Category: Sailing Reports

This past weekend 3 members (named Tweed By 3), – the 3 Ms – Maddie, Mel and Mon, representing Tweed Valley Sailing Club, headed to the Mooloolaba Women’s Keelboat Regatta (now in its 3rd year), sailing Elliott 6s.

Maddie, Mel and Mon participated in the Women’s Skills Development Program at Mooloolaba YC with coach Kristen Davidson to learn to sail the Elliott 6s.

Friday morning was a much-needed training session (we have only sailed altogether once before in a previous spinnaker lesson held by Mooloolaba YC), with 5 “practice” races with 4 teams that afternoon, for “The Battle of the Bubbles”. The wind was approx. 9 knots E. Our claim to fame was winning the 1st race! To obtain another point overall, any boat could turn their boat into the wind and reverse the Elliott over the finish line and complete it within 2 minutes. In one race we were coming last and pulled the reverse finish off well! Overall, we came 3rd. The other teams on Friday were from Mooloolaba YC (having the advantage of knowing the river so well), including Olympian for Canada, Danielle Kennedy. This is Maddie’s first time as skipper, with Mel on jib and Mon on the mainsail.

On Saturday, with very little wind (and building for the afternoon), we spent 40 minutes on the water, waiting for the wind to come up and the first race to start. Minutes from the first warning signal “lockdown” was announced – THE END! We were advised to return to shore where we de-rigged, debriefed and were sent packing to beat the 4 pm lockdown.

The regatta has been rescheduled for the weekend of 30 October, so we are very keen to improve, especially our spinnaker work – does anyone have a spare Elliott we can train on?

Stay safe and Covid free!

By Mon and Maddie

Our Sunday racing was split between Queensland boat meeting at Lake Orr in Varsity and the NSW Boats staying at Fingal. As a result, we’re lucky enough to have two write up’s from Sunday. The NSW team do need to work on their photos, though, as none were supplied!

NSW Report

With the Queensland members of the club deciding that caution was the better part of valour and choosing to stay north of the border, a reduced fleet gathered at Tweed Valley sailing club on Sunday the 23rd of July.  Twelve boats and crew from the southern side of the border sailed a race from the clubhouse ^{(clubhouse???)} at Fingal head to a mark just shy of the Chinderah pub and back again.

A beach start meant a very tight pack left the Harbour together.   The winter westerlies and a run-out tide quickly spread the fleet as only two boats managed to get through a big hole in the breeze adjacent to the wharf at the golf club. John Haywood, Gail Bernet and Deb Beard in Capers squeezed through the hole first, closely followed by Matt Andrews and Kat Barwick in Paper Plane while the rest of the fleet was left wondering what they had done wrong.

Paper Plane and Capers engaged in some close racing as they approached the M1 bridge. While holding a close eye on their competition, the crew of Paper Plane tried to see what would happen if they hit a red channel marker in a small timber boat. The water Police then decided to see how close they could get to a Corsair without ramming it.  We don’t know what “Old man of the sea” John Haywood said to them, but the cops certainly left in a hurry.

The rest of the fleet turned for home with the leaders, and together the fleet raced in a tight pack again.   The three lasers with Karen, Kynan and Doug all had a go at leading, and the Corsair “Nimbus” with spinnaker flying also challenged for the lead.  But it was a day for the thinking sailor, and John and his crew again made their way to the front just in time to sail into the harbour for a deserved win with Paper Plane second and Karen in her Laser coming in for a very close third place.

It wasn’t the same without the QLDers, and we sincerely hope they will be able to join us for more winter racing in two weeks.

Stay well and sail well.

Matt Andrews

Queensland Report

TVSC members living north of the border met up at Lake Orr for some informal racing in shifty westerlies.

There were 6 boats – three classic Corsairs, Igor on his Hobie 14, Andy with his Laser and a newcomer, Alfie, with a Spiral. There were also 6 vans – Andy’s very black Mercedes, Jason’s very big Renault, Igors very little Caddy, Craig’s lost in Transit and 2 wise women going with trusty Toyotas… and Mark still drives a Camry!?

