Completed Events 2003

Second Meeting of the Cruising Division December
Thursday 18th at 7pm 2003
Trim Flag

We had a rollup of about 25 people, most of which hadn't attended the first meeting so it was an opportunity to go over the cruising contact system and review any shortcomings.
It was agreed that the system should work without modification. We now have on the cruising web the plans for those boats cruising over Christmas. We will look forward to some pictures and logs for the web, and hopefully it will allow other boats to rendezvous at various times. Discussion took place on the progress on the cruising guide etc. Some progress has been made including the story on the cat submitted by Libby Teiffel.
First Meeting

A burgee was presented and approved.
The colour will be black or dark blue on a yellow background.
It was suggested that the words "Welcome" be added to the flag.

I decided to omit reference to RMYC in the hope that the cruising group will appeal to a larger range of boats.
The cost was discussed and Nigel Short offered to follow up on his contacts to see if we could improve on the cost.

Suggestions were called for a draft program for 2004.

A sail to a lunch venue was popular. In the past it has required bookings and if the weather is unsuitable this has caused difficulties.
We will have a sail to a venue, but it will be one we don't have to book for like the Yarra Bay Sailing Club. So we can adjust our plans on the day in true cruising style according to the weather.
The Broadwater Classics will continue to be a feature - with the next scheduled for Australia Day. This will have an Australiana theme.
We will try to organise excursion picnics up some of the tributaries of the Hacking river to coincide with the bush flowers.
A bread bake off on board and other favourite delicacies shared with a glass of wine on a Sunday afternoon may be nice?

Next meeting. I would like to see much more audience participation.
So next meeting I will ask some of the recent cruisers to give an account of their highlights, then we will throw the meeting open to discuss Cruising rules according to all, and some of the good hints we have learned the hard way.
These will be recorded and publish in the Cruising Guide.
The Master

Broadwater Classic
December 7, 2003

Very successful day with six boats racing in a 20k SE breeze.
Line honours when to Pied Piper followed by Kalina and Splinter.

The BBQ social was enjoyed by all.
BBQ

First Meeting of the Cruising Division
November 27, 2003

The meeting started a little late, so the Master may have to review the starting time to say 7pm for the next meeting.
Some formalities were discussed, but the noise from next door over ran the proceedings somewhat.
Next time it will be in the lower bar. Oval

The formalities were: You will address me as Master (the clubs title), if you are caught talking after the gong - you owe the Master a bottle of red.
Random members were primed to rise to their feet and say things like "I vote we leave it to the discretion of the Master" or "I would like to propose a vote of confidence in the master".
The Master didn't have to call on help once, either there was too much noise and you didn't hear or you agreed entirely.
The cruising contact system was explained and can be accessed by clicking the Cruising Contact button from the home page.
Members planning to cruise over the Christmas period should notify their intentions by email with details of rough times, intended destinations etc so that the Master can build a history on the Web so that others with similar plans might then firm up and add their names.
The system relies very much on your input - the Master is merely the facilitator.

Questions were raised regarding the use of VHF - some members only have 27m not everyone has an email address or access to the web?
This will be address at the next meeting with a way that those people can access the web and make contact.
The concept of the universal call using Hello Trim was explained, and the need for a flag to help locate other cruising people.
The following artwork was sent by Libby Teiffel for consideration.
Please send any other suggestion or your comments on Libby's ASAP.
Flag

Organised events will generally be around the Port and will be associated with other activities and shown in date order using the tab Coming Events.
The next event is the Broadwater classic on the 7th of December organised by Ryan Everitt.
Ryan detailed the format to the meeting. Full information can be found using the Broadwater Classic tab.
You must contact Ryan to get a starting time and changes due to weather.

Discussion took place re frequency of the cruising meetings.
We will have another before Christmas and the next one will probably be February.
There are many subjects that will involve every ones participation, and the Master will invite guest speakers to talk on relevant subjects such as:
AVCG, RCP, Instruments, Chart plotters, Radar, Diesel motors, Batteries and charging (alternators, wind, solar, gensets, water) Provisioning, Rules for cruising, Cruising hints, storage etc.

The master showed a sample Cruising Guide to Port Hacking which he hopes with a little help form all we can turn into a very useful handbook for the area.
It will contain some historical information on the Port plus other facts about the Port. It will list all services, maps and channels. It will also detail over thirty anchorages giving depths, wind protection, phone and TV service plus the history of the location.

There were many colourful characters in the Port in the early days plus many of the pillars of society.
There are many tributaries, lagoons, walks and other interesting features that will be worthwhile documenting.
The idea being that cruising people will help by researching the history, visit, photograph and provide the information for the book.
Much of the material for other section in the book will be provided from cruising meetings where all will invited to participate.
Graham Bach spoke in support of the cruising system, and asked about a crew database.
I will have to follow this up with others who have been doing this in the past. It seem we may have to become a little more proactive throughout the year. This will be followed up at the next meeting.

The next meeting will be in December probably Thursday the 18th, in the lower bar at 7pm. This date subject to confirmation with the club.