Tweed Valley Sailing Club

Last Sunday the Tweed Valley Sailing Club hosted its penultimate race for the year, Race 5 of the summer Pointscore Series and heat 3 of the Corsair Class Championship.

11 boats competed including five “3 handed” Corsairs, joined by a mixed fleet , an NS14, a Laser, a Int.470 a Hobie 16 and 2 X3’s

Conditions were variable; wind SE 16 to 24 knots, and an ebbing tide combined made for long beats to windward, favouring the NS14s but hard work for the Corsairs.

Fastest by a long way, Dave Chester and Sid Willis on Hobie 16 “Sledder”, lapped most of the fleet, redeeming Dave for the day he was beaten by a Corsair.

First mono hull to finish today, 20 minutes behind the Hobie, NS14 “On & Off”, sailed by father/son team Dave and Cooper Robinson.  These guys won the start and established a strong early lead, getting home first and beating the first Corsair by nine minutes.

Second to finish, one minute astern was Laser “Siesta” sailed by “Great Grand Master” Gary McCrohan. Gary always sails well in these conditions and was 7 minutes ahead of the first Corsair.

The big race today was the 3^rd heat of the Northern Rivers Corsair Championship, contested by 5 boats and 15 crew.

Current champion crew “Team Swell Lady” Monique Smith, Matt Andrews & Deb Flannery, had to win today, to retain their title, but needed to enlist a “ring in” boat and 3^rd crew, as Monique was away and her boat is still being repaired from damage suffered while sailing on the Clarence River. Matt Andrews took the helm of “Fine Cotton” with Courtney Tiller taking the 3^rd seat. All went to plan; Team Swell Lady got the points for 1^st place, wrapping up the championship for the 4^th year in a row! (Aren’t there two more races yet to go and results are tied between Keenas and Swell Lady? – ed)

Second place was hard fought out by “Keenas” (Mark Reynolds, Marg Walgers & Harriet Raleigh) and “Nimbis” (Scott Jones, Deb Jones & Lex Branch). In the end “Nimbis” got the points, getting home 4 minutes behind Swell Lady and 6 minutes ahead of Keenas.

Racing was close throughout the fleet up until the final lap, and the battle to avoid last place was also hard fought; positions at the rear changed continually throughout the afternoon but in the end, Team “Fairlight” (Alison Blatcher, Rachael O’Hagan & Manisha Siriwardena) got home 2 minutes ahead of Team “Minnow”(Bill Fenelon, Ali Szwalski & Sophie Todd).

A stand out performance on the river today came from the clubs International 470 “La Spina”. Sailed by Gunner Scholtz, Leyla Scholtz and Tom Busbridge. Team 470 finished just behind the 2^nd Corsair, scoring its’ best result with the club.

This season, Murwillumbah Student doctors discovered sailing and just can’t stay away. We love having them as part of the club and we couldn’t get more enthusiastic sailors. This week they brought more fellow students to join the sailing ranks – travelling from Mudgee to have a break from the drought.

4 of the 5 Corsairs competing in the class championship this week had doctors on board.  Courtney Tiller from Murwillumbah hospital was thrilled to be on the winning boat. Alicia Szwalski and Sophie Todd sailed with Commodore Bill Fenelon, Harriet Raleigh based in Grafton sailed on 3rd placed Corsair Keenas and Manisha Siriwardena had her taste of dinghy sailing with Alison Blatcher on Corsair Fairlight. 

We look forward to welcoming them all back after their summer break for another 6 months of fun on the river. Next Sunday the sailing club will conduct its last event of the year, 3 short course sprint races, starting early at 10am from Fingal Head

Strong gusty conditions challenged sailors contesting heat 4 of the Tweed Sailing Clubs’ Summer Pointscore Series. Winds increased rapidly after the start with a strong ebbing tide raising choppy conditions. Many boats capsized or had an early retirement.

Today’s fleet of 11 boats included 5 single handers, 6 two handers, & 3 Corsairs sailing 4 handed. Two juniors’ teams competed, both sailing Flying Ants.

Carnage began early with many capsizes. Corsair Capers was capsized and filled with water and struggled to return to the Harbour. Both Flying Ants retired early, but the remainder continued and completed the course.  

3 NS ‘s contested heat 2 of the Tweed River NS14 Class Championship in conditions that favoured boat handling skills, old hand Adam; last year’s class champions, Adam Hurt and Tom Busbridge, had the skills, getting home a solid 4 minutes ahead of Current class leaders Matt Andrews & Igor Prada.

These two teams are now placed equal first in the 2019-2020 summer championship series with 2 races remaining.

The single handers contested their class Yardstick series. First finisher today was Great Grand Master Gary McCrohan who showed true grit to stay on the course and finish, getting a rare win ahead of Kate Yeomans who finished closed behind.

Many sailors were backing up from last weekends’  “Clarence River Bridge to Breakers” Race. Conditions on the Clarence were as rough as usual, with winds reaching 30 knots against a strong running ebb tide.  Tweed River had 5 boats competing in the Standard Mono-hulls division. Local sailor Kate Yeomans won the division in her Laser, against very strong competition,  and “Team Swell Lady”, with an all-male crew, Matt Andrews, Craig Foley And Mark Reynolds scored an impressive 3^rd place, well ahead of the rest of the fleet.

