Author: Beth

Geelong Festival of Sails Invites Radio Control Laser Sailors

Geelong Festival of Sails

The Geelong Festival of Sails will be celebrating its 175th birthday with a record fleet of yachts expected to compete in the Melbourne to Geelong Passage Race over the Australia Day long weekend  (26 -28 January) and RC Laser sailors have been invited to join the party.

A dedicated sailing area has been set aside for the RC Lasers for demonstration sailing and some social racing. Radio Control Sailing Australia will be situated in a marquee next to the Royal Geelong Yacht Club and will be providing boats for demonstration sailing.

All RC Laser sailors, and anyone interested in trying the RC Laser, are invited to join in for some fun sailing and social racing.

Organisers are expecting over 300 boats to compete in the Passage Race and have a full schedule events and activities organised in the Festival Village for sailors and spectators.

The event kicks off with the Passage Race on Friday 26th January and celebrations in the Festival Village on Friday and Saturday nights. Entry to the Festival Village is free. Expect fireworks, well-known Australian musicians and performers, the RAAF Roulettes, great food and beverages.
For more information please visit Geelong Festival of Sails

It’s not the first time the RC Laser has been included in the Geelong Festival of Sails program. Back in 2004, we were invited to demonstrate the boat and ran a series of social races. It was a tremendous event to be part of and for 2018 we would love it if you could join us.

RC Laser sailors are invited to bring your boats and sail a series of social races and demonstrate your sailing skills! Please contact us at info@radiosail.com.au for further information. 

 

2017 RC Laser Championship of Nations Report

 

2017 RC Laser Championship of NationsThe RC Laser Championship of Nations was very successfully conducted by host club, Paradise Radio Yacht Club, with a week of extremely competitive yacht racing involving 56 competitors from 8 countries; Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom Germany, South Africa, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Sweden.

The RC Laser Championship of Nations had only previously been contested on two occasions, 2013 in UK and 2015 in Holland.

With a week of unusual and unseasonal weather which produced incessant raining days and strong to very strong southerly winds, 68 races were started and completed without any complications or damage to competitor yachts, support vessels or event infrastructure. The sport of Radio Control Yacht Racing, Paradise Radio Yacht Club and the Gold Coast being declared clear winners by all in the accolade stakes.

The yachting regatta resulted in an Australian domination of the RC Laser Championship of Nations event with 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings going to entrants from Victoria, South Australia and Queensland respectively.

Age awards were made for Masters (50 – 59 yrs), Grand Master (60 – 69 yrs) and Great Grand Master (70+). Winners of these categories were from NZ, NSW and Gold Coast respectively. A best Australian cumulative team award went to South Australia.

The week’s activities commenced on Monday 6th November with boat registrations and scrutineering followed by an organised afternoon of practice.

An official welcome event held at Lakeside Bistro followed in the evening,  with PRYC Commodore Allan Walker welcoming all competitors, partners, friends and family. Sponsors; Radio Control Sailing Australia, RACV Royal Pines, Royal Woods Resort, Mercure Resort, Thrifty Car Rentals, Gloria Jeans and The Burleigh Fish Mongers were acknowledged.

An organised pause in the event program took place at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month when all present took part in a special Remembrance Day Ceremony.

The week finished with a presentation evening and dinner at the Lakeside Bistro where video of racing was continuously screened, flags of competing Nations presented to relevant countrymen as keepsakes and trophies presented to all winners who responded to the accolades of all present.

Special thanks to the myriad of volunteers without whom the event could not have succeeded, the catering team who served over 400 lunches and kept all present topped up with water and fruit, and our Remembrance Day ceremony organisers.

From: Allan Walker, Commodore PRYC

Check out the photos from the RC Laser Championship of Nations here 

2017 RC Laser Championship of Nations Results

Championship of Nations winner Scott Fleming (Vic)

Championship of Nations 2nd place Scott Mitchel (SA)

Championship of Nations 3rd place Malcolm Kampe (QLD)

Great Grandmaster title winner Peter Burford (QLD)

Grandmaster title winner Graham Brown (NSW)

Master title winner Graham Watson (NZ)

State Shield winner South Australia

2017 RC Laseer Championship of Nations results

2017 WA RC Laser State Titles

Western Australia RC Laser State Titles

 

The 2017 WA RC Laser State Titles have been run and won.

A steady south to south westerly breeze greeted WAnderers Radio Sailing Club at the South Perth lake and it stayed in nearly all day.

All boats started with A rigs for the first few races then, as the breeze strengthened, B rigs were favoured by all skippers. With pretty tight racing throughout the day, the last few races determined the places. Various problems hampered defending champion Dave Pruden’s start to the day and he had to call it a day after 5 races.

