It is with sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Philip Dulhunty, OAM on Sunday 29 November 2020. Phil was a longstanding GFS member and active sailor on his yacht Meridian of Greenwich. He lived in in Greenwich for over 40 years and was regularly seen using Humbug as a take -off and landing strip for his seaplane which was moored at his house.
He had a remarkable career as an aviator, power distribution entrepreneur and inventor and in 2009 published his autobiography Never a Dull Moment.
n 1986,he designed the “Flook”, an automatically setting flying anchor. The device automatically adopts the correct angle on the bottom, obviating the necessity for sailors to make the difficult estimation of depth and length of line to pay out. The Flook was designed to adopt a 5:1 flying angle when deployed. It was patented and sold successfully in Japan and the US.
Philip Dulhunty was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2004 for “service to international trade through the design, manufacture and export of equipment for large high voltage electric systems, and to aviation, particularly through the Seaplane Pilots Association of Australia.
The two links below give insights into his life and achievements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Dulhunty
He was a legend both at GFS and throughout the Lane Cove community.
Pam Joy, Commodotre
Mandatory electronic check-in for businesses came into effect on November23.
Paper records are longer acceptable and everyone entering the GFS clubhouse precinct will now need to use the QR code and your mobile phone to sign in.
Irrespective of how long you will be at the Clubhouse, it is important to comply with this regulation and ensure that all members sign in when entering the club premises including the deck as it is part of the GFS Covid Safety Plan.
Committee members will assist with overseeing compliance.
Further easing of restrictions are expected and will be updated as they occur.
Twilight Captain
We had perfect sailing conditions for Spring Race 7, a steady Nor’ Easter at around 10 knots. We had a big fleet of 79 boats starting. Of these, 77 were recorded as finishing. The beat up Humbug for the home leg was challenging, with a large number of boats crossing paths in the channel. Many calls were made but no protests.
We still have a number of skippers who are not lodging their Crew Lists. We need to do this for the health and safety of our members and to avoid being fined or closed down. This is a matter that we all need to take seriously. There has been a Committee decision that soon we will have to start awarding DNF results to non-compliant boats. Other clubs are implementing similar rules.
We wish to thank our Course Setter, Mark Rhodes and our Starters, Hugh Vaughan and James Curr.
Keep sailing and stay safe!
Nick Murphy
Social Secretary
We are pleased to announce that GFS has been officially registered as COVID Safe business in preparation for re-opening for Twilight dinners.
As with the racing events, we will all need to comply with our COVID Plan. Numbers will need to be restricted to 50 members and a maximum of 5 boats rafting up. A booking system will be in place. Frank and Foodz by ML will continue to cater for our needs, however all food will need to be cooked and served by them under Covid safety guidelines. We are looking to commence at a date in December. We are very much looking forward to having the club open for dinner once again, so watch this space for further updates.
We would like to thank all 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. Glenda Cameron-Strange
Twilight Captain
Spring Race 6 gave us the strongest winds of the season so far, but this didn’t deter our skippers. We had our biggest turn-out yet, with 80 boats starting. Great to see! Of these, 62 were recorded as finishing.
We have several boats racing that have not fully completed their race series entry and still have some documents missing. These boats are being allocated “Did Not Compete” in the results.
More importantly, we have a number of skippers who are not lodging their Crew Lists. We need to do this for the health and safety of our members and to avoid being fined or closed down. Soon we may have to start awarding DNC results to non-compliant boats.
We wish to thank our Course Setter, Mark Rhodes, ably backed up by our Commodore, Pam Joy. We wish to thank our Starters, Hugh Vaughan and James Curr, who had a very busy shift.
Keep sailing and stay safe!
Nick Murphy
Social Secretary
We are pleased that the number of COVID infections in NSW is gradually easing. We are considering re-opening the dinners after the races. Numbers and food service will need to be controlled, but plans are under way. Watch this space!
We would like to thank all 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.
Glenda Cameron-Strange
Nominating your crew is a mandatory requirement.
As a part of the GFS Covid safe plan you are required to lodge a crew list on TopYacht EACH time you sail in a GFS event. These lists are being stored by the club.
Please make sure you list your crew in the correct series.
Please list all who are on the boat including the Skipper.
If you set up a possible list of potential crew it is an easy process each subsequent week to select those who will be on board.
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 –
Detailed instructions are here –
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.
Twilight Captain
This was a very difficult race! Winds were forecast by various sources between 8 and 10 knots at the start, fading to 6 to 8 knots at the finish. As we know, the wind faded to a patchy 0 to 4 knots. The wind was swirling, with boats pointing in all directions. There were even reports of boats on the same heading but with one on starboard tack and the other on port. We had a great turnout of 68 boats, but unfortunately only 15 finished.
Courses were set with the original forecasts in mind. Our intrepid course setter, Mark Rhodes, set courses appropriate for the forecasts at the time and ran them past both the Commodore, Pam Joy and the Twilight Captain, yours truly, before they were put up on the boards. Let’s hope for better luck next week.
We wish to thank our Starters, Hugh Vaughan and James Curr, who had a busy start but a very easy finish.
Keep sailing and stay safe!
