The 2016 – 2017 sailing season is fast approaching with Saturday Spring Series Race 1 on September 3.
Equipment Audits for Saturday Series Yachts will take place on August 20 (Twilights – September 17 and 25). In preparation please review the required equipment you have on board before for having it checked by an auditor. The form is available both on the Yachts page or here – GFS Cat 7 Form
As an initiative to promote safety of skippers and crew you will be required to carry on board a completed GFS Safety Card copies of which will be provided at the time of your audit. These provide specific information of what to do in an emergency and a reminder to inform crew of the location of equipment which may be required. The card is available on the yachts page or here – GFS-Safety-Card-2016-2017-Season
Next Sunday July 17 is WHWS Race 5. The after race presentation is at GFS from 4:00pm. It would be good if all GFS Skippers and their crews could attend. Other skippers from Balmain and Drummoyne may also attend so it is a good opportunity to have some cross club discussion.
There is also an amendment to the Sailing Instructions to allow the provision of shorter courses. This amendment will be emailed but can also be found here. Please update your course sheet as it looks like light winds again this Sunday.
The next WHWS race is the coming Sunday July 3. Hopefully the weather gods will smile on the fleet!
A couple of GFS yachts were awarded honourable mentions in the race manager’s report.
Race 3 of the West Harbour Winter Series saw a depleted fleet of 29 competitors brave miserable wet conditions to complete the race.
In Division 1, Ray Parrott’s X332, Xray, sailed impressively leading division 1 for two-thirds of the race to place first on handicap (ORC and PHS) and second over the line ahead of Simon Oliver’s MD35 Matag’. Second place on PHS went to Bill Ure on his Hick 35 Hick Up and in third place was Conrad Johnston on his Fareast28r Wildling 2.
In Division 1 ORC, first place went to Xray ahead of Matagi and Steve Piper’s Adams 10 Coconut Telegraph.
In Division 2 (PHS) Peter Horne’s Diamond Red October placed first just 32 seconds ahead on corrected time from Craig Armour’s Hick 30 Delirium. Third place went to last years division winner Denis Speyer’s Swarbrick 945 Between Partners. In Division 2 ORC, Mal Thompson’s Young 88 Pistol Dawn placed 1st well ahead on corrected time of Adam Baggett’s Farr 1020, Tenspeed, which was in turn ahead of David Edminston’s Jeanneau 37, Passion. Passion finally received their ORC Club certificate and their back-dated results under ORC places them in equal first place for the series in division 2 ORC.
In Division 3 (PHS) Peter Francis’ Hanse 325 Wind Charmer won the daily double of first over the line and first on handicap after a closely fought battle with the slightly larger Hanse 350, Les Girls II owned by Susan Geary who crossed the line just 8 seconds after Wind Charmer. Third place went to Doug Allan’s Peterson 30 Silhouette. In Division 3 (ORC) the difference in corrected time of the first three yachts was less than 1 minute with Silhouette ahead of Les Girls II and Wind Charmer.
In Division 4 – PHS, Michael Bleakley’s modified Crossfire 20 Loose Change also was first over the line and first on handicap. In second place was Jeff Finnegan’s Endeavour 26 Witchways II a minute ahead on corrected time of third placed Hughie II Karen Abel’s Northshore 27.
At the half-way mark of the series there remain many competitors vying for podium finishes. Fingers crossed for favourable (or evan pleasant) conditions.
Race 4 of the West Harbour Winter Series is this Sunday the 3rd of July and competitors are invited back to the Balmain Sailing Club for the post-race prize-giving and sausage sizzle.
David Stenhouse, Race Manager
Following the abandonment of the race a fortnight ago, Race 3 of the WHWS will be held this Sunday.
Unless there is a Gale Warning (or worse) the race will go ahead, regardless of rain!
Following the race, competitors are invited to Drummoyne Sailing Club for the official prize-giving.
A Text has been sent cancelling WHWS Race 3.
The extreme weather/wind conditions resulting from an East Coast Low has managed to get Seabreeze’s wind prediction into the Brown Pants Zone.
Hopefully Race 4 on June 19 will have better conditions.
There is an amendment to the WHWS Sailing Instructions
It brings the scoring system to be fully in line with the RRS and the standard TOPYACHT settings. See here.
The actual published results on the website are in accordance with this amendment.
With respect to final series results, it is unlikely that any boats will be disadvantaged by this change.
However, if any boat thinks they are we will review and if required amend the final series results to ensure that is not the case.
The Annual Prize Presentation was, as always, a glittering affair and despite some notable absences was well attended. On display were trophies, some of which have a long and significant history and are extremely valuable. They provide a record of past achievements and past members. When all set out they make an impressive display.
