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Similar to the West Harbour Winter Series there is a combined Summer series open to yachts from DSC, BSC, PRSC and GFS. Races take place on each second Sunday with Race 1 on January 17. There is no entry fee for participating racing members of these clubs.
All skippers intending to sail in this series must register via the Top Yacht Entry System on the Balmain Club Website https://www.balmainsailingclub.com/. As this is a pursuit series, entries are required as soon as possible so that handicaps and a Start Number can be allocated before the first race.
The Notice of Race is NOR here and Sailing Instructions are SI here.
The Endeavour National Titles are being hosted by Drummoyne Sailing club next weekend – Saturday January 9 and Sunday January 10. if you are interested come and watch the racing from the balcony at DSC or on the water. The Sailor’s Grill at DSC offers excellent snacks and meals . Racing starts at 12.15pm on Saturday and 11.30am on Sunday. Notice of race.
The Australia Day Regatta is regarded as the oldest continuously conducted sailing regatta in the world. It has been conducted each year since 1837 to commemorate the anniversary of the first European settlement of Australia. 2016 marks the 180th Australia Day Regatta. Originally known as the Anniversary Regatta, the regatta proper is held on Sydney Harbour where it began making it one of the highlights of Australia Day each year.
As well as competing in our GFS satellite events it would be good to have a strong GFS presence in the regatta on the harbour on Australia Day.
To compete you will need to complete the entry form which can be found here . Further information can be found on the ADR website https://australiadayregatta.com.au/ or the regatta program which is available at the club.
A great day to be out on the water and even with the call to sail Course 4 (and 4A for the reds) it was an enjoyable race followed by the regular rendezvous on the Deck of Knowledge to dissect the day’s sailing and world events.
Blue Division with a strong fleet powered down the harbour with Flashback and Solitude challenging for the lead. The Etchells again had a strong presence with Eggshells, Forte Forever and Foxy. Blue Chip again resumed their friendly battle with Eggshells. The ‘big’ boats – Irukandji, Clovelly Pacific, Gwhizz, StarElan and Lisdillon looked impressive as they made the rounding at Fort Denison. In the end Flashback made it home a couple of minutes before Solitude with Irukandji and then Eggshells not too far back. A well-deserved win on handicap for Eggshells was a fitting result with Blue Chip and Solitude next.
In White division the fleet kept together on the run toward the bridge. Tana made a narrow break and led at the Fort closely pursued by Umzimkulu II and Out of Africa clawing at their transom. The A team, Joka and Paca, kept in close touch for almost the entire race. Late gybes by Out of Africa and Joka to round Goat Island looked spectacular. On handicap Joka was successful from the Africans Out of and Umzim. O of A won the best dressed (????) or not crew award.
In the reds the match race series continued with Flair and Evo. Flair made a break at the start as Evo made a late headsail change. Evo clawed back ground all the way to Fort Denison and then Flair pulled away on the run home despite being challenged by all manner of craft including Wild Oats XI, a floating glass box, yahoos who appreciated our spinnaker work on their harbour cruise and a floating post.
I wish all at GFS the compliments of the season – have a safe and joyous Christmas and a happy New Year.
The Saturday sailing season resumes on Jan 9, 2016.
A good ESE to SE breeze gave the fleet a good start from the clubhouse. The addition of more than usual Harbour Cruise vessels possibly escaping the extreme Sailing event on the harbour added to the challenge.
Division 1 sailed Course 44 and it seemed at every time they appeared Solitude were flying their asymmetrical spinnaker. Not to be outdone Irukandji and Sweet Chariot took up the challenge. Forte Forever led the Etchells charge and were not far behind Solitude. The Elans had a close race and again the resurgent Etchells were well represented with Forte, Saints II, Foxy and Eggshells. The handicap result went to Sweet Chariot from Forte and Solitude. Young Obsession tricked everyone by turning up a week early for Down Harbour Race 4.
