Christmas Party and Winter Series Presentation

There was no racing scheduled on the Tweed River last Sunday, but several boats went sailing and took people for rides.

The club held its Christmas party and Winter series presentation.

The Tweed Valley Winter series commenced on the 20th of May and concluded onthe 19th of August which consisted of 4 handicap point score racesand 6 short course sprint races

All participants including crew are awarded points relative to the boats handicapped position and these are accumulated throughout the series.

The top positions in this year’s Winter series was shared by 3 sailors, Skipper and crew on Corsair Swell Lady; Monique Smith & Matt Andrews, and Corsair Crew, Marg Walgers.

1st Place Marg Walgers, with Bill and Bryan

This year for the first time the sailing club conducted 6 short course sprint races. Each race lasting between 20 to 30 minutes.

This new format has proved to be very popular. All races score points based on class Yardsticks. Points are accumulated to determine the winners.

Winner of the sprint series was Kate Yeomans on her Olympic Class Laser “Bluey”, 2nd was Lex Branch on Impulse “Splitter” and 3rd Adam Hurt on another Impulse “Rosie”

In the juniors, joint winners were Sid Willis, and Taj Kransna, 2nd was Kynan Luescher and 3rd Hugh & Cooper Robinson who share the crewing job on their dad’s NS14.

Next Sunday, the 16th of December, the Tweed Valley sailing club will host its final race of the year, the 2nd Class Champions heat for 16ft 3 handed Corsairs and 16ft Hobie Cats.

The club expects a very big fleet of Corsairs in this very closely contested series, the North Coast Corsair Championship.

Spectators are very welcome and racing starts at 13:00 NSW Time.

Come down to Fingal Head and enjoy a pleasant afternoon on the river bank and watch the race.

Bill Fenelon Tweed Valley Sailing Club Commodore

Sailing on the Tweed, Heat 3 of Sprint Series

A reduced fleet set sail at Fingal on Sunday, due to many boats and crews being away competing at Lake Cootharaba, north of Noosa.

16 ft 3 handed Corsairs, were represented with 2 boats, and 3 single handers. Our club performed very well with Corsair “Swell Lady” (Monique Smith, Matt Andrews and Deb Flannery) winning ahead of another Tweed Corsair “Odin” (Daniel Sieders Adrian Dokter Matt) getting second. Racing was very intense between these 2 boats, with Swell Lady winning 5 of the 6 races. The Tweed crew of “Swell Lady” are now hot prospects of winning the Australian Corsair Championships!

Back on theTweed, 10 boats and 21 crew contested the 3rd and final races of the Summer sprint series, consisting of 3 short course races.

Conditions were testing on the river with a hot gusty northerly blowing, which challenged thecrews.

Todays fleet consisted of 4 16ft Corsairs, and a 16ft Harpoon in the 3 handed heavyweight division, 2 NS14’s in the two-handed division and 2 single handed Olympicclass Lasers.

At the front it was a 3-boat race, between 2 Lasers, and 1 Aussie designed NS14.(Northbridge Senior)

Top boat today was Laser “Siesta” Gary McCrohan getting 2 firsts and a second. Pushing Gary very hard all day was second placed Laser “Vickie 2“(Maurie Meyer) scoring 1st, 2nd & 2nd. While third went to NS14 “On& Off “(Dave Robinson and son Hugh) 3rd, 2nd & 3rd.

Maurie might have managed 2 wins today but for a spectacular capsize in the second race, while Dave and Hugh in the NS14 also had their share of misfortune,hooking up a rounding mark and towing it 100 metres up the river, as well as several capsizes, Hugh said it’s was a tough, bruising day!

Mean while in the Corsairs, a very close battle was being fought, but surprise top boat today was new comers Michael & Liz Grace sailing their new boat, “One too Many” with ring in crew Nicholas Taylor. Obviously, Nicholas is a very good sailor as he led the team to score 1st, DNF (did not finish) &1st, a disastrous capsize ended their second race. Next fastest in the Corsairswas “Melita 3” (Alison Blatcher, Christine Martin and Igor Prado) 2nd,1st & 3rd, and third place went to “Capers” (Andrew Jaggers, David Berg and Tara Beth) 3rd, 2nd & 3rd

It was a tough day for top Corsair “Keenas”, with skipper Mark Reynolds missing his gun sheet hand Craig Foley who was away sailing at Southport. Mark seemed to have his mind on compliance issues and not on sailing, and took an unusual 4thplace.

