Getting the word out there about the reality of sailing via community papers and the like is a great move – well done OG. The local papers love contributions as it saves them work – an article with a good quality photo makes them even happier. All it needs is for someone to make an effort.

I’ve had a couple of people at work interested in learning to sail over the last few months, but they have baulked at the cost of Learn to Sail courses. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get them past this? Maybe some cheaper courses to encourage participation OG? ;)

Now for my closing complaint – surely it is one of Yachting Queensland’s key responsibilities to promote our sport? According to their website they “facilitate the promotion of the sport of ‘boating’ within Queensland”. But what have they ever done in this regard? I can’t think of a single thing. Calling the sport “Yachting” and “boating” instead of “Sailing” shows where their heads are.

If we could get a little more coverage maybe the general public would start to realise that sailing is a SPORT. There aren’t many activities I know that require athletic and tactical ability to the same extent as sailing.

I know the argument that if we race close to shore then we will get artificial bending of the breeze closer to land, however if we all race in it what does it matter???

I went down the bay the other day to watch the youths sailing. I stayed 2 minutes because I could hardly see the boats, let alone sail numbers from shore.

In places like Manly we know that that the bay is pretty much the same depth the whole way across so why don’t we race just in front of the purpose built viewing area (when wind permits) so people vcn actually view racing and not just a couple of dots in the distance.