Jason had Dasha crewing again on Epic and newcomer Kanisha Bruce. Great to see Debbie Jones back on the water crewing with Mark on Keenas and also Byron sporting a new pair of wetsuit pants and opting for a more conventional boat entry technique this week. I left my Laser at home and still managed to be late but in time to jump on Corsair Gidget with Craig and Kate Ausburn. It was rather confusing but we settled on Kate 1 and Kate 2, Kate 1 being the one closest to the bow as we changed positions a few times just because you can in a Corsair. 

Zac and his son Finn kindly turned up with a tinny to be our start boat.  The big challenge was deciding which buoys to use. The lake has lots of them in long lines, mostly orange but the odd white one is thrown in. They are used by folk that choose to sit facing backwards in their boats, obviously, so they don’t hit each other.  A very wise decision was made to go port around the furthest buoy and return to keep it simple.

Relaying the course whilst on the water was also challenging in the blustery conditions. It wasn’t hard to spot the start boat as it was the only tinny on the lake although they were using fishing rods instead of flags. Andy was braving the conditions in the full rig but headed back to the beach just before the start with a sore back, later mentioning a Radial might be a good rig choice in those conditions.

The 3-minute call was shouted out and missed by most of the fleet but then Zac’s impersonation of a hooter left no doubt that the race had started although the fishing rods didn’t come down.

I don’t remember much of the race after that as Craig was giving lots of helpful instructions to Kate 1 and Kate 2 and I was getting very confused. I did know the question “What are you doing down there??” while we were going upwind in a decent breeze was clearly for me sitting in the bottom of the boat but I didn’t really have an answer for it.  It was good sailing and we all got up and around the last buoy and back to the line although the tinny was gone, perhaps in search of a better fishing spot.

We did a couple more races with one boat electing to park on the rocks for a rest, an Epic feat really, and some fast reaching legs too before calling it a day. It was a good training session and no one went swimming.

Drinkies entertainment was a singalong with Craig playing his new keyboard, raising the bar for the next Harwood regatta.

 Kate1..or 2😊

TVSC held the third of their Winter Series pursuit races on Sunday the 11th of July. The promise of a strong wintery southerly brought out the best and sometimes the worst in a fleet of 18 boats that made the start. The added challenge of a beach start made for some creative methods of exiting the harbour. Igor Prado made his intentions clear early in the race by hopping off the back of his Hobie 14 “Naked” and propelling it out of the harbour like an oversized kickboard.

In our sport, there is no substitute for preparation. Several breakages including a broken out-haul on “Rolling Stone” (Monique Smith), a snapped jib halyard on “Keenas” (Mark Reynolds) and most spectacularly, a broken mast on “Monopoly” (Andy Lamont) reminded us all of this. Monique, Mark and crew managed to limp back to the club to render repairs and continue in the race. However, Andy, Maddie Lyons and Gail were gallantly towed back to the harbour by the rescue boat team. 

First-timers to the club Bob Krojs and Tony Marsh on their Windsurfer LT’s proved to all that it can be done standing up.

Race favourites, Jason Hogan, Alister Greenwood and Ben Jarvis in the Corsair “Epic” sailed well and were early leaders. Craig Foley, Guy Fitter and Alexander Arase in “Gidget”, also a Corsair were hot on his transom and were one of the only crews to set a spinnaker in the blustery conditions.

Our competitors rely on the dedicated race committee volunteers to keep accurate results. They had their work cut out for them on Sunday with a busy and crowded finish line.

Let the records show that Igor Prado claimed first place, Craig Foley and crew grabbed second and the beautifully presented Corsair “Cyanara” sailed by Doug Haig, Allan Tolley and dedicated TVSC member John Hayward came in third. Full results here. John had already spent his morning sharing his knowledge of the wind and waves with the junior members of the club.

Thanks to everyone that braved the conditions. With sailors ranging in ages from 8 to 80 sailing is truly a sport for everyone.

In away news, Peter Fell attended the Qld Laser Association’s Winter All Ages Regatta on the weekend at RQ.  Racing on Saturday was cancelled due to 30-knot winds…. and he had this to say about Sunday.  “This laser person did not sail particularly well and came 15th out of 18 in the Radials. But it was a good day out, 4 races of 40 minutes in 8 to 15 knots of very shifty southerly. A few shifts of 30 or 40 degrees made it hard if you happened to be on the wrong side of it. 49 lasers out on the water, gotta be happy with that!”

