Last weekend RSYS Flag Officers and committee members crossed the Tasman (at their own expense) to defend the Trans Tasman Challenge. The regatta first sailed in 1974 is a RSYS vs Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) event that has become an important tradition for both clubs. Each year the location alternates, and looking at the engraved history on the cup, so do the results.  

Hosted and won by RSYS in 2018, in Auckland the home advantage was too much and RNZYS claimed the win in 2019. Racing was in Elliott 7s with four RSYS teams and four RNZYS teams. On each boat were two committee members and two RNZYS Youth Development Program sailors. The breeze settled in around midday at 8 to 10 knots. The races were short, around 30-45 minutes with two windward legs. The real challenge for all was the 2 knots of current sweeping across the course. After five races on Saturday afternoon the Kiwis were well ahead and RSYS made the decision to concede as 40 knots forecast for Sunday morning was going to cancel racing anyway. 

The weekend was an opportunity for committee members to share experiences across both clubs. The weekend kicked off for some with the RNZYC Friday afternoon Rum Race. Starting at 4pm this race is contested all year round. We were hosted onboard a Beneteau 52 and had a spectacular afternoon sailing in 10 to 12 knots. As we finished, there were 15 odd yachts lining up for a double handed race start. Both of these events are worth considering for RSYS. Friday night was a formal dinner at RNZYS and an opportunity for all to mingle. On Saturday morning committee members from both clubs had a round table discussion to review each club’s successes and challenges.

Our racing teams were David Ward and Millie Brown, Christian Brook and Ross Littlewood, Karyn Gojnich and Michael Lindsay, Russell Taylor and John Taylor. Many thanks also to Melissa Taylor, Jane Lindsay and Alex Curtain who joined us for the weekend.

We look forward to hosting RNZYS back in Sydney in May 2020 to claim back the Trans Tasman Cup.

Karyn Gojnich
RSYS Club Captain

After a tough few months, Australia’s Mat Belcher and Squadron Member Will Ryan worked their way back the more familiar top of the podium in Sanremo, Italy, at the 470 Open European Championship.

With pressure on going into the medal race in light winds, the Australians finished second to the Kiwis in the double-point single race, giving them a 15 point break to the Swedish team in the open division.

On hitting the dock a grinning Will Ryan said: “I haven’t seen this flag (country flag) for quite a while; it’s nice to get it back.”

Skipper Mat Belcher spoke to Australian Sailing’s high performance director (and fellow Squadron Member) Iain Murray: "That’s the satisfying thing, to work in the lighter stuff. It’s been good to put it together; it gives us confidence going into the pressured moments. It’s been a busy and difficult couple of months and it’s nice to start the season this way, and keep working towards next year.”

Coach Victor Kovalenko proudly embraced the winning pair, saying “Welcome back! I think it’s a great comeback to the podium in the right position. A very impressive medal race, they showed their domination in heavy winds but now they did well in light winds. Congratulations and enjoy the winning place!”

Fremantle Sailing Club’s Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries couldn’t have pushed any harder, an OCS in the medal race ending their chance of bettering ninth overall but encouraged by making it into their first open medal contest.

Two afternoon medal races sailed in perfect Mediterranean conditions wrapped up the 470 Europeans organised by local Yacht Club Sanremo and Marina degli Aregai with the co-operation of the national and international 470 class.

Iain Murray concluded: “It’s been a very positive week for the Australian Sailing Team in Sanremo, the women into their first medal race and the men putting on a clinical performance with scores of ones and twos. Now it’s on to Marseille for the World Cup Final then the test event in Tokyo.”

