14-07-2011
Our Mandate
WindWanderers Inc endeavours to put the social fun into windsurfing by uniting like minded sailors to sail at different venues between Noosa and Currumbin on a monthly basis. Events are non-competitive social gatherings held at locations suitable for great sailing and a great family and social atmosphere. It is hoped that joining sailors of all experiences together will raise the standard and fun factor for all involved.
Season Wrap and 2011 Direction
Firstly a big thankyou to all of the sponsors and members that have continued their support of the club over the past year.
We've certainly had a busy time with events this season and have seen the club move itself into a more spontaneous position to try and maximise the mix of best locations with the best forecasts. we also managed to add a couple of new venues to the list of places visited with both the bribie and shearwater meets proving a lot of fun and well attended. Additionally The Burrum event this year was expanded to add an extra day to the program.
Memberships this past season also increased slightly over previous years with the body of sailors growing to over 45 signed wanderers!!! a great outcome! On the whole memberships in queensland to windsurfing clubs remain very solid indicating a great vibe within the windsurfing community.
The other big news for the club this past season was the purchase of a starboard GO to add to the gear library and sit alongside the kids rig and various boards and sails. although i have been somewhat slow at organising the delivery of the GO (apologies) it will be in our possession within the fortnight and available for all to use and we sincerely hope this helps foster new blood into the sport and provide access for friends and family.
I would also like to thank the central and North Qld club members for their participation and encourage their continued connection. Although the club doesn't have the ability to provide it's full resources to your areas we sincerely appreciate your support and hope events like burrum go some way to increasing your fun.
2011 season venues
our venue options for this coming season include
North Kirra
Shearwater
Victoria Point
Wellington Point
Sandgate
Pelican Park
Suttons Beach
North Queens Beach
Bribie Lookout
Woorim
Mooloolaba (new)
Lake Cootharaba (weekend event)
Burrum Heads
as per the previous season we will decide location and timing on season and forecasts. If anyone has any locations they would like to see the club visit please let me know and i will add them to the list.
2011 season events
Burrum Windfest (our one and only competitive event) -
This year will see the Burrum Windfest on again and following the same format of fun, competition, family and socialising. planning is currently under way and some changes are in the pipe to improve the event further and respond to feedback. these changes include -
a masters division
a freestyle component
a maximum board width rule in lieu of the minimum wind speed rule
an opening night live entertainment party at the pub in lieu of the SES bbq
and of course the return of the Barge (post repairs) which will get more colour and support out onto the speed banks as per previous years. this year the barge was very sorely missed by all.
also of note is that the bonus prize for the NM record is still up for grabs for the burrum bank.
Xmas Party -
The usual windwanderers xmas party will be held again in Dec/Jan. the members packs are once again being provided to all members in the form of xmas presents and the same cyclonic winds will be ordered to join us as per previous years. fingers crossed. :-)
Beginners Day -
after the successful women in windsurfing meet last season resulted in a lack of beginners days. this coming season we have a beginners day on the to do list to. At this early stage of planning it is slated to be held at the lake. we will also be making available beginners gear at this coming seasons Burrum Windfest as a lot of kids hit the water and took advantage of the equipment this year.
Demo Day -
more demo days like the KA/Lorch day at Bribie are being planned. First demo day in the works (but not confirmed) is a Neil Pryde day on the sunshine coast.
2011 inventory
we all like to talk up a storm around the bbq and at long last the club will purchase it's very own bbq to take to the meets. Now we can take full advantage of all of the locations that are great to sail but don't quite have all of the facilities.
Club Website
Some would say that the club website has become the equivalent of the chipped fin sitting in the bottom of the kit bag, and they would be right!. The main reason is that seabreeze is a far more successful place to keep all up to date with locations, timings and allows instant feedback amongst the members. we have kept the club website online as it does contain a lot of useful information including the location guide. moving forward, we will continue to keep the website online including the location guide and will also continue to see seabreeze the main port of call for everyone to stay up to date with meets and outcomes. the club will also continue the email system to allow those who don't regularly visit seabreeze continued updates of upcoming events.
