Archive for November 2016

spot

 

There is a commercial enterprise called Spot A Yacht which takes photos of yachts.  You can search on your sail number and purchase the image if you wish.

The link is https://www.spotayacht.com.au/

 

Sunny skies and a busy day on the water with the regular Laser and Flying 11s from Lane Cove, Hartley TS16s from Drummoyne and added to this the MHYC 7 Islands Race and heats of the NSW State Cherub Titles from DSC.  If this was not enough in the windy conditions a tanker arrived to berth in Gore Cove.

sol-2For Course 18, I had the starters move the Goat Buoy mark over towards Ballast Point as I was aware of the arrival of the tanker.  Please be aware that this location may be used again in the future.

Also, please understand that there are some areas which are deemed prohibited areas for GFS races – all skippers should be aware of these – read SI 25 (n). If you do not comply you have not sailed the course and should not be recorded as a finisher. It is up to the integrity of the skipper and crew to sail fairly within the Racing Rules of Sailing and the modifications imposed by our Sailing Instructions.

The handicaps for the Summer Series were recalculated and  based on averages calculated from actual performance during the Spring Series.  With blended divisions this season handicapping has proved difficult.

Standout performances in Summer Race 1 were Solitude (pictured) and StarElan both of which mastered the windy conditions, congestion and other GFS competitors to be back first in their respective divisions.

Even though the Sailing Program had Spring Race 8 on November 19 only 6 races were sailed in the series which resulted in the final point score only dropping one race.  In both divisions the series results were closely contested.

Spring Race 8 was sailed in cloudy conditions with occasional bursts of sunshine. The wind was flukey and shifted from dead south to east-southeast and maybe reached 12 knots.

Course 26 made for an interesting decision just after the start as to which way to pass Cockatoo Island on the way to Snapper.

In Blue Division 1 Irukandji powered away on the water and were chased all the way by Blue Chip and Chloe.  Spinnaker runs were again difficult.  Handicap result was Chloe, Blue Chip and Irukandji. Series a well-deserved win to Blue Chip from Chloe and Foxy.

In Green Division 2 Velocity and Dreamer escaped early and sailed in the wrong division. Flair made a good start and soon were swamped by the rest of the fleet. Gwhizz took the low side of Cockatoo and led the fleet from Snapper to the finish. Speedwell, Umzimkulu II and Paca were close and swapped positions. StarElan left early leaving Flair to discover parts of the course which had no wind whatsoever. Umzimkulu recorded a good win in the race and in the series from Paca.

ex-sAs a result of the Extreme Sailing Regatta  from December 8 to 11 GFS Down Harbour Race 4 has been moved to Saturday December 3.

 

Saturday Summer Race 2 will consequently now be on Saturday December 10.

 

Although the Extreme sailing event has been moved to the northern side of the harbour in the vicinity of RSYS, the expected spectator fleet may restrict our race.

 

The following week December 15 to 18 is the Sail Sydney Regatta with various classes contesting events on several harbour locations.

 

For details regarding Extreme Sailing follow this link https://www.extremesailingseries.com/events/view/australia

and for Sail Sydney https://websites.sportstg.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-9990-0-0-0

Contrary to the weather report the race was sailed in sunny conditions with a wind around 15kts from a variety of directions E, ENE, N, NE and finally W (after most had finished).The changing wind direction kept crews alert especially on the spinnaker run home.

Although the fleet was somewhat depleted in all divisions the racing was keenly contested. In Blue Division 1 the results at this stage are provisional depending on the outcome of a protest over an incident at the start.  However, Flashback and Irukandji had a good on water tussle and it was only at the end of the run home that Flashback was able to establish a good margin, Tana sailed a good race to be back third. Hasta La Vista has now been added as they were initially missed in the results.  Tana took the handicap result from Hasta La Vista and then Monkey Business (revised).

In White Division 2 Solitude stole a march on the others and with Jester led the Etchells, although Eggshells was only a few seconds behind Jester at the end.  It seemed a good day to have an asymmetrical kite.  Handicap result to Eggshells from Foxy and Solitude.

In Red Division 3 Wind Charmer led from the start and established a good lead on the way to and from Shark.  Umzimkulu and Joka had a good race trading places before Joka pulled away to finish behind Wind Charmer and ahead of Umzimkulu which also was the handicap result.

Due to wind gusting over 30kts at Sydney Airport racing at GFS is abandoned today Saturday November 5.

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