Good afernoon everyone,

Well, 2025 sailing season has now closed.

We had a social sail day today from 10is this morning, wehere we had 7 A Class boats on the water, with two coming form the North and North West - Thanks Dicko and Ted for coming down to support the day.

Unfortunately, the wind wasn't playing the right tune and we drifted around for a few races until we pulled the pin and went in for our BBQ Lunch and Awards presentations. Big thanks to Bodge, Phil Tunbull and John Short for their work in organisnig and running the BBQ today.

Thanks to the guys who came along for the presentations as well - it was appreciated. It may ahve been a small turnout, but everyone enjoyed the BBQ and laughs.

Ray then came forward and had a chat about the season, gave out a few thankyous and went forward with the presentations. A few surpised looks when a few were called up to accept an award - which was really nice. Well done to all the award winners. Ray has taken some of th eones that will be presented to Wednesday sailors who weren't there today.

I have Linked a copy of the 2025 Season Award Winners document for anyone who wishes to have a look at them.

Bodge had organised a sweep for the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and we still have a few that need to be sold. Please contact Bodge if you would like some tickets - otherwise the club will take the remainder and will be a nice little bonus for the club should the tickets allocated to it wins.

Have a great christmas everyone, and a safe new year period. We understand this time is not such a joyous one for everyone, and if you fit into that space, please take care and look after yourself. Friends are about at the club should you need to have a chat to someone, please reach out if you feel the need.

Best wishes for the new sailing season. Let's all do our best to be better next season than we were last season (as we always strive to be). The club has made some excellent headway into being better overall - in performance and behaviour both on and off the water, and lets hope it continues to build ont he fantastic base we have worked so hard for. It is essential to be so in order for any club to thrive and increase its membership base.

Our next sailing day is on the RBRYC Website calendar, on Sunday, 4th January - IOM Scratch Summer Series Round 1 at MBYC, button press at 1pm.

Kyle

There was a good 15 knots of Northerly blowing when we arrived at the Dam this morning and it was nice and warm too with a forecasted 28 degrees as the maximum. It was our last handicap event for the year and this fact and the good sailing conditions brought out a strong fleet of sixteen skippers. 
 
A couple of skippers dusted off their ‘classics’ to give them a run. They had a great battle amongst themselves. Andrew Wardrop came out as ‘best of the classics’ today. Next year we will designate a couple of Wednesdays as Classics days. We will still have normal fleet racing on these days but just encourage those with the older boats to bring them out for a sail and enjoy a race within a race.
 
Rod Jackman was suffering some leg strain issues today and the thought of running after his boat didn’t fill him with glee. He did however offer to take on PRO responsibilities for the morning. After lunch Sheep and Bodge did the job after both suffering some breakage issues on their boats. Thanks to you Rod, Ian and Dave.

A-rigs were the universal choice for the mornings session. We were pretty much at the upper limit for the big rig though and I think that the wind freshened a little over the lunch break without us noticing - that is until the race after lunch which proved to be a handful with the boats well overpowered. Most skippers suited down in a rig change break and the B-rig did prove a better choice for most of the remaining races.

There was a fair attrition rate today with only 9 skippers finishing the last race. 

The overall winner today was John Hall who was probably also the most consistent skipper today. Jammy Jones continued his run of great results with an overall second today after starting the day as the back marker and John Penman took out third place. It has taken John quite a while to get his V11 sailing fast but over recent weeks he has steadily moved to the top end of the fleet.

Coming Up:

As said that was the last Wednesday Handicap for the season. This Sunday we will have the very last event, BBQ and prize giving. The format for the day will be:

10:00 Sailing - Bring any boat you like but there will definitely be some A class action
12:30 BBQ followed by prize ceremony
After that - more sailing for those that wish.

For those that cannot make the end of your function -  have a wonderful Christmas season and we will see all back on the water in the new year.​

Shorty 

A quite warm and gusty North westerly wind of about 10 - 15 knots greeted us at the dam this morning so all seventeen skippers elected to use their B rig for the mornings session. After lunch the wind settled a little and most skippers rigged the A for the last few races.
 
Over the course of the year our current handicap system has generated some unusual and unrealistic handicaps for the DF95 roster. As today was our last DF95 handicap meet for the year it seemed like a good time to trial a possible alternative system that may be used next year. The new system features grouped starts. Skippers start with a group of others of similar skill at 15 second intervals and sail with that same handicap all day. The skipper that has won the day, and any others who have had frequent podium appearances will be promoted into the next start group for our next meet. Skippers who sail all day but rarely find the podium are demoted and gain more handicap at the next meet. 
 
All up it was a good day for the mid-fleet skippers with Nick Connor taking out overall honours with great consistency after taking discards aside. Congratulations Nick! Scott Brain took out second place and had two race wins in his mix. Other skippers to win two races were John Penman and Phil Jackman. I was pleased with my third overall today as I have been struggling a bit recently with the DF95 in windy conditions.
 
As far as the handicap implications are concerned Nick would be promoted to the 45 sec start group by virtue of his event win. Scott and I would also find that we are promoted to the 45 second group as we were frequent podium attenders. Conversely Rod Jackman, Ray Joyce and Alan Short all had a ‘hard day at the office’ and barely made the podium at all - they would find that they are demoted and get more handicap benefit next time we meet.
 
So did the handicap system work? I think that it might take time before we can tell. I don’t think that we necessarily had skippers in correct groups today. The system did reveal some good features though: 

• It gives skippers valuable practice at starting in a group situations. 
• It gives the PRO the ability to judge the start line.
• It means that you get to race all day with a group of ‘rivals’. A race within a race situation is formed.

I do appreciate any feedback regarding handicaps as I am trying hard to develop a system that is fair to all and encourages skippers to sail well.
 
Shorty