Nick Murphy
Social Secretary
In these days of social distancing, it is sometimes difficult for sailors who are new to the club to find a boat to sail on. We would encourage any skippers who are short of crew, even for just one race, to check our Facebook page for sailors looking for crew positions. Skippers can also post their own ads.
We would like to thank all 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.
Glenda Cameron-Strange
Please note that the Saturday Course sheet will be amended to FIX Course 20. Spectacle and Snapper require rounding to PORT. The course sheets on the website have been amended. Click to view or Download.
The changed courses can also be found on the Sailing – Yacht – Racing Information page.
The Strong Wind forecast for Sydney Closed Waters was way off as was the thunderstorm warning. However, the BOM were correct in predicting rain.
The failing breeze proved the worth of the new (still un-named) start boat as James and Elliot were quick to respond to the Sailing Secretary‘s request to shorten the course. They were able to do this quickly and efficiently setting the finish line at Spectacle Island to trap both fleets (saving the Blue fleet another leg to the Goat Buoy). Well done.
Blue division continued the battle between Etchells and Yachts. Standown, Adrenaline and Hasta La Vista finished on the podium. In Green/White division several contenders were missing in action (possibly gearing up for the AFL grand final between the striped cats and the other cats later that evening. Flair headed the fleet in a vain attempt to try to get out of the rain quickly.
Twilight Captain
As the weather improves the number of boats keeps rising. We had 66 boats start in Spring Race 3 and we are pleased to report all finished. We wish to thank our Course Setter, Mark Rhodes and our Starters, Hugh Vaughan and James Curr.
It is always a challenge to record the correct results and point scores in TopYacht for every race. If any skippers wish to query any results, would you please do so within a day of the results being posted. This would help a lot. We would like to thank our Starters and our Handicap Officer, Bram Penberthy, for all their work on the results records.
Some observations from the last race lead to a few reminders:
- Skippers must enter contact details for all crew prior to racing
- Maximum 25 on the deck/pontoon area
- Watch the flags and listen for radio calls
- Stay out of the Start Box until 5 minutes before your race
- The course list is different to last season
- Radio the Start Desk if you cross the finish line after sunset.
Keep sailing and stay safe!
Social Secretary
Some of our members are turning up at the Diddy for a meal afterwards, which is pleasing to see. We suggest you phone ahead if you are going to do this, so they keep enough staff on duty and keep the kitchen open.
We would like to thank all 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.
Nick Murphy – Twilight Captain
It’s not too late to enter the 2020 Balmain Regatta!
Due to COVID-19 there will be no post-race party on the deck at the Balmain club.
We had a very encouraging turn-out of 65 boats for Spring Race 2.
At the end of the race we had 62 boats finishing which was good to see. The last of the boats were finishing after sunset, so we would like to remind skippers to keep a torch trained on your sail number and make a radio call as you finish. We would also like to remind skippers who withdraw from the race to make a radio call to the Starters as well.
We had some technical difficulties at the start, which caused the start sequence to be delayed by 10 minutes. In order to be ready for this sort of late change, we advise skippers to listen for radio calls from GFS and to watch the flags. On this occasion a series of four radio calls were made to alert skippers to the change.
We wish to thank our Course Setter Mark Rhodes and our Starters, Hugh Vaughan and James Curr.
Social Secretary
This week we would like to thank our renewing sponsors, Back Vintage, Helly Hansen, Joe Walsh Rigging, Doyle-MacDiarmid Sails, Robert Oatley Wines and Zjoosh.
Nick Murphy
In the current Covid climate you are required to submit a crew list each time you sail in a GFS event. At present some skippers are not complying with this requirement. The crew list is reset each Monday (12.00 am) – Twilight and Saturday Series crew lists will need to be added for the next race after this time.
If you set up a possible list of potential crew it is an easy process each subsequent week to select those who will be on board.
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 –
Detailed instructions are here – click to open or download
There are instructions included to allow you to set up a mobile device to update crew. Very simple to just tick those on board from a list.
As from Down Harbour Race 2 (October 10) spinnakers are once more permissible for yachts in Saturday and Down Harbour Series races. Yachts will also accrue points in series and overall pointscores. Please continue to follow Covid-19 protocols where possible.
The first race in the Twilight Series started well with a very good turn out of 56 boats. Very light and changeable winds proved difficult but 31 of the contestants still made it across the finish line in time. At the club pontoon it was pleasing to see that members were respectful of the current social distancing requirements. We wish to thank our course setter, Mark Rhodes, who faced a difficult task with the variable winds. We thank our Starters, Hugh Vaughan and James Curr
Social Secretary announcements.
With the pandemic restrictions we have suspend the weekly divisional prizes for the time being. Prizes will still be awarded for the End of each Series. Please check the website each week for changes. ML Foods and Franc Lauc are still engaged as our official caters and we are considering catering options for the future. This season we are pleased to announce we have two new sponsors, Yachtworks and Sydney 4×4. They will be sponsoring prizes for the end of each season and are providing discounts to GFS members.
A reminder Twilight Spring Series Race 1 is this evening (October 7). Covid rules are still in place and there will be no post-race gathering at the clubhouse. Start times are as per the Sailing Instructions and 2020-2021 courses are different to the previous season.
