Archive News Sept 2011 to Dec 2011

12-09-2011, 08:23 AM


Well - the season didn't exactly get off to a flying start. The weather forecast had the breeze gusting to 35 knots and the temperature at a balmy 15 degrees. Not many people turned up - 3 monohulls, a cat and a TY. The actual conditions were much better than forecast with gusts reaching maybe 20 knots. However due to the small numbers (and the temperature) the decision was taken to leave getting wet till next week. The forecast for Saturday at the moment is 25 degrees so much better - lets get a full fleet on the water. 


Lots of talk about what the fleet will look like this year. There is a huge interest in the MG14s - we will have at least 6 if people can find boats. Also, looks as though 3 505s will line up as well as 5 Sharpies, the I14 and Flying Ant. 


Apparently Frank pulled Road Kill apart at the end of last season to work on it and hasn't actually got round to getting it together again - come on Frank !!


19-09-2011, 12:41 PM
After a delay of a week the season got under way on a beautiful warm spring day with a nice breeze varying from NE to NW during the course of the race. A reasonable fleet turned out with 2 Sharpies, 1 505, 3 MG14s and a Flying Ant. Hopefully more of you get your boats out over the coming weeks as we should have double this number ! 


From the start Mainiac led followed by Mr Freeze. Blowflies was close behind with Skulker hot on their heels. Missguided Missile was sailing well as were Willful Intent - although a tangle before the start meant that their spinnaker was not able to be used during the race. Poseidon started the season well getting round the course well.


The positions stayed pretty static until after the top mark the last time. Mr Freeze managed to get past Mainiac on the very tight reach - finishing 18 second is front across the line. 


The pointscore results saw Skulker first, Blowflies second and Willful Intent third. Results are up on the website.


We have been assured that the Marzanos will have Road Kill back on the water next weekend which is great. Also, Robert Winn has just purchased a nice MG14 to race with his son so we are looking forward to seeing them on the water quickly. Dino spent the day watching his kids sail - how about all three boats out next weekend ?? 


Next weekend is the first heat of the Club Championship so don't forget to pay your fees.


26-09-2011, 12:32 PM
I think we were pretty lucky with the weather on Saturday - the forecast for most of the week was predicting strong breezes with rain. What we got, while a little cold, was a beautiful southeast breeze and little to no rain. 


Seems to me a number of our boats have forgotten that the season starts in September - we always seem to get the season off to a slow start. However, we had 7 boats hit the water for the first heat of the Club Championship and all sailed very well. 


From the start, Mainiac and Mr Freeze continued where they left off last week - never more than a few boat-lengths apart. They were closely followed by John and Lachlan on Skulker who are really getting the MG going - they were only just behind the Sharpies at the first mark - followed closely by Sam and Kevin on Blowflies. Alex was skippering Willful Intent with Amelia after Kian hurt his back - and was having a great time while Peter and Jessica are rapidly improving on Poseidon. Also, welcome to Rod Nairn who sailed his Laser - he will be joining us when his cricket allows. 


Shortly after the first mark, Blowflies had to retire with a broken mast fitting. Mr Freeze overtook Mainiac on the tight reach - and the lead swapped regularly for the rest of the race. Skulker was still only just behind the Sharpies. Willful Intent had a couple of quick swims but sailed really well. 


Mr Freeze rounded the last mark just in front of Mainiac. However, mainiac decided to try to carry spinnaker to the finish which worked out well and they took line honours. 


In the Club Championship, Mainiac won the long course, with Skulker winning the short course. I am also running a test to look at overall CC results - on this heat Skulker would have won overall. I will publish these results on the website during the season although at the moment its not an official event.


In the pointscore, Skulker was first, with Poseidon second and Willful Intent third. 


All the results are now up on the website.


16-10-2011, 09:23 AM
Saturday morning was absolutely horrible - torrential rain, floods, etc. I think a lot of people looked outside and decided to stay at home. There were only a few juniors braving the conditions in the morning - and not many more monohulls in the afternoon. 


