J24 Associations

Victorian State Champs 2010

Jeanette Syme skippers Scott Salisbury into 3rd in the Vic States

Good things come in small packages, just ask Jeanette Syme. She helmed Scott Salisbury into 3rd place at this weekend’s Victorian State Champs at Sandringham YC in Melbourne.

Jeanette couldn’t have seen much of the race out in front as she is only half the height of Pete Stevens who spent the weekend right in front of her doing the trimming, but she is beaming. Big brother Ron, sailing Kicking Bottom and sailed very well and although the green machine was up near the pointy end of the fleet a lot of the time, he could only manage 5th.

We suggested she should rename her boat “Kicking Ron”.

In fact the whole Kicking Bottom / Scott Salisbury relationship is an interesting tale. The Melbourne fleet is undergoing something of an explosion of interest and in the last few months we have seen two new boats join the fleet and we have another 3-4 people genuinely interested in buying boats. Warren Campbell who has been sailing on Kicking Bottom for the last two owners, jumped out and bought Scott Salisbury from Adelaide a couple of days before the regatta. Peter Stevens very kindly brought the boat over and sailed on it with Arthur Crothers and Jeanette Syme and crew who came down from Sydney. So Warren, still sailing on Kicking Bottom watched his new boat sailed by his skipper’s sister fly by to finish ahead.

Got all that!  Need more?

Simon Grain was the bridesmaid again and Dave Suda, who didn’t even make double digits in his series score was very clearly the winner and deservedly so. He had an almost clean sweep with 5 wins and a second – guess to who – Yep “Kicking Ron”.  Good things do come in small packages, although she did say the crew were brilliant too.

Of course the “Kicking Ron” crew stayed at Warrens!

What it does very clearly show is that you can take an older boat, set it up in half a day and be very competitive in the fleet.

A very noticeable change this year was the calibre of the fleet, with close racing, and boats that have been out the back, now right up in the pack. Boat speed was generally up on last year and so Ron Thomson’s “Kicking Bottom”, Mike Lewenhagen’s “Excite Your Senses” and Doug MacGregor’s “Crackerjack” all lifted themselves into 5, 6 and 7 respectively. The Hyperactive Babes had an up and down regatta and finished fourth.

The weather co-operated with 5 – 15 knot northerlies, a little shifty and patchy at times but great sailing and with this sort of weather for many of the last years comps, the Vic States really is the “Balmy Regatta”

Although we had expected 4 interstate boats, it turned out to be two and the other boat was Terry Wise from Sydney who brought down Starpac with a very keen sailing school crew who really enjoyed the glamour Melbourne weather experience, flat water and warm sunny skies.

The tail end of the fleet was rounded out with new owners Andrew and Chris Hely on Vertigo, Jack Crawford’s Sanguine and another new owner Rowan Pollard on Two Dogs.

Glam weather also allowed the social side of things to go very well indeed, with a huge BBQ at Lisa Simonov’s house (thankyou Lisa) and virtually the whole regatta crowd were able to have a great night outside in the warm weather. Terry Wise gave a presentation on the upcoming Gosford “Legends Regatta” that is shaping up to be a very big event.

You’ve probably picked the name missing from the results. Hugo Ottaway was unable to make it this year due to his son doing the big 21 party and the bleary eyed master did struggle down on the Sunday to say hi – “lights on, but no one home” look !

The class is on fire and next year at the rate we are going we could very well have 20 boats on the start line, so book early if you want a bed in Melbourne!

