Minnow Sail Training Camp

Transcription

1 Edition 2 - Autumn 2014 Minnow Mania! The 2013/2014 sailing season has been full of fun and action out on the water. Read on to find out what our Minnow sailors have been up to and what s coming up on the Minnow calendar, in our 2nd edition of Minnow Mania! Minnow Sail Training Camp On 7th & 8th September, TCYC and the Minnow Association hosted the annual Minnow Sail Training Camp down at the Hardstand at Point Peron, attended by over 30 metro and country Minnow juniors (and a few Mudlarks too!) ranging in experience from complete novices to our top level sailors. National level sailors (L-R) Jack J, Kieran, Daniel, Dean & Caelin The Advanced Racing group were coached by Minnow stalwart, Ray Phillips, with the help of past Minnow Champions Dale Brett and Kane Orvad. The coaches concentrated on boat handling, starts and boat setup. The sailors also participated in a number of mini-races over the weekend. Our group of National level sailors were put through their paces by Ki Raphael- Sulkowski who focused on race planning, tactics, boat speed and endurance, in preparation for the upcoming summer racing calendar. IN THIS EDITION: Minnow Training Camp Westsail & Gill Youths Inaugural WA MDS Sail Freo Regatta ISAF Sail Melbourne Melbourne Nationals Australia Day Regatta State Championships 3 of a Kind Regatta Minnows at Maylands 2014 MDS Announced Upcoming Events Some of our Advanced Racing Group (L-R) Isaac, Matthew, Harry W, Tyson & Zach Some of the Introduction to Racing Group (L-R) Rhys W, Drina, Murray & Jack B The Introduction to Racing group were coached by Heidi Bucktin and Jon Clark, and assisted by past high level Minnow sailors Bree Spencer and Hayley Clark. The main focus of this group was improving boat handling skills and learning racing scenarios. The sailors also joined in some of the mini-races on the second day of training.

2 The Introduction to Sailing group were coached by Chris Bucktin and Geographe Grammar School Principle, Rob Devenish, and an armada of parents! The young novices sailed close inshore, practicing capsizing drills and learning basic safety protocols and boat handling skills. By the second day a number of the sailors were confidently sailing and tacking upwind. Many of the youngsters also sailed their Minnow from the Hardstand back to TCYC after the last training session! It was fantastic to see so many sailors from Dunsborough Bay Sailing Club, Shelley Sailing Club and TCYC at the camp and to welcome the children from Geographe Grammar School who use Minnows in their school sailing program. Sail settings presentation with Phil Bugsy Smith from Avalon Sails On the Saturday night we were treated to a presentation on sail setting and boat setup by Phil Smith from Avalon Sails, followed by pizza and a movie. Most of us camped in tents at the hardstand area, with the late evening rain not putting a dampener on events too much!!! Lorna Buchan and her army of parents had us eating like kings and queens for the weekend, all healthy and very yummy meals, and plenty of it for the hungry sailors and coaches. All the sailors came away having learnt a huge amount and most importantly had a pile of fun, especially with the camping element thrown in. Most kids were in bed early on Sunday night with a big smile on their face from all accounts, after an information and fun-packed weekend. A big THANK YOU to all the coaches, parents and helpers for making the weekend a huge success and to Alan Campbell and the TCYC Foreshore Committee in getting the hardstand up to scratch, which ended up being a perfect venue for our camp. We would also like to say a special thank you to our sponsors who provided a number of gifts, prizes and vouchers for the weekend Trevor and the team at Yacht Grot, Peter and the SLAM team and SeaBreeze Surf Shop. Your generous support was much Introduction to Sailing Group with coaches Rob & Chris and parent helper Roger 2013 Minnow Sail Training Camp appreciated and we were able to present every sailor with a prize or gift to take home from the camp. Thank you so much! We would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU!! to everyone who volunteered their time and energy before, during and after the camp, helping to make this an absolutely fantastic event. We re all now eagerly looking forward to the 2014 camp!!