Sailing is on again this Sunday at Fingal Head, with racing starting at 1pm. A big fleet is expected for the 3^rd heat of the Corsair Class Championship.

At the Helm with Alison Blatcher

18 hopeful skippers came early to the boat ramp last Sunday morning, sniffing around for any sign of wind . The fishing community were out at sparrows fart making the most of the calm weather and the boat ramp at Fingal was overflowing.

The race start was delayed an hour and patience was rewarded –  the forecast was proved wrong. An unusually steady 12-16 knot breeze came up and the fishing boats started to head back in while the river started to fill with sails.

It was the Laser & NS14 Championships week. The NS14 fleet was missing Commodore Bill Fenelon on Tornado so just 4 boats competed in this class. Last years champs Adam Hurt & Tom Busbridge on Flight XXIV fought hard to keep up with Matthew Andrews & Igor Prado on Impulsive Matt but Matt & Igor took this one with a 4 minute lead. Dave & son Hugh Robinson on On & Off took 3rd with Robert Preston and Kynan Luescher Pura Vida not far behind.

Only Deborah Flannery was missing from the Laser fleet this week  – after a full day on the water the day before for the inaugural event in our She Sails program, a day spectating from the timekeepers tent was a good option. The  Lasers did have a new competitor – Andrew Chillingman Jaggers was back this week to give the club Laser a go making 6 boats competing. Kate Cant catch me Yeomans was ahead of the whole TVSC fleet at the finish line –  5 minutes in front of the next Laser – John Hayward, with Gary Macca McCrohon seconds behind. Macca was obviously missing his Murwillumbah cheer squad this week.

Craig Foley on Woodcraft was the winner of the Impulse class champ – he just needs some other Impulses to compete against to make it a more impressive title!

Two juniors boats also sailed today – Morgan & Miles Bushnell on Manly Junior M&M are looking really good. They’ve been training hard for the MJ Nationals in Sydney next month. Sidney Willis did well despite missing his crew and completed the 2 laps on his Flying Ant.  A really fun day for everyone involved.

Goodbye to 470 La Siala… Over the last 8 years generous people have donated boats to the club. One of the best ones was the Olympic class 470 La Siala donated by Bill Foley. This class of boat is sailed by both female and male crews in the Olympics and La Siala has provided many a wild ride on trapeze for TVSC members. We’re losing our storage area so all our non-essential club boats are being sold and sadly this one has to go too. We also have a more stable design 16ft Corsair for sale call 0434 982 922 if interested.

Last weekend 5 boats and 9 sailors from the Tweed travelled to Ballina for Richmond River SC’s Annual Regatta and the celebration of the 50^th year of their club house. Andy Lamont and Craig Foley tried their luck on a Tasar for the first time – they may not have won any prizes but plenty of fun was had and at least they completed the course. Also attending, all defeated by the tricky conditions, were Gary-Macca-McCrohon on Laser Siesta, Corsair Melita III skippered by Alison Blatcher with Courtney Tiller & Sebastian; Andrew-Chillingman of Chillingham-Jaggers and Bronwyn sailed a Pacer, also for the first time.

TVSC’s Kate Yeomans on Laser Bluey showed her stamina in completing a course that many of the other sailors faltered on and took first place overall – showing her skill at holding the boat flat at top speed even in 20 knot gusts. Thanks to RRSRC members for an excellent day – followed by tall sailing tails on the club balcony watching the sunset with live music from local band Broadfoot.

The next day, back in Fingal Head, was the second heat of the popular Sprint Series – short back to back races honing everyone’s start-line skills. All were relieved that the wind had eased off (no one wanted another 30 knot race) and 13 Boats with 24 crew competed on the tight course.

Congratulations to NS14 Impulsive Matt skipper Matt Andrews and Igor Prado from Ocean Shores who took out first place on scratch in all 4 races. Adam Hurt and Tom Busbridge on NS14 Flight XXIV from Fingal Head almost had them in race 3 – only 3 seconds behind – four 2^nd places for them. Gary McCrohon (Tyalgum) was first in the Lasers for 3 of the 4 races with John Hayward (Fingal) taking a hard fought 1^st in the 2^nd race.

Four boats competed in the Corsair class with Scott, Debbie and Sahara Jones coming first on Corsair Nimbus for 3 of the 4 with Peter Skinner never far behind on Epic with crew Doug Haig and Gail Bernet. Gail has recently taken up sailing at age 70+. She keeps coming back even after the wild rides and capsizes of the last few weeks.

Our very much appreciated support team, safety boat driver Reg Court, Lex Branch and timekeeper Suzanne Blatcher enjoyed the day too. Suzanne has been the club’s regular timekeeper for the last few year – at age 86 she enjoys being involved with the club but can’t be tempted onto the water any more.

Apologies to all for the recent lack of sailing news especially our avid sailing report readers Noel and Christine Fenelon. We look forward to having our usual reporter back from sea and hard at work on the keyboard in a couple of weeks. Want to sail with us or join the support team? Contact tvscmail@gmail.com Next race at Fingal Sunday 10 Nov 10am.