From a Duty Boat crew perspective the last race of the season was quite a difficult one to get boats away in a fair start.
The wind swung from north west to north east at the time the starting gun should have sounded. But thanks to the enthusiastic help of Jess and Alen the duty boat crew today to speedy rearrange the rounding buoys, we were able to get everyone away in a reasonable time. The duty crew would like to thank all the sailors participating for their patience while we reorganised the course.
The TY start was probably the most hotly contested start of the season. Rosstered Off with Jim, Richard, Shaun and Dave aboard, crossing early and Momentum with Barry, Greg, Ray and John aboard hit the pin end marker. Serenity with Wayne and Daniel aboard stayed well clear of the bigger boats to get of the line cleanly. After Momentum did her penalty turn and Rosstered Off restarted they had a tough job catching Serenity.
During the race the wind continued to oscillate from one side of north to the other which presented many opportunities to make gains or make mistakes up the works, and, made for some very challenging and very tight spinnaker reaching legs. In fact just the kind of conditions that makes sailing interesting.
To cut a long story short, Rosstered Off took back the lead up the first work and hung on to finish first despite equipment breakages and spinnaker handling issues. More impressive was Serenity with Wayne and Daniel aboard. She was nipping at the heels of the big boats all the way around the course. I think it was one of her best races of the season.
It was a great day to be on the water and looked like a great day to be out sailing.
I must mention that Dean Souter sailing his foiling moth completed a triangle in under 10 minutes. Surely we are not trying hard enough. All we need to do to match his speed around the course is to pull our fingers out, concentrate a bit harder and get our boats performing to their optimum levels. He wouldn’t stand a chance (not).
The season that was and what’s to come next season
Looking back over the sailing year we had a mixed bag of weather. A few races were cancelled due to strong winds, mainly in the first half of the season, and one race cancelled because of not enough wind at the very end of the season.
To me it still seemed like a particularly windy season that did not give us much light weather tuning opportunities. I also feel that we didn’t have the same intensity of sailing as some of the previous years. Again, the first half of the year was plagued by gear failures shared by the TY fleet. That sort of thing can often prevent a crew making incremental improvements to their boat handling and tactical skills.
Momentum started the year struggling to get the best out of her up wind performance. But as the season progressed and after persistent tweaking particularly during the second half of the season she recaptured her good form of previous years.
Serenity deserves a mention for bucking the inconsistent performance trend that in general the other TYs experienced, particularly in the second half of the season. She made considerable improvements every time she sailed. Congratulations to the skipper and crew of Serenity.
Next season TYs will be in the spotlight with Port Kembla Sailing Club hosting the TY National Championships 30 September to 1 October 2017.
The TY Nationals have not been held for several years. I hope that we can make it a success in a way that will reintroduce the things that make TY sailing exciting, challenging, inclusive and sociable. Holding the TY Nationals presents us with a fantastic opportunity to encourage participation and I hope you will all join me in friendly competition at the Nationals, and in the meantime, spread the word among interested parties who may be contemplating getting back in to sailing TYs. We want to make this event something special.
We also have out other duties of running the Kembla Klassic and helping out with a couple of other regatta events. I hope I can depend on your assistance to make these events successful like we usually do.
Results for Pointscore 24
Position Boat Name Corrected time in minutes PBH (CBH)
First Serenity 74.49 (77.33)
Second Rosstered Off 77.69 (75.45)
Third Momentum 78.03 (77.25)
TY Results for 2016-2017 Sailing Season
Championship Series
Place Boat Name Crew
First Rosstered Off Jim Curry, Richard Hipsley, David Smith, Shaun
Second Froufrou Trevor Dunn, Andy Blakeley, Jess Meza, Alen Meza
Third Serenity Wayne McKinnon, Daniel Beattie
Fourth Momentum Barry Grant, John Bubb, Ray Stanley, Greg Engel
Pointscore Series
Place Boat Name Crew
First Serenity Wayne McKinnon, Daniel Beattie
Second Froufrou Trevor Dunn, Andy Blakeley, Jess Meza, Alen Meza
Third Rosstered Off Jim Curry, Richard Hipsley, David Smith, Shaun
Fourth Momentum Barry Grant, John Bubb, Ray Stanley, Greg Engel
So that’s it from me for the season. I truly value the sailing times we have shared and look forward to doing the same again next season.
The End Trev.