The WINTER EDITION, JUNE 2008

MUDLARK

The official newsletter of Maylands Yacht Club Inc

AGM: Monday, June 9 — Page 4

WHO IS THAT MASKED MAN?

See Page 5See Page 5See Page 5See Page 5 Picture: STEVE FOX

Picture: STEVE FOX

See Page 5

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WWWW ELL folks, another season done and dusted. It was great to see such a good turnout for our Presentation Night. Congratulations to all of

our Club Champions. They have once again set a very high standard for the rest of us to aspire to. I would especially like to congratulate Maryion Carter, who was awarded the Piglet Trophy for being the best club junior. Maryion is a delightful young lady and her family should be very proud of her. It was also fantastic to see such a good turnout of Past Commodores and Life Members at Presentation Night (See Pages 7 and 8). I think the count was seven Past Commodores and four Life Members.

# # #

FROM an administration point of view the season has gone without major incident. The club remains in a strong financial position and no major issues confront us in the short term. The major looming issue is City of Bayswater’s proposed redevelopment of the Bardon Park precinct. The club’s administration will need to be very wary of the implication of any such proposal so as to protect the club’s integrity.

# # # IT was very heartening to see such strength in our juniors and with the untiring work of our volunteers in the training and junior fleets, the future looks bright. For me, the club feels much more alive and energised when there are lots of happy juniors about and I look forward to seeing them all back next year.

# # #

THIS time of the year is also when we try, without overlook-ing anyone, to thank all our volunteers. I can only say that to attempt to list everyone who has

helped at the club in some way throughout the year would

really just look like our membership list. Thank you all for

your hard work; I can assure you that every member is

appreciative.

# # #

Elsewhere in this newsletter you will find notice of our AGM

(See Page 4).

I urge all members to attend this important event. Many

positions are filled by pre-arrangement, whereas others will

need to be filled on the night.

If you don’t turn up, we might just vote you in to some-

thing.

# # #

ANOTHER important event is the Busy Bee scheduled for

September 20-21.

Please put at least one of these days aside to give us a

hand. At this stage we don’t have a “to do” list, but Bob

Jackson is working on it.

One thing we do need to attend to is the repair of some of

the training boats. Ken Patterson needs some people who

can spare a bit of time during winter to repair various boats

and pieces of equipment.

Some jobs don’t require a lot of skill, like revarnishing

spars or rudders; other tasks, like repairing leaking hulls,

will require more skill.

If you think you can help, please give Ken a call.

# # #

WELL, members, I am writing this late as usual, much to

the annoyance of the editor, so I will sign off by wishing all

members and families a very restful off-season.

May all those yachting widows get a few jobs done around

the house, and I hope to see you all fit and raring to go next

October.

—The Commodore

Commodore’s Report With

PETER

KERRIGAN

PRIZE NIGHT: Commodore Peter Kerrigan, left, chats to past commodore Kim Stephens and his wife Margaret.

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LLOYD BLAKE talks to a veteran member who’s still soaring at Maylands

Top Gun John S ENIOR sailor John

Wood is eligible to be a Laser Great Grand Master competitor, but these days he’s swelling the numbers in the Mixed Fleet.

John and his two sons were introduced to sailing in a Mirror 30 years ago in Adelaide. The boys moved on to 420 dinghy sailing and when their tertiary education intervened in sailing activities, John took to single-handed craft — aircraft !

He switched to gliding and learnt to fly at Waikerie Gliding Club in South Australia’s Riverland.

According to John, now 74, gliding is related to sailing through tuning in with the ele-ments, but is much easier. A skllled pilot, John’s longest flight was 7.5 hours following the River Murray in to Victoria.

After flying gliders for 15 years, John and his wife Ruth moved to Perth, planning to continue cross-country soar-ing with WA gliders at Bever-ley. At a local function John and Ruth met Sally and John Gaunt who introduced them to MYC.

The single-handed glider pilot became a single-handed yachtsman.

John’s first outing in his

Laser, Sharnah, in a 15-knot breeze, caused more concern than his first solo flight. Soak-ing wet, John weighs just 69kg, so he struggled to con-trol the boat.

Switching to a Radial rig, John quickly adjusted to sailing in stronger weather. Now he sails a 4.7 in the Mixed Fleet.

A true MYC stalwart, John joins a team of club volunteers every week, summer and win-ter, assisting with maintenance and refitting of equipment.

He sees the future of MYC growing from the vigorous training program led by Rear Commodore Ken Patterson. Young sailors who graduate to Minnows and Lasers are a

credit to the program; how-ever, John rightfully points out the need for continued volun-teer support. A recruiting campaign to at-tract learn-to-sail adults would help bridge the big age gap between junior and senior membership. He welcomes any develop-ment that will bring more mem-bers to MYC. A boardwalk cafe would be attractive for public and members’ use while ex-posing the club to prospective members.

ABOVE: On a wing and a prayer . . . John Wood, left, joined the thrill seekers over Waikerie in South Australia. BELOW: Gentleman John provides a “subtle” reminder of valuable sponsor-ship. Maylands pictures: STEVE FOX

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Does your dolly look like this? YOU COULD REPLACE IT WITH A STAINLESS-STEEL MODEL

$200 AND YOU PROVIDE WHEELS FROM YOUR OLD DOLLY

See Max Albury or call 9349 3739

WHERE: Maylands Yacht Club.

