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Brass
Monkey, June 7,8,9 2008 The weekend started out in fine Brass Monkey style, with winds on Saturday up to 22kts from the south, and temperatures around 17°C but with a fierce wind-chill factor. Sunday the breeze eased off a lot, with one start being postponed waiting for a puff. Monday was pretty-well a write-off with one race being attempted but finally abandoned after 90 minutes with all boats on the first circuit. Forty boats of all sizes signed-on Saturday, but numbers dropped off over the weekend as the wind died. Photos were taken mostly on Monday and can be seen by going to Photos button at left. Sadly, on Saturday when everyone was there and the action was at its best, no-one was taking photos. Bugger! Thanks to our sponsors, HobieSports, and Travel World Lake Haven, for their support with this event. For complete results on Excel spreadsheet, click here. Basic results are as follows:
Sunday May 18 Presentation Day photos now on line. Click here. Sunday 11 May Notice the new page for Stuff For Sale. Check it out click here. Sunday 4 May 2008 Three intrepid ocean voyagers turned up on Cabbage Tree Beach for a trip around Birdie Island, seven kilometres north. Geoff, Danny and Brandon all brought their Windrush 14s for a bit of adventure on the big sea. A gentle westerley helped us get out of the bay, then it turned south to give us a slowish run up the coast. At 10-15 knots the breeze took an hour to get us up to the island. Despite the mild wind, the sea itself was rolling past with about 7 metres between trough and crest, so in every trough the other boats disappeared but for their mast-tops. See pictures. Even with the big mountains of sea rolling past, I found it very difficult to surf down the front of them, and stopped dead on the back - a bit frustrating. There were no dramas, although we did have to go a long way out to sea on some of our tacks on the work back. The intention was to have lunch at Toowoon Bay then head home, but after two hours of rolling up and down these swells my stomach forgot about lunch and decided to revisit breakfast. So we came straight back to base, in my case cold, sick, tired and hungry. My two younger companions were keen to continue as planned but I think they were a bit ambitious. Despite all that, it was an exciting and memorable trip and a day we'll never forget. Thanks to Rimmo for his help at the start, and to other well-wishers, Darryl, Stan and Brenton. All the pix were taken on the way out, as the trip back was too hairy for one-handed photography. Water on the lens ruined the last few shots. Have a look at the photos here. Danny Sunday 27 April 2008 What a great way to finish the season - 20-25 knot Northerlies, 25°C and sunny, and the lake full of water thanks to all the rain. Fifteen boats started but not all finished - I saw Brandon and John J both tip in. John J made a great finish on the shore getting hit by a gust as his Hobie18 hit the grass and kept going into the back of Geoff's trailer. The windward mark was surprisingly close to the start, and several skippers overshot by some hundreds of metres. Certainly made a mess of my good start. There was a lot of floating weed which wrapped itself around rudders making things difficult. Visitor Glenn Bond came in first in the monos, with juniors Grant and Henry Makin being the only other monos to finish. Darcy on his new Maricat won the fourteens, and Richard on his NACRA 14 square a minute or so behind and geoff six minutes behind him. Some distance behind came Danny, Brandon, Rimmo and Craig in that order. With such a good breeze nearly everyone finished within an hour, which left plenty of time for socialising at the clubhouse. Darryl and Anthony on the H18 won the big cats with Kershy only a minute behind, and John Junior last. The capsize only slowed JJ by less than a minute, as he is quite experienced in this area. Presentation Day is 18 May at 1.30pm. Bring a plate of food for arvo tea. Some of us will be at Cabbage Tree Bay next Sunday 4 May for a pleasant ocean voyage. Ten o'clock is a good time to arrive. We'll decide our destination after we see the conditions. Everybody welcome. Sunday 20 April 2008 Seventeen very keen sailors signed on for a cold, rainy and not very windy day, our second last for the season. What looked promising before the start with steady 15 knot winds turned to farce as the wind went mad and the rain pelted down. Take a look at the Seabreeze graph:
