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Sailing At Fingal

A forecast of strong winds reduced the number of potential starters for the third day of the TVSC’s Summer Race series. At the 12:00pm briefing by race officer Dave, the wind was comfortably under the 23 knots upper limit for racing. Safety boat driver Geoffrey and assistant Aaron loaded up the buoys and set the usual course for a Southerly win: a beat up to near the Golf Club then a run back to the wing mark on the Western shore and down to the leeward mark past the moored yachts, followed by a short upwind leg to the finish. Two races were planned, but the breeze had other ideas.

Dave and Sid coming in after just a couple of swims.

Half an hour before the start time some sailors came out to test the conditions, while Geoffrey anchored the safety boat at the start line. Justin, Doug and Craig in ‘None the Wiser’ managed the conditions well, as did Kate in Laser ‘Bluey’. Dave and Syd on Hobie 16 ‘Sledder’ were greeted by a 30 plus knot gust as they left the sheltered harbour, and went for their first swim of the day. Monique in Laser ‘Rolling Stone’ was the next victim of the strengthening wind, and Geoffrey and Aaron wisely lifted the anchor in case assistance were needed as the rest of the fleet sailed out. Meanwhile Guy, Sharky and Brennan on ‘Squirtie’ and Michael, Ben and Alan on ‘Exhale’ completed the Corsair fleet.

An intact mast…

With the start boat back in position, it was almost time to start the flag sequence to get started. More capsizes and the return of some boats back to the harbour meant the list of starters was shrinking as fast as the wind was increasing, and a discussion with the race officer resulted in the races being abandoned. This didn’t stop Dave and Justin from practicing their strong wind sailing, and they stayed out for a while longer. Guy, unfortunately, had a shroud part ways with the spreader, leading to a bent mast, but that was the only boat damaged in a wind that had built to over 30 knots.

A different kind of mast…

All that was left was to retrieve the buoys, a task as wet as actually swimming. Wind against tide in the Tweed River produces some impressive waves, and the safety boat crew were drenched by every one as they picked up the buoys. Hopefully, our next race day on 20th February will be milder.

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Class Champions Day 3

We’re racing this coming Sunday for day 3 of our shortened summer championship series. We’ll be racing until March with six racing days, of two races per day. If you miss a day, it won’t affect your score with two drops.

Briefing at Midday (NSW Time). (Registration links are further down)

As a reminder, we will need volunteers for Duty Officer, Safety Boat, Time Keeping and Race Officer for one-off days during the season. Training will be provided. Please note your availability here. (These roles are not restricted to just skippers, anyone can volunteer.)

The current roster is here.

Skippers, please register for Day 3 here.

If you’d like to crew and don’t have an arrangement with a skipper, leave your details here, and a skipper may get in touch. Skippers, please consult the list of the available crew here.

We’ll be hosting the Queensland Laser Association’s River Titles on Sunday, the 27th of March. Laser sailors, as a TVSC Member, you’re allowed to race without needing to join the QLA. The Notice of Race and Registration is available here. We will need volunteers for this day to help with timekeeping, safety boats etc. If you’re interested in helping, then please add your details here.

Finally, we have ten Corsairs attending the Big River Sailing Club‘s Annual Regatta on the 26th and 27th of February. Some boats need extra crew, so if you’d like to come along for a fantastic weekend of sailing, then please leave your details here. (Free camping!) No experience is necessary; you’ll learn a lot on the weekend!

See you Sunday.

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Gusty Squals Bring Excitement to Day 2

Sunday the 23rd brought the promise of a great day’s racing but La Niña had other ideas. High tide and 15 knots from the southeast was promised (and promising) but gusty squalls blowing in would cause some mayhem through the fleet during the afternoon. Local Tweed Valley sailors turned up with 5 lasers, 3 corsairs, an X3 and an NS14 to be joined by 4 NS14s from the South Brisbane club.

A good start line was set facing the sou’easter but on the sound of the gun (pipsqueak hooter?) a few of the visiting NS14s were seen to be some way back from the line, possibly being more used to 5-minute starts than our 3-minute ones. However, all advanced up the river towards to windward mark while a few crew were observed to be having trouble keeping the boats upright along the way. One lost its skipper overboard but had the crew still in the boat and sailing away from the skipper in the water. Eventually, both crew and boat were happily reunited.

