Newsletter Extract

[ZAX]

Extract of President Report from Newletter for those that just can not wait

"President Report

2007 looks like being another great year for Maricat Sailors. The National Titles in Brisbane saw representatives from NSW, Queensland and Western Australia. While numbers were down on previous years it was great to see competitors from interstate participating.

The State Titles will be held on the beautiful blue waters of Tanilba Bay and the National Titles for 2008 will be held at scenic Port Stephens. Expectations are high that a large fleet of Maricats will attend the Nationals at Port Stephens. The dates are Saturday 29th December 07 to Friday January 4th 08, so start booking leave and accommodation now.

Maricat Sailing is all about participation. Each of us have different goals with sailing and not everyone targets just to become a National or State Champion. For some, it is enough to be out sailing with other like minded people enjoying the clear blue waters, working on technique, improving fitness, tinkering with (tuning) the boat or just blasting down a reach with spray flying everywhere… unfortunately the courses had no reaches at the last nationals, being just windward / leeward courses. I am told that this will not happen at the next titles in Port Stephens and once again the reach will be returned. I am writing this after a weekend regatta at Mannering Park and was happy to see some of the youngsters smiling at their race results… not so much about the placing but at some of the spectacular capsizes and the fact they survived to tell the tale. If Graham Heap is reading this you may wish to check your boat, as it performed one of the fastest and most interesting capsizes I have seen in a long while. Don’t believe your son if he tells you the boat fell off the trailer !

The new boats are starting to build in numbers with more orders taken during the Nationals (including interstate). These new boats really are great to sail although they do take some of the fun out of nose diving, as yet we have not seen a new boat nose dive and wonder if its possible. Mick has got himself a new boat and is really flying with it.. that may indicate that anyone can do well with these boats (sorry Mick, couldn’t help myself). Racing aside the new boats are better all round, lighter to lift, stronger and far less likely to break than the old ones. The only downside (for the thrill seekers out there) is that they won’t nose dive.

Having recently read the Maricat constitution I am now aware that the job of president is meant to be for 2 years. This is my second year in the position so I will be happy to hand over the role to someone else that is passionate about sailing Maricats and participating in this great sport. Ideally this person would come from an area other than Tanilba Bay or Mannering Park and be named Rodney. Mick has shown a humungus amount of enthusiasm for Maricats and would be an ideal choice however the role is not meant to be filled by someone with a commercial interest in the class i.e. Manufacturer or Reseller.

Hope to see you all on the water soon. Maricats, you can’t go past them "