luke.matthews

2013 National Photos

Photos by Chis Furey of the action on Wednesday. Thanks Chris!

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An apology from the web guy

On some parts of the website you might notice that reference is made to an email address “admin@j24.com.au”. We (I) have just discovered that this email address has not been working for a considerable period of time. If you have attempted to contact us using that email address and had your email bounce back, We (I) apologise. It is working now, and will be checked on a regular basis.

Cheers, Luke.

J24 Coaching at SYC

As part of a coaching weekend just before the Vic States, Michah Shuwalow, from the SYC boating academy ran a session with the J fleet.

As well as taking photos, Michah provided a GoPro camera that was attached to three different boats over the mornings races. It was fascinating to see the differences in the way we all sail the boats.

Here’s a video that Michah put together showing Pacemaker in the first race.

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Hyperactive Win SYC J24 Summer Series 2011-2012

The Hyperactive crew at work

Author: Doug MacGregor

Owners of Hyperactive, Sarah Thompson and Robyn Coombs, with their crew of Kirsty Harris, who is on the helm, Rob Richardson and Joelle Roderick took out the J24 Summer Sprint Series at Sandringham YC on Sunday 16th April. And…they’d a quiet celebratory drink on the deck at the club…they went on to the training lecture and video review of the day’s racing (still quiet)…they went on to weigh their boat (YET AGAIN!), still quiet…and then they went home, you got it, still quiet….and I say quiet because no one but them, save one other (Brendon Lee, who came second), knew that they’d won!! In all fairness the last races were awash with maverick competitors and non entrants, crews out to train (sort of) and crews pulling out. All that was missing was the Black Pearl with Jack Sparrow at the wheel. So, forgive us Hyper..if we’d realized, we’d so have partied!!

Let me now make amends for my oversight for I should really, as vice president, been more on top of this, offer my congratulations to the crew of Hyperactive who have won one of the most coveted titles in Victorian racing, for consistency is exactly what all of us are trying to achieve. It wins races. And you don’t win a series without it. Add to that the many trials and tribulations that Hyper’ have gone through this season with technicalities on their boat and it makes their win even more special. They’ve been stoic, to say the least, and let’s face it really, really fast !!

Also…a huge round of applause for Brendon Lee, and his crew, on By The Lee who came in a very close and hard fought second place. As you may know Brendon is new to the class and has most certainly impressed all of who have been sailing Js a bit longer with how quickly he as learned to sail our funny wee boat.

Again…well done Hyperactive!! I think everyone owes you a beer.

2011 Victorian State Championship

Four races have been completed in the Victorian State Championship sponsored by Lend Lease being sailed at Sandringham Yacht Club this weekend.

David Suda sailing Pacemaker has started well and holds a commanding lead in the series after winning all four races sailed today. With only two races remaining Dave and his team look like adding another title to the collection.

Adam Evans sailing SDM is currently in second place after finishing the day with two thirds, a second and sixth and is just one point ahead of current Australian Champion Sean Kirkjian from NSW.

Eighteen boats are competing in the event with fourteen from the host club, 3 from NSW and one from SA. The huge local contingent reflects the strength of the class in Victoria where continued growth is predicted over the winter months.

For all the results click here

Legends Regatta Photos

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The Legends Regatta was born out of an idea from Peter Stevens early last year and it was decided to run it in NSW due to the larger amount of boats and Legends residing there and last weekend saw the culmination of a massive amount of work to make this event happen.

The Gosford weekend was a huge success for the class and I want to thank the members of the NSW Association that put in such a huge effort to make this all happen. The result is a real credit to the vision and hard work of Terry Wise, Arthur Crothers and Paula Shires-Clarke who were the main drivers of this event, I know personally that Paula has lived and breathed this event for the last 6 months, working tirelessly to make it all a success. Many others were involved and I wish to thank them for their effort also especially Tim Briggs for his support in offering sponsorship and help with the legends venue. Thanks must go to all the sponsors small and large that offered their help with the regatta, with around $50,000 worth of sponsorship this surely rank as the most amazing event of recent times within the class and indeed within yachting in Australia.  Thanks to Gosford Sailing Club for running the regatta and to Graeme Watt and his wife Margo who came from Melbourne to bring their considerable experience as international fleet race officers to run the racing. And finally a huge thank you to all the competitors and Legends who came and made this the most exciting J24 event in recent Australian sailing history.

Read more

The battle for 3rd

A somewhat delayed post about the nationals – but better late than never!

As mentioned in an earlier post, there were two battles to take place on the final day of racing in the nationals.

The race for first between Sean in Wetty Gripper and Doug in Code Violation and the race for third between Hugo in Vice Versa and Dave in Pacemaker – with both boats only separated by a point.

As it turns out the race for third turned into very interesting battle on that final day.

The goal for Hugo was simple, beat Pacemaker in both races and secure third.

As soon as the northerly filled in and the start gun fired, it was game on. Hugo had the pace and the tactics to keep Dave at bay for the first lap. The comments from the crew on Pacemaker were that they had been outclassed by the team on Vice Versa. During the final lap, Vice Versa held a loose cover on Pacemaker taking them close to the starboard layline. A tacking duel just before the layline gave Pacemaker just enough room to breath on the way towards the mark.

By the time the to boats reached the top mark for the final time, Vice Versa had extended their lead to almost 10 boat lengths. Spotting traffic and a left hand windshift at the top mark gave Pacemaker the break they were looking for and tacked in on the stern of Vice Versa as they rounded the top mark heading for the finish.

From this point, it was game on. Pacemaker had one goal at this point… get in front! What ensued was a shy to shy gybing duel that would have had at least 10 gybes in it (we lost count!) that pushed both crews to the limit of their abilities.

At one point down the leg, Pacemaker broke the overlap and moved clear ahead, but failed to gain a starboard advantage. It was during the second half of the leg, that the Pacemaker crew had realised that something interesting was about to happen on the scoreboard. By locking horns with Vice Versa, Pacemaker had moved Vice Versa back down the field to a point where the boats were due to finish 8th and 9th. It was the 8th that was going to make the scoreboard very interesting as this changed the drops for both boats and left them with even points going into the last race. (For a detailed explanation, which includes hand waving and whiteboards – talk to the Pacemaker crew!)

Race 9 finished with Vice Versa just beating Pacemaker across the line.

The final race was shaping up to be a battle, with both teams going in on even points, but with Hugo ahead on a countback.

An unfortunate first beat and top mark rounding saw Vice Versa stuck at the back of the pack, with Pacemaker having an easy time up the front. The final result saw Pacemaker sneak home with a third.