One trophy of special significance is the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Australia 1997 
Commemorative Trophy. This trophy is awarded to a club member for service to GFS over a long period. This year the worthy recipient was Richard Imlay for his role in fostering and organising the GFS Junior Sailing program for several seasons. The trophy was presented to Richard by out-going Club Patron John Notley (pictured).
Another GFS Trophy of significance which was presented was the Balmain and Allan Trophy awarded to best performed yacht in the Twilight fleet over the entire season. This was presented by John to Malcolm Blomfied – BLUE CHIP.
As the Saturday fleet does not have a weekly prize presentation like the Twilight fleet more trophies are awarded for Saturday winners. Of special note is the sponsorship of the Down Harbour Series by Joe Walsh Rigging Services. We thank Joe for his continuing support. In Joe’s absence the Down Harbour Trophies were presented by Harvey Porter recently awarded Lane Cove Citizen of the Year.
Pictured is Harvey presenting the Joe Walsh Down Harbour Division 2 Trophy to Cec Williams – JOKA.
A full listing of this season’s GFS Trophies and the reason why they were awarded is here.
Following this race, races will be fortnightly, WHWS Race 3 is on June 5th.
There will be a presentation of prizes in the Sailor’s Bar at DSC after Race 2 on Sunday.
The next presentation after Race 3 will be at BSC.
Thanks to Gerry Brooks (DSC) for this report. Last Sunday was a bit of a disappointment. Race 1 started in light winds of about 5 Knots from the North West. This held up for a while, but, sadly faded away as the afternoon wore on. The course was shortened at the Manns Point mark and about half the fleet finished.
Balmain Tiger led the first division fleet with X-Ray in second place. Delirium showed a clean stern to Red October in Division 2. Division 3 was won by Eau De Vie and in Division 4, only two boats finished before the deadline; Loose Change and Umzimkulu 2. The 5th Division consisting of six J70s was won by Y-Knot which took the honours from Juno by a margin of 4 seconds.
Congratulations Harvey!
Lane Cove’s Annual Citizenship Awards were held on Wednesday 11 May to recognise the outstanding contribution of individuals and organisations within the Lane Cove community.
Councillor Deborah Hutchens, Mayor of Lane Cove, opened the proceedings with Councillors presenting Awards across 12 categories.
The evening culminated in the announcement of Harvey Porter as the recipient of the Citizen of the Year Award for 2015. Harvey has been the President of Lane Cove RSL-Sub Branch since 2001 and has been actively involved in a number of organisations including the Greenwich Flying Squadron.
Rosalie Lucas was the recipient of this prestigious award for 2014.
Photo: Alfonso Calero
The Combined Clubs (BSC, DSC and GFS) are very pleased to announce that as of Thursday (May 12) 65 yachts have been entered in the 2016 West Harbour Winter Series.
This year there will be in Five Divisions, with the 5th division being for a fleet of J70s.
Follow the link below to the Sailing Instructions. Note: There is also an amendment which includes Division 5 (J70s) – https://www.balmainsailingclub.com/racing/racing-results
Follow this link to entrants, divisions and handicaps:
https://www.topyacht.net.au/results/clubs/balmainsc/2015/kb/whws/01entr.htm
The level of interest in the measurement handicapping system being used in this years series, ORC Club is most pleasing. It is expected that as many as 18 competitors will be competing under the ORC Club measurement rule. ALL competitors will still be rated using the usual PHS which remains the events principal handicap. Those with an ORC certificate will be given PHS and ORC results.
The final race for the GFS 2015-2016 season was sailed in balmy conditions – warm temperature with little wind. The wind apparently was somewhere from the North or North West or West, who could tell. There was barely enough breeze to fill spinnakers of those who decided to carry them. In the case of Gwhizz they seemed to sail quite well without using a kite.
Initially the fleet in both divisions stretched out only to bunch up at the shortened course finish. In all a memorable day to end the season.
Provisional results –
Autumn Series
Blue Division Foxy, Speedwell, Gwhizz.
White Division Paca, Umzimkulu II and Flair equal second
Overall Series
Blue Division Blue Chip, Gwhizz, Eggshells
White Division Flair, Umzimkulu II, Paca
I would like to thank the starters Hugh and Xavier for their effort and dedication this season. Their involvement has allowed us all to sail and provided a consistent start regime. Also thanks to the skippers and crew who have participated in Saturday sailing this season.
Upcoming events –
WHWS (entries via the Balmain Sailing Club website). Race 1 – Sunday May 15
GFS Prize presentation – Saturday May 21 from 1500hrs.
