The J24 Association of NSW will be running two regattas this year and we’d love you all to enter and join the one design racing fun.
Gosford J24 Regatta – 30 September and 1 October 2017
Ran by Gosford Sailing Club with racing on Brisbane Waters, this is always a fun weekend. Book early and stay with your crew in Gosford or Terrigal and make a weekend of it, with Monday 2 October being a public holiday, and perfect for you to take your boat home without having to rush off after prize giving on the sunday!
NSW State Championships – 4 & 5 November 2017
2 days of racing on Sydney Harbour, ran by Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club in Point Piper to determine this years State Champion. In 2016 9 boats from Sydney and 2 from Melbourne made the trip to Cronulla, so hopefully this year we will get 9 from Cronulla making the trip to Sydney, and hopefully more from interstate for good competitive racing.
NORs will be issued in due course but for any early inquiries regarding any aspect of racing in J24 regattas please call Paula on 0404 539176.
If any boats are keen to race against other J24s over winter prior to these regattas, we encourage entry into the MHYC Winter Series on Saturdays where hopefully we can build a fleet with a view to the club giving the J24s their own division again as they have done in the past.
Hugo Ottaway, ‘Mr J24’ and long time champion of introducing the fairer sex to sailing and J24s in particular put a team together in his own J24 recently to compete in the Women in Sailing Regatta held at Sandringham on 26th Feb.
Here is his story:
Despite only one J 24 entry in the SYC Women in sailing regatta 2017, the result sheet was full of our J girls winning every division and 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Doris Little Memorial Perpetual Trophy. Amongst the entries were Krystal Weir, dual Olympic representative, Kirsty Harris, competitor at the 2013 J24 World Championship in Sweden and Sophie Cisek, Volvo Round the World competitor and 2016 Victorian Female Sailor of the Year.
The regatta was sailed over 4 heats on Port Phillip Bay in ideal conditions with sunny skies and a breeze that freshened to 12 knots. J24 Bruschetta VI won the AMS division and placed 3rd in the Doris Little PHS trophy sailed by a mixture of girls from our Sandy J fleet, skipper Madeline Linton (Jet) Trim Pauliina Mattila ( Bruschetta VI) Kirby O’Brien and Maria Vasardani ( both from Kicking).
Kirsty Harris and her crew from J24 ‘Hyperactive’ sailed a modified Adams 10 to win IRC and come second in the Doris Little PHS trophy and Janet Dean, Past Commodore of RMYS and owner of Adams 10 ‘Jungle Juice’ and crew member on J24 Kicking, winner of the Doris Little perpetual trophy and PHS division. There were also many other J sailor amongst the competitors.
The talent amongst our J24 female sailors, has risen to a point where they have repeatedly won almost all the Women’s sailing in Victoria over the past few years, the number of women sailing J’s has risen to 30% + of our overall crew group, with the class is fostering growth in this area. These results are a reminder of the strength and depth of talent of our female J 24 sailors, well done girls, you make us proud.
Cronulla Sailing Club, is having their annual J24 Short Course Regatta, proudly sponsored by Wet-Tech. On the 10th and 11th of June, which is the Queens Birthday long weekend.
Our friends at Cronulla warmly invite you all to attend. This years regatta, is going to have two divisions, which will help encourage to get the older and wet boats out in the regatta.
Ed note : The last few years have seen a huge increase in J24 ownership and activity at Cronulla and the annual short course regatta has been a big boost to the class explosion at Cronulla. The regatta is held over two days with 4 short courses each day and a great social scene at the BBQ and bar at Cronulla Yacht Club right on the water in Gunamatta Bay. If you haven’t yet made it to Cronulla for this regatta, now is the time to put this one in the diary for this year. Cronulla ran a fantastic States and Nationals this season and you can bet the annual winter regatta will be just as good.