Free Spirit and No Sweat

Mark, Marg and Hollen in the Corsair “Keen As” (mustard – you have to see the colour of the boat to get the name!) had a good start and lead the corsairs around the course, opting not to fly their kite and keep their runs lean and mean. Kynan had a great start in the Lasers along with Peter and Kate and was looking good going up the track to the windward mark before the gusty squalls caused a few thrills and spills.

Monique in her laser “Rolling Stone” had a capsize just before the start but recovered well to work her way through the fleet to 3rd of the lasers before having some main sheet issues limiting her ability to compete in the fleet.

A rain squall hit towards the end of the first race causing many capsizes in the NS14 and Laser 4.7 fleet, with the race officer deciding discretion, was the better part of valour and sending the fleet back to the riverbank to wait it out. A few boats ventured out for an unofficial 2nd race to enjoy some relatively balmy conditions for another circuit of the racetrack. Mark in Keen As pushed Peter in his Laser up at the second start while Monique tried a port end start to gain some advantage but didn’t get any real benefit except for the racing experience of knowing when not to try that. Guy, Erik and Daniel in the second Corsair “Squirtie” had a slower start but kept the pressure on Mark and the crew in Keen As around the track.

Ari in the lone X3 pushed through most of the first race in fine style and showed he wasn’t daunted by turning up for the second race raring to go. Dave and Hugh on the lone catamaran screamed around the course, often on one hull and seemingly out of control but always managing to keep it vertical more than horizontal while taking a lot of tacks to get to the windward mark.

The NS14 crews agreed it was a challenging experience but we are sure all will benefit from braving the conditions when they next wet their boats. Later in the day, two NS14s from South Brisbane Sailing Club ventured out again with some older ballast to assist in keeping them upright in the slightly calmer conditions.

It was also noted that at least some of the crews were listening at the briefing where we discussed the importance of taking a penalty (doing your turns) if you infringe the rules. As our PM said, “Rules are rules!”. Guy admitted after the race to doing a turn after getting in Ari’s way (and taking on a cockpit full of water due to an imprecise gybe and tack) while yours truly did a turn for a wafer-thin tap of boom onto the mast of the demonstrative Kate in Bluey.

We return for more fun and mayhem in two weeks time. Also, remember that the QLD/Northern NSW Laser River titles will be held at Fingal on March 27. If you don’t own a laser, beg, borrow or steal one for the day for some great competition.

Words by Peter Fell

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Class Champions Day 2.

We’re racing this coming Sunday for day 2 of our shortened summer championship series. We’ll be racing until March with six racing days, of two races per day. With two drops, if you miss a day, it won’t affect your score.

Briefing at Midday (NSW Time). (Registration links are further down)

As a reminder, we will need volunteers for Duty Officer, Safety Boat, Time Keeping and Race Officer for one-off days during the season. Training will be provided. Please note your availability here . (These roles are not restricted to just skippers, anyone can volunteer.)

The current roster is here.

Skippers, please register here.

If you’d like to crew, and don’t have an arrangement with a skipper, leave your details here and a skipper may get in touch. Skippers, please consult the list of the available crew here.

See you Sunday.

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The Mighty Tweed River, Where Sailors Become Legends (In their own mind – ed)

A  classic summer day 25-30c and average 10kts NE, gust and shifty welcomed back all the members for the first race of the Summer Championship 2022.  

The fleet of 11 boats with 21 sailors managed to sail out the busy boat ramp and head to the start line. The wind direction swing from NE to E back and forth made the start line set up a hard challenge for Bryan in the safety boat. (Thank you heaps for your help Bryan). 

Some of the fleet heading off in the smooth water.