However, at about 1pm the weather cleared to a beautiful sunny afternoon so those who did come enjoyed a lovely day on the water !! A light northeasterly breeze came up as well so although the excitement factor was low, at least we had a consistent breeze. 


It was great to see Road Kill out on the water for the first time this season.


Overall the race was a bit spread out - with Mainiac, followed by Road Kill, Skulker, Willful Intent and Poseidon in that order for most of the day. The handicap results had Willful Intent first, Road Kill second and Skulker third.


The handicapper is having a close look at Amelia and Kian on Willful Intent - they are really getting the boat going well now - and most of the day were only about 100 metres behind Skulker - a great improvement!


It was really good to see Poseidon flying their spinnaker - they are really starting to get their boat going well most of the time and will continue to improve as the season progresses. 


In other news, it seems Pleasure & Pain will not be sailing and is up for sale. It would be great if someone from the club was to purchase this boat - it is a very fast and well equipped machine.


25-09-2011, 01:05 PM
Folks, as you know for the last couple of years we have run a combined pointscore with correction factors for the different length courses. This has worked out really well and give us a much larger fleet. I would like to end up doing the same for the Club Championship so we can include all boats. On the website I am showing a test championship in the results as well as the long and short course one. I think the results for the first heat truly reflect how people sailed. 


Any thoughts as to whether we should just go this way ?


24-10-2011, 03:12 PM
Just an update on this - I ran the results for the second heat and once again looked pretty right.


I believe we should go this way - and within the overall championship have a Junior (under 18) champion.


24-10-2011, 03:16 PM 


I was away again last Saturday but both other family boats sailed so I got a brief report. Looks like it was a small fleet for heat 2 of the CC !! 


The Short Course saw Skulker first, Wilful Intent second and Poseidon third. 


Long course Blowflies sailed very well to beat Mr Freeze across the line as well as on yardstick - is that the first time ? 


Overall handicap results were Blowflies first, Skulker second and Wilful Intent third. 


Next weekend most of the Sharpies will be participating in the ACT Dinghy Titles so good luck to all our representatives


31-10-2011, 04:46 PM
Mr Freeze, Mainiac and Road Kill sailed in the ACT Dinghy Championships on the weekend. The weather was looking a bit wet on the way down but cleared up by race time. The best bit was there was wind on both days - 5-15 on Saturday and 10-25 on Sunday. Our club boats performed very well. I have not seen the full results yet as I had to leave straight after the racing for a family function - however Mr Freeze won the championships on countback from Smoke as they had equal points. Mainiac was third and Road Kill sixth. The racing was very close and positions swapped regularly as often happens in Canberra. Well done to Todd, Hayden and Brad. 

With the Sharpies away there were only the MGs sailing at the club. I have not received the results to do handicap positions yet but across the line Skulker was first, Wilful Intent second and Prawn Star third. 

Club Championship heat 3 is on this Saturday - so lets try to get a full fleet on the water. Its possible that one or more of the Canberra boats will come down and sail as well. 

Don't forget Sunday is the Try Sail day at the club - if you can come down and help out that would be great - having a few monohulls available to take people out would be really good.


06-11-2011, 06:42 AM
We have been hoping for a good north easter all season - today we got it. In fact it was a little windy for some of the fleet - during the race, gusts were over 25 knots. A new boat has joined our fleet with Dean and Angus having picked up a really nice 505 during the week - it doesn't have a name yet.

9 monohulls rigged ready to go out with 7 actually hitting the water. Problems started pretty quickly with Poseidon shredding a jib near the start - they were sailing the boat really well up to that stage - I think its the first time they have been out in wind like that. 

On the first lap Wilful Intent had a "mud" swim while setting the spinnaker - and although they got going again they did not finish the race. Not sure why as overall they were going really well. 

Skulker is really performing this year - at the end of the first lap they were only 50 metres behind the sharpies !! Unfortunately they had a swim when a spinnaker sheet let go - however they got going again and finished the course. According to Dino who was watching on the shore, they were pacing the 16s downwind !!