IMPORTANT DATE CHANGE – SA STATES ARE NOW ON 1ST AND 2ND OF APRIL
The SA States are now being held on the 1st and 2nd of April at the CYCSA (great little spot and now complete with all new renovations to the wining and dining area) to be followed by the Vic States on 22nd – 23rd April (The Balmy Regatta).
If you are planning to go to SA you need to give Jim Townsend a call asap to make any arrangements for accom, yacht club parking and any other questions you might have as that is only a month away !
For the adventurous from NSW you may already see a possible 2 regatta circut here. Take your boat to Adelaide and Sandy before you head back to the sunny north. We can help you !
Drive down to Adelaide with your boat, fly back to Sydney, do your work and then fly back to Melbourne, in the meantime we will organise for one of our guys to drive your car and boat across to Melbourne for you. Can’t be fairer than that !
Ok, if you can’t do that and still want to come, then you need to talk to Jim Townsend in Adelaide to see what boat you can organise there, and you need to talk to John Neville in Melbourne to see if you can do the same here. But get in quick !
The Souvenir booklet produced for the Nationals has been very well recieved by all and a number of people have asked for more copies. An easier and cheaper method of people making more copies is to download the file attached of the booklet and print it out yourself or take it to a digital printer and make a few copies.
Sean Kirkjian’s Pacific Sailing School team admirably aided by the inimitable ‘AJ’ Tony Reynolds and the school graduates in ‘Sailpac’ have taken out the 2017 nationals with a solid and consistent result over Shane Guanaria, helming class stalwart Arthur Crother’s ‘Kaotic’ by 4 points. Brendan Lee sailing ‘By the Lee’ from Melbourne was third by another 7 points.
A recent record fleet of 25 boats competed in the nationals hosted by the Cronulla Sailing Club, located in Port Hacking on the southern edge of Sydney. Many competitors were visiting Cronulla for the first time and have come away with great memories and glowing opinions of the regatta. Cronulla Sailing Club ironed out all the bugs identified in the NSW States held in early November and ran a faultless regatta. From the brilliant sailing waters on the ocean side to the picturesque Gunamatta Bay where the club is located (5 min walk to the surf beach on the other side of the small Cronulla peninsula) and the friendly, helpful and happy club volunteers serving us dinner every night off the BBQ, I didn’t hear one grumble about the running and management of the regatta. I an confident in saying there are many looking forward to another in the future – even those from the harbour loved it !
Close racing in the 2017 Nationals at Cronulla
Out on the racetrack the competition was fierce, with black flags and consequent DSQs happening after each general recall, PRO Dave McLachlan ran a near faultless series, a couple of major wind changes right on the starting signal being the only difficulty encountered. The usual gladiators took out the top end of the results with the exception of Brendan Lee who is a rising star from the Sandringham fleet in Melbourne. Brendan has been putting in a major effort in both club and regatta racing and his 3rd place reflects this. Stephen Girdis sailing ‘Convicts’ took out 4th with Dave West’s ‘Ace’ being sailed by SA blow in crew Doug ‘El Fideldo’ Watson due to Dave’s wife’s medical emergency. Another great performance at the last minute by Doug.
‘Mr J24’ Hugo Ottaway sailing Bruschetta IV and NSW Class president John Crawford, took the next two from Steve O’Rourke, Simon Grain and Janette Syme rounding out the top ten.
Racing was generally light to medium in SE to NE breezes with most boats never pulling out jibs for the whole regatta. A 18 – 20 knot NE breeze tested some of the boats on the last day but not really causing any real trouble. Generally going left paid but not always and sometimes it was possible to find a wind bend on the right hand corner that gave you a few places. Racing was tight around the corners and the otherwise well behaved fleet experience a little shouting !
Janette Syme sailing ‘Wildfire’ took out the Thomo cup from brother Ron in ‘Kicking’ – a popular and deserving win.
Handicap results went much the same way as the OD results although with a reversal in order at the top. Winning with 51 points was Brendan Lee from Sean Kikjian on 52 and Stephen Girdis on 53, so a close finish there. Fourth was Shane Guanaria on 66 from Simon Grain on 67.
