It was a great day for sailing last Saturday when Batemans Bay conducted the final coastal race of the season. A fine day with a moderate sea breeze greeted the fleet of 7 yachts as they headed out. The course consisted of a work to the waverider mark 3 nautical miles off Yellow Rock via the Marine Park middle mark, a run down to the Marine Park mark off Black Rock, an upwind leg around the outside of the Tollgates, then a reach to the finish line at Caseys Beach again via the Marine Park middle mark.
 
Race officer Dave Magill and his trusty crew of Terry Paton and Roger Rowe set an excellent start line allowing the fleet to get away to an even start. The fleet headed left over towards Acheron Ledge before going offshore. There “Wishful Thinking” (Andrew Bain)  gained a lot of ground by tacking over to Yellow Rock while the other boats went straight out to sea. It turned out that there was a strong southerly set offshore which “Wishful” was able to stay out of for longer. She led around the top mark from “Attitude” (Simon Byrne) and “Accolade” (Lachlan Brown).
 
Down the run positions were unchanged although “Accolade” was held up when the spinnaker fell into the water on the drop. Some unscheduled trawling ensued. “Wishful” stayed away for the win on line honours and AMS. “Attitude” was able to hold off “Accolade” by 1 second on the run in to the finish. This was a much improved performance by the “Attitude” crew giving them the win on PHS. Further back in the fleet James Gardiner and his crew had a comfortable voyage aboard “Xanthia”. “Ghoster” (Dion Perrins) had a close battle with “North Star” (John Drummond) all the way around the course to finish less than a minute ahead. In Division 2 Deb Keeley steered “Lollipop” to a convincing win. Full results are up on the BBSC website www.bbsc.org.au .

TopYacht Software: Batemans Bay Sailing Club - 2/21/2018 9:36:12 PM

RACE 6 2017-18 Bay Cup Div 1

bbsc bay cup 7 race 6 div 1

Printed on : 2/21/2018 9:36:12 PM

TopYacht Software: Batemans Bay Sailing Club - 2/21/2018 9:34:05 PM

RACE 6 2017-18 Bay Cup Div 2

bbsc bay cup 7 race 6 div 2

Printed on : 2/21/2018 9:34:05 PM

It was a great day for sailing on Saturday when Batemans Bay Sailing Club held the 5^th race of this season’s Bay Cup series. This was a handicap start race where the quicker boats gave the slower boats a headstart based on past performances. Race Officer Dave Magill and his trusty sidekicks Terry Paton and Roger Rowe aboard the committee vessel “Clarence the Clocker” set a boat end favoured start line. The course consisted of a work from the start to Chain Bay, a shy reach to the marine park middle mark followed by a broad reach to the leeward mark at Caseys Beach then windward and return legs to Chain Bay and back. 

Dion Perrins’ lovely cruiser racer “Ghoster” was first off, continuing her short handed run with three on board so there would be no spinnakers today. She was followed by John Drummond’s North Shore 310 “True North” then the mighty X45 “Xanthia” skippered by James Gardiner. The smallest boat in the fleet, the well sailed S80 “Avior”, skippered by Tony Sutton actually started after the biggest boat “Xanthia”. The final three boats were the Adams 10.6 sister ships “Attitude” (Simon Byrne), “Accolade” (Lachlan Brown) and “Wishful Thinking” (Andrew Bain). The last two boats were off at the same time, although Bain was in a generous mood and started 30 seconds later than necessary. By this stage the lead boats were already around the top mark.

The bigger boats made gains on the spinnaker reach down to Caseys. On the next work the breeze dropped from 15 knots to below 5 knots at times, favouring the boats which were in front. “Ghoster” maintained her lead to the finish to win from “Avior” and “Attitude”.  “Wishful” and “Accolade” had a great duel around the course. “Accolade” finished two seconds ahead, but rates slightly higher on AMS so “Wishful” claimed the AMS victory by four seconds from “Accolade” and “Attitude”. Full results are up on the BBSC website www.bbsc.org.au .

