Covid-19 Update

Hi all members,

By now I am sure you will have read the email from our Commodore, Peter Bulka, advising that ALL club activities have been suspended until further advised.  We will keep all members informed of the latest situation via email, e-news and our other social media forums.  Our weekly club e-news will no longer go out on a weekly basis however, we will endeavour to keep this form of communication open albeit on a less regular basis.

If you have any articles, items or information that you think would be of interest to our members PLEASE send them through to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will put them together and publish when applicable.  I am sure there are plenty of our members that will be interested as many of us are looking at new and novel ways to keep ourselves busy and connected to our community during this very tough time.

Keelboat NEWS

Last Weeks Races 

Another interesting night for our Friday Pursuit Race.  Due to the Strong Wind Warning and rough conditions it was decided quite late on Friday to postpone the Junior Crews involvement however, one our junior crews didn't get the memo so well done to Beau and his dad Cam who apparently had an exciting and rather wet time out on Fransiska but both had a smile on their faces. We had nine yachts sign on for the race which was great considering it was a bit bumpy on the course. Unfortunately we had a couple of retirements including a dead battery but from all reports it was a great night despite being a little wet for the crews.

Big thank you to our Race Officer Peter Bulka and his trusty team in the tower for a great job. 

Big thank you to RO Mark McAuliffe and the crew from Lady Cassandra for manning the tower and helping out on the water.

For all the 2019-20 Summer Results and Series Scores please go to 2019-20 Summer Season Results.  Presentation night for the 2019-20 season has been postponed and we will advise new dates as soon as possible.

15 Sailing Movies to Watch If You Have To Stay At Home

If the thought of being quarantined sends you into a spiral of restlessness, rest assured: you’re not alone. What does one do when you’re not allowed to leave your house?  We suggest you 15 sailing movies to see. Which one is your favourite?

Click Here for Movies 

How did you get that eye patch?

A sailor and a pirate are in a bar recounting their adventures at sea. Seeing the pirate’s peg-leg, hook, and eye patch the sailor asks: “So, how did you end up with the peg-leg?”

The pirate replies: “We were caught in a huge storm and a giant wave swept me overboard. Just as me crew were pullin’ me out a school of sharks appeared and one of ’em bit me leg off.”

“Blimey!” said the sailor . “And how’d you get the hook?”

“Arrrr…”, mused the old salt, “I got into a fight over a woman in a bar, and me hand got chopped off.”

“Blimey!” remarked the sailor. “And how about the eye patch?”

“Oh that,” said the pirate, looking embarrassed. A seagull droppin’ fell into me eye.”

“You lost your eye to a seagull dropping?” the questioner asked incredulously.

Well…” said the old sea dog, ” it was me first day with the hook.”

Dates for the Diary

OTB News

There may not of been any OTB racing at the club over the weekend however a number of our sailors travelled far and wide from Cairn Currin to Balnarring competing in Victorian State Titles with some fantastic results.

Over at Balnarring we had the 'A' Class States with our own Stuart Scott in first and Dave Brewer in second place just a couple of points back.  How good is that!!!

The Taser State Titles were held inland up at Cairn Currin.  Mark and Oliver Bulka finished in second place, Ross and Natasha Martin in third spot and  Andrew, Aurelia & Imogen Martin not far behind in seventh - well done to you all.

The Phaedrus B14 State Titles were held up in Sandringham YC with Ewan and Tori Campbell in a tight battle for fourth with Glenn and Grace Lazzar right on their heels in 5th. If I have missed anyone my sincere apologies but if you drop me a note will make sure you get a mention next week. 

Keelboat Captain Report

Congratulations for all our boats and crews that competed in the Marlay Point and ORCV King Island Races last weekend.
A very special congratulations to Rod Smallman and Tom Vaughan on Maverick with a fantastic result in the ORCV Melbourne to King Island Race with the amazing score line of 1st IRC, 2nd AMS, 1st PHS and 1st DHHC. 

