Category: TVSC

Last weekend nearly 40 TVSC members, friends and family headed south to Big River Sailng Club’s Bridge to Breakers Regatta at Harwood on the Clarence River. The 10 TVSC boats, including 7 three handed Corsairs, competed in the marathon race on Saturday starting in a moderate breeze and sunny blue skies. An hour later, up the other end of the course, the tide was raging and the swell and wind gusts had picked up. One of TVSC’s best sailors, Peter Skinner from Terranora, on Corsair Epic went for a couple of swims with his crew Mark Storrier & Greg Martin from Uki – they were up and sailing again quickly though. Greg was completely new to the sport of dinghy sailing and loved his wild adventure as did wife Christine and son Konnor also sailing on Corsairs.  As they came to the finish line 3 hours later, the sky had turned a threatening black and thunder rumbled close by.  Most of the boats made it to the finish as the rain started to pelt down but two of the TVSC Corsairs, Adrift & Nimbus, had to pull in to the safety of the bank and were welcomed by local prawn fishermen to shelter in their shed until the storm passed… stories of eating freshly cooked prawns and sipping champagne may have been scurrilous rumour.

TVSC Commodore Bill Fenelon, with junior crew Kynan Luescher from Fingal and Konnor Wheeler from Uki on Corsair 199 Minnow, were the first Corsair to cross the line in the marathon race. Corsair Swell Lady still managed to finish, and in 2^nd place, despite their jib sail ripping off the wire. Deborah Flannery was the hero of the day fixing the sail as they continued to race!

Sunday saw clear skies again and racing started early getting 2 short sprints in before lunch and finishing up the regatta with another longer race in the afternoon.  TVSC’s Dave Chester on Hobie 16 Sledder flew round the multihulls course beating everyone home on Saturday and did well against the Nacra’s on Sunday too until a freak wind shift stole his lead and left him in last place on the final race. He still took 2^nd place in the multihulls. Monique Smith won 1^st place in the Corsair Class on Swell Lady with Matt Andrews & Deb Flannery with Bill Fenelon’s Minnow coming 2^nd. Peter Skinner, Mark and Greg on Corsair Epic took a hard earned 3^rdprize – well done everyone.

As always, the weekend provided many stories to entertain us all at the evenings BBQ and memories to last as we look forward to the next Big River regatta next March. Nothing beats a weekend of camping and sailing adventures with friends to clear the cobwebs before we hit the silly season. The kids had a ball too – lots of space to run around together when they weren’t sailing. It was too hard to leave for some of us so we stayed an extra night but it still felt like the weekend was over in a flash. Come and join us for the next one!

There’s a lot more photos on our Facebook Page.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to pitch in we’d love to see you. Come 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. TVSC sails next Sunday from Fingal – fun sail down to the Chinderah Tavern for lunch and back again.  Start approx. 10.30am.  Email tvscmail@gmail.com or call 0434 982 922 for more info.

Next racing at Fingal on Sunday 2 Dec – Sprint Series first race starts 1pm.

22 boats competed in the Fifth Annual Tweed River Passage Race on Sunday, sailed in sunny conditions with a variable light Southerly breeze and a strong ebbing tide.

The race started with a light sou-westerly wind and the fleet quickly drifted away from the start at Condong, with all Corsairs setting spinnakers. The breeze came & went; the fleet remained tightly together as they drifted past Tumbulgum, but after winding through the Stotts island narrows, boats started to spread out.   It was a day of light and variable winds which frustrated the fleet all the way down the river until it finally settled down at Chinderah. The final leg along the Fingal reach gave the fleet a steady breeze and an opportunity to set spinnakers and have a fast finish.

The fastest boat completed the river passage in 3 hours and slowest was 4 hours.

 This year’s “winners circle” was dominated by visitors; line honors going to Southport Team, Jabin & Zac Crisp in NS14 1592 “Enter the Dragon”, completing the river passage in 3 hours 6 mins, although it took a long time to separate from the fleet, the freshening afternoon breeze in the lower river, gave them the speed to get ahead and win by five minutes.

Second boat to finish, 4mins 30 seconds behind, was Laser “T”, (Tom Slocombe), from Paradise Point and third placed Laser “Dreadnought” (Peter Fell) from Tweed.

4^th was Tweed Laser “Bluey”, (Kate Yeomans) then 5^th local Laser, Silent Partner”, (John Heywood).

The Lasers got 7 of the top 8 positions and enjoyed a very close race.

Yardstick Results, First Place went to Laser “ T”, (Tom Slocombe), 2nd was Laser “Dreadnaught” (Peter Fell), 3rd Impulse “Itchy Coo” (Tim Brown),  4^th Impulse “Splitter” (Lex Branch),  5^th NS14 “Enter the Dragon” (Jabin & Zac Crisp) and 6^th Corsair “Swell Lady” (Monique Smith, Deb Flannery and Matt Andrews)   

3 divisions of One Design mono hulled sailing boats competed, which included 12 single handers with results based on yardstick, (8 lasers, 3 impulses & 1 X3) 3 x 2 handed NS14’s and 7 x 3 handed Corsairs with a total of 41 sailors 7 rescue boat crew and 10 shore side support crew.

Single handers; 1^st Laser “T”,(Tom Slocombe), 2^nd “Dreadnaught” (Peter Fell), 3^rd Impulse “Itchy Coo” (Tim Brown), 4^th Impulse  “Splitter” (Lex Branch)

NS14’s; 1^st “Enter the Dragon” (Jabin & Zac Crisp), 2nd “Zarzan” (Adam Hurt & Tom Busbridge) 3^rd “Impulsive Max” (Robert Preston & John Taylor).

Corsairs; 1^st “Swell Lady” (Monique Smith, Deb Flannery and Matt Andrews)  

, 2^nd Keenas (Mark Reynolds, Craig Foley & Dave Chester), 3rd “Minnow” (Bill Fenelon, Elizabeth Gough & Jacob Loughridge) 4^th Capers (Alison Blatcher, Matt Colnan & Adrian Colnan) and fifth Odin” (Daniel Sieders, Andrew Jaggers & Bron)

The Tweed Valley Sailing Club would like to thank all those people wo help out to make this event possible.

The clubs next event will be the first Race of summer season on Sunday the 7^th of October.

Bill Fenelon