Place Ties Sail No Boat Name Skipper From Sers Score Race 6 Race 5 Race 4 Race 3 Race 2 Race 1
1 4792 PACEMAKER DSuda HLandes SYC 7.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
2 4787 MAKE MY J Simon Grain SYC 19.0 2.0 4.0 2.0 5.0 3.0 3.0
3 2632 SSS Jeanette Syme MHYC 24.0 6.0 1.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 8.0
4 5246 HYPERACTIVE Kirsty Harris SYC 28.0 8.0 8.0 3.0 2.0 5.0 2.0
5 1324 KICKING BOTTOM Ron Thomson SYC 29.0 3.0 3.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 4.0
6 1636 EXCITE YOUR SENSES Michael Lewenhagen SYC 37.0 4.0 6.0 5.0 7.0 6.0 9.0
7 5086 CRACKERJACK Doug Macgregor SYC 39.0 10.0 7.0 7.0 4.0 4.0 7.0
8 5247 STARPAC Terry Wise CYCA 45.0 5.0 5.0 8.0 8.0 13.0O 6.0
9 5.0S 4436 VERTIGO Andrew Hely SYC 54.0 9.0 11.0 11.0 9.0 9.0 5.0
10 4470 SANGUINE Peter Moulang SYC 54.0 7.0 9.0 9.0 11.0 8.0 10.0
11 4464 TWO DOGS Rowan Pollard SYC 64.0 13.0F 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 11.0

Light winds Give “ No Eye Deer” a clear victory

 

 

Trevor Conyers Crew
Trevor Conyers and Crew

Light and fickle winds compounded with strong tides tested the skills of the 10 J’s  participating at the SA state heats on the weekend of the 13th & 14th March.

The six races were always close with only five minutes separating the first and last boats in many of the races. Even those boats at the back of the fleet found the competition tense and enjoyed the thrill of coming in only a split second in front of another boat.

Trevor Conyers and his crew aboard No Eye Deer demonstrated consistent form in winning all but one race with Alyn Stevenson and Simon Grain always close on his tail.

As is a hallmark of J events the participants had a great time together and we very much appreciated the participation of our national president and his crew who incidentally presented the trophies to the winners even if that meant giving two to himself.

Thanks must go to the race officers who handled a constantly shifting course with considerable skill and also to the CYCSA who were our gracious hosts.

It was fantastic to see our fleet numbers up this year and with two other clubs showing significant interest in starting their own J fleets we reckon the J’s are in for a big year.

Simon Grain and Crew

The final results were

No eye Deer                Trevor Conyers

Fun 2                           Alyn Stevenson

Fun                              Simon Grain

Hi                                 Peter Stevens

Vertigo             Jamie Goode

Such is Life                   Roger Nicholson

Good Company            Robin Townsend

Kaizan 2                       Michael McGlinchey

Foolish Behaviour         Rod Wenham

Cookie Monster           Brian Walsh

 

For a break down of each race and PHS results go to the CYCSA website under racing results.

Rod Wenham

J24 SA President

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.

Dave wins the raffle

J24 Nationals 2009 062

Last night’s Mexican hijinx was a night to remember. The Mexican spirit flowed liberally and stick on moustaches ponchos and sombreros were all the rage. Live music, Mexican accents and margaritas all combined to make sure that the night was a huge success. Dave off Wetty Gripper won the major prize in the raffle of a hamper donated by Hamper Creations of Melbourne and is seen in the picture carrying off his prize !

When left is right

It’s rumoured that Dougie McGain must have gone home after the first day and written lines – ‘I must not go right, I must not go right, I must not go right, I must not go right, I must not go right, I must go left’. And clearly it worked because he came back with a vengeance yesterday, he didn’t go right at all, just banged the left corner every time and came home with 3 bullets.

Of course 3 wins helps every time and he has moved up the leader board from fifth to second. Sean Wallis had an almost equally consistent day with two seconds and a third and still holds a 9 point lead from Doug on current points score without the drop. A pretty clear picture you might think, but look again. Factoring in the drop changes the picture dramatically and gives Doug the chance to win if he gets another clean sweep.

This means that the Wetty Gripper guys will need to stay sharp and get another win or two if they want to take the trophy home. If Sean continues his current consistence he should just win the championship although some poorer placings than thirds and wins by Doug will make the points table as tight as Sean is likely to get after the presentation.

Doug already has his drop with a 10th in the first race so he has nothing up his sleeve there and can’t afford another bad one, Sean is dropping a 3rd at this stage so has a little margin for error.

If Doug does have another bad one he risks having a battle for second with David Suda and Hugo Ottaway and both these skippers still have the chance of being the bridesmaid this year if they can keep their noses clean and stay in contention for race wins or a second placings in the next 4 races.

