Happy New Year pt 2

The last 2 days before New Years Eve we got back to basics down at my favourite sailing spot... Botany Bay
With 2 video cams running, one on top of the mast the other on the boom, we got some perfect small rig training in beautifull 20knt conditions and had the entire Bay to ourselves, apart from a few windsurfers looking for a race
The video looks awesome and should be ready in a few days time...
The guys had some great training time and we got a few rig issues sorted out with the boat now really happy and sailing easily in the groove, and with a bit more centre board case issues still to be fine tuned we are very happy with how the boat is performing
GPS top speed reading 20knts
Day 2 on the Bay was a little lighter, so back to No1 rig, but this time with a 3rd video cam from my neice who happily walked to the middle of Captain Cook Bridge and got some birds eye view of our rigs.
Perfect sunny conditions helped us really get lots of small issues sorted with plenty of perfect and not so perfect gybes and tacks and some moored boat dodging practice to simulate Harbour traffic.
Just a great day to be on the water and now we have hours of video to check over and edit, and see how things look from different angles and perspective... really helps when you dont have the luxury of coach boats
All I need to do now is work out how to use video editing software... should be interesting... stay tuned and have a very Merry New Year... enjoy

Happy New Year

With the year almost gone me, Sam and Benny have had a great last few weeks of the decade on the water... we got a quick one lap dash at our first race against the League guys a few weeks back, where we ignored the forecast and went big only to sail into a 20knt s/e breeze that just seemed to get fresher all day, and with only 3 other big rigs to match up against at the League, this was going to be super fast or super dead. And it turned into a little of both, we started about a min or 2 late, so not to ruin the League guys start... well thats what im telling everyone!!! In reality we just didnt hear any guns or see any flags cause we where too busy just trying to stay upright in the freshening breeze, as well as waiting around for about 40 min as the starter decided to wear out his favourite flag-- postpone start!!!
With nearly all small rigs to race against we decided to sail our own race and to our surprise by the first mark we had already passed a few boats, rounding the top mark and trying to stay away from the huge tanker parked off Point Piper it was 2 sail all the way down the Harbour, most of which fully out of control, half way down we crossed paths with the notorious Manly Ferry and apparently it doesnt know about port/starboard rules!!!! So with both our bows pointing directly at each other and closing fast, and the GPS reading around 19knts, we pushed hard to get to windward of the green big steel bastard. Another 20 odd feet to leward and we would be asked for our boarding tickets. So with this game of chicken over and watching most of the League guys go to leward we had picked up more boats by the bottom mark rounding and we sat nicely mid fleet
On the long windward leg back up to Shark Is the small rigs were very fast and we lost a couple of boats, then as we rounded Shark I decided to really push my young crew to the extreme... kite up boys, and they turned back and looked a little stunned... but up with the kite and full speed down past Bradleys Head for one of THE fastest rides this boat has seen for a very long time... GPS top speed reading of 24knts... and the boys handled it, but we still had to gybe back to round the mark and with the breeze pushing easily over 20knts this didnt go too well, on the gybe drop we hit the piss... not to worry as we knew what went wrong, so we rested on the centreboard and watched 3 or 4 League boats with small rig put on a show of daredevil crash test dummys.
At this point we where having lots of trouble just getting back uprite, finally we got going again but now we were having trouble bearing away, so a few more swims and we had broken a few mainsail battens... so we called it a day... and what a day
The following satday back at SFS the weather gods where shining again and with almost a carbon copy of the previous week we made the same mistake... not listening to the weather forecast, so big rig in 18knts from the S/E , hot sunny and clear blue skys, but this time we could take it a bit easier and do some practice runs of where we went wrong last time. And this time we had the video cam strapped to the boom which Sam seemed to enjoy very much... video edit coming soon!!!
So after 2 perfect Sydney Harbour, near identical, top end big rig days the boys were smileing and i was very happy with their performance as well as how the boat was responding and handling the fresh stuff with no broken bits, apart from some broken battens that can easily be fixed

We WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well not on the water, but off it!!

After the huge Heaven Can Wait regatta back in October the team got together to share our very eventfull race memories... and there where plenty, and we ended up with the story below.

And after hearing the HcW organisers where looking for "war stories" we decided to send in our version from a skiff point of view, and someone must have liked it... or the bribe worked!!!!!!!!!

To our surprise we took out first place... Link here to HCW... http://www.heavencanwait.com.au/

Maybe my writing skills are better than my sailing skills...... Not likely!!!! But im sure my Leslie and her writing skills had a lot to do with it, after all you dont get a Masters degree in Writing from randon sailing blog entries

We even got an edited version of the story, with some nice pics, published on Sailworld.com... link here... http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Thats-no-dolphin!!!-Sailing-an-18-foot-skiff-around-Lake-Macquarie/62732

Many many thanks to Mark, Shaun and the other Mark and all HcW race officials, volunteers, sponsors and supporters for a truely unique sailing experience

Heaven Can Wait part 2

The race track...

Another great pic from the HCW weekend... shame about the dark weather conditions, a bit like sailing by braille as we tried our best to figure out the course... all I can say is thank god for the big cat "Two Tribes" for going balls out from the start line and leading all the way, sure made our race much easier by following their giant mainsail that was just visible in the mist

Final race time was 3hrs12mins some 7mins behind Two Tribes and about 4mins behind Brett VanMunsters 18 from the League Kinder Caring... with Brett being a local from the Lake Maq area i was quite happy to follow him around the Lake course as our main aim for the day was to just finish in one piece.

With forecast winds of anything from 14-24knts from the S.W. the boys really didnt know which rig would be the best option to take, so we went a little conservative and chose No.2 rig, in the end we got it rite for about half the race which meant we could get some rest in the lighter stuff and in the fresher breeze we could push the boat hard withour fear of any major breakages.

Considering we had made a lot of untested changes during the last month the boat and my young crew Sam and Benny performed flawlessly...having had no small rig training over the past 8 months

With an 11am start time the team had plenty to sort out just to make the start on time... something which most skiff sailors, or maybe just me, struggle to do at best.

So with an early rise in the cold and rain we rushed around like crazy to get the chase boat fuelled and in the water and loaded with plenty of food and water, but most important was a huge bacon and egg breakfast to keep us going for the long day ahead. The 2 ways were charged and ready, GPS and video cam sorted along with any other safety and wet weather gear... most of which I planning to do friday nite but couldnt due to the rather ugly weather

With less than 5mins till start time we finally hit the water - not knowing we actually had to sail past the start boat to officially sign on 10 mins before start time.

As we slowly floated out to greet the start we noticed the Kinder Caring sailing to the line, they where late too!!!... but they had gone No.1 rig and we thought maybe this was gonna be a rather long day with our baby rig, but not to worry this was just a cruise day...

So we started late behind the crowded fleet just ahead of KC, but in about 10knt of breeze their big sails quickly ran thru the fleet as we bobbed about trying to find some upwind pressure. On the first long starboard tack we headed low to get away from the fleet, KC headed up and around and soon were off in the distance... this was really going to be a slow day... in the rain with the wrong rig.
Slowly we got some more pressure in the middle of the lake, then more, then more, and soon enough we had the hammer down in a nice 20knt breeze, and closing in on KC, their huge square top main just flagging around in the fresh stuff. They had grabbed a big lead of a few mins from the start, but now at the first mark at Wangi the gap was down to about 200 meters. The big cat Two Tribes still held a big lead. Then a great 2 sail down around Wangi Point - and we had KC very close ahead, but as we tacked our way back around the lee side of the point and thru the gap at Pulbah Is the breeze went soft and KC bolted .

