Cadets at Cairn Curran Sailing ClubLabour Day weekend 2013 CCSC played host to a lovely group of sailors from the RBYC Youth Sailing Program. Everyone had a wonderful time as did the club hosting this great weekend. Read the report from Ray Smith the Cadet Program Manager at RBYC.
If your class or club are interested in running a training or tuning weekend at CCSC please contact the Secretary. 
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What a weekend! Fine, hot weather, flat water and no salt.
After a pleasant drive to the country, James, Klaus and David caught up, right in front of the Castlemaine Post Office as planned. As it turned out, that was a good suggestion for unknown to us at the time, the PO is a very substantial structure and easily found. A comfort stop and a coffee and we were on our way again to the lake which is a further 20+kms up the road.
Our arrival was greeted with lots of smiles and hand shaking – good friends re-united.
Jo and Garth had set up a marquee on the grass right near the boat ramp and we dumped our gear in the shade and started rigging boats. ‘Tassie One’ was sitting on her trolley ready to be joined by ‘Dorothy Linacre’ and ‘Jack G’, recently arrived from Melbourne. In no time at all we had all three boats on the water and the kids joined the rest of the Cairn Curran crew on the lake. With a bunch of Sabots, a couple of Pacers and a couple of Lasers and a Minnow, we had a lot going on.
The Cairn Curran guys explained that the level of the lake was down a little since the break of the drought with the rains around Christmas time. It was also explained to us that for 8 years during the height of the drought, the lake (which is actually a reservoir created by damming the Loddon River) wasn’t even a mud puddle and the sailing club was reduced to a shed on a hill overlooking a big sand pit!
Of course in that time, people found other things to do on weekends that didn’t involve water. With the rain, came the lake and with the lake came the sailors. Of course most of these new sailors didn’t know much about sailing or were severely out of practice - so everyone was on a steep learning curve once again.
Well, that’s where the enthusiastic Cadet crew from RBYC was able to help. The lake is a wonderful place to learn the basic skills – no swells, light winds and if you got hot and thirsty you jumped in the lake! How cool! No salt water.
The rest of the day was spent mixing and matching crews and making new friends. The kids tried many new techniques and even sailed a few unfamiliar boats. The Laser was big hit with Scott and Nick, and Miles practiced helming in a Sabot. Just as well Miles is an accomplished gymnast or he would have spent a lot of time swimming.
We also took ‘Emilou’ (see pic) to CCSC for her once a year float and she was a big hit with some of the big kids (well the mums anyway). Sailling with 6 to 8 on board, it was a real party boat and everyone was learning new skills. For Louise and Lucy it will be hard to stay away from the lake with their newly acquired skills. I can see them coaching kids on jib sheet trimming in the ‘Tassie One’ in coming months.
Of course - we had dinghies, we had wind and we had water – well, what do you think we did? We had a race! J Dom cleaned up sailing his 125 followed closely by Matilda, Scott and Nick in ‘Jack G’.
The day finished up with a refreshing beverage on the deck of the sailing club while we watched the sun set over the moored dinghies. An amazing dinner was served up and everyone basked in the afterglow of a fabulous day on the water with friends and anxious to start again the very next day. The deserts were just amazing and perhaps they should refer to the deck as the CCSC Patio Restaurant!
Your correspondent lost track of all the helper’s names so forgive me if I simply say a huge thanks to the entire membership of Cairn Curran Sailing Club for making us feel so welcome, but a very special thanks to Jo and Garth for making the weekend possible. I have no doubt that we will be back to do it all again real soon. Thanks also to the kids who made our time at CCSC so much fun.
Ray Smith
Chairman, Cadet Sub-Committee,
Cadet Program Manager,
RBYC Cadet Youth Sailing Program
After a pleasant drive to the country, James, Klaus and David caught up, right in front of the Castlemaine Post Office as planned. As it turned out, that was a good suggestion for unknown to us at the time, the PO is a very substantial structure and easily found. A comfort stop and a coffee and we were on our way again to the lake which is a further 20+kms up the road.
Our arrival was greeted with lots of smiles and hand shaking – good friends re-united.
Jo and Garth had set up a marquee on the grass right near the boat ramp and we dumped our gear in the shade and started rigging boats. ‘Tassie One’ was sitting on her trolley ready to be joined by ‘Dorothy Linacre’ and ‘Jack G’, recently arrived from Melbourne. In no time at all we had all three boats on the water and the kids joined the rest of the Cairn Curran crew on the lake. With a bunch of Sabots, a couple of Pacers and a couple of Lasers and a Minnow, we had a lot going on.
The Cairn Curran guys explained that the level of the lake was down a little since the break of the drought with the rains around Christmas time. It was also explained to us that for 8 years during the height of the drought, the lake (which is actually a reservoir created by damming the Loddon River) wasn’t even a mud puddle and the sailing club was reduced to a shed on a hill overlooking a big sand pit!
Of course in that time, people found other things to do on weekends that didn’t involve water. With the rain, came the lake and with the lake came the sailors. Of course most of these new sailors didn’t know much about sailing or were severely out of practice - so everyone was on a steep learning curve once again.
Well, that’s where the enthusiastic Cadet crew from RBYC was able to help. The lake is a wonderful place to learn the basic skills – no swells, light winds and if you got hot and thirsty you jumped in the lake! How cool! No salt water.
The rest of the day was spent mixing and matching crews and making new friends. The kids tried many new techniques and even sailed a few unfamiliar boats. The Laser was big hit with Scott and Nick, and Miles practiced helming in a Sabot. Just as well Miles is an accomplished gymnast or he would have spent a lot of time swimming.
We also took ‘Emilou’ (see pic) to CCSC for her once a year float and she was a big hit with some of the big kids (well the mums anyway). Sailling with 6 to 8 on board, it was a real party boat and everyone was learning new skills. For Louise and Lucy it will be hard to stay away from the lake with their newly acquired skills. I can see them coaching kids on jib sheet trimming in the ‘Tassie One’ in coming months.
Of course - we had dinghies, we had wind and we had water – well, what do you think we did? We had a race! J Dom cleaned up sailing his 125 followed closely by Matilda, Scott and Nick in ‘Jack G’.
The day finished up with a refreshing beverage on the deck of the sailing club while we watched the sun set over the moored dinghies. An amazing dinner was served up and everyone basked in the afterglow of a fabulous day on the water with friends and anxious to start again the very next day. The deserts were just amazing and perhaps they should refer to the deck as the CCSC Patio Restaurant!
Your correspondent lost track of all the helper’s names so forgive me if I simply say a huge thanks to the entire membership of Cairn Curran Sailing Club for making us feel so welcome, but a very special thanks to Jo and Garth for making the weekend possible. I have no doubt that we will be back to do it all again real soon. Thanks also to the kids who made our time at CCSC so much fun.
Ray Smith
Chairman, Cadet Sub-Committee,
Cadet Program Manager,
RBYC Cadet Youth Sailing Program