New boat in the fleet a Harpoon 5.2M sailed very close to the Corsairs and was only beaten in one race by 2 seconds.

Next Race is on the 16th of December and is the last of the year. The sailing club is expecting a big and highly competitive fleet to contest the 2ndHeat of the North Coast Corsair Championship. Racing is expected to be intense.With a flooding spring tide forecast, crews will be hoping for a stiff Southerly.

All are welcome to come down to Fingal and enjoy the race and the ambiance on the riverbank.

Sandy Steals The Show

The Corsairs were out in force again this weekend – this time back on their home ground at Fingal but venturing further afield than the usual Fingal reach. And for a change the aim wasn’t first across the line, it was first to the Chinderah Tavern to get our orders in for an excellent lunch. Eight boats sailed from Fingal and with the big tide were tied up at the pontoon only 45 minutes later. It was the maiden voyage for Corsair “One Too Many” with new owners Michael & Liz Grace taking advantage of a fun sail with other members to support them as they learn the ropes. Michael and Liz are new to sailing but were instantly keen enough to look for their own boat and sons Charlie and Oliver regularly attend Juniors sailing squad sessions. Some of the Juniors were also out sailing today – Kooper Wheeler getting some more practice on the Corsairs & Taj Krasna on an X3. Keep a look out for the bright pink Flying Ant “Flippant”, a donated boat newly restored by dad & daughter team Gunnar & Layla Scholz. These are a great class of boat to be crewed by two 10 to 13 year olds. With a spinnaker and trapeze they’re a big step up and just what the club needs for those who like a bit of excitement.

Gunnar and Layla on Flippant

There are of course many exceptional people amongst the Tweed community and we’re glad it turns out that lots of them love to sail! This week’s shout out has to go to Sandy Sorenson who has been a member of TVSC since 2013 being involved in many different ways from our first women’s learn to sail course, crewing on Corsairs, helping out with timekeeping and now in training on the safety boat. This is all when she wasn’t busy with grand-kids or caring for her partner Jim in his last years. Jim was another great character in the sailing world and helped Sandy restore her beautiful Heron sailing dinghy. It was an auspicious day, 25 November, she chose to relaunch “The Good Ship Lollipop” and surprise us all by sailing solo to meet us at the Chindy. She kept it quiet, but sailing club records do not lie, so a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sandy – you’ve now reached “level 70” in the game of life. Long may you continue to be part of our sailing community and may “Lollipop” take you on many more adventures.

Daniel on the club Laser.

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 – or just chill out on the bank and watch the boats.

Liz and Michael’s new Corsair, One Too Many

We sail next Sunday 2 Dec from Fingal boat ramp – 3 short Sprint Races round the buoys kicking off at 1pm. Contact the club for more info.  Our next social sail Sunday 9 Dec.

TVSC Competes on the Mighty Clarence – record Corsair numbers

Gary!!!

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.

Ominous clouds in the distance…

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 2nd 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!

Bill with Kynan and Konnor on Minnow

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 2nd place in the multihulls. Monique Smith won 1st place in the Corsair Class on Swell Lady with Matt Andrews & Deb Flannery with Bill Fenelon’s Minnow coming 2nd. Peter Skinner, Mark and Greg on Corsair Epic took a hard earned 3rdprize – well done everyone.

Mark with Reet and Craig on Keen as.

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!

Some of the SYC boys camping setup…buy one get five free???

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.

NS14 Class going strong, race ends in disaster for Tornado

A total of 18  Boats raced on the Fingal Reach in Pointscore Race two.  Five boats competed in the NS14 Class Championship, two in the Lasers and three in the Impulses. Another stunning day on the Tweed River enjoyed by 30 crew.

Epic with only big grown up people on board???

The only downside was a group of jetskis and wake boats driving at speed through the sailing fleet!  The huge wave from one wake boat caused the dismasting of classic timber NS14 “Tornado”.

As a courtesy to other river users, the sailing club advises all sailors to stay out of the channel on the east side of the river so that power boats have a clear passage through and only uses a small section of the river so there is plenty of room for everyone. TVSC sails under a council permit and NSW Maritime has notice of all events (permit not required).

Based on the sail number, how old is this Laser Mauri?

Well done to 1st placed Impulse Tim Brown, 1st placed NS14 Dave Robinson & son Cooper who had a lucky break when the 2 NS’s ahead both had equipment failure and then showed great boat speed to beat previous club NS14 champion Adam Hurt to the line.

