By Ian Grant.
The exceptionally talented Klaus and Eva Lorenz extended their club racing results with the small Whitsunday Sailing Club fleet into the Australian Optimist dinghy championship record books.
Both young sailors overcame the handicap of regular big fleet racing experience to prove their will to succeed with Klaus scoring a career best Bronze medal while his younger sister Eva racing for the first time at the National level finished 46th in the 110 dinghy fleet.
Their results were a reward for the time they spend with their after school training on Pioneer Bay.
Klaus and his kid sister are great mates but they become equally competitive when they grip the tiller and tension the mainsheet with Klaus often forced into applying a tactical wind shadow to hold the decisive upper hand.
However they are inseparable with Klaus valuing the commitment from Eva who is determined to express her improving skills at every opportunity. Read more…
The 33rd Sabre National Championships were held at Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club Adelaide from the 28th December, 2010 to the 4th January, 2011.
Six sailors represented Queensland, Susan Hextell, Robyn Collins, Anne Mussett, John Campbell, Peter Skinner & John Nobbs.
The fleet comprised of 73 boats from every State and Territory except N.S.W.
Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club ran an excellent regatta of 9 races under difficult conditions, weak sea breezes for the majority of races, finishing off with shifting gusty off-shore breezes.
The regatta was won by Chris Dance of Victoria who has regularly placed in the top group in recent years. Craig McPhee, Tasar National Champion and newcomer to Sabres was second and Callum Burns, last years Sabre National Champion was 3rd.
John Campbell and Susan Hextell sailed extremely well in a hotly contested Nationals, John was the top Queensland sailor he finished 8th overall and Susan Hextell finished 13th overall, 2nd in the Grand Masters age division and 3rd in the Ladies division.
Link to the results . http://sa.sabre.org.au/?page_id=34
The rest of the team had “ups and downs” but came away with a wealth of knowledge and experience after sailing against “top sailors” and are looking forward to meeting up again at the 34th Sabre National Championships to be held in Victoria at Blairgowrie in 2011/12 .
Anne Mussett QSSA Publicity Officer.
By Ian Grant.
A critical gust of wind at the wrong time proved to be a deciding factor in deciding the Audi King of Docklands SB3 ‘Skins’ match racing championship in Melbourne last weekend.
There are always some hard luck stories in this type of intense one design match racing and the Sunshine Coast crew of Sean O’Rourke and Greg MacAllansmith who were racing with multiple World champion and Olympic Laser representative Glenn Bourke of Hamilton Island have one to tell.
As the story unfolded they were engaged in a tactical arm-wrestle with the eventual winning crew helmed by Nathan Outteridge when the flapping spinnaker hit the rounding mark forcing skipper Bourke and his Club Marine Blue crew to execute a penalty turn. Read more…
March is coming around very fast and with it the MBYC’s annual Fairway Challenge Yacht Race. Please find attached the NOR, Entry Form, Crew Checklist, Safety Check and now the Sailing Instructions. All information can now be accessed via the club’s website (address below) under future events – Fairway Challenge.
I would appreciate you forwarding this email on to all your members and promoting this qualifying race for the Brisbane to Gladstone in your newletters, calendars and website. I have also attached the 2011 Fairway Challenge logo to assist in race promotion.
Please note that entries close on Monday 28 February 2011 at 5pm.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to receiving entry forms and relevant documents as soon as possible.
–
Regards
Secretary MBYC
Shona Lawrie
“Midnight Oil”
For Race information & Calendar go to www.mbyc.com.au
Fairway_Challenge_2011_entry_form
Fairway Challenge 2011 Sailing Instructions
Klaus followed by NSW sailor, Caitlin Tames
The 2011 Australian & Open Optimist Championships were held in Pittwater, Sydney, hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. There were 116 boats registered for the open fleet, including one Japanese, 4 New Zealanders, and 18 from Queensland, including Eva and I from Whitsunday SC. The others were from Southport, Brisbane, and Maroochydore.
There were 59 competitors entered in the Green (Junior) fleet, including Hamish Swain from WSC, and four other Queenslanders.
For the open fleet, the race committee had divided the competitors into four fleets, Blue, Pink, Yellow and White, two of which making a ‘flight’. Each race for the regatta had two flights so that there were not too many boats at each start. There were 12 races scheduled over 4 race days, which meant that each fleet would have sailed in the same start with each other fleet 4 times. In the event, only 9 races were able to be held, so that each fleet sailed only 3 times against each other.
In the Green fleet, all boats started on the same start line together. They also had 12 races scheduled, and were able to complete them all.
