Last Saturday we had a very disappointing field of only 3 boats, and a lack of breeze in the early stages - in fact it was a drifter to the first mark with nothing between all 3 boats but then a light breeze filled in to allow a reasonable race to develop.

With the breeze I was able to pull away from the Ron & Dave and Roelof was also left behind a bit.

 

Roelof was almost finished on his second lap when the shorten course signal was sounded.

In the end I took scratch, yardstick and handicap results with Ron & Dave second and Roelof third in all categories, refer attached race results.

 

This Saturday is a sprint series - no set format or starter (that'll be decided on the day) - 2pm start. This makes an excellent training run for any trainees, just hit up one of the regular sailors to take a Pacer out with you to learn a few of the finer points in racing. Forecast is for around 15 knot southerly and cool.

 

Racing Report By: Wayne Loder

Last Saturday we had 6 boats on the water, a light breeze that dropped away later in the day and a cool overcast day.

David had Cathy onboard Wind FX and they scooted away from the start, Russell was off the pace in the first leg after a wind shift which left me in a good spot for the first half lap, but Russell soon caught me up and drew away especially once the breeze faded.

Ron and David in the Tasar were having a hard time in the light conditions but Annette seemed to revel in it keeping her Pacer ahead of Max.

The first lap took 34 minutes for David & Cathy and out to 47 minutes for Ron & David, so just after they went through the shorten course signal was sounded and Annette became the first boat finished in around 55 minutes with Max about 6 minutes behind.

This is when the breeze really eased and as such David & Cathy finished in reasonable time with Russell and me straggling in 8 and 15 minutes behind. Ron & David were struggling and then dropped out at the 1 1/2 lap mark.

In the end David & Cathy took the trifecta of Yardstick, Handicap and Scratch results, refer attached results.

 

This Saturday is Open/Pacer race 1 with me as starter. 2pm start and we expect almost 20 knot north westerly, sun and warm! Sounds like a great afternoon out on the lake.

 

Also attached is the revised Duty Roster up to Christmas - this time showing who is on!!

 

Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

Saturday's race was short on starters - just 5 boats! There was breeze (yes a little more cobsistent would be better and it was also pretty cool). However it was better then predicted earlier in the week!

 

The fleet consisted of David in his NS14, me in a Laser, Max in his Leader and Russell & Warwick and Justin with Annette in club Pacers'

From the start David and I established a lead on the others - but after rounding the bottom mark and battling our way up the lake the Pacers were making big inroads on our lead (I was wondering if they'd missed the bottom mark!).

During the second lap there were several vicious gusts that had Max in the water and I performed a dry capsize which dropped me back from David. Meanwhile Russell and Warwick were having a battle with Justin & Annette, after leading for a couple of laps Russell was caught by Justin who then held on to the small lead to finish first in the Pacer race.

During the final lap I picked up some good lifts and closed in on David a bit, he managed to stay ahead for the scratch result, however I managed to take the yardstick win. Just showing how competitive the Pacers were on the day, Justin managed 2nd on yardstick, results are attached.

 

This Saturday is Open/Pacer Race 10, 2pm start and I have start duty, Not a great forecast at this stage with light NW winds - let's hope for an improvement by then!

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

Last Saturday we had 7 boats on the water, and with 3 Lasers their was a podium finish for all!

 

The wind was fairly light and shifty, Russell found the groove early and took a fairly good lead on everyone - though there were some holes he found that gave Cookie a glimmer of hope. But in the end Russell finished with a good lead and took the trifeca of scratch, yardstick and handicap results.

In the Laser division Cookie took an early lead and though I caught him on some legs he did enough to win, I was left battling with Annette over the final leg and just managed to finish ahead of her in the end.

 

Ron and Dave struggled in the light breeze and were left a fair way back from the Lasers, David had taken a Pacer with Warwick and they did really well on yardstick and handicap. Max was the last boat and finished some distance back from the other boats. Results attached.

