In Saturdays fantastic MHYC Race, the J fleet comments are that a lot of fun was had – blue skies, good solid breezes, dolphins on the start line… – probably not so much fun for the wet crew member off J-Spot…Post race comments from Skipper Adam were along the lines off telling him they were only 20m from the finish line so hang on….eye witnesses report it was more like 150m…
The Nationals are only 2 months away and we encourage you to organise getting your boats to Sydney soon, if you are coming from Interstate – now is also a good time to think about accomodation and logistics.
The Balmain Regatta is one of Sydney’s oldest sporting events, and has a long history with our waterways. It was first held in 1849 and continued until 1934, when sadly it was discontinued. It was revived in 1994 by the Wooden Boat Association, and Balmain Sailing Club participated in the Balmain Regatta in 1995 and 1996 as one of its Spring Series races.
In 1997, it was run as a separate event, jointly organised by the Balmain Sailing Club and the Wooden Boat Association. Today it is run by Balmain Sailing Club, in association with other sailing clubs and community organisations, and is a real celebration of Balmain, the harbour and our maritime heritage. The event attracts over 150 vessels on the water, making it one of the great annual spectacles around Balmain.
A couple of months ago I was contacted by Neil Hamilton from the Race Committee and asked if we could get a J24 fleet together as they would like to give us our own division – a lot of phone calls and encouragement later we have a fleet of 6, enough to race!! Wildfire’s Brett Hudson is always keen to race, as is Kaotic – both sailing down from Middle Harbour. Fun, newly owned by Paul Baker and David Lamb will, I’ve learnt, just be wherever you tell them to be, Madder ‘n Badder have the one design racing bug since coming to the NSW State Championship and local entry Maritime Training School made up the fleet, joined by our new crew on Sailpac.
A Spinnaker start in a 10-15 Northeasterly winds soon splits the fleet with Madder ‘n Badder getting away, Kaotic not far behind them and then a match race for the next 20 mins between Sailpac and Wildfire. Fun and Maritime Training School not far behind! Shifty winds and shadows from all the islands and headlands around make it a tactical race with a mix of works, kite runs and reaches.
Tim Briggs, steering Sailpac in only his fourth race is going well – I’m in the pit doing tactics and we scored the skills of Damien trimming – a definite advantage. Further around the course we see Janette steering Arthur Crothers’ Kaotic sail into a hole and as we come around Goat Island – with only Madder ‘n Badder in front of us a shy kite gets us where we want to be – in the lead. Holding that lead is the key, and finishing in front of Kaotic and Madder ‘n Badder, it was an absolute joy to see Tim steer a J over the line first – a huge confidence boost for a new owner!
Balmain Sailing Club doesn’t disappoint, with fun and festivities on the water front – a great regatta atmosphere, life raft demos, rowing, BBQ and raffles. A few wines later…the only thing sending people home on a glorious Sunday afternoon was the 6pm tropical downpour – a delightful days racing. We were also definitely in good company, hearing J24 Legends Gary Geitz and Ian Bashfords names dropped in post racing story telling!! Well done BSC! Hopefully with a larger fleet, we will definately be there next year.
That was last year at Geelong at the annual Geelong Audi Victoria Week regatta over the Australia Day weekend. And what a glamour regatta it was.
We had Terry Wise down from Sydney, Karl Chappell from Adelaide, both of whom are keen to come back. Call them and ask them what a good time they had !
Hmmmm …………… Quite a lot of girls on my boat too !
Actually there is lots of everything. Lots of boats – around 600, lots of yachties – around 3000, lots of cool refreshing drink (didn’t count), lots of bands playing lots of music (more than I could listen too) and well ….. lots of girls – and the sailing ones too !
I guess I should point out to the sailing girls – there are lots of guys too, but you knew that already. In fact if you can’t get a sail and a cool drink in Geelong then you are definitely not trying. Its one giant party and it’s been going for 166 years.
Last year there were around 25,000 people visited the annual Geelong Week Regatta and Festival (yes it is that big), it turns Geelong inside out. The weather was great and of course will be again.
The Melbourne J24 fleet is planning to make a big showing this season at Geelong and negotiations are underway to have our own division and prizes.