Mike often needs a massage after getting all ‘hippocampus’ on his Taser.

1st placed Laser Gary “Macca” McCrohon. Novice Junior skipper Konnor Wheeler from Uki also put in another good effort on his Sabot but the strong tide got the better of him.

Sammy on her Sabre, ‘Yeah Buoy’, getting close to the buoy…yeah!

Thanks to Val Skinner and Suzanne Blatcher in the timekeeping tent and Adrian Colnan, Bryan Townsend and Jude Allen safety boat driving.

Scott and Debbie going the distance…on ‘Nimbus’!

Our next home event is a lunch cruise to the Chinderah Tavern on the 25th of November.  Please get in touch for more information.  We’ll be at the Big River sailing club’s Bridge to Breakers regatta next weekend.

by Alison Blatcher

Big fleet contests sprint races in hot conditions

20 boats with 37 crew raced on Sunday in the Tweed Valley Sailing Club’s 2nd sprint race series, comprising 3 short races of one lap each. Joining the regular fleet were three “Division One” Juniors boats competing in their own race this year for the first time in the club’s history.

Mauri enjoying the heat on Vickie II

It was a hot afternoon on the river, with only a light breeze and a strong tide running, plus the small sailing boats had to contend with numerous Jet skis being driven through the fleet at high speed.

Just after the start of Race 1 (Division 2)

The racing was extremely close with the first finishers separated by only seconds, and several dead heats which are very rare in sailing.

Highlight of the day was the Juniors races. With Race 1 being won by Manly Junior team, Kynan Luescher (Fingal head) and Aron Colwill (Uki). Then Race two saw a determined effort from Uki youngster, Konner Wheeler sailing a club Sabot, coming from behind and won this race by a respectable margin. This was only the second time a junior’s fleet has competed with the club, and with this group learning the skills over the past years racing in the senior boats and morning training sessions, we look forward to some intense competition in this division.

Kynan and Aron on the MJ.

In the Senior class, all 3 races came down to a very close tussle between Laser “Siesta” sailed by Great grand Master, Gary McCrohan, and NS14 “Mantana,” sailed by semi- professional sailor, Matt Andrews with junior Rigby Andrews (NOT Related!) Gary is always a top competitor and, in the past, scored 2nd in the World Championships in Rio, in this highly competitive Olympic Class, while Matt Andrews was sailing an NS14 for the first time, with crew Rigby Andrews, also a first timer in this class. Club NS14 “Mantana”, showed it had boat speed to burn, and Matt is likely to be a very strong competitor in this class this season. Between the two boats, Siesta scored 1st, 1st & 2nd, while Mantana scored 2nd, 2nd & 1st.

Gary finishes just in front of Matt and Rigby.

The remaining fleet competed strongly with all 20 boats finishing within 5 minutes of the first boat.

Six boats competed in the 3 handed 16ft Corsair Class today; fastest was “Minnow” (Gunnar Scholz & Layla Scholz), 1st, 3rd & 2nd;  second “Capers” (Geoff Colwill & Anderson Sanders) 3rd, 1st & 3rd  ;  third Keenas”(Mark Reynolds, Craig Foley & Tara Gough)  4th, 2nd & 1st while fourth placed was “Melita 3” (Alison Blatcher Marg Walgers & Marcela Willis) Melita looked set to win race 2 but stalled just short of the line and dropped to 4th place as all boats finished within 10seconds.

Siesta in the Lead

Seven single handed boats competed, split between 2 Lasers, 3 Impulses 1 Sabre and 1 “X3”. Fastest was Laser “Siesta” (Gary McCrohan) with 3 bullets, second Laser “Vickie 3” (Maurie Meyer) , and 3rd was Impulse Itchy Coo (Tim Brown)

A 4-boat fleet in the Two Handed 14ft monohulls; NS14’s MG14’s Tasers and 125’s, was won by NS14 Mantana (Matt Andrews & Rigby Andrews) scoring 3 bullets, second went to MG 14 “On & Off” (David Robinson & Hugh Robinson) and third to Taser “Hippocampus” (Mike Mansted & Imogene Mansted)

Gunnar and Layla at the finish line.

There were several family teams racing; Gunnar Scholz and daughter Layla sailed Corsair “Minnow” and were fastest in this class; Scott Jones lead his team with partner, Debbie Jones and daughters Caitlyn and Sahara sailing Corsair “Nimbus”; sailing 4 up, placed Scott & family back in the fleet, but Scott is a serious sailor and Nimbus is a good boat. We will see Scott win races with the club this year. Mike Mansted sailed with daughter Imogene in 14ft Taser “Hippocampus”, and David Robinson sailed with son Hugh is MG14 “On & Off”.

