The 53rd NSW State Championships for 2017/2018 concluded over the weekend with 2 days of sailing hosted by the Woollahra Sailing Club. 


The first 4 heats had been sailed earlier in the season hosted by Balmoral Sailing Club with points leader Wave Catcher sailed by current World Champ Cullen Hughes and his son James. Close behind and in catching distance were Mad Cat (Mark and Caitlin Nash), Waterborne at Last (Douglas Raftesath / Spencer McKay) and McMissile (Campbell and Stirling Mckay). 


Saturday greeted the crews with a sunny morning and the forecast for a very fresh Nor’ Easter, an inbound tide and a very crowded harbour. The proceedings started with the welcome announcement of Destination NSW coming on board as a Strategic Investment Sponsor for the upcoming World Championships followed by a briefing with reports of gusts on the harbour up to 20kn. 

Racing was conducted over a 2 lap course of a Windward/Return followed by a triangle with a downwind finish. By the time the boats reached the starting line, a large cloud arrived over Sydney bringing a brief shower and interfering with the sea breeze. The breeze abated slightly and shifted around, but the challenging conditions were no match for the top crews who dominated proceedings. Wave Catcher won the day with (1, 1, 3) closely followed by Waterborne at Last who with (2, 3, 1) moved into equal 2nd with Mad Cat (4, 2, 2). 


Sunday brought a big change in conditions with an overcast day, plenty of rain and fresh Southerly greeting the crews as they arrived in the boat park in the morning. The unpleasant weather meant finding a parking spot was much easier and the harbour was much less crowded but the conditions took their toll on the fleet with plenty of capsizes, some gear failure and early retirements sprinkled amongst the fleet. Four races were conducted in Rose Bay over the same course as the previous day. With gusts up to 30kn recorded on Sydney Harbour, the boats enjoyed some exhilarating sailing. 

Top performers on the day were the Balmoral trio of Wave Catcher (2, 1, 1, 1), McMissile (1, 3, 3, 2) and Firefly (5, 4, 2, 3). 


Special mention to the crew of the classic boat Choppa (Yves and son Bill Stening) who stormed around the top mark in the first race of the day in 3rd only to break their gooseneck in the first gybe finishing their sailing for the day.

Wave Catcher retained their State Championship title despite a crew change from last season with Rowan making way for younger brother James. With a display of consistent fast sailing, they won 8 of the 11 races and finished no worse than 3rd. They made few errors, were always in the top group at the first mark and sailed fast downwind to overtake. 


Mad Cat and Waterborne at Last battled hard over the series to fill the podium. Both boats winning a race and spending plenty of of time in the lead over the series. McMissile sailed well on the final day to finish only 1 point off the podium. 


Overall:

1. Wavecatcher Cullen and James Hughes Balmoral (15) 
2. Mad Cat Mark and Caitlin Nash Hunters Hill (24) 
3. Waterbourne at Last Douglas Raftesath / Spencer McKay Balmoral(26) 
4. McMissile Campbell & Stirling McKay Balmoral (27) 
5. Firefly Gavin & Oliver Cooke Balmoral (41) 
6. Grover Anthony and Claudia Freeman Hunters Hill (51) 

Classic Division:
1. Little Ripper (J.Hancock, I.Hancock)
2. Blistering Barnacles (S.MacMaster, T.McMaster)
3. Tool Box (R. Barratt, O.Barratt)

Veterans Trophy:

Mad Cat (M.Nash, C.Nash)

Encouragement Award:

Tobermory (J.Wright, G.Wright)

Junior:

Yenda Lee (P.Stannage, B.McKay)

Family:

McMissile (C.McKay, S.McKay)

Ladies:

Blistering Barnacles (S.MacMaster)

Rusty Shackle:

Blistering Barnacles (S.MacMaster, T.MacMaster)

Overall results here: https://www.sailwave.com/results/nswmirror2018.htm


The Season Closing Regatta will be held on Sunday March 18 at Hunters Hill.

This week saw the Balmoral fleet get away to a handicap start. With the aim of getting all the boats finishing together, there was some careful calculations and considerations on the beach (along with the wave of the odd wet finger in the air) before allocating starting slots. 
To add to the complexity, Cullen in the scratch boat Wave Catcher was missing a forward hand and the fleet also enjoyed the presence of new members David and Lachlan Johnson in the Heron She Said Yes. There was some debate as to weather missing a forward hand would slow Cullen down or speed him up but in the end he started with the other low markers. 
We also welcomed back to the start line for the first time this season, the Upper Cut. Which Tony Mandl has lovingly updated over an extended off-season, this week joined by Matt Collis on the helm.  
Away first was evergreen Steve Malone in the Spiegel. The back markers started together with Cam and Stirling sailing the Dash leading the group around the first mark after the others overshot the top mark by some distance. However, Cullen showing the benefit of ditching the weight of his crew, used great speed on the spinnaker legs, to catch Cam downwind. Drama continued with Douglas and Spencer in Waterborne at Last breaking their spinnaker pole cleat - preventing them setting a spinnaker.  Meanwhile Gavin and Oliver in Firefly had their mainsail halyard give way, requiring a voluntary capsize, to also put them out of contention. 
The scratch boats finally caught Steve on the final lap with Wave Catcher finishing first closely followed by Dash and the. Waterborne at Last completing the podium. 
Mirror Dinghies and Herons are said to be very similar in speed with the Herons using their longer waterline for better upwind speed and the Mirrors foster downwind with the spinnaker. And so it bore out with Wave Catcher and She Said Yes finishing only 5 seconds apart in elapsed time. ​

This week’s reports comes from guest report Cullen Hughes:

Saturday’s race saw the Crews’ Union take control of the Yenda Lee with Spencer McKay, Oliver Cooke and Rowan Hughes, crews all without skippers, debuting on the race course sailing 3 up. The conditions were perfect for these crews to take over the steering with a light SE/E breeze blowing. Other boats to head out were Spiegel with Tony Mandl (honorary Crews’ Union member on account of sailing one-up), Jazze with Cam and Stirling McKay and Wave Catcher with Cullen and James Hughes.

