With the overnight rain swelling the river and possible rain further through the day, we’ve decided to cancel today’s racing.
Race Day Sunday 26th of July
We’re racing again this coming Sunday. Three short races.
Briefing from 11am, first race at Midday. (If you’re borrowing a boat, please come earlier than 11am, so that you have time to rig.)
You MUST register if attending on the day, so that we can comply with our Covid Safe Plan.
https://www.revolutionise.com.au/tweedvalleysc/events/70461/ (Please register at this page.)
If you do not have a boat, then a few club boats might be available. There may also be some skippers looking for crew, but we won’t know that until the weekend.
Sailing on Sunday
Sailing returned to the Tweed River last Sunday as the Tweed Valley sailing club hosted a group of members and visitors to a pleasant afternoon of racing on the lower river.
This is the first race the club has conducted since easing of Covid restrictions earlier this month.
A 15-boat mixed fleet, consisting 2 Corsairs, 4 Lasers, 2 NS14’s, 5 X3’s, an RS100 and an Int. 420, sailing in a light to moderate Northerly breeze, competed in 3 short races.
The fastest boat was NS14 “Impulsive Matt” expertly sailed by top crew Matt Andrews and Igor Prada, finishing first in two races, While RS100 “Casper” sailed by Duncan Dey scored 1st place in the final race.
Close racing was experienced in the Corsairs, now sailing 2 handed to allow social distancing, with Corsair “Keenas” (Mark Reynolds and Marg Walgers), winning 2 races and Corsair “Nimbus” (Scott Jones and Debbie Jones) winning the third.
In the single-handed Lasers, the finishing positions were unchanged for all 3 races, with 1st place going to Peter Fell, 2nd Kate Yeomans, 3rd Craig Foley and 4th Tristan Pofandt. This was Tristen’s first race in a Laser and at 14 years of age he has stepped into this highly competitive Olympic Class.
Also sailing a single Hander, and visiting the Tweed from the Richmond River Sailing Club, we welcomed former Byron Shire Councillor Duncan Dey, from Main Arm. Duncan sailed his high performance RS100, a difficult but fast single-handed boat which features a spinnaker.
Duncan is a very competitive sailor and pushed the front of the fleet to score a win in the final race.
In the X3’s, TVSC Junior Sailor, Kynan Luescher from Fingal Head won all 3 races.
Earlier this week a number of TVSC members travelled to Brisbane and sailed on the Tallship, Sail Training Schooner, “South Passage”.
The Sail training association vessel has been forced to abandon its regular annual program travelling North for the winter, and is giving local people an opportunity to enjoy sailing on this magnificent tall ship on Morton Bay.
The Tweed Valley Sailing Club is now open and conducted casual racing.
Our next sailing day will be Sunday the 26th of July.
We are observing the NSW public Health Order (COVID19). Attendance at events must be registered and we request intending participants to book.
Racing is on This Sunday
With the border for Qld/NSW people being hopefully open from Saturday, we’ve changed Sunday’s session to be a race, instead of a training day.
Briefing at 11am, Race Start at Midday.There are certain requirements.
Everyone must register, including crew, here. (We need to keep records of everyone.)Full contact is allowed while racing, with no limits on crew numbers.When ashore, social distancing must be maintained.
Racing will be free.
There will be no time keeping, sign on, BBQ or results recorded.
There may be some crewing spots available for people who are new, so please register and we’ll see what we can arrange.
Some of the X3s will be available for those without a boat, but some experience.
Juniors are encouraged to race too.
Starting Sailing
Dear Members, Sailors and friends,
It seems like ages since the last time we all met at Fingal.
Corona Virus stopped our activities but we are planning our restart and will resume activities as soon as the State Government permits.
I hope to have some news on this and advice from Australian Sailing very soon.
Last Sunday was supposed to be our presentation dinner. We will try to organise another date for our formal dinner when State Govt Regs permit, but results from the Summer series have been finalised and winners will be announced soon by email.
So far to date, the club has only missed one scheduled race of the summer season due to the virus. Unfortunately, we had to postpone the Laser Class River Championship and have cancelled all juniors’ activities.
We will resume sailing as soon as possible and hopefully we will conduct some races this winter, although initially sailing may only be in single handers.
At this stage planning for the very popular annual Tumbulgum Race is in progress, maybe only for single handers or “same household” teams, but we will follow any advice from Australian Sailing.
