It was a cool moderate southerly that greeted our eager sailors. Four Large Cats arrived for Pointscore 14 and Club Championship 5. Bob Porter was back from the Nacra 5.8 Nationals at Lake Cootharaba where he and Johnny finished 4th overall in mostly 25 knot conditions. Well done guys!
 
Today Josh Porter crewed for Bob after Johnny broke his toe whilst water-sliding.  Get well Johnny!
The rest of the fleet was rounded out with Paul English on Playtime (16Sq), Les Porter on Wilbur (foiling A Class) and me on Symphony 2 (floating A Class).

An impromptu meeting was held and the Large Cats all agreed to sail windward returns only. This format has the advantage of avoiding a ‘soldier’s course’ on the downwind legs, is safer in fresh breezes, and finally it’s almost universal on the regatta circuit. I think it’s a good move.

Les went out a little early to acclimatise and see how his boat handled the 15 knot breeze. When I caught up with him at the pre-start he was grinning like a Cheshire cat and said he’d foiled a little upwind. Foiling upwind is currently the holy grail of A Class sailing.  Way to go Les!

Brad and Todd Curry were on duty and set a starboard course with start just north of Gooseberry Island and top mark towards Primbee. Thanks guys, it was a great race track. The wind eased a little before the 2PM start to a very enjoyable 15 knot sou ‘Easter.

Everyone got away cleanly with the two A Class soon stretching out a slight lead over the Nacra 5.8 with Paul’s  16Sq giving chase and again showing good upwind pace. Just after the first top mark, Les pulled up with a problem with his tiller extension attachment and needed gaffer tape to affect a temporary repair before continuing.  It cost him a lot of time.

Paul English on his 16Sq was missing his stable-mate Kurt Griffiths, so Paul chased down the Small Cat fleet that started 5 minutes earlier. Les was playing catch-up after the tiller issue and was making up lost ground although hampered by numerous jellyfish strikes.  A foiling capsize did not help either.
 
Meanwhile, Bob and Josh on the Nacra 5.8 Road Apple were showing great downwind pace and on each downwind leg were able to close the gap with Symphony 2. This set the tone for the entire race. Finally on the last leg to the X mark, Bob and Josh found another gear and stormed past Symphony to finish comfortably ahead.

Again, kudos goes to Paul English this week, who was pipped by only 7 seconds for 2nd place on yardstick in the Championship. Believe me, he’s found something extra.

Surely, Les Porter would have taken line honours but for his misfortunes.  Afterwards, a jubilant Les said he was more than happy with his boat speed. Watch out everyone!

What a great day we had on the water!!

Upcoming Events
On Thursday (Australia Day), IYC are hosting the annual Lord Mayor’s Regatta. It’s a fun event with a round-the-lake course.  The plan is to rig at PKSC around 9am and then sail to IYC for the start at 11:30am. Join us if you can make it. WillyWeather predicts a 10 knot southerly. Perfect!

Next Saturday 28th Jan is Point score 15. Don’t miss it!  Hope to see you all there!

At PKSC at 9am there was a light but gusty westerly blowing with overcast skies that we hoped would evolve into a moderate cool southerly.

Kurt Griffiths arrived early to prepare the duty boat and to help out in the canteen by making fun of my feeble culinary skills. He did a good job of that. :-)

Paul English arrived with trusty Nacra 16sq Playtime in tow followed by Les’ A Class “Wilbur” which had been repaired mid-week by Tim Makepeace –and a very fine job by Tim!

By 11am the breeze had circled to the SE and increased to about 15 knots. By 1PM it eased to a luxurious light to moderate 9 knots. Also, the clouds dispersed and it was time to slip, slap and slop as the sun had quite a bite.

There were about 11 cats all up in the rigging area with the glorious return of the Cuddy Cup sailors. From what I heard the Cuddy Cup was a relaxed and easy-going regatta and a nice way to unwind.

On the water Kurt and Bruce set a great port course with start south of Gooseberry Island, wing near the point and top mark towards Primbee. The large cats elected beforehand to sail only windward returns and ignore the wing mark. Incidentally, by all reports, the wing mark was perfectly placed for the TY’s, monos and small cats.

The Large Cat start was a pedestrian affair with all 3 cats seeming to be shy of the starter’s gun. Things soon hotted up, though.  At the top mark, Les on Wilbur had outsmarted his rivals by cunningly sailing where the wind was stronger. He rounded first and then topped it off by discharging his after-burners, lifting off and foiling fast and free for a good 300 metres into the distance.

Meanwhile, I was just managing to keep ahead of the fast charging Paul English on his 16Sq. Lately, it appears Paul has found his inner sailor and is displaying consistent improvement on every outing.

Long story short, Les revelled in the breeze. It was just enough to foil downwind without feeling like a passenger on a runaway express train. After 3 out of 4 laps Les appeared to experiment with different angles and VMG. The lightening winds allowed me to creep past while he was busy trying things. And that’s how we finished.

