Season's Greetings to all our Members and sailing friends! Happy holidays and fair sailing. 

Please find below the RSYS opening times for the festive season 2018-2019:

Clubhouse
Mon 24 December NBV: Lunch & Dinner CCA: Breakfast & Lunch, Bar closes 5pm Cellar: 9am-5pm
Tues 25 December: Christmas Day Clubhouse closed
Wed 26 December NBV: Buffet lunch CCA: Breakfast & Lunch, Bar closes 5pm Cellar: 9am-2pm
Thur 27 December NBV: Closed CCA: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Cellar: 9am-5pm
Fri 28 December NBV: Closed CCA: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Cellar: 9am-5pm
Sat 29 December NBV: Closed CCA: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Cellar: 9am-2pm
Sun 30 December NBV: Closed CCA: Breakfast & Lunch, Bar closes 5pm Cellar: Closed – See Manager on Duty
Mon 31 December NYE NBV: Closed CCA: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Cellar: 9am-5pm
Tues 1 January NYD NBV: Closed CCA: Breakfast & Lunch, Bar closes 5pm Cellar: Closed – See Manager on Duty
Wed 2 January NBV: Closed CCA: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Cellar: 9am-5pm

Sailing Office
24 December open 9-1pm
25 to 30 December Closed
31 December open 9-1pm
1 January Closed

Accounts & Admin
Will close at 12pm on Friday 23 December and re-open at 9am on Wednesday 4 January 2017.

Boatshed/Tender
The Boatyard will close on Friday 21 December and re-open Sunday 2 January 2019. During this period tender and fuel services will be available as follows:
24 December 8am-6pm
25 December Christmas Day – Closed
26 December 8am-6pm
27 December 8am-6pm
28 December 8am-6pm
29 December 8am-6pm
30 December 8am-6pm
31 December NYE 8am-1am
1 January NYD 9am-6pm
2 January 8am-6pm

Congratulations to all our Squadron Youth sailors on fantastic results at the Sail Sydney event last week!

• Nacra15 - Will Cooley 1st
• 29er - Max PAUL 1st, Mina FERGUSON & Evie HASELDINE 22nd
• Bic Techno - Vaughan O'SHEA 8th & Paul DAVISON 10th
• Mirror - Campbell MCKAY & Stirling MCKAY 1st Overall
• Laser Radial Open - Campbell Paton 6^th, Maddie O’Shea 7^th, Zac West 8^th, Sylvie Stannage 11^th, Boston Cortis 14^th, Jack Ferguson 16^th, Mark Louis 17^th, Evie Saunders 22^nd, Brooke Wilson 24^th, Charlie Smith 27^th
• Laser 4.7 - Zac West 1^st, Mark Louis 2^nd, Brooke Wilson 3^rd, Daniel Costandi 4^th, Evie Saunders 5^th, Aris Dimitracopoulos 7^th, Charlie Smith 16^th, Ian Louis 20^th 
• Laser Standard - Finn ALEXANDER 7^th, Oskar Hansen 19th
• International 420 - Ryan LITTLECHILD & Jack FERGUSON 2nd, Gretel PAYNE 8th
• International 470 Women - Katherine SHANNON 3^rd
• International 470 Men - Will RYAN 1st
• Optimist Open - Oliver McLachlan 2^nd, Louis Tilly 3^rd, Isobel Payne 4^th, Douglas Cassidy 5^th, Benedict McKay 6^th, Harriet McLachlan 7^th, Hannah Cassidy 8^th
• Optimist Intermediate - Connor Warner 1^st, Thomas Flannery 4^th
• Optimist Green - Viraj Gupta 1^st, Ben Tattersal 3^rd, Vidhi Gupta 4^th, Raphael McLachlan 5^th, Anton Robinson 6^th, Alexa Morgan 7^th, Patrick McLachlan 8^th, Nick Keleher 10^th.

View full results here

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RSYS was a partner club for Sail Sydney 2018. The event was sailed from 4 to 9 December and involved more than 430 sailors across 22 classes. RSYS had almost 50 Members competing and was responsible for Course Area D, providing race management and resources which included our race committee vessel Mischief (pictured above), a mark laying boat and two safety boats. Depending on conditions on the day, Course Area D extended from Nielsen Park up to North Head.

The classes racing on Course Area D over the six day event were: Nacra 17, 49er, 49er FX, Nacra 15 and the 29er. The 29ers were the biggest fleet in the regatta with 36 boats competing.

Conditions were challenging for the race management crew - there was a large outgoing tide and they had to keep the sailors safe within the Harbour, busy with large ship movements and the Manly ferry.

RSYS On Water Co-ordinator Rob Ridley oversaw the team; Geoff Clarke worked on Peri, the mark laying boat, and our Sailing Manager Declan Brennan and our Youth & Training Co-ordinator Locky Pryor helped with a safety boat for a few days. Thanks to our Member volunteers: Charlotte Alexander, Charlotte Grey, Geoff Davison, Mitch Evans, Riley Evans, Bill Fleming, Madi Kornman, Sara Ladd, Peter Magraith, Phil Maloney, Zac Quinlan, Nick Rozenauers, Kiera Early and Kylie Wilson.