2011 memberships
this coming season sees a continuation of the membership costs from last season including access to family, race and social insurance/memberships as well as financial support for the club. Ongoing with the club memberships are the reciprocal membership arrangements. what does this mean? Well, you could join the wanderers as a race member and it will give you the insurance component necessary to compete in any AWA affiliated windsurfing club within Australia which covers all major and local events including the burrum event and local slalom events. Vice versa, if you were to join any of the AWA affiliated clubs within Australia or Qld you can also join in with the wanderers at no extra costs as you would have the insurance component required. Please be aware though that most competitive clubs and events will have an additional race entry fee to cover equipment costs and approvals. With the Wanderers, when you join the club you will not need to pay any further fees throughout the season to attend meets as all bbq's are provided by the wanderers and it's sponsors. Additionally you can join the wanderers as a social member only which has a reduced cost for those that are not into competition and just want to have some social fun. Finally, the club has what it calls a passionate member which includes the full race insurance as well as a further donation to the club for those that are more passionate about the club.
The updated membership forms are now available. for anyone not on the mailing list yet that would like to recieve email updates and a copy of the forms please email me at the club or pm me via seabreeze.
Happy Winds
Justin B
edit* i forgot to mention also that during the racing season, every attempt is made to hold WW meets on a saturday to avoid clashes with any racing. only time this will not be adhered to is during exceptionally strong forecasts (which usually see racing postponed anyway). over winter/off season we choose either sat or sun.
I think I speak for a lot of us when I say if it weren't for other commitments, family and/or work, we'd probably all go to every event.
Hi panda and haircut,
Yes other commitments and travel distances are a problem we all face. it's a windsurf/life balance thing i guess. with commitments the club has tried to ensure meets only occur when it's windy as this is the time people usually make space to do the sport. that's one reason why the club has become more spontaneous.
Travel is another area that plays a big part in people decision making. For me it's easier as I live central to most of the locations. General travel time for me is an hour max either north or south. For other members, the events that do have some travel time we are looking to make longer events to ease the loss of time like the Burrum event and the lake events being over a weekends. Generally though, the Goldy crew attend events from Bribie/Redcliffe and south and the sunshine coast crew attend events from Bribie/Redcliffe and north. there are some that go to all meets. the brisbane crew usually attend all meets also. I understand the gold coast members don’t normally attend the sunny coast meets and vice versa as some of the members would be looking at a 1.5-2 hr travel time each way. The events at Redcliffe and Bribie seem to be a good compromise for all and give an idea of peoples max travel ability. Events in those areas are usually well represented by sailors from all over. it was also good to see people starting to car pool this past season. i htink that's a great idea.
Hi Ken,
The new forms will be uploaded to the website next week. In the meantime i have emailed forms to all people on the mailing list and will send forms through to anyone who contacts me or pm’s me their email. The forms include bank details to allow an easy payment process. just shoot me through your details and i'll get it sorted.
Hi Dan,
The website was not updated as the amount of work required became too much load. When announcing a meet i had to update the website, seabreeze, emails, askhuey and facebook. Then if i needed to inform members of new information I had to go back and update all 5 avenues and sometimes i could do it multiple times over a week. then post event photos etc had again 5 places to occur. there was a large amount of work. At the end of the day most people use seabreeze so it became the best place to talk about the club plus it allows feedback with it’s forums. seabreezes helps the club remain mobile and spontaneous and provides a single point connection.
The website however is an import part of the club as it gives us an online face, somewhere to download forms from and contains information specific to qld like the location guide. we also get a lot of emails from overseas people wanting to come to qld and windsurf. Because of that the website was left online. This season we are moving the website to a new server which will see some updates occur. However they will be minor. i've learnt over the time of the club to not make promises relating to the website. there is more work than it looks if they are kept updated regularly.
Hope that helps.....
