New Home for the Storm-Riders Windsurfing Club

Stormriders Club having a home, infrastructure, support etc...Pretty exciting...

I'm in, this sounds great! Somewhere for the wives to sit and watch the racing, have a drink and a central location for our club.... Sweeeeet.

Good news, but why didn't storm riders just start racing at st George 16's? They've been actively sailboard racing there longer than I can remember and the clubs are less than a km apart?

I dont think you guys get it. It is 2 separate windsurfing clubs. You wouldnt have the St George Leagues Club join Cronulla Leagues Club would you. Dont confuse NSW Windsurfing Association which runs the NSW Windsurfing Series with Stormriders Windsurfing Club. There are 4 clubs in NSW that race Formula Windsurfing boards, Marmong Sailing Club, Illawarra Yacht Club, St George Sailing Club and Stormriders Windsurfing Club.

I hear you AUS4, but I'm struggling to understand how having 2 separate formula races at the same time on the same day just 1km from each other is a good decision.
I've only ever raced once at St George Sailing Club (just a couple of months ago), and there was a good mixed fleet of 5 sailers, and it was a top day. Thought I'd start sailing there next summer. Don't know what to do now.

Stormriders Windsurfing Club, which has been virtual for 30yrs, has been invited to join Georges River Sailing Club as a Windsurfing division.
The offer is impressive and the timing for both clubs is perfect.
Stormriders members will still have to vote on it at the AGM, but it is fair to say that we consider ourselves very fortunately to have this opportunity.

I don't see the conflict of interest with St George Sailing Club, in fact i see it as a healthy development.
Hopefully having Stormriders members active on a regular basis will help to encourage growth at other clubs, not the other way around.
Healthy Interclub rivalry could be a on the cards.

It is certainly not the intention to "steal or diminish" St Georges Sailing club windsurfing members, quite the opposite actually.
This is a really positive and progressive development in Stormrider's history, Exciting even,......

I assumed stormriders was joining St. George. Then it was pointed out to me it's actually George's river SC that Stormriders is joining. We have to admit this is fairly odd as St. George is established already. So I found myself pondering it, pro and cons and the history leading up to the proposal.

History
In Huskinson there was a shift in thinking about the NSW formula tour to reduce the weekends away and encourage more club racing. The attendance at Huskinson wasn't great. It is hard for sailors and family's to committ to the whole series and it is a little intimidating for new sailors to go for weekends away with a bunch of blokes they may not know. So a greater weighting is to be given to club racing for next season so the class should grow.
St George SC is good club for this purpose as it has many active members and youths. St. George's SC location has flatter water for people new to the class. There is better access for spectators at St. George SC with the verandah over the water right at the finish line. St. George SC supports wallys and race boards should a sailor want to try a less expensive class first.

Pro
George's river SC is closer to the open water of Botany Bay. This is a pro for the establish formula racers.

Cons
Some of the locals call the area near George's river SC the Bermuda triangle where the river meets the chop of the bay. It wouldn't be a good experience for new sailors coming into the class to try to sail in this turmoil.
The Georges river SC clubhouse is disconnected from the racecourse which is bad for wives and spectators trying to be sheltered and trying to view the race.
St George SC can have more traffic on the race course.

If the proposal is successful I think one of two things will happen
1. One club will die as all sailors will want to sail together. If you want to get better at something you have to sail against the best and it's in everyone interest to sail together to get a real fleet racing experience.
2. Or we race at one club in southerlys wind directions and the other in the north Easters.

I have been racing at St George SC and I have really enjoyed it. I just turn up and race and have a drink after. I enjoy racing the moths. Nothing has been asked of me like working bees, it's is very well run. It is owned by Manly 16ft skiff club. I think if we all sailed there we would have a better chance of growing the class.

I do think we should have a second windsurfing club in the north of Sydney either little manly or manly or pittwater or MHYC.

These are just some thoughts and opinions and assumption. Where ever we decide to race we should all get on board and make it great.

Regards Justin Lord

BTW I just came back from Inverloch Sailing Club. They where having a fund raiser for three sailors going to Luderitz and a plug and play for Patrik board, Avanti Sails and KA and a gybe clinic. This club is a super successful Melbourne club. Yet club members have to do 3 to 4 hours of driving to get there and back. When the tide is out there is only sand banks! Why is this club thriving?
The club has old and young members, fast and slow members, male and females, family's etc. all types. The club has a lot of fun and some silly events and some adventurers.

St.George SC has a similar feel with the dash for cans event and it welcomes all windsurfer racers. If we do get a new club and clubhouse it should not be all about high level formula racing but a more inclusive of the whole sport.

Not talking about racing as such, more so about active clubs, but anyway doesn't really matter.

Hi Milsy,

Yes mate things are afoot and I feel it's all very positive, as do many of the SR members. We have a few things to work out r.e. new fee structure and alike, but at this stage it does look like we'll be moving to a two tiered model to accommodate all sailors, both racers and non-racers. We're also wanting to make some accommodations for some of the long term existing members that don't race a great deal.

Additionally, we also now have the approval of GRSC to have non-members (visitors from other clubs etc) rock up and race on wk ends vie a casual fee. All will be finalised and sorted at the up coming AGM.

And yes, as you and Justin have mentioned, there will indeed be room for a variety of racing formats like Slalom & GPS Freerace in particular. Certainly the fantastic onsite facilities of GRSC do lend themselves to this potential. In fact we even now have a trophy cabinet for the inaugural GPS Team Challenge NSW Summer Trophy! Suffice to say, you'd be mad not to join SR?