What a great days sailing we had on Sunday! After the disappointment of last week, this week was one to really write home about. An early one o'clock start gave us the chance to run three races to catch up in the Club Championship series, so RO Geoff  (good to have you back on the water Geoff ) took full advantage of the 15 knot south west breeze and the lack of powerboats/jet skis to set a nice close to shore windward return course. That would be course one for those that read the course board on the back of the start boat. You guessed it folks- I didn't. As I crossed the finish line downwind, then turned back to say g'day to the race team I was surprised to be met with stoney silence, just a bit of guarded finger pointing from Deirdre. Was I in trouble for crossing back over the line while there were still boats finishing? Had I transgressed in some other way I didn't know about? Perhaps they just don't like me! All these things crossed my mind until Bill M pointed out that course one finish is through the bottom gate and upwind over the line. Ahh, of course! So round I went and over the line properly to be met with a small cheer and a loud shout of RTBO!!! Which in Geoff speak translates to "Read The Bloody Orders". Good advice for all.
 

Our fleet was a little small this week owing to a few families still being away after the nationals. Special mention to our younger members in the 420's who had the highest number of entries from a single club, with Kristen K and Jess L second on handicap and Nick M and Riley E third on handicap and eighth overall on yardstick. Fantastic effort in a national event, well done everyone.

 

While the fleet may have been small, those on the water all had a blast! The Cats were really zipping round the marks and Ewan C remarked afterwards, "That was the most fun you can have in public". He obviously didn't see Molly at the Elton John concert- but lets not go there! The wind was strong but by no means stable with some big lifts and knocks to move you up and drag you back again if you thought about it for too long and some of those bullets that came through really had you hanging on; Duncan M went swimming so many times I thought he might be having bladder problems! 
 

Two races of windward / return and it was time for the rhib crews to move the marks again. This time for race three and some triangles- WooHoo, those reaches were what we were looking for!
The sun came out and the wind was just right to catch some waves and really fly, and those bullets were like hitting the Nitro button- pure magic!
 

A huge thank you to the race team this week for a really big effort. An early start, setting a start for the keelboats, three races with two courses and a few changes due to wind shifts- it doesn't get much bigger than that! This week saw the return of Geoff as RO as well as Super Deirdre and Alister M on Start with Bruce M and Simon H in Sutherland and Ross M and new recruit Con Kasiaras on Woodsy. Con comes to us via the Coast guard and expressed an interest in helping out on the rhibs. He's not a sailor but has many years of power boat experience and will be a great asset so please make him welcome.
 Next week is back to our regular 2.00 pm start, 1.57 first warning and the weather is looking good, so as our old friend Molly would say, " Do yourself a favour!"
 

That's all for now, Cheers, Pete Chippy.

Please note the sailing instructions changes for Australia Day have been posted on our website click here for details

The nationals were hosted by Gippsland Lakes Sailing Club at Paynesville last week and SBSC were represented by four boats. Stuart and Dave in the Foiling division and Glenn and Ewan in the Classic (non-foiling) division. A total of 48 boats entered which was the highest number in quite a few years, good to see the class is growing! The race management and hospitality of the club was excellent and we got a full 12 races in over four days of sailing in a range of wind conditions. The persistent Easterlies stirred up a lot of weed though which played havoc with the foilers in particular. Obviously it was a star-studded line up of past Olympians and world champions plus also Paul Larson who still holds the world sailing speed record which he set on VESTAS Sail Rocket 2 about ten years ago. He was just back in Oz for a holiday and thought he’d charter a boat!
Not fazed by all the famous sailors Dave sailed a great regatta and came third, beating three-time world champion Steve Brewin in the process!
Stuart also had a great result coming 6th but unfortunately got a couple of holes in his boat courtesy of a pre-race T-bone, ouch! Glenn and Ewan traded blows at the back end of their division but learnt a lot while learning from the fleet and both managed a mid-fleet finish each. All results here

 

 

1st	Adagio	Ross Churcher
2nd	The Office	Evan Macwhirter
3rd	YKnot	Rob Rainsford

 

1st PHD	Vincitore	Peter Russell
2nd AMS	Mr Bojangles	Pauline Cleaver
3rd ORC	Mr Bojangles	Pauline Cleaver

 

1st PHD	Fransiska	Peter Morrison
2nd AMS	Rells	Mal Winder

 

Great to see a good turn out on Friday night for the first race of Series 2.  Click here for full weekend results.

Thanks to everyone who helped out over the weekend; Friday night’s duty boat was Scamp along with Race Officer Elaine Nicholas and tower regulars Judy Champion and Amanda Malin.  Sunday we had the start boat getting the club champ race underway, with David Donaldson (RO), Renaissance and Elaine in the tower.  Thank you again for volunteering your time!

First Warning Signal	17.25H  Pursuit Start
Tower	Race Officer:	Di Jackson
	Duty Boat:	Crowded House

 

Please check your Friday Pursuit Start Time here:

 

First Warning Signal	9.55H  Boat Start
Tower	Race Officer:	David Donaldson
	Tower Assistant:	Elaine Nicholas

Saturday 21 January - MYC Hovell Pile Race

For any SBSC yachts planning to race in the MYC Hovell Pile Race this Saturday, the Special Sailing Instructions are available on the MYC website or click here.

Come for a great weekend cruise to Geelong.  It’s a great location with lots to do - great foreshore, walks, restaurants etc.

We’ll sail over on Saturday March 11, spend the Saturday and Sunday night at Royal Geelong Yacht Club with the  return sail on Monday March 13.

Please contact Terry Jones for further information or to register your interest.  We need to know ASAP as bookings will need to be made.

Terry Jones (Whiskers)

Cruising Coordinator

Mob:  0408336626