Author: Beth

Mawson Lakes October 19^th and 20^th

By 9.30am on Saturday morning a swirl of activity had descended on Mawson Lakes Model Yacht Club (MLMYC) with many interstate visitors arriving. With 22 competitors there was a real sense of excitement.

The morning practice session got underway with Peter Burton experimenting with a B rig in the gusty SW winds of around 10-16 knots.

By the time racing began the wind had increased slightly and almost all sailors had opted for C rigs. While Brad Hein and I won the first two races, it quickly became apparent in ensuing races that Peter Burton was sailing very consistently indeed. Not only was he winning races, but often by large margins.

There were several other surprises in store. Len Hearing, who is an experienced sailor, but new to Lasers adapted to the strong winds superbly and finished the day in third place. Phil Clerke, who is the master of tacking to port immediately after the start and picking up wind shifts in the middle of the lake, again showed how successful this tactic is.

Other stand-outs were Stephen Cibich who, after the first five races, looked like he was set for a top three finish. Dean Bonnett, our club president who courageously decided to give Lasers a go, acquitted himself very well. Gary Polomka, also new to Lasers, led most of the second last race of the day before being passed on the last leg by Brad Hein.

Fluky Conditions for Day 2 RC Laser Titles

At the designated start time of 9.30am on Sunday morning, Race Officer Stewart Ross was faced with a highly variable SW-SE wind and a SW course set for the forecast wind direction. The first two races of the day were sailed in fluky conditions and hard luck stories abounded. None worse than John Berry who led B division by a long way for most of the race, only to pick the non-favoured leeward gate mark and finish up in sixth place.

We then changed to Gold and Silver fleets, and Brad Hein recorded his second win for the morning. It looked for a moment as if Brad might rise to challenge Peter Burton’s dominance of the series. Meanwhile, in the silver fleet Gary Hein had a great win followed by Noel Christison. Alex Hayter was also sailing well.

The next gold fleet race bordered on farcical. Peter Burton, sensing he had to do something different opted for a B rig and Brad Hein followed him. Everyone else had kept A rigs. All went smoothly until the second windward work. Most of the fleet tacked in shore into a windless hole, whereas Kym Stringer, Phil Clerke and I sailed out into the lake into a good breeze. At one stage I led the fleet by about 50 metres. However, Kym and Phil stayed further out in the lake than me and pegged back my lead by the windward mark. It was Brad and Peter’s worst race for the series. The following silver fleet race was won by Brenton Rowney, who had had a tough series up to that point.

The final two races for both fleets were held in moderate SW breezes with all sailors using B rigs. Peter Burton lapped up the fresher breeze and really stamped his authority on the series. Phil Clerke and Kym Stringer also sailed particularly well in the conditions. In silver fleet Don Turnbull had a loudly applauded win in race 12 and Peter Yates had an important win in Race 13.

Series Place-Getters

Gold Fleet – Peter Burton, Brad Hein, Phil Clerke

Silver Fleet – Peter Yates, Gary Hein, John Nieuwenhuizen

Special thanks go to Stewart Ross as RO and Mario Gulic and Lorraine Berry as scorers for running such a smooth series. This was especially true considering it was the first time many of the competitors had raced using the Simple Heat Racing System (SHRS).

There was also a huge band of MLMYC volunteers. Brian Marshall, Peter Simmons and Nigel Stone ran the recovery boat. Robert Jones and John Dockerill looked after the boat shed. Meredith Reardon, Sylvia Nieuwenhuizen and Gaynor Koewenhoven looked after the registration and food area, Bob Whitehead was measurer, Gerry Geibel and Chris Levi assisted with photography and administration, Peter Trenorden and Wendy Falland assisted as race observers. Dean Bonnett did everything required of a club president. Overall it was a fantastic effort by all the MLMYC mob – you did the club proud.

By Adrian Hearde

Only 2 weeks to go until Mawson Lakes Radio Yacht Club hosts the South Australia RC Laser Titles, over the weekend of 19th October.

Last year’s National Titles hosted by Mawson Lakes, was an absolute blast and its expected that the 2019 State Titles will be a whole lot of fun as well.

18 sailors have already registered and will experience, for the first time at a state titles event in Australia, the Single Heat Racing System. This will provide great competition for all levels of sailors.

With a few of the RC Laser worlds top sailors being unavailable for this Titles series, the field has been thrown wide open.

If you are thinking you’d like to participate but haven’t done anything about it, it’s not too late to register. Visit the Mawson Lakes Radio Yacht Club website for more info, contact phone numbers and to register online. http://www.mawsonlakesmyc.com/

by Adrian Heard

As my term as national RC Laser representative on the Australian Radio Yachting Association (ARYA) is soon to end, I thought it would be useful to relate some of the major events and happenings during my term.

