Race Report 15 November 2025
A fresh northerly brought carnage to Club Championship Heat 1, with Australia withdrawing with structural problems, Alruth foundering on the way to the start and Yendys snapping her boom moments after starting.
THE RINGTALE SATURDAY 15TH NOVEMBER 2025 RACE 6 CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP HT 1 AND SPRING SERIES HT 5 COURAGE AND CARNAGE All week the weather forecasts were predicting strong northerly breezes for Saturday and by 1400 when six skiffs were heading out to Clark Island for the start at 1430, a fresh NNE breeze had settled in at around 15 knots and was showing every sign of increasing in strength.
Australia was a late withdrawal with structural issues involving the forw’d thwart from the tabernacle to the knees on the hull having become loose. Col Bailey was on hand during the morning to diagnose the problem and to declare that some serious work was needed before she could safely go to sea. So the starters were to be Australia IV (Terry Stewart), The Mistake (Jerry Tickner), Scot (David Paget), Alruth (Scott Spackman), Aberdare (Michael Carter) and Yendys (Grant Wakefield), until Alruth sadly foundered en route to the start, reducing starters to five boats. With a minute to go in the scratch start for the first heat of the Club Championship, the remaining starters were lining up as the breeze had increased to 20 knots, or more in the gusts. When the last of the three red flags dropped, Yendys had opted for a pin end start sensing that the bias in the line would pay dividends with a clear lane ahead. Yendys had barely gone 50 metres when, as she was settling down and coming up into the breeze, Yendys suffered a terminal failure when the boom snapped with a loud bang. Grant Wakefield pulled away immediately as the crew dived in to balance the boat. Quickly easing the gaff to take the pressure out of the main and getting lines around the separated end of the boom to avoid holing the boat and tearing the mainsail, Yendys headed for home and early showers, accompanied by the Fergie RIB (Barley Stewart and crew), just in case.
Photos here thanks to Barley and her crew on Fergy
Back on the course, there were more gear problems when Aberdare, having made it past Bradleys, suffered a broken jib ratchet block and succumbed to the conditions. It certainly was proving to be a day when both crew and gear were being tested.
With your scribe heading home, reports from Selwyn Black on A4 described the work to the Beashel Buoy as being “a rugged affair with the wind being so strong that at times we just let everything go and waited out the gusts”. But A4 did get there first, rounding ahead of The Mistake and Scot. The run to Shark Island was made difficult, not only in the hard breeze, but because of the amount of north in the wind. A4 found herself having to jibe four times to get to the mark and was hampered by a yacht taking her off the course and off her preferred line to the mark. The Mistake chose to run close to Neilsen Park, was able to manage it and very nearly caught A4, were it not for the lee off Steele Point. All boats chose safety and survival over setting spinnakers and that has its own downside and a need for much focus when the large mainsails carried by the H18s is not balanced by a kite. Around Shark Island, the two leading boats were neck and neck and despite the depleted fleet, we had a race on our hands in conditions that could easily decide the winner. The breeze had not abated and Rear Commodore Terry Stewart and his crew opted to stay in the breeze and stay wide towards Point Piper. This allowed The Mistake to jibe inside A4 and shorten the distance to Clark Island where the Race Committee had invoked the “mercy rule” to shorten the course at that mark. By staying in the breeze and avoiding the Shark Island lee, A4 managed to hold her lead and was able to stretch that to finish almost a minute ahead of The Mistake. Scot had made up ground and finished three and bit minutes further back in third place. It was a real credit to the skippers and crews of the three skiffs who showed great courage and seamanship to survive another tough day. All three boats carried trainees as well, with Scot particularly well represented with these budding sailors who will long remember the day. On handicap, The Mistake triumphed over Scot with A4 in third place.
Our volunteers were kept busy on the day and we again express our great thanks for their expertise in coping with wounded skiffs and getting us home safely. Thanks also to the Race Committee lead by Longi and Angry, and especially to Angry and Rick Nock for again making “Buster “available as our start boat.
Thanks again to Selwyn Black for his notes on the race. There will be quite a bit happening with repairs this week to get all of our skiffs back in the water. But it’s all part of the great sport that we love. And it’s on again next week, along with a large fleet of Cherubs, both Saturday and Sunday, that the Squaddie is hosting. It will be busy in the park and on the deck and not to be missed!
The yet to be officially christened “Fergy”
Final results can be found here: https://app.the results platform/club/15/results/series/5054/races
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