Perfect conditions were experienced by the fleet racing in the Tweed Valley Sailing Club’s Race 5 of the 2018 Winter Point score Series.
Racing followed a different format this week, with three short sprint races replacing the usual one long race.
Exciting start for Race 2.
This meant a lot more work for our timekeeper, Suzanne Blatcher, but kept the action closer to the spectators, for those watching from shore.
Another big fleet got involved, with 16 boats and 34 crew, split into 3 main divisions, single handed: Lasers and Impulses, two handed 14ft NS14’, and three handed 16ft Corsairs.
Dave getting his lean on in the morning.
One multihull joined the races Hobie 16, “Sledger” (Dave Chester and Rigby Andrews and was able to complete each race in just over 15 minutes, while the closest monohull was 3 minutes behind.
Keenas during Race 2.
Corsairs were the biggest fleet with 7 boats and 22 crew competing. Fastest today over 3 races was “Swell Lady” (Monique Smith, Matt Andrews & Deb Flannery) winning two races, and second was “Keenas” (Mark Reynolds, Taj Krasna & Craig Foley) , and third was Minnow (Bill Fenelon and a whole bunch of kids).
It was a good fleet of these one design boats with two crews in new boats having they’re first race.
New Members Scott and Debbie Jones racing with their daughters on their new Corsair, Nimbus.
In the NS14, two new boats competed and both boats show good boat speed and kept up with the leaders.
Peter on his Laser in the lead at the start of Race 2. Kate not far behind!
Fastest today was Single Handed Laser “Bluey” (Kate Yeomans). Kate has only been sailing for a few season but is winning everywhere she goes at the moment. Today Kate scored first finisher in 2 races and second in the other.
Second in the single handers was Impulse “Rosie” (Adam Hurt) and third was another impulse “Splitter” (Lex Branch)
Sid on the helm of a club X3, enjoying the winter sun.
Juniors and Adult Learn to Sail was held in the morning in fairly light conditions.
Michael and Liz Grace from Banora on their third lesson with TVSC and loving it.
Commodore Bill Fenelon is at the helm of tall ship “South Passage” this week sailing from Cairns so two of our younger sailors have taken over the report writing task.
17 boats raced this week with 34 people sailing in race 3 of the TVSC Winter Series at Fingal. Breeze was 7 – 15 south easterly which meant an upstream start. The Lasers, missing trophy winners Gary McCrohon and John Hayward, were led by Peter Fell the whole race. Peter Redmond kept a frustrating few seconds ahead of Mauri Meyer with Mauri getting it down to a 2 second gap at the finish line. Peter Fell took 1st on Yardstick time corrected results with Kate Yeomans on a Laser 4.7 second and Monique Smith on Corsair Swell Lady up with the leaders again at 3rd.
Geoffrey and Kynan.
The 7 Corsairs were quite spread out after Swell Lady with Daniel Sieders and Marg Walgers on “Odin” only a minute and a half behind but the next finisher was a whole 6 minutes later. Corsair “Capers” with Mick Okeefe, Jana McGeachy & Kirby Edwards brought up the rear of the fleet but still did well beating NS14 skippers Andrew Jaggers & Mark Banbury on yardstick.
Peter on his Laser with Robert on his NS14, with Tara crewing.
Tara Beth (Burringbar) has recently returned from a womens coaching weekend in Townsville with Olympic bound sailor Shelley White. As a relative beginner she was keen to try out her new skills crewing with Robert Preston on the club’s new NS14 “Impulsive Max”. She was pleased with their result – 7th across the line and 1st in the NS14 class – and is looking forward to getting more racing experience with the club’s varied fleet.