Missguided Missile had a solid race with a ring-in crew - nothing spectacular but Dante made it round with no issues which in itself is a great effort in those winds. 

Dean and Angus managed to get round most of the course on their first 505 sail - but snapped a main halyard at the top mark the last time. Before that the boat was looking good !

Road Kill was reveling in the strong breeze - flying upwind. The best thing was they kept it up for the whole race with only minor issues. They led around the top mark on the first lap. Mainiac only really got away from them a bit on the run leg on the second lap. Both boats had spectacular downwind rides with Road Kill gaining on each upwind leg. 

Final results for the Club Championship heat had Mainiac First and Road Kill second on the long course and Missguided Missile first and Skulker second (only 5 seconds in it) on the short course. Combined test results had Mainiac first, Road Kill second and Missguided Missile third.

Pointscore results were Road Kill first, Mainiac second and Skulker third. 

Mention must be made of the course - the duty guys did a great job - it was perfect angles for the breeze - most enjoyable.

13-11-2011, 06:05 PM
For the second week in a row we have had a really nice NE breeze - this one not quite as strong as last week !! We had 3 Sharpies, 3 MGs and a 505 today - won't it be good when all the different boats that are racing hit the water on the same weekend !! There were a number of boats sailing with standin crew for various reasons - Mainiac, Wilful Intent and Blowflies. Jess from Poseidon had a great ride on mainiac - her dad was duty crew for the day so they couldn't sail their own boat.

From the start Mainiac made use of the extra crew weight and lead comfortably at the first mark followed by Mr Freeze, Road Kill, Blowflies and Skulker. Prawn Star was showing some impressive speed and wasn't far behind. Wilful Intent had a capsize on the first work and had to play catchup for the rest of the race. 

Mainiac sailed off in a funny direction after the first mark - they couldn't see the wing mark. Mr Freeze sailed through to take a good lead which they held to the end of the race. Mainiac wasn't far behind followed by Road Kill. Blowflies had a swim and was overtaken by Skulker

Surprise of the day was Prawn Star. Rob and Elliott have really come to terms with the MG and won by miles on handicap. The handicapper is going to have to have a close look at them before next week !

Results for the pointscore race were Prawn Star first, Mr Freeze second and Road Kill third. 

21-11-2011, 04:13 PM
Folks - as I was in Singapore I can't write a report this week - if someone wants to please feel free !! I took a couple of photos at the sailing club at Changi - the cat guys would love it - probably 30 or so Taipans of various sizes. The 20 foot variety look pretty fast !!


The Trimaran in one of the photos is an impressive machine too - 24 foot long and can do up to about 20 knots - would go well in our TY fleet. I think its called a Corsair Dash 750 - they have 5 of them in their fleet


    


    


   


30-11-2011, 04:07 PM
Just a quick report from the monohulls this week as I am sure the Kembla Klassic will be covered in detail elsewhere. 6 boats from our mono fleet took part. The weather wasn't great - drifter in heat 1, nice breeze but substantial weed in heat 2 and heats 3 and 4 abandoned !


Division 1 included MG14s - Skulker, Wilful Intent and Poseidon took part. The highlight was Skulker equal first on points in the MG fleet (although they were beaten by two MGBs). Overall in Div 1 Skulker was 5th. Both Poseidon and Wilful Intent had difficulties in the challenging conditions on Saturday - there is always next week guys !


Division 2 was for Sharpie and 505. Mainiac ended up third, Blowflies 5th and Mr Freeze 6th. Road Kill decided the first heat was too slow so came home. The second heat was the first states championships race with Mainiac 3rd, Mr Freeze 4th and Road Kill 6th.


05-12-2011, 10:49 AM
What a day to be on rescue duty !! We had probably the best Northeaster of the season so far with a pretty good fleet of monohulls taking to the water. It looks as though for the second half of the season we will have a few more boats sailing as well - with Dean to be regular on his 505 and rumours of a new Sharpie !! It was good to see Tim back out on the water in Southern Cross. His crew were both yacht sailors who had never been on dinghies - they did well and enjoyed the speed. 