Well done to club members David Edmiston, Geoff Lucas and Kevin Phillips who competed in the 2016 Laser Worlds in Mexico on Banderas Bay.
Geoff was 4th in the ‘Legends Fleet’ (75 and over) out of 8 competitors and Kevin 5th and David 6th out of 36 competitors in the Radial Masters Fleet. Full results listing and information can be found on the competition website https://www.laserworlds2016.org/index.php
The annual Prize Presentation will be held at the club house TODAY Saturday May 21. This event should not be missed it is a celebration of GFS Sailing for both the prize winners and all competitors.
Skite plates are awarded to winners and place-getters for each Series. If you have achieved a place please attend.
For others it is a great chance to add to the wind which always blows across the ‘Deck of Knowledge’.
Kick off 1500Hrs.
Again great weather and just enough wind for the final Down Harbour race of the season. Well done to the series winners.
In Blue Division the Etchells team battled the yachts as they made for Clark Island. Solitude made a great start and escaped through Humbug which was at its fickle best. The light wind justified the choice of course and resulted in a journey of about 2 hours. Saints II sailed a great race to be second and not far ahead of Flashback which had a good run back under their huge asymmetrical kite. Handicap results were Saints II, Blue Chip and Chloe. Series results to Eggshells, from Blue Chip with Flashback and GWhizz equal third with exceptionally small margins.
White Division headed off to round Fort Denison and Umzimkulu II established an early lead with Tana, Out of Africa and Joka endeavouring to catch up. They ended up very close together at the finish. Wind Charmer were not far behind them as was Paca. Umzimkulu II were back ahead of Joka and Tana. On handicap Umzimkulu II from Joka and Out of Africa. Series results to Joka from Umzimkulu II with Tana and Out of Africa equal third.
In Red Evo took the water and handicap double after a close race. Flair led momentarily at the start but were hampered by a lack of sail area. Evo were ahead at the Goat Island rounding and held the lead on the spinnaker run to Cockatoo. Flair nearly caught up on the next spinnaker run from Cockatoo to Humbug but to no avail and Evo crossed the finish line just over a minute ahead. Series results to Flair from Evo and Barubi.
Since its inception in 2013 the WHWS has been a huge success and we are hoping to build on that success in 2016. The Notice of Race for the 4th Annual West Harbour Winter Series (WHWS) is here. As with previous years, there will be 7 races, commencing with Race 1 on the Sunday the 15th of May 2016.
We are again looking forward to some great racing across at least 4 divisions.
The inaugural 2013 Series was hosted by BSC however in 2013 it was DSC who out-performed the other clubs. In 2014 DSC hosted the series which was dominated by GFS. GFS hosted the 2015 series which was dominated by BSC.
In 2016 the WHWS has come full-circle with Balmain Sailing Club becoming the host club.
With support from Yachting Australia we are planning on introducing the measurement handicap system ‘ORC Club’. This will not replace the usual PHS handicapping system. Results under the ORC Club rule will be published alongside the PHS results.
Unlike other measurement based systems ORC Club is an inexpensive, ‘owner declared’, measurement system that has a transparent formula for determining a boats rating. (Anyone who holds a current ORCi Certificate can compete without having to apply for an ORC Club certificate).
I’d encourage people to read the information on the following links:
https://www.yachting.org.au/sport-services/ratings-and-certificates/orc/rating-website/
https://www.orc.org/index.asp?id=24
https://www.orc.org/index.asp?id=25
PHS favours consistent sailing, and occasionally favours those that consistently improve. However, unlike PHS, ORC Club won’t penalise you for sailing well – it will give you a fixed rating based on the design characteristics of your boat (it will favour those with clean hulls, decent sails and good teamwork!).
Yachting Australia will be hosting a Q&A seminar on ORC Club and local Sailmakers and sponsors of BSC and DSC, Sydney Sailmakers have agreed to assist owners with boat measurements following the seminar.
The Balmain Sailing Club invites all competitors interested in getting an ORC Club rating to the Q&A session at 10am on Sunday the 10th of April at the Balmain Sailing Club.
Yachting Australia have agreed to process Certificates for a promotional rate of $60.00 (cost).
The WHWS, with support from GFS, DSC, BSC, Yachting Australia and importantly competitors will be the first in Sydney to embrace this initiative.
Please, get on board and support this initiative and help us to position the WHWS at the forefront of racing development in Australia.
All competitors need to enter the WHWS via the Balmain Sailing Club website. There is no fee payable for entrants from BSC, DSC and GFS who have paid their club’s annual entry fee. Your entry automatically puts you into the PHS series and you will have the option of entering under the ORC Club rating rule.
Come along to the Q&A seminar and consider having your boat rated under the ORC Club rule.
