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| City of Canberra; Missed you guys!!! | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 7 2008, 08:23 AM (494 Views) | |
| Number 48 | Dec 7 2008, 08:23 AM Post #1 |
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Hi All, How was the City of Canberra regatta? We apologise for our absence, but TBS needed some love (maintenance) and Amy and I sold "Everything Zen" today (sad times - Amy and I are having a wake as we speak), so there were some things to do there as well. The upside of all this is that we get to sail the Cherub Nationals, the NSW States and anything else we need to do between now and April. We'll certainly be a much more committed Elliott 7 regime next season - that's where it will get serious... I heard there was supposed to be a nice west-nor'wester on Saturday. Did you hold a passage race today? Results? Andrew & Amy |
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| n4s | Dec 8 2008, 09:41 PM Post #2 |
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Hi Andrew, Well since no-one else seems to be replying, I will..... Walter Turnbull won the CoC again in a clean sweep, with Casper second and Escapade third for the series. I sailed with Woof on the Sunday for the Passage race and we had a worrying moment doing double figures under kite when Humungus had a rudder failure in front of us. The round up was something to see, with Gus's hull launching out of the water looking like he was going to take off. (the welds on his rudder box gave way.) Cheers, Stu |
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| SteveC | Dec 10 2008, 08:46 AM Post #3 |
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Results Consulting City of Canberra Regatta Good to hear the bathtub is going! So when is the proposal? Yep we got some brezze all weekend. Another well run and enjoyed regatta out of the CYC, I'm biased, but every regatta here goes smoothly add to the bar service meal with sailor mates and brunch in the morning, it's all good. Pillow puts a lot in before and after racing and still keeps it going on the course. Congratulations to Escapade for getting the 3rd, the top 3 were very consistent, in a no drop series, it is a huge part. Casper is fast returning (with different crew) to the form that saw them challenge every race a couple of seasons ago, and had a very deserved 2nd. The Gussy launch was unreal, if only we had a camera, no doubt Jimmy has seen plenty of 12's do the same to him, but a 7 doing it was scary. Impressive though. The less said about Greeny and the Mirror the better Those Magics have got nothin! |
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| Jim Walsh | Dec 11 2008, 11:25 PM Post #4 |
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I am learning very quickly not to sit on Gussy's weather hip downwind in a blow. Also a long gap between races on a hot day can lead to some directional issues It was a lot of fun and a very hospitable group of people, I am looking forward to the next one. It was also great sailing with Michael Milton, a very inspirational bloke. I am also working well toward the winner of the most crew during the season, 4 regatta and up to 12 different crew. My two traveller beers didn't make it to Lake George, thank god for the collector hotel so I could restock |
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| SteveC | Dec 27 2008, 12:38 PM Post #5 |
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Greg Breen, Saturday, 20 December 2008 Elliott 7s dominate again Sailing on inland lakes has a reputation of fluky unreliable winds from our coastal sailing cousins and it’s hard to argue with them really. This reputation often keeps sailors away from Lake Burley Griffin and this year’s City of Canberra Regatta was not well supported by the large band of trailable yachts that could have made their way to our fair city and its beautiful lake. All that can be said about that is that it was their misfortune to miss a weekend of fantastic winds and even better competition. I arrived on Saturday morning early with Judy to help out with registration and whatever else was going on and the usual abundance of volunteers were buzzing about turning their hand to whatever needed to be done. As an Elliott 7 Grand Prix campaigner, we travel regularly and get to see first hand how other clubs run their regattas and its pretty obvious our volunteer forces are the best there are anywhere in Australia. Our club’s culture and “family” feel to it is unique in many ways and we all should be proud of what we achieve together in this way. Enough of the mushy stuff…. At 10.00am there was no breeze on the lake at all and the forecast pinned to the wall suggested it was going to blow in from the North, North West at 25-35Kmh. The visitors were all asking if it was going to happen, and with fingers crossed, the response was “sure it will, hopefully around 12…” and me thinking to myself, hope it comes in before the twilight race at least! Angus Reid showed up to register Humungus in the event looking quite resplendent in his lycra rowing outfit as he had been competing in a rowing regatta a few bends away from us and the conditions were perfect for them. Just as he left to go back to the finals, the breeze started to fill in and before long the whitecaps appeared and it was game on. The Sportsboat division was made up of 6 Elliott 7s and 4 Magic 25s and you could sense there was going to be some action. Mike Green travelled from Sydney with his E7 and he is a big boat sailor who loves the big breezes – I recall sitting on the ramp at Double Bay in winter a couple of years back with WalterTurnbull on the trailer as it was blowing 40 knots from the south watching Greeny take his brand new E7 out for its inaugural voyage wondering if he’d ever return to shore alive! The other madman of the E7 fleet was down with his boat “Woof” and he had Canberra’s own Michael Milton on-board as a guest to help promote Benny’s World, a foundation that Jimmy Walsh is supporting for child sufferers of brain tumours. We knew both these guys would be running big headsails and chutes in whatever conditions Huey threw down at us and we’d have to be on our game all weekend. The second division was made up of a wide variety of trailer sailers from Castles, Gems, RL24s, TS16s right through to a Princess. A few visitors graced this division and there was going to be some close racing amongst the ‘usuals’ from the club as the wind was gusty and swinging around quite a bit – the sort of thing a seabreeze never does and that we’re quite used to in the scheme of things. The Saturday schedule of racing called for two back to back windward leeward races after lunch and then a break to the third race at twilight on a triangular course. Sunday was scheduled