Division 2 had a good race on Course 38 an inner circle of Course 44 which kept both fleets relatively close. Flair won the start and led until Paca powered away to lead for the remainder. Umzimkulu II were always close and made a valiant effort on their final spinnaker run to bridge the gap. It was good to see Richard and his young crew in Evo sailing. Luckily for Flair, Paca waited in Humbug allowing them to bridge the gap and take the handicap result narrowly from Paca and Umzimkulu.
Again a good crowd materialised on the Deck of Knowledge to analyse the race. The range of food which appears is amazing and would probably out do the feast at a Twilight race.
The post-race discussion broadened to cover world issues such as how many times one sleeps on their boat, poles and wires, why Blue Chip is an honorary Etchells, 
will DJs Foxy appear in the results, ladies fashion, why a person steering an Etchells wasn’t sailing their own boat and the value of overdrive on a MGB Mark II.
The Twilight on 9th December went really well with a nice NE breeze despite a building storm. Results are HERE.
With folks settled into BBQ and post race re-sails – as you do – the heavens opened up and so undeterred everyone bolted inside to resume and complete the presentation.
For GFS sailors as for the US Postal Service “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”
Presentation goes on inside
Free fireworks and it’s not even NYE
Refugees from the weather
Storm is brewing
All good the wine is saved!
At last the summer weather made it to Saturday and with a good breeze made for a good race. The only difficulty being that I missed an email that informed me that the starters were actually not available and just up the road at Byron Bay! However, a stand-in crew stepped in to manage the start and racing continued on time.
Course 35 and 35A worked well and in Division 1 Solitude made a perfect start hitting the line at speed with less than a metre to spare they built on the lead and by Longnose point were well ahead. Irukandji continued to narrow the gap upwind. The Etchells group have made a comeback with the addition of Foxy. They finished one after the other after some close racing.
Division 2 was again under-represented and with Flair making a late start left Umzimkulu II and Paca to fight out the race on the water. In the strong conditions Umzimkulu were fast and kept in front for the entire journey.
Fortuitously, or not, Gwhizz suffered gear failure and returned to the club and agreed to record the finish (thanks Ann) and allow Flair to actually race after they had been stooging around sailing near the club (pictured) and in Humbug.
The added bonus was that the Whizzies were able to release the woman we has inadvertently left locked in the club and who is probably not talking to us anymore – sorry Louise.
Next Saturday race is Saturday Series Race 3 (changed date).
This changes comes into effect from Twilight Summer Series Race 1 (2015).
Sailing Instruction 25 Special Regulations
Part e becomes
(i) In Saturday racing, MPS spinnakers are allowable, i.e. a spinnaker may be set without a pole.
(ii) In GFS Twilight Series races, only a mainsail and headsails as defined in RRS 50.4 shall be permitted. Headsails shall not be set flying and must be tacked to the foot of a permanent forestay and fully hanked or attached to the permanent forestay by a luff groove device. No sail shall be set forward of the point of attachment of a permanent forestay.
The Sailing Instructions on the Yachts page have been updated to include this change.
The balmy conditions expected of summer did not eventuate. However, grey skies and a good breeze gave the GFS fleet a quick race on Course 18.
The addition of the Middle Harbour YC fleet contesting their 7 Islands race made for some extra obstacles. The congestion was extreme around the islands as the DSC fleet added to the mix especially for the Whites along the Cockatoo shore.
Irrukandji revelled in the conditions and powered away to lead the Blue Division fleet getting home by 5 minutes. Solitude tried to bridge the gap and were closely followed by Forte Forever. There were several close races in amongst the fleet with Blue Chip and Eggshells always close as well as Gwhizz and Peach Teats Velocity. Handicap results went to Irukandji from Naughty Call and Gwhizz.
DJ’s British racing green Foxy Etchells (AUS 758) must have been mistaken for the start boat and it didn’t appear in the finish results.