WHEN: 7.30pm.

WHAT FOR: All committee po-sitions, from the patron to the webmaster, are open for nomi-nations or challenges. Your vote on the night might be cru-cial to the benefit of your club.

WHAT ELSE: Immediately af-ter the AGM, a general meet-ing will be held when you can rant, rave, praise and applaud people, and raise issues.

INDUCEMENT: Cheese and biscuits, tea and coffee, bar open (after meetings).

Annual General Meeting: Monday, June 9 EDITOR’S COMMENT

THE Mudlark is going gangbusters but that’s only because some members are putting in the effort to write an article — or talk to us. It takes a lot of time to put together each edition, particularly the new-look production side of the job, so anything you can do to provide words and pictures is truly appreciated, particularly in advance of edition time. Unless you tell us about yourselves, we’re none the wiser — unless I unleash gun reporter LLOYD BLAKE and he digs out stories such as the one in this issue on former glider pilot John Wood. Regular columnists, including Carol and Kelvin Davis who are a full bottle on the Juniors, keep us up to speed with developments and happenings in their fields. I have already asked new Laser Full Rig Club Champion David Ponton to compile a yarn for the October edition, revealing a few secrets on how he achieved fantastic improvement in the 2007-08 season (that dobs you in, Dave!). Finally, a suggestion: Let’s make “Smart Casual” the minimum dress standard for club functions, such as Prize Night. Perhaps jeans, beanies and T-shirts could have a rest for one night of the year. — STEVE FOX

PS: If you agree or disagree with anything in this issue and you’ve got something to say, send me an email for publication. PPS: Last issue we reported that Terry Gaunt represented Australia in Japan. He didn’t. Terry finished second in the Olympic 470 class and just missed out. Sorry for the misunderstanding, Terry.

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Hi-ho Hoggie! Lone Mothie Dave Hogg Dave Hogg Dave Hogg Dave Hogg tells The Mudlark editor Steve Fox what it’s like to be the only sailor in his class of boat in the Mixed Fleet

A true believer IIII

STARTED sailing at age 10 as a “bailer boy” on a 22ft, wet, open-decked yacht at Claremont Yacht

Club. The skipper of this boat was the kind but strict Curly Strickland, who was always looking to get people out on the water. My apprenticeship in sailing was spent on this boat, working my way up from the never-ending task of bailing, to providing ballast on the gunwale, to packing and setting spinnakers, to jib sheeting and then sheeting the mainsail. In a lot of ways I am still doing my apprenticeship in sailing! After two seasons of fun but wet times with Curly, he felt I was ready to venture out and sail my own boat. My dad felt a Manly Junior was an appropriate boat, so with my brother as crew, I ventured out into the world of skippering my own boat. Suffice to say, everything I had learnt deserted me as soon as I had my own boat. Fortunately a grinning Curly came to my rescue with a kind tow back to the beach and some gentle words of encour-agement. After two seasons of sailing the Manly Junior, I moved up to a Mirror and, to im-prove my skills, sailed at Claremont and Nedlands which had a fleet of 100-plus Mirrors. After sailing the Mirror until I was 16, I moved up to a Paper Tiger which was a magnificent boat for a testosterone-laden teenager. Into adulthood I moved around different classes, crewing on Cherubs, Skates, Kittykats, Tornadoes and indulging in a bit of offshore racing. I’ve been lucky enough to sail on yachts from Townsville to Fre-mantle and Gladstone to Darwin. I arrived at Maylands at a time in my life when I was looking for a sailing outlet to complement my time spent raising a fam-ily. I wanted to have fun but without the pressure of “sailing for sheep stations”. I felt a single-handed yacht was what I needed and I had sailed on a couple of Moths in my teen years. The late Clem Eaton took me under his “wing” in a simi-lar manner to Curly and he encouraged me to not dwell on the negatives and to learn from my mistakes. Both Curly and Clem were very similar, both gentlemen in the best way. Why have I stayed with the Moth? This is a question I regularly ask myself when I am drifting around in two knots of wind. The feeling of sailing a Moth from the wings on a reach in 15 knots of breeze is the thing that keeps me coming back.

Unfortunately, at the club level in this state, the class is dead, due to the mod-ern skiff Moth design being comparatively hard to sail — and expensive. On the note about the Moths dying, I feel

it is sad that cheap, good, medium-size dinghy classes have died and been re-placed with very expensive fibreglass/kevlar dinghies. I refer to classes such as the VJ, Moth, Cherub, Rainbow and Kittykat (cat I know). They are being re-placed by 29ers, 49ers, hydrofoil skiff Moths, etc. I have thought about upgrading to a Laser to gain more competition, but I think that you will see me in the Moth for a sea-son or two more. (I intend to look into maybe having a sail on one during the Winter Series). Sailing in the Mixed Fleet has been revitalised with the influx of the Hartley 16s, sailed by some very experienced and competitive crews. On some days I feel very lonely with the Hartleys consigning me to sail my own race, with me glimps-ing views of them on the horizon.