Just about past Pulbah, near the shollow sandy bottom Pt Wolstencraft, we thought WOW... how nice, a dolphin swimming around slowly under the kite pole... fuck guys thats no dolphin... its a shark... I actually had to steer hard to avoid running the damn thing over, it was so close we couldve reached out and touched its fin... the last thing we needed was an upset shark under our feet. Thats when we decided this would be a 100% NO swim day

Around past Sunshine the breeze freshened again and we tried to gain some lost distance on TT and KC, visibility was getting worse with some big rain squalls. I guess by now we had been sailing for well over 60mins and we hadnt really been thinking how long this race would take, so we signalled to my niece on the chase boat for some drinks... that didnt go too well as we had also forgotten the 2 ways in the early morning rush to get ready and rigged... so the guys got close and tossed the drinks to us... and missed, so we parked for a minute to have a quick rest while the guys rescued our lost drinks...lucky we didn't tell them about the shark...

By this stage I really didnt know where we were on the lake until the very familiar 3 chimney stacks from the Vales Pt power station came into view thru the mist... my Nan had a holiday house at Mannering Pk and my family basically spent most holidays and weekends there when I was a kid growing up, I think my first sail was on this very water... ah the memories

So around the Vales Pt mark and finally we could set the kite for the first time...thankgod said Sam as he had been working pretty hard on the mainsheet by now... TT and KC were still well in front and the 3 leading boats had cleared away from the main fleet. Pushing pretty hard down the lake we were back at Sunshine in no time at all and heading fast towards Pulbah Is and catching KC. I think the KC guys had to back off a little with the big sails, and we had them very close. Kite down and 2 sailing into Nords Wharf the breeze went soft and once again KC bolted, round the mark, kite up again and running fast downwind towards Swansea we noticed the channel markers at Pelican and got a little lost and confused... with TT and KC no where in sight and not wanting to run aground at max speed, we thru in a few quick gybes and hammer down we entered Belmont Bay and into some solid pressure in the wide open bay... as we gybed back onto starboard and heading towards the Belmont mark we entered the big Etchell fleet in well over 20knts of wind.... must have confused some of the Etchell guys as they tried to wave us out of their way, while they were heading straight towards us... on port tack!!!!!!!! Somehow we stayed uprite and didnt crash but had badly overlayed the Belmont mark, so kite down and out of control 2 sail back across to the mark. Approaching the mark we were happily greeted by the sight of the KC in the tide... these guys had sailed extremely well to keep hold of the big rig in some pretty fresh stuff and for a couple of seconds we thought we would join them in the piss. They were up and sailing off by the time we gybed around for the 2 sail across Green Point, kites up again in some nice fresh gusts and super flat water, we both screamed down into Warners Bay...but the KC could run a little deeper than us with the big kite and stayed ahead as we had to complete a few gybes to get back to the mark, with the big cat TT a further 200m ahead.

But by now I was completely shagged and just praying for the finish. Luckily, for me anyway, the breeze was fairly lite and I could rest my tiller-locked hands as we headed around Bolten Pt and past the last mark then over the finish line... the leaders had gained a few minutes by now but we really didnt care too much... just very happy to finish, and in one peice...

Yeh HAAA 3rd overall and about 12th on corrected time

The boys and the boat had done brilliantly... no swims, some awesome flat water rides and nothing broken, apart from Sams hands (his gloves were on the endless list of stuff we forgot!) ... and I was happy just to see the beach, and the much needed hot shower, followed of course with more bacon and eggs

The race really didnt feel like 3hrs plus - I guess the super quick kite run all the way down the lake had blurred our vision of time... so me Benny and Sam felt pretty damn happy with our great result... and the wonderful Lake Maq had lived up to its reputation as one of the best sailing venues in Aus... oh the joy of flat water, no ferries or jet boats or container ships or hundreds of day cruisers, just good fun sailing

Big thanks to all the HCW organisers and fellow racers and special thanks to Shaun Lewicki for a truly unique skiff experience, one im sure me and the guys will never forget

Heaven Can Wait

The team finally got back to racing on the October long weekend for the annual HCW event on Lake Macquarie... Link to HCW site... http://www.heavencanwait.com.au/index.cfm

And what a day to get back into skiff racing... to sum it up in one word... massive massive massive!!!

Ye big call that one I know, but thats the best way to desribe our weekend

Above pic show us with being followed by the team chase boat... as needed to satisfy safety regs... big thanks goes to my old mate Tony for lending us the "Black Betty"

Also huge thankyou to my neice Rorz for doing the massive job of chase boat driver, also thanks to my girl Leslie for keeping everyone happy with food and drinks and to Casey and Anna for the 300 odd sailing pics we have to choose from

With forecast weather of rain and winds from 14-25 knts from the South, it was difficult to just choose the rite rig, let alone getting the chase boat in the perfect position and keeping pace with us for the 3hrs and 12mins race time
This pic shows us crossing the finish line... completely shagged... well I was!!!!

And to finish with a few minutes of League hot shot Brett VanMunster on Kinder Caring after more than 3hrs of racing was really a great result for me and the young guys... both Ben and Sam proved beyond dought how ready they are for a big summer of skiff sailing... and the pics of Sams hacked up hands showed just how tough the race was

Full report and lots and lots of pics to follow in the next few days

2009 Squaddy Brass Monkey

With winter quickly coming to an end the annual pre summer Brass Monkey regatta is on in only a few weeks time on the 29th and 30th Aug so its all hands on deck for my guys to get ready for some racing

Link to SFS and 2009 Brass Monkey n.o.r. http://sydneyflyingsquadron.com.au/
for those interested in joining the racing or watching on the spectator ferry

Should be a good turn out of many different classes, and if the weather keeps on improving it will be a great weekend of racing, and perfect Sydney Harbour training for me and the guys to kickstart our summer racing season

Will have some pics and vids and hopefully some good results as well

Sunset Cruise part 2

Not exactly full action shots but I really like the awesome sunset pics from last weeks training run

Mid winter in Sydney mite not be the best time for good seabreezes, but the beautifull afternoon weather certainly makes up for it

Ah the serenity

Sunset Cruise

The team finally got a chance to wash off the winter cobwebs for a very late arvo sail last week at Yarra Bay Skiff club. The boys got straight back into skiff mode after a 3 month lay off and proved they had lost nothing... off the trailer at 4pm, rig and on the water for a very leisurely one hour float with some foredeck paddling to get to the patch of breeze, then speed unrig and out of there at 6pm in total darkness... thank god for the local council workers who were doing some overtime work and had the spot lights on for us

The lovely sunset pics courtesy of my nieces pro 470 girls team, link here... http://whitechocolatesailing.blogspot.com/ Thanks guys... more pics to come soon

With the summer sailing season only a few months away the guys are planning more midweek training sessions that will give us a much better start to the racing year than last year when Benny was seeing the world till just before the JJ

And with a possible big sponsor about to sign on with the team, the wish list for new sails and gear is growing fast... stay tuned folks, as I know your all dying to hear... well at least i know one person that is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark Foy Regatta part 2