Firstly, may I say that serving the RC Laser community in this way has been a privilege and as a fairly novice RC sailor back in 2016, it gave me the opportunity to get to know the national and even international RC Laser community relatively quickly. Initially, Jurgen Luther and I shared the role after Rod Popham’s term ended. Rod had done a great job connecting Australia with the international RC Laser community and in that regard, he created the opportunity for Paradise RYC to run the 2017 Championship of Nations (CON17).

This leads me directly to CON17 held in November 2017 and what was easily the biggest sailing event that I have ever had any involvement in. It was a resounding success and Peter O’Grady, ably helped by many others, did an extraordinary job of running it. All of us who were lucky enough to attend will never forget the week-long gale that descended on southern Queensland at that time and gave us a big lesson in C and D rig sailing. We were treated to some tremendous sailing by the likes of Scott Fleming, Scott Mitchell, Malcolm Kampe and Peter Burford.

The next big event that was to unfold in my time at the post was the Australian amendment to the class rules, and this happened largely due to CON17. I remember that in the NSW State Titles of 2017, which just preceded the CON17, Taco Faber from the Netherlands sailed with what were clearly shortened masts. Some of the State RC reps decided that they did not want the shortened mast epidemic to hit Australia, and after CON17 a variety of teleconferences ensued. Discussions on the matter were not always straight-forward as there were a range of opinions. However, eventually Noel McPherson wrote an Australian amendment to the class rules which included minimum mast lengths for both A and B/C/D masts and also a measurement tolerance for the gooseneck position. This was accepted by the ARYA with the support of the measurer Robert Hales and the secretary Ross Bennett. Unfortunately, the lack of quality control by RC Laser part manufacturers led to the eventual withdrawal of the gooseneck clause, but overall Noel is to be commended for the persistence he showed in this task.

Easily the biggest pleasure in the role is getting to know all the characters of the RC Laser world. A few extroverts stand out – Ian Ritchie, Daniel Bergan and Noel Christison from Paradise RYC, Peter Close from Dobroyd, Don Turnbull and Alex Hayter from Mawson Lakes MYC, Peter Yates from Patterson Lakes RMYC and Gary Hein from Portland YC. The State Laser Reps of Scott Fleming, Peter O’Grady, Graham Brown, David Bedford, Noel McPherson and Noel Christison have been great to work with. At the ‘Big Wet’ national titles held at Yarrawonga Victoria in 2016, Scott Fleming pointed out to me that there had never been a South Australian state championship in the RC Laser class. He said that if I organised one he would get a group to come across from Victoria. Well, it was some group – in August 2017 nine boats travelled from Victoria for our first ever SA titles.

Sadly there has been the loss of a number of Laser sailors of which I will name only a couple. Ray Nasmith from Pine Rivers RYC was a great supporter of RC Laser sailing and he sailed in CON17 when he was clearly quite unwell – an heroic effort. George Fish from Launceston sailed in at least two national titles that I know of, and I got to meet him in the puddles at Yarrawonga. Being Tasmanian he was well equipped for wet weather. He died about 6 months later.

Cliff Bromiley and Beth Powell, the national distributors for the class have been a great support and a great source of information. It was them that put me on to Bob Caldow from the Sunshine Coast. I am still yet to meet Bob in person (roll on 2020!) but he stands out as one of the most dedicated club sailors in Australia. Also, they told me that there were rumours of an RC Laser fleet developing at Portland Victoria. Now having been raised in the South-East of SA, the fact that Portland had a Laser fleet came as a very pleasant surprise to me. Within the month Meredith and I had travelled to Portland and met the whole crew down there with their 15 Lasers.

One thing we need to remember, and my good friend John Berry regularly reminds me of it – we sail the simplest and the best class of radio yacht. It provides the most level playing field of all classes. It exposes your true sailing skill – that is why people either love or hate Lasers!! It will survive the onslaught of other production model classes for this very reason – there will probably never be a simpler boat!

The next challenge for the class will be the implementation of the Single Heat Racing System (SHRS) into RC Laser state and national events. There is a groundswell of support amongst the State reps for this to happen, and the 2019 SA state titles will be the first of a series of events using this scoring system in future. I personally believe the SHRS fits the ethos of our class very well.

In December this year, I hand the baton on to Scott Fleming. Scott and Jayne and great friends, and there is no better exponent of the class than Scott. We will all be in very good hands.

On Saturday 19^th October and on Sunday 20^th October the 2019 SA RC Laser Titles will be run at Mawson Lakes. We are expecting a fleet of 20-25 boats with around 6-8 interstate visitors.

