3 October 2009

Last week`s gale was this week`s lull . No wind and a fast out-running tide created all sorts of difficulties for the few sailors that turned up for Sunday`s sprint races . The long weekend and the football final in Sydney saw the fleet halved , with a slight drizzle adding to the cool day . The starter got it right this time and most boats got away cleanly , going with the tide . As it was going faster than the wind , they had to sail sideways to reach the first mark . Most boats recognised this and made the mark , but a catamaran driver aboard his boat "Clueless" , didn`t , and spent fifteen minutes trying to get around . The rest of the fleet , having got around , then drifted backwards to Settlement Point . A couple of fluke puffs got them going again , and they manoevered into the shallows at King Point , where the lead was exchanged a few times as they slowly made their way towards the remaining marks . The race was supposed to be two laps , but as matters were unfolding with the speed and intensity of a doze in the sun , it became one lap , with the `Shortened Course` flag being attached to the last mark by the rescue boat . But then those in the boat changed the plan yet again , and widened the start-finish line so as to include all the boats on the other side of the river , unable to get out of the shallows because of the tide . Smart move . But he didn`t tell the starter this , who was expecting the boats to go around the mark with the shortened course flag on it . He couldn`t tell the starter this , however , because that worthy had forgotten to attach the antenna to the two-way radio . Again . Then the resue boat driver reversed over the rope attached to the finish line flag and got it tangled around the propellor . Because of this he coudn`t tell the leader of the race not to proceed to the final two marks and to finish immediately . So all the boats beat the leader . Except Jack . And the starter , watching all this in amazement , didn`t note the finishing times of each boat...something that has to be done to work out the yardsticks and handicaps .

What a comedy !  Author , author !

Everyone came ashore and talked about what they ought do next . After twenty minutes the wind was no faster , and the decision was made to give it away . In the interest of fair play , the leading boat that had been robbed of his win had it restored , and the starter invented times for each boat so as to advance the position of his mates . Then Jack finished .

Peter and Taylor Young won on yardstick and handicap , getting the double . Jeff Walsh came second and Phil Johson came third .

In the catarmarans , Dave Winter came home ahead of Jack Corthals , to also take yardstick and handicap .

20 Spetember 2009

Port Macquarie Sailing Club held their weekly race in a gentle south east breeze last Sunday. A fleet of fourteen  boats faced the starter with all classes starting together.

In the catamarans Dave Winter has the White Pointers shown off to maximum effect as he led the fleet for the first lap. Jack Corthals finally extracted himself from the mud to pass Dave and win the race. On handicap the positions were reversed.

The monohulls finished in controversy as a protest was made at the race end due to a misunderstanding at the start of the race and the club was in uproar. Dave Cox was most concerned that his chance of winning the sheep station had been adversely affected. Correct weight has not been declared at this stage but provisional results are that the highly efficient Robertsons in Flembouyant won the race from Beajolais looking more like rough red in the light conditions with Andrew Richards and Gabby Pyjamapants in Zon in third position.

On handicap the father and son Young talent team in Voyager sailed well to win from the real Dorothy (Riley McNee) and Phil Johnson in His Helmet third.

Next week is a handicap start. Handicaps are available on the club website and also will be available before the race. Duty officer is Dave Winter.

LAST SUMMER

24 April

It was a lovely autumn day for the last day of sailing for the 2008-2009 season . But the forecast ! 100 knot winds in Melbourne...35 in Bulladelah and heading our way...and not the faintest breath on our river . Zilch . A fast running ebb tide made it look like a quick run to the open sea ! Nevertheless , ten boats rigged up and...hoped . The first on to the water was Dave Winter who showed everyone else what the game was...he was promptly swept down-river and onto a few mooring pylons , for the wind was not strong enough to power him up . `Tethys too` was next and much the same thing happened , except the for`ard hand got out the paddle and moved the boat out to where there was a wisp of wind . Same for the next boat and the next . The start was delayed for five minutes , but as it took fifteen minutes to sail 100 yards , most boats made a poor start and Dave had to be towed up to the line .
But ten minutes later the wind picked up a little , and then a lttle more...fabuloso ! We are actually moving ! It became a most interesting race , as the conditions varied so much . There were little pockets of wind all over the river , and little pockets of no wind . You would be thirty feet from another boat , utterly becalmed , whilst he was whizzing along . No-one was spared , with fortunes being over-turned and re-overturned .
Ron Apps , the winner of last week`s Championship race , the only traditionally hulled boat to even finish , went nowhere . His boat sat in a windless "hole" for nearly an hour watching the other boats , 100 yards away , just sail past .
It was , however , a test of skill and whilst not the most exciting finish to the years sailing ,  a rewarding sort of a day . The gale force winds from Buladelah didn`t arrive , and Dave Winter got home safely , first , in the cats , with Paul Robertson ahead of Phil Johnson in the monos .