The heroes of the day were juniors Taj Krasna and Aron Colwill who got the chance to sail in their first race on the club’s X3. You can read their reports of the experience below. Sid Willis filled in for Taj’s usual crew spot crewing on the adults boats –with Corsair “Keenas” and Kynan Luescher and Nina Colwill on Corsair “Melita III”
Taj Krasna with crew Aron Colwill on X3 Heron
Taj Krasna skippered his first race last Sunday on X3 “Heron” with crew member Aron Colwill. Taj and Aron set off on a cautious start but soon picked up pace. On the second lap they had a malfunction to the centreboard rubber, sending Taj overboard. He had a bit of a swim back to the capsized boat. They shivered their way back to shore, accompanied by a pair of dolphins, also out for a fun time! All in all it was a pretty good day! (Taj Krasna – Fingal Head)
This was my first experience as a 10 yr old sailing a boat with Taj an 11 yr old, I felt really excited and cold. Taj fell off the boat and I knew I was going to capsize if I turned around to pick him up, but I still did so. The water felt freezing. I waited with the boat whilst Taj swam back. He had lost his water bottle and his cap. I got up on the centreboard to pull the boat upright. But we were facing the wrong direction so we got the safety boat to pull us around. My sister Nina 12 was helping on the safety boat. Finally I got the boat upright with help from Taj. We went back in, having completed two laps, to get warm and dry. One of the other sailors retrieved Taj’s cap and returned it to him and he was very grateful. We are planning to do it again soon, without the capsize next time! (Aron Colwill – Uki)
Mike & Imogen Mansted on Tasar Hippo
Next race Sunday 8 July midday briefing and crew allocation at Fingal Boat ramp. Come down and join the timekeeping team in the spectators’ tent and see if Mauri can get ahead of the two Peters next time.
If you would like to get involved on or off the water email tvscmail@gmail.com or call Alison 0434 982 922.
Last Saturday night the Tweed Valley Sailing Cub (TVSC) celebrated its 7th season of sailing on the Tweed River, with its Annual Trophy Presentation Dinner.
80 members, and friends, including 18 junior sailors, enjoyed the evening hosted by the Kingcliff Beach Bowls Club, who have supported the TVSC now for the second year.
The TVSC’s top award, the “Summer Point Score Trophy”, includes every class of sailing boat, in a 10 race handicap series throughout summer, usually conducted fortnightly.
A total of 87 people participated in racing this summer in a fleet of 34 boats.
This year’s top award was won by Kate Yeomans, sailing an Olympic Class Laser. This was Kates 2nd season in the Laser and her performances have been improving markedly each race. With a helpful group of Laser “Great Grand Masters” to point her in the right direction, combined with a tenacious will to win and never give up, Kate sailed extremely well and is a deserving winner of the club’s top trophy. Second in the point score was Laser Sailor, Gary McCrohan, and third was shared by Alison Blatcher and Junior sailor, Taj Krasna.
TVSC concurrently conduct three “One Design” Class Championship Series over summer, which are scratch races. (No Handicapping) and a Multihull division based on boat yardsticks. There are 5 races is these series’, one race per month.
The Clubs biggest one design Class fleet, the Australian 16ft. 3 handed “Corsair” Class, included 15 boats with 45 crew sailing. Most of these boats use spinnakers and racing is very close and hard fought. The series wasn’t decided till the final windward leg of the last race.
Winning the Corsair Class Championship this year was Team “Odin” Corsair 388 (Daniel Sieders, Adrian Dokter and Tamara Sheppard), 2nd was “Swell Lady” (Monique Smith, Matt Andrews and Deb Flannery) and 3rd was “Minnow”, (Bill Fenelon, Jessie Normand and Max Hennessey) 4th was “Keenas”, joint 5th place went to “Melita 3” and “Epic”.
Division 2, 14ft 2 handed division, for NS14, Tasers and MG14’s was contested by 7 boats and 14 crew. Winning this division in NS14 Tornado was Bill Fenelon & Taj Krasna, 2nd NS14 Radical Phase, (Glen Slight & Kynan Luescher) and 3rd place was NS14 Zarzan (Adam Hurt & Tom Busbridge) 4th place went to Tasar “Hippocampus” and 5th place was Blu Tack.
Division 3 Single Handers, Olympic Class Lasers, 1st place for the 3rd year in a row, Laser “Great Grand Master”, Gary McCrohan. Next placed Laser, coming second with a fantastic result, Kate Yeomans, and third was another “Great Grand Master”, John Heywood.
Division 4 Multihulls Yardstick based point score was won again by TVSC Vice Commode, Dave Chester, with crew Isaac Poulsen, in a Hobie 16. Dave usually finishes miles in front of the mono hull fleet and tries to see how many he can lap!!! 2nd in the Multihulls was Weta “Scored a Try” (John and Saffron Cook) and 3rd was Mari Cat “Osprey” (Glenn Slight)
Juniors sailing is alive and strong on the Tweed River.
17 Junior sailors attended the presentation. Juniors have their own sailing in the morning and then join the crews in the afternoon races. Juniors points are earned the same as the adults. By winning races, and this years “top gun” Junior sailor (Taj Krasna) won third place in the summer point score.