With racing nearly all done and dusted in Carnac for the first official Mark Foy Regatta its looking like the strong aussie fleet will not have all the results go there way

Slam with Rollo and the all stars aboard are still in with a chance to win if they can hold it together for the final races... they have won 5 races so far but have and OCS a DNF and a 13th to deal with

Rob Greenhalgh on Benny and the 18 veterean Howie on Maquarie are battling for the top spot with Slam and Trev not too far behind

So its all down to the last day of racing to decide the honours

hopefully the teams will get some nice breeze to finish off the great event... the regatta started with super lite conditions and no racing on day 1

My good mates on the HUN 18 Liberty, have had a tough week and are fighting hard in the mid pack with lots of places around 15th, but with 2 DNFs, they need some good results to finish well

Woody is also struggling in the mid pack, which is a little suprising given his speed of late in Sydney, my guess is the super short course racing is not to his liking

good luck to all teams for the final day of racing... wish I was there

Link here to full score board, results and pics... http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/18-footers-Mark-Foy-Trophy---USA-rising-but-Brits-hold-lead/58576

Mark Foy Regatta

From the Euro 18s.........

The 18 Foot Skiff International Association is delighted to announce a new global competition, the Mark Foy Trophy, to be sailed for the first time in Carnac (France) between June 29th and July 04th 2009. Mark Foy was one of the founders of the 18ft Skiff Class in Sydney in 1892 and a uniquely designed trophy bearing his name was recently rediscovered in the clubhouse of the Sydney Flying Squadron. Newly renovated and kindly donated by the Foy family, this valuable trophy will now take its rightful place as an International 18ft Skiff trophy. As a sign of the importance of the class outside Australia, and to show particular support for the class in Europe, the first venue to hold a series of races for this Trophy will be Carnac in France, often cited as the birthplace of European 18ft Skiff racing. A huge turnout of 18ft Skiffs is expected, with over 30 boats representing Australia, New Zealand, the USA and many European countries,with previous JJ Giltinan winners and champions from other classes competing over 6 days in a gala event hosted by Yacht Club de Carnac

John Harris, Commodore of the Australian 18 Footer League, comments, "Our International class organisation is mandated to foster the growth of the class building on its success Internationally, and promoting the regattas held annually in Australia, Europe and the USA. The JJ Giltinan Trophy has been raced as a "world championship" on Sydney Harbour since 1935, and the Mark Foy Trophy is both a reflection of the popularity of 18 Footer Sailing Internationally and a fitting celebration for the class as it looks to continue its growth on all continents. The JJ Giltinan event will continue to be run in Sydney every year and maintain its iconic status as one of the ultimate sailing trophies to be won in the world today".

In 2010, the Mark Foy Trophy will return to its birthplace in Sydney, Australia and will be run alongside the JJ Giltinan Trophy to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the world's most exciting skiff class. San Francisco in 2011 and Auckland in 2012 are then scheduled hosts for the Mark Foy Trophy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With only a few days till the first race of the Mark Foy in Carnac, thought this would be a good topic, as not much skiff sailing happenening in cold and windless Sydney
I have some great mates from Hungary and Germany competing in the week long event and hopefully they will send thru some interesting pics and reports

And with a large Aussie fleet in France for the innaugural event its sure to be tightly contested... Skiff legend Trev Barnabas has a put together an awesome team of his son Trent and former 49er world champ Dan Phillips and will sail Simon Nelsons 24/7 and Howie has the Maquarie, so these two will be very much at the pointy end of the fleet, along with the other skiff legend Jon Woody Winning who has been showing some good speed in Sydney since the JJ

With over 30 skiffs expecting to start race 1 on sunday its sure to be a very open regatta, with ex JJ winner Rob Greenhalgh in his new skiff Holt and plenty of other quick UK and Euro skiffs, will the aussies have it all there own way
Last years Carnac winner Rollo on the Slam will go well with plenty of experience on board as will my good mates the Hungarian team on Liberty who have got there new square top rig going fast after lots of winter training

My picks for top 5 would have to be
Trev B... 24/7
Rob G... Holt
Rollo... Slam
Woody... Yandoo
Woody Jnr... Appliances on line

The Danish team on GP Covers will go well if its fresh as will my German mates on their newly purchased skiff from the League... both these teams have some serious weight on the wire of around 280kgs!!!! And the Hun guys should be up there in the top 10 as well
The UK guys on Team Pindar and Investec should be very quick with plenty of recent close racing over the past few months


Best of luck to all teams and I hope to have some pics and reports in the next few days
Link to Carnac YC website... http://www.yccarnac.com/

Dirty Dog team support

Me and my guys are very happy to be supported by our long term sponsor DirtyDog Eyeware once again for the coming summer skiff season


The Wetglasses pictured below, with unique hydrophobic lenses, are just perfectly suited to the harsh sun and salt spray on Sydney Harbour and my eyes are much happier now, after a days sailing, wearing these...

Wet Glass info from DirtyDog website.....

DIRTY DOG POLARISED WET GLASS
The ultimate sunglass for sports lovers
- Hydrophobic lens coating beads away water ideal for all on water activity
- Adjustable multi layer stitching elasticized headband for stay on control when you need it most
- Detachable headband makes Wet Glasses the ultimate fashion function sunglass
- 8 base curve frames and lenses. The ultimate in a close, comfortable fit that keeps side glare out.
- 100% UVC / 100% UVB / >99% UVA block
- 87% glare (visible light) block
- 100% horizontal glare block off the water ideal for fishing and all on water activities
- Embedded polarizing filter – won’t delaminate
- Distortion free for maximum clarity
- Exceeds world-wide standards

Thanks again to Adam and his team from DirtyDog Eyeware for their continued support


For more info look here... http://www.dirtydog.com/


Sam and Bendo are big fans of the BigDogs, pic below, for before and after sailing with the polarised lenses

Liberty Skiff Festival Part 2

The Hungarian skiff guys had some great sailing on Lake Balaton last weekend for the first ever Liberty Skiff Festival... the guys reported 2 fantastic days of weather with perfect up range big rig racing conditions, but with only the 3 HUN skiffs racing, along with some 49ers and windsurfers.

The pics above shows the strange colour waters of Lake Balaton, and the guys having some great rides... the parties every nite were the main feature of the weekend along with the joy rides for aspiring skiff sailors

Here is a link to French photographer and well known skiff follower Cristophe, showing some great headcam crash action.... http://18fotos.blogspot.com/

Hopefully lots more of the Euro 18s will make the long trek across to Hungary for next years event and experience the great hospitality and perfect weather, let alone the cheap food and beer... me and my guys will definitely be there

To Miklos and Matyi, well done guys, and nice to see my old skiff still going strong

SFS Open Day

The guys from the squaddy are putting on a small get together for the purpose of helping to build there small skiff fleet
Anyone with good general sailing experience that have never had a chance to sail an 18 are more than welcome to join in
So bring the wetsuit and trap belt... booties and gloves essential, and hopefully we will get some nice weather and decent breeze
Next sunday the 17th at SFS rigging park, North Sydney, about 11am
Spaces are very limited, see you there

Liberty Skiff Festival

Latest news just thru from my good mates in Hungary... beautifull venue, beautifull people, and im sure it will be THE biggest skiff party ever... maybe the winner of the 1000euros should have to put all the money on the bar tab...im sure this will happen if any of the HUN 18 guys win.... just stay away from the Palinka
good luck and hope lots of other euro 18 teams make the effort to support this event
Pics to follow soon
Go bazdmeg!!!


