Category: Sailing Reports

20 boats with 37 crew raced on Sunday in the Tweed Valley Sailing Club’s 2^nd sprint race series, comprising 3 short races of one lap each. Joining the regular fleet were three “Division One” Juniors boats competing in their own race this year for the first time in the club’s history.

It was a hot afternoon on the river, with only a light breeze and a strong tide running, plus the small sailing boats had to contend with numerous Jet skis being driven through the fleet at high speed.

The racing was extremely close with the first finishers separated by only seconds, and several dead heats which are very rare in sailing.

Highlight of the day was the Juniors races. With Race 1 being won by Manly Junior team, Kynan Luescher (Fingal head) and Aron Colwill (Uki). Then Race two saw a determined effort from Uki youngster, Konner Wheeler sailing a club Sabot, coming from behind and won this race by a respectable margin. This was only the second time a junior’s fleet has competed with the club, and with this group learning the skills over the past years racing in the senior boats and morning training sessions, we look forward to some intense competition in this division.

In the Senior class, all 3 races came down to a very close tussle between Laser “Siesta” sailed by Great grand Master, Gary McCrohan, and NS14 “Mantana,” sailed by semi- professional sailor, Matt Andrews with junior Rigby Andrews (NOT Related!) Gary is always a top competitor and, in the past, scored 2^nd in the World Championships in Rio, in this highly competitive Olympic Class, while Matt Andrews was sailing an NS14 for the first time, with crew Rigby Andrews, also a first timer in this class. Club NS14 “Mantana”, showed it had boat speed to burn, and Matt is likely to be a very strong competitor in this class this season. Between the two boats, Siesta scored 1^st, 1^st & 2^nd, while Mantana scored 2^nd, 2^nd & 1^st.

The remaining fleet competed strongly with all 20 boats finishing within 5 minutes of the first boat.

Six boats competed in the 3 handed 16ft Corsair Class today; fastest was “Minnow” (Gunnar Scholz & Layla Scholz), 1^st, 3^rd & 2^nd;  second “Capers” (Geoff Colwill & Anderson Sanders) 3^rd, 1^st & 3^rd  ;  third Keenas”(Mark Reynolds, Craig Foley & Tara Gough)  4^th, 2nd & 1^st while fourth placed was “Melita 3” (Alison Blatcher Marg Walgers & Marcela Willis) Melita looked set to win race 2 but stalled just short of the line and dropped to 4^th place as all boats finished within 10seconds.

Seven single handed boats competed, split between 2 Lasers, 3 Impulses 1 Sabre and 1 “X3”. Fastest was Laser “Siesta” (Gary McCrohan) with 3 bullets, second Laser “Vickie 3” (Maurie Meyer) , and 3^rd was Impulse Itchy Coo (Tim Brown)

A 4-boat fleet in the Two Handed 14ft monohulls; NS14’s MG14’s Tasers and 125’s, was won by NS14 Mantana (Matt Andrews & Rigby Andrews) scoring 3 bullets, second went to MG 14 “On & Off” (David Robinson & Hugh Robinson) and third to Taser “Hippocampus” (Mike Mansted & Imogene Mansted)

There were several family teams racing; Gunnar Scholz and daughter Layla sailed Corsair “Minnow” and were fastest in this class; Scott Jones lead his team with partner, Debbie Jones and daughters Caitlyn and Sahara sailing Corsair “Nimbus”; sailing 4 up, placed Scott & family back in the fleet, but Scott is a serious sailor and Nimbus is a good boat. We will see Scott win races with the club this year. Mike Mansted sailed with daughter Imogene in 14ft Taser “Hippocampus”, and David Robinson sailed with son Hugh is MG14 “On & Off”.

Next Sunday the club gets back to long course racing with the first heat of the 14ft Division, NS14 Class Championship, as well as the Single Handers Class championship, the club is expecting to see a large and competitive fleet.

New sailors are always very welcome at our club and no experience is necessary to crew. Volunteers to drive or crew the club’s rescue boats are also very welcome.  Spectators are welcome to enjoy the racing in our official tent on the river bank.  Contact us.

Bill Fenelon

21 boats with 43 crew competed at Fingal Head last Sunday for the first race the season. That is quite something for only the 7th Summer Series of our local sailing club. Even the 40+ year old clubs don’t get that kind of a turn out. So, a massive shout out to all the people who have worked hard to get this club up and running and are now joined by a many others who keep it running.

We’re a hands on, everyone muck in kind of a club but as always there are some key members who form the backbone. Our Commodore Bill Fenelon is definitely the stand out here, fixing the breakages that occur in the club’s junior fleet and the seniors club boats and trailers, helping with Junior sailing and always willing to take beginners out for a sail to pass on his passion for the sport.  He hotly contests both the NS14 and the Corsair Class championships every season supporting these 2 important classes of boat which have grown in number at TVSC each year.