Watch the men’s medal races video highlights here

470 Men’s (70 boats) 
1st Mat Belcher and Will Ryan 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, (7), 2 = 8 points
31st Chris Charlwood and Josh Dawson 11, 18, 11, 17, (29), 25 = 82 points

470 Women’s (40 boats) 
9th Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries, 16, 18, 3, 20, 1, 5, OCS = 65 points

The 50th anniversary Squadron Annual Cruise was a great success. Many thanks to Cruise Captain John Taylor and his committee for arranging a wonderful week of racing, social activities and fun that brought our cruising community together. You will be able to read John's report in the next edition of Logbook.

view cruise photos here

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Prize Giving
 
Cruise Captain John Taylor awarded the prizes - assisted by Able Seaman Gordon Ingate.
In addition to recognising the placegetters in Divisions 1, 2 and 3, the Erica J Trophy for 'Whole-hearted participation' was presented to Sam & Nicola Hill of Forty and the William Brian Northam Trophy for the 'Sprit of the Cruise' was awarded to Richard & Rene Chapman, Nand V.

view the full list of prizes here

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Photo competition

Thank you to the many keen photographers who submitted entries this year - it was a very hard task to pick winners!

The best photo in the 'Under Sail' class was taken by Murray Spence:
 

And Graeme Kennedy's panoramic shot of the Halletts beach Hawaiian party won the 'Other' category:

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Galley Gourmet Challenge

Congratulations to the winners of our popular annual competition. 

Canapé                
Anitra V - Haloumi Sesame Bites with honey & orange
                             
Entrée                  
Andarta - Beetroot & gin cured salmon served with horseradish mayo, home pickled onion & witlof 

Main Course                     
Andeluna - Chargrilled spatchcock with wild rice & vegetable stack
and Limelight - Roasted duck breast with red wine poached pear & braised broccolini
 
Dessert                
About Time - Waffle cones with lemon meringue or chocolate surprise
 
Junior Chef                        
Hurrica V - Vietnamese spring rolls with chilli dipping sauce.

Read Trish Stanley and Judge Sue Swanson's report here

Over six races this weekend, and in very mixed conditions, Neville Crichton’s Maserati team posted their third regatta winning performance of the MC38’s 2019 season, which drew seven of the sexy one design fleet to Sydney Harbour for Act 2 hosted by RSYS.

“We’ve got a good team, we’ve been together two seasons now,” said the winning skipper Neville Crichton back at the host Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. “Yesterday there was plenty of breeze, we hit 18.5 knots which is flat out. Those rides are exciting, once you get the boat out of the water it’s quite easy to manage but the line between out of control and in control is very close”.

“If you look at the results you could put a blanket over all of us, virtually. When we first started in this class Ginger was the yardstick, now there’s no one that can’t win a regatta.”

Act 2 full results here 

Video highlights thanks to Tilly Lock Media

Tactician on the race 6 winner and second overall by six points Ginger, Julian Plante, said: “It was nice to come back at this regatta and get the last win, it was a very tricky race. This regatta was super close. It’s about stringing together consistent results; we’ve been close to the mark, there’s just no room for error.”

Ginger’s skipper Leslie Green added: “It was like dodgem cars out there today. This is a great group of people; we all have fun and don’t take it too seriously… though we all like to win!”

Back in the country having skippered Australia to victory at the San Francisco SailGP event last weekend, and calling the shots on Hooligan driven by Daniel Turner, was sailing’s favourite redhead Tom Slingsby. Marcus Blackmore’s Hooligan was in the running for second in the series until they arrived at the race 6 top gate at Double Bay well after their classmates and the breeze had been through. Their last and Ginger’s first moved Hooligan back to third in the pointscore.

Saturday’s blustery sou’wester delayed racing until the race committee deemed the worst of the conditions had passed. Nasty bullets up to 30 knots, torn sails and plenty of white-water and wipe-outs kept crews busy over three races.  Bow Caddy video of Saturday May 11.

Steve Barlow’s Lightspeed faired worst, tearing two kites - the maximum the MC38s can carry - and therefore not able to finish the third race or record a single score for their efforts. “Even after it backed off to allow racing there were bullets to 30 knots and the breeze was very shifty. The MCs were definitely underwater at times,” Barlow added. 

The scenario on Sunday May 12 was very different, a 15 knot morning westerly swinging around to the ESE 6 - 9 knots and patchy so equally tough for tacticians and all MC38 crews who were also forced to fight for space on the harbour when the huge CYCA Winter Series fleet cut through their racetrack.

The next time the one design class meets will be Act 3, June 29-30 hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club.

At Saturday’s AGM, Shaun Lane, the co-owner of Lazy Dog, accepted the Australian MC38 Class president’s role.
 