3 2013 WestSail & Gill Youth Championships The Minnows were well represented at WestSail again in 2013, with Kieran Bucktin, John Clements and Matt Clements (all from TCYC), Dean Cowan (DBYC) and Daniel Brown (SSC) getting 4 days of intensive coaching from Ki Raphael Sulkowski, and mixing it up with top level coaches and sailors including 29er, Laser, 420, Flying Ant, Pelican and Opi classes. The sailors also competed in the Gill Youth State Championships which followed straight on from WestSail. Wind conditions increased over the two day competition, with strong gusts causing a bit of havoc on the course during the last day. Racing was closely contested with Kieran and Dean battling it out for 1st place, and John, Daniel and Matt vying for 3 rd. It all came down to the final race with Dean the victor in the end. Kieran placed a close 2 nd and John took out 3 rd. Daniel finished in 4 th place overall ahead of Matthew in 5 th. Well done and great sailing to our Minnows! Inaugural WA Minnow Development Squad In October 2013 the WA Minnow Association announced its inaugural Minnow Development Squad with sailors Dean Cowan, Kieran Bucktin, John Clements, Daniel Brown and Matthew Clements invited to be part of the high-performance squad. Over the next few months, the Squad received coaching from Ki Raphael-Sulkowski, Chelsea Hall and Jack Kelly in the lead up to the 2014 National Minnow Championships. Members of the squad were also required to compete at Sail Fremantle Regatta as part of their training. The focus of the development squad is on high performance with the ultimate aim of a WA sailor winning a National Minnow Title! The training received will also set our sailors up to be top level sailors able to perform at a high level when they move into their next class. Sail Freo Regatta Eight of our Minnow sailors, including the MDS headed up to Fremantle Sailing Club in October to compete for the first time in the Sail Fremantle regatta a premier two-day ocean racing event held in the challenging seas off Success Harbour. TCYC s Kieran Westsail participants & 2013 Minnow Development Squad (L-R) Dean, Matthew, John, Kieran & Daniel The Minnow fleet staying close between races at Freo (L-R) Harry, Matthew, Jack, Dean, Daniel, Luke, Rhys & Kieran Bucktin in Smoke on the Water won an impressive nine from nine races to take out the Minnow division in convincing style. Dean Cowan in Spinnow from DBYC finished in 2 nd place while Luke Phillips (TCYC) sailed Maniac with consistent form to finish in 3 rd place. Daniel Brown in Black Magic (SSC), Jack Joyner in Spellbound (TCYC) and Matt Clements in Pokémon (TCYC) were well

4 The Minnow fleet race across the start line at Sail Freo (L-R) Matthew, Jack. Kieran, Daniel, Luke, Rhys matched on the course and put in some great racing to finish in 4 th, 5 th and 6 th place respectively. TCYC brothers Harry and Rhys Williams did well braving the conditions and finishing a number of their races to place 7 th and 8 th respectively in their very first ocean regatta. new paint jobs on Devil in Disguise and the recently renamed Bull At A Gate looked fantastic too! ISAF World Cup - Sail Melbourne Dean (above) and Kieran (below) at Sail Melbourne in their new Minnows Both boys received a special award for their efforts at Presentations. The The ISAF Sailing World Cup was held on 1st to 8th December at Sandringham Yacht Club, Melbourne. For the very first time, Minnows were invited to this event and sailed alongside Optimist and International Cadets classes on the last three days of the regatta. Two WA Minnow sailors, Kieran Bucktin (TCYC) and Dean Cowan (DBYC) flew to Melbourne for the event and competed in their newly built production Minnows from Griffin Sailcraft. The boys had planned some training for the Thursday prior to the start of racing on Friday, but with knot breezes that cancelled all other fleet racing, they went to the Melbourne Aquarium instead!!! Large seas left over from Thursday s cold front, combined with light winds on the Friday and Saturday made sailing extremely challenging. Young Kieran struggled with tiredness, adjusting to the change in time zones and the late racing (up to 8pm!), but still managed to finish mid-fleet. Dean improved with every race and by the last races he was regularly in the top 5. Well done Dean!! Dean and Kieran placed 9th & 17th respectively out of a fleet of 29 boats, hailing mainly from Victoria with a small contingent from the Northern Territory. Special thanks to the Grimshaw Family for putting our sailors up in Melbourne during the regatta! 2014 Melbourne Nationals Minnow State Team sailors Kieran & Drina Bucktin, John & Matthew Clements, Jack & Harry Joyner (all from TCYC) and Dean Cowan (DBYC) flew east with parents and siblings in tow in mid-january to compete in the 34th Minnow National Championships, hosted by Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron on the picturesque Mornington Peninsula Minnow National competitors