The race started!  Shouts of STARBOARD!! WATER !!! Oh, how I’ve missed this lovely place and the TVSC family. Unlike Covid, most of the fleet did not spread out and both races were very close.  Leading the fleet were the two Hobie 14 Cat Rigged (without Jib), Naked Again (Yours Truly) followed by Lion from Southport Yacht Club with only a 0.52sec difference across the line. Not too far behind were Laser’s Splatter (Lex Branch) ahead Monique on `Rolling Stone`, then the 2 NS14 only 15 seconds apart Impulsive Matt (Melissa Le Roux, Craig Foley) and No Sweat (Adam Andrewartha and his son.) The first corsair across the line was Cyanara skipped by Doug Haig. If this first race was tight, hang on for what comes next… but before I have to mention how graceful it was to see Craig setting on leeward (opposite side to where the wind is coming from) while Melissa tries to bear away and they almost capsize. Nothing like sailing with someone for the first time.

Is that Igor sailing the wrong way?

BANG !!! The second race started. STARBOARD!!! the start line looks even worse when the wind swings more to the North, however, the gusts coming from the East were stronger and more constant. Once again the Hobie cats reach the top mark first as it should be but with a change in the lead. Now Lion had a great start ahead of Naked Again, some people argue that he had a false start, but no protest had been made to the race committee. Lion kept the lead for the whole race finishing it in 31:11 minutes. Change in the lead also happened in all the other classes. Now focused, No Sweat was 28 seconds ahead of Melissa because Craig was tired of hiking.  While on the lasers Rolling Stone was warm and ready to take the lead of Splatter. John Morgan using the laser ConditionZulu for his first time was under 2 minutes behind the other lasers. Well done!  Now in the Corsairs Squirtie (Guy Forrester, Erik Naumann and Tom Arnette) took the lead of Cyanara by 29 seconds with Keennas (Mark Reynolds) a few minutes behind.

John’s first time on a Laser and first time sailing in over a year!

Wow! What a great start to the short championship season, smooth sailing, beautiful day, close races, cold beers and annoying powerboats…heaps of them. We also have the results on yardstick thanks to Kate. 

View the results here.

See You next race on the 24/01.  

Ps: Please volunteer to help on the next races as I gotta keep racing to keep my lead. 🙂 

Thanks, Dave for volunteering to do the Time Keeping!

Igor Prado and NakedAgain (Hobie 14)

Photos by Ben Jarvis.

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Women and Girls Learn to Dinghy Sail Course – commencing Saturday 5 February and 19 February 2022

This course is being held to all Females (15 years of age plus), as part of the SheSails program, developing Women in Sailing.  

Commencing on Saturday 5 February 2022, our club is running a Start Sailing 1 – Introduction to Sailing Course at Fingal Boat Harbour.  The course consists of 2 x 6 hour sessions over 2 Saturdays –  05.02.22 (commencing at 9 am) and 19.02.22 (8 am start) – starting times work around the high tide and based on NSW day light savings time.

The cost is $150 for the 2 sessions, and non-refundable, should you not attend both sessions.   This will include Tweed Valley Sailing club membership which is $100 (membership runs out on 30 September each year).  Benefits of being a club member is you have insurance coverage when sailing with the club, and that once you are a confident sailor you can hire the club dinghies (which you will be learning in).

The course is limited to 10 participants only.  

If you would like to learn the basics of sailing, and start your dinghy sailing journey, you will enjoy this course.   

Intro to sailing:  By the end of this course you will be confidant in:

  1. Preparing to go on the water:  clothing to suit the conditions, use of safety equipment and the need for protection from environmental elements.
  2. Be able to rig a boat with assistance and identify the commonly used parts of the boat.
  3. Tie a figure of 8 knot and  a bowline.
  4. Perform a capsize recovery in shallow water and participate in single boat towing.
  5. Be able to launch and recover a boat with assistance; correctly tack and stop the boat; successfully sail a windward/broad reach course;  paddle boat around a marked course.
  6. Understand the meaning of port and starboard;  windward and leeward;  and overtaking vessels.
  7. Identify the wind direction;  able to source weather forecasts. 

There will be no official certificate issued, but the course is run within the guidelines of Discover Sailing syllabus.  

There will be safety boats and drivers, and a group of experienced sailor volunteers to assist you.  The dinghies we will use in this course are pacers and X3s.

Pre-requisites:

. confidant swimmer (performing a capsizing is part of the course, but you will be wearing a lifejacket).

. agile and quite fit and strong (you will be constantly ducking under a boom and moving from one side of the dinghy to the other.  Lifting is involved too.)