On Saturday Maddie, Monique and Melissa had a team training day at Mooloolaba to practice on the Elliott 6’s in the lead up to the Winter Regatta Match Racing weekend that they’ll be attending there soon.

Our regular working bee is this Thursday morning.  Saturday is a committee meeting at the Sheaoak Café at 10 am, all are welcome to attend. SheSails is also on Saturday from midday.  Please register via the website.

For more photos, please check our our Facebook Album from the day.

See you in two weeks!

Matt Andrews

Forty-eight people took to the water in twenty-four boats at Fingal head on Sunday for the second of the pursuit (handicap) start winter series races on Sunday the 27th of June. Clear skies and 10 knots of southerly breeze made for great racing and some new names to the club and on the winner’s list.

Kate Ausburn and her children Charlie and Flynn after completing a sailing course up at Southport took on one of the Tweed Valley Sailing Clubs Pacers and impressed all by completing the three-lap racecourse on the Tweed River. Mellisa Le Roux and Amber Benoit raced an NS14 together for the first time and also made their way around the course with some style.

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After a little confusion around the starting time, the early starters were away. Epic (Jason Hogan), One Too Many (Michael Grace), Impulsive Matt (Mellisa Le Roux) and the two Pacers all came to the top mark within a stone’s throw of each other. It became clear on the first downwind leg back towards Fingal head that the two corsairs, One Too Many and Epic were in for a battle that would last the whole race with the lead changing constantly. There could be no doubt that they would both need to sail well to fend off the fast-moving Lasers of Wayne Culph in Flight V,  Peter Fell in Dread Nought and Lex Branch in Splatter, not to mention the ever-present Andy Lamont and his crew in Monoply (Corsair).

Not all went as planned for some of the chasing boats as they pushed hard to make up some distance. Craig Foley on the corsair Gidget had some spinnaker problems at the gybe mark and John Hayward and his crew felt the cold of the river when they capsized their Corsair Capers towards the end of the race giving the armchair admirals something to shake their heads about from the shore. Club regular Dave Chester in his Hobie 16 was the fastest boat on course, Igor Prado and Anthony Butler in their Hobie 14’s also provided some colour and spectacle in the way that catamarans  can.

The low tide just after start time provided another obstacle for the sailors which often came into play when approaching the western shore with the ever-moving sands of the Tweed River coming into play on more than one occasion.

 Within sight of the finish line Michael Grace was passed by Wayne Culph to win by just a few seconds with Peter Fell crossing for third less than a minute later. Epic, Monopoly and Kate Yeomans in Bluey (laser) rounded out the top six.

Another fun and active day was had by all and we will do it all again in two weeks time. Anyone is welcome to join and perhaps get a spot to crew.

Our Juniors program will begin again during the September school holidays. If you’re interested in joining us for that, then please join the mailing list on our website, to be notified of updates.

by Matt Andrews

On Sunday, 13th June, 16 boats across 7 classes from the Tweed Valley Sailing Club competed in a Pursuit (handicap) Start Race. The slower boats started up to 32 minutes before the quickest, giving all competitors a chance at being first over the line.

Competitors were greeted on the day by sunny skies. A light East Nor’easterly breeze, an outgoing tide and a staggered start suited those with experience and an understanding of the river.

Phoebe, Ben and Kim in ‘Neil Armstrong’ (Corsair), Rose and Anthony in P6 (Pacer) and James McKay and Ari Manu Gorman in ‘Snark’ a unique home built timber craft were the first to start with Kate Yeomans in ‘Bluey’ (Laser) starting a full 32 minutes later.

Phoebe, Rose and James tussled for the lead ahead of the chasing fleet for much of the three-lap race. As the race progressed, it became clear that round-the-world sailor Andy Lamont in ‘Monopoly’ (Corsair), father and son team Adam and Zack Andrewartha in ‘No Sweat’ (NS14), club enthusiast and hardworking volunteer Craig Foley and crew in ‘Gidget’ (Corsair), and acclaimed sailor Kate Yeomans in ‘Bluey’ were all sailing well and moving up through the pack.

Competition was closely fought but in the final throes enthusiastic onlookers watched on as ‘Monopoly’ with Andy Lamont, club regular Maddie Lyons and Justin Harman who had come all the way from Lismore for the race, came through for a win, followed by Andrew and Zack Andrewartha in second. In third place was Dave Robinson in ‘On and Off’ and in fourth was the ‘Snark’.