5 The fun begins at Linfox in Welshpool Thanks to everyone s hard work, our sailors were out on the water by mid-morning for two days of pre-regatta training, becoming familiar with local tides and conditions under the guidance of our State Team coach, Chelsea Hall. Chelsea s presence provided a great boost in both skills and psyche throughout the regatta, which proved to be a challenging one. High-stakes UNO kept everyone entertained Team bonding commenced with Ant & Minnow parents sweltering in the sun, loading boats into a 40 foot container at the Linfox yard in Welshpool before Christmas. Parents and sailors then rendezvoused in Blairgowrie early on 10th January to beat the heat and unload boats and gear and ferry everything from the local park where the container was situated down to the yacht club a real team effort! The week consisted of sailors briefings, waiting, postponement, waiting, fluttering flags more waiting and promises of wind on the way. With precious little breeze, soaring temperatures up to 44 degrees, news of fires in Melbourne and nearby on the Peninsular, things were pretty grim and it looked doubtful that the fleets would make the required minimum races. Harry s pack of UNO cards saved the day keeping the kids occupied, but the concerted effort of the team ganging up against Coach Chelsea didn t go down too well..at least not with Chelsea!! The jetty took a pounding from the kids and some parents alike during the hot, still afternoons, with somersaults and bombies the order of the day. We were treated to regular visits from two huge stingrays, Big Ben and his mate Stumpy, and a litter of baby seals frolicking around the jetty pylons. In all the waiting around, Bron found plenty of time for laps out to the end of the pier and back in training for her February Rotto swim! More waiting 3pm 4pm 4.30pm Hooray! 5pm off we go on Thursday afternoon! Very late for a sea breeze we were told, but wow best sailing of the event!! After two great races the Open Fleet sailors returned to beach at 8:00pm. The Open/Junior Fleet race across the start line on Day 2 (L-R) 1189 Dean leading, 1171 John in 4 th, 1188 Kieran 6 th, 935 Jack 9 th & 1172 Matt 20th Glassy conditions prevailed out on Port Phillip Bay for most of the regatta Jack, Chad and John cooling off on the jetty Last day..more waiting yet again, lots of flag watching as the sun made its way across the sky then finally, in came the breeze and the fleets were off for some more twilight sailing, ending the regatta on a high note.

6 Our Novice sailors Drina & Harry slip into the 40 s, finishing 36th overall after a best place of 31st. Throughout the week, Heidi & Gill crewed up as on-water support for our two Novice sailors, Drina and Harry, who mixed it up with the massive Novice Fleet of 54 Minnows, outnumbering the Open Fleet!! Drina and Harry both tackled the tides and currents extremely well, sailing round loads of boats stuck on marks on numerous occasions. Long waits at the beginning of each race and numerous port starts adding to the confusion of so many boats did not dull their determination to compete. Drina improved all the way through the event finishing with a 35th place in the last race and achieving 47th overall. Harry managed to remain fairly consistent except for one Our Open and Junior sailors competed in a fleet of 45 Minnows. Kieran flew off with a win in the Invitation Race, followed by two 7ths and two 8ths but was pushed into 10th place overall in the Open Fleet after a 22nd and an 11th on the last day. Following Kieran s Kieran on Kilari 1188 heading to the wing mark with the race leaders lighter winds working in his favour. Dean finished in 14th overall with a best placing of 11th on the last day of racing. Jack shone at the end with a 22nd place, but a few mid 30s in the early part of the regatta gave him a 31st overall and 10th placed Junior. Unbeknownst to us Sandgropers, the VICs were running score sheets for an A & B fleet and Jack was pleasantly surprised to be announced John on Poseidon 1171 and Jack on Wild Thing 935 3rd placed Junior in the B s. smoking start to the regatta it felt like he was a marked man as he became the subject of many a controversial protest day after day. After a testing week, it was fantastic to see Kieran bring home the trophy for 3rd placed National Junior well done Kieran! Dean also sailed a great regatta up in the top 20 for every heat and often challenging the front runners, with the John, coming straight from the Flying Ant Nationals, was exhausted and unwell for the most of the regatta and spent the second day in the First Aid room with a fever! But he soldiered on to complete the remainder of his races, achieving low 30 positions on his better days and 41st overall, collecting a Sportsmanship award along the way. Kieran being presented with the Invitation Race perpetual trophy Dean on Nauti Buoy 1189 keeping pace with the front runners