Dear Friends
We would like to invite you to the first Hungarian 18ft skiff championship
THE LIBERTY SKIFF FESTIVAL
It will be held from 12 -14 of JUN at our club Spartacus Sailing Club at Balatonfoldvar!!! (http://www.spartacus.hu/)
1000 EURO prizemoney for the winner!!!
The club offers free accomodatin for the racers!
All the way highway. Cheap food, drinks and great atmosphere.
Four Hungarian boat are waiting for your challange!!
More info will follow, please write me if you are interested.
See you there, cheers
Miklos Ujhelyi-Gaspar (skipper of the hungarian 18)
mujhelyi@gmail.com
+ 36 30 297 2108

Where it started-- Part 3

Euro summer 95...European Skiff Pro Tour... Official Team Lexmark off season training... well thats what we told the sponsor!!!!!!!!!
Ingredients...
1. Mk1 Murray Skiff... the first one to be imported into Europe and racing against a full fleet of Mk1 B18s
2. 6 young aussies... 4 in the crew, one spare for breakages, and 2 mates taging along for a month while backpacking around europe... and the only AUS 18 in the fleet, apart from the occasional guest appearences from 18 legends J. Bethwaite and C. Nicholson... oh and the famous Stray, doing his best impersonation of being a pomm
3. Brand new french hire car and 3 months worth of fuel... only just big enough for 4 aus skiff sailors to sleep in when we had no dollars for accomodation... oh and 2 surfboards on the roof, which looked a little strange to the locals in northern Italy some 3000kms from any surf beach... and after 3 months of touring all over europe ended up with over 20,000kms on the clockThis pic shows the perfect Sardinia beachside location

End result... After regattas in Sardinia, Lake Maggiore- Swiss, Lake Garda, and the tiniest lake in Europe Lake Molveno the team including myself, Al Mansfield, Trev Mellior and Mitch Benson(back up crew, tour guide and finder of anything fun, free or illegal) ended up with 1 race win... could have been more, should have been more... mostly we missed our usual Sydney f/hand Jeff Gilham not just for his extra weight on the wire, but just to hold the team together on the race track
Off the water was another story and most of which I cant put in print, but basically a 3 month pub crawl thru most of northern Europe would best describe our tour... Pico Rosso became our liquor of choice for after race cellebrations, a lovely thick red consistency similar to red cordial, and which we later found to be over 60% alcohol... also plenty of great tasting German beers and not so great tasting Italian beers
On the water we had way too many breakages and stuff ups, broken mast tips in Garda in the fresh stuff ruined our chances there... luckily Julian was there with spares to help fix... and so many tiller flex join problems, I think we ended up breaking 4 or 5

This pic shows rigging in the main street on the water front of swiss town Locarno on Lake Maggiore... most of this regatta sailed in less than 5 knts and the first time I sailed one up on an 18 when there was barely a breath of wind... fun until the breeze picks up to a fresh 5 knts and all you can do is swim

So basically a 3 month piss up of constant hard partying, lots of driving and getting lost, 4 great skiff mates with lots of smelly clothes squeezed into a tiny euro car towing an aus 18, meeting lots of great people in lots of perfect locations... oh and some skiff sailing as well
Made for one hell of an adventure for my first trip to Europe, and one I would recommend to any skiff sailor wanting some off season training... apart from the very last race in the very last regatta venue when we finally got our shit together and won a race, and once we crossed that finish line for the last time in Europe my crew of big Al and Trev were so happy with each others brilliant sailing performance they then proceded to punch the crap out of each other on the cockpit floor... great sailors they both are, but both had decided the win was their doing and so had to tell each other why we could have won a few more races thru the long Euro 18 series.
They were both rite and wrong at the same time, as the team struggled with lack of training time together and lack of experience in short up and down racing compared with our usual Sydney long courses... but a great experience and one I will never forget... thanks guys and of course many thanks to Lexmark and staff

Carbon

The neverending use of carbon is allways astounding... from planes to boats to just about anything these days, you name it you can have it carbon... if you have the dollars... hell ive even seen it applied to concrete

Notice the weight on the scales... 2.76kg

Maybe something the mega buck guys from the League will be getting next for there super fast trailers to match there super fast skiffs... more toys for the boys... whats next, maybe carbon trailers and carbon cradles

Where it started-- Part 2

More pics from my first 18... 1992-93 summer
The dinosaur as it was known... above pic using reef in No.3 rig in super fresh classic Sydney Harbour N/E... some experts mite say we look like "high trapping" but with the old flip flop wings this is how you had to do it... otherwise the wings would flip up under your legs and your head would end up on the side of the hull, happened a few times and was super painfull

Nice pic of leaving Double Bay beach... and me and big Cam sailing off before Tony could climb on... notice twin hydraulics on foredeck for adjusting main stays and D2s, made for perfect rig tuning to suit conditions, but when they leaked lovely red hydraulic oil down thru the back deck and mixed with the wet stuff... well slip slide tacks where what we called it

Noticeable also are the super long boom and huge rudder outrigger... everything on these older skiffs was huge and heavy, but she was a nice fast ride, and we could still carry her to the water!!!!... also notice the tiny "wings" near the water line at bow, apparently someone very cleaver added these over the years to try to stop nose dives... wasnt too affective so we cut them off, and we think improved speed overall cause they where not dragging thru the water all the time... they may have even helped nosedive better!!!!!!!!!

When we took over the dinosaur she was nearly 10 years old and looking very tired... with the hydros giving massive rig tensions the hull was very soft under rig load and had a full concave deck all the way to the bow... so we decided to rebuild before summer racing started... off with the foredeck and all main bulkheads where found to be broken under mast step, this hull was one of the early carbon prepreg and nomex mega bucks 1980s boats and with its age most of the fittings where attached using alloy plates, but those alloy plates near carbon for 10 years meant they where now just white dust...we repaired and fitted new bulkheads and new "flat" foredeck to give the hull some structural strenght again... fordeck was so big it looked like a runway... then we added new paint and some big diagonal stripes across full deck... the mast now sat up on top of foredeck instead of low down near centreboard, giving the hull much more strenght under rig loads, and mast had to be cut down to suit... the big rig was nearly 100mm diameter and all rigs had alloy "Goldspar" tips

After a massive pre season rebuid we where ready to race... and with me and Tony being in our first year on a big old skiff, we where both happy to have big Cam to show us the ropes as he had sailed the WestCoast for the 2 previous seasons... made for a great maiden season at the League

This one shows super big rig... massive rig height over 1 meter higher than todays No1, and very quick in the lite stuff for a big old heavy boat... and with no self tacker, the giant overlapping jib really helped

Great old boat and plenty of fun... and big thanks to Cam Ivers for asking me to come aboard the West Coast Cooler

Comments all welcome... if anyones reading this!!!!!!!!

