G'day Chris,

Regarding the pumping rules, being the old weak (and getting older and weaker by the day) mongrel that I am, I believe the current rules are probably the best for the Wallys, purely because if pumping was banned it would be impossible to police. Conversely, if unrestricted pumping was allowed, it would be a case of the fittest and strongest, and not necessarily the the smartest sailors would be at the front of the fleet. As far as I'm concerned, the main appeal of racing a Wally rather than other boards is the racing / tactics skills required to do well. Not pumping downwind is as good as impossible due to the constant trimming of the sail on waves, so pumping would have to be allowed downwind purely for practical reasons. At least we can then have a rest on the upwind legs and concentrate on wind shifts.

That's my 10 cents worth.

Derek

----- Original Message -----

Hi all.

It's that time of the year again.

This summer, Dobroyd is having a One Design series, with racing each Saturday from 2
pm. We should get a decent little fleet, of a wide range of experience. We'll be
concentrating on juniors, coaching and laid-back sailing, but we'll also have our club
championship on a different day to Narrabeen fleet and the Raceboards, in the hope of
attracting some visitors for some top class racing.

Deb and I may miss the first race (this weekend) due to jetlag (her) and flu (me) but we'd
love to see more people down there from the first official race, the weekend after this one.

Also, about the Nationals.

If you're planning to go and need a cheap place to crash, drop me a line and I'll chase up
the details of the cheaper caravan hire from private owners at Salamander Bay Village. The
alternatives are more expensive, and supply is limited. I know it's early, but it could be
good to start planning soon.

We've already got a very nice waterfront place, but many of them have restrictive hire
conditions (ie high rents and a minimum of a week's booking) until the Saturday night of
the nationals, when prices drop dramatically and houses are available for just a few days.

Secondly;
we were planning to have a meal and function at the Salamander Shores motel, just behind
the club. I went up there and found that the meals and drinks were a cut (or two) above
the norm; see

http://www.salamander-shores.com/index.html

Would people like to do the function? Meal and room hire will cost $40 per person, which
will be absorbed into the race fee of around $180. The alternative is to just get some
pizzas into the sailing club and just wander up the road to the Salamander's bar.

If people want to have the function, what is the best day? At the Batemans Bay nationals
we had the sit-down meal during the presentation, but many people left early. Port
Stephens is a bit closer, but we don't want to charge for meals people won't eat.

Would people like to have the sit-down function on the Sunday night and then a quick
informal presentation at the sailing club, or what?

Please give me some feedback asap so I can convert a provisional booking at the hotel
into a firm one, or drop the idea altogether.

Finally - the pumping question. Some people would like to see more restrictions. A few
years ago, Bill put up a questionnaire offering five choices;

1 - No pumping at all (like the Kona One now does).

2- Use the normal rules for pumping; ie one pump per wave or gust.

3- No pumping in light winds, unrestricted pumping in heavy air.

4- Current restrictions

5 - No restrictions.

Please give me some feedback if you think we should consider changes. Last time the
feeling was overwhelmingly for the current system. One thing I would say is that anyone
who wants more restrictive restrictions should know that they may be put onto the protest
committee to rule on them!

Finally; and this time it's the real "finally"...

I've spoken to Windsurfing NSW about setting up a NSW Windsurfer Class Association as an
unincorporated body. These days, incorporation isn't worth the hassle.

The idea is that there would be a minimal fee ($20-25) that people who were not
members of other NSW Windsurfing clubs will HAVE to pay before being allowed to do a
regatta. This is vital for insurance purposes, and we have been getting in trouble for
letting people get away without being members.

If anyone is keen to assist setting it up, please drop me a line.

Thanks all

Chris