Seven boats made the trip up from Melbourne and two (Robyn and Jim Townsend plus son Andrew) from South Australia (a substantial trip by any measure) – ten Cronulla boats and the rest from the harbour. All in all a good spread from around the country.
The Cronulla Club and its’ volunteers did a fantastic job in making us feel very welcome and efficiently ran the on-shore and on-water parts of the regatta. The success of the regatta is in no small way a result of work done over a long period of time by the enthusiastic Mick Reynolds (sadly being away during the regatta) and others in helping to build the Cronulla fleet. Running up to and during the regatta, Fiona Campbell, Bronwyn Elford, Rhonda Wodzinski and the team of volunteers serving up the BBQ dinner everyday, looking after launching and retrieving on the hardstand, the teams out on the water all did a fantastic job and on behalf of all the competitors and associations involved, we thank you for your magnificent efforts. A big thank you to Quantum and our other sponsors ; Spot a yacht, Afloat Magazine, Wet Tech, Aussea, Sailor Sunscreen, CBON, Explore Sailing.
Cronulla – you have many new converts to your magic location !
More pics are available on the Cronulla Facebook page
Onward and upward – you might like to plan for the annual Cronulla SC Queens Birthday Short Course regatta in June this year. The SA States are late March and the Vic States are mid April. The NSW States are around the first weekend in November (likely to be back in the harbour) and of course the next Nationals are to be at the CYCSA in Adelaide in early Jan 2018 – see the regatta calendar page in the near future for more details and dates.
Day 3 and we are sitting around waiting for the wind to come and the rain to stop. The first two days racing has seen multiple race winners, but leading the OD series is multiple nationals winner Sean Kirkjian from Stephen Girdis and Shane Guanaria. Full results are available at www.cronullasc.com
Ron Thomson, Hugo Ottaway, Simon Grain, Warren Campbell, Arthur Crothers, Dale Sharp, John Crawford, Ken Roebuck, Stephen Wright, Brendan Lee, Doug Watson, Jared Macquart, Rhonda Wodzinski, Tony Landers, Fiona Campbell, Janbar Simr, Leigh McLeod, Joe Pearson, Bruce Alexander, Robert Richardson, Dave McKay
APOLOGIES
Janet Dean, Mick Reynolds
WELCOME
Welcome address from Ron Thomson (RT). Establishing structure of meeting, timescales and agenda topics
PRESIDIENT’S REPORT
It is a pleasure to be at Cronulla Sailing Club with a fleet of 25 boats for the 2017 National Championships. This year has seen the departure of our current National Champions David Suda and Hershel Landes selling their boat “Pacemaker” to Warren Campbell from Sandringham. I want to thank both David and Hershel for their outstanding contribution to the class at both National and State level and they will be missed at Sandringham.
We have seen large fleets in both the Victorian and NSW Championships and an increase in the numbers contesting the South Australian titles, all of which helps to improve the profile of J24s in Australia. It is encouraging to see new blood buying J24s in all age groups from Generation Y to Baby Boomers. I acknowledge the success of the Youth Boats in Sandringham and the enthusiasm of the Cronulla fleet in attracting new members. If you take a look around the fleet and participants you see a large number of females involved and many young sailors enjoying sailing a competitive but friendly one design class. It is interesting to note the many successes J24 sailors have enjoyed in various women’s keelboat regatta.
This year the National body has made two new expenditure items being:
The promotional video that achieved over 22K hits on U-tube. If you have not had a chance to review this video, please do so searching on the J24 Australian website. Any ideas or suggestions on how we can best use this video would be helpful.
Souvenir Brochure of each boat entered into the National Championships something suggesting at last year’s AGM. This brochure has been well received and I wish to thank the efforts of Simon Grain (SG) for producing the brochure in a very short period over the Xmas/New year period. A copy has been made available for each boat however additional copies can be requested at a cost of $12 per person.
