Greenwich Flying Squadron

The Sail Port Stephens 2021 Regatta is scheduled for 19-25 April and several GFS yachts have entered the series.

The event website is https://www.sailportstephens.com.au/ where you can keep up with results in the various races.

GFS entries are –

We wish them luck in their various races

Down Harbour Race 8 results have now been adjusted to reflect the actual finish times. This may have also affected the final standings.

We thank Joe Walsh Rigging for the ongoing support of this series.

Winners were; Blue – Koko, White – Adrenaline and Red – Joka. Well done.

Conditions look positive for Twilight Autumn Race 9 tonight.

Click to enlarge

Sandra, wife of Brian Carrick a long standing GFS member recently passed away after a long battle with Scleroderma.

Sandra’s funeral service will be held at the Camellia Chapel, Macquarie Park Crematorium on Thursdat April 1 at 10.30am.

This week we are posting a report written by Colin Wiley, who sails Naughty Call in Gold division:

Gold, Gold, Gold to the Gold division with it regular strong fleet numbers and very competitive racing.   Last Wednesday race was a great example, with not even the very wet and cool conditions deterring entries, 14 yachts lined up for the start and the manoeuvring behind the start line at the start is not for the faint hearted with the combinations of the heavier Robertson 950, the lighter Young 88, Sydney 32 and the nimble Etchells, Adams 10 and Fareast 28.

The first 5 boats finished within a minute of each other with the rest of the fleet close behind. Humbug was it usual cruel self with the lead and lower places changes.  The fleet is fairly equally balanced across a wide range of wind conditions, with anyone getting a clean start likely to hold their place up front of the pack for the race.   But one bad tack, or miss read of the wind shift or tide can quickly see you looking at an increase in the number the transom in front of you.

The Division has developed a strong friendly and competitive atmosphere during and after racing.   There have also been some great photos on Facebook of the fleet in actions. – many thanks to those who upload the photos.

Thanks Colin.  As usual we wish to thank our Course Setters, Geoff Lucas and David Edmiston, and our Starters, Hugh Vaughan and James Curr.  

Keep sailing and stay safe!

Nick Murphy

We would like to thank all our sponsors, Yachtworks, Sydney 4×4, Back Vintage Wines, Helly Hansen, Joe Walsh Rigging, Doyle-MacDiarmid Sails, Robert Oatley Wines and Zjoosh.   Please support them and mention GFS when you make a purchase.  

Sunday March 21 a new skill.

With conditions predicted to worsen this afternoon the decision was made to abandon today’s race.

Stay safe

Our new course setters Geoff Lucas and David Edmiston went out on a limb and selected a less familiar course for the white board, course 65.   It turned out to be an excellent selection for the winds on the night, gusting between North-East and East.

One of our sponsors did particularly well – Julian Todd from BackVintage Wines on Sweeney-Todd. They made it around the race track in just 45 mins, 40 secs.   The next closest boat across White, Blue, Green and Gold Divisions combined was Pistol Dawn on 49mins 45 secs.  Well done to both.

It’s great that we are back into the Twilight dinners, even though numbers are still limited.   Just a reminder that we are still subject to regulations – bookings are compulsory and no walk-ins can be permitted.

We wish to thank our Course Setters, Geoff Lucas and David Edmiston, and our Starters, Hugh Vaughan and James Curr.  

Keep sailing and stay safe!

Nick Murphy

We would like to thank all our other sponsors, Yachtworks, Sydney 4×4, Helly Hansen, Joe Walsh Rigging, Doyle-MacDiarmid Sails, Robert Oatley Wines and Zjoosh.   Please support them and mention GFS when you make a purchase.  

The GFS Sailing academy enjoyed a quiet race near the club this morning. Amazing how the level of skill of the participants has continued to improve.

We had a light South Easterly breeze for Autumn Race 5. We had a big fleet of 71 boats starting, with all except one finishing.

We hope skippers have all noted the changes to the procedure for POB lists. We are no longer able to send reminder emails.

We still have several crew looking for yachts at the moment. Some have been taken for a casual sail and some have found regular spots, but there are still a few who need to be taken into the fold. If you have room, even for a one-off sail, please contact our Membership Secretary, Chris Gaskell, using the Contact Form or directly on 0432 018 081.

We wish to thank our Course Setters, Geoff Lucas and David Edmiston, and our Starters, Hugh Vaughan and James Curr.

Keep sailing and stay safe!

Nick Murphy

We would like to thank our sponsors, Yachtworks, Sydney 4×4, Back Vintage, Helly Hansen, Joe Walsh Rigging, Doyle-MacDiarmid Sails, Robert Oatley Wines and Zjoosh. Please support them and mention GFS when you make a purchase.

NEW YORK (Feb. 9, 2021)—An extraordinary group of sailors have been named winners of the Cruising Club of America most prestigious annual awards: Christian Charalambous, of Australia, receives the Rod Stephens Seamanship Trophy; Calypso Romero and Adrien Koller, of Ushuaia, Argentina, the Young Voyager Award; and UK sailor Stephen Brown, of Carleon, South Wales, the Far Horizons Award. In January, the recipient of the CCA’s iconic Blue Water Medal was announced as Randall Reeves, of Oakland, California.

Christian Charalambous, of Sydney, Australia earns the Rod Stephens Seamanship Trophy for heroic actions after the yacht Showtime inverted upon losing its keel on a very rough night in the Tasman Sea. Aboard the boat as one of its delivery crew members, Charalambous dove under the boat despite the dangerous wave conditions and used a knife to free the life raft, thereby saving the entire crew.

Congratulations Christian

The Junior Sailing class of 2021 continue to make good progress. Those undertaking the second course module are now competent skippers and are providing good role models for the newer students. They are all enjoying sailing.

Despite the easing of Covid restrictions it is still compulsory to submit crew lists to reflect the persons on board (POB) your boat prior to each GFS event in which you intend to compete. Include the skipper in your list.

POB lists are required to be submitted before each race. If you are not able to submit your POB list before the race due to special circumstances you may submit your POB list up to 24 hours after the race finishes.

No further reminder emails will be sent.

Non-compliant boats will be awarded DNF.

All skippers must submit their POB lists, make sure the list is added to the correct series and check that a confirmation email is received from TopYacht.

For many weeks now emails have been sent to skippers with no or non-compliant POB lists.  The number of emails and the resultant exchanges take many hours on the part of our volunteers.  We are unable to continue sending reminder emails. 

We hope our sailing community may understand and respect this.

A reminder of how to set up and update a crew list is in the following post.

Each time you race you must enter a crew list. No crew list will result in your yacht being classed as DNF.

You can enter the crew list up to 24 hours after the race. Results published will be provisional up until this time.

Crew lists are deleted each Monday at midnight by TopYacht.

Initial set up is via the TopYacht entry link – https://www.topyacht.com.au/db/kb/1272

Once you have added a crew list you can update your crew from the following link –

https://tymob.net.au/1272

Detailed instructions are here –

Persons on Board Instructions

There are instructions included to allow you to set up a mobile device to update crew. It is then very simple to just tick those on board from a list.

The enthusiastic band of junior sailors are progressing well, even learning the vagaries of Humbug.