summer sailing almost here!

With the season now well underway, I’m not too sure where the last few months went!  What was expected to be a bit of “down time” over winter, was spent working hard to formulate a plan that would get as many sailors as possible out on the water and enjoying the sport this summer.
 
We have started the season with 140 sailors across all courses, and these are run over seven days a week.  We also have local primary schools bringing their year five and six classes for a day of water sports fun sailing in a Hobie Wave, doing capsize drills in an O’pen Bic and taking part in a Marine Debris challenge.  There will be over 400 students participating in this before Christmas, with more schools lined up to bring their students in early 2019.
 
But to fill in the gap between our Mid Winter Champs back in July and today, we have been busy with plenty of other activities for the sailors both on and off the water.
 
Gulf Harbour Yacht Club was kind enough to offer ten places to our Youth sailors for a totally new experience of racing keelboats.  This was thoroughly enjoyed by all sailors, and will hopefully be something that happens more often.  Widening their experience on the water to find their passion is something that’s important to us.
 
In September, sailors from the RCSF were invited to spend a day out at Ardmore with the Auckland Blokart Club.  Yet again, this was a fantastic day of rivalry between kids and parents, and the most fun most sailors think you could have on land!
 
September also saw us host Volvo Ocean Race sailor Bianca Cook who spent a Friday evening with our sailors and other Manly locals doing a beach clean up and talking about her time on the boat Turn the Tide on Plastic.  This was another great opportunity for our sailors to be educated in the importance of keeping our coastlines clean and also to be inspired by Bianca’s story about how she has worked towards her goals.
 
The October school holidays arrived swiftly, and with them, came Sailing Taster Days for children who wanted to give it a go and three day programmes for our current Laser and Double Handed sailors.  We also hosted an O’pen Bic Sailing camp for those sailors that are aiming to compete at the World Championships in Manly just after Christmas.  We had about 40 sailors in total for that, with at least half of them coming from other parts of the country.  Lots of fun was had both on and off the water.  To finish off the school holidays, Manly Sailing Club hosted the Hibiscus Coast Youth Regatta, which saw a great turnout of our sailors and another great day of sailing.
 
Now we are down to the serious business of preparing about 20 of our sailors to compete in the O’pen Bic Worlds, and following that, we have some Laser sailors who will be competing at the Laser Nationals, also being held in Manly in mid January.  The RS Feva Nationals being held locally will then be the focus for our double handed sailors.
 
We are so privileged to have a great team of coaches, great sponsors, and a great number of families who are all committed to supporting the RCSF to be able to provide these opportunities for our sailors.
 
If you have any questions or would like to come along and see us in action, please get in touch!
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Fiona