19 April

Gale force southerly winds were forecast for last Sunday , but that was out to sea . In the protection of the estuary , they would not be so strong . Ten boats got ready for the Easter Cup . But ooooh , those wind gusts .... for the southerly was doing the thing that southerlies usually do . Because they travel over the land and get diverted here and there by all sorts of hills , they arrive in some disarray...  gusty . A nor`easter , by contrast , blows across a featureless ocean and is thus more constant .
The anemometer told us the gusts were reaching 16 knots , which wasn`t too bad and so the race went ahead . The hooter blared but three boats were over the line already . Two of those knew they had broken the start and returned to begin again , but the third had to be chased by the rescue boat and informed . Around the westward mark and then down-river to the other buoys was the plan , but the wind speed increased and Paul Robertson and daughter Alex were knocked over by a gust before they had gone two hundred yards . That was it for them... being a very light crew they just couldn`t deal with it , despite Paul`s great experience and skill .  Which had its` uses , for he was then able to help man the second rescue boat , and it was suddenly needed .
When the boats got to the other end of the course , where the wind is stronger , six were knocked down by the wind gusts . Jack Corthals went over in his catarmaran , and every time he got it up the wind bashed it over again . The rescue boat stood by but they couldn`t actually do anything , until finally Jack`s mast snapped and the rig collapsed . The rescue boat was then able to play a part , and they towed the disabled craft back to the clubhouse . The rubber ducky , our second rescue boat , was by now dancing attendance upon Peter and Taylor Young who were in all sorts of bother in their Tasar . Lasers were capsizing all about as well , but they seemed reasonably able to keep going . Peter must have gone over a dozen times , but the two of them kept trying . Just then a disabled Laser floated by and the rubber ducky had to see to it . We couldn`t untangle all the gear , so the boat was deliberately capsized and the mast and sail removed . The boat was then righted , it`s rig taken aboard , and it was towed home . Peter and Taylor were by now making some headway against the elements , and their persistence paid off . They got their boat back themselves , a really good effort .
Two boats remained standing , everyone else having given it away . Frank O`Rouke finished the race in his catarmaran , and Ron Apps and Kelly Miller did the same in their Corsair . Tony Kuhn`s cat suffered damage too , and nearly sank when the deck split away from the sides of one of the hulls .

All of this was a bit of a contrast to the Tasar State Titles held last weekend . No wind . Sitting out in the middle of Lake Macquarie , waiting for hours for the race to start .

The boats were dragged ashore , tales of derring-do exchanged , and a discussion on the merits of the rubber ducky produced some interesting conclusions. Next week is the last race of the Club Championship  , and  Frank O` Rourke and Grady McNee are on duty .

5 April

All week it rained . Saturday it sort of didn`t rain in between the times it rained . On Sunday we began rigging the boats for the first race at about 9am , looking constantly at the sky , hoping the rain would disapear . For about an hour , whilst not promising , it didn`t actually rain . But the closer we got to race time , darker grew the sky . The slight wind slowed to nothing . The fresh water swirling out to sea from the week`s downpours , when combined with the run-out tide , created a five knot current that we could not sail against . And then it rained .  We cancelled the first race , and hoped for an improvement in conditions for the second .

Surprisingly enough , there was . The tide slowed and the fresh water coming down the river was of itself not enough to put a stop to things , for a slight breeze had wafted into place . Most decided to sail , but the event was decided to be an ordinary race and the final Club Championship contest was postponed . The reasoning being that the weather was really too awful and , because of it , the usual number of competitors had not turned up . The race began promptly at 1pm , the starting line being placed in the middle of the river where the wind was...our usual starting line is between the shore and a spot two hundred yards out...but the surface of that area was silvery smooth...no wind . The Lasers of Terry Howard , Geoff Williams and Phil Johnson quietly swished to the front  , but the faster Tasar of Peter and Alessandra soon caught and passed them , only to be passed in turn by the catarmarans of Terry Kuhn and Dave Winter . Around the first mark and a port turn to the second , another port turn and then it was decision time . If one were to simply steer a straight course , using the tide , one ought end up at the third mark fairly easily . But there was no wind there , remember , for we are once again near the shore , the starting line off to the left . You can`t sail through the starting line once the race has begun , so if you want the wind , you have sail across it`s mouth to the other side of the river and then turn right again for the third mark , a much longer course . Most skippers opted for the longer course , not trusting the lack of wind in the shorter , and most remembered that the starting line was now in the middle of the river...except for one person . You would think that the fellow whose idea it was to place the starting line in the middle would remember it was there... you would , wouldn`t you...chuckle smirk guffaw . No names , but he sails a red Tasar . Around the bottom two marks and then a series of short tacks all the way back , the idea being to stay out of the outflowing fresh water . Too , it had muddied the water such that you could not see its` depth . This combination of short tacks and muddy water saw many groundings as the boats tried to maximise the available space by going as close to the shore as they could . It also took a long time , and it was decided to shorten the course . The "Shortened Course" flag was pinned to the last buoy , and the boats headed straight for the finish line instead of beginning another lap .