From the start most boats went left while Southern Croos headed right - this turned out to be a good move as they crossed most boats on the way up the first work. However by the top mark, Blowflies led followed closely by Mr Freeze and Road Kill. Wilful Intent was sailing really well and rounded just behind Southern Cross. Poseidon was having a consistent race. Missguided Missile led Adrenalin in the Flying Ants. 

All was to change at the front at the wing mark with Blowflies having an uncharacteristic swim allowing Mr Freeze through to take the lead. Mr Freeze didn't have it all their own way though with Road Kill absolutely flying upwind - if they can fix their downwind speed they will be close to the front in these conditions.

Unfortunately Poseidon had yet another gear failure and had to withdraw and Southern Cross managed to get an amazing tangle in their Spinnaker on the last lap and also retired.

Across the line, Mr Freeze took line honours with Wilful Intent and Road Kill close behind. 

On handicap, the race was won by Road Kill, with Missguided Missile second and Blowflies third. 

Next Saturday is CC4 for the monohulls so hopefully we get a large fleet on the water.

11-12-2011, 07:28 AM 
For the 4th heat of the Club Championship we had our best fleet of the season so far hit the water. It was great to see Neil and Simon back on the I14. Also a first for the season so far we had both 505s on the water in the same race. 

The breeze was a light and shifty E-NE around 5-8 knots - a difficult breeze to set a course on but the starters did a good job.

Unfortunately at the start a number of boats had decided it was much more interesting to practice than to be near the starting line so a few missed the start by a bit.

Mainiac led at the first mark followed by Windansea, Mr Freeze and The Ribwich - with Road Kill and Blowflies not far behind. Skulker was closely leading the MG14s from Wilful Intent who had one of their best races to date - only losing touch with Skulker on the last lap. Prawn Star had a ring-in crew and was suffering a little in the light breeze - being the last to start probably didn't help either. Poseidon continued to improve and used their spinnaker consistently through the race.

Blowflies started to sail through the fleet while The Ribwich were suffering from not knowing which settings to use on the new boat - the 505s seem to be very sensitive to rig adjustments. 

Because of the flukey conditions, big gains and losses were made during the course of the race. On the last triangle, Windansea overtook Mainiac on the reach but Mainiac got the lead back on the work. Windansea lost a lot of ground and was just in front of Mr Freeze at the top mark the last time. Mainiac lost a fair bit of time on the reach to X but still took line honours from Mr Freeze and Windansea. Skulker was the first home on the short course. 

Club Championship results were Mainiac, Mr Freeze, Blowflies on the long course and Skulker, Wilful Intent and Prawn Star on the short course. Overall pointscore result was Poseidon, Wilful Intent and Blowflies. 

I am still running a test of a combined championship - results are also displayed on the website and are pretty much as one would expect.

Next Saturday is the round the lake race. We will probably have even more boats on the water with Southern Cross returning - see you all then.

18-12-2011, 03:49 PM
The last race before Christmas was the traditional round the lake race. An excellent fleet of monohulls was in attendance - including Rick Shortridge who came down from Cooma to have a sail before the nationals. 

The breeze was a light-moderate easterly swinging between SE and occasionally NE. 

We had a combined start with the trailer yachts which impacted some of the smaller boats significantly. From the start, Mainiac pulled out a comfortable lead round the first mark followed by Road Kill, The Ribwich, Windandsea, Blowflies and Proud Aussie. The course then took us down to the Oak Flats end of the lake via a few marks and then we returned vie the same route. Mainiac maintained their lead and took line honours from Proud Aussie and Windandsea. The smaller boats started to perform well after they got clear breeze.

The results are attached to the report on the website. Handicap had Poseidon first, The Ribwich second and Mainiac third. Yardstick was Mainiac first, Proud Aussie second and The Ribwich third. 

As this is the last report before Christmas I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and good luck in sailing titles if you are attending. I know that Missguided Missile is sailing the Flying Ant Nationals at Toronto and Mr Freeze, Mainiac, Road Kill and Proud Aussie are representing us at the Sharpie Nationals in Brisbane.