The October long weekend at Gosford Sailing Club.
The J24 Gosford Regatta on the October Long weekend in NSW was enjoyed by 11 boats who attended. The breeze was a North Easterly sea breeze with blue skies and sunshine and no sign of the rain that we have endured in the past.
A new normal perhaps? All boats sailed with 4 crew to meet current spacing recommendations with going to jib at around 10 knots of breeze.
Breeze perfect, venue and club perfect and waited on by a great club team including Tom Slingsby’s dad, we had so much fun, all fantastic – the best event ever.
We welcomed our new J owner Cameron Cooke, who purchased his J24 Artesis in September 2020 for $100, Cameron called the team for advice and could he borrow some sails. The boat looked a treat with the wooden spinnaker pole and he was up there in his finishes – Welcome to the J24 class and we all look forward to seeing you at RPAYC for the NSW states.
Day 1 – 4 races – with the usual hot sailors taking up the front positions. Jeanette Syme taking out 4th overall and winning the Thompson trophy (no excuse that the national president failed to attend the regatta – something about locked up in a southern state). John Crawford was very slippery with his new Genoa.
Day 2 – Sean Kirkjian sailing Sailpac showed the fleet his stern – arrived with his new crew having 2 spinnaker training sessions, now on day 2 the crew were fine-tuned with Race 1 first and Race 2 unfortunately OCS. Race 6 saw John Crawford taking Blackjack skipper John Gardener off the track to keep his overall 2nd pace safe.
The scratch winner of the regatta was Ace, skippered by David West who was on equal points with Innaminka, skippered by John Crawford. The final result was decided on a count back. Third was Sailpac skippered by Sean Kirkjian with his team from Pacific Sailing School. 4th Kaotic – Garth Riley, 5th Okavango Delta – Janette Syme, 6th Blackjack – Alvaro Mejia, 7th Bandit – Terry Wise, 8th Starpac – John Gardner, 9th Pacatack – Wendy Tuck, 10th Waterbourne Again – Matt Miles, 11th Artesia – Cameron Cooke.
The handicap winner was Blackjack skippered by Alvaro Mejia from Pacific Sailing School, second on handicap was Okavango Delta skippered by Janette Syme in her new boat. Third was Kaotic skippered by Garth Riley in his first J24 Regatta.
Congratulations to winner Dave West, sailing consistently fast with many top places.
For more pictures go to : j24-regatta-photos
It was great to see Terry Wise and his sailing school students at this regatta with 5 boats and very enthusiastic crews who thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The five crews from PSS joined the start line with Damien on Starpac (owner of a TP52) John Gardner Blackjack, (28 Gosford regattas) Sean Kirkjian on Sailpac, Terry Wise on Bandit (Bandit 1982 winner Worlds) and new J24 Skipper Wendy Tuck – (legend and lovely young lady and winner of Clipper round the world race)
Big thanks to John Crawford who was at the NSW Association head for over 10 years and welcome to new president Chris Lee. To the Race Regatta team headed again by Peter Walsh, we thank you for arranging the perfect conditions and perfect race starts.
The whole weekend had beautiful sailing conditions and it was an excellent way to start our season.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the NSW State Titles at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club at Newport on the 31st October – 1st November Weekend.
Story by Terry Wise and Chris Lee.
Edit: Simon