TopYacht Software: Batemans Bay Sailing Club - 2/8/2018 11:17:44 PM

RACE 5 2017-18 Bay Cup Div 1

bbsc bay cup 6 race 5 div 1

Printed on : 2/8/2018 11:17:44 PM

TopYacht Software: Batemans Bay Sailing Club - 2/8/2018 11:38:17 PM

RACE 5 2017-18 Bay Cup Div 2

bbsc bay cup 6 race 5 div 2

Printed on : 2/8/2018 11:38:17 PM

It was a great weekend for sailing when Batemans Bay Sailing Club held the Platinum Blinds and Awnings Regatta on January 6th and 7th. This is the club’s main keelboat regatta for the year, so it was pleasing that a fleet of 9 yachts were entered. On Saturday there were two short races over a windward/leeward course while on Sunday the fleet completed one long race around the club’s popular “Pentastar” course. The short races represented a great test of teamwork aboard  the yachts with no chance to recover if any sailing manoeuvres went wrong. The Pentastar course was more of an endurance test for crews.
 
On the Saturday race officer Dave Magill and his trusty sidekicks Terry Paton and Roger Rowe aboard the committee boat “Clarence the Clocker” set a true course with a pin end favoured line. “Wishful Thinking” (Andrew Bain) started at the pin but her Adams sister ship “Accolade” (Lachlan Brown) was able to hold her out beyond the port tack layline to round the top mark in the lead. “Attitude” (Simon Byrne) looked threatening until her crew was unable to get the spinnaker down in time for the leeward mark rounding. “Avior”, skippered by occasional racer Tony Sutton, had a blinder to finish close behind the much bigger Adams yachts.
 
In the second race “Wishful Thinking” got a great start and tacked away early so as to be on the right of way starboard tack approaching the top mark. However the left side of the course was favoured so “Accolade” and “Attitude” got around the top mark ahead of her and finished in that order. “Ghoster” (Dion Perrins) put in a much improved performance  to turn the tables on “North Star” (John Drummond) despite sailing short-handed all day. In Divison 2 the trailerable trimaran “Hobo” (Peter Withington) sailed consistently while Deb Keeley’s Serendipity 29 “Lollipop” made more stately progress. “Vital Spark” (Richard Dunne) was ahead of the other Div 2 boats but only did one lap instead of two. Sometimes it pays to read the Sailing Instructions.
 
On Sunday “Wishful Thinking” and “Accolade” had more close racing with several lead changes around the course. On the final leg “Accolade” got her spinnaker set well before “Wishful” to pull away. “Avior” had a day to forget with multiple foredeck snafus including an upside down spinnaker hoist. The Div 2 yachts “Lollipop” and “Hobo” had an even closer race including a coming together at one stage.
 
At the presentation afterward the consensus was that it was such a nice day that everyone who had been out sailing was a winner. Full results are up on the BBSC website www.bbsc.org.au.

It was a great day for sailing on Saturday December 23^rd when Batemans Bay Sailing Club held the annual Lady Skippers’ Race. It was a sternchaser format race where the quicker boats give the slower boats a headstart based on past performances. There was an 8 to 12 knot sea breeze blowing as the limit boats “North Star” and “Lollipop” set off, followed by “Ghoster”, “Xanthia”, “Vital Spark”, “Wishful Thinking” and “Accolade”. The course was a work from Caseys Beach to Yellow Rock followed by reaching legs to the Toll Gates mark and back to Caseys Beach. The Division 2 yachts finished there while the Division 1 yachts did further windward and return leg to Yellow Rock and back to the finish at Caseys Beach. 

On the first leg the leading boats followed conventional wisdom by heading left to the northern side of Batemans Bay. However, there was much more breeze in the middle of the Bay which is where “Accolade” and “Wishful Thinking” went. “Accolade” got past “Wishful” through some great steering by Imogen Brown. On the reach to the Toll Gates, “Wishful” was the only boat to set her spinnaker on the reach to the Toll Gates mark and drew level with “Accolade”. On the second work at backing shift in the breeze favoured the left side allowing “Wishful”, skippered by Julie Phelps to get through to the lead by the top mark. She held off “Accolade” down the run to win by about 20 seconds with “Xanthia” (Lyn Hardingham) in third place. 

In Division 2 “Lollipop” (Belinda Collins) scored a convincing victory. “Vital Spark” had Aaron Dunne skippering who when last checked was ineligible for the lady skippers’ event but easily won the crew’s race. 

Afterward 20 sailing club members and friends attended a Christmas Dinner at the clubhouse. It was a great evening thanks to Bev and Richard Dunne’s culinary delights.

Last Saturday was a great day for sailing when Batemans Bay Sailing Club conducted the annual John Boyes Memorial Broulee Race. There was a 15 knot seabreeze blowing which got the boats to Broulee and back in just over 3 hours. A total of 8 yachts went out including “Avior” (Tony Sutton) and “Out Wide” (Peter Schwarz) which accompanied the racing boats.

