This Week In Sailing - 8th June 2023

THIS WEEK @ OXENFORD WATERSPORT CENTRE AND SQUAD UPDATE

By: Michaela Hanson

Winter is predominantly a light wind season so our instructors use this time to review skills on the water to refine technique. This week both Tackers and Out There classes completed repeat drills for man overboard procedure making sure they understand and are able to execute each step safely so that it becomes second nature.

She Sails Humpybong Regatta

Sunday 28th May saw our youth and adult female sailors and volunteers participate, officiate and volunteer at the Humpybong She Sails Regatta. SYC was represented by instructors Grace Murphy (race official), Mel Watson (competitor), Jasmine Ruck (competitor) and Michaela Hanson (volunteer) along with a group of youth sailors and a group of She sails adult volunteers (Georgia, Jayne, Daria and Sally). On Saturday the ladies were able to get out for some racing but on Sunday the conditions were less than favourable resulting in racing being cancelled. However, at noon on Sunday, there was a wind change with just enough to get out and have some fun, so our adult team jumped at the opportunity and enjoyed a couple of hours in the bay. Three of the adult ladies have never been to a regatta or sailed outside of an SYC venue, so this was an exciting opportunity to push themselves out of their comfort zone. Our volunteers enjoyed a day of networking with other clubs and like-minded women which has the potential to open doors and opportunities to try sailing around QLD and beyond.

If you’re interested in joining us for female-only She Sails social sailing sessions at SYC Oxenford, we have two events live with spaces still available.

She Sails June & July

Sunday, June 11th (noon-3pm) and Sunday, July 23rd (noon-3pm) celebrating Christmas in July! Join us by booking your place at the below link:

https://www.revolutionise.com.au/southportyc/events/117490/

Coming Up!

School Holiday Sailing

Sign the children up to join us for some fun school holiday activities both on and off the water.

Week 1: Wednesday 28th & Friday 30th June
Week 2: Wednesday 5th and Friday 7th July

Come for half a day (9am-Noon for $50pp) or a full day (9am-3pm for $80pp)

Click the below link to secure your spot:

Holiday Sailing – June/July 2023 – Southport Yacht Club – revolutioniseSPORT

Adult Learn to Sail Dinghy

Our next adult course is now open for registrations, running for 3 full days 9am-3pm on Sun 16th, Sun 23rd and Sun 30th July. Secure your spot by clicking the below link:

https://www.revolutionise.com.au/southportyc/events/188533/

SAILOR of the WEEK

Congratulations to Yifei Steadman who is our Sailor of the Week. After an early attempt that proved far too scary at the time, Yifei at 10 years old now, finally followed her 2 brothers into sailing about 12 months ago. Yifei is a social butterfly and loves the fun side of sailing both with other youth and on family liveaboard holidays.

She has completed the 3 levels of tackers programs and thoroughly enjoyed helping with the ‘She Sails’ program. Now comfortable sailing an Opti, Yifei has dived into the deep end by learning to sail Nacra 350’s with her brothers and Teegan Mitchell.

Whilst currently learning and gaining experience handling a considerably faster and less forgiving craft than the Opti, within the safer confines of Oxenford Lake Yifei is hoping to return to the Green Fleet and Out There Sailing programs with her brothers aboard their Nacra’s once their confidence and boat handling abilities are up to the task.

This season she will be sailing the 350 in the 11 regatta Nacra SEQ Super Series with her older brother Ethan as part of a 2-boat team with the 2^nd 350 sailed by Teegan and Lucas. She is hoping to be able to take the helm at some point during the season. At the moment she is developing skills on how to trapeze and control the mix of fear and excitement when the baby Nacra powers up! Well done Yifei, we look forward to seeing where your sailing journey takes you.