Special thanks to volunteers Geoff and Karyn who also provided their personal boats as safety boats.  

Sail Sydney is run by Australian Sailing and hosted out of Woollahra Sailing Club. Other clubs that help make the event possible providing Race Management teams for course areas included Middle Harbour Yacht Club and Drummoyne Sailing Club..

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If you would like to get involved with volunteering at RSYS, learn more about race management and supporting regattas such as this please contact us at sailing@rsys.com.au.

Last weekend RSYS hosted three regattas. Due to the very strong westerlies racing had to be abandoned on Sunday across all three classes.

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2018 Yngling Australian Championship

The fleet comprised nine boats which contested six races to determine the national champion. The Scratch division was won by Club Captain Karyn Gojnich and her crack crew onboard Evie (pictured above with Sara Ladd and Ruth McCance) who were chased all the way by Hamish Jarrett and his team on Miss Pibb. Gary Wogas' Karma came 3rd. The Handicap division was won by Maria Nash on Lou.

View full results here

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2018 J70 Australian Championship 

The dynamic J70 class had its inaugural national championship at our Club. Eight boats competed which was an impressive turnout given there are currently just 20 of these pocket rockets in the country including teams from Queensland and Victoria. Reg Lord’s team on Juno, with America's Cup racer Ben Lamb onboard, won the regatta with a perfect scorecard. In second place and the first Corinthian boat was James skippered by Tim Ryan. RSYS boat The Jackal, skippeerd by Jervis Tilly placed 3rd.

View full results here

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Dragon NSW State Championship

Esteemed America's Cup helmsman and long standing RSYS Member Gordon Ingate easily won the event with a perfect scorecard. The team from the Etchells Great White Hunter (Nick Howe) placed 2nd in their borrowed Dragon Ascalon with Liquidity 3rd.

View full results here

Our young Laser sailors achieved tremendous success at the 2018 NSW/ACT Laser Championship held at the Canberra Yacht Club over the past weekend. 

4.7 Rig (21 entries)
1 Brooke Wilson
2 Daniel Costandi
3 Evie Saunders

Radial Rig (26 entries)
2 Maddie O'Shea 
3 Zac West 
4 Mark Louis 
5 Sylvie Stannage

Standard Rig (24 entries) 
10 Oskar Hansen

View full results here

SailGP (Grand Prix) is an exciting new event that will unleash supercharged F50 catamarans on Sydney Harbour. SailGP Sydney will take place on Friday 15 February 4pm-6pm and Saturday 16 February from 3pm-5pm, 2019. Each national team will compete in fleet races, culminating in a match race.

Here's a video of the first F50 flight

The best views of the action will be on the water, and boat owners are invited to register for the free ‘Boater’ program where you will receive important race management information including exclusion zones, access restrictions and the latest race courses.

Boat owners register here

There will also be an official viewing area on Shark Island and official spectator boats with Captain Cook Cruises. You can also tour the F50s base on Cockatoo Island. 

Spectators register here

Sail GP is an exciting, innovative and prestigious event for RSYS to be involved in and we encourage all Members and sailors to save the dates and enjoy the action.

Next Gen 50ft foiling cats are coming to Sydney Harbour from 14-15 February 2019.
RSYS will host the opening Act of the this five race series and it promises to be a spectacle for Members to enjoy.

‘SailGP’ is a new grand prix racing circuit featuring six national teams and visiting five iconic inshore venues. Teams will race identical wingsailed F50s – supercharged catamarans capable of breaking the 50-knot barrier. The season will culminate with single $1 million match-race final between the top two teams.
 

The Australian team: L to R: Sam Newton, Jason Waterhouse, Kyle Langford, Tom Slingsby, Kinley Fowler and Ky Hurst

Watch the Sailing GP video
Read more here 

The Squadron's Senior Development Program sailors will compete in the 2018 Harken International Youth Match Racing Championship. The event is hosted by RPAYC in Pittwater aboard their fleet of Elliott7s. Teams compete for the Rockin' Robin Perpetual Trophy with a crew of four or five, all of whom must be under 23 years of age.
 
Racing will take place from Thursday 22 to Sunday 25 November commencing at 10am each day. Squadron Members in the area are warmly encouraged to support our young sailors.
 
The team will then head to the CYCA for the Musto International Youth Match Racing Championship from Tuesday 27 to Friday 30 November.

Pictured above from L to R - Zac Quinlan (trim), Mitch Evans (bow), Charlotte Alexander (5th), Charlotte Griffin (helm), Nick Rozenauers (main) and Coach Nev Wittey. 
 