1st Placed Junior Taj Krasna, with Commodore Bill Fenelon and Vice Commodore Dave Chester
Winter sailing is now underway, with 2 races already completed and race three to be conducted this weekend at Fingal Head.
Spectators are very welcome at sailing events, to join in at the spectator’s tent at Fingal head, or to enjoy anywhere on the grassy foreshore of the Fingal Reach.
Taj Krasna & Kynan Luescher on TVSC’s New Manly Junior
Volunteers are always welcome and appreciated. Support teams help with rescue boats and time keeping. New sailors and experienced sailors are always very welcome.
If you would like to volunteer as support crew, please phone Bill Fenelon (TVSC Commodore) 0411 123 405
15 boats carrying 34 crew turned up to race on Sunday but after viewing the cold and rough conditions on the river, some boats were to remain dry on their trailers, as the clubs Lasers “Great Grand Masters” (over 65 YO’s) elected to stay dry and watch from the spectator’s tent.
The Commodore on Minnow.
Gusty and difficult conditions, with a strong ebbing tide combining with a 25 knot Southerly made for a challenging afternoon sailing on the Tweed River, with only half the fleet completing the course. Many boats capsized and the water was cold.
A slightly wet Black Duck.
12 boats started the race and only 6 boats finished, as the challenging conditions wore the fleet down.
Perennial winner, Dave “Chest bond” Chester, on his Hobie 16, and sailing new crew, Sid Willis, got back in his usual position in the front of the fleet, lapping everybody and getting home 24 minutes ahead of the first mono hull. Dave likes to be in front!!! and measures his success by how many boats he can lap, and so was very happy with today’s performance.
Black Duck and Minnow
Back in the real race, (the monohull fleet) first to finish was single-handed Laser “Black Duck”, sailed by Grand Master (or rather, Mistress!) Kate Yeoman, getting the gun from 2nd placed monohull, Corsair “Minnow” by 20 seconds. It was a typical tenacious effort for Kate who once worked in the NT as a crocodile wrangler. Kate never gives up and came from behind to take the lead in the final lap as the two leading monohulls crossed tacks and change positions several times in a battle to the finish. No more than 30 seconds separated these two boats the entire race.
Kate on the winning Black Duck.
Again, the Corsairs were the dominating Class with 6 of these Classic Aussie 16ft three handed boats competing and all setting spinnakers. It was a good day for the crew on “Minnow” (Bill Fenelon, Kynan Luescher, Miles Browne and Scott Jones). Always a front runner in the stronger breezes, and this week sailing with 4 crew, lead the entire fleet for the first two laps and won the Corsair class.
Keenas…mustard!
3rd boat to finish and second Corsair was “Keenas” (Craig Foley, Mark Reynolds and Taj Krasna.) The Keenas boys were always in the hunt and are definitely the major improvers in the Corsairs. Eventually finishing 3 minutes behind Minnow after a brief disaster when Mark went for a quick swim.
Mark tests the water temperature.
Next to get home and in an unfamiliar position 7 minutes back, was Club Champion Corsair “Swell Lady” Monique Smith, Matt Andrews and Deb Flannery), after also suffering a minor disaster, dropping their spinnaker into the water (which is like a giant and very effective sea anchor and caused an explosion of loud sailor talk on the boat!!!). Until this mishap, it was business as usual on Swell Lady and they fought a very close battle for the lead with Minnow. They never recovered their position following this disaster but did manage to sail on and finish after completely re rigging their spinnaker while sailing up the beat to windward.
Swell Lady
Another Corsair has joined our fleet, sailed by Peter Ross, Mark Storrier & Roger Clark, making a total of 15 of these boats registered to race with the club.
NS14 Impulsive Max
Three boats competed in the two handed 14ft class, which featured a new Club owned boat, NS14 “Impulsive Max” kindly donated by the South Brisbane Sailing Club. This boat sailed its first race with the club, crewed by Robert Preston and Racheal O’Hagan. It was hard work in the 14ft division with many capsizes. Impulsive Max was first home in this class and followed by another club NS14 Blu Tack sailed by Andrew Jaggers and Matt Colnan.
TVSC Junior Taj on the helm of Keenas
Juniors sailing is growing strongly on the Tweed with large group coming down each weekend and learning the skills. Juniors sail in the morning on small boats, then double up as crew on the racing boats in the afternoons.