Richard blitzed the fourteens on his Nacra, beating Christopher Blackford by 20 minutes, with Geoff on his Windy 5 minutes behind. Chris came 13th in last week's Combined High Schools regatta, out of 190 odd kids. Jason Kakato came second in the CHS. Well done both of you. Craig finished fourth, after a long wait for the wind to pick up again. In the monos, Terry was first home on the vagabond with Tristan crewing, followed by Bob Stephens, then young Grant and Henry a long way back. They all deserve a medal for finishing in the sorry conditions. Everybody else failed to finish for one reason or another. Next week is the last race for the season so let's make it a good one. It's going to be a long cold winter. Bobcat and Dave M if you can bring back your perpetual trophies, we can present them to someone else. Sunday April 13 2008 Nineteen skippers started in a pleasant 10-12 knot southerly on six monos, five big cats and eight fourteens. The big cats led the way with Peter and Aimee dicing with Paul and John. Stan came out without a crew on his H16, a bad decision as it turned out. Jason and Chris on their Maricats left the other 14s behind, but Geoff got his Windy into gear in the increasing wind and pipped Chris. There were a lot of kids out there having a go - Terry on the Gwen12, Robert and Aaron on the Maricats, and Chris and Jason. The weather turned sour, dumping rain all over us, and there were some retirements, due to lightning risk. A big southerly blow hit the fleet with winds to 27 knots (see Seabreeze graph) and a few cats blew over, including Paul and Stan, and Glenn's mast fell down after he finished. So, Glenn Bond, Bob Stephens and Terry Watts finished in that order in monohulls, and four fourteens, Jason Kakato, Christopher Blackford, Geoff Solomon and Danny, also made it over the finish line. None of the big cats finished. 
Thanks to Bill and Darryl who waited in the atrocious conditions for the last boat, me, some 14 minutes after the others went through. Thanks also to Terry Makin on the Support Boat for his dedication. Also, anyone who is holding a Perpetual Trophy from last year, please bring it back asap. Ta. Sunday April 6 2008 Forecasts of rain and light wind must have kept people away today, but 15 boats is still pretty good. Seabreeze shows 15 knots from 11am but it was more like 10-12 here. A high attrition rate through broken gear reduced the fields, but the conditions were excellent for those able to finish. Today was the last Club Championship race and there are three more point score races this season. By the way, I've lost my reading glasses, possibly in the clubhouse. If anyone's found them, please let me know. The times for today's race follow:
Sunday March 30 2008 A very light westerly breeze threatened a slow and boring day on the lake but the wind came up right on time to satisfy all twenty-one skippers looking for a great day sailing. Peter Walker and daughter Aimee were up the front at the finish, with visitors Jonathon and Matthew from Speers Point ASC in second place. Justin Turvey is training for the CHS sports on Troy's H16 with Leah crewing. Good luck you guys! Stan couldn't find a jib-hand so he took it pretty easy around the course one-up. I think that's why he came last. Richard on his Nacra 14 easily won the smaller cats, while Geoff's Windrush was going well till he finished a lap early, letting Danny into 2nd. Very satisfying. The under 40s brought up the last 4 places. I'm never sure what's happening with the monos as they don't always do the same course. I would say Glenn and Arie did an extra lap. Arie is in Glenn's old boat, which is pretty fast. Terry finished early in the Gwen12. Anyway, we all enjoyed the day. Here are the times:
Easter Sunday While Kerry cleaned out the clubhouse, the rest of us (14 boats) went for an impromptu race, with Terry coming down to crew the Support Boat. Darcy set the course and operated the Start gate. There was a very pleasant southerly of about 10-15 knots so we all had a cool sail and a good chat and drink in the clean clubhouse. Next week we'll be back for some serious racing. Kerry has arranged a social gathering at the Sporty's Club in Norah Head for Saturday 5 April, at about 6.30pm. Everyone including visitors is welcome to come along for a relaxing social evening. With the season finishing soon some of us will be having a sail on the ocean, launching at Cabbage Tree Bay. This is not a club event and no support will be provided. If anyone can arrange a support boat, even a Jet-ski, that would help. See the picture on the homepage of last year's launch. Pictures are on the Photo Album page. We can decide on the day the best place to sail to. Sunday 16 March A good attendance again - twenty-three boats competing, in improving winds from the east coming in reliably at 1.00pm around 10-12 knots. A big course, taking nearly two hours to complete, so plenty of sailing action. Paul and Leah raced home for a good win, with Kershy and Garry 2nd and 3rd with not much daylight between them. Visitor Mark came 4th so I hope he keeps coming back. Troy and JJay cut it fine with only four seconds between them. Wish I had seen that! Anthony went out on Darryl's boat rather than his usual single-hulled mount. Stan stopped to help young