This Saturday is NS14 Race 10, start time is 2pm with Ian Marks as starter and Roelof as assistant. A decent breeze from the south is forecast - but a little chilly!

Hope to see you there.

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

Last Saturday's race was in light variable conditions, and it was such a lottery who got some breeze.

From the start a number of us had some breeze and got a good lead but then ran into a windless hole near the top mark - it was so frustrating to see the back markers catch a breeze that brought them up past us just wallowing around!

However we then got some breeze and things settled down to a more normal race. 

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David and Russell were trading the lead all the way and surprisingly I was keeping in touch with them as well, Ron and David were being competitive in the Tasar for a while but in later laps dropped back a little. Max was well off the pace in the light conditions as was Ian and Warwick in the Pacer, The shorten course signal was sounded with both Max and Ian finished after 2 laps, the rest of us were required to do a third lap with David just finishing ahead of Russell to take first on scratch, and I finished 2 minutes later to take both Yardstick and Handicap results, check attached.

This Saturday is Laser Race 9, forecast is for light northerly around 5-6 knots (we can hope for a little better!), 2pm start and duty crew is David Cox with Cathy as assistant.

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

Last Saturday we had plenty of wind on the lake and an idiot in a boat!!

I was the only one to rig up and take it on - but the gusts and shifts were too much for me to handle. After about 40 minutes of brutal working upwind, scary fast reaches and several displays of both elegant and ugly capsizing I called it a day. Needless to say the actual race was abandoned before this!

 

So onto this Saturday, it is Open/Pacer race 9, 2pm start with Annette as starter and me as assistant.

Forecast at this early stage is a much more manageable 8-10 knots from the SE.

Hope to see you there........

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

Last Saturday was disappointing as the breeze didn't turn up - Ian had a good idea checking out the Wings Over Illawarra airshow instead!!

However we still had 6 boats on the water for 2 triangle/sausage races, 2 top marks allowed different length laps to have a handicap,

David and Russell were the fastest - but had the most distance to cover. Annette and Warwick in the Pacer were slower but had less distance to go,

The first race had Russell win with Annette second and in the second Annette came in well ahead of Russell in second place, David was consistent with third in both races.

This Saturday is NS14 race 9, 2pm start with Max Hubbard as starter with Ron as assistant - Willyweather suggests a good 14 knot

sou-wester, that should be pretty good.

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

Last Saturday we had 7 boats on the water, a welcome return for Roelof to the lake, we also had Justin with Annette crewing Casper ​and Cookie sailing his Laser Pie n Peas.

 

It seemed like a normal day with David and Russell out in front trading places - however just into the second lap David capsized when he was caught out by a big lull. In the time he took to right the boat Russell, Justin and Cookie had all sailed by. After a lap David was back up with Cookie & Justin but wasn't able to skip free and move up on Russell who had the lead all to himself.

 

Behind them Max, Roelof and Ian in a club pacer were having a pretty close race early on with Max skipping away downwind and getting hauled in upwind. On the second lap Ian had a couple of poor legs and fell back a fair bit. 

After 3 laps by the faster boats the shorten signal was sounded and then we had a fairly close finish of all boats.

Russell took the scratch and yardstick results (but Cookie wasn't far behind) and Ian with Warwick took the handicap result, see attached.

 

This Saturday is a Sprint Series, an ideal time for our trainees to get a taste of racing since regular sailors can ditch their own boats and crew/skipper with a trainee. We'll be running 2 or 3 short races to hone those starting skills.

It will be a 2pm start and I'll be duty crew, forecast is for a nice sunny day - but the wind is likely to be very light.

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

Last Saturday we had 7 boats on the water, a welcome return for Roelof to the lake, we also had Justin with Annette crewing Casper ​and Cookie sailing his Laser Pie n Peas.