But when the wind gets up I am able to sail with them on equal terms. I am happy to try to beat my handicap as I use my Sunday sail as a fun outlet. Funny moments at May-lands? I think my antics keep a smile on a lot of peo-ple’s faces, due to my cap-sizes and thus my belief that the Swan River Trust should hire my services as a depth sounder! I think Maylands is a club with a good balance for the sailor: Good grassed rigging area and testing sailing courses. There seems to be very good-natured banter between all sailors with no “prima donnas”, and every-one prepared to help out in some way, such as training, moving boats in and out of the water and shed. The club has a good old sailing club feel, which a lot of clubs unfortunately have lost. As for the future of the club, there is a need for the club to be regularly rejuve-nated with an influx of youngsters, which I am happy to see has occurred

this past season. I think we need to keep pushing the Mir-ror fleet because it is a good boat that can be sailed by two teenagers or an adult and youngster.

HANGING IN: Dave Hogg, above, flies the Moth flag in Pigs ’ll Fly at MYC. Pictures: STEVE FOX

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STATE LASER

TITLES 2008

BEARDED BURBLERS OF BUSSELTON: Maylands Yacht Club’s Laser Radial representatives, from left, Ray Martin, Jerome Toonen, John Wallace and Alan Benn. Picture: LLOYD BLAKE

R ADIAL skipper Alan Benn flew the flag highest among the Maylands contingent who competed in the WA Laser Association state champion-

ships at Geographe Bay, Busselton, over the Anzac Day long weekend. Wind conditions varied markedly — from an abandoned race after almost an hour in heat one, to a brisk final morning on the Sunday when it was cold, wet, breezy (about 17 knots) and steep waves were rolling. Overall we had two heats on the Friday after-noon (including the one that was abandoned), five heats throughout Saturday and two on the Sunday. Congratulations to Tim Castles, who won the Open title for the fourth consecutive year. The full regatta results of 73 Lasers can be viewed on http://www.laserwa.asn.au.

From the MYC skippers — all 10 of us — sincere thanks to Martin Clark and Carol Davis who were on the beach to assist with dolleys before and after each day’s racing. Thanks also to the Geographe Bay Yacht Club which conducted a well-organised event on and off the water.

And well done to the 4.7 juniors from MYC who stuck it out when the breeze picked up. — STEVE FOX

FULL RIGS (Fleet of 31)

David Ponton 23rd (best finish 9th) Steve Fox 26th (best finish 21st) Lloyd Blake 31st (best finish 28th)

MASTER David Ponton (6th out of 8)

GRAND MASTER Steve Fox (4th out of 7)

Lloyd Blake (7th out of 7) RADIALS (Fleet of 23) Alan Benn 12th (best finish 3rd) Ray Martin 14th (best finish 5th) Jerome Toonen 18th (best finish 7th) John Wallace 19th (best finish 15th)

MASTER Alan Benn (4th out of 6)

GRAND MASTER Ray Martin (3rd out of 6) Jerome Toonen (4th out of 6) John Wallace (5th out of 6)

4.7s (Fleet of 19) Owen Davis 14th (best finish 13th) Matthew Clark-Massera 16th (best finish 13th) Jack Clark-Massera 17th (best finish 14th)

HOW THE MYC MEMBERS PERFORMED

Picture: AMBER BLAKE

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MYC Prize Night CLUB CHAMPIONS 2007-08

FROM LEFT: Kim Stephens (Laser Radial), Brian Plumb and Doug Bonny (Mixed Fleet), David Ponton (Laser Full Rig) and Paul and James Borrett (Mirrors).

CONSISTENCY CHAMPIONS 2007-08

FROM LEFT: Andrew Nicholls (Laser Radial), Brian Plumb and Doug Bonny (Mixed Fleet), Ken Patterson (Laser Full Rig) and Alexander Port and Hugh Davis (Mirrors).

LEFT: Bert (The Bandit) Brescianini won The Steve Fox Trophy for Full Rigs for the third time and shows his unbridled glee at having outfoxed the handicappers yet again. RIGHT: Juniors at Prize Night in-cluded, from left, Hugh Davis, James Borrett, Matthew Clark-Massera, Jack Clark-Massera, Alexan-der Port and Ryan Borrett.

All Prize Night

pictures by STEVE FOX

And the winners are: SHORT-COURSE CHAMPIONS

Laser Full Rigs: David Ponton

Laser Radials: Kim Stephens

Mixed Fleet: Jenny Pederick/John Gaunt

Mirrors: Hugh Davis/ Alexander Port

SHORT-COURSE CONSISTENCY

Laser Full Rigs: Bert Brescianini

Laser Radials: JeromeToonen

Mixed Fleet: Michael Albury

Mirrors: Hugh Davis/Alexander Port

MOST FASTEST TIMES

Laser Full Rigs: David Ponton Laser Radials: Kim Stephens

Mixed Fleet: Brian Plumb/Doug Bonny

Mirrors: Jack Clark-Massera/Owen Davis

SAIL POWER LASER MASTERS

Apprentice: Vince Rogers Master: David Ponton

Grand Master: Ken Patterson

Great Grand Master: Terry McCartney

STEVE FOX TROPHY (Laser Full Rigs)Bert Brescianini

MORNING FLEET

Laser 4.7: Mattherw Clark-Massera

Minnows: Hugh Davis

JUNIOR OF THE YEAR (The Piglet

Trophy, donated by the Blake family): Mary Carter

MAX ALBURY MOST PROMISING

JUNIOR IN TRAINING FLEET Callum Ferguson

JIM & IDA BENNETT

CLUB MEMBER OF THE YEAR Andrew Carter, pictured

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Saturday, May 17

ONE FOR THE ARCHIVES: Maylands Yacht Club was privileged to have seven past commodores, six of whom are still active sailors, join Commodore Peter Kerrigan, far right, at Prize Night. From left, they are Max Moore (who started his stint as commodore in 1969-70), Terry Gaunt (1974-75),

Brian Plumb (1990-91), John Gaunt (1993-94), Ken Patterson (1998-99), Kim Stephens (2001-02) and Jerome Toonen (2004-05).