We have a couple of important dates coming up in the Keelboat Calendar.
The Junior Crews night is being held on Friday 20th March.  This has become one of our most popular Friday nights and great to have the juniors and parents not only out on the keelboats but back at the club for a meal afterwards.  If you are happy to take out some of our Juniors please drop me a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  This is certainly one way of finding some younger crew members.

On Sunday 5th April at 10:00am we have the Skippers and Crews meeting.  It would be great to see a few more of our skippers and crews attend this meeting.  It is a great forum to review the season past and present some ideas the KB committee is looking into for both our winter and 2020-21 programs.  Constructive input is welcomed so put this date in the diary as a must do.

Be great to see a few new faces out this Sunday for our Summer Pursuit Series Race.  This is a perfect format for those who enjoy the pursuit start format but with the option of being able to try out your spinnaker handling skills.  Who could say no to that!!

Dear Members,

We have continued to closely monitor developments regarding COVID-19. In the interests of the health and safety of our members and guests, we have decided to suspend all club activities effective immediately.

This includes club racing, both off the beach and keelboat, junior training/sailing, women’s sail training, social events and activities and any meals on the club premises. The presentation night has been postponed, as has the Annual General Meeting to a later date.

As this is an ever changing situation, we will continue to provide updates via email, Facebook and the website.

Please stay safe, look after yourselves and those around you.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Peter Bulka
Commodore
Safety Beach Sailing Club

Dates for the Diary

From the OTB Captain and Rear

After a month of no OTB sailing on Sundays the weather gods blessed us with sunshine and a northerly wind gusting to about 15 knots. This provided ideal conditions to take on the visiting fleet from Mt Martha Yacht Club.  With around 50 boats racing, the yard was a hive of activity before and after the race and there was plenty of traffic on the water.

Division 2 was closely contested with SBSC winning the first race by 1 point and Mt. Martha winning the second race by 1 point.  The Martin's placed 1st & 2nd  in their Tasers for both races in Div. 3 giving SBSC a 2 point victory in each race.  Div. 5 had Ewan and Tori in the B14 get a 1st and 2nd as did Mike from Mt Martha in his Paper Tiger.  With the rest of the SBSC fleet having the numbers it is congratulations to Safety Beach SC on a great WIN against Mount Martha YC and we look forward to seeing the trophy in our new trophy cabinet soon!

Thanks to RO Peter Bulka and team for a great day on the water and also to Mt Martha Yacht Club for their great turn-out and close competition.

You will have noted in the program that there is NO OTB racing is scheduled this Labour Day long week end.
There is however, plenty of interest in racing, and the long-range forecast looks great.   We’ll start at 2pm as usual, briefing at 1pm. 
We may use course 3 per SI’s, but, I’d like to change things up.   Any volunteers please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sail Peninsula 2020

The amazing Chris Parks and his team of photographers and drone pilots have captured some fabulous footage of SP2020.  Chris is still downloading images however there have already been some great photos loaded so to view these proofs please go to SP2020 Proof Images.  If you would like a high resolution image of any of these photos please contact Chris directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call on 0407 526 396.  You will need to provide the image file number so that Chris can identify the image you are interested in.

Dates for the Diary

Committee Mutterings

Dear members,

What a crazy time we are living through currently. Thankfully, sailing out in the open air is similar to the social distancing being preferred by government, as a way of minimising the spread of COVID-19.  Whilst our crazy weather has coincided with Friday night racing, Sunday saw a reprieve in conditions and we were treated to champagne sailing and what a turnout we had. 20 juniors on the Sunday morning followed up by 14 Keelboats and 30 OTB in the afternoon capped off a very busy day around the club.

As mentioned by our Commodore Peter Bulka on Friday, your Committee is monitoring any response or recommended course of action coming from Australian Sailing. Currently it remains that all sailing activities are continuing, however we urge members to maintain good personal hygiene standards and we urge members that are displaying symptoms of COVID-19 as prescribed by the WHO to refrain from coming to the club and self-isolating.

It was great to turn up to the club on Sunday and see the progress thus far on our bar renovation. Things are progressing well, with the sliding windows in to the North East Corner and a fresh lick of paint to the ceiling and walls really lifting the interior, making the most of that view!