Next, In a flurry of finishers was Bluey’, ‘V2.5’ Mauri Meyer, ‘Neil Armstrong’ and ‘Rolling Stone’ Monique Smith.

Results are here.

Overall, the day was deemed a success by all.

Meanwhile, our Catamaran sailors were at the Gold Coast Catamaran‘s Bad News Regatta, held at the Alley in Currumbin. A great fleet size but day two was cancelled due to the lack of wind.

See you in two weeks time.

Matt Andrews

The Tweed turned on another fine winter’s day for the 25 skippers and crew competing in the 4^th race day of the Tweed Valley Sailing Clubs’ winter series on Sunday. With the promise of a fresh southerly, the fleet of 13, comprising 4 Lasers, 4 Corsairs, 2 catamarans, and a MG, NS14 and Taser prepared for the two races on the Fingal reach of the Tweed River.

The course was set, and the start boat in position, when disaster struck for Adam and Zack. Unfortunately, they tore their jib, ending their race prior to getting underway. The rest of the fleet jostled for position in preparation for the starter’s gun. The start was intense, and the first leg closely contested, before the lead boats could break free. Strong gusts up to 20 knots kept all sailors intensely focused. Though a few Laser sailors rinsed off their boats, and themselves, before recovering to complete the two-lap race. The wind eased in the second race, though racing was similarly competitive. The post-race “analysis” contained the usual good-hearted “what if” and “if only”, with another fun race day enjoyed by all!

In the Corsair division, Monopoly (Andy, Maddie and Melissa) was the champion boat, passing Go, and leading all the way to the finish, to be first in both races.

Dreadnought (Peter Fell) came out with all guns firing, similarly won both races in the Laser division. The multihull division was dominated by Sledder (Dave and Sid).

In the overall handicap point score On and Off (Dave and Cooper) won the monohull division in their NS14, followed by team Monopoly and Sledder winning the multihull division. We look forward to the next TVSC sailing day on the 13^th of June.

A sunny but cool day greeted the keen sailors for the third day of the winter sailing series on the tweed river at Fingal on Sunday the 16th. A shifty and gusty southerly of 8 to 15 knots promised some exciting competition for those who ventured out onto the river.
The first race of two supposedly “short” sprint races took over 80 minutes for the first boats to finish, but there was plenty of competition throughout the fleet between the nine single-handed lasers, four 3 handed Corsairs, a smattering of NS14 two-handed skiffs with a Taser as well, a Hobie 14 catamaran, a wooden classic Goat Is Skiff, and enthusiastic junior sailor Ari on an X3 3.1mtr dinghy.

The start of the race saw a number of Lasers side by side as they fought to get an advantage up the long first work, playing the shifts and asserting their right of way on starboard. Back in the fleet the Corsairs were pushing up the course as well and contributing to an unscheduled swim by Mauri in his Laser when he was looking well placed after a finely crafted start from the port end of the line.

The rounding of the windward mark didn’t all go according to plan with Peter having to perform a 360 degree turn after causing another Laser to have to avoid him, and Andy hitting the mark due to the tide and having to do a turn as well.

Close racing throughout the fleet followed on through the next eight legs of the course with one of the NS14s seen to have their work cut out with main, jib and spinnaker proving a handful in the gusty conditions.

The NSW Maritime launch was there keeping an eye on proceedings at the ocean end of the course while the fleet spread out over the race course.

Over the length of the race, the lead changed several times, but first over the line at the end was Peter in a Laser, followed by Kate in a smaller Laser rig, then Wayne (visiting from Harwood), Craig and Mauri. Further results of the race can be seen here.

Due to the extended length of the first race, a quick start for those who finished early was implemented for the second promised race, with a shortened one lapper on offer. The best start appeared to be had by Andy in a Laser who sailed straight from the finish of the first with perfect timing to blitz the field from the pin end and take the lead, closely followed by Kate and Wayne in Lasers. The changing nature of the river asserted its dominance on the way upwind with most boats hitting the sandy bottom with their centreboards as the tide fell and sailors tried to get out of the tide in the shallows on the western side of the Tweed.
The end of the second race ended in a little confusion about the number of laps required, but Kate in an under-canvased Laser showed the boys how to sail and took the finisher’s gun, followed by Andy and Wayne.