The battle of the Seans is now a fizzer, with Sean Kirkjian although putting in some good performances yesterday now being 13 points behind allowing for the drop at this point. He will have to work hard and bring in some good finishes to get the money as he also already has a drop in his current results. Dave and Hugo can afford to have a bad one and still be in the race for 2nd and third.

Once again the ‘Hyper Girls’ are doing well, currently lying 6th although they have a 12 point gap off the back of Starpac.

The weather for the last two racing days looks good with forecast winds under 20 knots on both days and mostly sunny skies. Temperatures on Friday are forecast to get into the mid 30s so it will be a hot finish to a hot regatta.

DSC09496

Ron Thomson and crew are sailing like demons and are now guaranteed to be the first green boat in this years regatta

My first race!

Mel Hawkes

Story of Day One of the Nationals by Mel Hawkes, sailing on Starpac

When my legs had finally stopped shaking and after I had stuffed a roll in my face I headed for the bar. Not normally a drinker I am finding I am quickly making up for that in the last few days. Still in a bit of a daze I found myself being asked how we did. I had no idea so was very surprised to find not only had we come fourth overall but we had been leading for a while on the first race.

The whole experience has been a steep learning curve and another one  I found was probably how to annoy everyone by me piping up I had no idea where we were I was too busy concentrating on my  two little lines that were my job. The correct terms for them would be the topping and the kicker line.

I must confess to shutting my eyes at each start as it looked more like a pack of bumper cars about to attack and judging by a rather loud thud at one point I think that theory was correct.

I have an absolute respect for all skippers especially mine as how they manage to pick their spots remains calm is a new mystery to me. I also have to rethink the theory that men can’t multi task as our skipper apart from helming and trimming the boat prevented me from hanging myself on more than one occasion and hoisting up the bow girl with the pole and that’s just the parts I had my eyes open for.

My goal tomorrow is to try and look up at one point. Baby steps! I started sailing with Pacific sailing school a few months ago after a holiday in st Lucia and I managed to flip a hobbie cat which I am told is pretty hard to do. Few months later I find myself racing in the Nationals way out of my comfort zone. Hank at the school reassured me that girls can be very good sailors let’s see what our skipper has to say at the end of the week.

NSW State Championships

Doug McGain in Code Violation eventually won the NSW States in a seemingly convincing style with 3 wins, 2 seconds and a 10th finishing with 17 points. With no drops the regatta rewarded consistency and his 10th place nearly took him out of contention to Arthur Crothers also consistent Kaotic, steered once again by Ben Lamb finishing just 2 behind on 19 points.

John Crawford in Innnaminka came in 3rd with Steve Girdis in Convicts Revenge 4th. The regatta was significant for the return to competition of a number of boats and skippers and the interstate participation. Peter Stevens came from Adelaide to sail one of Terry Wise’s Pacific Sailing School boats, Pacatack and 4 boats from Victoria also made the trip.

Dave Suda in Pacemaker was the best of the southern boats with Hugo Ottaway making a welcome return to serious competition sailing in Peter Moulang’s new boat Duck for Cover. Simon Grain in Make my Jay and Ron Thomson in Kicking Bottom also made the trip.

Local knowledge and good sailing made the difference with the interstate boats finishing back in the pack. Conditions were I am told – unusual. Compared to the wide open spaces of Port Phillip, the harbor was jam packed with boats – our fleet, other fleets, power boats and ferries of all sizes. A constant vigil for all sorts of water craft, including the first ship to be anchored in Sydney for 3 years (I am told) was necessary.  Saturday’s breeze was a shifty SE of around 10 -12 knots, and with a false start when the first race was stopped due to a major shift, Kaotic got off to a good start with the first win of the day followed by a 3rd and 5th. Due to the difficulty of the course area the start was shifted around Bradley’s Head with the top mark up towards Rose Bay. Conditions were still shifty and banging the corners seemed to work the best, there were many bangs and bumps at the top mark in each race in some very hard fought racing.

The hard work from Terry Wise (NSW Pres) and RANSA showed again with a fabulous Saturday evening function, a spit roast and many frivolous and hilarious prizes handed out made for a great evening.