7 Matthew sailed well in his first Open Fleet regatta, with a 30th as his best result and an overall placing of 43rd and 14th Junior. Matthew s starts improved out of sight over the week and by the final two days he was consistently one of the first sailors across the start line (even getting black flagged!) and in the top 5 heading up the first windward leg. Matt received an Encouragement award on Presentation night for his efforts. WA Team (L-R) Matthew, Jack Kieran, Drina, John Harry & Dean with Coach Chelsea Hall Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron The Presentation night BBQ was excellent with the kids feasting first and presentations and dancing following the sumptuous parents buffet. The evening raffle proved to be a highlight when the Cowans winning ticket blew out of Dean s hand and over the balcony. The redraw saw the consecutive numbered ticket pulled out of the barrel, which just happened to be held by the Joyners! With prize in hand (a Ronstan Start Watch) and under heavy guilt, Roger fronted up to explain about the now-retrieved original winning ticket and made to hand over his prize to the Cowans, but much to everyone s delight, the VIC s immediately stumped up another Ronstan Start Watch!!! All in all it was a tough but rewarding regatta for our sailors, with some invaluable lessons, insight and experience gained. The sailors came away with a better knowledge of sailing in currents and tides and everyone is a touch more conversant with the Racing Rules of Sailing! Thank you to everyone who supported our sailors to Heidi and Gill on the Novice fleet, to Chris, Bruce (who flew down from Sydney for the week!), John, Bron, Roger, Neil, and Jo who all took turns out on the hired rib to take photos, adjust rigging, lend moral support and provide much needed mars bars and snakes for our sailors between races, and to Chad for assisting Chelsea on the coach boat. Thanks to John Snr for supplying the WA chandlery service and tool shop!! On behalf of the WA sailors and families, we d like to say an especially big THANK YOU! to Coach Chelsea who worked tirelessly during the regatta, training, briefing, motivating, reviewing photos of sailors each night, pouring over rules books by day, providing advice and assistance for protest hearings and so much more your presence was invaluable!! Matthew on Pokémon 1172 gets away to a great start on the last day of the regatta The WA Minnow Team For full results, head to the National Minnow website:

8 Australia Day Regatta - Busselton Zach Coomey, Jack Brabazon, Jared Clark, Tyson Clark, Rhys Sims and families all headed south at the end of January to take part in this year s Australia Day Regatta, hosted by Geographe Bay Yacht Club in the idyllic waters off the coast of Busselton. This is a relaxed and family orientated regatta focussed around having fun both out on the water and on shore. By all accounts the boys had a great time racing and playing about in their Minnows on the in-shore course, and they came away with a swag of pennants and lots of great memories. Pre-race briefing on the beach Sailors and siblings clowning around (L-R) Zach, Jack, Jared and Tyson - not a bad haul for the weekend!! 2014 WA State Championships The 22nd WA Minnow State Championships were sailed at TCYC on the weekend of 1-3 March 2014 in mostly light, shifty conditions that suited our new Novice sailors and made for some closely contested racing out on the Open Fleet course. 36 sailors from The Cruising Yacht Club (WA), Shelley Sailing Club, Dunsborough Bay Yacht Club and Maylands Yacht Club flocked to the beautiful clear waters of Mangles Bay to sail it out for the State Titles. We had 16 Novice sailors this year, many of whom were very new to Minnows and had never competed in a race before. Completing 9 heats over 3 days, these young sailors all improved enormously, learning the Some of our Novice fleet sailors heading out for a day s racing fundamentals of positioning on the start line, racing upwind and mark rounding rules, and also overcoming their nerves when they found themselves stuck in irons just metres from the finish line! Jessica Kursar in her new boat Smoke on the Water, took out two 1st places and six 2nd places to win the Novice Division great work Jess! Harry Joyner in Spellbound, who had a fabulous day of racing on Sunday winning four heats, finished in 2nd place overall for the regatta. Close on Harry s heels was newcomer Rhys Sims, who came away with a 1st and two 2nd s in his new boat Barracuda, placing 3rd overall. Jessica also The Novice fleet with their photo certificates and prizes. won the top placed female in the Novice Division, and Murray