Robert get his Maricat up the right way. In the little cats Chris won on the appropriately named "Spoilt Brat"- luckily he's only a visitor. Fourteen year old Aaron was only 2 seconds behind Brenton. Note that Brenton and Darcy are sailing old borrowed boats to give the rest of us a chance, but it doesn't make that much difference - if you're a good sailor you will still do well. Brandon threw away a couple of places by throwing it in the drink, and Dave Dixon had a screamer finish by going wide and finishing in a cloud of spray to pip Craig on the line. Robert was doing OK till he tipped his Maricat over and failed to finish mistakenly thinking he was disqualified. Don't listen to them Robert! In monos, Darryl and Gabby had a go in a Northbridge coming in well ahead of John and tiny Anayla in their Vagabond with Neil close behind them. Not everyone did the same course. Terry in the Gwen 12 took less time but probably did the short course. The times looked like this:
Sunday March 9 Results for this week:
Sunday 3 March 2008 Twenty-seven sailing craft took to the water in gusty southerly winds (see Seabreeze graph) of 15-20 knots. After a dodgy start we all finally got away, with many good sailors playing catch-up. The ones who made the start on time couldn't find the windward marker so it evened itself out a bit. Garry had to kick Aaron off the Bumblebee after he found one of the sidestays on Geronimo almost broken through between the swage and the thimble. It was very hard to see, but he saved himself from a nasty breakage at sea. Aaron was press-ganged onto the good ship 'Yes Dear' as Stan's forward hand. Darcy brought along an old Windrush to give us mortals a chance, but he still came fourth. Brenton sailed very well to keep ahead of Team Marko and win the 14s. We should encourage him to join the club. Danny (me) only managed 8th place after a valiant effort to work his way from the front at the start to last place. Only the determined efforts of Jake, Craig and Dave kept him from achieving this. In the big cats, Paul and Leah just squeezed a win just ahead of Troy and Sharon. Kersh & Son came next with inexperienced but keen crew. Tony never made up the ground lost at the start through missing it by five minutes. All the mono skippers did well in the tough conditions, except for John with his tiny daughter both of whom DNF. Here are the line results for those who finished:
After a slow start due to shifting and dying winds we finally got going in a SE breeze up to 12 knots. With a light breeze there was good racing and no dramas except before the start when Bill backed the Griffin into Danny's Windrush to show how good the 30 horse motor was and how difficult it is to work the throttle. Danny went for a swim and his boat sailed away, but no damage occurred. There were 21 starters with only Max Tunbridge not finishing. Said he had to go home and feed the cat. Fair dinkum, Max! A few people were on different boats - Max tried out a Maricat, Brandon used his old spare boat, and Geoff had Gerry's old Windrush, the mozzie has gone. John Schipp came and sailed a Vagabond with his little daughter, and Anthony used a Gwen12. Big cats sailed an extra triangle to the fourteens, and the monos just sailed two triangles, no loop. The results are as follows:
Sunday 17/2/08 This is the first race of the Third Series of the calendar. The wind was very fickle, changing from SE to E to NE during the race, wrecking Bill's carefully laid-out course and playing havoc with tacking strategies (see Seabreeze graph below). There was a bit of boat-swapping, with Troy on Craig's H14 and Geoff on his new Windrush. Well, new for him, it's about the same age as him. It was great to see Bobcat and Dave M come down from the mountains to sail with us, and Stan's brother Dave on the Forerunner, while Stan went out on his H16 for a change. Bob broke his jibsheet at the start and had to go ashore to fix it. He recovered well to place third. Brandon sailed very well and despite going very wide to cover breeze changes won the fourteens from Troy, who had to chase his boat after he fell off when the trapeze broke. Geoff and Danny tacked early at the start to get out of dirty air, but got sucked into a wormhole and finished up in a parallel universe where there wasn't any wind, so they spent the race a leg behind everyone else, but we 'ad good fun eh! Garry and Aaron forgot which way was up and tried to do their sausage around the wing mark, but after realising their mistake still managed to haul in Stan and everyone else to win the big cats. Terry and Neil went out in their Spirals for two triangles. Thanks to the guys on the support boats, Bill and Terry and John and Ray. Even though it was only a small fleet due to competing regattas, all hands were on deck to make sure we had a great afternoon racing at Toukley. Below the graph are the results over the line. 