 

It seemed like a normal day with David and Russell out in front trading places - however just into the second lap David capsized when he was caught out by a big lull. In the time he took to right the boat Russell, Justin and Cookie had all sailed by. After a lap David was back up with Cookie & Justin but wasn't able to skip free and move up on Russell who had the lead all to himself.

 

Behind them Max, Roelof and Ian in a club pacer were having a pretty close race early on with Max skipping away downwind and getting hauled in upwind. On the second lap Ian had a couple of poor legs and fell back a fair bit. 

After 3 laps by the faster boats the shorten signal was sounded and then we had a fairly close finish of all boats.

Russell took the scratch and yardstick results (but Cookie wasn't far behind) and Ian with Warwick took the handicap result, see attached.

 

This Saturday is a Sprint Series, an ideal time for our trainees to get a taste of racing since regular sailors can ditch their own boats and crew/skipper with a trainee. We'll be running 2 or 3 short races to hone those starting skills.

It will be a 2pm start and I'll be duty crew, forecast is for a nice sunny day - but the wind is likely to be very light.

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

On Saturday we had the Spiral Travelers Trophy round run in conjunction with our normal club race, we had around 8 Spirals, including Alvaro, which were started first and then 5 minutes later the club race was started. 

The challenge was to try and round up the Spirals! Russell capsized early in the first lap which allowed me to catch him up and early in the second lap I was actually past him - but as the race went on he did get ahead again and ended up finishing just ahead of the first placed Spiral.

In the last lap I found myself in among a couple of Spirals which chose the right line across the lake and made me work hard to get past them again by the finish,

Ron and Dave in their Tasar appeared to have some early pace but unfortunately seemed to find all the holes and ended a fair way back.

Ian had a welcome return to sailing and had Warwick aboard a club Pacer - they were having a good battle with Max at the back of the fleet, but in the end Max managed to stay ahead of them by less then a minute at the finish.

This Saturday is Open/Pacer Race 7, start time is 2pm and I'm the duty crew. 

For any sailing trainees who want to experience a race on the water 'reply all' to this email, we should have some volunteers available to go out with you.

So check out the new website and hope to see you at the lake on Saturday.

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

Another small fleet of 6 boats competed on Saturday, the wind was moderate from the south east but the lake showed the usual variation of strength and direction!

David & Cathy in Hex weren't getting far ahead of Russell over the first lap but then sailed away when the conditions became a little more variable, eventually lapping the slower boats and becoming the first boat home.

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I was keeping touch with Russel and had Ron and David hounding me for much of the early laps, however toward the end Russell did draw away for a comfortable second place. Ron and David have been making great improvements of late and threatened to get by me however they went a little close to the north shore and ran aground, in getting back on the water they had dropped well back and were unable to make up the time.

 

Annette was in the Pacer with Santiago and made a great start except she was over the line and had to return and restart, which took a long time due to being caught in the lee of the shore. They still battled on but a good race result was shot.

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder

Racing 24th Feb 2018 Last Saturday we had 6 boats on the water, 2 were Pacers with new crew. Annette took our most recent trainee Warwick out and Alvaro was out with his son Santiago.

 

Conditions were varied to say the least, with a pretty strong nor-easterly early that then dropped and replaced with a westerly late n the race with a drenching of rain for me as the last boat home.

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David and Cathy revelled in the conditions after 2 laps it looked like they would lap the entire fleet! Russell and l were close for the first couple of laps but as the breeze dropped he skipped away from me to finish well clear.

 

Annette & Warwick were looking good together and weren't far behind Max, Alvaro & Santiago in the second Pacer were off the pace but they were both new to the boat and Santiago's first sail as well so much improvement will be coming. So unsurprisingly David & Cathy took the trifecta of scratch, yardstick and handicap wins.

 

This Saturday is the Liverpool Cup. It will be 2 shorter handicap races, 2nd run straight after the first race is finished. Please be on the water ready to go for a 3pm start as it may take a little longer than normal to complete the races. Roelof will be running the races but will need some help with the powerboat.

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Racing Report By : Wayne Loder