Author: TVSC

Juniors Day, Sat 10 June ’23

With great weather over the weekend, the club ran a Juniors Day on Saturday, where Travis sailed his new Bic together with a couple of club Pacers on a marathon sail to Jack Evans boat harbour near the river mouth and back! 

Hopefully, Juniors numbers will build up again after the School Holiday Learn to Sail Course on the 3-5 July. A few spots are still available (see ‘Events’ to register). 

Introducing the Green Fleet

Junior sailors and adult sailors new to racing are being catered for in our Green Fleet.

Each Race Day any member, when registering can elect to start with the Green Fleet. Most participants will be hiring (at minimal cost) Club boats: Pacers, X3s or Manly Juniors. Members’ own boats can be used if they are of similar yardstick. An experienced Instructor/Coach will be on hand most days to give coaching during the Green Fleet race, as well as before and after separate briefings ashore. The Green fleet will have a separate start and course from the main fleet.

Club Winter Race 4, Sun 11 June ’23

A fine sunny day, with a light southerly breeze against an incoming tide, greeted a total fleet of fifteen boats on Sunday. Race Officer, Dave, elected to use a simple triangular course with three short races of one lap each. With the Green Fleet also racing on a reduced course, this kept the start/finish boat crew of Craig and John busy. 

The starts of all three races were hectic, with the current working hard to push the eager starters over the line early. Charlie on the Club Laser, at one start, added to the drama by running down the line on Port Tack with ten seconds to go! However, apart from one General recall, all boats got away with only minor incidents and not too much-heated commentary.

^{Look at the work of the amazing start team!}

Most boats took advantage of the favourable tide, working upstream to the windward mark. Then spinnakers were set on the Corsairs and RS100s, much to the angst of the Lasers, who were at least holding their own listing to windward on the long downwind leg.

Lasers sailed by visitor Wayne, and Guy were first over the line in two of the races, while Dave, in his RS100, was the third winner. The rest of the sailors commiserated with each other around the barbecue after the race, thanks to Deb and Craig.

Green Fleet, Sun 11 Jun ’23

Three Pacers started on Sunday in the first of the Club’s Green Fleet ’Races’. Like the senior fleet, they sailed three, one-lap, races over a reduced triangular course, starting after the main fleet on a more relaxed starting line. 

Club Junior, Finn, with Mum, and Tegan as crew, excelled in the first two races, winning both from Peter, an experienced sailor visiting from Sydney! Well done Finn and Tegan! Deb and another visitor in the third Pacer rounded out the fleet.

Hopefully, we’ll see more of our club boats racing next time.

After a postponed event a few weeks earlier due to potential gale conditions, it followed that the rescheduled Peel Island Marathon began with a beautiful morning at the Cleveland Yacht Club as everyone gathered and rigged their boats in next to no breeze. There was a great turnout from the Tweed Club and the Corsair crews. Too many Hobies/Nacras, and then Adam and Zac in their NS14.

Once rigged, we had a briefing where men pointed sticks at whiteboards and waved flags. We got in our boats with a race time of 11 am and waited for some wind.

Keenas was pushed out of having a great start due to the sheer ability of None the Wiser & Exhale on the start line.

None the Wiser out in front with spinnakers out for a long stretch. Excellent trimming skills from Charlie A. Squirtle was hot in their tale, and it was cat and mouse for 3 hours.

Justin tried to sail the whole boat by himself for a while. Still, his defiant team put him in his place, and with excellent teamwork, sail trimming and the best catering on board, None The Wiser took out first place in the division, followed by Squirtle only a minute behind, then Keenas (pronounced Kee-nis) in third, then a few boats I don’t know, then Exhale in 6th.

Much fun was had, and many great prizes were given, including a smoothie voucher.

Until next year folks.

_{Words by Allegra C}

Sunday was our last race day for the summer championship season, with Class Championships in the Lasers, NS14s, Corsairs and Impulses all running simultaneously.

Spectators lined (a very small part of) the shore while an 18-knot breeze was probably experienced elsewhere in Australia, but certainly not on the mighty Tweed!

Lasers

With Kate Yeomans, the clear winner in the Laser Division, Lex Branch, Debbie Jones, and Monique Smith were on a mission to secure 2nd and 3rd placings overall, as this was the final race.

Gerry Donohue, sailing a standard rig, blitzed the rest of the lasers and fought hard against Peter Fell, who was sailing his Impulse.  In the first race, Gerry won overall, with Peter hot on his stern.

Amongst the rest of the Laser Radial fleet, Monique surprisingly came 2nd, Lex placed 3rd, Debbie 4th, and Maddie came 5th.  

In the 2nd race, Peter dropped Gerry and cruised to a comfortable 1st place overall.  Lex went into overdrive and placed  2nd comfortably, with Debbie catching Monique.  With the change of tide and very little wind, same with everyone who was further back, getting over the finish line needed a heck of a lot of “patience”.  Monique eventually placed 3rd, and Debbie a close 4th.  Maddie struggled with the outgoing tide and little wind and called it a day.  

A great day was had, and the competitiveness was enjoyed with a laugh and beverage afterwards.  

PS thanks Matt for the beverage!