9 Buchan sailed Rapid Fire consistently to take out the Mid-Fleet award. Well done and fantastic racing to all our Novice sailors! We look forward to seeing many of you mixing it up with the Open fleet next year!! Further out from shore, our more experienced sailors pitted their skills and racing tactics against one other as they battled it out in the 20-strong Open Fleet. The light and fluky conditions on the first two days of racing favoured our lighter skippers and called for a lot of concentration, with those focussing on the wind shifts doing well. A change of pace with stronger and consistent breezes on the final day saw more of our older sailors moving up the fleet and finishing their heats in the top ten. The Open Division was won convincingly by Dean Cowan from DBYC sailing his new Griffin Sailcraft Minnow, Nauti Buoy. Dean is one of our most accomplished Minnow sailors and his abundance of upwind speed and clever tactics won him five out of the eight heats. Our Junior and Open Fleet sailors with Open Fleet winners Dean (1 st ), Kieran (2 nd ) and Luke (3 rd ) Dean s two main rivals, Kieran Bucktin, who finished 2nd in Kalari (another new Griffin Sailcraft boat) and Luke Phillips, 3rd in Maniac, never let up for a moment, and most of the time you could throw a towel over the three Minnows as they jostled for position! Jack Joyner sailing Wild Thing was another top contender, constantly pushing the trio and stealing two 2nd s and a 3rd in the heats to take out 4th place overall. Sian Hoffman sailing Unleashed was the highest placed female in the Open fleet and Shelley s Daniel Brown on Black Magic came away with the Mid-Fleet award. Our younger sailors within the Open fleet, those under 12 years old, also competed for the Junior Division trophies. Kieran Bucktin in Kalari was virtually unchallenged, winning the Invitation Race and 7 of the 8 heats, earning him the title of 2014 Junior Champion. 2nd and 3rd place were hotly contested, with the pennants for the heats being shared amongst Jack Joyner, Mitchell McLeod, Matthew Clements and brothers Harry and Rhys Williams. In the end, Jack Joyner in Wild Thing, with one 1st and five 2nd pennants, was the Runner-Up Junior Champion. Mitchell McLeod in Stardust Mini finished a very credible third overall. Harry Williams in Devil in Disguise won the Les Thomas perpetual trophy for the Most Improved sailor. Harry The dunking of the Champions everyone getting in on the action!

10 improved an impressive 19 places from last year s States well done Harry!! Other stand-out improvers were Mitchell McLeod and Matthew Clements, stepping up 17 and 15 places respectively from last year s results. Great effort fellas! We ll be watching your progress in the coming year! Racing was extremely close throughout the whole regatta - whether battling for first or 15th, every sailor showed a huge improvement over the weekend in the Open, Junior and Novice fleets. Congratulations and well done to all who competed! For full results and more photos, head to the Minnow website MBSC 3 of a Kind Regatta In March each year Mounts Bay Sailing Club host a 3 of a Kind Regatta which, as the name suggests, entails teams of 3 to 5 boats from the same class racing against teams from various other classes, in centreboard class dinghy and catamaran Divisions. This is a Yardstick event, with the winner in each Division being the Class Team with the best average corrected time for the first three boats in a team. This year, for the very first time, some of our Minnow sailors headed up to Mounts Bay to compete in this fun and friendly event. Unfortunately the wind conditions on the day were unseasonably strong and proved challenging for many of the (L-R) Tyson, Jack, Zach and Jared at MBSC competitors across all classes, giving the rescue boats a real work-out! Well done to Zach Coomey, Jack Brabazon, Tyson Clark and Jared Clark for having a go and promoting the Minnow Class!! Mounts Bay would love to welcome the Minnows again next year, so we ll be sure to send out details of the 2015 event. Minnows Back At Maylands! MYC Sailors Dylan Holthouse and Creek Ellis We re delighted to report that after a long spell, Minnows are back out on the water at Maylands Yacht Club! We extend a very warm welcome to Nick Holthouse who has taken up the position of MYC Club Representative on our Minnow Committee, and to new Minnow sailors Dylan Holthouse and Creek Ellis, both of whom competed at the State Championships this year. Maylands are looking at building up their Minnow fleet over the coming year and we look forward to more Maylands sailors taking part in future Minnow events. MYC hold their summer training on Sunday mornings and would be happy for Minnows from other clubs to come along and