Photos by Tilly Lock Media
Top: Ginger
Below: Maserati

Further information:
Lisa Ratcliff 
Australian MC38 Association media
m. 0418 428 511 e. lisa@occ.net.au

The Australia SailGP Team takes a heart-stopping win at Event 2: San Francisco SailGP.

The team started the day in second place behind rivals Japan SailGP Team, helmed by fellow Australian Nathan Outteridge. Damages to Australian's wing during the previous day may have kicked the team’s confidence down, but they were by no means out. Super tight racing between the event’s top leaders, with a treacherous crash landing into the finish in Race 4, saw Great Britain SailGP Team nearly throw Australia out of match race contention. Luckily Australia was able to dust off, win Race 5 and overtake Japan SailGP Team in the match race final, leaping back onto the top of the overall leaderboard for the second time in SailGP Season 1. 

Yesterday proved trying for Australia SailGP Team.  After sustaining some internal damages to their wing during Race 1, the team could not perform to the best of their capabilities.  

“When the wing breaks, we’ve got such a short amount of time in-between races you can’t really effect a proper repair… Shore guys worked overnight to pull the control system apart and check all the other components and fix what was broken in there. We’ve gone through the data to see what actually happened, but now we’re good to go,” remarks wing trimmer Kyle Langford. 

 
After a night's sleep, helmsman Tom Slingsby understood the position his team was in, yet he appeared level-headed, like the true competitor he is, stating, “We do reset. It's nice having the confidence; you get that feeling you just have to put together a decent race and you’ll win, whereas at the moment, it feels like we need to do a better race than normal to win which is not the position we want to be in. But today’s a new day and we’ve made some changes to the boat which we know are going to improve our speed and manoeuvering, so we’re going to be a lot better today.”

San Francisco really turned it on for both sailors and spectators alike offering a breezy 12-17 knot wind range for the athletes to contend with. Hitting the ground running, Race 4 saw four team’s, including Australia, biting the start early providing United States SailGP Team, helmed by Rome Kirby, a nice lead going into the first mark. The fleet of F50’s could not have been closer together, crisscrossing one another on multiple race legs. Australia sat just behind Great Britain until Japan sneakily came inside around the final mark. Australia absolutely pushed it out heading into the finish hoping to edge out Japan until a heart-stopping crash metres away from the finish line dropped the boat off the foils, drifting into the finish taking third. 
 
“We had a really nasty crash going into the finish on Race 1. We went for a codenamed ‘eagle,’, which means drop both boards and fly like the sacred eagle to try and finish before the Japanese. But unfortunately, the boards sucked down more than we anticipated and we pretty much almost went into a pitchpole at about 40 knots to about 7. The boys on the front handles got a little banged up, but to their credit, they pulled through and toughened up for the next few races of the day. Happy that nothing broke and we were able to get a good rebound from that, “ says a relieved flight controller Jason Waterhouse. 
Both grinders Ky Hurst and Sam Newton suffered minor injuries going into the finish after the crash. Ky Hurst’s face and ribs met the unforgiving F50, but even after seeing a bit of blood, the four-time Ironman champion pushed through pain. 
 
Race 5 was a battle of the Commonwealth as tie points for Australia and Great Britain meant the Australians needed to beat the British if they wanted in on the final match race round. “In the second race of the day, our whole concentration was on the British so we sort of sacrificed our start to get them. In the end, both boats sort of sailed through the fleet, but keeping in mind our main goal was just to beat the British, and I’d say we sort of achieved that, haha,” laughed Slingsby. Both teams chose opposite sides of the course for a nailbiting race, but it was the Australians that gained ahead once the British took a penalty against the U.S. team coming around the last bottom mark. After the crucial Race 5 win, Slingsby is ecstatic but notes, “It’s going to be a tough final [against Japan]. It’s a real boat handling situation. Just gotta make sure we sail well,” when looking ahead. 