FULL HOUSE (ALMOST): Commodore Peter Kerrigan addresses members at the 2007-08 Prize Night function.

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Junior News With

CAROL

DAVIS

C HANGES of sail colour were apparent in the second half of the MYC youth sailing events. Committed sailors have been

trading their blue-sail Minnows to white-sail Laser 4.7 rigs. It was also great to see them ending the season sailing their 4.7s in the afternoons with the Mixed Fleet, thereby “resting” the MYC Mirrors from serious racing. For the final part of the sailing season, it was great to see Lasers out every Sunday morning sailed by Matt and Jack Clark-Massera; Owen, Amy and Hugh Davis; Sam Thiele, James Cohen and Michael Albury. Minnows have reduced in number with the defection of Jack and sometimes Hugh into the Laser fleet. However, it is great to see Andrew Britton (sailing Loaded Dog, the new Minnow hull re-cently made by IAN PAVEY and rigged from a retired Minnow. Thanks, Ian!) and Jennifer Carter skippering JAMM, joining in the Minnow races. There is already a new addition for next season, with one of the training students

buying a Minnow, Twister, to sail. Basic-ally, as an overview, there were more sailors in the morning races at the end of the season than at the start, even if they had changed boats during the season. The 4.7 sailors also contested the first heat of the winter series, and plan to sail in more winter races. Several youth sailing events have also been contested over recent months, both at MYC and away. State Minnow Sailing Championships at The Cruising Yacht Club, Rocking-ham, Saturday and Sunday, February 23-24. Three MYC sailors – James Borrett, Jack

Clark-Massera and Hugh Davis — repre-

sented MYC at the State Minnow Sailing

Championships at TCYC.

All competed in the main fleet as they

are all now becoming competent sailors.

Their TCYC mates were more competi-

tive, while our sailors tried to better their

own placings as they progressed through

the seven-race championship.

James competed in Mach 1 and was

16th in the “A” fleet.

Jack sailed JAMM and was 18th in this,

his last Minnow event. (Jack sold JAMM

shortly after the championship and be-

came a Laser 4.7 sailor.)

Hugh sailed Droplet and had a highest

and

Vice-

Commodore

KELVIN DAVIS

ABOVE: Minnows ABOVE: Minnows ABOVE: Minnows ABOVE: Minnows on the start lineon the start lineon the start lineon the start line

for the City of for the City of for the City of for the City of Bayswater Bayswater Bayswater Bayswater

Regatta.Regatta.Regatta.Regatta. RIGHT: Commodore RIGHT: Commodore RIGHT: Commodore RIGHT: Commodore

Peter Kerrigan Peter Kerrigan Peter Kerrigan Peter Kerrigan points the way.points the way.points the way.points the way.

Pictures: STEVE FOXPictures: STEVE FOXPictures: STEVE FOXPictures: STEVE FOX

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placing of fourth and finished sixth overall,

ahead of his clubmates.

This championship again helped our MYC members gain greater skill and knowledge under racing conditions where ocean tides and winds can be stronger than what they experience at Maylands.

Sunday, March 30 – MYC Picnic Day

What a beautiful day – and sailors and families were out in force. By returning to the club’s grassed grounds for the picnic (instead of lazing about on Heirisson Island as in previous years), it was eas-ier for many non-sailing members and friends to join in the barbecue and cama-raderie after the social sail and before the more serious events were competed in the afternoon — Tug o’ War, Le Mans start from boatshed door to sail across the river and back, etc.

City of Bayswater Autumn River

Festival and Regatta – Sunday, April 6

Though MYC had only two Minnows

entered for the two-race Minnow compe-tition, a trophy was awarded by the City of Bayswater as this was the biggest fleet of junior sailors.

Congratulations to Hugh Davis for tak-ing out the trophy from the fleet of 19 mostly TCYC sailors. It was great to see the MYC juniors playing and chatting with their TCYC mates after enjoying a

sausage sizzle at the cub.

The Laser 4.7s on the water during the morning, along with the youth training Mirrors, showed how colourful our patch of the river can look when a reasonable number of boats are sailing.

WALA Laser State Championships – Geographe Bay Yacht Club, Anzac Long Weekend, Friday to Sunday, April

25-27.

(See Page 6)

Three MYC youth members _ Jack, Matt and Owen _ competed in their 4.7s in these championships on Geographe Bay, Busselton. Our trio seemed to be having their own mini-competition in the second half of the 4.7 fleet, but were gaining useful experi-ence about sailing a trapezoid course. They were also learning about sailing on more open water where you sometimes can’t set a landmark as a bearing to head to on your way to the next mark. All three MYC sailors completed all eight heats in the varying wind/swell conditions

and out of 19 Laser 4.7s, Owen finished 14th, Matt 16th and Jack 17th. Thanks to parents Many thanks to the parents who have assisted their children to benefit from sail-ing competitions on Sunday mornings at MYC. Keep up the good work and we look forward to more next year – bring a friend, too! Alan Benn will be running Laser sail-ing lessons on Sunday mornings from October to assist these sailors to improve their skills before their race in the morn-ing. Come one, come all, and learn from one of our experienced club sailors. Canteen Capers

Many thanks to the members, families, friends and passing cyclists and walkers (in increasing numbers) who have patron-ised the MYC canteen to buy drinks or their lunch.

