Jericho Sailing Centre "in the wind" September 13, 2007

Ahoy JSCA Members:

Here is what's "in the wind", coming events and items of interest at the Jericho Sailing Centre, your ocean access community centre, for September 13-19, 2007 and beyond:

Tri Something Different This Weekend
The Subaru Vancouver International Half-Iron Triathlon comes to the Jericho Sailing Centre this Sunday. The all important ocean swim section, freestyle flutter kick, starts the event at 0730H from Locarno Beach right next to the pier (and then they do a bunch of landlubber stuff like running and riding bikes all over Point Grey, blah, blah, blah).

If you've never seen the swim portion of a triathlon at the Jericho Sailing Centre live, it is a surreal splashing spectacle, an awesome amphibious wave of humanity ploughing through the sea with the most beautiful city in the world as a backdrop: September morning, a frenzy of resurfacing arms and legs, crooked elbow dorsals, scissor kicking legs, trailing crossing wakes amid 500 bobbing heads in various class coloured & numbered swim caps. Heads gasping for air, bonking with elbows, colliding with feet: no civilized rules of sail racing here; this is a full contact, contusion collecting, watery herd mentality, school of people breaking every No Splashing rule in the book. These splashing heads are attached to incredibly fit amateur athletes of all ages who descend from all over to our unique ocean access facility.

JSCA members who like to rise and shine "earli" in the morning can take in the Vancouver International Half-Iron swim section from the railings of the Jericho Pier, our rooftop observation deck, or from behind a plate of pancakes and a latte on the Jericho Galley Patio. (nothing more fun than watching masses of people sweat while you relax in decadence to kick start your day.) Or better yet, jump in your kayak, rowboat, dinghy, or on a board, and groove to the spine tingling splashing sound and vibration resembling thousands of spawning B.C. Salmon slipping swiftly upstream. (Please stay at least 50 M away from the swim course-respect).

Ocean swims are at the outer limits of the Jericho Sailing Centre's versatile ocean access facility range which includes: outrigger canoe races, kayaking marathons, skimboarding, stand paddling, surfskis, open ocean rowing, windsurfing, national and international dinghy sailing regattas, and the largest of our annual hosted events, the Blue Whale of them all, the 3,000 participant UBC Day of the Longboat. (Coming Sept. 22/23/29 &30)

The Jericho Sailing Centre, Vancouver's ocean access facility, has a long history of hosting and providing boat rescue and safety support to triathlons and open water swims. It's a comfortable fit to our mandate of facilitating ocean access for the people of Vancouver in small, naturally powered craft-after all, what could be more natural or small than a form fitting wetsuit, a human powered neoprene torpedo for a craft, with fingers and palms for paddles, striving, reaching and pulling through the briny waters of English Bay for the beach?

For information on the Subaru Vancouver International Half-Iron Triathlon swim over to www.lifesport.ca . If you are interested in volunteering contact Volunteer
Director, Adria McCrindle (adriamccrindle@hotmail.com or 604.880.4640) for
more information.

Rabbit Out of a Hat Regatta
(Two Straight Days of Sunday Racing) - Sept. 15 & 16
There will be no prizes or trophies, no organized dinner, BBQ, on-water lunches or social, no T-shirts, hats, soup spoons, complementary beach towels or regatta registration fee-you can race Saturday, or you can race Sunday, or both-we will score daily results and the cumulative results. You can socialize with your racing colleagues after racing, or not. As informal as a regatta can be - just plain old Jericho racing for the hull of it to wind down our summer racing season. All dinghy classes welcome, we'll have an X-class start and a novice racer start if they happen to show up. Start time 1230H both days. We will use our regular Sunday/Tuesday sailing instructions. First timers welcome, if you haven't raced with us this year make sure we have your name, sail number and boat class.