The Japan SailGP Team didn’t start the day as the deeply talented squad intended due to internal wing issues delaying racing. This appeared to be just the start of a batch of tough luck for Australia’s top rival. Subsequent races saw more technical issues, yet the team was not ready to give up the fight going into the match race final. “From the start of that race, the first reach, then the first run, we kept looking for a metre or half a metre to get around them. In the end at the bottom mark, we were able to sail away. He tried to pull us at the end, but we had a little up our sleeves,” jokes Slingsby. It was Australia’s clean sailing and extension from Japan after mark 3 that clearly set the tone — Australia was not giving away San Francisco SailGP! Australia SailGP Team is now two points ahead in overall standings, and one step closer to the coveted SailGP's $1 million dollar purse prize. 

Slingsby and Outteridge have gone tit-for-tat over the course of their near-30-year friendship, and San Francisco played out no differently. Both competitors openly shared insight keeping both teams on their toes. “I hate losing to him, he hates losing to me, but we push each other as well. We openly talk, we openly tell each other what we’re doing and how we can improve and hope both of our levels will advance,” said Slingsby.

Australia SailGP Team will be celebrating a victory tonight along with the rest of the members of SailGP on a successful second event. As Tom Slingsby pointed out, thousands of people making up the crowds of San Francisco couldn’t get enough of the hydrofoiling F50's, “At times during the last match race with Team Japan, we had issues on comms' because the roar of the crowd for us was so loud. It was pretty amazing."
 
Click here for full results

Congratulations to the prize winners at our Alto Jaguar Land Rover Friday twilights presentation night last Friday. To be eligible, boats had to have competed in 72% of the series races.

Alto JLR main prize: a weekend for two at Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley. Won by Kookaburra - pictured above is Neil Lowndes, crew, collecting on behalf of Richard Hammond.

Alto JLR Consolation prizes: Jaguar and Land Rover Drive Experience days. Won by Zig Zag II, Malcolm Shaw and Out of the Blue, John van Ogtrop, below left and right.

RSYS consolation prize: Degustation dinner for six in the Fort Denison Cellar. Won by Wine-Dark Sea, Peter Lowndes, below. 

‘Rain, Hail or Shine’ prizes for boats that competed in every race: Lively, Sophie Nelson; Viva la Vita, collected by Malcolm Shaw on behalf of Howard Elliott; Much Ado, Richard Brooks; Alouette, David Ross; Well Inclined, Brian McKean. Well done for your commitment and dedication!

Many thanks to George Ershova and Max MacDonald of Alto Jaguar Land Rover for their generous support this season – our Friday twilight fleet goes from strength to strength!

The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron open team, pictured above, has taken out the debut National Sailing League Oceania event, earning the honour of ‘best club’ plus a wildcard entry to the Sailing Champions League Final in St Moritz in August.

At the completion of the full schedule of 45 races over three days, 14 teams were whittled down to four carrying the burgee of two strong Sydney clubs, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s open and youth team facing their foes across the harbour, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s open and youth team, in the final on Sunday April 28, 2019.

It was all over after one final series race in light easterlies, the RSYS team skippered by David Chapman carrying a win from the club’s qualifying series victory through to the first-to-two wins final. A start line incident saw them fall out of the umpires’ favour and they penalty turned, putting their Elliott 7 last around the bottom gate at the mid-way point. As good fortune would have it, a massive gain on the righthand side of the track moved them up to first, and the talented crew completed the task on the closing downwind leg in front of the spectator fleet and those watching from the adjacent RSYS lawn and clubhouse. Watch the final replay here.

“It hasn’t really sunk in; these guys did a great job,” said Chapman, referring to his RSYS teammates Matt Whitnall, Greg O’Shea and Charlotte Alexander, following their triumph. “First open and first youth is a fantastic result for the host club, on home waters in front of everyone. I couldn’t be prouder. I’ve been jealous of the Bundesliga in Germany for years. We’ve been slow to get it going here – huge congrats to Mark [Turnbull] and Howard [Elliott] for finally making it happen.”

Second overall was the CYCA Open team skippered by Reg Lord with crew Ben Lamb, Murray Jones and Tara Blanc-Ramos on the bow.

The RSYS crew of skipper Jack Littlechild, Evie Haseldine, Max Paul, Alex Rozenauers and Maddie O’Shea, pictured above, finished third overall and first youth team, giving them automatic entry to the SCL Youth Final at Kiel Woche this coming June.