I am amazed how much hungrier people are if their sausage sizzle is already cooked for them – even if it does cost 50c more. Thanks to my volunteer chefs and the contribution you made to the club’s coffers.

I have enjoyed finishing some embroi-dery and chatting to lots of interesting people while serving food and drinks.

Thanks to Karen Sibthorpe for helping out on weeks when I had other commit-ments. It is also great to see everyone helping out, setting up and putting away the chairs and tables, helping raise and lower the canteen hatch and generally making the club a friendly place to “hang out”.

Thank you! See you same place, hope-fully same fantastic weather and wind, later this year for the next sailing season.

Junior News Continued SunSmart Schools Team Sailing Championship – Thursday and Friday,

April 17-18

Owen and Hugh Davis were two-thirds of a team for their high school competing in this championship at the Royal Fresh-

water Bay Sailing Club (unable to get a third sailor from their school to make up a full team).

Wet and miserable conditions hampered racing on day one during the school holi-days, while still conditions stalled the sec-ond day’s start until after an early lunch.

It was all a bit frustrating for these two keen 4.7 sailors, but sailing is not always “just plain sailing”.

The competition, started nearly 20 years ago by our own Kim Stephens, was won for the second year by Rossmoyne Sen-ior High School. (Amazing what you learn on the YAWA website, hey Kim!)

Picture: MAX ALBURY

WHAT a day it was on Picnic Day on Sunday, March 30: blue skies and an easterly with enough puffs to get you planing. There was a terrific roll-up among members and a great spirit throughout the day — and the club barbecue worked overtime to satisfy the hungry. A fleet of Lasers, Hartleys, Minnows and Mirrors set off at their leisure for a run down to Heirisson Island, then a tight reach and beat back to the club. Thanks to the ever-reliable Lynne and Bert Brescianini, who kept the canteen and bar ticking over. Special thanks

to immediate past commodore Jerome Toonen, who be-came chief organiser of lawn games and novelty sailing races. Thanks to Ken Patterson and his support boat help-ers, including Andrew Nicholls. Admittedly we had perfect weather, but it seems the switch from Heirisson Island to the club as the picnic venue was popular. Perhaps next year we can drop in a couple of buoys — one in Claisebrook Cove and one near the island — for a Club-Claisebrook-Heirisson-Claisebook-Club race. A handicap start would give the Minnows and Mirrors a big chance. — STEVE FOX

11

Training With Rear

Commodore

KEN

PATTERSON

T HE season ended with the train-ing group testing their skills on the Minnows. These little boats make an ideal starting boat for

the little tackers. They are simple to rig and look like great fun to sail (I have yet to put one to the test). Leslie Wild became the proud owner of a very smart-looking boat that will be a force to reckon with once Leslie has it sorted out. Maryion Carter, a continuing member of the training group, has also acquired a Minnow. She now sails the former Clark-Massera boat JAMM and will also be very competitive. The race series that started after the YA certificate courses were completed saw sailors becoming more proficient at read-ing the wind direction and keeping the sails working, especially when sailing into the wind on a close-hauled course. However, there were so many changes of skippers, crews and boats (Mirrors, Minnows and Laser 4.7) that doomed any scoring system for a trophy series. We had great fun anyway. # # # # CONGRATULATIONS go to Callum Ferguson who was named the Most Promising Trainee and received a small award, sponsored by Max Albury, at the club’s Prize Night on Saturday, May 17. Well done, Callum! We look forward to seeing more of you next season! At the same function Maryion Carter was named the Junior Club Person of the 2007-08 season and was awarded the Lloyd Blake-sponsored Piglet Trophy in recognition of her wonderful club spirit and her willingness to help with selling raffle tickets each club day. Congratulations Maryion for an award

that is very well-deserved! (Piglet was the name of Lloyd’s boat before his venture to France, after which it became Le Petit Cochon, French for Little Pig).

# # # #

ONE offshoot of the training this year has

been the expression of interest from some

parents keen to have a go themselves.

Sebastian’s Engdahl’s parents, Lars and

Josephine, as well as Gregor and Yen,

parents of Leslie and Donal Wild, are

keen to become involved.

I can see the club Pacer getting some

work again next season.

AWARD WINNERS: Callum Ferguson and Maryion Carter. Picture: KEN PATTERSON

MMMM OST of the club Mirrors are in

need of some TLC, mainly for a

paint job and replacement of

the shredding sidestays and forestays.

Anyone willing to lend a hand? If so, please let me know.

There is also a need to have an “advanced skills’’ coach to assist in tak-ing our young sailors to higher levels of competitiveness. We have some of our Laser 4.7 and Mirror sailors showing great promise.

The commitment could well mean no more than running one or two coaching clinics over the season.

Anyone interested?

JUNIORS AHOY:

A Minnow splits the

Mirrors at Sunday

morning training off

Bardon Park.