T`was a Laser Sunday afternoon (apologies to The Small Faces) , Terry Howard getting his across the line first and Phil Johnson coming in third . Ron Apps in his Corsair , steered by Jeff Walsh , managed second , and the cats were headed by Tony Kuhn , with Dave Winter second . Next weekend the Tasars head off to Lake Macquarie for the state titles , and there is no sailing at home . So the next race will be on the 19th April , with Bob and Bev Lineham on duty .

29 March

Another little sou`easter blew gently last Sunday , much the same as the week before . Again the river surface was calm and again the tide was running out ...it`s unusual to have such similar conditions two weeks in a row , and it provided the keen student with an opportunity to build on the experience of before . This similarity was complemented by the marker buoys being placed in much the same positions . The hooter sorted the thirteen boats stooging around the starting line into a tight group heading up river to the first mark . This reporter , for one , remembered having been forced out wide at the first mark despite having arrived there behind only one other boat , and having to wait for another four boats to trundle by ...and this time chose a course that would give him a run on the rails .

The boats moved smartly through the water , the catarmarans getting there first of course . A starboard turn east , and a really pleasant work to the second mark near Settlement Point , the boats foaming along if a nice little puff came their way , for the wind was almost abeam . This was Tasar weather , and this class quickly out-distanced the other single hulled craft , the fleet slowly spreading out over the entire distance of the course . A port turn north around the second mark and across the river to the third and another port rounding . This next leg was a little tricky as we had to stay out of the tide , but had to get into it at some stage for the fourth marker buoy was planted in the deepest part of the river , and it is there that the tide is at it`s fastest . For the first two laps we simply angled across the river , being able to point thusly . The third lap told a different story , with the wind changing direction a fraction such that we couldn`t point high enough ...we couldn`t angle across to it...and had to sail past the mark and then sail back across the river to it... the strength of the tide forcing a good few extra tacks ! Were this to be the really truly third lap , it would be a straight run to the finish...but we are still on the first lap , so you shall have to wait whilst we sail past the clubhouse to the very first marker buoy five hundred yards away and do it all two more times .

An hour later , that done , we are once again at the fourth mark and it is Kim Pett with son Jackson right on the hammer of Norman Broomhall and Chris Long . It has been a tussle between the two of them the entire race distance , with the desperately unlucky Peter Fitzroy breaking a main-sheet strop just when he was catching them . Kim got there one second ahead of `Tethys too` , with Peter three minutes behind them . And then came a blow for the rest of the fleet . They might have been in the running for a position on the podium via the hadicapping system we use , but the wind dropped completely . They almost stopped , taking ten minutes to do the last few hundred yards . Excruciating . When the numbers were crunched , it was Frank O`Rourke followed by Dave Winter in the cats , and Paul and Alex Robertson home first in the monos , with Kim and Jackson Pett coming a hard fought second . Next week is the sixth event in the Club Championship , with race 12 in the Summer Series being held in the morning . Please note that daylight saving is ending and the races begin at 11am and 1pm respectively . Paul Robertson is on duty in the morning and Norman Broomhall in the afternoon . 

22 March

Wind wind o glorious wind . A lovely little sou`easter caressed the surface of the Hastings River last Sunday , barely raising a ripple . Some sailors prefer a harder blow , but others are quite content with such equable elements . With opinion divided , twelve boats lined up for the tenth race of the Summer Series...but the desperately unlucky Peter Fitzroy , one of the strong contenders for this series , couldn`t start as he had damaged his boat after hitting a ferry cable at Hibbard two weeks before . 

It was an up-river start into a run-out tide , which was at it`s end... the effect of it would be negligable by the time of the last lap . In such gentle conditions , all the boats travel at much the same pace for a while , and so they all arrived at the first mark at the same time...except for the much faster catarmarans . But it doesn`t matter if you are half a boat length in front if you are four or five boats wide . The boat nearest to the buoy has right of way , and so they had to spread out to give the inside boats room to manoevre around the mark . No jostling , no biting or scratching . Good boats . A nice little work to the second mark in the mouth of the canals , and then a port turn to a down-river heading .  Back across the river to the third not too far away and then try and point high enough to get across the river and into the tide .