The week is ideally placed after our Nationals at the end of January and usually involves a race down the bay to Geelong and then a couple of days of round the buoys racing in mixed fleets at Geelong followed by a relaxing sail home to Sandy. Let me say it is a big event and you will feel like you have been through the wringer by the end of it but you won’t want to miss the next one once you have discovered what a blast it is. This is like no other regatta in the Southern Hemisphere.
For boats returning to Adelaide after the Nationals or (coming from Sydney) – bring your boats back through Melbourne and we will store them for you and then launch them at Sandy before the racing. If you want to borrow or charter a boat from our fleet – get in early as there may not be many available, my guess is most will be going to the party. Or maybe you just want to fly in and be a rockstar – do it, but get a crew spot early.
So the racing will be hot and if you’re coming from interstate, you will be racing against the likes of Dave Suda and Hugo Ottaway, or relative newcomers like Ron Thomson and Adam Evans, skippers that are dying to knock the best off their pedestals. Of course you will have to race with the rest of the fleet too, now around 13 boats.
So this is a party not to be missed and you need to plan ahead. If you want to talk to us in Melbourne about sailing to Geelong then give us a call.
Call State President Luke Mathews on 0403 233 589 or the other bloke Simon Grain on 0413 870 046.
The historic Balmain Regatta is again fast approaching, and take place on Sunday 31 October 2010.
This year they are planning to run a number of One Design Classes as part of the Regatta including the J24’s for the first time as a separate Division with their own group start.
If you are interested in participating in a wonderful day of sailing and festivities please get your crew organised and submit your entry form without delay.
The plan is to run the J24’s on the West Harbour Course ie. from Balmain to Goat Island and Return, including roundings of Snapper, Spectacle, and Cockatoo, Islands.
Balmain Regatta is always a fun event so please support them so we can get a good J24 division running.
Saturday was a great day on the water for Day 1 of the NSW State Championship 2010 – a fleet of 27, with 5 boats from VIC and 2 from SA, a variable day with some rain – a generally light day from 3 – 12 knots – 4 races in testing conditions.
Day 2 saw variable conditions again, with breezes from around 5 -18 knots, a lot of rain and 4 close races! At times Jibs replaced Genoas and kite runs were close and top mark roundings busy.
After a wonderful Legends Dinner, very well hosted by Rob Mundle, where some lucky bidders got some great deals on new sails and a tiller, thanks to our fantastic sponsors, and many wonderful raffle prizes were won, we were faced with some breeze and even some blue skies on Monday!
Race 1 – 21 starters, and after a general recall we saw some fairly consistent breezes and a fantastic victory by Victorian boat, Make My Jay, skippered by our Association President, Simon Grain – well done to him and his crew for winning the Andrew Short Memorial Trophy.
Race 2 started with 2 more general recalls as the Legends were keen to cross the line first, but a black flag on attempt 3 saw a more conservative start with the race led almost all the way by Neville Wittey on Sailpac, resulting in their crew taking out the Ian Bashford Memorial Trophy.
Many thanks to all those who travelled to Gosford this weekend making for a wonderfully competitive fleets, and to all the Legends who returned to the class for a fantastic day on the water!
This is the second of the two articles I found in old Australian Sailing magazines written by Bob Ross. This one from April 82.
“In winning the J24 worlds, Mark Bethwaite and his Soling crew Ian MacDiarmid and Glen Read brought a fresh approach to tuning and equipment detailing that cut across much of the conventional wisdom in the class. ………. (look under boat talk or Click here for more)
I thought it would be nice to share the experience I had recently…..
Our team has just come back from Malmo Sweden after participating in the J24 World Championships. The J24 class is the world’s largest keel-boat sailing class and each boat has a crew of five people. On our boat are: Borstnar Valdimir (helm), Ng Daojia (trimmer), Borstnar Rafaela (center), Ronnie Tay (mast), and Omar Agoes (bow). This year’s world championships had a total of 55 boats with teams from 14 different countries. Asia Pacific was represented by three countries; Japan with four entries, Australia with two, and ourselves as the sole Singapore entry.
Hugo is back and talking about the Worlds – very interesting! And there is stuff I know he can’t put in here that he has told me. No doubt more will come out as the crews come back. Read Hugo’s very informative report on the 2010 Worlds in Sweden. Click here to read and keep checking back on this page as we will be putting more stories online as we get them.