Not really sailing-- Part 2

Finally part 2 of the massive Australian Red Cedar robe is complete and installed opposite its matching partner... and the client is extremely happy as its matches in perfectly with the 130 year old original cedar joinery throughout the house... a rare and unique house to work in and a pleasure to work with such perfect timber... but most thanks goes to my girl Leslie, as she toiled away with all the sanding and varnish work to make this timber come to life

Not everyday that solid timber is used like this... but client instructions of no chipboard or MDF or any other crap materials to be used and their appreciation of the rareness and qualities of Australian Cedar makes for one unique peice of furniture... and over 3 months hard work

Also goes a long way in telling the story of our short but sweet sailing season... as many hours, late nites and weekends spent working with this project instead of going sailing

More sailing

More pics from the last SFS race... as we enter the Double Bay Laser fleet... ah the fun of Laser hunting, and makes for good boat handling practice for young Sam and Bendo as we try to maintain max boat speed and stay safe without leaving a trail of flattened Lasers in our wake... fun, but maybe a little scary for the Laser guys... but no problemo as we duck and weave our way thru... oh the joy of Sydney Harbour on a sunny satday afternoon

This pic also shows our rather sad and sorry big rig kite... its best racing days sadly are gone, and for next summer hopefully we will have something a little faster with some top secret sail development in the planning... more info soon

Thanks to Owen and his missus for nice pics from SFS ferry

Last SFS race

Finally some sailing pics

The teams last race at SFS for the summer ended a short but sweet summer season... and we finished well in front of our main Squaddy rival, Flipper to win comfortably by several minutes... and in the lite conditions that the team had struggled with for most of last season... but not now thanks to our super big black square top sails

Pictured above is one other SFS skiff... Owen on Blue Mountains Grammer... a lap behind... Owen and his new young crew floated around bravely with the small rig, as they broke a spreader when rigging there big rig in the park, but decided to go sailing anyway and hence there late start... and thanks to Owen for his wives pics from the Squaddy spectator ferry... well done mate

Where it started

Yep, the good old days as they say
With not much happening sailing wise, I thought a look back at all my 18s over the past years would be interesting... or maybe not... some great old boats and some great old crew mates
More pics and 18 history to follow soon
1992-93 season... my first at the League... West Coast Cooler... ex mid 80s Fosters, 3 rigs with hydraulics and 16ft flip flop wings... Full carbon prepreg and nomex hull...Tony Landers and Cam Ivers crew... Ist Handicap JJ Worlds
93-94 season... 2KY Radio...Ex RAK... My one and only B18... Tony Landers and Cam Ivers crew

94-95 season... Lexmark Computer Printers... Ex Oz E-mail... Mk.1 Murray... Alan Mansfield and Jeff Gilham crew

Music Man Sam

Thought this mite be an interesting read, Sams other life, off the water, all I want to know is how he finds the time for all this and skiff sailing

This short bio was taken from the programme at a recent performance in Sydney

Sam Paterson has been studying trumpet since the age of 8 years old. He took up trumpet in the school band at Bald Face Primary School in the south of Sydney. After 2 years of playing at school Sam joined the local Georges River Community Concert Band and shortly after embarked on his first tour to the regional NSW town of Gulgong. Sam stayed with the band until 2000 when in year 8 at Sylvania High School he joined Sutherland Shire Brass Band and began competeing in both band and solo comps at state and national level. As a member of Sylvania High School Band programme Sam joined all the top ensembles including the stage band and concert band where he was given the opportunity to play first trumpet. In 2001 Sam successfully auditioned to become a member of the State Schools Symphonic Wind Ensemble, a group he performed in for the next 4 years, undertaking an international tour to the Mid West Band and Orchestra Directors Conference in Chicago as well as winning the competition for Open A grade Wind Band in the Australian Band Champs twice.

After topping his extension music class in the HSC Sam auditioned successfully for entrance to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he studied trumpet performance under Bruce Hellmers and Andrew Evans. In 2006 Sam became a member of both the Sydney Youth Orchestra and the SBS Youth Orchestra, performing at events such as Carols in the Domain and World Youth Day over the next 3 years. In may 2007 Sam was a participant in the trumpet virtuoso, Hakan Hardenberger's Master class at the Con

In 2008 Sam was successful in auditioning for the National Music Camp where he played Principal Trumpet in the Alexander Orchestra. In the same year Sam was also selected to play in the Australian Youth Orchestra, performing Mahler's first Syphony in Melbourne during season one and Beethoven in Adelaide during season two. As an attendeee at the Melbourne International Festival of Brass Sam was invited to perform in the young Australian virtuoso, Tristram William's master class and the masterclass of international Guest Soloist Jens Lindeman. Also in 2008 Sam was awarded a BBM Music Scholarship to travel to live and study in the UK for a month in 2009 and is currently preparing to leave for this experince in March. Sam graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2008 with a Bachelor of Music in Performance

Im sure theres more to come from Sam in the future with his fantastic music talent, me and Bendo just hope hes got enough spare time for skiff sailing next year
Good luck on your tour round the globe mate

Not really sailing

Ye not really sailing related, but sort of. This is the work that has kept me and my team off the water so much over summer, as well as this weekend again... so no sailing to report after the big JJ week just gone... a bit lucky really as there was bugger all breeze all weekend, and I had enough of that last week in the JJ, so perfect timing for a weekend of work

Built from scratch with beautifull authentic hard to find Australian Red Cedar, its really been a labour of love, and not my usual everyday job, but something im very proud of... and this is only half the job so far

And with Sam on his way travelling around the world for his music in the next month, we are running out of sailing time... actually with Sams music going so well, me and Ben have been super lucky getting him on the skiff at all... now that could be info for the next blog update

JJ Final

After a tough week of lite big rig days for most races in this years JJ, the final race 7 proved to be one of the most unforgettable in JJ history. With the breeze constantly changeing from East to N/E the race committee had a tough choice after cruising around all points of the Harbour wondering what to do and after 30 mins they decided to set an up and down course from Taylor Bay to Watsons Bay, by this time the Harbour was a complete washing machine with very little breeze... I felt sorry for the 5 skiffs in contention for the overall JJ trophy... so as we waited and waited the pressure mounted on the leading skiffs, we took it easy by cruising around with the video camera and waving to family and friends on the ferry... the amount of spectator boats to watch the last race was truelly amazing, and to have the last race confined to one small part of the Harbour made for a great atmosphere

So the race began in very lite conditions with the fleet splitting straight away, we started at the very biased port end, but so did many others and with not much room to move we got a little buried... Woody Jnr got a nice start and was leading for the first lap and looked to have the title won and with SX guys buried well back after another bad start the scene was set for a maiden JJ win for the appliances team... but not to be... the lite conditions threw in plenty of snakes and ladders and as the appliances team went backwards the SX team went forwards, as did most boats thru the fleet... so all 5 boats probably had the title at one stage or another during the tough 4 laps

After our average start, we battled with the lite conditons and our lack of tuning time in these conditions proved to be our handbrake... we have been doing some minor rig changes all week and had a nice fast uprange set up, but with luff rounds not matching perfectly enough and our old kite we struggled to stay in touch with the close fleet so our last race was truelly our most forgettable