The club now has 16 Corsairs creating a true revival of this 60 year old, 3 handed class of versatile sailing dinghy.

Eight Corsairs competed in the start of this year’s Northern Rivers Corsair Championship – Monique Smith on Swell Lady, last year’s runner up took the 1st place with Matt Andrews & Deborah Flannery her faithful crew. Close on their tail was “Keenas” skippered by Mark Reynolds providing some serious competition keen for their first taste of Corsair glory. The next four Corsairs were close together. Corsairs Nimbus – Scott & Debbie Jones; Minnow – Bill Fenelon with new crew Alfred Summers and Gunnar Scholz; Melita III – Alison Blatcher, Marg Walgers & Cara Austin and  “Beards Essential” 616 Peter Ross, Mark Storrier and Andrew Jaggers are also in the running.  Full Results are here.

Two Junior skippered boats also competed for the first time – Taj Krasna and Sid Willis in Manly Junior “Deep Thought” competed against Rigby Andrews and Aron Colwill on X3 “Vogsphere”. Both boats finished the tricky course – a good start for their racing careers. This was after they had helped out with Clean up Grafitti Day at Fingal.

Grandmaster Laser sailors Gary McCrohon (Tyalgum), Mauri Meyer and John Hayward were up the front of the pack as usual – Gary took the line honours this race.  We also welcome another grandmaster – Paul Hargan from way out west towards Kyogle is back on his Sabre “Momentary Lapse of Reason” after a five year break. Great to have this high-level standard of sailor mixing with all levels of ability on the water.

So, if you’re the kind of person who likes to pitch in, come down to Fingal and have a go at sailing or safety boat driving, timekeeping, restoring and repairing boats and trailers or putting together fabulous post sailing spreads of food… there is always something creative to do.

Juniors & adult try sailing this Sun 28 Oct – booking essential. Email tvscmail@gmail.com or call 0434 982 922.

We’re racing again on the 4th of November with a 1 pm start time.  (NSW Time)

Alison.

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. 

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.

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.

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 2^nd 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.  

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.

3^rd 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 24^th 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, 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!

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!

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.

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!

It looked like just another blue sky beautiful day on the Tweed but beneath the surface of paradise the odds were against any chance of an easy race for the 16 TVSC boats and 31 crew sailing last Sunday. The race start time was in the strongest part of the big ebb tide with a light, unpredictable easterly wind dancing round the skippers. If they got caught in a lull the tide dragged them backwards until the wind returned. The “zigzag” part of the course in front of the start tent caused the most headaches with mistimed tacking leading to many attempts to round the buoys – no doubt very entertaining for those on shore. Those that got it right found themselves way out in front of their rivals.

This was the last chance for the NS14’s and Lasers to move up the ranks in their Class Championships – everything hinged on the results of this final race for them.

First the Lasers. The last battle of the year for Laser Grandmasters John Hayward (Fingal) & Gary McCrohon (Tyalgum). John had the lead after the first lap after Gary got stuck in a strong tide and disappearing wind on the first leg on the north side of the river but by the end of the second lap Gary was 1 second ahead and despite all effort from John he had to concede defeat to Gary at the finish. Third was Kate Yeomans and 4th Peter Redmond.

The NS14 fleet was led by a cat and mouse race between Glenn Slight & Kynan Luescher on “Radical Phase” and Bill Fenelon & Taj Krasna on “Tornado”. After being only metres apart for most of the race it was the choice to take different routes to the last buoy rounding that finally saw Tornado gain water and they finished in 96 min 22 secs – over a minute in front of Radical Phase. Adam Hurt & Tom Busbridge in the lead on the start line took 3rd and David Robsinson and son Hugh were 4th.

The Corsairs were led by Mark Reynolds & Craig Foley on “Keenas” for most of the race – the only other Corsair to finish was Melita III skippered by Alison Blatcher + Marg Walgers & Bernadette crewing.

Division 2 racing for the slower boats is set to take off next season with Rainer Glasker & Tara Beth in the clubs yellow Access dinghy inviting more boats to join them. Sailability on Tweed can provide 2 more Access dinghies on race days and Mirrors and Sabots are expected to swell the numbers the division.

18 kids attended earlier in the day at the Juniors session with a sail up to Tony’s island and back. TVSC under 18 sailors Taj Krasna, Max Hennessy (both from Fingal Head) and Isaac Poulsen (Burringbar) spent the previous weekend crewing on Corsairs at the Big River SC Regatta swapping from helming to hauling up spinnakers to “hiking out” getting covered in spray returning with many tales to tell.

Next Sunday 25 March is the last race of the summer series. Come down to watch the start at 1pm from the spectators’ tent by the main boat harbour at Fingal Head. Adults or under 18’s wanting to sail please contact the club.