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s team led by Zane Gifford finished one point off the top four but receives a wildcard entry to the St Moritz final, being the first Kiwi crew.

Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club with Shelley White at the helm dominated the women’s category over three days of racing on Sydney Harbour in light to moderate SW-SE breezes, giving the Perth crew a wildcard spot at the Copenhagen women’s event later this year. With the separate women’s category plus entry requirement for all open teams to have at least one female aboard there were more women competing at the Oceania league’s inaugural event, a noticeable and welcome outcome for organisers.

Full NSL Final results at https://nationalsailingleague.com.au/results/

PRO Ian Humphries race-managed an ambitious program of 46 12-15 minute races in a range of wind strengths and directions, plus a team of umpires and other officials at the start-up league event. The plan from here on is a travelling circuit of qualifying events culminating in a final, either using clubs’ existing one design fleets, or a brand-new fleet of RS21 keelboats purchased for the league.

NSL director Mark Turnbull and co-director Howard Elliott, pictured above with all the crews, are excited about the expansion to come. “Nine months ago Howard and I decided to bring to Oceania what is a very successful concept in Europe,” Turnbull said. “To all the clubs which participated in the first event, it wouldn’t have happened without you, and to all the clubs watching on we look forward to seeing you next time around.”

Highlights from day 3 thanks to Tilly Lock Media

Rooster Sailing Australia is the Australian league’s official technical clothing supplier.

Follow the action of the NSL Final on Facebook and Instagram.

How to follow the NSL:

Facebook

Website www.nationalsailingleague.com.au

Instagram: @nsloceania

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlWopVkrphY

Photos by Darcie Collington Photography

The RSYS Open and Youth teams continue to shine taking the overall lead and 4th positions respectively after the second day of racing of the National Sailing League Final on Sydney Harbour,

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia was the big mover today, with their open and junior teams leapfrogging into the top three standings after 18 races back-to-back.

At the end of racing on day one the CYCA youth team was sixth from 14 teams on the scoresheet and the open team seventh. It’s a different ending on day two, Saturday April 27, the open team skippered by Reginal Lord was second by three points and the youth team, pictured below, skippered by Tom Grimes third overall, four points off their clubmates.

The top women’s team is still Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club from Western Australia.

View full results here 

Highlights from day two thanks to Tilly Lock

The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s open team led by David Chapman is the one the CYCA and others are chasing down, seven wins from 11 races putting the host club in a favoured position to take up an invite for the Sailing Champions League Final in St Moritz, Switzerland, this August.

Back ashore for the daily post-race BBQ and catch-up, youth skipper Grimes said, “We found our mojo at the end of yesterday. Today was about juggling the aggression level given this format falls somewhere between fleet racing, which tends to be more friendly, and match racing where everyone’s yelling at each other constantly. Today we figured out how aggressive we need to be, particularly with some of the older guys, they are hitting it pretty hard.”

America’s Cup sailor and past Etchells world champion Ben Lamb, who is on jib and tactics for the CYCA open team, said, “I think the format is awesome, the whole five-on-five boat races of around 12 minutes each.”

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s open team will automatically be granted the Sailing Champions League Final wildcard for 2019. They are sitting in fifth overall and bowperson Erica Dawson had this to say: “The NSL is a really cool format, super tight and quick racing, especially today when the boats were much closer. I think it’s a cool way to capture a large variety of people - different ages, ability and gender, it’s not too expensive and you don’t have to own a boat. Sometimes it feels like you go Olympics or you don’t sail, this format offers something in between and I’m looking forward to talking to our club about it when we get home,” added the Nacra 17 Tokyo 2020 hopeful.

At the end of Sunday’s six-race qualifying series the top four teams go through to the Finals and the first team to win two races takes out the Australian and New Zealand debut league event. But there’s a twist. The winner of the qualifying round takes a first place into Final, their recognition for previous dominance, so they only need to win one more whereas the other three teams need two wins. 

The earliest warning signal for the final day of racing off the RSYS at Kirribilli is 9am on Sunday April 28 with the Final expected to get underway between 1pm-2pm. Joining the media team for the closing day is Adventures of a Sailor Girl – Nic Douglass who will be live streaming racing via her own page and the event pagehttps://www.facebook.com/NSLOceania/

Rooster Sailing Australia is the Australian league’s official technical clothing supplier.