11 participate just give Nick a call to give him the heads up. MYC host a Winter Series each year and all Minnow sailors are invited to compete check out the Upcoming Events section for dates. There is also an MYC Minnows & Mirrors Invitation Race Day in the pipeline and we will let you know further details as they become available WA Minnow Development Squad Announced!! After a hotly contested Minnow State Championships, WA s top Minnow sailors have been invited to join the 2014 WA Minnow Development Squad, which is being sponsored in part by Alcoa Kwinana. Congratulations to the following sailors who have accepted a place in the squad, which will be officially announced at the MOFSC Easter Regatta: Dean Cowan (DBYC) Kieran Bucktin (TCYC) Jack Joyner (TYC) Mitchell McLeod (TCYC) Damien Webster (TCYC) Harry Williams (TCYC) Matthew Clements (TCYC) We are excited to announce that Chelsea Hall has been engaged as the high performance coach for the 2014 squad. Chelsea is the current 49erFX National Champion and a former Minnow sailor herself. Chelsea loves the Minnow kids and enjoys passing on here knowledge and experience to our sailors. Training will kick off on Friday 18 th April at MOFSC during the Easter Regatta, with ongoing training on a monthly basis through the winter and into next summer in preparation for the 2015 Nationals. Additional squad places may be made available as the season progresses for upcoming sailors who show promise and dedication to their sport. All squad members are expected to give back to the sport by assisting our younger Minnow sailors. If you have any questions regarding the Minnow Development Squad, please phone Chris Bucktin on Upcoming Events We have yet another action packed year ahead for the Minnows check out the summary of upcoming events and dates and pencil them into your diary! More details on the events can be found below: MOFSC Easter Training Regatta 18 th to 21 st April: A 4-day coaching regatta for all levels of sailors. Entry is $70 per open fleet sailor and $40 for Novice fleet sailors. Chelsea Hall will coach the MDS and open fleet on the Friday (many thanks to our sponsor Alcoa Kwinana for covering coaching fees!), and will also coach the Minnow and Flying Ant fleets for the following 3 racing days. Heidi Bucktin will be coaching the Novice fleet for the duration of the regatta. This is a great event and we encourage all Minnow sailors to take part. For more details and registration go to Huck Scott Winter Series monthly from May to August (dates to be confirmed): A great ocean racing series hosted by the very friendly and welcoming FSC, aimed at the more experienced sailors, with two heats being held each race day on trapezoidal courses for the various classes. Competitors can compete in as few or as many heats as they like. Winter conditions can vary from drifters to full-on squalls, so we recommend that sailors check the forecast on the day before making the trip. Keep an eye on the FSC website for details