Picture: LLOYD BLAKE

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MEET THE MEMBERS with LLOYD BLAKE

Andrew NichollsAndrew NichollsAndrew NichollsAndrew Nicholls Apprentice Master in waiting

L ASER Radial skipper An-drew Nicholls was the big improver in the MYC summer season. Andrew takes a lesson from every race and this friendly young man disguises a very competitive nature as he heads towards Masters eligi-bility in the 2009-10 season. A graph of his results (he sailed every event this past season) demonstrates how he consistently fought back and improved his perform-ance. In the first few weeks An-drew finished 5th, 6th and 7th, then struck with a 1st. Holding his score within the first three places for almost a month, he plummeted to 11th.. The following week Patches ’n’ Scratches took 2nd place. A dip to 7th, then Andrew was back into minor placings for a few more weeks. Keeping his score in single figures in a potential fleet of 20 boats ensured a grip on the Consistency trophy and sailing every race allowed him the luxury of dropping his worst events. Pressed for secrets of suc-cess, Andrew said he always talks to the faster sailors who readily share their knowledge, he reads lots of sailing books and on the water he tries to sail close to a faster boat. Importantly, Andrew practises everything he learns.

He enjoys the friendly MYC atmosphere and would like to see more fun sailing, such as the cruise to Matilda Bay.

Andrew learnt to sail in a Mirror and was taught by his father. He has watched the growth in the number of fami-lies at the club and is another member who supports a pro-motional campaign to bring competent sailors out of re-tirement, along with their young families.

“They just need to know MYC exists and how reason-able the cost of sailing can be at a good family club,’’ he said.

House

With Rear

Commodore

BOB

JACKSON

Vince RogersVince RogersVince RogersVince Rogers Apprentice Master

L ASER Radial Apprentice Master Vince Rogers is an ex-ception to the general MYC demographic of seniors holding sway.

He is keen to encourage mem-bership growth at the club and is puzzled why Try Sailing Day is no longer held at the club.

Questioned on strategies to grow membership, Vince made simple yet sound suggestions.

He believes we should re-introduce Try Sailing Day, advertise in local newspapers, put MYC signs in local business houses, on bulletin boards in shopping centres and erect MYC roadside signs on sailing days.

We should tell prospective sailors just how little it costs to join our club. When prospective members visit, give them a tour of facilities, introduce them to club executives and provide a smart brochure describing membership benefits, our train-ing program, opportunities for volunteer work and the fees.

“Some non-sailing social events would give members a

chance to bring friends and prospective members to the clubhouse to meet the friendly crowd and talk about sailing,’’ Vince said.

“Events that encourage partners to spend time at the club would spread the word, too.”

A newcomer to the sport, Vince learnt to sail in the MYC training program in 2007. He bought an old Laser and gave the boat a major refit inside and out. The finished boat is a credit to his skills. He says attracting sailors in the 25-45 age group is the way forward. This requires promo-

tions to encourage past yachties to make a comeback, even if they haven’t been in a boat since their teenage years. They would probably be family people happy to buy an inex-pensive boat, particularly if they have children keen to be intro-duced to sailing. Vince points out that any ex-pansion of the Learn-to-Sail program would require a much bigger volunteer force and more club boats, so it was much eas-ier to target young adults who were former sailors. Vince is a strong supporter of modernisation of club facilities and establishment of a riverfront restaurant for the benefit of members and the public.

THE next busy bee is scheduled for the weekend of September 20-21. A list is being prepared for the busy bee, so if anyone sees a job that needs doing, please send a note to: bobjackson@include.com.au so that we can use the time on the days most efficiently. New hand-dryers have been bought for the men's and women's toilets and should be installed by the time you read this. The dryers are the automatic high-speed variety and should be much more efficient than the old ones and lift the quality of the toilets for those hiring the venue.

13

So there's this pirate with a parrot. And

this parrot swears like a sailor; I mean

he's a pistol.

He can swear for five minutes straight

without repeating himself. Trouble is,

the pirate who owns him is a quiet, con-

servative type, and this bird's foul

mouth is driving him crazy.

One day, it gets to be too much, so the

guy grabs the bird by the throat, shakes

him really hard, and yells, "QUIT IT!’’

But this just makes the bird mad and he

swears more than ever.

Then the pirate gets really mad and

locks the bird in a cabinet. This really

aggravates the bird and he claws and

scratches, and when the guy finally lets

him out, the bird cuts loose with a

stream of invective that would make a

veteran pirate blush.

At that point, the pirate is so mad that

he throws the parrot into a freezer. For

the first few seconds there is a terrible

din. The bird kicks and claws and

thrashes. Then it suddenly gets very

quiet.

At first the guy just waits, but then he

starts to think that the bird may be hurt.

After a couple of minutes of silence,

he's so worried that he opens the freezer

door.

The bird calmly climbs on to the man's

outstretched arm and says, "Awfully

sorry about the trouble I gave you. I'll

do my best to improve my vocabulary

from now on. By the way, what did the

chicken do?"

