Race Results 22 March 2025
Report on Autumn Heat 5 combined with the Port Jackson Championship, 22 March 2025, a scratch start on the No. 4 South course in a 7 to 14 knot SSE breeze, with SFS also hosting Day 1 of the 12 Foot Skiff Nationals. Yendys (Michael van Stom) won the championship by over 11 minutes from Top Weight, with Alruth third, while Top Weight took the Autumn Series handicap.
YENDYS AND TOP WEIGHT ARE WINNERS
Disappointment for Britannia
These photos with thanks to SFS volunteer Tomoko Suga
It was always going to go towards the south-east. But by the time that the line needed to be set for a start, the breeze was still firmly in the south so the #4 course board was displayed and the fleet headed up to Athol for the start. We were able to share the pin with the 12 Foot Skiffs who had begun Day 1 of their Nationals, hosted by SFS.
With a dozen or so 12s in the park, as well as the 18s, rigging room was tight. But with plenty of give and take, all went well. And the park looked a treat just prior to launching with SFS again demonstrating its role as the hub of sailing and water sports on the lower north shore. Quite a sight for the café patrons and tourists.
The combined Port Jackson Championship and a heat of the Autumn Series meant a scratch start. Tangalooma (Neville Turbit) and Britannia (David Paget) decided to risk a port hand start at the pin. But before they reached the line, Yendys steaming down the line on starboard forced both to tack away leaving Britannia in irons and losing precious seconds. Alruth and Mistake, at the boat end of the line, fell into a hole until the breeze got to them after the start. Yendys (Michael Van Stom), Top Weight and Tangalooma soon set off on port towards Garden Island and the Clark Island tuning mark followed by most of the rest of the fleet. Australia (Marshall Flanagan) decided to stay in the middle of the Harbour with two long tacks to round the Island.
As they rounded the Island, the breeze, in its usual fickle way at this time of the year, started to turn left, meaning that it was to be a fairly tight shy run down to Chowder Bay. Yendys rounded first and set its small white no. 3 kite for the run. Two minutes behind was Top Weight (Terry Stewart) with Aberdare (Michael Carter) and Australia a minute further back. They were followed by Alruth (Alan Robertson), Tangalooma and Mistake (Jerry Tickner).
With the breeze strengthening from the 7-8 knots at the start, all skiffs had a great ride down to Chowder with Yendys increasing its lead to 3 minutes over Top Weight. Australia and Aberdare were less than a minute behind having done well on the run. But alas, a mix-up with the halyards on Aberdare meant that the peak-head spinnaker became jammed at the masthead causing Aberdare to overshoot the mark while the problem was being sorted. Although rounding up to tack towards Bottle and Glass, Aberdare ended up having to rip the head out of the spinnaker in addition to suffering the loss of around 5 minutes. Flipper does however reckon that he knows a good sailmaker to fix the kite for next week!
Meanwhile, Tangalooma had rounded Chowder inside the hapless Aberdare followed by Alruth, Mistake and Britannia in that order. But, as if their costly start had not been enough, Britannia soon after rounding lost her jib when the masthead halyard block failed. Britannia is blessed (or burdened) with a permanent forestay and it was just as well since the loss of the rig would have been the likely result with most other skiffs having the forestay part of the halyard in the luff of the jib. Dave Paget considered for a moment whether to jury-rig the jib using his masthead spinnaker halyard, but decided that, with the breeze freshening, he would not be able to get enough tension. He might have also thought that with the fleet vanishing in the distance towards Shark Island, by the time he sorted out the problem, it would not have made much difference to the result. It was all disappointing, since it was great to see the lovely Britannia back on the water after a few weeks of lay-off.
Britannia. Photo thanks to Barley Stewart
But back to the race …
Yendys, as expected, had made good on the work up to Shark Island and rounded almost 6 minutes ahead of Top Weight. Alruth had moved into third place and rounded 20 seconds ahead of Australia. Tangalooma was a further minute back and was followed by Aberdare, who had made up some time, and Mistake.
It was then “follow the leader” down to Kirribilli, followed by a short work up to Clark Island and a final spinnaker run to the finish at Kirribilli. Yendys had shown her class once again and finished over 11 minutes ahead of Top Weight, sailed really well into second place and finishing with her ringtail proudly hoisted. Alruth made the podium in third place. They were followed by Tangalooma, Australia, Aberdare and Mistake.
On corrected time, for the Autumn series, Top Weight took the chocolates, by 2 ½ minutes from Yendys with Tangalooma in third place. This took Top Weight into the lead in the Autumn Series by only one point from Tangalooma, with Yendys a further one point behind. In the Season Point Score, Yendys and Top Weight are tied with only two races to go. Tangalooma has third place wrapped up with the rest of the fleet out of the money. A full table of the point scores for the Season is included below.
The boatshed welcomed Australia IV back on Saturday with the Top Weight crew ready to race her in the 25/26 season. She really does look a treat after the Col Bailey rejuvenation. A favourite among those of us lucky enough to have sailed her, Australia IV will take some beating when sailing commences in October. We also hope to see Myra Too back in the water next season to add some competition to the mighty Yendys and the Top Weight/A4 team.
Photo thanks to Tomoko Suga
Next week is the final race for the coveted Galloping Ghost Championship. Yendys is 1+1 and looks to have it wrapped up, with her World Contender Champion, Barry “Bazza” Watson down from Queensland and back on the helm. Not to be missed.
See you at the Squaddy.
Photo with thanks to Barley Stewart.
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Sydney Flying Squadron Ltd — Australia’s oldest open boat sailing club, 76 McDougall St, Kirribilli NSW 2061. Phone: (02) 9955 8350
This text was read from the scanned original below by optical character recognition. It has not yet been checked by a person, so it may carry mistakes, and any results tables in the original are not reproduced here. The scan is the authority.