Many thanks to our shore-based support team that make racing possible. Suzanne Blatcher (Head Time Keeper) assisted by Barry Callanan and Sandy Williams, and our rescue boat team, skipper Bryan Townsend and crew Adrian Colnan.
Next Race on the Fingal Reach will be on the 24th of June.
New sailors are always welcome and experienced is not required to crew.
Rescue boat drivers and crew are needed, you need a NSW Boating licence, or crew in the rescue boat and log your time towards a licence.
For any enquiries, please phone Bill Fenelon on 0411 123 405.
Perfect sailing conditions delivered an enjoyable afternoon on the river for the first race of the Tweed Valley Sailing Clubs winter series on Sunday.
A group of spectators enjoyed the afternoon fr
om the official club tent on the river bank at Fingal and watched as a strong fleet of 18 boats and 36 crew lined up at the start, with all boats getting away quickly.
A steady Northeasterly breeze, opposed by an ebbing tide is a favorite condition for sailors on the river and a long course on the Fingal reach was completed by the first boat in 88 minutes with the last finisher home in 133 minutes.
16ft Corsairs were again the major class. 7 boats completed, with 21 crew, and most carrying spinnakers. Racing was very close throughout the fleet, but first to finish was “Swell Lady” 119’39” (Monique Smith, Matt Andrews & Rigby Andrews), only getting the lead on the last few tacks to the finish and beating “Minnow” 119’57” (Bill Fenelon, Tara Beth & Matt Collnan) by 15 seconds, after Minnow had lead the entire race. Completion between these two boats in the past four seasons has been intense, with most races coming down to seconds at the end.
Next in the Corsairs was “Melita 3” (Karen Vidler, Alison Blatcher & Marg Walgers) getting third place, 3 minutes back, after a well sailed race and without using a spinnaker.
Peter with Mark at the helm – Spinnaker flying!
Relegated to 4th place today after a jammed spinnaker refused to drop, was “Keen as”, (Mark Reynolds, Craig Foley and Taj Krasna.) This team is improving every week and had a great race today, leading briefly before disaster struck. The “Keen as” boys are lining up for a win anytime soon.
All 7 Corsairs finished within 10 minutes, after a long race. This class has proved itself as an excellent racing boat for the Tweed River, and the clubs fleet has grown to 14 boats.
Corsair “Epic” sets a spinnaker
Also racing today were the single handed Olympic Class Laser fleet. 6 boats competed in a very tight formation and all boats finished within 3 minutes, and well ahead of the Corsairs.
It was an ideal day for the Laser class and the bunch of 6 quickly cleared away from the Corsair fleet and were never to be seen again until the BBQ.
First to finish was Peter Fell, 110’21”, a safe 50 seconds ahead of second place Maurie Meyer 11’15”, and third Gary McCrohan 112’15’. And 9 minutes ahead of the first Corsair.
The clubs fleet of Lasers is also growing and competition is of a very high standard.
Only 2 boats competed in the 2 handed 14ft class, fastest was Taser “Hippocampus” (Mike Mansted & Kynan Luescher), and a new boat with the club, MG 14 “On & Off” (David and Hugh Robinson)
Fastest time today, 88’00”, went to a visitor from Southport YC, a “Mosquito” catamaran, sailed solo by Brett Kelly. Brett recovered from a bad start and slowly chased down race leader Hobie 16 “Sledder” (Dave Chester and Isaac Poulsen), getting in front on the last lap and winning by 50 seconds. Both these multihulls completed the course 20 minutes ahead of the first Mono hull.
A very big “thank you” goes out to the team who support us on the water and make sailing possible. Our 2 rescue boat teams today, Robert Ormsby, Adrian Colnan, Tim Andrews, and Tully Andrews. And our official team, Timekeepers and start flags, Suzanne Blatcher, Val Skinner and Barrie Callanan.
The Clubs next race will be at Fingal Head on Sunday the 3rd of June. Briefing at 12:00 Start at 1pm.
Sunday morning on the river at Fingal Head saw the usual Juniors sailing and training with 25 kids enjoying some fun on the water in the club Sabots & X3 dinghies. Volunteer instructors focus on making the sessions enjoyable with just small amounts of sailing theory to start off. With a wealth of top level sailing experience at the club the Juniors have the potential to become excellent sailors.
Dave Robinson & son Cooper up the front on Dave’s NS14
Some of the juniors stay on for the afternoon race to crew with seniors on larger boats and will move on to skippering their own boats in Juniors racing next season.
