2024-2025 Season
What a great day we all had on Monday. The rain stayed away and the wind was “interesting” with short sharp gusts coming from different directions and then dying right back for a few moments. Thank you to all our members and volunteers who helped at the Shed (Dana), on the pontoon (Kim, Mark, Peter, Maja and others) thanks to the skippers ( Alistair, Bob, Tish, and Mark). Thanks to our support boat crew Ray and Tony – they had a quiet day as the tide was high and no boats were stuck on the mud. We were also pleased to welcome back Ben, Peter W. and Peter H. Lastly, a very big thank you to all our sailors who came. Some of the Narooma students were initially nervous but quickly realized what fun sailing can be and came back on the water for a second time. The Narooma students (John, Kobe, Tristan, Chelsea, Sophia, and Giovanna) also need to be congratulated for being so efficient finding and fitting appropriate PFDs, then getting into and out of boats quickly and safely. The boat skippers barely had time to sip a mouthful of water between crew changeovers. It was also beneficial to have each skipper with a radio so that the Pontoon could be notified when a boat was waiting to come to dock. Greg, Cathy, Lauren and Nick (all new members) were able to get boat experience and are very keen to try more to build their expertise.
Batemans Bay Sailing Club celebrate their fiftieth anniversary this week. Congratulations and fair winds on the water to all members, past and present.
Sailability Batemans Bay has our next sailing day planned for Monday 4th November at Moruya Town Wharf – we look forward to seeing you there.
Tish Ennis,
Previous Seasons
Tish and Janet showing what close racing is all about at Lake Cola
Thanks to all our sailors and volunteers last week. Congratulations to the students from Narooma - Angus, Chelsea, Tristan, Sophie, Caleb, Giovanna, Charlie, Lockie and we were also very pleased to see Ben and Peter back on the water with us. Hecand (our support boat) was very competently driven by Geoff (now the proud possessor of his Power boat licence) assisted by Greg.
The wind was variable: we did not get the stronger gusts as forecast and the day was pleasantly cool. Good time had by all, with preparation and packing up all made so much easier by the proximity of our shed to the water
Sunday, 17th March saw two of our sailors, Tish and Janet, competing against one another in the two races organised at Lake Coila by the dinghy section of Batemans Bay Sailing Club. Janet, who had not sailed a Hansa 303 dinghy before, won both races by very close margins in each. Well done, Janet. Tish, who had warned Janet about some mistakes easily made when sailing the Hansa dinghies, then proceeded to demonstrate both whilst on the water (letting the outhaul slip on the mainsail and catching the jib sheet in the boom claw) - not good if you are trying to be competitive! Both ladies felt justifiably proud of their efforts, to rig the boats and be on the water as both have had health issues and are of a more advanced age(70+). Never too old etc etc!
The next Sailing Day is Monday, March 25th at the Town Jetty at Moruya. Look forward to seeing you all there
Tish Ennis
COLOUR ON THE WATER - MONDAY 26TH FEBRUARY
The Hansa dinghies from Sailability again made a colourful contribution to the beauty of Moruya River last week. Welcome to Maja and Martin, new volunteers - we look forward to seeing you next time. Thanks to our skippers, Jane, Tony, Michael, Ray and Bob, we watched as the boats efficiently used wind power to navigate the broad stretches of water -upstream and down Congratulations to our team of volunteers who worked cheerfully andefficiently to have four Hansa dinghies rigged and ready in the water beside our support boat Hecand in less than an hour. Thank you to Peter, who gave Hecand some TLC with his grease gun and the boat'sperformance on the water was definitely improved. We did witness a warning earlier in the day, with an unexpected swim by one of our members - reminding us that these boats are unstable until the keel is properly lowered in the centreboard case. Fortunately, the water was warm and no harm was done. My impression was thatthe benefit of laughter outweighed the loss of dignity!!! Please, please ensure that due care is taken when preparing the boats for sailing.
Welcome back to our sailors from Narooma High School. The group take full benefit of the sailing experience, as well as the fun on shore in the adjacent play area and space to picnic on the grass.
As one of our members noted early in our decision to sail at Moruya, the proximity of coffee shops was a definite positive. Thank you, Dana, for organising our coffee delivery after sailing. We all enjoy the relaxing time catching up socially. Even our resident small water dragon came out from his hiding place nearby, to share small piecesof a ham sandwich!
Our next Sailing Day is Monday 11th March,10am onwards at theTown Wharf, Moruya. I look forward to seeing you then.
Best wishes,
Tish Ennis
A group of noisy seagulls, perched on the roof of our shed at Moruya Town Wharf, greeted us as we arrived to launch our boats for another enjoyable sailing day. Later, we noticed a small water dragon watching us curiously from behind the tree – I reflected how fortunate we are to enjoy such beautiful surroundings. Welcome to Peter, Greg and Cathy, Graham and Jacqui who all tried the Hansa 303 for the first time. Lachlan (Al’s son) was able to tuck up his long legs and appeared to enjoy his experience. The rain held off and the sun broke through the clouds. Despite a strong runout tide, there was enough wind to enable effective sailing upriver as well as downstream. Some of our less experienced sailors had good practice dealing with the changing conditions. Michael, Jane and Tony all sailed solo, showing their skill.
There were four Hansa boats on the water with Hecand, the support boat manned by Peter and Geoff. Hecand was initially reluctant to start (had not been used for a couple of months) but thanks to Peter’s forethought, a jump starter was readily available. We shared the pontoon with fishermen and several large motor boats but everyone was happy to facilitate different needs. We also shared the water space with the seaplane which gave added interest to our experience
