Please click this link to find a copy of all past Queensland General Managers Updates.

General Update

Happy New Year! It was a busy, wet, and stormy festive season and we know that some clubs are reeling from the storms that have hit Queensland. If your club has been impacted there are a number of funding options available to you.

Disaster Recovery

To assist sport and active recreation clubs impacted by weather events, the Queensland Government’s Sport and Recreation Disaster Recovery Program is now open for applications from clubs in eligible affected areas for $5000 in funding.

Disaster assistance grants for SEQ 

Support from the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) has been expanded to offer Extraordinary Disaster Assistance Recovery grants of up to $50,000 to directly impacted small businesses and not-for-profit organisations in the Logan, Scenic Rim, and Gold Coast local government areas. 

For more information, or to apply for a grant, please call the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) on 1800 623 946 or visit www.qrida.qld.gov.au.
 

Grant, Alison, and I have hit the ground running this year with organising our DSC Reviews for this quarter, planning club visits and working on our state projects.

Grant and I went up to Lake Cootharaba Sailing Club during the Open Skiff Nationals and it was great to see so many kids from green fleet to open fleet competing on the Lake. Alison went to Darling Point Sailing Squadron to help with the MG Nationals where fellow AS employee Melanie Peasey won the handicap division.

Over the Christmas break the National Sabot Championships were held at Maryborough Sailing Club, the Hobie Cat Nationals and Flying 11 Nationals were at RQYS, Lake Cootharaba also held the Arrow Nationals and Southport Yacht Club held the NS14 Nationals. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make these events a success!

For the first time ever, Queensland took home the Battens Trophy at the ILCA Nationals held in Adelaide. The trophy is awarded to the highest performing state at the regatta. It’s an amazing achievement and a great set up for next year’s nationals to be hosted at RQYS! Congratulations to all the Queensland competitors.

2024 is an Olympic Year and Queenslander Breiana Whitehead was the first sailor to be selected on the Olympic Team for Paris 2024.
Make sure you lock in the dates to watch the sailing from 26^th July to 12^th August and start thinking about how your club can leverage the increased interest in sailing that the Olympics bring. To find out more about the upcoming Olympics, please visit: https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/paris-2024 .
We will also be holding a Countdown to the Brisbane Olympics event hosted by RQYS on Friday 19^th July. Only 8 years to go! More details in the coming months.

At the final Queensland Recreational Boating Council meeting last year, I have asked MSQ to review Aquatic Permits: How they are applied for, conditions, whether they need to be in place for normal club racing, should we have different permits & conditions dependent on what racing is being done. If you have any thoughts on this space, please email me annie.watson@sailing.org.au and I will add your feedback to our review.
 

Have you completed your additional questions in your RevSport account section? It will only take 5 minutes!

RevSport admins have been asked to complete some extra questions about your club for the new focus on the public facing Club Finder. People will be able to search for what they are looking for easier with new searches for activities and facilities.
 

  ACTION ITEM/S FOR CLUB: Complete the questions in the accounts section in RevSport – need help? Contact Grant or Alison for assistance.
 

Participation Report

Grass-roots participation is the foundation for our future, and Australian Sailing is partnering with clubs to get more people on the water, in more ways, more often.

The participation report gives a good overview of how our Discover Sailing Centers are helping reach our collective goals. The full report is well worth the read but here is how Queensland fared nationally.https://www.sailing.org.au/news/australian-sailing-releases-the-annual-participation-report-/

• Queensland has taken to Sailpass like a boat to water sitting in 2^nd state nationally.

• Congratulations to Southport Yacht Club’s Matthew Dickinson and the team for getting SYC to the top Discover Sailing Centre Nationally. Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron sitting in 4th position is a credit to their Academy team. If you are looking for ways to build your DSC, please contact Grant or Alison for a chat, or reach out to either of these professional teams.

• In the programs, four Queensland teams placed nationally. Congratulations to each and every Instructor and Administrator for all the work you do.

Tackers

• RQYS – 2nd place.

• SYC - 3rd place.

Out There Sailing

• SYC- 1st place.

Keelboat

• SYC - 8th place.

Sea Survival

• 27 South - 6th Place.

• Sunshine Sailing Australia - 8th Place,

• SYC - 10th Place.

Windsurfing

• RQYS - 5th Place.

• Keppel Bay Sailing Club - 8th Place.
   

Participation Workshops

If you are wanting to build the participation at your club, The Participation Workshops that Australian Sailing introduced in 2023 are well worth your time. Alison and I delivered three workshops on the Fraser Coast at the end of last year. Two were individual clubs, and one was with three local clubs together. We had some wonderful feedback from these workshops, and we look forward to catching up with them all again soon to see if they have put some of their ideas into place. The key to making these workshops have the biggest impact on your club is having the right people in the room. Bundaberg Sailing Club had three committee members present but said that it would have been better if they had more club members attend. We would like to see all Queensland Clubs have one of these workshops at their club or jointly with other clubs.
 

  ACTION ITEM/S FOR CLUB: Contact either Alison or Grant to book a time for your club.

Expressions of Interest Closing 31^st January to host the 2024 & 2025 Queensland Yachting Championships and the 2024 & 2025 Trailable Yacht Championships.

Does your club want to hold the Queensland Yachting Championships or the Queensland Trailable Yacht Championships for 2024 & 2025?

The Queensland Yachting Championships is the premier IRC regatta in Queensland. The event is over a weekend and can attract anywhere between 10 and 30 boats.

The Queensland Trailable Yacht Championships is held over a weekend and can attract up to 20 boats.

  ACTION ITEM/S FOR CLUB: Please complete the Expression of Interest form prior to 31st January 2024 if you would like to host either of these events https://www.sailing.org.au/events/218216/

In last month’s General Managers update I posed the question to think about how your club wants to engage with Australian Sailing in 2024. We have found over the years that clubs who take advantage of all that the team can offer, use the resources available and consider us as part of your team, that we all win. So, ask us to come to a committee meeting, put your hand up for help if you need it, share something amazing that we can share with others or simply just ring for a chat.
 

Planning for 2024:

• Talk to your committee about who will represent your club at the Sailing Summit (we’d love to see your whole committee) – Register today

• Start talking to your youth sailors about attending Zhik Youth Sail Queensland in September. Are you going to send a team?

• Maybe it’s time to think about a youth committee for 2024?

• What are you doing for International Women’s Day – 8^th March 2024? Maybe you could announce your SheSails Representative? https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

• Does your club want to host either the Trailer Yacht Championships or the Qld Yachting Championships?
   

Contact Us

If you have any questions on the above topics, please contact the General Manager - QLD, Annie Watson at annie.watson@sailing.org.au .

You can find a complete list of Australian Sailing Contacts – here.