Sunday 10 Feb 2008 Another fine day for sailing, but for some reason the big cats took fright and went into hiding. With a steady breeze of around 20 knots at Norah Head (probably 15-18 at Canton Beach), nine 14ft cats and Terry in the monohull, with Katelyn and Jodie, made the most of the conditions. Brenton got off to a poor start, on the beach, ripping his sail apart when a batten snagged the tiller during the raising. Luckily he always carries a spare. Brandon was the only one to fall over,but was rescued by Stan, who jumped in to supply the extra weight for righting the Windy. Up till that point Brandon was having a great tussle with Danny for the highly-prized sixth place. Late news - Brandon's trapeze broke, that's why he fell in. Darcy sailed an excellent race to be well ahead of everybody except Geoff - a demon on his mozzie. We were all back on the beach in an hour owing to the brisk breeze. Many thanks to Bill and Kerry on the Start boat and Terry and John on the Support launch for their efforts. The results are here:
Sunday 3 February 2008 With a breeze around 10 knots and warm but cloudy weather, this day was perfect for some pleasant sailing with friends. Sorry about the Budgewoi regatta but some of us are just homebodies, and have already paid our race fees here. Neil has sold his Impulse and gone for the more manageable Spiral, giving it a good workout today and finding it easier to handle. Richard suffered one of the worst situations after his Taipan chucked him off then drifted away. The guys on the support boat were on the ball and soon had the pair re-united, though Richard didn't finish the race. Garry gave his Geronimo a thrashing but despite being way ahead for a while, he had to watch Kershy scream past out of nowhere and take the win. Danny was first fourteen out of the blocks but had to watch Brandon consistently outpace him on the downhills and reaches to finish way ahead. Stan made a great effort to catch up to Danny after a few big setbacks but couldn't overcome the greater skill and wisdom blah blah... No, it was just a lucky wind I beat him. Robert and Aaron sailed their cats with the big boys, gaining vital experience on their way to future championship success. Israel Smith came over from Mannering Park to crew for Kershy as part of his training. It's wonderful to see all the kids crewing on the big cats - Grant, Henry, Leah, Adam, Ben, Jarred - what a great family sport! Visitor Johnjay did pretty well and may be invited back. The results are as follows (big cats did an extra lap):
Australia Day weekend The traditional Herons State Titles were held over the 3 days, with the wind improving as the regatta progressed, Monday bringing 15-20 knots for the great little boats. Results are on the Herons website here. Or they would be if they had a webmaster as good as ours. Anyway, they all had a good time, thanks to the many TSC volunteers who put in long days on the water or at the clubhouse to make sure everything went smoothly. Thanks heeps you guys! Apparently (sadly I couldn't make it) our guys sailed as usual on Sunday - a marathon to the bottom (south end) of the lake. I think eleven cats did the trip. Next weekend is the Stan Vintnell Memorial Regatta at Budgewoi. This is always a good weekend and I especially recommend the Saturday night dinner. For those who don't want to do that, sailing at Canton Beach will still be on Sunday. Anyone called Darryl with a new Windrush should come here. I have new club shirts for Terry, Max, Darryl and Steve H. They will be at Toukley on Sunday. Sunday 20 January 2008 A very interesting day... Due to the Mannering Park club having a Catamaran regatta this weekend, many of our usual competitors were away up there. Eight boats attended, including one mono, a Gwen12 skippered by Terry Watts. Two fourteen Windrushes fought it out for the 4th heat of the Club Championships, plus a sprinkling of bigger cats, including Doug Bignell from Tuross and his wife/crew Au. After a promising start with a breeze of 10-12 knots, a change hit after the first triangle, providing much-needed soaking rain and many windshifts and peaceful calm periods. Most of the sailors headed for home while a few intrepid adventurers perservered to get a result in the shortened race. Finishing speeds were about half a knot but the dedicated Finish Boat Team, Bill and Kerry, stuck at their posts till everyone had finished that wanted to, even Brandon who took 10 minutes to cover the last 30 metres. So, the results are, monos: Terry, big cats: Geoff Solomon, Mozzie, Doug, H18, and fourteens:Danny and Brandon.  