Overall, the National Body has approx. $3K in the bank account taking into account all current expenditure items. It should be noted the international fees have increased due to the falling $A something we need to keep an eye on during 2017.
The 2018 National Championships will be held at the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia and later Jim Townsend will update us on its status. This will again be a four-day regatta, the same as this year ‘s event that has proved to be very successful.
In closing on a personal note, I wish to thank SG and Hugo Ottaway (HO) for their great assistance this year, which allowed me to gently ease into this role.
TREASURER’S REPORT
The current bank balance is $2961. There has been the following expenditures:
Video $900
Brochure $411
International fees – to Dec 2016 $5,720
LIFE MEMBERSHIPS
SG proposed the following members to be made Life Members of the J24 Association for their contribution to the class over many years:
Arthur Crothers
Hugo Ottaway
John Crawford
These nominations were agreed unanimously by a vote of members.
PROPOSED NEW COMMITTEE
The following people were nominated, seconded and agreed by majority vote to form the new National Committee:
President Ron Thomson
Committee Member Stephen Wright
Committee Member Janet Dean
Measurer Hugo Ottaway
Media Simon Grain
Records Peter Stevens
2018 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Jim Townsend updated the meeting on the status of the 2018 event to be held at Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia. The dates have yet to be finalised but will be around the same week in January. Once finalised the dates will be published on the J24 Australia website. HO advised the notice of race for next year’s event should be published early allowing for competitors to plan for accommodation and travelling times.
A discussion took place on the National regatta being a 10 or 12 race event. SG advised the last few years the titles have been held over 10 races. The view of members was taken at the meeting by a show of hands and the majority voted to continue as a 10 race event.
PROPOSAL TO CONSIDER MOVING FROM STATE ASSOCIATIONS TO FLEET ASSOCIATIONS
A proposal has been put forward, by Mick Reynolds, to the National Committee to consider moving from State Associations to Fleet Associations. A copy of the proposal document is attached to these minutes. Fiona Campbell spoke to the meeting on the benefits of this proposal.
The National Committee has recommended establishing a working party consisting of selected representatives from each fleet with an independent chair to consider the proposal and to report to the National committee in suitable time frame (potentially 6 months). This recommendation was accepted unanimously by a show of hands at the meeting.
GENERAL BUSINESS
The requirement of all crew requiring YA memberships was raised by Brendan Lee who spoke briefly to the meeting on the benefits and costs of this requirement. The Committee believes this may be an Australian Sailing (previously Yachting Australia) requirement. The matter will be reviewed and the Committee will report back, via the J24 website, with its findings and conclusions.
The meeting closed with Ron Thomson thanking all members for their participation and wishing them luck in the regatta. The minutes of this meeting will be available on the J24 Australia website towards the end of January.
Jargon is looking for crew to sail in the Nationals 4-7 January out of Cronulla Sailing Club. If you are available please call me ASAP – Tony – 0427 788513
At last year’s National AGM we made a decision to produce an A5 sized Souvenir Booklet containing information on the regatta, the Host club and course area and a comprehensive competitor list. This will be a great souvenir of the first J24 regatta to be held at Cronulla in – oh a billion years !
This means for you – our entrants, that we aim to have a page per boat for each entry. Each boat page is planned to look a bit like this:
Of course we can’t do it without your help – and no help – no booklet, so please, if you have entered the Nationals or plan to, please send me your details as follows so I can include you and your boat in the booklet.
Here’s what we need:
Boat name and number, plus club initials.
A pic of your boat – you must own the rights to use the pic you choose (no links to other sites please).
A short history of your boat and it’s and your achievements (as a skipper or crew if in another boat) over recent years.
Your crew list.
Please have a look at the sample above for an example. You might think this is a bit late notice but then we have only half the expected entries in to date, so we can’t produce without knowing who is to go into the book.
Remember it takes time to produce so we need both your entry in and your details by the 28th Decemer 2016 – otherwise you won’t be included.
Send your pic and info to me at grain@smarketing.com.au