Follow the action of the NSL Final on Facebook and Instagram.

How to follow the NSL:

Facebook

Website www.nationalsailingleague.com.au

Instagram: @nsloceania

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlWopVkrphY

Further information: 
Mark Turnbull
National Sailing League
m. 0414 470 066 e. mark@nationalsailingleague.com.au 

Lisa Ratcliff – OCC
National Sailing League media
m. 0418 428 511 e. lisa@occ.net.au

Photos by Darcie Collington Photography

Day one of Australia’s first-ever league style sailing event on Sydney Harbour brought 14 teams from clubs spanning Perth to Auckland, New Zealand, together for a brilliant hit-out of 15 races in a mix of autumn conditions.

Highlights from day 1 thanks to Tilly Lock Media

Leading the National Sailing League Final pointscore after five flights is the home team, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron skippered by David Chapman, and second by two points is the team from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club in Perth skippered by Shelley White. A second RSYS team, skippered by Jack Littlechild, is third overall and first youth team on the ladder.

Full results at nationalsailingleague.com.au

“It was nice to have racing so close to the Squadron; it was ideal stadium sailing,” said Chapman after racing. “The PRO did a great job getting all those races in in very tricky conditions. It’s a mixed fleet – some really good teams and those who are learning. It was very tough and really good fun - probably the most fun day I’ve had sailing this summer.”

Given how many events the renowned tactician contested globally this past season it is high-praise for the start-up where teams fly in to tackle an ambitious schedule of short umpired races using one design race-ready boats with the aim to be the last club standing by Sunday afternoon, April 28, 2019.

Principal Race Officer Ian Humphries and NSL directors Mark Turnbull and Howard Elliott welcomed competitors with breakfast and a briefing at the RSYS before the first round got underway off Kirribilli in light WNW winds. A funky transition period at lunchtime preceded a warm and solid Sydney westerly gusting to 20 knots at times, which wrapped up the afternoon flights.

Encouraging competitor feedback, a scenic Sydney Harbour backdrop of the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Fort Denison and the drama of near misses and boats separated by seconds on the start and finish line are boxes organisers can happily tick off after the opening day. The NSL’s realisation of a concerted effort to encourage women to participate is a more significant achievement. Five of the 14 competing teams at the inaugural league event are skippered by women and four teams are all-female, plus every open team has at least one female aboard, a requirement of the Notice of Race.

“With the requirement for each open crew to include a female and a separate women’s category there’s a really healthy gender balance at this first league event, one of our key drivers,” said Turnbull, an Olympic sailing gold medallist from Sydney 2000.

The earliest warning signal for racing on Saturday morning, April 27, is 9am and the forecast is for SSW – S – SSE winds 15 knots in the morning then lightening off as the day progresses.

Boat owners are encouraged to take private vessels out to spectate fast-paced umpired fleet racing at its best using Elliott 7s with teams rotating boats on the water and short races, just 12-15 minutes per race.

Rooster Sailing Australia is the Australian league’s official technical clothing supplier.

Follow the action of the NSL Final on Facebook and Instagram.

How to follow the NSL:

Facebook

Website www.nationalsailingleague.com.au

Instagram: @nsloceania

Further information: 
Mark Turnbull
National Sailing League
m. 0414 470 066 e. mark@nationalsailingleague.com.au 
Lisa Ratcliff – OCC
National Sailing League media
m. 0418 428 511 e. lisa@occ.net.au

Photos by Darcie Collington Photography

The Squadron will be open at the following times over the coming Easter long weekend and ANZAC Day:

Clubhouse
Good Friday – Closed
Saturday – CCA breakfast/lunch/dinner
Easter Sunday – CCA breakfast/lunch
Monday – CCA breakfast/lunch
ANZAC Day – CCA breakfast/lunch; Dining Room closed

Cellar – see the Duty Manager

Waterfront – Tender and fuel are available each day 8am-5pm

Sailing Office – closed

We wish you a pleasant holiday and fair sailing. 
The RSYS team.