SAILING OUT?

It has been announced today that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be sailing’s last appearance at this world renowned event.

After officially eliminating the Catamaran class, and then announcing that Women’s Match Racing would become the keel boat class for girls, it has since been decided by the powers to be that sailing simply doesn’t generate enough international or viewers interest, and as such has been officially eliminated from the Games.

This comes as a serious blow for the sport which has struggled for years to gain acceptance on the international stage.

Those who use the Games as their professional springboard into other major yachting events will have to venture back to university to gain qualifications to ensure their financial future. Those who were lucky enough to gain a qualification prior to becoming professional in their bid to make the world’s most recognised sporting stage will now need to join the ranks of the common people and resume a 9 to 5 job.

The only major events that sailors can now aim for that gains international attention is the Fastnet, Volvo Ocean Race or single handed ventures across the globe.

“It’s been said that this could be the beginning of the end, and slowing the world will see a dramatic decline in one-design yachts and off-the-beach dinghies,” said one disgruntled sailor.

This final decision by officials could however shine a new light for development class campaigners.

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Original post by OG and software by Elliott Back

Northern NSW sailing Gabrielle King has taken out the Women’s Laser Radial Youth Worlds for the second consecutive year. An absolutely awesome achievement.

Ashley Stoddart

LSD reader Ashley Stoddart, who is 14 years old and just competed in her first World Title, finished an amazing 10th overall and took home the under 17 World Championship crown!

This is a great result and LSD congratulates these girls, as well as everyone else who competed in the 2008 Takapuna World Championships in New Zealand.

Regatta Website >>

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Original post by OG and software by Elliott Back

I own many sailing books. Some which I have purchased over the time, others that were given to me and some that I have won. But there are so many sailing/yachting books out there, so which one is the best, and why?

This ^ Book’s pictures

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Original post by OG and software by Elliott Back

The other day I came across a group of larrikins who were “playing” on a channel marker.

They were pretty proud of themselves as they paddled out to the marker on blow-up makeshift rafts and all climbed up. Then they just stood there until they realised someone was watching. Then the foolishness kicked in.

Is it legal for people to climb up on and jump off a channel marker?

Who would be to blame if someone got hurt?

Or should mucking around on channel markers just be part of Aussie culture like drinking beer at the cricket and having a kangaroo as a pet?

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Original post by OG and software by Elliott Back

By Ian Grant

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia the nation’s premier ocean yacht racing club added further trophies to their impressive mantelpiece over the Easter weekend.

Senior Flag Officer Commodore Matt Allen steered the super fast Volvo 70 Ichi Ban to another line honours win in the 60th Brisbane to Gladstone race winning the Gladstone Pacific Nickel trophy with an elapsed course time of 23 hours 34 minutes 10 seconds.

This was another quality performance by the Ichi Ban crew who completed the course with a surprisingly fast 13.07 knot average despite a slow 42 n/ml passage out of Moreton Bay.

Ichi Ban picked up the pace on the 250 n/ml open ocean leg between Caloundra and Gladstone Harbour reaching a peak speed of 17 knots during the brief and breezy local squalls to claim successive line honours trophies.

She set the IRC race clock ticking by posting the 37 hour 44 minute 5 second time factor for the fleet to beat.

That time was set at another level when Ray Roberts and his Quantum Racing crew intent on improving their 2007 performance blew Ichi Ban away when they reset the time factor at 35-08-44.

Skipper Ray Roberts displayed and element of confidence when he enjoyed the post race debrief with tactician Steve McConaghy, Richard Hudson and Gary Adshead.

His modesty was rewarded with the Farr/Cookson canting keel 50 setting the IRC handicap rated pace which her major rivals including the 8 time race winner Saltash II failed to match.

Quantum Racing which averaged an impressive 11.76 knots was simply sailed to fast and smart which allowed her proud owner to have his name engraved on the historical 60yr Courier Mail Cup for the second time.

His last win in 1995 with Millenium still remains a cherished memory and is one of the reasons why the Ray Roberts racing team support the iconic Queensland blue water classic.

Quantum Racing beat an impressive fleet including Bill Wild’s Hugh Melbourne designed 42 Wedgetail and the Graeme Wood skippered TP52 Wot Yot.

This result combined with the line honours trophy defence by Ichi Ban allowed the CYCA team of Quantum Racing Wot Yot and Ichi Ban to win the Federation Cup teams trophy by a wide margin.

Original post by johnsee and software by Elliott Back

Original post by OG and software by Elliott Back

Matt Allen’s modified Volvo Globe sailing sloop Ichi Ban was power sailing towards a comfortable line honours win in the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race this morning.

Skipper Matt Allen and crew enjoyed a fast spinnaker ride past Lady Elliot Island before dawn this morning and continued to log impressive speed as they tracked a course towards Bustard Head.

Unfortunately the freshening South East breeze arrived too late for the Ichi Ban crew to attack the race record of 20 hours 24 minutes 50 seconds set by the larger super maxi Skandia in 2004.