The titles will be run using the Single Heat Racing System (SHRS) – the use of which is now fully approved by ARYA. This will be one of the first titles in Australia to use this system post ARYA approval. On Sunday the fleet will be divided into gold and silver fleets, with both fleets racing for a trophy.

The Laser Sub-committee managing this event is Adrian Heard, John Berry, Bob Whitehead, Alex Hayter and Stewart Ross. Stewart Ross will be the race officer for the event. Mario Gulic from Patterson Lakes Victoria has agreed to be scorer for the event.

A full notice of race for the event will be out in mid-August. The fee for the event will be $45 early-bird registration and payment (by 27^th September); $50 normal registration and payment.

Registration is now open on the MLMYC website – www.mawsonlakesmyc.com.au  and we encourage you all to register soon. Invoices for payment will be sent out as soon as our Notice of Race is approved by ARYA.

The timetable for the titles will be -:

Saturday 19^th October

10 am             Practice sailing

12 pm             Lunch

12.30pm         Briefing

1 pm               First race commences

5 pm               No race will commence after this time

6.30pm           Dinner at Mawson Lakes Hotel

Sunday 20^th October

9 am               Briefing

9.30 am          First race commences

12 pm             Lunch served during racing

2 pm               No race will commence after this time

2.30 pm          Presentations

We look forward to seeing you in Adelaide in October. It is a great time of the year with reliable westerly winds and it will be great to have a good bunch of interstate visitors present.

Adrian Heard, on behalf of the organising committee.

On the weekend of October 19^th and 20^th 2019 the South Australian State Titles will be run at Mawson Lakes, but this time they will be run under a new scoring format.

The Simple Heat Racing System (SHRS) is a system which we here in South Australia believe fits better with the ethos of RC Laser sailing than does the current Heat Management System (HMS).

The main difference with using SHRS is that after ranking the whole fleet on day one, for the second day’s sailing each sailor will be locked into either gold or silver fleets. There is no movement between fleets and there will be a trophy for the winners of both fleets. Everyone has something to race for.

How does the Simple Heat Racing System work?

For the simplicity of this explanation assume we have 20 competitors entered in a two-day competition.

Qualifying Series – On day 1 we conduct of Qualifying Series of 8-10 races. For this series the 20 competitors are randomly divided into two heats of 10 boats, A Heat and B Heat. 

The aim of Qualifying Series is to give every competitor the opportunity to sail against every other competitor. To achieve this, all odd place finishers (1,3,5 etc.) in each race remain in the same heat, and all even place finishers (2,4,6 etc.) change to the other heat. This results in 50% of competitors changing heats after every race.

The other important aspect of the Qualifying Series is that no competitor who finishes a race can receive more than 10 points for that race, compared with the Heat Management System (with A & B Divisions) where the last competitor in B Division receives 20 points.

A Heat and B Heat must complete the same number of races for the Qualifying Series to be completed.

Finals Series – On day 2 we conduct a Final Series

For this series 10 competitors sail in the Gold Heat and 10 in the Silver Heat.

Say 8 races were sailed in the Qualifying Series, then each competitor will be scored on his/her best 6 races and ranked 1-20. The top ten competitors go to the Gold Heat and the next ten to the Silver Heat.

There is no movement of competitors between the two heats. They are discrete heats. There are prizes for place-getters in both heats.

Should this series finish early due to unsuitable weather, there is no requirement that the Gold Heat and the Silver Heat sail the same number of races.

Should we be unable to conduct any races in the Finals Series, then prizes will be awarded to place-getters 1,2,3,11,12 and 13 from the Qualifying Series results.

Here’s a full explanation of rules for the SHMS

Invitation to try the New Heat Racing System at SA State Titles at Mawson Lakes

For those of you who came to the National Titles at Mawson Lakes in 2018, you already know what a great location and what excellent facilities we have. For those of you who haven’t sailed on our home waters yet, you have got a treat waiting for you.

The other big news is that the RO for 2019 will be one of our own – Stewart Ross. Stewart is an enormously experienced race officer who has officiated in major yachting regattas all around Australia. We are very lucky to have Stewart at Mawson Lakes and you are all going to love his experience in handling major events. Also we may have the services of a scorer well versed in using the SHRS system.

Put all this together with sailing in what is now one of the biggest RC Laser fleets in the country – Mawson Lakes now has well in excess of 20 Lasers in the club – and you have all the right ingredients for a great event. While we can’t make any promises about the weather, we can say that the south-westerly sea breezes which are legendary here in South Australia are at their most reliable in October.

We need 18 sailors to be able to run this event. We hope that you will be one of them. If less than 18 sailors attend the state titles we must use the HMS system.

Please contact Adrian Heard to express your interest in attending the SA State Titles by email or text.
Adrian Heard Email heard.14.au@gmail.com Phone 0427 833 324