Overall we finished 26th... not exaclty setting the world on fire, but Sam, Bendo and me are pretty happy with our result, we know we raced hard with the mid fleet and got unlucky in some races, but thats racing... our race 1 and race 2 effort was most pleasing and without our race 6 crash that would have been our best result. Most pleasing is how young Ben and Sam performed in their first JJ together... we had one swim all series and no major stuff ups or gear failure... some great starts and perfect gybes and tacks all week, and our mid to uprange breeze speed was matching most in the fleet apart from the super fast top 6... with a little more time with our new square top rig we mite have got downrange a bit faster... but with the fleet so close in every race with only minutes separating most of the fleet there was no room for any errors and my young crew can hold their head up high and be proud of their efforts during the week... they sailed like true seasoned pros... smart, calm and with nerves 0f steel... ive sailed with many crews over the past 10 to 15 years, some that think their gods gift to sailing and couldnt sail their way around a fish tank to guys that have won world titles, and my young guys measure up to the best, and thats the most pleasing aspect for me during this JJ week

In the end SX won from the very impressive guys on Active Air who sailed most consistantly during the series and where very unlucky not to win, 3rd was the Gotta love It team and fourth went to Woody Jnr... all of these teams could have won and those that didnt are very unlucky that the last race was sailed in such tough conditions... a real lottery... but a big congrats to all the top boats... and also fantastic to see Woody Snr get a win in the last race, even he said it was a crazy race that anyone could have won, apparently he got some tune up tips from the SX guys before race 6... obviously it worked wonders

From my point of view it was a tough week... and with no small rig days I was not too happy floating around in lite conditions, and after the tough last day I was thinking this mite be my last JJ... see what happens... for now Sam and Bendo are keen to keep racing for the rest of the season and enjoy all the hard work we have done over the last 12 months... and hopefully some small rig days for me please

Race 6

Another lite big rig day again on the Harbour with breeze from the S/E made for a very snakes and ladders day of racing... add that to the congestion of satday yacht racing, it was a very churned up race track, and with the breeze shifting all over, the start boat didint know where to head
We managed a great start with clear air down near the favoured port end again, and as the JJ week has progressed, more and more teams have seen the benefit of getting away from all the mess of the boat end... so we cruised our way up the first work not far from SX and the leading pack... down the first run we passed some skiffs that where getting parked by all the racing yachts and manged to keep good speed and clear air... then came the carnage... some idiot who should know better decided they where a little confused between port and starbord, so as we gybed back to starbord to get down to the mark this other well known skiff skipper decided to just plow straight into us, then the usual locked wings and poles and parking at the mark followed... end result we loose about 10 boats and the idiot sails off into the distance without penalty circles or even a word of apology... we would have been better off bracking something in the crash and protesting to get average points... but thats not really my idea of fair sailing
In the end we held off some skiffs but couldnt undo the damage from the crash and ended up in a dissapointing 25th... the guys we where with before the crash ended up with a nice mid fleet 15th... exaclty the result we needed to keep us in the mid field... but oh no some people would rather crash into you than race fair
With todays last race and another lite day predicted its all on for the leading pack of 5 skiffs... anyone of these can win the JJ... im guessing lots of close match racing and probably some crashes and protests will help decide the winner... whoever can stay away from all that will win this very close regatta... best of luck to all 5 skiffs in contention... SX.. 7.. Appliances.. Rag and Active Air

Race 5

Another race for the JJ and another winner, at least the leading bunch of 6 skiffs are sharing the glory around... well done to Woody Jnr and his crew on appliances on line for a nice win on a day when the sun and warm weather finally returned to the Harbour... a shifty 10knt N/E breeze and a quiet harbour greated our skiff, but we somehow managed to miss our prefered port end start position...seems as though a few more of the fleet have discovered the uncrouded port end... also forgetting the start watch doesnt help, neither does getting to the start line 2 mins before the gun... so we crossed plenty of transoms up the first leg to Beashal bouy and managed to gain a few down around Shark Is, by the second upwind we where back in mid fleet fighting with the CST guys and the usuall mid fleeters and feeling quick... then a small disaster at the second time to Clarke Is... we got a huge gust out of the east and overshot the bottom mark then somehow managed to wrap the tack line around the end of the pole on the kite drop... my young guys didnt panic and got it all sorted without a swim or hitting the rocks on the island... so by the last kite set at Beashal again, we had to park and untie and also managed to wine glass the kite for a few hundred metres... so there goes 8 or 10 skiffs cruising by... basically in this tite fleet, one stuff up and your gone... so a tough 28th for the team and a hard lesson for my young team, but nice to see we can get out of bad starts and gain some ground thru the fleet... ye we are not threatening the top ten or the top 15 for that matter, but that was never going to be a reallity in this super fast fleet... me and my guys are just happy to be in there racing and doing ok against some of the fast guys
With 2 races to go its anyones JJ to take, all the top guys are fast enough to win, its just down to who can keep there cool and not stuff up.... and with more mid range big rig days forecast... its turning into an all big rig regatta... shame, I was looking forward to some No2 rig days of jumping and crashing
My young team has sailed very well over the last 5 races and exceeded my expectations by far, with 2 more to go, and if we can get off the line cleanly and fight hard, we mite get that nice mid fleet result we have been so close to all week, maybe even stay in front of Woody for more than a lap or 2
Hopefully some interesting video to be shown soon, we have had the camera in a few different spots so should be able to get a short highlites package together
See what the weekend brings us... no doubt a congested Harbour but hopefully enough breeze for some nice rides

Race 3 & 4

After a nice rest on monday for lay day race 3 started under very strange circumstances... but very unique Harbour conditions... the Manly Ferry decided to charge down the start line about 1 min after the start and with all skiffs on starbord tack from the line not one skiff or the start committee boat really noticed till it was too late... my guys starting in our usuall port end position had early vision and set off fast well behind the oncoming ferry and cleared without too much ferry parking... then we all looked back to all the starbord boats stiil heading acrooss the bow of the charging ferry, the horn sounded and sounded and sounded, stil some guys tried to cross... then we see the ferry in full reverse with white water churning from its props... meanwhile we where happily sailing up the first leg thinking ah well some guys got whipped out by the ferry some guys got lucky and crossed ahead, we got lucky with a few others and crossed clear behind... the usuall Harbour ferry dodging... but then the strange part... fast ribs came up the course and said abandon start... I guess its fair to restart under those extreme conditions, but also a very dangerous position for some guys to ignore all the Harbour rules of keeping clear of the Manly Ferry, let alone to see the ferry come to a complete stop to avoid collision... ah the joy of Sydney Harbour

Anyway we raced hard after the second start in a fading S/E breeze with the fleet seemingly glued together for the entire race, with only minutes seperating more than 10 boats at a time... if you even blinked you loose a boat or 3, then gain then loose then gain... in the end a close fought 25th position... our worst result by far but one which my guys sailed the asses off... so ye we are heaps faster but so is the fleet... but to be battling it out with some fast guys like Woody and the CST we are happy with our sailing so far in the JJ series

Race 4 looked to be much of the same lite big rig as the previous day but with just a little more south... actually strange to sail a southerly course that wasnt small rig and fresh... so again we started port end and got off the line fast and clear, but with the fleet so close you can go from position 10 to 20 in seconds, the first kite run saw skiffs go to every corner of the harbour to find more pressure... we rounded about mid fleet and headed back upwind to try to stay with the pack... again we lost a few then gained a few... Sam and Bendo worked hard all day in tough changing conditions with skiffs all round us... we ended up with a 23rd with more than 10 boats less than 2 mins ahead of us... so close yet so far
At least we got the head cam on today, hopefully it works, if only we had it yesterday for the ferry crash, so maybe some video coming soon