We have two dates in mind for Tumbulgum at this stage so put these in your diaries
Sunday the 5th of July or Sunday the 20th Sept.
Now is the time to get on top of boat and trailer maintenance.
Check your bearings and springs and get set up for a trouble-free summer.
Any sailors needing help or advice with boat repair work please fell free to phone me anytime.
The club has several very good boats available for full season loan if you feel you can manage a boat.
Corsair “Capers” recently 8th in National Titles is complete and has a good registered trailer.
Olympic 470 class, complete and good condition good trailer, new bearings, can be registered
14 ft Taser Hippocampus, with registered trailer
NS14 Blu Tack, with registered trailer
Get ready for a big sailing season, this being our 10th summer sailing season lets make it our biggest ever.
Stay safe, and I look forward to seeing you at sailing again soon.
Call me anytime for a chat.
Bill Fenelon TVSC Commodore 0411 123 405
The Sailing Season Is Over
Greetings Members.
Unfortunately due to COVID’19, the club is suspending the summer season and all remaining races are now cancelled. Junior sailing is also suspended.
Things are changing rapidly and we will resume sailing with a shortened Winter series as soon as it is considered safe to be having public gatherings again.
Results from the summer season will still be tabulated and winners will be announced and hopefully we can have a presentation dinner at a later date.
I will miss seeing everybody down at Fingal and hope everybody can keep safe and well and look forward to the time we can recommence sailing. The Up coming 2020-2021 Sailing season will be our tenth summer season so lets look forward to a big sailing season next summer.
Kindest regards to all and I look forward to seeing everybody again soon.
Bill Fenelon Commodore TVSC
Sunday’s Race Postponed
Due to the conditions of the river, Sunday’s race will be postponed to another date, yet to be determined.
Tweed Sailors Win Corsair National Titles
Last weekend five Corsair yachts and 15 members of the Tweed Valley Sailing Club headed south to the NSW Central Coast to compete amongst 18 Corsairs entered in the 44th Australian National Championships. Held at Budgewoi Sailing Club, this would be their final “Calling All Skippers”, with the club having now unfortunately shut down. Sixty boats attended the Regatta, making for a great final farewell.
The Corsair is a 16-foot (4.8 metre) fibreglass sailing dinghy, fully rigged with jib and spinnaker, which offers excellent close, one design racing, with a crew of three and in addition is a comfortable cruising boat. Designed by Alan Payne (who also designed 3 America’s Cup yachts including Gretel and G2), the Corsair is an all-round performance centre boarder ideal for Australian conditions. First sailed in 1966, the class has spread across the nation with approximately 500 boats being built.
TVSC has adopted this class as it is ideally suited to conditions on the Tweed River. The Club has regular racing with up to 15 boats. As the boat requires a 3-person crew, there is ample room for beginners to join in without needing to own a boat.
Conditions on the first day of the competition were tough, with winds gusting to 25 knots with a short steep chop, but all boats made it through the 4 races without serious incident. Day two was a little more relaxed and everybody enjoyed a pleasant morning sailing on the lake.
Current champions, Aaron Hunt, Ryan Arkinstall and Liam Buckley, sailing “Tenacious”, took the title, getting the bullet in four of the six races proving their dominance of the fleet. 2nd place went to Budgewoi local and previous Australian Champion, Geoff Beauchamp, daughter Ruby Beauchamp and Dorren Vandersteen on “Bayonet”. Third place went to Tweed Corsair “Charlotte” sailed by Justin Johnson, daughter Emily Johnson and Hollingsword Wolul (all the way from Vanuatu!).
Holen is in Australia, due to recently being diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. If you’re interested in reading more about his situation and perhaps giving a donation, then please see here.
Aaron has sailed Corsairs since the ‘70s and has won 8 Corsair National Titles. His recent arrival at TVSC has lifted the local fleet. He is a major sponsor and supporter of the club through his chandlery business Boating and RV.
Tweed boats placed 1st “Tenacious”, 3rd “Charlotte”, 6th “Keenas” (Mark Reynolds, Craig Foley and Harriette Raleigh), 7th Swell Lady (Monique Smith, Matt Andrews and Deborah Flannery), 8th “Minnow” (Bill Fenelon, Courtney Tiller and Alicia Szlawski).
It was a great weekend of sailing and close competition with the entire fleet finishing each race only minutes apart. It was a fantastic result for Tweed Valley Sailing Club, for the first time since its foundation in 2011, winning an Australian Championship. TVSC teams supported each other and enjoying their sport. To compete in the Corsair Nationals was a great way to start 2020 for our club.
