A cooler 20 degree day with light 10 knot NE breeze with up to 18 knot gusts (some would argue that wind strength we experienced was somewhat less at times). This presented a lovely day for  another great turnout of eleven (11)  cats made up of 7 small (Paul Leaudais and Ross Fyfe – doing duty) and 4 large cats. This week was president vs secretary around the lake race.
Duty crew Paul Leaudais and Ross Fyfe setting a round the lake course. Start line out on southern side of Gooseberry Island, next mark was starboard rounding the reef, then along the shallows up towards the radio towers starboard rounding of this mark then over towards Koonawarra port rounding this mark and down to oak flats, port rounding. On the way back headed to the mark over near the radio towers port rounding then back to the X mark and then to the finish line.
At the small cats start on starboard heading towards the club house some turned early towards the middle of the lake whilst others chose to head closer to the shore. Those who headed towards the middle of the lake early appeared to get a more favourable run. In the distance 2 paper tigers could be seen flying south down along the shallows obviously finding a nice strength breeze over that edge of the lake. The wind moved around a bit on the work to the reef resulting in some additional tacking. Once around the reef a nice run was had along the shallows down to the next mark then heading out toward Koonawarra. The response boat went out ahead to help identify the mark. A nice steady breeze saw some of the lighter sailors out on the wire. Once down to oak flats some chose to head towards Windang and others tacked back in towards Koonawarra before heading back across to the shallows. Billyo maybe pushing a little to far in close to the point and scraped bottom. After initial concerns there appeared to be no damage and he continued on. Hot Pepper, Billyo and Jack Pot were in touch with each other whilst the other cats were still ahead. Heading down near the shallows on east side of the lake we caught up with Blue Tongue. When heading down to the shallows buoy “Jack Pot” managed to pick up a “crab pot” which slowed him to a stand still until the offending crab pot was able to be removed. The wind finally kicked in to a genuine 15 knots or so on the final run to X  resulting in a screaming run on the final leg home. Once around the X a tricky work to the line resulting in a couple of tacks some good tussles.
Scratch times(not adjusted) across finish line were as follows:
15:19:32 Tony Zahra 526 "White Wave" Maricat S/Sloop
15:22:40 Ralf Steyer 6286 "Dark Horse" Windrush S/S
15:30:00 Tony Sanderson 6346 "Groove Thing" Windrush S/Sloop                
15:35:58 Jack Kroek 6306 "JackPot" Windrush S/S
15:36:38 Hugh Lewis 6327 “Hot Pepper” Windrush S/Sloop
15:37:02 Jody Mathews 4556 "Blue Tongue" Windrush S/S
15:37:58 Bill Ledger 182 "Billyo" Nacro 14 sq
Tony Zahra had a great run and was less than a minute behind Ross Boyd’s A class finishing ahead of the other 2 large cats. Ralf not too far behind and then a bit of a gap to the rest of the field. A couple of close tussles approaching the finish line as can be seen by the finish times.
      And so ended the last race before Christmas. A number sticking around for a few drinks and a bite to eat. All the best for Christmas and new year and looking forward to seeing you all again next half of the season.                                                   
General:.

1. Next half of the season commences again Saturday 7th January 2017
2. A reminder for those small cats interested that Cuddy cup 1st Saturday after new years day at Swan Lake. If interested come talk to Paul Leaudais, myself or Tony Sanderson for details.
    

 

 
Regards Hugh Lewis
Small Cats delegate

A warm 25 degree day with light 8 knot E breeze with up to 15 knot gusts presented a lovely day for  another great turnout of ten (10) small cats including Ian’s new Weta “Biohazard”.

At the briefing and whilst having a trusty PKSC burger and a chat Young Ross Fyfe had an impromptu surprise visit from his 2 great grand children coming to visit with his grand daughter Aime and partner. The oldest great grand child having a ball. Hey Ross potential new learn to sail kids?

Duty crew Ross Boyd, Ralf Steyer setting a port course. Start line out in the middle of the lake, windward mark over towards the shallows and wing mark towards the point out front of the PKSC bay.

Ian Richardson’s brand new Weta attracting attention with a number of other sailors gathering around checking it out. This week it was decided to allow Paul on “Chesha” and Jody on “Blue Tongue” to start 9 minutes early on Blue Peter up signal on the monohull start to allow them to mingle better with some of their quicker fellow small cats.  Tony Sanderson starting with Jody and Paul then peeled off to start with the rest of the cats.

