikin) to be around was award- natural surroundings of Pittwater but it’s friends that the ASC will now accept ed to Chris Zonca for his hard work as Club also a great contributor to our social lives membership and possible storage of boards Captain, running the Sunday Centreboard where we can enjoy a wine or beer amongst of active Paddlers - Kayaks and SUPs etc fleet and organising the always successful friends at the conclusion of the day’s holiday sailing camps. events. These ‘norms’ are under threat. A The renovations are progressing well under recent restriction is that we are not to cross the stewardship of Ian Craig with the new Helping Hand Trophy - As it says - awarded ‘regions’ to go sailing. This is causing real staircase installed. Removal of the old stair to a person(s) who has put in a lot of effort problems for all the Sydney Clubs and we and new store will follow shortly….. with in helping the Club – this year awarded are currently seeking clarification on this. planning for a new Bar to replace the old to Barry Black for all his help with the We will probably have to live with the Covid office! A financial donation could well see renovation works and managing the 19 restrictions for this season and beyond. your family name immortalised above the maintenance of the Clubhouse. In the meantime the ASC will continue to Bar!! And finally theRyves Shield for Club- follow the guidelines. Please remember to Sailing and Club Awards. Due to Covid 19 manship - the Club’s highest award for Log In when you enter the club. restrictions we feel that having a formal outstanding contribution to the Club goes On a brighter note there is much to look presentation is just not possible. So instead to Jane Durham for putting in 3 years as forward to. The big news is that the ASC see below the full Centreboard and Yacht commodore and generally being the go-to recently became an accredited Australian Awards. These can be collected from the person to get things ‘done’. Sailing, Discover Sailing Centre offering ASC on Opening Day 13 September. A Thanks for reading and we look forward to structured Learn to Sail & Powerboat heartfelt congratulations to all participants! seeing everyone at Opening Day! courses. Finally we need to thank and congratulate Larry Eastwood This program is better suited to our club some special members of our club. Commodore and community needs and streamlines Firstly James George who has been made a [email protected] the process. Much more on this will be Life Member for his generous donations to published on the website shortly. Please direct Discover Sailing enquires to Chris Zonca who is Centreboard Captain and the instigator of this program. Registration Day was 30 August and saw a good number of new kids enrolling but many families still need to renew membership and enrol. Just go to www. avalonsailingclub.com.au/membership/ renew. If you have any problems please email info @avalonsailingclub.com.au. Our season starts on September 13th, so please renew your membership before arriving for sail training or racing! On the Yacht front things are looking brighter again for the wet Etchells fleet. A combined program has been devised with the RPAYC with both clubs hosting dedicated Sprint events through the year. I have a very great wish for the ASC to return to the days of families racing together and as such I wish to spruik the Wet Etchells as it’s a great cheap entry yacht into competitive and twilight sailing. It’s an ideal boat for Mum and / or Dad with older kids to go racing. I know of a Wet Etchells going for less than $1000! We need to see our membership and participation grow, so Friday Evenings on Larry Eastwood onboard Sylvia on Pittwater 2 Important Message - Pittwater Sailing Region Due to public health measures is- Beaches with the exception of those There will be further approaches to sued by NSW Health, community suburbs that are located in the Man- the Department of Sport and Rec- sports are required to make opera- ly Ward. reation and NSW Health in coming tional changes and limit participa- Details of the ‘Pittwater Sailing Re- days to resolve both operational tion to people that live within cer- gion’ are in the attached internet and participation issues that have tain areas. file. been created by the formation of these regions. For our sport, the changes included The idea behind this requirement the creation of various ‘Sailing Re- from NSW Health is to keep people We will keep you informed of future gions’ that have been nominated by local when travelling for communi- developments. Australian Sailing. ty sport. James George We are in the ‘Pittwater Sailing Re- This is a bit of change to what we ASC Secretary gion’ and that means only those have been used to, however, hope- https://cdn.revolutionise.com. that live within this specific region fully it’s only for the next six weeks. au/cups/avalonsailingclub/files/ are able to participate in Avalon alwm8pkegtmlfdx7.pdf Sailing Club’s activities. The concept of ‘Sailing Regions’ has been problematic for many Clubs in The ‘Pittwater Sailing Region’ in- the Greater Sydney Area. cludes all suburbs of the Northern AGM Report Well the annual general meeting on it’s Friday, let’s come down to the club’. Two life members were introduced to the August 9th this year broke new ground and Families and kids are encouraged to come club: ZOOMed into the video conference era with down, grab a boat and sail or paddle while 1. Brian Milton, Club Captain 1984-’85 more than 20 members experiencing the a series of social events aimed at being season, who met his wife to be soon after he joys of the gallery view. interesting, entertaining and involving will joined the club and on the day of the AGM be held. Here are some of the highlights: celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary. • Larry Eastwood seeks someone with less Larry ended with a passionate plea to the 2. James George, the Secretary of the club. grey hair centreboard contingent for somebody with • Chris Zonca discovers sailing less grey hair than him to step up and take Brian recalled that the winner of the Friday • Brian Milton becomes a life member and on the vacant role of Vice Commodore - night twilight race got a bottle of Port that celebrates 51 years of marriage send your entries care of the secretary@ was passed around everybody who came to • New racing rule: Port gives way to Pinot avalonsailingclub.com.au. the after race BBQ - Larry commented that • The club’s health is in good shape it’s now a bottle of Pinot. The big news for centreboarders is that • The cruising division explores new ways Chris Zonca, the Club Captain, has put a Martin Didsbury, the Treasurer, gave a brief to socially distance tremendous amount of work in to achieve resumé of the club’s financial situation. • WASZP kids in their 50s welcome accreditation from Australian Sailing for the And although income was down slightly • Can the club fly to the moon? club to become a Discover Sailing Centre. and expenditure was up, the club is in And you thought AGMs were boring - not if a healthy position with a profit of over There are a couple of significant advantage you come to Avalon Sailing Club. $24,000 and cash reserves of $136,000. for the club. Firstly, all of our students now Larry Eastwood, the Commodore, explored will get logbooks and they will get their David Baker, the Cruising Coordinator, how the club has changed throughout recognised accreditations and go through reported that it had been a quiet year; a the years; from once having the biggest the curriculum of Australian Sailing so there few members left, moved on, retired or fleet of Flying Fifteens in Australia to the is a whole structure of how they develop moved up the coast. introduction of the new fleet of WASZPs. their sailing skills. Secondly, it means we About six boats were regular cruising can now access a pool of instructors from Now we are working towards finding new attendees last year but that dropped down Australian Sailing when we need temporary members for the club, new participants, to one or two this year. instructors. new ways of enjoying the club, new ways In the last third of the year social distancing of using the club.