Author: TVSC

What promised to be a steady east 10knots didn’t eventuate for Championship Race. A wise call to amend the course to suit the light winds and strong outgoing tide sets a precedent for avoiding our dreaded green marker (Yay, I hear the skippers say).

A short start line appeared to be a reaching start with a light SE wind; however, with the strong outgoing tide dominating the wind, it was a work over the line.

Great start from Kate on Bluey with Debie on Flying Dragon doing a lap around the start boat. Monique on Rolling Stone, getting caught up with Lex and Guy on the line, saw the fleet away. The pacers avoided the crush.

The fleet bunched up for the first two legs, and a drop in pressure on the third leg against the tide split the fleet in two. Seamed like hugging the shore did not pay off this time, with a little more pressure favouring the fleet east of the cardinal marker.

Once around the upstream marker, what appeared to be a downwind leg turned to a shy reach with the speed of the outgoing tide impacting the apparent wind. Certainly challenging conditions. Matt and Family on Monopoly and Kate on Bluey lead the fleet.

Pacers P6 (Adam and Gail) and Fletcher stayed much the same distance apart all race with a great leg three from Fletcher.

---

Five Corsairs were amongst the fleet on Sunday the 19th of February on a very challenging day on the Tweed River. A boat ramp and car park that was not dissimilar to a state of origin night at Lang park and a light easterly breeze a run-out tide and a heap of fresh water still running towards the ocean after Tuesday’s big rain tested everybodys skill set.

Crossing the line at what appeared to be the favoured pin end was Mark in Keenas and Craig in the Gidget, and both looked to be off and running from the start, while a bunch of Lasers and Pacers were exchanging blows and fibreglass at the boat end of the start. The kids on Monopoly declared that they didn’t want any part of that and suggested to start a little after the gun had fired would be sensible.  These proved to be wise words for such youngsters, and Monopoly led the fleet at the first mark.

Up the first long work, the crew of Gidget rewrote the rule book and sailed inside the danger mark near the golf course, declaring later, “I didn’t want to tack”, meanwhile  Monopoly was able to get to the top mark first and once they had turned with the tide established an unassailable lead and were never crossed in a gruelling two lap Race.

The sporadic appearance of Gidget this season means that Guy and his crew on Squirtle and the always keen crew on Keenas are locked in a very close tussle overall for second place in the Club championship with only one race to sail before the trophys are handed out.

Gidget hung on to second place while Squirtle closed the gap overall to Keenas by finishing third with Keenas and the team on Exhale coming in fourth and fith respectively.

A special thanks to Dave Robinson who bravely went where no man had gone before and laid a course that allowed the sailors to sail inside the infamous Green mark.

Words by Dave Robinson and Matt Andrews

Racing is on this coming Sunday, with a briefing at midday. (Skippers registration link)  This is a championship day, with one long race.

We need a safety/start boat driver for Sunday. Please get in touch with Kate on 0400 016 634 if you can help.

The summer season roster is here (Everyone, please help out the day if you have time)

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.

See you Sunday!

A glorious blue sky and big outgoing tide greeted the 14 boats who contested the three shortcourse (ish) races on Sunday the 5^th of February.

We had 5 Corsairs, 5 Lasers, 2 Impulses, a Pacer and a visiting NS14 who all attempted to be like King Canute and turn back the tide.

The start was downriver nearer to the heads than usual, with a directive from Race Office Craig Foley to not go inside the area of moored keelboats before working across the shallows to the upwind mark and then a quick tide-assisted run back to the start and another work to the finish buoy which was tantalisingly placed well into the tide to test the tactical sailing of the skippers. Most found out through the course of the races that a big tack to the west way past the finish buoy was the best way to ride the tide across the river and then wheel around the finish.

The first race saw everyone a bit late to the line due to the pressure of the tide, with the lasers of Kate and Lex, and the Impulses of Dave and Adam making good early progress. Close tactical battles between the fleet of corsairs ensued, along with Adam (Impulse), Gerry (Laser) and Robert (NS14) fighting it out for the lead. The bulk of the lasers were using smaller 4.7 sails and fought their own battles throughout the races.

The second start saw some of the singlehanders lurking at the pin end of the line while the bulk of the corsairs all came in at speed around the start boat and attempted to get above the line before tacking onto port. Adam was seen trying a daredevil entry to the line on port before seeing the foolhardiness of such a move with the fleet bearing down on him on starboard. Lex had a slight encounter with Guy in his corsair Squirtle on the upwind leg before beaching his laser to effect running repairs on his outhaul. The corsairs all set spinnakers for a colourful run back down the course before the second upwind leg.

The third start saw many more boats up on the line which had been rejigged to get it somewhat squarer to the wind, but still probably still too short for the number of boats. So many boats on the line saw some confusion and traffic jams at the pin end of the line while Adam (Impulse) and Justin (corsair) showed their experience by starting around the start boat and getting a clear starboard tack while the traffic jam was being unjammed.

Final results saw Robert in his NS14, Gerry in his fullrig Laser and Adam in his Impulse take the top 3 places on scratch times, but with Adam taking home the chocolates with 2 1^sts and a 2^nd on yardstick while Gerry had a 1^st and two 3^rds.

Championship racing will be on the 19^th of February with many boats making the trek to Harwood for their annual regatta the next week.

[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”28″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″]

^{Words by Peter Fell}