In White Paca led from start to finish leaving Flair and Joka to swap places at various times. Mistress were well suited to the heavy conditions and were well rewarded by second on handicap.
A good fleet materialised to bid farewell to the Saturday Spring Series. The post-race discussion, amongst other things, centred on the balmy conditions and fair winds anticipated for the Summer Series which begins next Saturday (November 28).
It was good to see representation from a large number of competing yachts all sitting around the same set of tables rather than individually. The camaraderie after racing is excellent.
Course 19 proved to be a good choice given the wind conditions which swung from SE to SSE and back to SE around 16kts with gusts up to 20kts.
In Blue Division Solitude (Pictured – thanks AR) after scaring the starters in a final luff as they hit the start line managed to keep ahead of the other 11 boats in the fleet. At the end Irukandji were only 30 seconds behind with Blue Chip not far away in third just ahead of Sweet Chariot. The Etchells, Eggshells and Saints II continued their close rivalry. Well-deserved series results went to Blue Chip from Eggshells and Gwhizz.
In White Division racing was close between Paca, Umzimkulu II and Flair. Highland Ghost made a valiant effort with only two crew in a 33 foot boat in the challenging conditions. Flair made several breaks only to find holes in the wind where the others didn’t. Paca were fast and were unlucky not to win on the water.
The leg along the Drummoyne shore for all the White boats was pretty tricky as it appeared that the DSC starter had released every conceivable boat in their control (Hartleys, Cherubs, etc) at once to tack up the narrows against the GFS fleet. Series results to Flair from Umzimkulu II with Paca and Highland Ghost tied for third.
The crew of G-whizz would like to express their appreciation to the skipper and crew of Blue Chip for waiting at the entrance of Humbug for 10 minutes, allowing G-whizz to catch up and compliment the crew of Blue Chip on their sailing ability that enabled them to get back from Lady Bay some 10 minutes ahead of G-whizz.
The crew of Blue Chip would like to note that after allowing the skipper and crew of G-whizz to catch up and exchange pleasantries, they did not comply, but continued on, powered by their own private zephyr and tidal eddy to finish three minutes ahead.
Grey skies and an elusive wind prediction met the GFS fleet as it assembled in the vicinity of the club to await the start.
Again Blue Division had a good sized fleet with White and Red not quite so good. The wind at first had a fair bit of East but as the race progressed it went more to the South. The opinion on Flair was that we visited parts of the harbour that we had never been before.
In Blue Division Flashback were powerful and made it to Lady Bay and back successfully negotiating the melee of boats on the harbour including the final point score races for the MC38 Open Regatta to decide the first-ever MC38 Australian Season Champions. The MC38s (pictured) looked impressive and sailed in a confined area between Clark Island and Kirribilli.
Conquista and Solitude took the other places both on the water and handicap.
In White, Umzimkulu II took the lead and with Tana in pursuit led the fleet toward the bridge. Tana powered away to be home ahead with Joka third. Umzimkulu took the handicap result from Tana and Joka.
In Red Flair had an exciting race firstly with the Historical Skiffs, then the Food and Wine Festival at Clark Island, then the RSYS Etchells, MC38s and whatever else had the myriad of inflatable marks in the vicinity of Clark Island. Finally we challenged the West Harbour dinghy fleet and Flashback to return safely to the club.
Please note the change of date for the next Down Harbour Race – December 19.
The Extreme Sailing Series™, stadium racing global circuit returns to Sydney Harbour December 10 to 13. Thousands of spectators are expected to line the waterfront at Mrs Macquarie’s Point to watch.
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events and Minister for Sport, Stuart Ayres said the event will see high performance sailing craft racing in close proximity to the Sydney Harbour foreshore, in a new-look course bounded by Garden Island, the Sydney Opera House and Fort Denison.
As a result the GFS Down Harbour Race originally scheduled for that weekend will now be held on Saturday December 19.