2008-09 Opening Day Oct 12

O UR only Laser Great Grand Master sailor, Terry

McCartney, admits to being at the centre of several near-miss inci-dents afloat. Partially hearing-impaired, Terry finds himself very busy keeping his Laser on track and often does not see or hear another boat nearby. He requests loud shouts of “Starboard!’’ Sailing at SoPYC and PDSC, Terry has been in keel boats, Signets, Sharpies and GP14s. Experiencing the difference be-tween helming and crewing in a boat, Terry found adapting to the Laser a tall order. As crew there is time to observe other boats, plan tactics and sug-gest strategies. Terry said: “As skipper I tend to just concentrate on boat speed. It was hard for me adapting to a Laser, where you have to do everything!” A member of MYC in 1968, Terry built and sailed a Signet dinghy when club membership strength was based in crewed fleets of GP14s, Herons and Signets. Supporting MYC ashore, Terry served as secretary, and later, as Rear Commodore House. While he claims to have no ac-cent(!) Terry confesses to being a British migrant and says his early introduction to sailing was on the English Norfolk Broads, racing Hornets on reservoirs and sailing a 7m cruiser in the English Chan-nel. Terry is very supportive of train-ing programs which may not nec-essarily be on the water. There are sailing experts available via YWA who are keen to visit the club, presenting spe-cial topics. Always grateful for any sailing advice

received ashore and afloat, Terry is happy if the call is simply: “Get out of the way!”

— LLOYD BLAKE

Starboard!Starboard!Starboard!Starboard! But to avoid a Mac attack you’ll have to shout out

14

AGM: Monday, June 9 (SEEEEEEEE PAGEAGEAGEAGE 4)

Here comes the judge! By ALAN BENN

TTTT HIS is a description of the first protest seen at MYC in a long time. Do we all sail that well and

inside the rules or do we just tend to not bother with protests? Or does everyone take their penalties when required? The incident happened at the finish of one of the morning 4.7 Laser races.

JACK Clark-Massera (W) protested Mat-thew Clark-Massera for not giving him room at the finish line. Description: Two Lasers were approaching the finish line from St Annes in to an easterly breeze, both on port tack. At position a, the windward (W) boat had an overlap and maintained this all the way up to the line. Boat W hailed: “How am I going to get across the line?” Leeward boat L replied: “You’re not!” and luffed up to pre-vent W getting inside the mark. The incident was caused by boat L con-fusing the finish line with conditions at a starting line – which is often marked out by the same marks. At a starting line, where the end of the line is “indicated by a mark surrounded by clear water”, you do not have to give room to an inside boat. As Kim Stephens dem-onstrates very well on most starts, he won’t let you get inside and above him and will force you inside the mark so you have to go around and try again. At the finish line, though, the situation is different. The mark at the end of the line is treated just like another mark of the course – a mark that you are required to pass on a particular side – and, as such, you are entitled to room to pass this mark. As usual, getting room is dependent on the inside boat having an overlap at the two-boat-length circle. In this case the call from the windward/inside boat should be for “room” – not as was called in this case. Everyone strongly recommends that these calls should be like voting for the Bayswater mayor _ made early and often! Make sure you both understand that there is an overlap even before the circle and it is maintained at the circle.

Don’t try to claim that the overlap situa-tion suddenly changes right at the circle as this is specifically mentioned in the

rules: If there is any doubt, the overlap situation is regarded as staying the same.

In this situation the panel initially had some concern regarding the overlap be-cause boat L said that “boat W came in very quickly on a gust”.

If there was no overlap at, say, three boat lengths and boat L had called this (early and often), then he may have had some defence in denying boat W room, if

in fact he did get an overlap very late and of some doubt.

BOAT L was disqualified for not giving the required room. Boat L also at no time did any circles to allow exoneration. Boat W was allowed redress for hitting the finish mark due to L’s actions.

Wa

Wb Lb

La

ARTWORK: Mr Squiggle

THE PROTEST

THE VERDICT

JJJJ ACK and Matthew’s Minnow (JAMM) sold via The Mudlark’s Classifieds in the

autumn issue. The Clark-Massera boys now sail Laser 4.7s. The new owner of

JAMM is Andrew Carter on behalf of his daughters Jennifer and Maryion. So,

no name change was necessary. JAMM is now Jennifer and Mary’s Minnow!

15

I HAVE read, researched and collected comment on Laser sailing by sailors in several countries. Condensing a range of comment on downwind sailing and eliminating repetitive and complemen-tary views, this collective gives a broad overview of what a host of Laser sailors have said in many forums over several years on sail-by-the-lee.

SAILING dead downwind, your wind indi-cator will point along the centreline of your hull. To sail by the lee, bear away until the wind indicator will begin pointing almost in line with your boom. Keep bearing further away from dead downwind to a by-the-lee course until you see the wind indicator start to rotate wildly; this heading is the edge of your by-the-lee course for that wind and that boom angle. Tell tails help detect by-the-lee airflow on the sail. Most important: always have flow on the back (leeward side) of the sail. Sailing by-the-lee is not only fast, it pro-vides increased boat stability. You are on a broad reach with the boom on the “wrong’’ (windward) side. Let your boom out past 90 degrees to the centre-line of the boat.

In light air, go out to 35-40 degrees past it. In stronger air, just 20 degrees past it, and in heavy air, no more than five de-grees. For the entry point of the wind to the sail to be the leech and the exit point to be the luff (defines “sailing by the lee’’), you need to always head considerably lower than dead downwind. On the leeward leg of any course, sup-posing the leg is set correctly — that is, the direction of the leg is in line with the median true wind direction with wind di-rection and the leg direction matched — sailing by the lee means you will not be heading towards the leeward mark.