Small cats start went well for most on starboard tack heading towards the club house. Under challenge from the Curry crew on their Sharpie, Hot Pepper focused on hitting the start line on time. Trailing a little but making up the difference by pointing a little higher.

Ross Fyfe having had gear failure with a jib sheet roller failure. After giving away this time he was not able to make up the difference during the race. Paul Leaudais on the other hand was experimenting with a jib sheet adjustable tensioner. Just after the start he moved forward to tweak his new addition to his boat. Unfortunately at this moment a puff of breeze came thru burying the nose of his boat and the rest was history. Much to the surprise of his fellow competitors Paul having to right his craft. The subsequent time righting his craft gave his fellow competitors a good head start.

In the lighter breeze with occasional gust whilst not superfast kept the boats circulating around the lake and those who made the right choices in terms of trim adjustment and tacking/gibing strategy had the greatest gains. Bill Ledger “Billyo”, Tony Zahra “White Wave” and Jack Kroek “Jackpot” having a tight tussle closely followed by Ian Richardson “Biohazard”, Tony Sanderson “Groove Thing” and myself “Hot Pepper” crossed paths a number of times during the race. Jody Matthews “Blue Tongue” and Paul Monaghan “Chesha” making the most of their early start keeping ahead of the pack until around the last triangle.

The lighter sailors were seen out on trapeze at various stages.  As can be seen by the scratch times across the line there was some tight racing right down to the finish. Only seconds separating the first 3 across the line and Blue Tongue had a great contest to the line crossing the finish line 3 seconds in front of Silver Fox.

Scratch times(not adjusted) across finish line were as follows:
15:31:18 Bill Ledger 182 "Billyo" Nacro 14 sq
15:31:47 Jack Kroek 6306 "JackPot" Windrush S/S
15:31:55 Tony Zahra 526 "White Wave" Maricat S/Sloop
15:34:38 Ian Richardson 1132 “Biohazard” Weta
15:37:23 Tony Sanderson 6346 "Groove Thing" Windrush S/Sloop                
15:38:43 Hugh Lewis 6327 “Hot Pepper” Windrush S/Sloop
15:44:12 Jody Mathews 4556 "Blue Tongue" Windrush S/S
15:44:15 Paul Leaudais 6308 "Silver Fox" Windrush S/Sloop
15:45:33 Ross Fyfe 6265 "Yabby" Windrush S/Sloop
15:53:56  Paul Monaghan 3112 "Chesha" Windrush S/Sloop 
 
See below for handicap corrected times. Ian Richardson’s Weta doing very well.

General:.

1. Next week is the final race for 2016 half of the season. It will be the President vs Secretary teams around the lake. Stick around afterward for Xmas post race BBQ
2. Next half of the season commences again Saturday 7th January 2017
3. A reminder for those small cats interested that Cuddy cup 1st Saturday after new years day at Swan Lake. If interested come talk to Paul Leaudais, myself or Tony Sanderson for details.

 Regards Hugh Lewis

A cooler day of around 21 degrees presented itself. The wind dropped off a little from the morning to around 8 to 12 knot SE – ESE making very pleasant sailing conditions.

 Another great turnout of twelve (12) catamarans came down to enjoy the fantastic conditions this week.

A big thanks to the duty crew were enlisted after briefing Les Porter and Ray. With the SE breeze they set the start line out near the middle of the lake out front of the club house, windward mark over near the shallows and wing mark out front of the reef. The PKSC course enveloping an IYC course.

Small cats got away cleanly on starboard tack towards entrance to IYC.  The experienced sailors soon setting the pace. The lighter sailors able to hold out on trapeze. There were various strategies with White Wave heading over towards the shallows and others tacking earlier. A shy reach was had down along the shallows to the wing mark before heading back in to the starting mark. Wind strength being a little variable favouring those with the best feel, making the most of the conditions. Billyo also enjoying the light to moderate conditions. Also in the mix were Jackpot, Groove Thing and Yabby , followed by Hot Pepper and Chesha Cat. Check out the results for further details.

General:. Kembla Klassic coming up 26th and 27th November 2016. Many hands make light work and any assistance on or off the water would be greatly appreciated and contribute to the successful running of the Kembla Klassic.

Regards Hugh Lewis