The next sailing event on the Tweed River will be on the 16th of February, Race 4 of the NS14 and Laser Class Championship. The next Corsair Class Championship race will be Heat 4 on the 1st of March. Racing is on the Fingal Reach and can be viewed at close range from anywhere along the riverbank.
The Tweed Valley Sailing Club always welcomes new members and no experience (or boat) is needed.
NO RACE Sunday 2 Feb – Corsair Convoy to Budgewoi & Farewell to the TVSC “Annexe”
The scheduled Corsair Class Champ / Pointscore race this Sunday has been postponed. There will be no racing at Fingal. The proposed rescheduled Corsair Class Champ/Pointscore race date is Sunday 29 March (which was the Chindy Challenge Race date).
44th Corsair National Titles
The reason for the change is that have 4 Corsairs and 12 members heading down to Budgewoi for the National Titles this weekend! We wish them all the best – expecting lots of tales to tell on their return and maybe even a trophy!
Farewell to a piece of TVSC History – 46 Fingal rd
The Corsair convoy will be departing this Thursday at 3pm NSW from “Bill’s Place” 46 Fingal Rd which is also the farewell moment to what has been the TVSC “Annex” since 2011. In the early years, this is where the after race BBQs were held and where many of us came to get our boats repaired or rigging explained or just for a general chat about boats; all the club equipment was stored in Bill’s sunroom until we got our first “club house” (an enclosed box trailer, also stored at No 46), the back yard has also been home to the club safety boats and then a sabot fleet took over the shed which kick started our juniors squad; followed by untold numbers of Corsairs and other boats made easily available for members to use.
Without this storage and work/meeting space the club would not be what it is today.
The Commodore closes the door for the last time this Thursday join him and the Corsair convoy at 3 pm to raise a glass to the end of a TVSC chapter .. and the start of the next one… a real club house? and to give the Corsairs a big send off.
BYO champers!!
First Race of the Year
The Tweed Valley Sailing club hosted the first race of the year on Sunday at Fingal Head, with a very competitive fleet turning up, and some crew shortening their holidays to compete.
The main event today was the 3rd heat of the NS14 class championship with 5 top boats competing, and the series wide open; while a reduced fleet of 3 Lasers contested the single handers yardstick championship, and 2 Corsairs joined the fleet for heat 6 of the summer handicap point score.
With the championship tied after 2 races, the top boats were keen to score good results.
Sailing conditions were good, but challenging with some big wind shifts and a strong Flooding tide lining up with a Northerly breeze forcing crews to work hard to get up the 3 x one mile long windward legs. It was a very hot day and the occasional splash from the Tweed River was very welcomed.
Taking the bullet in the Summer Pointscore Handicap series, Kate Yeomans in her Laser “Bluey” sailed very well, as she usually does, and took full advantage of the wind & tide situation.
In the Championship Series, making sure of it and getting the bullet, NS14 “Impulsive Max”, sailed by a determined Matt Andrews and Igor Prada, easily outpaced the fleet finishing 3 minutes ahead of 2nd Placed “Flight 24”(Adam Hurt & Tom Busbridge), while 3rd placed ”On & Off” (Dave Robinson & Hugh Robinson) getting home 1 minute ahead of Pura Vida (Robert Preston & Kynan Luescher).
Two races remain in the Class Championship and Impulsive Max now leads the series with Flight 24 moving back to second.
Meanwhile in the Single Handers race, Laser Sailor, Kate Yeomans on “Bluey”, was initially challenged by Laser Grand Master Gary McCrohan until Gary decided it was too hot and headed for a Bar somewhere; anywhere that had cold beer. Kate finished first in this division and only a minute behind the first NS14.
Also in a single hander today was Corsair Class Champion Monique Smith, scoring 2nd place in a Laser, and she probably really enjoyed beating all the Corsairs.
TVSC’s Corsair Fleet were sailing today finalizing preparations and team work to compete in the Corsair Class Australia Championships, being held in Budgeowoi on the 1st and 2nd of February.
Sailing conditions on the Tweed were very pleasant and all crews enjoyed the afternoon sailing.
The Next Race at Fingal Head will be on the 16th of February. This will be heat 4 of the NS14 Championship and Single Handers Yardstick Championship. Adults and Juniors are welcome to come down and crew on a boat. No experience is necessary and you will learn to sail for free!!