to have a leisurely passage race to take in the scenery and investigate parts of the lake we don’t get to see that often. Everyone launched with anticipation of a big afternoon as it was already blowing 20+ knots and the fleet reached its way across the line awaiting the starter’s orders. You knew there was going to be some action as there were crew going overboard and boats broaching in the gusty conditions before the start! The sportsboats were first away and after a clean start the fleet settled into grinding their way uphill in the gusting breeze which had a tendency to round you up with every punch it delivered. Matt was feathering his way in the tough conditions and local knowledge saw us hang left of the course where the breeze seemed to be best. The Magics were ragging their mains and driving under headsail doing 6-7 knots while the E7s were just keeping in touch doing our usual 6.3knots but pointing higher. There were boats crossing sterns all the way up the first work all over the lake and it was going to be tight and potentially messy at the top mark. After we rounded clear, the spinnaker runs were a blast and believe it or not we managed to clock a top speed of 17.5knots on the log and I could count on one hand the number of faster runs we’ve had in the old girl! The breeze seemed to have picked up before Race 2 and we all looked at each other and discussed putting up the number 2 headsail and in the end that was the call. We rarely do this and it’s got to be over 30Knots before we consider it and we paid the price of doing so as it turned out. The WT lost a good knot in boat speed and as we ticked away at 5 and a bit knots and watched the fleet pull away from us to the top mark – lucky for us there was a bit of congestion at the mark and we were fortunate to pick up a few boats as they untangled themselves. We set the chute for another wild ride and the call from the back came to peel to the number 1 headsail – we all looked back at Matt just to be clear on this as we were motoring at 14+knots at the time all huddled back at the transom! Steve Cartwright bravely went forward and unhanked the headie and peeled to the number 1 and we managed to pull off two gybes while he did this – no pressure! We managed to pull back a few places while others in front of us struggled in the conditions and we managed to cross the finish line in first place to get back to shore to refill the esky and get another one of those awesome hamburgers the shore team were so handsomely producing. The various crews were all ashore soon enough sharing their experiences of the day and wondering if it would lighten off a bit for the last race. It never really did and we all set off for the final race of the day though not everyone joined in as there were a few boats that tested their maintenance programs and were nursing broken boats and broken crews. Those that did were in for a good race in great conditions and the fun just continued on. The triangle course had two of the buoys set in amongst the weeds at Spinnaker Island and Springbank Island and this must have been obvious to the PRO on the race vessel as the whole sportsboat fleet rounded the bottom mark ad went head to wind to reverse the weed off their keels – it was quite a sight to see 8 boats all going backwards! The call went out to move the marks and the remaining laps were not such an issue. After racing most of the crews hit the showers and spruced up for the dinner upstairs at the club which was well catered for and great value. The visitors very much appreciated us putting this on and for hosting them socially. As a travelling sailor its not often the host clubs do this and I can tell you it makes the regatta a better experience if the hosts go out of their way to make you feel at home amongst them. It was never going to be a late night as you could tell the days sailing had taken its toll and the weary were soon heading off to a comfy bed somewhere. Sunday morning breakfast at the City of Canberra is a bit of legendry experience as Peter Taylor and his band of Adams cohorts pitch in and put on a bacon and egg festival to die for (literally – my arteries are still clogged!) and for $5 it’s the bargain of the century to boot. The race was set as a passage race with buoy 1 up in Tarcoola reach at the start of the rowing course, buoy 2 was at Yarralumla off the Water Police, buoy 3 was at Experts and buoy 4 was off Lennox Gardens. There was a “no go zone” to the south of Spinnaker Island which meant we had to sail around it and there was always going to be some weed issues for the sportsboats and especially for the Magics with their torpedo bulbs which are perfect for chopping up weed and collecting it. It amazes me how much a piece of weed wrapped around the keel will impact performance and the Elliott will drop 2-3 knots of boat speed easy. The conditions were still fresh to strong out in the main basin and the reach from buoy 2 saw many boats on their sides when that inevitable gust slammed down over the tree line. The reach down to buoy 3 also saw some carnage and none more impressive than Humungus who when sailing at pace under spinnaker broke their rudder box and lost steering – the boat rounded up so fast the boat lurched out of the water with its bow in the air and we could see the keel as it spun around on itself – must have been fun to be on board – though Gussy’s crew is used to this level of excitement and are practised at holding onto something solid just in case! Another two laps to the top mark and I suspect everyone was thinking to themselves that another lap was too much to bear and thankfully the PRO had decided to finish us at the bottom mark on the third lap. We had a tremendous ride over the line clocking 14.9Knots and the picture shows Matt with a big smile on his dial giving the committee vessel a high five as we crossed the line. It was a regatta to remember for a lot of reasons – it was well organised, well run, well supported and well sailed in good spirit. Congratulations CYC and to all those involved. |
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| SteveC | Dec 27 2008, 12:40 PM Post #6 |
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Weeeeeee |
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| Number 48 | Jan 12 2009, 05:03 AM Post #7 |
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Damn - I was hoping you'd say there was no wind and no one turned up. Now I'm all jealous... Rockstar race report, and the photos on the Photo Page look awesome too. Looking forward to hopefully sailing the Sydney Regatta, although that will significantly impact on my NSW State Title aspirations on the Cherub (which we still hold onto until the end of the season). We'll be there next year. |
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