It might have been a bit of a washout, but everybody enjoyed themselves, and all our clothes and gear got a good wash in fresh rainwater. Next week is the Herons Regatta. We have a roster for duty to help out, and Stan will remind the participants by e-mail. We hope to have a Marathon-type race for our members on the Sunday. If you can spare some time to help out at the regatta, come down and we'll find an interesting job for you. Sunday 13 January 2008 As you can see by the Seabreeze graph below, we were blessed with NE winds from 18 to 23 knots during the race period 1330 on. Twenty-two boats of all sizes made the start line, eventually, but only 13 finished, the big cats finding it tough going. There were many capsizes and other dramas including trapeze acts and simulated drownings. Despite all this, it was a fantastic sailing experience for everyone and a real test of skill and equipment. The strength of the breeze cranked boat speeds up to maximum levels, with excellent race times, and exciting broad reaches.  Peter Walker and Aimee on their Taipan absolutely flew, lapping all small cats but the legendary Darcy, who also left his classmates way behind on his Sandwich Action Maricat. Geoff Solomon flew his Mosquito to 2nd place in the small cats. Stan has his Hobie 14 Turbo really flying for an old bloke, leading older bloke Danny home by 5 minutes. Danny has got his act together lately and managed to keep ahead of Brandon by 50 seconds, and even diced with Ronny Walsh who eventually broke his tiller and limped home with independently operated rudders. Bob Lockley was next big cat, despite falling off the back of his boat and tipping it over. Visitor Paul Meyer was the last big cat home on his H18, having gone ashore to take his busted jib off at the start, behind Craig on his H14. Welcome Paul, and better luck next time. None of the juniors finished, not surprising in the conditions. However Terry Watts with a Gwen12 full of kids won the monos, followed by Anthony Makin in another Gwennie, and Bob Stephens in his Impulse. Bob never quits, no matter how tough the conditions, not bad for 70+ years. Detailed results here. On the long weekend in two weeks we are hosting the traditional Herons Regatta. Next Sunday we will be asking for volunteers to help and Stan will have a roster. Even one day will help, be it in the canteen or out on a boat. We will have a marathon for club members on the Sunday, and a barbecue. Sunday 6 January 2008 At noon the southerly breeze died away and was eventually replaced by a NE zephyr about 8-12 knots - not as good as last weekend, but enough for a pleasant race. Twenty-two boats started, 12 big cats, 6 little ones and 5 monos. Peter Walker and daughter Aimee did their usual blitzkrieg on the big cats, winning by over 4 minutes from Kershy (Snr) and Justin Turvey on the Hobie. Garry Robinson was close behind on his new Taipan Geronimo, a former championship craft, on his first time out on it. He should improve with a bit of practice. Last weekend at the Xmas Regatta Garry went from last to first during the regatta on the Maricat as he got used to it, so you can expect a similar improvement on the Taipan. Paul and Leah did well on the F18 to come fourth, while Tony Kros and Dave Moalem finished 2 seconds apart. Dave has hardly touched his boat for months, so a good one-up performance by him. Geoff Solomon was next on the H17 Predator which he just bought from Gaz. Something very strange happened at the start which I couldn't resolve, but it meant that Geoff came back for a re-start, only to find there wasn't one, so had to make his way back through the field. Watch out for this very experienced sailor in the future. Geoff, like many of the other skippers, started at Toukley as a kid and has now come back home. The fourteens had a very interesting race, eventually won by tourist Ronny Walsh who flew back from a trip around Australia ex-Perth for a spot of sailing, with the four adult skippers all having a turn at leading the race, all finishing within 2 minutes of each other. Young Aaron Robinson recovered from a shocking start, given that it was his first race on this Maricat, to catch up and pass Danny and Darcy, and was well on his way to nailing Tony and Ron when he capsized and eventually retired from the back of the fleet. A few weeks of practice should see him winning races at this rate. Robert (Bear) gave it a good try on his first Cat race and will also be a threat to the old geezers. The monos enjoyed the light conditions and everyone finished. Henry did the short course. Of those doing the big course, Grant won, with Jake 2nd. Terry had a great time (I think) on the Gwen12 with his 2 giggling crew. For the detailed results click here. For this season's reports July to December 2007 click here For last season's reports January to June 2007 click here 
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