The top 6 boats are in a league of there own with speed and smarts on the rest of the fleet... the next 20 can be anywhere due to the fleet being so close... bottom line, great skiff racing... and still 3 more races to go... hopefully a small rig race in there somewhere

Race 2

Crowded start line for race 2... and this was the quiet end of the line... and the new all black sails are proving to be a nice little speed gain



Race 2 proved to be a nice test for the new rig and crew... a very gusty uprange big rig day that looked to be heading towards a very lite day with lots of rain early in the day... then just kept going uprange all day from the S/E. I was surprised to see only a few No2 rigs on the start line, and I was wishing we had gone small rig ourselves
Plenty of crashes and broken bits thru the fleet but we managed to stay away from drama pretty well, apart from the quick swim in the lee of the manly ferry on the last windward leg, lucky we only lost 1 boat, and held out 5 fast finishing boats to the line... so another mid pack 18th place... and me and the guys are pretty happy with this result... some great rides all day, if a little on the extreme side, some nice battles with the mid fleet pack including Woody and Fezz on the CST...some very close calls with all the yachts and boats all over the Harbour as well as the usual ferries crossing over in the middle of the course, but well handled by young Bendo and Sam... we arent super quick upwind in the fresh stuff, but we are holding our own on the downwind runs... and passing a few guys crashing at the top marks
So after 2 races we are equall 16th place overall from 32 starters... rite in the middle, and im happy with that so far considering our lack of sailing time over the last 3 weeks and the 2nd race with the new sails... big thanx to Neil at Barra Sails for all his help to get sails ready on time for first race
The team mite even get the head cam working over the next few races, so maybe some video to show soon... could be fun for any protest meeting needing evidence, aparently there has been a few lodged so far
and looks like some more cloudy rain days ahead... as long as there is breeze im happy... see what happens

JJ Race 1

The teams new name... SkiffSail.... and new sail updates proved to be a major advantage in race 1 of the JJ World Titles sailed today in a rather dark cloudy rainy soft easterly... all the same conditons we have been struggling with over the last few months... big thanx to Woody and the League for getting our "new" hand me down rigs... so much more grunt in the lite and wavy conditons

And the all black sails look quite striking with the paint work and red detail on the wings... at least many of the Squaddy sailors seemed impressed

We started well and had to duck about 8 transoms up the first work and rounded the first mark with the Rag and 7 guys.... something was definitley going well here we thought, and after the first lap we where holding our position well... then came the brain explosion and we headed too far left way too early and lost 6 or 7 boats up the next windward leg... not to worry we were just happy to have pace and horsepower for the first time

We held our position to the finish and crossed the line in 18th overall... me and the boys were happy to see at least 10 boats come in after us

Young Bendo and Sam sailed extremley well in the tough conditions and considering our JJ preparation of no sailing for the past 2 weekends, due to my work commitments, we as a team are very happy with our result today

I would actually be happy to see another lite and shite easterly again tomorrow... and looking at all the rain around its quite possible

See what tomorrow brings for race 2

All work no play

It doesnt happen very often, but sometimes you have to put off the leasurely weekends spent sailing around to actually do some work and pay the bills... so no sailing to report till the JJ starts in about a weeks time

Ah well cant complain... but watchiing all those perfect N/E seabreezes we have been having lately makes it tough
And not the best preparation for the JJ Worlds due to start on the 13th, but my guys are confident we have done some good quality training over the last month or so to fair well enough in the big 32 boat fleet expected to line up next week

But maybe we will have pics in the next few days of some interesting new sail updates... stay tuned
Maybe even some pics of the beautifull timber project that has kept me in the factory lately

Happy Ozzy Day

The team decided early in the week that due to the Australia Day long weekend, that included League races sunday and holiday monday, we would not do the satday SFS race, and how lucky was that decision. Yes lovely weather for the beach, but 20 plus knt westerly and 30 degrees heat is not my idea of fun skiff sailing conditons, then late in the arvo a nice 30knt classic Sydney southerly buster blew thru to cool things down... thank god

So sundays League race for the 3rd heat of the Aus Titles was a much more pleasant day than the stinking hot westerly of satday, and the team headed out for an early start to the race track... bad move, after getting to the start area ahead of time for a change we floated around as we waited and waited and waited some more... the starters favourite flag was in action again... postpone start, this time as the whole fleet waited for the spectator ferry to arrive, then another postpone with about one minute to start gun... by this time we had been on the water for over an hour, ye at least much better than our 2 previous weeks of getting to the start line with about one min to go.

The poor fading southerly was not looking very pretty by now and as we headed around the race track in lite and shite conditions... all we could do was watch as the massive square tops sailed away in to the distance... we managed to stay with some boats all the way around but lost a position by one second on the finish line to record a rather forgetable 20th place, at least the Club Marine guys managed to fall over a couple of times to let us thru, but as we floated our way back to the SFS me and the boys wondered if we should take the big leap and go the square top option... really is no fun wathching other boats just cruise away thru the harbour chop... at least my young crews efforts with kite sets, gybes and drops are pretty sweet cause thats the only time we seem to gain any ground... so we need some more grunt, lets see what we can do about this issue by the time the JJ comes around

Then on to Australia Day and some minor tweaks to the rig after sundays low saw us again with a nice S/E breeze with a little more pressure... and as we threaded our way out of SFS bay past many happy Oz day party boats and ferries and into the Harbour washing machine we managed to tear the jib clew board away from the sail cloth... great, on the water for all of 10 mins and our day was over. So Bendo became human jib cleat and saved us from flogging the sail to death by riding the foredeck back home to the Squaddy... ah well could have been worse, at least it was an easy downwind cruise home with a bit of Oz Day sightseeing on the way... so no result and no chance to do some much needed rig tune up against the fleet... so what do we do... go square top or push on with our "old fashioned" pin head main... Hmmmmm

But nice to see Tuesdays Daily Telegraph sport section with a great story about how all the League guys had a torid day avoiding all the Australia Day action on the water... and as they say "any publicity is good publicity"... the Rag guys had a half page pic of the skiff in all its glory... but unfortunately in the tide and centre board dancing... would have loved to post the pic but maybe the Telegragh wouldnt be too happy

So maybe we got lucky with our early gear damage and missed a lot of the carnage... but a DNS is not a good look either

Ah well theres allways next week.... and after looking at the forecast below... 6 continuous days of classic Sydney N/E seabreezes we are in for a perfect weekend of skiff racing again...if only the JJ was this week
And with some No.2 rig kite and jib recuts from Neil at Barra this week our teams small rig will be a little nicer and hopefully faster... looks like some fun days ahead, and hopefully some new pics

Racing Part 2

Here we are fighting with a well known, and fast League skiff... ye thats us in the background with black kite

Well another stunningly perfect weekend of skiff sailing conditions on Sydney Harbour greeted the team again. With forecast of a dying Southerly the team were thinking big rig, but as the day progressed the breeze clocked a little to the left and started to increase from the South East. At some point it looked like being a little too fresh for my young crew, but Bendo and Sam where very keen to test out all the new changes to our No2 rig as well as our abilities

On with the small rig and after a few tweaks of the set up to allow for all of Neils changes at Barracouta Sails... link here... http://barracoutasails.com/default.aspx we headed out to test ourselves and the rig. After starting very late and giving Flipper a good 10 mins headstart we managed to get around the track with no huge dramas... apart from nearly ending up driving the skiff up on the rocks at about 20+knts on a crazy 2 sail reach past Cremorne Point lighthouse... actually would have ended up in the lighthouse if it wasnt for Bendos quick thinking under pressure and easing heaps of headsail just at the rite moment... oh and some awesome kite runs which the guys where heard to say " thats the fastest we have ever been" with a few "F" words deleted....if only we had the GPS

Basically a great training day for the guys in probably the freshest conditions they have ever sailed an 18, something that is not as easy as it sounds, with no swims, no problems, no broken gear or stuff ups... just the perfect day to get the boys confidence going

Then on to sunday against the pros from the League, this time a lovely building North Easter... and a perfect mid range No.1 rig race.