Gavin Cooke took the afternoon off to sail 16 foot skiffs and the Raftesath family sent their apologies.

The start saw Jazze taking the boat end with Wave Catcher just to leeward. Yenda Lee and Spiegel were spread out further along the line. Wave Catcher tried to squeeze out Jazze off the line but was unable to close the gap to windward with Jazze showing exceptional height up the first beat.

The Yenda Lee team, in their first Mirror race, were hanging in well and having a good tussle with Spiegel.

Jazze was first to the top mark while Wave Catcher was first to the other top mark. Wave Catcher then realised they were at the wrong top mark and arrived at the correct top mark at the same time as Yenda Lee and Spiegel. The fleet remained in close contact on the following spinnaker legs with Wave Catcher having trouble at the gybe mark when a knot formed and then pulled tight in the spinnaker pole launcher.

Up the next leg the fleet spread out a bit but Wave Catcher and Jazze circled up with Yenda Lee and Spiegel half way up the leg to keep the racing close. Wave Catcher picked a couple of windshifts near the top mark and led into the final spinnaker leg with a small gap back to Jazze, Yenda Lee and Spiegel which is how the fleet rounded the bottom mark for the last time. The beat to the finish saw Wave Catcher maintain the lead however Jazze’s skipper came under pressure from the Crews’ Union representative on board which let Yenda Lee through into second. Jazze then crossed the line followed by Spiegel.

It was an enjoyable and successful first outing for the Crews’ Union boat and we hope to have them steering again in future races.

This week brought some on-shore action with plenty of enhancements taking place on the boats.
Molly M was sporting a new set of tweakers, Dash with upgraded sails and sheets, Firefly a new mast and Yenda Lee with a shiny set of new sails.

Elsewhere, Tony was working on the refresh of the Upper Cut and the One Step Beyond is still undergoing mysterious updates in the DDH skunk-works.
 
The forecast was for a moderate to fresh Southerly in the morning easing to a moderate Sou-Easter in the afternoon. However, the breeze had other thoughts with the direction remaining in the South and kicking before the start. 

The fleet faced the starting line with a strong incoming tide and a gusty puffy breeze with some large shifts. There was enough on the water for 2 of the fleet to consider that a warm drink in the club was a better proposition.

Firefly grabbed the boat start and led the way up the first work with Yenda Lee alongside and Waterborne at Last and Wave Catcher battling for 3rd. Yenda Lee picked a nice left hander at the top mark to grab the lead, rounding inside Firefly followed by Waterborne at Last, Wave Catcher, Dash, Jazze and Fastglass.
 
The next 2 laps provided very tight racing in shifty conditions amongst the top 6 boats with constant changes. The shifts and puffs meant that at no time could you feel safe that you had a cover on the next boat. New gear troubles impacted Firefly (spinnaker pole) and Dash (spinnaker halyard cleat) dropping them back though the fleet. Meanwhile at the front Yenda Lee was sailing fast and smart to maintain a tight lead. Wave Catcher was able to wear Waterborne at Last and close on the leader but Cam and Stirling held strong to take a well-deserved first win of the season. The first 3 boats crossing in under a minute apart.
​
Next was Firefly who were able to pass Jazze on the final lap ahead of a fast finishing Dash.

The fleet was greeted by warm sunny day and the prospect of a moderate summer NE for Heat 5 of the Club Championship. After missing the National Championships, series leaders Cullen and James were keen to test themselves against their rivals who had done so well in Tasmania. Charlotte and Benedict were racing their new boat Dash, that they purchased in Tasmania with Cam and Stirling aboard the Yenda Lee.
The fleet got away to an even start with the breeze looking a little fresher than forecast. Leading around the first mark was Wavecatcher, closely followed by Waterbourne at Last, Firefly and Yenda Lee. A brisk spinnaker ride took the fleet past Grotto Point where the the breeze suddenly evaporated. The whole fleet compressed and we effectively had a complete restart with the boats spread out in a straight line side by side. A game of snakes and ladders played out for the next 15 minute with multiple place changes before the 2 original leaders finally drifted around the gybe mark into the resuming NE breeze. Next around were Yenda Lee, Dash, Speigel, Molly M and finally Firefly, a lonely last.
The NE was fresh at the top mark but struggling against the inland W at the bottom mark resulting in a wide range of conditions for the rest of the race keeping the sailers on their toes and the racing tight.
First home was Wavecatcher, closely followed by Waterbourne at Last and Yenda Lee.
Cullen and James now have a firm grip on the series with just 2 races remaining.
 

1. Wavecatcher             Cullen and James Hughes
2. Waterbourne at Last Douglas Raftesath / Spencer McKay
3. Yenda Lee                  Campbell & Stirling McKay
4. Firefly                         Gavin & Oliver Cooke
5. Dash                           Charlotte Raftesath & Benedict McKay
6. Spiegel                       Tony Mandl & Matt Collis
7. Molly M                       Lewis & Breda Thatcher