On starboard tack, (by the lee) you will be heading much more to the left of the leeward mark. On port tack (by the lee), you will be heading much more to the right of the mark. You will sail a longer (but faster) dis-tance to the mark. Being more stable, surfing waves becomes easier, too. Sit on the rails inside with one knee on the bot-tom of the cockpit. The vang needs to be tensioned correctly. Have a tell tail on the top batten; it should fly parallel to the batten. If it goes up, vang too loose; if it hides behind the sail, vang too tight. Same rule applies for vang tension on reaches.

Laser Full Rigs With

LLOYD

BLAKE

Laser Radials With Rear

Commodore

JOHN

WALLACE

THE 2007-08 season has ended with the Radial fleet averaging more than 10 boats a race. A new formula was adopted by the committee for the season which provided trophies according to the fleet size. This allowed trophies to be awarded down to 5th place in all competitions for Radials. Congratulations to all the trophy winners. For those who missed out there’s always the Winter Series or next summer. The major trophy winners were:

The Club Championship was a clear-cut win to Kim – not quite a perfect score as he had to carry a second place. Ray Martin was a clear second with the other results well spread. Andrew won the Consistency by five points, with Jerome second, then half a point back to yours truly and another half a point to Alan Benn.

It is quite incredible that placings can be determined by such small margins after 23 races with four drops. The half-point was caused by a dead heat in one race. If you want to check your placings, full results can be found by following the link on the MYC website.

# # # #

THE breezes during the second half of the season were lighter which makes for testing days at Maylands – trying to find the puffs and pick the wind shifts. The racing was always close throughout the season with any mistakes causing places to be lost.

# # # # THE summer sailing didn’t finish with the end of the Maylands program as the State titles were held in Busselton at Geographe Bay Yacht Club over the Anzac long weekend. The venue was great with lots of space for rigging and an excellent body of water to sail on. The conditions varied from a drifter on

the Friday afternoon, with big shifts, to consistent breezes on Saturday and Sun-day, ranging up to 17 knots. Trapezoid courses were used with the windward mark in the vicinity of the jetty. There was a short chop which was run-ning at about 45 degrees to the wind which meant that the starboard tack was very bumpy and the port much more en-joyable. The Sunday morning races were a little stronger and made for some good rides – gybing while surfing on a wave is almost effortless. There were 23 boats in the Radial fleet with Maylands represented by Alan, Jerome, Ray and myself. Alan had the highest placing with a third in one of the heats on Saturday which caused a lot of cheering at the pennant presentation that night, as all the other pennants went to those fresh-faced youngsters! The weekend was most enjoyable, the venue excellent and the race organisation very efficient.

# # # # SEE you during winter or next season and don’t forget to work on the fitness level.

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPS: While some of the hot shots are sailing by-the-lee, others prefer to occasionally sail by-the-shiraz, includ-ing your columnist Lloyd Blake and Steve Fox.

Club Champion Kim Stephens Consistency Series Andrew Nicholls Short-Course Champion Kim Stephens Short-Course Consistency Jerome Toonen Most Fastest Times Kim Stephens

16

Classifieds

The next issue of The Mudlark is the Spring Edition and is scheduled for September 1, 2008.

Contributors and advertisers are asked to forward all submissions to editor Steve Fox at

thefoxfamily@optusnet.com.au

Maylands Yacht Club (Inc)

Cnr East Street and Fourth Avenue East Maylands WA 6051 (Postal) PO Box 5 Maylands WA 6931 Clubhouse: 9271 7332 (race days only) Secretary: Alan Benn 08 9271 1232 or 0429 101 703 Email: myc@iinet.net.au Website: www.members.iinet.net.au/~myc

FOR SALE

GOLDEN OLDIES: I have a 1928 Dodge Brothers tourer

that needs full restoration for sale at $2250. It has wooden

spoke wheels with a big side-valve six, three-speed gearbox

and brakes on all wheels! Body is disassembled for storage

and moving. A complete car with lots of spares. I also have a

1927 Chev truck needing full restoration for sale at $550.

Wood spokes, four-cylinder, three or four-speed gearbox,

brakes on rear wheels. Disassembled. Lots of spares, includ-

ing rear steel spoke wheels. None of the timber tray or 'C' cab.

Want to know more? Contact Ed Bart at:

ewbart@bigpond.com.au or call 9295 1664 or 0401 900 120.

HERON: Sugar Baby. Very competitive, timber hull.

Rigging & spars in good condition. Sails are average.

$1500 negotiable. Contact John Gaunt on 9445 2448 or

0407 101 217. Boat is stored in Doubleview.

Thank you to our sponsors

Aylesbury’s Fram-

ing (Kim Stephens)

Andrew Nicholls

Bruce Lee

BW Truck Parts

Brian Kent

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Carter’s Armature

Rewinds (Ossie

Carter)

Emergency Com-

puters (Andrew

Carter)

Healthway

Ida and Jim Bennett

Include Pty Ltd

(Bob Jackson)

Jerome Toonen

John Gaunt and

Anne Christie

John Wallace

Ken and Sandy

Patterson

Kelvin Davis

Leisure Pools

Lloyd Blake

Max Albury

Max Moore

Milbold Pty Ltd

(Alan Benn)

Northern Districts

Chiropractic Centre

(David Ponton)

Paul Borrett

Peter Kerrigan

Rob Hermans

Sail Power Marine

(Grant Alderson)

Steve Fox

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ics (Ian Pavey)

Vince Rogers

Wally and Joy Davis