Sundays racing was held in 40deg heat and gusty northerly winds, a start line set in Double bay and some short courses gave a hot summer feeling to the racing. Doug McGain produced an almost clean sweep with a 1,1,2 for the day. Kaotic was unlucky to lose a first place when the last race was abandoned, unfortunately this was to cost them the title.

Congratulations to our winner Doug McGain, thanks to Terry Wise for all the regatta organization, thanks to RANSA and the race management team. The efforts of these people and the great turn out from the NSW fleet and the visitors made this tough regatta a resounding success and a good work up for the Nationals to be held in Melbourne in the first week of January.

Sail No Yacht Name Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Pts Total Places
AUS 186 CODE VIOLATION

2

10

1

1

1

2

17

1
AUS 160 KAOTIC

1

3

5

2

3

5

19

2
AUS 172 INNAMINCKA

3

7

4

5

2

7

28

3
AUS 161 CONVICTS REVENGE

7

11

2

3

4

3

30

4
AUS 184 ACE

9

2

3

16

8

1

39

5
AUS 177 VORTEX

5

1

8

8

9

8

39

6
AUS 206 STARPAC

8

12

7

4

7

4

42

7
AUS4792 PACEMAKER

6

6

6

17

5

6

46

8
AUS4795 PACATACK

4

4

13

7

14

11

53

9
AUS5218 DUCK FOR COVER

11

8

11

6

6

16

58

10
AUS 167 J-SPOT

10

9

10

9

11

9

58

11
AUS4787 MAKE MY JAY

13

13

9

10

9

14

68

12
AUS 148 JAGGED EDGE

14

5

14

13

12

12

70

13
AUS 197 BLACK JACK

15

14

12

14

15

10

80

14
AUS1324 KICKING BOTTOM

12

15

15

11

13

17

83

15
AUS 193 WILD FIRE

16

16

16

12

16

13

89

16

Port Adelaide Sailing Club – founded 1897

Port Adelaide Sailing Club
Founded 1897

A new J24 fleet is being established in Adelaide based in the Port River in a new marina. Several High Schools are now basing their sailing programs at the club as well as Sailability.

Port Adelaide is the base in South Australia for Sailability with multiple cranes on the wharfs to assist.

Alyn Stevenson sailing Fun2 has relocated his J24 for 3 months to help establish the fleet and Peter Stevens has bought Haywire and this J24 will go to the PASC as well. 2 boats for sale are being moved to the Port as well as a couple a members who have not hit the race track for several years also in the process of moving.

A clear goal of 10 J24’s within 18 months has been set and will be achieved. The aim is to get older boats out of circulation and back in the club scene in an easy sailing environment. The river offers owners the opportunity to sail shorthanded or with inexperienced crew.

Having said, it also offers the opportunity to get some of S.A’s top juniors involved in the J24’s and the river is great training for the experienced teams wanting to sharpen their skills in shifting breezes, tides and up and down pressure.

Whilst it is early days in the project we now have interest from another club in the river region as the J24 has been dubbed “Pocket Rocket” by the members.

Port Adelaide Sailing Club was recently relocated to a brand new Marina and boasts superb facilities at affordable prices with Membership under $500 per year and hardstand fees at around $900 per year. This makes it attractive to get those older J24’s back on the water and sailing and affordable to most people.

Several large Regattas are already in the planning stages including a Junior Keelboat Regatta inviting all the States top juniors.

Anyone interested in joining the latest J24 fleet in Adelaide can contact

Alyn Stevenson 0400227562 J24 Australia Vice President
Warwick Ward 08 83417103 Port Adelaide Sailing Club
Peter Stevens 0417802640 J24 National Measurer

Two Months to the Nationals

Two months from now the J24 Nationals will come alive at Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne. The new clubhouse is a fantastic building right on the water with balcony views over the sailing area, members bar and social sundeck all overlooking the water and hardstand area. So gather your crews and families and come and enjoy this new venue, the Sandy team is planning a big regatta.

The Nationals page has new information on it and more will be coming very shortly, with online race entry, regatta clothing pre-order info and the many FAQs you will want to know the answers too. Click here to go to the Nationals Page

Nationals flyer thumb