Tasar BC's Can-Am - General Recall
While the Canadian Laser Masters Championship suffered from lack of wind the weekend before, last weekend's Tasar BC's at times was inflicted with too much. Grand Master PRO Peter Graham managed to get one race off on Saturday in winds that were tickling the 25kt mark on the anemometer after that the wind increased gusting up to thirty and the fleet was grounded on the beach. Only 9 of the 19 boat fleet finished that survival condition race with the sailors who finished 1st to 4th eventually finishing the regatta 1st - 4th overall. Sunday's winds were between 15 & 20 knots which pretty much gave the Tasars all they could handle. For complete race results scootch over to our racing page.

JSCA Members Food Services Forum - September 24
The primary purpose of the food and beverage facility at the Jericho Sailing Centre is to serve the needs of our members and we want it to be the best it can possibly be. The JSCA Board is inviting members to provide their input into how we might improve our food and beverage service. Members are invited to participate at the Forum on Monday, September 24 at 1900H. If you are unable to attend but would like your ideas considered please send them in via email by September 23. Bon appetite!

LOST AND FOUND ALERT!!!
We have been accumulating a grand collection of clothing in our Lost and Found section this year - where do all these people go from here without their clothes? We would like to liberate some space, and some of them are quite smelly, so we are notifying members that on September 30 we will deposit all suitable clothing items into the Developmental Disability Association's donation clothing bin located just inside the main entrance to our compound. We will not include any sailing or paddling gear which, if unclaimed, will be included in next year's Bailiff Auction. Come check out our lost and found section if you are missing anything, prior to Sept. 30. Members who are looking to clean out their closets are encouraged to donate your old or poor fitting clothing items to the Developmental Disability Association.

Coming events
UBC Day of the Longboat-Clinic Sept 22 & 23
UBC Day of the Longboat-Event Sept 29 & 30

Volunteer Workparties
Boat Moving Saturday & Sunday @ 1000H.

JSCA Notice of AGM Tuesday October 23 at 1900H
The Jericho Sailing Centre Association's 34th Annual General Meeting will be held Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 1900H in the English Bay Banquet Room of the Jericho Sailing Centre, 1300 Discovery Street, Vancouver, B.C. The 2006/2007 J.S.C.A. Board and Committees will report on their accomplishments this past year and the challenges for the future. Please plan to attend and participate in the future direction of your ocean access community centre.

Call for Nominations
Voting will take place to elect eight members for a two-year term to our 15 member Board of Directors. The J.S.C.A. Board meets once a month to set policy and determine Jericho's direction. Interested members who have time and expertise to offer are invited to submit a letter indicating their experience and areas of interest to the J.S.C.A. Nominations Committee c/o the Jericho office no later than 1700H, Tuesday, October 9. The signed nomination letter must include your name, address and telephone number. For additional information contact Mike Cotter, J.S.C.A. General Manager 224-4177 or email mike@jsca.bc.ca.

Ground Craft Storage Space Wanted
Not using your ground stored craft? The JSCA will buy your spot back. We currently have boats on our waiting list and we would like to accommodate them all. At this time our staff is taking stock of inactive craft populating the compound. If necessary, under the terms of our Boat Storage Policy, storage rights for these craft may be withdrawn. We are currently asking members who may wish to voluntarily relinquish their ground storage to contact the office to arrange a refund on the unused portion of their storage fees. This offer does not apply to rack storage.

LAUNCH Dolly Etiquette
We would like to remind members that JSCA launch dollies are for everyone's use. Please show consideration of your fellow members by using dollies only for launching and retrieval. Dollies used to launch boats must be immediately returned to the fence and not left on the shoreline.

Weekly Events at the Jericho Sailing Centre
Jericho Folk Club Tuesdays 2000H through Sept. 25
Sunday Racing Last one Sept. 15 & Sept. 16
Tuesday Nite Racing Tuesdays 1815H through to Sept. 18
Ecomarine Thursday Night Paddling Thursdays 1800H through to Sept. 13

Upcoming JSCA Meetings:
JSCA Board October 9 @ 1900H
JSCA AGM October 23 @ 1900H

JSCA Office Hours
September Hours
0930H-1730H Weekdays.
0900H-1800H Weekends.
Gates open at 0700H and are locked at Dusk. (approx. 1930H and fading fast).

Fair winds,

Mike

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