race report · 2 April 2025

Race Results 29 March 2025

Report on Australian Championship Heat 2, Club Championship Heat 3 and Autumn Series Heat 6 on 29 March 2025, sailed in rain and a light 5 knot breeze on a shortened No. 5 westerly course. Yendys, helmed by Barry Watson, won by 34 minutes from Top Weight to retain the Australian title.

Ferry available for the final race of the season! Rippleside available this Saturday - book your tickets at the SFS website. Get in quick, limited tickets available.

BBQ on the deck! Sailors prices. Burgers and drinks. On the Squaddie deck this Saturday after the race.

YENDYS GALLOPS HOME TO RETAIN THE AUSSIE TITLE

Top Weight and Aberdare beat the time limit — A hard day at the office

Australian Championship Heat 2, Club Championship Heat 3 and Autumn Series Heat 6

Image thanks to Ian Smith (from Facebook)

Rain, rain and more mizzlely rain … but not much breeze, so confounding the forecast … some weekends at this time of the year are just like that. A small but intense low pressure cell just off the East Coast held back the nor-easter coming down towards the Sydney Basin and slowed the advance of the southerly that, try as it may, could not break through either.

These photos with thanks to Bazza Watson (Facebook).

Some skiffs took a conservative approach on the beach and went for second, or even third gear, fearful of the 25 knots that some forecasters were predicting for the middle of the afternoon. That turned out to be a big error. Others, including Yendys, with its weather guru, Andrew “Bucko” Buckland, confident that conditions would stay light all day, went for their big main, with the insurance of a No.2 jib. As it turned out, even the No.1 would not have been too big for the conditions.

On the way out, the race officials were reasonably confident that the WSW breeze would dictate the No.5 westerly course. With Killo flopping about in the middle of a near glassy and foggy harbour, doubts set in as the breeze moved through 90 degrees from W to S. Finally, and since the starting line would be in Athol Bight irrespective of whether the course was to be No.4 or No.5, Killo dropped anchor and hoisted the AP pennant waiting for the breeze to settle (and listening on Channel 73 to race officials from other clubs and classes wrestling with the same problem of setting a course, as the breeze oscillated between W and S).

After 15 minutes delay and with the overriding concern that drinking time was being eroded (this is a vital technical consideration for race officials), the PRO called for a No.5 course board to be displayed, for the Killo to ease back on its mooring to set the line — and otherwise be damned!

The two championships to be determined meant that it was a scratch start. Most of the fleet had hovered close to the start boat (always a sensible decision in light conditions) and in a very light 5 knots of breeze, the boats were away on the work up to the Kirribilli mark. Yendys with Barry “Bazza” Watson again on the helm, as is her custom, chose to start at the pin end of the line and found clear breeze on the first leg across to Garden Island where she tacked and crossed the fleet heading to the mark. Top Weight (Terry Stewart) also did well and was not far behind when Yendys rounded. Aberdare did the best of the rest, which was just as well as the breeze went right and stranded the rest of the fleet in the lee at the mark. Australia (Marshall Flanagan) came through to lead the chasing pack, followed by Tangalooma (John Lewis), Alruth (Alan Robertson), Mistake (Jerry Tickner) and Britannia (David Paget), the latter looking great, but short of sail.

From here to the bottom mark, all skiffs were under spinnaker with Yendys, Top Weight and Britannia, hoisting ringtails to catch what little breeze there was. Yendys again showed her speed in light conditions and galloped away with daylight in second place. There is a trick to this, by the way, and Bucko has promised an off-season seminar on weather, sail selection and strategy that we shall organise at the SFS — something not to be missed!

Photo with thanks Tara Weaver (from the rescue boat with SFS Chief Rescue office, Barley Stewart)

There is not a lot to report about the rest of the race … Yendys rounded the Shark Island mark literally a mile in front of Top Weight, with Aberdare a further 8 minutes behind. They were followed by Mistake who had made up considerable ground on the fleet by staying low and heating up to the lighthouse to round 2 minutes ahead of Australia and Alruth. Britannia and Tangalooma brought up the rear.

