Greenwich Flying Squadron

Again windy conditions kept crews on their toes to deal with shy spinnaker runs, strong gusts and tricky mark roundings.

In Blue Division 1 Pistol Dawn powered away at the start to win on the water by a considerable margin from Solitude and Blue Chip which were close at the end.  The Etchells had a good close race with Foxy gaining the upper hand from Chloe and Eggshells to win on handicap from Pistol Dawn and Blue Chip.

In Green Division 2 Gwhizz powered away at the start and was well set up for the conditions with a reefed main.  The chasing pack swapped positions several times in the course of the race.  At the end StarElan made it back after Gwhizz with Hasta La Vista not far behind them.  Paca, Joka  and Umzimkulu II all finished within a minute just behind HLV and not far ahead of Speedwell.  Handicap results went to Umzimkulu ii from Paca and Joka.

Shane Guanaria of Doyle Sails Sydney has kindly offered to host a visit by GFS members to the Doyle Sails loft on Tuesday November 15 at 6:30pm

Places are limited to the first 30 to apply – RSVP to Maree Van Bellen maree.vanbellen@gmail.com

Shane’s impressive resume covers offshore racing, including nine Sydney-Hobart races, and several classes.  He started his sail making career under the guidance of Ian MacDiarmid, working at MacDiarmid Sails for seventeen years before eventually purchasing the company in 2013 prior to merging with Doyle Sydney in 2015. From skiffs to maxi yachts, Shane has the expertise for building all types of sails and is an integral part of the Doyle team in Australia.

On the night beer and pizza will provided. The loft is located at 25a 33-37 College Street, Gladesville.

The race was held under overcast skies but the predicted rain held off and even a patch of sunlight emerged to make for a quick sail in wind around 20kts from the South.  Course 18 didn’t quite work as planned and provided mostly reaches and short spinnaker runs mainly from Goat Buoy to Longnose Point.

In Blue Division 1, Solitude edged away from the chasing fleet with Forte Forever, Chloe and Blue Chip vying for the next spot on the water leaving Foxy and Eggshells to have a close race. It was good to see 4 Etchells on the water racing competitively with each other. Provisional results on handicap were Foxy, Chloe and Blue Chip.

In Green Division 2 distance seemed to be the dominant factor.  Gwhizz powered away from the start to establish a significant lead. Initially Umzimkulu II and the Speedwell went with them. Paca after a poor start sailed excellently to finish third on the water behind Gwhizz and Speedwell to win the race on handicap.

There is a Marine Safety Presentation by Genevieve White of Marine SafetyWorks at the GFS Clubhouse on Monday October 24 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm.

Genevieve founded Marine SafetyWorks in 2004 as a result of extensive experience in marine safety over 30 years of yachting in the competitive, cruising, training and development arenas. She has logged 99000 offshore miles from deliveries and offshore racing which includes the 2001-2002 Volvo Ocean Race as navigator for the Nautor Challenge entry Amer Sports Too. Her experiences in the Southern Ocean and in those many offshore miles have highlighted the absolute necessity for a professional approach to marine safety issues.

Genevieve was very closely involved in the development of the Australian Yachting Federation (now Australian Sailing) Safety and Sea Survival course which was adopted by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and is now presented worldwide as the ISAF Safety and Sea Survival Course. It is an integral part of offshore racing in Australia. Genevieve is also qualified to teach and invigilate Marine Radio for the Office of Maritime Communications, First Aid for the Australian Red Cross, and Safety and Sea Survival for Australian Sailing.

It will be invaluable for GFS skippers and their crew to hear Genevieve’s presentation.

There is some confusion which relates to a statement made by the Service NSW Representative at the recent Skippers’ Briefing regarding the Bradley’s Head Safe Water mark.

For our courses it is a requirement that this mark be left to PORT if you are sailing in the vicinity of the mark.

Sailing Instruction 25 n vii states the wording which was included in the GFS Aquatic Licence –

‘Bradleys Head Safe Water Mark – Condition 100 of the GFS Aquatic Licence. All vessels navigating in the vicinity of the safe water mark, 350m from Bradleys Head, should pass to the North of the buoy when proceeding westward and should pass to the South of the buoy when proceeding eastward.’

This simply means it should be left to Port when travelling in either direction and as it is included in our Sailing Instructions it must be complied with in order to sail the correct course.

A good sized fleet contested DH race 2.  Starting in pleasant conditions the wind built up considerably to make sailing conditions difficult. Nevertheless each division had close racing and no damage, all being accounted for after the race. Generally, spinnakers enjoyed the journey firmly hidden in their respective sail bags.

In Blue Division 1 there were 9 starters and given the strong conditions Irukandji sailed exceptionally quickly to be back a couple of minutes ahead of Flashback.  Provisional handicap results Hasta La Vista, Blue Chip and Tana.

In White Division 2 also with 9 contestants, a couple of boats were not included in the results which will have a considerable effect. These will be adjusted later this week.

Red Division 3 saw 5 boats engaged in racing which was close early and then firstly Barubi then Umzimkulu II gaining the lead with Joka making a late run to make it back after Umzimkulu II at the end.  Umzimkulu II were worthy handicap winners after sailing well in the strong conditions. Barubi also managed the conditions extremely well to be third on handicap.

The strong and gusty wind reduced the fleet numbers as skippers evaluated the safety of competing in adverse conditions relative to their particular boat or crew.

The start from the club and Course 35 made for a quick race. In Blue Division Irukandji powered away at the start.  Solitude after a slow start made up ground throughout the race to only be a minute behind at the end similarly, Chloe, Eggshells and Blue Chip were separated by only 40 odd seconds. On handicap Chloe won from Blue Chip and Eggshells.