Our family flew into Sydney on Thursday 5th, picked up a car, and drove to the caravan park in Terrey Hills where we were to stay, about 15 minutes drive from the regatta venue. We had 3 days before the regatta actually started so Eva and I could do some training beforehand. We had intended to drive to Sydney, the three Whitsunday boats with us, but the road closures at Rockhampton prevented that. The next day we had to wait at the sailing club until our chartered boats arrived in the late afternoon, so go in no sailing. Read more…
By Ian Grant.
Save Our Seas solo circumnavigator Ian Thomson will have the opportunity to share the experience of sailing around Australia alone when he co-skippers the famed Brindabella on a record challenge later this year.
Thomson a proud member of the Whitsunday Sailing Club endured the physical torment and associated stress when he set the solo record of just over 42 days last year.
Both he and Brindabella’s owner Jim Cooney will head the challenge to chase down the present Around Australia record of 37 days, 1 hour, 23 minutes and 57 seconds.
Remarkably the present record rests with Sydney skipper David Pescud and a crew of six all are members of the Sailor’s With Disabilities Ocean racing team. Read more…
Given the significant community contribution the Rally has made over three years the Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority has again offered to support the Louisiades Yacht Rally. Peter Vincent, CEO of the Authority said that the Rally is a unique way of showcasing the islands and the visiting yachts have a significant benefit to the remote community.
Rally organiser, Guy Chester said the initial three 2008-2010 Rallies have seen many yachts have a great time in these islands and for many it was their first introduction to international cruising and a bluewater passage. For the last three years the locals have given their fantastic welcome, from John and Mackenzies families who host our arrival at Panasia, to the Panapompom community who organise the most spectacular Sailau (traditional sailing canoe) Regatta. Lynette Parascos and her team at Misima put on the a fun weekend “Showcase Misima” supported by the local member of Parliament, Gordon Wesley. The hospital visit gave an insight to the community’s hardships and playing soccer against ten year olds the joy of a good laugh.
The Louisiades Archipelago is 100 nautical miles east of “mainland” Papua New Guinea, 520 nautical miles north-east of Cairns. They are truly paradise found, 100 beautiful islands with a friendly people living a very simple life who welcome cruising yachts. The Louisiades comprise sand cays, lagoon reefs, limestone outcrops (up lifted coral reefs) and continental islands with many safe anchorages. With abundant coral reefs there is snorkelling, diving and fishing galore. The local people are exceptionally welcoming to yachts and will paddle out to welcome yachts and, of course, trade.
The Rally is a cruise in company across the Coral Sea and then four weeks throughout the spectacular Louisiades, with a mix of events and time for independent exploration of the islands and their friendly communities. For 2011, events include sailing canoe racing, feasts, sing sings, skull cave visit, traditional dancing, handicraft workshop, village visits, a remote river trip, Misima cultural festival, village school and hospital visits a sports day and even a Party! Read more…
On Saturday 12th February 2011 Southport Yacht Club will be hosting the Great Race for the 6th time since its inauguration in 2005. Year after year, the Great Race attracts competitors from all over Australia, looking to test their stamina and willpower in this 70km endurance race from the Gold Coast to Brisbane.
The Great Race is possibly the longest off-the-beach sailing event of its kind to be staged in Australia. Starting just outside the hosting Southport Yacht Club on the Gold Coast, competitors make their way up towards Brisbane, via the narrow and twisting waterways of the broadwater. Hopefully with the wind firmly up your rear, and the tide with you, this provides for some unreal kite runs, testing your fitness, boat handling skills and concentration! Launching out into the open vastness of Moreton Bay, fatigue starting to set in, you compete in a whole new arena providing its own set of challenges. Finally you round the last waystation and head through the finishing gate just off Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in Manly, to a well earned drink and a bit of a lie down!
Flooding update – race status
An initial meeting of the Race Committee has occurred this morning to discuss the current flooding and weather conditions in the Brisbane area and the impact these factors may have on the Surf to City Yacht Race.
At this stage, the Race will still go ahead on Saturday the 22nd January.
A review of the situation is scheduled for this coming weekend and further updates will be published in due course.
The Race Committee will be considering the predicted weather, sea state and debris levels.
By Ian Grant.
Yachting Queensland youth development team continued their domination of the OAMPS Australian championship winning four Gold and two Silver medals on Botany Bay earlier this week.
Many of the team who are members of the high performance Queensland Academy of Sport sailing Squad including talented female aquatic athletes Ashley Stoddart (Laser Radial) Madison Kennedy (Laser 4.7) and the 420 class crew of Elloise Brake and Jaime Ryan paved the way for the Queensland team to be the star performers for the third successive year.
Winning the Laser Radial class series proved to be a special reward for the determined Ashley Stoddart after struggling with a serious back injury over the past 12 months.
However the victory was only secured in the final race where Ashley Stoddart locked out the pain from her nagging back injury to clearly win her Gold Medal by 19 points over her New South Wales rival Alex South. Read more…