By this time, with the breeze showing no signs of increasing, the Race Committee decided that enough was enough and that the course would be shortened to finish at Kirribilli. The S flag was displayed and then, with Yendys finishing, it was a question of whether the rest of the fleet would escape the time limit. The Sailing Instructions require that boats must finish within 45 minutes of the finishing time of the first boat to be declared a finisher. With Yendys finished and off to the showers, only those who finished by 16.59 hours would be recorded as finished. The rest would be DNF.

Top Weight finished second, with 10 minutes or so to spare and an extraordinary 34 minutes behind Yendys. It was touch and go for Aberdare (Michael “Flipper” Carter) who squeaked in with 2 minutes to go. Mistake and Alruth missed out by around 5 and 8 minutes respectively. As for the rest, the best they could hope for was the tow home. All in all, a really hard day at the office! The three boats who finished also featured in the handicap result in their same finishing order.

Images thanks to Ian Smith (from Facebook).

So, the odds-on favourite, Yendys, confirmed her well-earned retention of the Galloping Ghost trophy for another year to continue her reign as Aussie Champion. Congratulations to her crew of Bazza, The Admiral, Bucko, MVS, Anne, Jack and Rob. Not to forget the Hawaiian Nalu in Heat 1 and Wazza in Heat 3. (If you need a translation for the nicknames, then you are not spending enough time at the Squaddie on a summer Saturday).

After the usual noisy presentation on the deck, the Yendys crew, their supporters and host of other salty sailors gathered for a celebratory dinner upstairs. All great fun and where else would you want to be.

Last race next Saturday so get your body to the Squaddie for what is always a fun final race and closing party.

And keep watching for more sailing news during the off-season. In addition to keeping you up with the news, there will be weekends for repairs and maintenance of the skiffs and the boatshed. And we are planning a number of evenings when, in addition to Bucko, there will be training and discussions on how to get the best out of the H18s and their crews for next season. There might also be a rum or two to deal with any cold nights.

88th 12ft skiff Australian Championship

Report by Murray Press

The 88th 12ft Skiff Championship was held from the Sydney Flying Squadron on Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd March. Testing conditions greeted the 16 skiffs over the 2 days of racing. Saturday saw a southerly breeze gradually turn to the south east with a split in rig choices. The skiffs that had their No.1 big rig in benefited. Sail Inc sailed by Nick Press & Andrew (Noddy Hay) stamped their authority on the regatta early with 3 bullets on the day. Geotherm, Brett Hobson & Pete Nicholson kept them very honest with solid 2nd’s in each race. Red Energy, Murray Press & Mark Murihead followed with two 3rd’s & a 4th on the day.

Sunday saw even lighter conditions with two races completed in a variable easterly breeze. Sydney Sailmakers, Josh Tasker & Brendan Jenkins were quick all day winning both races closely followed by Geotherm who continued with their run of 2nd places. Sail Inc had to work hard in both races to grab a 3rd & 4th, enough to give them 1st place overall (The Norman Booth Trophy).

Photos thanks to SFS Life Member and Race Officer, Chuck Goodfellow

In conjunction with the scratch racing the 1st overall on Handicap (The Colin Clark Memorial Trophy) was Shu-Styx Fabrications sailed by Will Beck & Andrew Stephenson who also finished a well sailed 5th on scratch. The Veteran (H C Press memorial Trophy) was won by Murray Press who with Mark Murihead finished a strong 4th on scratch.

Photos thanks to Gael Glassock (on Facebook)

GET YOUR BODY TO THE SQUADDIE!

Sydney Flying Squadron Ltd — Australia’s oldest open boat sailing club, 76 McDougall St, Kirribilli NSW 2061. Phone: (02) 9955 8350