For regular updates, please follow them on Instagram @rsys1862

Live results here

Our Paspaley Tuesday Twilight fleet enjoyed an invigorating start to the new season series on 13 November with a solid 20 knots from the north east, gusting to 25-27 knots.

There was a great turnout despite the fresh wind which might have scared off a few. We had 29 starters out of 39 entered overall, comprising 16 in the Ladies Non-Spinnaker Division, 10 in the Ynglings/Elliotts and 3 in the Open Non-Spinnaker Division. This compares to just 25 in the first race last season. 

We are delighted to welcome new skippers and crew to the fleets including Coco (Jenny Farrell), Meridian (Ros Bradley), Khaleesi (Pauline Dally), Sophie Hunt in the One Design spinnaker division and Morag Bheag (John Maclurcan) in the Open Division.

Congratulations to this week's winners:

Ladies Non-Spinnaker Division - Jenny Farrell (Coco), Nikki Shannon (Vivace), Kristina Brenke (Gaia)
Ladies Spinnaker Division - Sophie Hunt (Elliott 1), Catherine Curtis (Elliott 2), Kat Wotherspoon (Evie)
Open Division - John Maclurcan (Morag Bheag)
Best Start - Ros Bradley (Meridian)

We are thrilled to have Paspaley partner with us for a third season. Their beautiful prizes this year year are eight pairs of Keshi stud earrings, featuring 9mm Baroque Keshi pearls set in 18kt yellow gold, pictured below, which we will present at our final race night on 12 March 2019. We will award four pairs to our winners based on results, and four as lucky draw participation prizes in which there will be one entry for each boat that competes in 75% or more of the pointscore races.

RSYS Member Martin Hill, owner and skipper of Lisa Rose 1449 has won the 2018 Etchells World Championship. Congratulations Julian Plante, Martin, Mat Belcher and Sean O'Rourke, pictured above.

Martin commented: 'It was both a thrill and relief to cross the finish line in the final race to win the Championship. Nothing can prepare you for such a competitive fleet and a starting line that is 1.2 km in length. It was the combined skill of Julian Plante on Main, Mat Belcher on Tactics, Sean O Rourke on the jib/kite and Michael Blackburn as our coach, that weaved the magic to give us the 17 point wining margin.

'I should also mention congratulations to the Australian Sailing Team with both Mat Belcher and (RSYS Intermediate Member) Will Ryan with Victor Kovalenko as their coach, achieving 1 & 2nd  respectively overall. They are a class in their own.'  

Further Squadron Members also won prestigious awards: Iron Lotus 1442, comprising Tom King, David Edwards, Ivan Wheen and Greg O'Shea, took out the Corinthian trophy, below centre, and Jean-Claude Strong won the Female Helm award, below right.

Honourable mentions in the top 20 of this top calibre fleet include Mark Johnson of Roulette 1377 in 8th place; Ian McKillop, Top 40 in 11th and Doug Flynn of Wobbegong 2 in 18th. Well sailed all!

The championship event was hosted by Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron and the Brisbane Etchells fleet from 22-27 October. The event attracted 94 boats including a strong international showing from Hong Kong, USA, Great Britain, New Zealand, Nigeria and Bermuda. Competitors sailed nine races with one drop. Lisa Rose's consistency won the day: 2.0    2.0    21.0    6.0    2.0    6.0    1.0    6.0.

View full results here

Photos - top: Emily Scott Images, below SurfSailKite.

Cool, shifty conditions greeted the fleet on Friday 26 October - as well as a returning supertanker. There were 51 boats on the water all keen for the chance to win the Jaguar for the Weekend prize. Paul Williams of Takana, above, was the lucky winner this week, congratulations!

A beautiful evening. Photo by Sarah Goddard-Jones.

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Results

Division 1 
1    Blackwood    Alastair Metcalf    
2    Viva La Vita    Howard Elliott    
3    Assassin    John Vandervord

Division 2 
1    Well Inclined    Brian & Anthea McKean    
2    Worlds Apart    Christopher Stannard    
3    Koolaroo    David FitzSimons

Division 3 
1    Onaview    Richard Petrie    
2    Flying Turtle    Phil Wait    
3    Star Ferry    John Conroy

Division 4 
1    Corrib II    David Leonard (pictured below, 3rd from left)   
2    Wyreepi Too    Ian Robertson    
3    Ostara    Glenn Richard

Elliott 7s
1    Elliott 3        
2    Elliott 2        
3    Elliott 1    

View full results here

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Our 2018-19 series is sponsored by Alto Jaguar Land Rover. This week, Alto's sales manager Max MacDonald presented bottles of wine to our Division placegetters. We enjoyed the opportunity to admire the new F Type displayed on the hardstand. Don't forget the special offer to RSYS Members: a $1000 credit to your House Account when you purchase a new or demonstrator vehicle between now and 27 April 2019 and $500 credit for a pre-owned car.
View the new ranges at Alto Jaguar and Alto Land Rover