By Ian Grant.
Whitsunday Sailing Club continues to play an important role in providing local children with the opportunity to ‘learn the ropes’ with special sail training courses on Pioneer Bay.
The modern Yachting Australia accredited sail training centre is now regarded among the most advanced in Queensland.
Besides offering the fun program of Try Sailing courses for children the modern Marine Training Centre which includes a ship bridge simulator has been recently accepted to conduct courses for the International recognised STCW-95 certificate.
This is a reward for the progressive Whitsunday Sailing Club executive who besides providing the first step into a sailing career now offers an important education program for individuals to expand their careers onto the World stage in the commercial marine industry.
WSC Flag Officer and Life Member Jim Hayes who has personally committed endless hours towards building the training facility into one of the best in Australia believes there is more important work to be done.
“The Sailing Club is in the business to provide the Australian marine industry with important education programs besides maintaining our special fun sailing introductory courses for first time sailors”. He Said.
Training Centre Secretary Kay Williams is equally excited about the opportunities on offer.
“We have set the dates of October 13-19 and November 24-30 for the STCW-95 certificate courses” She said.
Further information is available from Kay Williams on (07) 4946 6138.
Meanwhile brother and sister Optimist dinghy sailors Klaus and Eva Lorenz have maintained a stranglehold on the club racing point score while the competition for the ‘Cock of Pioneer Bay’ bragging rights has involved some close racing with the offshore fleet.
Club Commodore Kevin Fogarty and his Idle Time crew have become the focus of tactical attention in the WAGS (Wednesday Afternoon Gentleman Sailors) series while race honours have been shared in the longer offshore Island passage race events where the Terry Archer skippered Questionable Logic Rod Sawyer (Surefoot), Craig Piccinelli (Wobbly Boot), Idle Time and the Colin Pruden skippered Sandpiper have collectively set the pace.
Skipper Terry Archer proved he was on the pace during the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week finishing with a deserved Silver Medal in the Performance Handicap class.
A combination of clever starts and sensible tactical racing allowed the Whitsunday Sailing Club crew to achieve a high scoring result in spite of suffering a time penalty after they led the series with a 1-2 score in the opening two races.
However the Questionable Logic crew believe they can become the line honours pace setter when the battle-lines are set for the major points in club racing on Pioneer Bay this month.