Those that managed this gained ground noticeably , and the others made a mental note to do the same on the next lap . Around the mark near the lemon-scented gum and back across the river to get out of the tide . The wind on this leg starts off causing us to work into it , but half way along the river turns such that the second half has the wind blowing from behind . It`s pole out the jibs and pop the spinakers and concentrate like anything to maximise any opportunity .  Move about smoothly , keep your weight forward so as to lift the transom out of the water thus reducing wetted surface and minimising drag .

The second lap was pretty much the same as the first , but by the third the tide had all but stopped . If you veered across the river to pick it up after the third mark , you were pretty much wasting your time...better to barrel on down the middle and sail a shorter distance . Around this next mark it was , and head straight for the finish line . After 90 minutes , Paul and Alex got their Tasar across the line first , followed by Kim and Andrea Pett in theirs , whilst the Corsair of Ron Apps came home third .
In the catarmarans , it was Frank O`Rourke followed by Tony Kuhn and Dave Winter third .

16 March

We had our roving reporter on the spot last Saturday , and he filed this story :

Twas a beautiful day , with a gentle 10 knot nor` easter heralding the start of the Queens Lake leg of the hotly contested interclub event . 

 From PMSC there was Tony Kuhn and Dave Winter , accompanied by grandson Seth , in the cats . The Tasar contingent saw Peter and Alexa and Paul and Gabriella there , and Phil Johson and Dave Cox brought their single seaters along . The Queens Lake team had Greg Marshall and Rohan Noseworthy in Lasers , Peter and Greg and John and Merridy aboard Tasars , two Cherub crews and a whole bunch of cats led by the Pendragon duo . Additionally , the Queens Lake team had befriended a large thunderstorm which was sucking in the nor`easter , in much the same way a 10 year old would consume a vanilla malted on a hot day .

The race was on a port course , with the Queens Lake crews getting an early advantage , the first circuit being theirs . The next three circuits saw the Port Macquarie crews work their way into a commanding position with only two legs to go . But the thunderstorm had other ideas . As the small boy can eventually drink no more , it had satiated itself on nor`easter and suddenly unleashed the lot in a ferocious southerly blast which neatly split the fleet into those forced to work into it (and the rain as well ), and those who ran before it . Bedlam ensued with this reporter desperately unlucky not to overtake Peter Lentz . And then ,as suddenly as the storm began , it stopped . No wind at all ! Tail-ender Dave Winter had to paddle home , much to the disgust of his grandson who complained mightily about the work he had to do . After all were safely ashore , Greg Marshall was found to have come first , Tony Kuhn second , Paul and Gabriella third , and the Queens Lake team took the overall points .

Sunday , back in Port Macquarie ,the day looked promising . Grey it was , but the wind was blowing steadily at about eight knots . Terry Howard set a solid  course , and twelve boats made themselves ready . It was a handicap race , and the boats were released at the discretion of the handicapper . The first leg was into a suddenly increasing nor`easter which , combined with an out-running tide , quickly whipped up a chop . After a long work , there was the reward of a couple of little reaches , one to the mark from out in the middle of the river , and once around it another to the second mark in the mouth of Limeburners Creek . Wonderful . Then a long run before the wind to the third buoy . It was in the entrance to the canals , but the unwise angled across the river to it , exposing themselves to the outgoing tide . The wiser stayed on the right hand side of the river , out of the current , and then reached across on the plane . Around the mark and then quickly up on the plane again for the last marker buoy . One lap down , two to go .

The boats started to sort themselves out by the third lap , with the fleet bunching up for the finish . This was the plan , and it worked well . Three of the Tasars , leaving one minute apart from each other , raced abreast down the last run . Kim and Andrea Pett had overtaken Norman Broomhall and Chris Long , but that place was re-claimed , and the three reached to the third mark . Kim got ahead once again and squirted off to the last mark , hotly pursued by Norman and Peter Fitzroy . He rounded the mark ahead of the other two only to be greeted by the stalled catarmaran of Tony Kuhn , dead ahead . He had no choice but to de-power his boat and Norman Boomhall scooted through the gap and held onto that place to the finish line . Murphy`s Law ruled yet again .

The handicapper had this to say :

`What is interesting is the time spread on a pursuit (handicap) race compared with the time spread on a normal race . For example , Paul on fifteen minutes (back marker), should have beaten "Kimbo" ( 0 as scratch boat ) by fifteen (which is what I calculated the difference to be ) . Instead it was just over a minute . Similarly , "Tethys too"  on ten minutes should have been five minutes off Paul`s time , but was only three minutes slower . Being chased , rather than chasing , seems to give everyone a gee-up .`

In the catarmaran class , Frank O`Rourke broke a rudder fitting and had to retire , leaving the race to Tony Kuhn and Dave Winter . Paul and Alex Robertson won the monos , with Kelly Miller steering "Kimbo" to second place and Grady McNee coming in third .

Next week is Race 10 in the Summer Series , and Jack Corthals is on duty with son Germaine .