Impulses

The first race saw a tight battle between Gerry in the Full Rig Laser against Dave and Peter in Impulses. Gerry and Peter traded tacks for most of the race before Gerry was able to pull away for a decent lead, with Dave in Matchbox working hard to close the distance between him and the leaders. Peter was able to make up most of the gap to Gerry on the final run and tack to the line, but Gerry won the race by a short half head in horse-racing terms.

The second race saw both Impulses get a good start at the favoured pin end while Gerry was caught in traffic on the line and then had a bad tack to fall behind. Dave sailing his possibly last race in Matchbox kept Peter on his toes throughout the race but had to settle for second, although both were able to finish before the wind dropped right out and made finishing a real problem for most of the fleet in the swift running tide.

NS14s

After only completing two race days in the Summer season, Pure Vida and No Sweat were neck and neck on even points scores. The No Sweat crew underwent intensive preparation to battle it out on the final day of racing in their pursuit of championship glory. Only to be left disappointed by being the only boat in the class to make an appearance on the day, feeling like they were jilted at the altar.

There was only one option: to put in their best performance to demonstrate that they were worthy of any points awarded. True to usual form, No Sweat’s starts were a little on the conservative side, but the crew sailed well in the light breeze, keeping an appearance at the front end of the fleet ever-present.

The first race was sailed in a reasonable breeze to get around the track without any major problems. The second race proved a battle of will, with time being everyone’s greatest enemy. As the clock ticked away, the breeze decided to head elsewhere, evaporating in strength, and the tide made its presence felt, growing in strength the longer you stayed out. The diminishing water level in the river meant the NS started finding the sand with its long daggerboard, limiting the options for hunting down some breeze.

By the end, No Sweat finished in a respectable position in the fleet ^{(and first in class!?!)} and completed the biggest challenge of returning to the harbour against the tide under their own steam. Hopefully, we will see more competitors in this great class in the future.

Corsairs

Four Corsairs competed in two races on a beautiful day on the Tweed with a light ESE breeze and a tide that threatened to turn and head back to the ocean at any moment.

The start of the first race saw Mark and his crew in Keenas and Monopoly get away to good starts. Mark however picked the first shift after the start and took what was to become an unbeatable lead and went on to take the race win.  Craig “what danger mark” Foley and Monopoly had some tight crosses up the first beat and some kid-friendly words were exchanged.

The boys on Squirtle were also in the mix and the three trailing boats came around the first top mark with only seconds between them. As downwind specialist, Posie Henry took the helm on Monopoly Mia and Aidan looked after things as upwind helmsman Matt climbed the mast to retrieve a lost spinnaker halyard. During this time, Monopoly squeezed past Gidget and Squirtle and this was the order the boats finished after two laps.

By the start of the second race the tide had turned, and the breeze was threatening to lighten off. Squirtle took a good lead into the first downwind but again Down wind helmsperson Posie insisted on keeping the spinnaker up for the reaching leg across to the bottom mark and Monopoly made some big gains.

After working up the western shore in an effort to stay out of the tide, Monopoly made their way past Squirtle and went on to win the race by the narrowest of margins. Keenas and Gidget (now sporting a new helmsperson) were last seen battling an outgoing tide and next to no wind battling their way to the finish. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

Thanks to all at the club who make the racing possible and to those who keep the club going by donating time and resources.

_{Words by Monique, Peter, Adam and Matt respectively.}

Racing is on this coming Sunday, with a briefing at midday. (Skippers registration link) 

This is our last race day and last championship day for the summer season. Second place in the Corsairs and Laser divisions is up for grabs between a couple of boats, while the Impulse winner could be up for grabs.

In the Corsairs, Aidan and Mia look to be taking the chocolates with their dad, Matt, in support…but the second place could be a nail-biter with Mark and Guy both very much in contention with one point between them.

For the Lasers, occasional champion Kate seems to have locked in a season win, but again, second place is between Lex, Monique and Debbie, all within two points of each other!

As for the Impulses, there could be a few surprises, depending on who gets over the line first…but current leader Peter Fell also does the race results…so…we may need some finish line photography.

Current second place Impulse sailor, Dave is selling his boat, Matchbox. If you’re interested in his boat, then perhaps get in touch before Sunday, as if he wins the championship, then the boat’s value will go up! (Contact Dave on 0417 631 292)

We expect a larger than typical spectator fleet enjoying the competition. There should be plenty of space on the river bank for shorebound spectators. No bookings are necessary, but come early to save a decent viewing spot!

Please fill in this form for Sunday if you’d be interested in crewing (no experience necessary). A skipper may get in touch with you. Or come along on the day (the earlier, the better) to see if you can find a ride. Details on what to bring are here. Skippers, your list of the available crew is here.

Other Upcoming Important Dates:

• The summer Presentation date is TBA.
• Registrations are open for the Cleveland Yacht Club’s 52nd Peel Island marathon. Six TVSC boats have been entered so far. (Sunday, 23rd of April)
• Our winter season begins on the 30th of April.
• We are running the BBQ at Tweed Bunnings on Saturday, the 20th of May. We’ll need everyone’s help for what is always a great fundraising opportunity for the club.
• A tentative date of our Annual Tumbulgum Passage Race has been set for the 13th of August, so mark your calendars! Here’s a write-up from a prior year.

See you Sunday!

Please note that our next race day is on the 12th of March. We have skipped a week to return to the favoured tides for racing.

See you then!