This Thursday (provided the gathering is less than 500!) is a special members night (see information flyer below).  During this period, it’ll be really important to keep supporting our caterer whilst it’s still possible.  We also have Junior Keelboat night on Friday evening, weather dependant of course!  Thanks in advance to all members who have provided space on their boats for juniors and their families this Friday, hopefully we get great weather and a big gathering back at the club afterwards, provided it’s less than 500.

I have been in touch with the contractors (Duratec) regarding the state of our yard and the additional time it has taken to do the necessary rectification works on the tunnel from our side. It appears that the piling holes were collapsing and needed better geotechnical engineering solutions. They have been waiting to hear from VicRoads regarding this solution and hopefully will recommence works this week into next and be finished within the fortnight.
Our roof is beginning to leak, which was unearthed by the painters and was found wanting after some substantial rainfall over the past month. The Shire have been out to inspect and hopefully will come up with a solution soon. We are hoping that the leaks don’t play havoc with our renovations and delay the project.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, the schools team racing state championships have been postponed, which is a great shame to many of our young sailors that were looking forward to racing in this great event at the RYCV this coming weekend. Selfishly, I’m happy as I can now sail on Friday night and again on Sunday.

Don’t forget to register for the SBSC Footy Tipping Competition. This is for all members and only costs $20.00. I’ll hunt you down for the money but please register regardless of the outcome of the AFL season continuing or not. We’ll have some novel prizes for each round and for the member that manages to correctly tip 9 games with the lowest margin. Link can be found in the e-news.

Cheers!

Mono.
On behalf of the Executive Committee.

Football Tipping Competition

Weather you love or hate the game of football there is plenty of fun to be had by joining the SBSC Football Tipping Competition. To enter costs only $20 and to register is easy just CLICK HERE

Dates for the Diary

OTB News

This Sunday, the 1st March, we not only have 2 Club Championship Races on but we also have the Mt Martha YC visit to Safety Beach Sailing Club.  We need every OTB boat out on the water this Sunday in a bid to wrangle the trophy back from Mt Martha.  Please note the change in start time with the first warning signal at 12:57H so don't be late.

How good was Sail Peninsula 2020

Great Sailing, Awesome Food & Entertainment and a heap of fun was had by all that were involved either on or off the water

Finally we were blessed with some lovely sailing conditions and managed to get in all three races.  Thank you to our many SBSC boats and crews that support this regatta every year.  Without you the regatta wouldn't exist.  We had great representation from Sandringham YC, Mornington YC, Blairgowrie YS and the Multihull Association who definitely provide the most entertainment on the water.  It was also very pleasing to receive entries from Hobsons Bay, Royal Geelong and Martha Cove . 

Again our friends from Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron joined us for the festivities on the Saturday night and as we all know they are renowned for enjoying a good party!.   Big thanks to Snooks Catering who just make this event better and better each year.  The food and entertainment was amazing and can't wait to see what they come up with next year.  To our SP2020 Organising Committee - what a team!!!!  You should all feel incredibly proud of putting together, what I think was, the best Sail Peninsula Regatta to date showcasing just what a great club Safety Beach Sailing Club is.  We also must thank our Race Officials Geoff Eldridge Lou Hutton and Geoff Searle and all our volunteers who worked tirelessly not just over the weekend but the whole week leading up to the event.

The amazing Chris Parks and his team of photographers and drone pilots have captured some fantastic images and footage of this years event.  We were lucky to see some of the shots on the big screen over the weekend however, I believe all the shots taken will soon be made available so keep watching this space!

Well done to all the boats and crews that percolated to the top of your division.  All the results are available at SP2020 Results.   

Congratulations to Blairgowrie YS for taking out this years AMS Challenge Cup in a very tight fought battle with a 1 point victory over Sandringham YC .

Finally thank you to our regatta sponsors.  We are incredibly grateful for your support.

We have already locked in our dates for Sail Peninsula 2021 which will be held on the weekend of the 19th - 21st February 2021 so make sure you put these dates into your diary now as this is event is not to be missed.