A big turn out for the last major race of the summer series 23 boats with 45 crew including 7 from the Juniors & Teenagers Division.
BOAT JAM – Crowded Mark Rounding
By the afternoon the stage was set for the most competitive sailing race seen on the Tweed for years – the final heats of the Northern Rivers Corsair and Multihull Class Championships and the final of the 10 race Summer Handicap Series. Some concern about lack of wind was unfounded with the rigging area sheltered from the easterly breeze but conditions on the water turned out to be perfect. The easterly made most legs of the course an easy straight drag race.
The Corsair positions were at nail biting stage. After the previous 4 heats it was still impossible to predict the final championship results for the Corsairs. Top Corsair “Odin” skipper Daniel Sieders only needed a 4th to win the whole series and last year’s winner “Swell Lady” skipper Monique Smith needed to place first to be in the running. The next 3 crews down the ranking all had a chance at 2nd place for the series with a good result today.
Andrew Jaggers on Tipsy Too, the club Laser for the first time
So all eyes were on the nine Corsairs for the very crowded start with a lot of close manoeuvring as every skipper tried to be at the ideal start position. Corsair 104 Melita III unfortunately ran out of space at the windward end of the line and had to give way with a speedy U-turn for a 2nd attempt to cross the line still up with the main fleet.
Minnow
After the gun it was very short leg to the top mark so the 23 boats were still tightly bunched and rounded the next 5 marks sometimes 4 abreast with not one collision being a testament to their skill. Then the long reach up river to the bottom mark started to spread the fleet out. Despite their hitch at thestart Melita III steamed ahead and was in the lead of the Corsair fleet after the first lap – 30 seconds ahead of “Keenas” with “Swell Lady” only 10 seconds behind them. By the 2nd lap Swell Lady had recovered to 2nd place but Melita III was still 2 minutes ahead. The other Corsairs were fighting for placings too with Peter Ross on 107 “Rockin’ Robyn” having his best race to date with crew Mark Storrier from club sponsors Ecomist, they were ahead of another of the usual front runners, 199 “Minnow”, for the first lap and took First overall on
handicap.
Alison Blatcher, Karen Vidler & Marg Walgers – race win for them on Corsair Melita III
Alison Blatcher, Marg Walgers & Karen Vidler brought Melita III home for her first win of the season over 5 minutes in front of 2 nd placed “Swell Lady” (Monique Smith, Matthew Andrews, Deborah Flannery) with only 10 seconds behind in 3rd “Minnow” (Bill Fenelon, Max Hennessy & Robert Preston). Jimmy Nickless would be pleased with 4th for first time on the helm of “Epic” with Peter Skinner and only 20 seconds behind Peter Ross came in 5th. “Keenas” (Mark Reynolds, Craig Foley, Taj Krasna) dropped back to 6th with in 7th “Nimbus” (Kevin Bourke, Sally Machray & Filipe Saraiva). 8th was Adam Hurt who left his NS14 at home to skipper “Capers” in his first Corsair race with regular crew Tom Busbridge alongside Mick “Beef” O’Keefe and managed to beat “Odin” in a surprise final result with Odin’s crew cheering everyone on from the back of the fleet!
Presentation to Daniel and the crew from Odin for their 2nd placing at the Corsair Eastern States
Multihulls also had their final yardstick based championship race today with 3 boats competing John & Saffron Cooke took 1 st on Weta “Scored a Tri”. All sailors were also competing in the last of the 10 race series of the individual handicap point-score to get their name on the big trophy awarded at the annual dinner. The final results of all 5 heats of the class champs will be announced then too – so the wait’s not over yet!
Peter Ross and Mark Storrier
Kate Yeomans must be in with a chance – she took 1 st out of the 7 Lasers but none of them could beat Tim Brown on his Impulse. Andrew Jaggers from Summit Organics in Tyalgum has been the clubs most enthusiastic new member. He tried a Laser for the first time this week – the fifth? Class of dinghy he has enthusiastically jumped on board to date.
Rainer & Tara – let teh sail out to catch the wind
New skipper Rainer Glasker with crew Tara Beth had their best race yet in the club’s Access 303. They are looking for more competitors in this division for next season. 2 more Access dinghies are available for racing supplied by Sailability on Tweed and Mirrors, Sabots etc. can also compete. Get in touch if you are interested – all abilities welcome.
We take a break for a few weeks, before the Winter Season starts anew. Hopefully we’ll also see everyone at the Presentation Dinner!