Race officer Dave Magill and his trusty crew aboard the committee boat “Clarence the Clocker” set a pin end favoured startline. The start was closely contested with “Attitude” (Simon Byrne) getting in a position to be able to hold the other boats out beyond the port layline on the first short upwind leg to the Marine Park Middle Mark. She narrowly led “Wishful Thinking” (Andrew Bain) and “Accolade” (Lachlan Brown) on the reach to Black Rock. From there to Burrewarra Point the reach was broad enough to set spinnakers. “Accolade” was unable to drop their jib when the top of the sail somehow got clipped onto the spinnaker halyard. The three Adams 10.6 yachts each hit speeds of 14 knots coming across Broulee Bay. At the rounding mark off North Broulee, “Attitude” maintained her lead from “Wishful Thinking”, “Accolade”, “North Star” (John Drummond) and “Ghoster” (Dion Perrins). The Accolade crew were able to drop both the spinnaker and jib, undo the tangle then rehoist the jib without losing too much ground. 

It was then hard on the wind to Burrewarra Point and hence Black Rock. The wind was veering progressively which enabled “Accolade” to sail through to the lead by holding a more offshore course on starboard tack compared to “Wishful” and “Attitude”, who may have also snagged some seaweed. “Accolade” maintained her lead on the reach to the finish at Caseys Beach to win by 90 seconds from “Wishful Thinking” with “Attitude” a further 7 minutes back. “North Star” was a further 40 minutes back while “Ghoster” took an even cruisier approach. The AMS placings mirrored the line honours results while on PHS “North Star” had done enough to win from “Accolade” and “Wishful Thinking”. In Division 2 “Hobo” (Peter Withington) had a convincing victory.

TopYacht Software: Batemans Bay Sailing Club - 11/13/2017 8:06:45 PM

RACE 3 2017-18 Bay Cup Div 1

bbsc bay cup 4 race 3 sternchaser div 1

Printed on : 11/13/2017 8:06:45 PM

Batemans Bay Sailing Club had a busy weekend which kicked off with the first Coastal Race of the season on Saturday afternoon. A fleet of nine went out to meet race officer Dave Magill and his trusty crew aboard the committee boat “Clarence the Clocker”. This included the Thompson sports boat “Out Wide” (Peter Schwarz) who sailed in company with the racing fleet. Division 1 got away cleanly on the first leg to the Marine Park mark off North Head. Andrew Bain picked a progressive backing shift in the breeze from NE to N throughout the upwind leg and steered “Wishful Thinking” to the left of the course. The rest of the Div 1 fleet were stuck heading out to sea on port tack waiting for the header which came too late. “Accolade” (Lachlan Brown) compounded the error by overlaying the mark by 200m, rounding 5 minutes behind “Wishful”.

 The fleet then set spinnakers for a run around the southern end of the Toll Gates before reaching legs to the Middle Mark and hence Black Rock where a breaching whale livened up proceedings. There followed a work back around the Toll Gates and a broad reach to the finish at Caseys Beach. “Wishful” lost some ground but was still two minutes ahead of “Accolade” at the finish with “Attitude” (Patrice de Caritat) a further 13 minutes behind. “Ghoster” (Dion Perrins) was going well until her crew had some problems pulling the kite down. “North Star” (John Drummond) kept the mistakes to a minimum to win on PHS. 

 In Division 2 “Vital Spark” (Richard Dunne) confidently sailed off on the wrong course. “Lollipop” (Deb Keeley) was heading the right way but made a sheep like decision to follow “Vital Spark”, forcing a lengthy detour. The redoubtable Peter Withington aboard “Hobo” stuck to the proper course for a handy win. 

On Saturday evening the Commodore’s Dinner at On The Pier restaurant featured a riveting talk from Robin Smart on his voyage across the Tasman in March of this year. He delivered his 36 foot catamaran from Auckland to Batemans Bay on the third attempt, overcoming many tribulations on the way. 

 Sunday October 29^th Gosford Sailing Club Sailing Manager Peter Walsh drove down and gave us a very informative Yachting Safety Seminar, including a flare demonstration which was closely monitored by Rob Moldovan of  RMS. Afterwards participants went out on “The Shed” and “Accolade” to practice MOB retrieval. This was quite tricky in the gusty westerly conditions, but everyone who wanted to was able to have a go at the helm.