Afterwards, Paul explained he actually switched to the standard triangle course so that he could pursue the Small Cats that had started 5 minutes earlier. It must have paid off because, remarkably, on pure VYC yardsticks, Paul had knocked off both A Class cats in conditions that were more suited to them. Good job, Paul!

On shore, Les had a grin from ear to ear. Not only were there no capsizes or mishaps; he knew that Wilbur could really fly. Some fine-tuning and familiarisation and Les will be unstoppable.
Here are the elapsed times:

With all our fleets being low on numbers we are in need of volunteers for the rescue boat duty roster.  Let me know if you can assist.

Next week is Club Championship 5 for TYs, Small and Large Cats. Forecast is for a BIG southerly 22 knots plus. Boy, I sure hope they get that wrong!

Hope to see you all there!
Regards, Ross Boyd

On arrival at PKSC around 10am there were already a few Small Cats almost rigged – such was the enthusiasm generated by the festive lay-off. Tony Zhara, Bill Ledger and Ralf Steyer were rigging early to have an 11am informal mud-stick race before the forecast 20 knot Nor’easter kicked in.

Les Porter arrived minutes later on his beautiful, new, thoroughbred foiling A Class aptly named Wilbur, soon followed by our gentle giant Paul English with his Nacra 16Sq Playtime, and Tim Makepeace with his F18 TJM. Rob Porter also dropped by to say hello.

I believe a few Small Cats were at the Cuddy Cup regatta hence the small numbers. Next week will be better.

After meets and greets and “Happy New Years” a few decided to rig quickly and join in with the Small Cats. The wind was definitely at its best for the day at around 10 knots or so.

Club President, Richard Hipsley was on duty and kindly laid the buoys out early for the keen sailors.

Les managed a few blistering foiling runs before having a rare capsize. Sickeningly, whilst righting his boat Les accidentally damaged a hull just in front of the main beam.  When I heard the news I could not believe Les’ misfortune. Tim Makepeace generously offered to take on the carbon repairs. Good on you, Tim!

Well, by 2PM the nor’easter had increased to 18.7 knots with gusts over 26. On top of that the 16 foot skiffs had their National Titles at IYC with about 50 boats (including junior skiffs) racing. Richard Hipsley set our course as close to PKSC as possible to minimise the danger of collisions. It’s very hard for the skiffies to see ahead when they are under spinnaker – so this was a wise move.

With the above in mind and the fact that the breeze was only going to get stronger - all the wise cat sailors chose not to risk it. Unwisely, I decided to roll the dice and give it a try. Usually I wouldn’t dare but it seemed manageable – and heading to shore was always an option if things worsened.

Here’s the Holfuy chart for the day.

Long story short, I started the race alone on port tack and hopped out on trapeze. After 200 metres and 3 teabags later I wimped out and went into Paper Tiger mode – sitting on the gunwale. It wasn’t too bad -until I saw 50 skiffs approaching from IYC fast like the Spanish Armada. At that point, throwing in the towel was tempting because it looked difficult to stay out of their way. As it was, they kept mainly to the south of our course, and I kept mainly to the north side – hoping that ‘never the twain should meet’.

The main course consisted of 4 sausages before one final work and a delectable reach to the X mark and finish. So, the biggest challenge of the race was the ‘bear away’ at the top mark and hanging on and hoping that the bows weren’t forced under. The 5th time around was the scariest with what looked like boiling water around the top mark. I eased everything, pulled up the centreboards before offering a small prayer and gingerly bearing away. The acceleration was sensational! I hung on (almost pooping my pants) but thankfully the T-foil rudders did their job and prevented the bows from going under.

Rather than wildly reaching directly to the X mark it seemed safer to sail straight downwind till I could sail close-hauled to the X Mark and home. If you thought I was thrilled to get off the water, you’re right!!

In other news...
Corrections have been made to all the Small and Large Cat results to handle DNF results properly as per the Sailing Instructions. Basically, when a boat has a DNF it should be given a score equal to the number of starters in the race + 1.   By the way, last year’s results have been checked and all is well – no change to final placings there. Phew!

Reminders
Next week is Point Score 13 for Small and Large Cats.
Large Cats are on Canteen Duty this week.

Hope to see you all there with fair weather and fairer wind!

Regards, Ross Boyd

Ralf Steyer has kindly pointed out that the scoring of DNF results has not been handled as per the PKSC Sailing Instructions. He's quite right. Corrected results have now been uploaded.

In a nutshell...
- the score for a DNC/DNS is the number of boats in the series + 1
- the score for a DNF/OCS/ABN is the number of boats that started the race + 1

Previously, a DNF was scored the same as a DNC/DNS.  Apologies for the oversight.
All fixed now.

Edit: In the light of the above, I've checked last season's Small and Large Cat results. You'll be pleased to know that all the placings remain exactly the same.