Off The Beach News

Yard Master

I have volunteered to be the yard master for season 2024/25. My first task is to sort out all of the equipment being stored in the spar locker before the start of the season. There are a lot of sail bags, foils, spars, etc in the shed that have been there for many years, some have not been touched at all in this time. If you no longer pay yard fees and have forgotten to take something home and need to come and collect if, please get in contact with me to arrange collection, or turn up to the working bee on 6th October, to retrieve your belongings. If you have paid for yard storage, I will be contacting you to sort out identification tags for your belongings before the season begins (this will include sails, foils, spars, beach dolly's, kayaks, canoes etc). I will also be doing an audit on lockers in the corridor to the bathrooms and confirming all locker fees are paid. If you have any questions, please contact me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thanks Fiona 

Paris Olympics

What a fantastic result for your Sailing Olympians in Paris...........

Race Bibs

Keelboat News

Results

Race Report Fun Friday Series (Race 6 - 2 August)
With the forecast being 15 to 25 knots Northerly, Course 2 was selected. This gave entrants a good beat to R1 and from yellow pile to the finish, with some fast-reaching conditions to and from 25. A check of the wind strength around the Bay before the start showed 30 knots at Sandringham Yacht Club where the Northerly wind funnels in at the top end of the bay.  Down in the best part of the bay, around Safety Beach, we had an average of 15 knots with some gusts to 18 knots.
Eight boats and 29 crew started and completed the race with relatively flat water and sunny skies but a cool breeze.  Marrakesh and Organised Chaos made the start of the day, both 3 secs after their designated time.  2Xtreme were 6 secs and The Office on 12 secs. The wind shifted to North and became more variable for the larger boats. Shimmer was able to manage this with 9 secs, Javelin 22, Yknot (the only boat to start with a reefed main) 30 secs and Happy Days 40 secs.  A good result for all boats. Downwind starts are very difficult to judge.
2xtreme, who were using their No. 1 jib, used their excellent upwind speed and pointing ability to take the lead around R1. The large jib worked well for the reaching legs and they were able to hold off the larger boats and come away with a win. There was a tense time for the crew as there was large wind shift as they come to the shore to tack for the finish line.  Yknot, who were sailing further from the shore, looked like they might pass.  As 2Xtreme came off the shore they found a gust that had a favourable shift and they were able to hold their position.
Marrakesh followed 1 min. Later.  Shimmer, who had been doing over 8 knots on the reaching legs, recognised the problem of going to shore in the Northerly with the shadow effect of Martha Point, tacked on the yellow pile and went out to sea. This tactic saw them take a lot of time out of Organised Chaos but not quite enough and they finished 8 secs behind. Happy Days, Javelin and The Office were the next 3 boats to have a close last leg. Happy Days sailed a conservative course covering the other two boats and finished 6th. Javelin was fast finishing and kept out to sea. The Office came right to the shore and were caught by the lack of wind and the unfavourable shift. As they tacked out, they were able to call Javelin on Starboard, however Javelin, with superior speed and pointing ability, was able to pass.
Shimmer had the fastest elapsed time 1 hour and 6 minutes followed by Javelin on 1 hour and 8 minutes.
The Office, Javelin, and Organised Chaos all sailed the race double-handed, showing you do not need to organise a large crew for the Friday Fun Race.
All boats were able to finish before 16.00.  A good result for all.
Thanks to Dawn Clark and David Donaldson for their help in the tower, and Special thanks to Judy Champion for being Race Officer while I was in Europe.  Judy did a great job, as per usual, and managed a record fleet of 13 boats for Fun Friday in Race 4.

Andrew Arblaster
Race Officer

This Week's Racing

Shipping Channel Marks

So why can’t we use fixed shipping channel marks for racing anymore? Like many of you no doubt, I asked the same question and why did this change arrive out of the blue?
 
SBSC received an invitation from the Navigational Services Department at Ports Victoria to come along to a briefing last week to explain all. Myself and Di Jackson went along to represent SBSC, most of the bigger clubs around the bay also went.
 
Every year prior to our summer season starting, the club has to submit an Aquatic Events Advice submission (AEA) to Vic Ports. This document details what our intentions are with regards to racing out of Safety Beach. This has been required for many years and, until last year’s AEA, using fixed shipping channel marks was ok. So what changed?
 
In 2022 there were 85 reportable incidents of conflict between commercial shipping and leisure craft in Port Vic controlled waters. This prompted Vic Ports to conduct a safety review. Sailing boats using shipping channel marks was identified as a significant area of concern. Granted it is a much greater problem at the 'top of the bay' than down here near us at Safety Beach, but they did show us some very compelling video evidence demonstrating that people doing dumb things near big ships was a problem.
 
Hence, from 2022 use of shipping channel marks for racing was banned. And in 2023 the number of incidents with commercial shipping had dropped to 13.
 
Our plans for two fixed racing marks in the bay are now well advanced and we hope to have final approval soon. The recently-formed KB Course Committee has done a great job in planning and re-drawing all our race course options ready for the new marks. Fingers crossed we can have this ready for the start of the new summer season.
 
Tim Bardon
Rear Commodore

 

ORCV News 

ORCV DYSC Marine Supplies Winter Series 
The ORCV Discount Yachting Winter Series program for racing and cruising is based on passage style racing within Port Phillip Bay. The Series comprises four races including a destination race to Blairgowrie, a destination race to Geelong and two short passage races around fixed marks.  www.orcv.org.au/winter-series

Photo Of The Week

 

Submission's