Abbotsford 12ft Flying Squadron Inc

A Club that welcomes new members of all ages and encourages all levels of sailing
Werrell Reserve, Abbotsford Point., Sydney, Australia

News

Try Sailing day

Try Sailing day is organised by the BIA and Abbotsford participates every year. Try Sailing day was on 4 November 2012 and ran from 10 am - 4 pm and gives the public an opportunity to try sailing in one of our boats. Registration can be via the internet www.bia,org.au/trysailing or on the day at the club

Club members are always needed to volunteer on the day.

If you missed it, don't worry, another chance next November!


Presentation Night

The night we are all waiting for! This year will be bigger and better than ever! With Karaoke, led by DJ Crackers. Awards, applause, speeches, it will all be there!

Who will win he big sook award? There sure were some worthy candidates this year. And who will win the old salt award? And of course, a plethora of trophies for the class and fleet winners.

All hands are needed the weekends before: 28/29 April is the annual working bee, where we will  give the clubhouse a new coat of paint. On 6 May, all hands are needed to rearrange and clean out the boatsheds. With more boats coming in next year we need all the space and will have to do some remodeling of the current space. Bring your paint brush, saw, chisel and good humour.



Winter sailing at Abbotsford!

Keep your wetsuit out of the cupboard! This year we will run winter sailing races in May, June, July and August on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month.With sufficient participants, we will try to have two races on the Sunday, briefing at 10 am. The dates are in green on the club calendar.

Winter racing is light hearted and for everyone, even if you have just finished Learn to Sail! Boats can be leased for the day from the club. Contact Tom via or Willem via for more information


Done Learn to Sail? Now is the time to indicate if you want to crew next year - March 2012

If you have done Learn to Sail and enjoyed the training and would like to do more next year, get in contact with the club about crewing or skippering next year in a Sabot. We will talk you and your parents through what is involved and how many crew positions are open.

The club is keen to support new young sailors and parents. Next season, we will again be running short races between 11:30 am and 1 pm for the junior sailing squad. This is a great and fun way to gain confidence for the longer afternoon races. If you are interested, contact Tom via 


A little quiz for our junior (and maybe senior sailors)

Here is a little quiz based on some photos Peter and I took during the Greenwich upper harbour F11 races early March 2012. What is wrong in these 4 photos. The first two should be easy, but can you spot what is wrong in the second two?

What is wrong hereimage 2

Answers at the bottom of this news page

Sad News - October 2011

It is with sad regret that I advise you of the passing of Lenore Dempsey on Friday October 14th. Lenore has been a great stalwart of the club for decades and will be sadly missed. Our sympathies are extended to Jack, Gai, Val, Geoff and all their families. Lenore's funeral will be held at 11:15 in the North Chapel, Northern Suburbs Crematorium Thursday 20th October and afterwards at Abbotsford 12ft Flying Squadron.


Important motions to consider at meeting 5 September 2011

There are several important motions to consider on the next meeting at the club (5 September 8:00 pm). These are related to:

  1. An easterly course for the F11 class
  2. Fleet starts
  3. Fleet championship and point score
  4. Updating sailing instructions and notice of race and race management instruction with above if accepted
Full text and related discussion is provided here




Optimist launch a resounding success

The Boating Industry Association has kindly donated 8 Optimists for the training fleet at Abbotsford. The boats were launched with much fanfare (and champagne) on 8 August in the presence of several of the sponsors.

Photos from the launch can be found in these two Picassa albums: here and here

We are now ready for the Introduction to Sailing program starting on 24 September.




Winter sailing and working bees at Abbotsford and important dates


Abbotsford 12Ft Sq will be open this winter (2011) for sailing fun combined with working bees on the following dates:
15 May
19 June
17 July
21 August

Presentation night is 21 May!

In addition, the AGM will be held in August



Sabot Zones at Abbotsford 2011 a success

  • Races were held in Hen and Chicken Bay, with starts run of Scout
  • We had perfect sailing on Saturday with good NE to E winds, with lighter W to NW winds on Sunday
  • 7 Races were run over the two days for 26 starters in the 1-Up division and 12 starters in the 2-Up division.
  • Elliot Collins managed to get a second place in one of the Sunday races, but only because he just could not make the finish pin mark. It delivered him a first place on the handicap (10th on scratch).
  • Anne Vervoort finished 4th on handicap and 11th on scratch
  • Robin Biskupic and Jackson Hill were 8th on handicap and 8th on scratch in the 2-Ups
  • An honourable mention goes to Anthony Biscotto and Luke Hill in their first races. They finished 3 out of 6 races and got an encouragement award.
  • Pictures are in the Sabot album




Guest presenter at Presentation night 15 May 2010

This year's guest presenter at the presentation night will be Mr Brett Hobson

Brett began his successful sailing career at Abbotsford 12' F.S., in 1993. He first sailed in the Flying 11s class. Brett's crew, Alex Johnson, began sailing at Abbotsford in Sabots at the same time. After crewing for two seasons, firstly with his father Gary and then for Peter Hill, Brett skippered his own Flying 11 with Alex as his crew. All these years later they are still sailing together.
Over the ensuing years Brett and Alex, sailing their skiff 'Guarde', have won many 12 foot Skiff Association events including several Parramatta River Championships, Upper Harbour Championships, and a couple of National titles including the one held this Easter in Queensland. In 2009 they achieved  the ultimate in 12 ft skiff sailing, the Interdominion Championship.

Sabot Zones February 2009

  • Perfect weather for the Sabot Zones. The Zones are often the first regatta children participate in.

  • Twenty three 1ups and 14 two ups registered.Seven boats from Abbotsford took part including two new skippers (Matthew Stevens and Euan Hart).Nicole Barnes broke her mast in first race. Unfortunately because of no wind and the tsunami warning on Sunday there were only 3 races (so no drops). Nicole was able to borrow a mast for the rest of the race series.

  • In the One Ups on sratch Greta Quealy was 4th and Nicole Barnes (despite the mast breakage) came 6th, Jameson Coombs was 7th, Kirrily Biskupic came 13th and Anne Vervoort was 16th.

  • On Handicap Jameson Coombs was 2nd, Kirrily Biskupic 3rd, Anne Vervoort 4th

  • In the Two Ups on scratch Robin Biskupic and Jackson Hill came 8th, Matthew Stevens was 10th and Euan Hart was14th.

  • On Handicap Robin Biskupic and Jackson Hill were 3rd. Matthew Stevens, Harrison Coombes & Sam Mathieson received an encouragement award

  • Scout was in attendance for the Zones as a spectator platform which was well utlised, thanks to Jim Wiley and Neil Hibbard in availing their assistance for the two full days Saturday & Sunday


ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ

1. Always good to check the kite. 2. Pull on the kite halyard (halliard)! 3. let of the jib on the reach. 4. Tweaker too tight






Cherub State Titles Heat 1 and 2

17 October, we had spectacular races from the Cherubs between Exile and Glade. The below video gives a small impression of the perfect sailing day.

Mast Video

October 10 Jakub Ronowicz and Pete Valpiani tried out their mast camera gadget. See video below. Well done guys!

Women's Match Racing

Congratulations to Nicole Souter and her crew including our own Kathleen Stroinovsky on winning the women's match racing. See here

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