The Tuggerah Lakes Memorial Clubs annual Brass Monkey Regatta was held over the Long Weekend in June.The attendance at the regatta greatly surpassed our expectations. It was the best turnout for a regatta the club has seen for over twenty years. With 118 competitors travelling from all over the state as well as Victoria the ACT and Queensland.
The wind was very light for the whole of the Brass Monkey Regatta with a maximum of six knots reached at 5pm on the Saturday. Despite this we still managed to run six very competitive races over the Saturday and Sunday, with Mondays morning race having to be called off at the starting line due to serious lack of wind.
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COURSE layout that woked well for a large mixed fleet at the brass monkey reggata. The Catamarans sailed to windward-leewards, while the dinghy sailed a triangle and a windward return. |
(Fig 1.) Shows a layout of the course structure devised by Ian Marcovitch to accommodate a large mixed fleet of Monohulls and Catamarans. The chief advantage of this course is that only one boat is tied up in the start finish part of the race, freeing up other craft for rescue purposes.
It turned out that by simply superimposing a triangular course on the top of Catamaran Windward - Leeward course we had a good workable arrangement. The success of the course depends on keeping both the up wind and down wind laylines separate for the two fleets.
The grouping of marks at the top and bottom of the course, as shown on Fig 1, means that when the wind changed direction a committee boat at the top of the course could change the position of the three marks quiet easily. While a separate committee boat changed the leeward marks cluster.
The start finish boat only has to rotate itself to the start finish mark meaning the fleet doesn’t have to chase around the bay, while the committee alters the course. With over a hundred boats it worked well though we had to utilize a tape recorder / video recorder to make sure we recorded the finishes correctly as well as having two people writing the results down.
With the race officer on the start boat in the middle of the course he/she is well placed to direct repositioning of the marks in or outwards to suit conditions for each start.
We attracted a fleet of over sixty Lasers many of whom were training for the up and coming world titles to be held in Cork, Ireland. The Ronstan Laser Full rig division was won by Tom Slinglsby, Ben Austen who only narrowly missed 1st place took home Ronstan gloves in 2nd position.
In the Laser Radial division 2nd place went to Nathan Querk who sailed very well to beat Michael Chidley who took out the RWBasham sponsored 3rd position in the Laser Radial Rig division.
RWBasham sponsored Laser Master division winner was won by John Sprague.
The Tasar class, which also had a large turnout, training for their world titles which were held in London. Tasar sailors Lachlan Brown and Trish Colocot took out the Ronstan Tasar division.
We had a fleet of eight mistral sailboards four of whom were training for the up coming youth championships.
Our miscellaneous monohull division winners caused the biggest upset. Sailing their Flying Eleven, skipper Craig Souter and crew James Whelan, giving the rest of their division a real battering. Winning every race on yardstick and most races on scratch as well, with their cunning race skills in the very light winds. They sailed against Manly Graduates, Blazer Trailer Sailer and a light weight sharpie that travelled from Canberra.
Taipans were very well represented in the Catamaran fleet with Darren Bundock, Silver medallist in the Tornado division of the 2000 Olympics and current world champion, winning the Ronstan Taipan Sloop rig division with his crew Janica Marcovitch. Chris Cairns Bronze medallist from the the Los Angeles Olympics in the Tornados, and his crew Belinda Townend fought hard but finished in 2nd place in the Taipan Sloop Division. Amy and Daniel Van Kerchoff, past National Champions in the Taipans took out 3rd Place.
The winner of the Seafarer life jacket in the Seafarer Taipan Cat rig division was Warren Morse he travelled from Melbourne for the regatta and won convincingly against the states top Taipan Cat rig sailors including the past National Champion Scott Crichton.
We also had a large fleet of A classes with Steve Brewin taking out 1st place, 2nd place went to Mathew Waide who travelled from Griffith for the regatta.
In our Ronstan sponsored Misc Cat division 1st Place went to Paper Tiger Sailor Craig Arthur who travelled from Wagga Wagga for the regatta. Craig’s practice sailing on the light winds of Waggas Lake Albert payed off as he took the trophy from Paper Tigers, Arrows, Nacra 5.8’s, Hobie14’s, Taipan 5.7 and a Stingray.
The regatta was a great success both on and off the water. With the clubs Saturday night social spit roast and trivia night enjoyed by the sailors.
The Tuggerah Lakes Memorial club will hold its annual Cock of the Lake regatta in
summer. This regatta will be held on the 9th and 10th of February 2002.