Next Sunday the club gets back to long course racing with the first heat of the 14ft Division, NS14 Class Championship, as well as the Single Handers Class championship, the club is expecting to see a large and competitive fleet.

Oh Look!  It’s Gary again!

New sailors are always very welcome at our club and no experience is necessary to crew. Volunteers to drive or crew the club’s rescue boats are also very welcome.  Spectators are welcome to enjoy the racing in our official tent on the river bank.  Contact us.

Sid’s Mum, Marcela racing for the first time on Melita III

Bill Fenelon

The Corsair Battle Commences

21 boats with 43 crew competed at Fingal Head last Sunday for the first race the season. That is quite something for only the 7th Summer Series of our local sailing club. Even the 40+ year old clubs don’t get that kind of a turn out. So, a massive shout out to all the people who have worked hard to get this club up and running and are now joined by a many others who keep it running.

A typical Sunday morning…

We’re a hands on, everyone muck in kind of a club but as always there are some key members who form the backbone. Our Commodore Bill Fenelon is definitely the stand out here, fixing the breakages that occur in the club’s junior fleet and the seniors club boats and trailers, helping with Junior sailing and always willing to take beginners out for a sail to pass on his passion for the sport.  He hotly contests both the NS14 and the Corsair Class championships every season supporting these 2 important classes of boat which have grown in number at TVSC each year.

Our Commodore!!!

The club now has 16 Corsairs creating a true revival of this 60 year old, 3 handed class of versatile sailing dinghy.

Peter and the Grandkids on Epic.

Eight Corsairs competed in the start of this year’s Northern Rivers Corsair Championship – Monique Smith on Swell Lady, last year’s runner up took the 1st place with Matt Andrews & Deborah Flannery her faithful crew. Close on their tail was “Keenas” skippered by Mark Reynolds providing some serious competition keen for their first taste of Corsair glory. The next four Corsairs were close together. Corsairs Nimbus – Scott & Debbie Jones; Minnow – Bill Fenelon with new crew Alfred Summers and Gunnar Scholz; Melita III – Alison Blatcher, Marg Walgers & Cara Austin and  “Beards Essential” 616 Peter Ross, Mark Storrier and Andrew Jaggers are also in the running.  Full Results are here.

Winners of the first Corsair Race, Monique and crew on Swell Lady.
Beards Essential…

Two Junior skippered boats also competed for the first time – Taj Krasna and Sid Willis in Manly Junior “Deep Thought” competed against Rigby Andrews and Aron Colwill on X3 “Vogsphere”. Both boats finished the tricky course – a good start for their racing careers. This was after they had helped out with Clean up Grafitti Day at Fingal.

Sid and Taj on the MJ. Winners of the junior division race.

Grandmaster Laser sailors Gary McCrohon (Tyalgum), Mauri Meyer and John Hayward were up the front of the pack as usual – Gary took the line honours this race.  We also welcome another grandmaster – Paul Hargan from way out west towards Kyogle is back on his Sabre “Momentary Lapse of Reason” after a five year break. Great to have this high-level standard of sailor mixing with all levels of ability on the water.

Mauri Meyers, second place in the Lasers on Vicki II.

So, if you’re the kind of person who likes to pitch in, come down to Fingal 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 Juniors Helping Graffiti Removal Day at Fingal

Juniors & adult try sailing this Sun 28 Oct – booking essential. Email tvscmail@gmail.com or call 0434 982 922.

John and Saffron on Scored a Tri!

We’re racing again on the 4th of November with a 1 pm start time.  (NSW Time)

Alison.

First Race this Sunday

We’re trying again for racing this Sunday, after last weekend’s was cancelled. 

First Point-score race of the season and the first Corsair and Multi-hull Class Championship Race and some of the Race Training Junior graduates will also be racing for the first time (short course).

All the information you need for racing + links to forecasts etc is available here.

Briefing will be at midday NSW Time.  (11am Qld time)

Please see the group email sent around for the full NoR.

Racing Cancelled Today

Due to yet more heavy rain forecast for the afternoon, the decision has been made to cancel the scheduled club race.

A bit of a let down for the start of the Series but it is only 7 days until the next race – Corsair Class Championship & Overall Point Score (all boats).