A special shout-out to Amber sailing her first race flying solo in a Laser, and Wayne making the trip from Harwood to see how we sail in the “little” river. We should all be out there again in two weeks on the 30th.

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Words by Peter Fell.

Sunday morning began with solid rain and breeze, causing some newer sailors to question if sailing would still be on.  They will learn.  However, by the time our Juniors had their morning session, the rain had cleared, leaving a complete glass off on the river – no wind!

As such, the first race in the afternoon was scheduled for one lap, in case the breeze never filled in.  By race start though, a steady 10- 12 knot ESE breeze was flowing over the river, giving us the opportunity for two races.

Sixteen boats competed, with five Corsairs and seven Lasers. (Results are here)  The fleet included several new sailing crew and new skippers.  Two of which have written about their experiences below:

First up is Adam who raced his NS14 with his son, Zach.  Adam has some sailing experience but has never raced before.  They scored first in the second race on Handicap!

NS14 1682, Adam & Zack Andrewartha

Sunday morning started out with quite strong winds, but by mid-morning the breeze seemed to have dropped right out. By the time we got down to the river and rigged up, the breeze had kicked in again, it stayed pretty consistent for the duration of racing which was great. At the briefing it was explained that the first race was one lap of the course and it would be decided if the second race would be one or two laps depending on how fast the fleet could get around.

The first race kept the fleet fairly close together. Seemed a little too close together heading toward the first wing mark, as our NS felt a little helmed in by a group of Corsairs, (mainly due to us being new to racing and not used to sailing in such close quarters) but all rounded the buoy in an organised fashion. We then looked for some less congested water so we could just concentrate on our sailing and getting the most out of our boat. (I was given some great advice by the driver of the safety boat two weeks prior, thank you). We cut a course through the moored yachts, and managed to keep the next buoy in our sights the whole time. I think this worked well as we made some ground on a couple of boats on this leg, another small run out to a second wing mark and a dash for the finish line. A quick fun race, that allowed for two laps on the second race. Great course that kept it interesting with plenty of marks to round and a few jibes to keep us honest.

The second race seemed to split the fleet into two distinct groups, due to the longer format. The breeze maintained a fairly constant strength although slightly more tidal run in the main channel had us trying to avoid that area. I was really pleased with how Zack and I worked together as a team. (This being our first race together, he is certainly building his confidence and showing how comfortable he is in the NS. Even when the boat heeled right over with little warning it doesn’t seem to faze him, he just kept doing his thing managing the jib.) We had a reasonable run on this race keeping up with the front pack and finishing in a respectable position, this is great from our perspective as we can learn by watching the faster boats/skippers in front of us. We learnt a lot and now have new things we can work on for next time to try and improve our placing. 

Our second contribution is from Monique, who crewed in her first ever race with John and Rudi on Capers.

Our First Sailing Race!

Rudi and I arrived in anticipation on Sunday morning and, after saying hello to a few friendly faces, we attempted to rig up Capers – our Corsair for the day. This took a fair bit of concentration and input from the rest of the club, but eventually we were ready to set sail in our first ever race.

Wow, it was fantastic to see everyone’s competitive spirit come out as the boats paced back and fourth counting down to the starting hooter. Thank goodness John was skippering, because I couldn’t remember a word of the course that Craig had mapped out for us in the Briefing. Alas, we were off around the Green channel marker then down to the red buoy. The excitement had really start to set in! 

Watching Kate and Mon hanging out of their Lasers parallel to the water was so inspiring – I’ll definitely be joining the next “She Sails” Course. John was brilliant – using his knowledge of the river tides and current to maximise our speed, which ultimately lead us to be the first Corsair to cross the finish line in the first race. 

It was amazing to see so many boats participating. Chirps of encouragement from the other boats, great displays of sportsmanship in giving buoy room and navigating around near collisions. All in all, an awesome introduction to Dinghy Sailing!

So many thanks to Suzanne, Doug, Paul and Kate for handling the time keeping, safety boat and results.

Juniors is on again this coming Sunday morning. (It is also Mothers Day!) See you all in two weeks for the next race day.