Only two starters in Green division with Hasta La Vista escaping at the start and were 8 minutes ahead at the end. However, Umzimkulu II won on handicap.

Eggshells and Solitude

There is a strong wind warning for Sydney waters for Saturday.

Wind Warnings for Saturday 8 October – Strong Wind Warning for the following areas: Sydney Closed Waters, Byron Coast, Coffs Coast, Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast, Illawarra Coast, Batemans Coast and Eden Coast.

For Sydney the BOM predicts north to northwesterly winds 15 to 20 knots ahead of a southerly change 20 to 30 knots in the morning. Winds decreasing to 15 to 25 knots by the evening.

Seabreeze looks ugly!

As such there is the chance that Spring Race 4 will be abandoned.

A cool and gusty wind greeted the over fifty starters for the first Twilight race of the new season.
In a change in starting order the seven starters in the Black division started ahead of the Blue fleet. Normally the Black division would be sent on a long course and the earlier start is intended to get the Black fleet all back home before the breeze dies. Tonight with the course setters believing the forecast for dying winds the Black division was sent out on the same short course around Cockatoo and Goat and home and they enjoyed an early finish.
Just before the start we saw 25 knots on the wind speed indicator on Passion and while the breeze did lighten off later the fresher breeze and short course made for a quick trip around the islands. The eight starters in Blue could see the gold fleet heading back into Humbug just as the Blue fleet was rounding Cockatoo on the way out.
It was fortunate that the race was quick and the results produced quickly too as it was chilly on the deck so thank you to all the hardy souls that came back for our on deck BBQ.

Skippers or their representative from 75 yachts attended the briefing on Wednesday September 28.

Important information related to maritime regulations, safety and obligations when racing at GFS were discussed.

If you were unable to attend or wish to review the presentation it is on the Yachts  Page or can be found here.

As always the camaraderie of GFS members was evident by the robust discussion following on the crowded ‘Deck of Knowledge’.

With great sorrow I advise that our current club Patron, Hans Kannegieter, passed away this last weekend on September 18.

After over 40 years of membership at GFS Hans was elected Patron at our Annual General Meeting this year. He accepted the role with great grace and courage and just a few of us knew the effort he made to be able to attend the Annual General meeting and pass the vote of thanks to the retiring Patron John Notley. I am pleased that I have kept a copy of Hans’ speech on file.

Hans learnt his sailing in Holland and first sailed in Sydney in the early 50s with business friends. In the 1955 – 1956 season Hans sailed with Keith Tierney, Alan Grundy and Arthur Foster in the 16 footer Zest. The 60’s were very active sailing times for Hans and he spent time in 18 footers, sailed with John Kennedy in the Javelin Pan Pacific Championships in Fiji, sailed with Geoff Ottewill in Ynglings at RSYS and sailed in 16s at Middle Harbour with Keith Tierney and others.

In the 70’s Hans joined GFS and sailed with Geoff Ottewill and Harvey Porter on the J24 Grott.

Hans and John Hurlstone owned and sailed the Bonbridge 27 (2750) Force Four for many seasons until John acquired his own Bonbridge, Firefly. Hans continued to be a keen competitor in Twilight Orange Division with his great mate John Wood, son Tim and other crew members.

Hans will be well remembered at the club and will be listed on the soon to be commissioned honour board for GFS Patrons.

Our sincere condolences go out to Beth his wife, his family and good friends for their loss.

David Edmiston, Commodore

At last Summer-like conditions. Course 11A proved a little short as the wind came in a bit stronger than that which was predicted. The results are still provisional and are on the Yachts – Results page.  Finish times have been corrected and yachts are in the correct divisions.  Some housework still needs to be done before the results are official.

However the race highlighted the division of labour required to successfully sail a race at GFS. These responsiblites are –

Skipper – initially pay money and buy a boat and then look at the divisions and start times to get them right.  These are posted on the GFS web site. Just to confuse, Saturday Series Divisions are different to Down Harbour Divisions.

Navigator – read the course sheet carefully to understand that words listed in order are marks which need to be actually rounded in that order.  Also recognise that a word with (P) next to it means leave the mark to Port, if there are no (P)s it means leave them to starboard (There were no (P)s in Spring race 2).

Crew- be nice to the skipper and keep a look-out especially for little stuff on the water like Flying Elevens. Give constant advice to the skipper; both positive and negative.

Despite some teething problems all went swimmingly!

Please look at the web site for information at least once a week.

Just a reminder that Saturday Divisions are very different from last year. Some boats on the list may not be entrants.

Well done to the hardy skippers and crews who ventured out to race in DH 1.

The wind funnelling along the Lane Cove River resulted in a delay to hopefully allow it settle (??) and then a lively start.

The revised divisions caused some initial confusion but all yachts managed to sail in their assigned groups, albeit requiring a couple of returns to correctly re-start.

Results have been updated and the couple of strong gusts which blew through the computer have disappeared with the meeting of great minds on Tuesday night.  Results are on the Yachts page.

After the start Flair returned to the safety of Tambourine Bay! However, watching the fleet sail home past Greenwich wharf showed not only the wind strength but the excellent sailing ability of skippers and crews in puffy conditions.

The BOM and Seabreeze forecasts proved accurate and the resulting wind signaled the end of the winter doldrums and the start of the 2016 – 2017 Saling Season. Pity it had to begin with an abandoned race.

When they were raised the N over A flags, which I hope survived, were almost blown off their halyard as would have any small dog chained to the Deck of Knowledge or the pontoon with tsunami like waves breaking over it

Hopefully next Saturday will allow an easier start to the season for the Down Harbour Series. Divisions will be emailed later in the week to yachts which have registered for the series.