If you require further information, please don’t hesitate to email or phone me, details below.  

To register: click on the link below:

https://www.revolutionise.com.au/tweedvalleysc/events/126199/

Kind regards

Monique

SheSails Rep

TVSC

e:  swell.lady16@gmail.com

Ph:  0409 761 908

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Class Champions Day 1 and Sausage Sizzle Catch up

We’re racing this coming Sunday for day 1 of our shortened summer championship series. We’ll be racing until March with six racing days, of two races per day. With two drops, if you miss a day, it won’t affect your score.

After the racing, we will get out the BBQ and have a sausage sizzle/catch up.

Briefing at Midday (NSW Time). (Registration links are further down)

We will need someone to be the timekeeper on the day for scoring. If you’re available, then please contact Craig on 0413 052 898.

As a reminder, we will need volunteers for Duty Officer, Safety Boat, Time Keeping and Race Officer for one-off days during the season. Training will be provided. Please note your availability here so that we can organise a roster. (These roles are not restricted to just skippers, anyone can volunteer.)

Skippers, please register here.

If you’d like to crew, and don’t have an arrangement with a skipper, leave your details here and a skipper may get in touch. Skippers, please consult the list of the available crew here.

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A Shortened Summer 21/22 Championship

We want to resume regular Sunday racing every second Sunday from the 9th of January 2022. The intention would be to hold two races, with every race day considered a Class Championship day through until the end of the season, near the end of March. We would then have a short break before getting into the 2022 Winter Season!

We will send out further details of the day the week before, but at this stage, since it’s been so long since we were all able to race together, we’d like to finish the day with a sausage sizzle/catch up after the racing.

There won’t be any Juniors Christmas Holiday Program as we do not have the Instructors available to run the course at this time. We hope to have regular Juniors running before Easter with an Easter Holiday program too. Juniors are welcome to race with us in their division or crew with available Adults.

Those NSW Juniors who have NSW Active Kids vouchers expire on the 31st of December. If you want to use them for sailing, then please submit them ASAP so that we can redeem them.

We will need a Duty Officer, Time Keeper, Start Boat and Safety Boat operators for the shortened season for each day. Skippers, if taking one of the roles means that you cannot race, we will still award you points.

Please provide feedback on this Survey to nominate days that you might be available for roles.

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Fresh Conditions for the Last Sailing Day of the Year

Nine boats took part in Sunday’s race of two laps from Fingal to the motorway, with ideal conditions of an incoming tide against a fresh southerly wind.

Peter Fell led the single-handers all the way to the finish, with Lex Branch never getting in contention after an unfortunate pre-start capsize.

Doug Haig beat Peter Ross by a boat length in the Corsairs with Michael Grace
putting in a credible performance. Geoffrey Colwill and Aron in a club Pacer had to finish on just his jib having capsized on the last lap.

Dave Robinson on ‘The Gambler’ revelled in the strong wind, winning the multi-hulls!

New member Perry completed the race on the club laser 4.7 Tippy Too.

See you all in the new year for hopefully our first NSW/Qld combined fleet race for a shortened summer season.

Word by Bryan, photos by Gail.

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Racing this Sunday, before the holiday break

Racing is on this coming Sunday, the last day before we break for the holidays. There are no juniors in the morning, though competent kids are welcome to join the sailing in the afternoon.

At the moment, with the border changes coming after this weekend, Qlders will be able to race in the new year, so we expect a shortened summer championship season to start from the 9th of January, with racing every second weekend until the easter break. We will send a separate email with further details, including requests for volunteers for Duty Officer, Time Keeping and Safety Boat operators.

Some of our Queensland Corsair boats raced at last weekend’s Monomasters at Lake Cootharaba. A write up is on the website with some great photos. The next away event will be at Big River’s Annual Regatta on the 26/27th of February weekend, so mark your calendars.

Details for this weekend:

Briefing at midday, (casual) racing from 1 pm. (NSW Time)

Skippers, please register your boat entry here.

Crew are welcome to register their availability here. (Skippers, the list of people looking for spots is here.)

If you’d like to hire a club boat for the afternoon, please check our website’s hire section.