We started quite well after the first general recall and maaged to cross most of the fleet at Bradleys Head on port tack, all thanks to the start boat moving the pin end up to windward by 50 metres and making the start line even more biased at the pin end... cheers Ace... as well as Sams excellent countdown skills... we arrived very late to the start line with less than 2 minutes to go with no countdown watch, at the 1min signal Sam called every second down till the start gun... I guess all that music training at the Con made the all difference, from there we slowly got gobbled up by the fast guys and after a luckless entry and exit from Shark Is the first time around we lost 8 boats down the kite legs, but still hanging in there with most of the mid fleet

Eventually we finished in 19th after somehow getting the tack line wrapped in a knot around the end of the pole at the last top mark, so in the drink with Bendo up to the end of the pole and undo the mess and putting us behind the pack, we did manage to pass one upturned League skiff near the finish line, he must have felt bad for us when he passed us at the top mark while we untied our mess

So 19th... while most skiff experts would say that is pretty ordinary, me and the guys are pretty damn happy with this result, specially our start and staying with the fast guys for a lap or so... again last year we could only dream of doing this. With every week young Sam and Bendo are proving to be great learners and great skiff sailors after only 5 races together, we are getting the basics sorted very well and staying out of trouble, no crashes, no swims and in general a very happy skiff team

With some more great training days like this we eventually can sail with our heads out of the boat a bit more and try and stay with the quick guys just a little longer around the race track...but as they say "you have to crawl before you walk"

The other positive sign for the team is the astounding amount of interest generated in the rigging park at SFS headquarters with many people chatting happily to the guys while we rig, and not just from other sailors but members of the general public just asking questions and genuinely interested in our skiff, from the shiny new carbon wings to the paint work or the usual question of "how fast is it???" One interesting comment from a lovely old American lady passing by "what stops the water coming in the back???" The guys simple answer - "speed"

Other people coming up to us saying they have some pics of us from the week earlier on the Harbour and would we like to have a look... really incredible the number of people interested and makes for a fun friendly atmosphere around the skiff and for the team... if only we could convey this interest to a prospective sponsor... one day we mite get lucky... but for now we push on doing the small improvements to rig and sails and getting the team sailing well together... so far so good

Finally a big congrats to the young Gotta Love It 7 team and their amazing win by nearly 2 mins... thats a huge margin at this time of the year leading up to the JJ, and one that will have the other League guys wondering how to catch up... yes they have got some good backing behind them and all the best gear, but they are really making the most of there good fortune... there are plenty of other well funded teams out there but showing very little of the skill and talent that is obvious on the 7 skiff... well done blokes

Racing

Our first hit out on the Harbour began on satday at SFS racing against Flipper and Ian in a lite easterly and big rig, with me Sam and Benny enjoying a lovely day getting back into Sydney Harbour mode... looking for ferries, breeze and the assorted day cruisers and yachties while just generally staying out of trouble... unlike Flipper who managed to clean up a poor unsuspecting kayaker(pics to come)

So a perfect day for testing the latest changes and so far so good, the team is sailing very well together and with some more changes this week from Neil at Barracouta Sails we are definitely all very happy with the results... although Flipper did just get us at the finish, but overall a nice first day of racing(pics to come soon)

Big thanx again to our team support sponsor Timmy and Kylie from All About Tanks... link here. http://allabouttanks.com.au/ for the great pics from the weekend and taking Leslie and Rors onboard the corporate yacht for a lovely harbour cruise... cheers guys

Then as pics above show the team made our debut for the season against the League guys on sunday for Heat 1 of the Aussies, and what a great day

although we didnt get a result due to some gear problems, me and the boys showed we are not slow... ye we are not fast either... but considering it was our first time racing with the small rig and I managed to get probably THE worst start possible at the pin end... we rounded the first mark in 12th and catching some boats downwind... both of which we never managed last season... Benny had to laugh when i asked to him to back off some kite horsepower so we didnt end up on some transoms of a few well respected League guys, and after some perfect gybes from Sam we rounded the bottom mark for the next upwind in similar positions and still infront of many boats we could only dream of staying with last year

Half way back upwind to the top mark we decided some rigging was not too happy and instead of destroying things completely we thought it was better to head back to SFS headquarters. So we learnt plenty from first race and know we can get more pace from the old girl yet... just more recuts, tweaks and changes from Neil at Barra

From my point of view it was not good to get a DNF... but on the flip side very happy how young Bendo and Sam performed under the pressure of racing the pros from the League in a solid 20knt N/E breeze with big run out tide... the perfect Sydney Harbour conditions

see what happens next weekend...

Oh... and well done to the Southern Cross guys for their win... although it seems the UK guys on Project One where leading all race and pitchpoled close to the finish line and broke their rig... very unlucky and lots of hard work to put it all back together for next weeks race... all that training and tuning 4 days a week for the past few months makes a huge difference... will be interesting to see what happens in the JJ Worlds... maybe a another international winner

Bendos Back

Finally the well travelled Ben is back on board the skiff and we wasted no time at all in getting the salt water back in his veins and face, what was looking like a nice cruisy 10 to 15knts to ease Ben back into skiffing after travelling around the world for the past 6 months, turned into a very nice if not a little crazy 25knt N/E(seabreeze was showing 28knts at Kurnell) dash around the beautifull Botany Bay, and to top it off it was my birthday as well.
So Ben was a little shell shocked at being throne in at the deep end after not sailing for 6 months, but really it was like getting back on a bike, no dramas at all
Considering we all had not sailed together with small rig ever!! And the last time for me was over 12 months back, it was very nice to have no broken bits, no problems and in the end a very nice training day for us all. Unfortunately we didnt have either the GPS or video cam on board, so nothing to show for, but we where all very happy boys as we left St.George SC at 7.30pm in a big hurry as I was a little late to my own birthday drinks, the 22 missed calls on my mobile from my partner Leslie meant I was by now running very late, but it didnt stop the party, thanks to all for a great nite

Then only 2 days later on new Years Eve we decided that a very late arvo sail would be a great way to finish the year, on the water at 6pm after a speedy rig up, and the breeze decided to fade away slowly, so we floated around in about 4 knts for an hour or so to see how our super lite wind sailing skills handled the conditions, again some nice training time on the water and good practice for Benny to remember how it all goes in slow motion mode

Even though we have missed a lot of the summer racing allready, its now full steam ahead to the JJ Worlds in mid Feb, and with lots of training still to be done in the next few weeks, me and the guys are pretty happy how things are moving along, and ye will be nice to see where we are against the League guys in a few weeks time for the first race of the Austaralian Titles starting 11th Jan

Maybe next training session we will remember the camera and GPS