 

2017 WA RC Laser State Titles Results 

A big congratulations to Rod Popham who came out on top, 3 points in front of Andy Cummins in 2nd with Dave Bedford 3rd,  beating Adam Viney onto the podium by 1 point. Rod has been ‘’bridesmaid’’ in 2nd and 3rd places each year since WAnderers first State championship in 2009 – he actually had Dave Pruden’s name engraved on the trophy before the event !!

A big thank you to Dave Bedford for all his hard work behind the scenes, Adam for setting up the courses on the water and a very well run and fun event – and Rod from Sailprizes for supplying the trophies.

2017 WA RC Laser state titles

2017 NSW State RC Laser Championship

2017 RC Laser NSw State Championship

The headline reads that Scott Fleming is the 2017 NSW State RC Laser Champion.

But beneath that headline there was a day of high drama on the water; with everyone having at least one drama of some sort.  We had radios crashing; we had servos cooking; we had weed; new sail problems.  Everyone was touched – from the top to the bottom.  But it was a great day.

I believe many of us had results that exceeded expectations; and conversely… some of us did not come up to our expectations.  And isn’t that what it is all about?

The day of the 2017 NSW State RC Laser Championship started out clear and bright, with just a light north westerly wind on calm water.  But when it came to set the course, the wind started fading and bouncing around from NW to NE.  We were finally able to settle on a course which was OK for a couple of races; then a north easterly started to settle in, which caused a significant course change; but stayed fairly true for the remainder of the day.

We started out on A sails, but that only lasted for a couple of races before the B sails started appearing; and it wasn’t too long before the C sails came out, with some murmurs of needing a D sail soon; but that never eventuated.

2017 RC Laser NSW state championshipsSkippers Experience Challenging Conditions 

The water went from essentially dead calm through to a very lumpy motion that was difficult to penetrate; and punished anyone who tacked at the wrong moment at the top of a wave.  Rounding the marks was difficult if you went close because you were likely to get thrown onto the buoys if you were on the wrong wave.

As a final event before the RC Laser Championship of Nations and the 2017 RC Laser Australian championships it doesn’t come much better than yesterday’s contest.  It was hard sailing.  There will be a lot of reviewing of boats, gear, sails that comes out of it.

For the event, we welcomed Taco Faber from the Nederland – he had a new boat and sails to deal with, so it was very much a shake down for him; but he will need to be watched at the CON.

Malcolm Kampe made a surprise visit from Queensland for the event, and things were going well for him before his radio expired; and we could not get a replacement radio going to suit him.  His retirement was unfortunate, and we were sad to see it.

Scott Fleming came up from Victoria on his way to the CON, and showed what a master he is – even with having gear problems he emerged victorious.

It was that sort of day – everyone had results they would rather forget.  Even if you didn’t have gear difficulties you were not going to get off scott free – there  was weed out there that humbled everyone at some stage or another.

2017 RC Laser NSW State Championship2017 NSW State RC Laser Championship Results 

At the end of 8 rounds, Scott was clearly in front with 7 points, following by Graham Brown on 22, and Daniel Bergan on 26 points.  From the 9th round to the last, there was some juggling of the placings, but the top place getters were always up there.

So, congratulations to Scott, Graham and Jason Rootes as the placegetters for 2017.  Well sailed.  Actually, everyone is to be congratulated for taking part in the event.

I also want to thank the un-named helpers who assisted without recognition – these events cannot be held without your help.

See you  at the Championship of Nations 2017 on 6 November – we were well prepared for it yesterday.

Cheers

Noel McPherson
RCL#65

2017 RC laser NSW State Championship

 

 

2017 RC Laser Victorian State Championships Results

2017 RC Laser Victorian State Championships ResultsSpring visited for the 2017 RC Laser Victorian States bringing with it fine weather, wind coming from every direction and even weed!  The event was held at the National Water Sports Centre on the Patterson River and hosted by the Patterson Lakes Radio Model Yacht Club  (PLRMYC).  Interstate competitors included Adrian Heard from SA and Daniel Burgen from NSW, both keen to get in some championship practice prior to the RC Laser Championship of Nations.   

A big thankyou to David Thomas from the VRYA for taking on the PRO job yet again, along with Mike Pender and Tony Smith helping out and doing a fantastic job to make the day flow smoothly.   

Sailing was in light A rig conditions for most of the day and all competitors sailed with excellent sportsmanship, which we’ve come to expect within the RC Laser group.  The only lady skipper was deprived of a race win, by her husband who stole the race in the last meter to the finish line!2017 RC Laser Victorian State Championships Results