Author: TVSC

On the 4 / 5 December, 5 Corsairs, 15 sailors and various support crew/family/sailing fans threw tents, guitars, keyboards, ukuleles, sailing gloves, zinc and suncream into the back of the vans and trekked north 260 km to Lake Cootharaba Sailing Club for the 2021 Monomasters.

Due to border restrictions, only the Queensland based sailors/boats could make the trip.

Saturday’s two races were held in 8-12 knots and tested who could play the shifts the best and find a clear track through the 81 boat fleet.

Sunday, the wind was a lot stronger. Race three was gusting 16knots, and race four was missed by all the tweed sailors who missed the bit on the sailing instructions about when to break for lunch (or more importantly, when NOT to….)

Race 5 was proper blowy, perhaps gusting to 22knots at times; it was a case of who could hold on and not tip (hint, not Monopoly).

The top 3 Corsairs were the reverse order from last year; Justin, Emily & Eden Johnson took home the chocolates in None The Wiser (802). Andy, Maddie and Kanisha on Monopoly slipped (tipped) to 3rd, and Craig with Scotty and Kate, always the bridesmaid, never the bride got 2nd for the 2nd year in a row.

The big surprise from the regatta was the vast improvement of the new skipper, Jason who with crew Dasha and Alex, was leading races and just proved that time on water = better performances. He will undoubtedly be pushing for a podium finish next year.

Of course, the end of racing didn’t mean the end of the day’s events with group dinners at the pub and a sing-along after…Friday, Saturday and even Sunday night.

With the Queensland Border set to open early, it will be great for all TVSC Sailors from the North and South of the border to be reunited for the start of racing next year. From the looks of the performances of the Queenslanders at the Monomasters, the southerners will have their work cut out for them!

Most on-water photos are credited to Russell Witt. More photos from the weekend are on his website here.

Words by Justin Johnson. ^{Captions by the very attractive bridesmaid.}

Due to the Big River Bridge to Breakers Regatta this weekend, we won’t be running any Juniors or Sunday Afternoon racing at Fingal. We wish those attending the Bridge to Breakers all the best. (Make sure to let them know that the Queensland boats will be there in February!)

There is a committee meeting on Saturday at 11 am NSW time. All members are welcome to attend; the meeting location will probably be at the Jack Evans boat harbour.

Some of the Queensland boats, again, will be sailing at Oxenford on Sunday. If you’d like to join in, then please get in touch with Craig on 0413 052 898.

Last weekend members Maddie Lyons, Monique Smith, Kate Ausburn, and Mooloolaba YC member Suzie Harte entered the rescheduled Mooloolaba Women’s Keelboat Regatta. The event was held over three days in Elliot 6’s on the river outside Mooloolaba Yacht Club with eight teams entered.

Friday consisted of a morning training session, where the Tweedledums team met and sailed together for the first time, followed by a series of four practice races in the afternoon for “The Battle of the Bubbles”. The course was set for a windward/leeward configuration with a downwind start, although the ever-shifting conditions of the Mooloolaba River made for downwind, upwind, and reaching starts and finishes. With very close racing, Tweedledums came in 4^th, 2^nd, 2^nd, and 3^rd place. The bubbles went to team NQ gals from Townsville Sailing Club. Tweed finished in equal 4^th overall.

Saturday was the first official day of the regatta with a breeze of 10-15 knots NE. The round-robin format consisted of ten windward/leeward races. Each team would sail five times with a rotating fleet of four boats. Tweedledums came in 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, and 4th place. The teams were then split into gold and silver fleets for a final afternoon race, which was abandoned due to a storm rolling in. Mon did a great job as timekeeper wearing her two watches.

Sunday was forecast with a strong weather warning, meaning the next day of racing was unlikely to go ahead. At Sunday morning briefing when the breeze was around 16-18 knots SE, race officer Glen Taylor made the final call that racing would go ahead using smaller mainsails to withstand the building breeze. By the time all teams rigged and left the dock, the breeze increased to 28 knots and racing was abandoned for the day. Tweedledums finished in 7^th overall.

The team is looking forward to the next annual Women’s Keelboat Regatta.