12 MYC Winter Series 1 st Sunday of the month, from 4 th May: This event is new to the Minnow calendar and we encourage sailors to head on up to Maylands to take part in this series. Racing is scheduled for 1:00pm (so plenty of time for a Sunday morning sleep-in!) with 2 short-course heats per race day. For more details, MYC Rep Nick Holthouse on Nick.Holthouse@csaglobal.com Minnow Training Camp 6 th 7 th September: Our sail training camp is on again! This is set to be another fantastic weekend at the TCYC Hardstand, with some great coaches already lined up and we expect a huge turn-out from Minnow sailors across WA. Details will be sent out in due course. WestSail Training Camp 27 th 30 th September (by invitation): A 4-day advanced sailing camp for experienced junior and youth sailors. Prerequisites are Yachting Australia s Better Sailing 2 and Start Racing 1 qualifications. Junior Class Associations nominate their top level sailors to attend and invitations are offered by YWA, with 2014 UPCOMING EVENTS Easter Training Regatta MOFSC 18 to 21 April Huck Scott Winter Series FSC monthly from May to August(dates TBC) Maylands Winter Series MSC 4 May, 1 June, 6 July, 3 August, 7 September Minnow Training Camp TCYC Hardstand 6 to 7 September WestSail TCYC Hardstand 27 to 30 September Gill WA State Youth Championships TCYC 2 to 3 October Sail Fremantle Dinghy Regatta FSC 25 to 26 October ISAF 2014 Sailing World Cup Melbourne 7 to 14 December 2015 round one invitations expected to be sent out in early July. Event details will be posted closer to the time on the YWA website Please speak to Chris Bucktin if you have any queries. Gill WA State Youth Championships 1 st 2 nd October: Following straight on from WestSail, the State Youth Championships are held at TCYC. All youth classes including Minnows are invited to attend. (Westsail participants are entered automatically.) Whether you re competing or spectating, this will be a great regatta so be sure to get along to TCYC and catch some of the sailing action! Event details will be posted closer to the time on the YWA website Sail Fremantle Dinghy Regatta 25 th - 26 th October: This event is conducted by the Fremantle Sailing Club Dinghy Section and is for invited Classes to enjoy ocean sailing in a convivial atmosphere - a must for Minnow sailors keen on honing their ocean racing skills. Details will be advised closer to the date keep an eye out on the FSC website 35th Minnow National Championships TCYC Rockingham 11 to 16 January Australia Day Regatta, Safety Bay SBSC- 23 to 25 January Australia Day Regatta, Busselton GBYC- 24 to 26 January WA Minnow State Championships SSC 28 February to 2 March ISAF Sailing World Cup 7 st 14 th December: The ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne, will take place at Sandringham Yacht Club again this year. After making their debut at the event in 2013, we are awaiting confirmation that the Minnow class will be invited back again this year to compete alongside the Optimist and International Cadets classes. We ll keep you posted.

13 2015 Minnow Nationals 11th 16th January 2015: We re excited to announce that the next Minnow Nationals will be held at right here in WA at TCYC in Rockingham!!! We encourage all WA Minnow sailors, including Novices, to enter the level of improvement and experience gained from taking part in such an event is enormous and very well worth it. Preparation and planning for the Nationals is already underway by your WA Committee. If you are interested in helping out or volunteering at the event, we d love to hear from you! We are seeking all levels of sponsorship for event, so if you know of anyone who may be willing to assist in this regard, please speak to one of the Minnow Association committee members. Safety Bay Australia Day Regatta 23th to 25th January 2014: Hosted by SBYC, this is a fun and relaxed regatta great for Novices and more experienced sailors alike, with camping available on the grassed area in front of the club. SBYC would love to see a fleet of Minnows in Busselton Australia Day Regatta 24th to 26th January 2014: A popular annual event, great for beginner and intermediate level Minnows with in-shore racing in beautiful Geographe Bay, Busselton. Please note that camping is no longer available at the club, so book your accommodation early Minnow States 28th February to 2nd March 2015: To be hosted by SSC over the March long weekend, for all levels, from Novice up mark it in your diaries! More details to follow. Looking forward to seeing you all out on the water soon All hail the blue sail! WA MINNOW ASSOCIATION CONTACTS President Chris Bucktin cbucktin@bigpond.net.au Vice President Jon Clark waspol65@hotmail.com Treasurer Lorna Buchan aandlbuchan@gmail.com Secretary Bronwyn Clements bronz@live.com.au Website Admin Bronwyn Clements Measurer Kerry Williams DBYC Rep Neil Cowan MSC Rep Nick Holthouse SSC Rep Nick Robinson General Committee Carol Pringle General Committee John Kursar Open and Junior Fleet racing Minnow Nationals Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron January 2014