Tweed Valley Sailing Club

The 7^th and 8^th heats of the TVSC club championship were sailed in a 10 knot SSE breeze, clear water and under a threatening sky. A very handsome start boat with a young, competent crew set the fleet on their way on time at 1300hrs.

Visiting Brisbane sailors Robert Preston and Parker Stephenson in the NS14 Pura Vida were keen to put their stamp on the first race and after a good start at the committee boat end tacked on to port and were never in danger of losing a good lead that they had established by the first top mark.

Also sailing well was Lex Branch in the ever-popular Laser class and long time TVSC sailor Mark Reynolds in his corsair Keenas with a crew that spanned at least a couple of generations.

Two-time club champion Monique Smith also sailed an excellent clean race while Debbie Jones has come into her own in her Laser after removing a few family members from her crew list.

For the start of the second race, the Committee had the start mark moved to allow for the breeze, which had swung a little to the left. For those who had noticed the tide had turned and was on its way out, it was clear that getting onto port tack as soon as possible after the start was the key to a good first beat to windward.

Both the Brisbane boats Pura Vida and Hydrotherapy (Leon Waldron and Curtis Kosmala) did just that and were left to fight for the race win.

The ever-present Kate Yeomans with her crew Gail Bernet in a Pacer started and sailed very well and were able to keep some of the quicker boats behind them.

As the breeze died, so did some of the enthusiasm and combined, this made it difficult for a few of the slower boats to finish the second race.

Robert Preston, after a big win, was reminded that it’s not over until the boat is on the beach and found himself walking back into the harbour over the rocks with an NS 14 and crew behind him.

Dave Robinson attempted to turn his Impulse dinghy, Matchbox, into match sticks after putting his foot through its side and was last seen heading towards the harbour in a sinking vessel.

More photos are on our Facebook Page and the results from the day are here.

See you in two weeks!

Matt Vandeleur

My name is Kate Ausburn and I’m responsible for the club duty roster. I’m relatively new to the club, although I do look after our Merchandise and am keen to ensure our TVSC race days run smoothly.

As you all know our little club relies heavily on volunteers to keep the wheels in motion so that we can all enjoy a weekend sail together, so I’m hoping this email can spark some interest for members to help. (Family members are also welcome to get involved if interested).

Unfortunately, we have a number of gaps in the duty roster throughout the remainder of the current Summer Championships as follows:

• Sunday 20 Feb – Start Boat Crew, Timekeeper
• Sunday 6 March – Start Boat Crew (Ability to assist in the event of an issue)
• Sunday 20 March – Race Officer

We are hopeful that everyone can offer a little of their time to the club, at least once each racing series, to avoid skippers (and crew) allocated to fill these gaps. Hopefully, we won’t need to take this approach as we prefer to keep operations quite relaxed. Currently, the same names are filling the duty roster so it will be nice to see some new faces participate in these roles so the regulars can have a break.

I would expect the “Duty Officer” and “Race Officer” will fill first in the future as this role enables you to get out on the water sailing after volunteering, so it’s really a case of first in best dressed to snap up these spaces for future racing series.

The current duty roster is available on our racing page.

Please contact me on 0400 016 634 or via email at nautic881@gmail.com if you are able to fill any current gaps which will be appreciated by all. Training or a briefing on what is required can be arranged on race day if you can arrive by 11:00 am NSW time prior to race briefing and rigging. I’ll see you all out on the water.

Regards,

Kate Ausburn

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.

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}