Ichi Ban’s position plotted by the Tracer Trak satellite tracking system placed the speed sailing sloop 70 nautical miles from the finish at 5-30 this morning.
Navigator Will Oxley confirmed they were on track to cross the finish line before 11 am today.

Meanwhile the smaller Sydney sloops Quantum Racing (Ray Roberts) and Wot Yot (Graeme Wood) continued with their nip-n-tuck drag race for the minor line honours places while the building breeze allowed the smaller lower handicapped yachts to improve their fleet positions to win on overall corrected time.

Ichi Ban will set the race times for the fleet to beat however at the official fleet report this morning it seems that her chances of beating the smaller yachts on handicap seems remote.
However the freshening wind also improved the chances for Argus , Mondo, Its Natural, Dancing Lady, Full Bore and Spirit of Koomooloo, Wedgetail, to win the historical 60 year old trophy The Courier Mail Cup.

Brisbane to Gladstone website >>

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Original post by OG and software by Elliott Back

Melbourne skipper Martyn Riley is expected to endure a wet and windy ride on the small catamaran Raw to the Core when he defends his line honours trophy in the Multihull Yacht Club of Queensland Brisbane to Gladstone Race over the Easter weekend.

Normally Martyn Riley and his talented crew including Stuart Bloomfield would sail in protected comfort under the spray dodger of the race record holder Raw Nerve.

But the power sailing Raw Nerve which set the amazing record of 18 hours 55 minutes and 9 seconds with an anti-foul blistering 16.28 knot average in 2004 remains in a Melbourne boat yard with a shattered mast.

Raw Nerve was power sailing in 40 knot winds to another impressive line honours win in the Adelaide to Port Lincoln race when a rig turnbuckle snapped collapsing the expensive mast into the sea.

However while the ride on Raw Nerve would be more comfortable in terms of not being exposed to speed driven spray the crew can still expect to experience another speed sailing ride over the 308 nautical mile course with Raw to the Core laying further claim to her title as Australia’s fastest 9.24m ocean racing multihull.

The Raw Nerve crew are favoured to win the Allyacht Spars line honours trophy ahead of their Victorian rival APC Max (Tony Considine) and the identical match racing Raider One Design catamarans AYS Raider (Joel Berg) and Raider (Jamie Morris).

This one-design match race the first in the 44 year history of multihull ocean racing in Australia promises to develop into a tack for tack dog fight with the applied human related skills proving the difference between the two ‘clone cats’ at the finish.

Joel Berg is a very talented ocean racer and his crew of older brother Tim, Ben Kelly and Matt Homan will need to produce a superhuman performance to finish ahead of the equally impressive crew of Jamie Morris, Roger Overell, Michael Kelly and Jay Crisp.

Brisbane to Gladstone website >>

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Original post by OG and software by Elliott Back

This one from LSD reader Brad…

I’m in the white boat on port. We are within the 4 boat length rule from the bottom mark. When this photo was taken we are approx 1 1/2 boat lengths to the mark.

We are all on starboard coming into bottom mark (mark is to the left of my bow) and we are all hit by a massive gust (15knots) and boat 22 rounds up and gets hooked to my side stay. The force of all 3 boats turns me around onto port. I pull the sails on to try and get off but to no avail. The outcome is all 4 boats hit the rocks and I untangle them. All 3 do a penalty we finish, me 9th,22 11th, yellow boat 12th and grey boat 13th. Not a good last race

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Original post by johnsee and software by Elliott Back

By Ian Grant

Queensland’s premier blue water classic the 308 nautical mile Brisbane to Gladstone race will celebrate a major milestone when the start flag is lowered for the sixtieth ocean sailing challenge at 11 am on Good Friday.

This year’s race has attracted an impressive fleet of 65 yachts ranging from the defending line honours champion Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban from Sydney to the 42 year old eight time race winner Saltash 11 skippered by Ian Wright 0f Brisbane.

The fleet is stacked with some of Australia’s best offshore sailors who like the inaugural trailblazing crews in 1949 will face a demanding test of personal skill and endurance in a weather system that promises to be wet windy and tricky.

A change in the gradient wind controlled by a high pressure system in the Tasman Sea and a Low in the Coral Sea will have a strong bearing on determining a race record challenge and the overall race winner on corrected handicap.

Both Ichi Ban and the former record holder AAPT Grundig racing this year as Spirit of Queensland skippered by former Australian Sabot champion David Biggar from the Sunshine Coast have the proven speed to complete the course inside the present 20 hour 24 minute 50 second record set in 2004 by Grant Wharington’s super maxi Skandia.

However Ichi Ban and Spirit of Queensland who are expected to become involved in a speed sailing drag race to win the Gladstone Pacific Nickel line honours trophy will need a moderate to fresh spinnaker sailing South East wind to consistently power the sloops to an average speed of 15.10 knots and have their race log signed off before 7-24-50 on Saturday morning to set a new record.

There was some variation in wind speed recorded by the coastal wind monitors yesterday which suggests all of the tacticians will need to revise their race strategy.
(more…)

Original post by johnsee and software by Elliott Back