Note: Lunch will be provided on both Saturday and Sunday.
Friday 29th August
1230 to 1500 Registration, Measurement, Inspection and Practice Races
Saturday 30th August
0830 to 0930 Registration, Measurement, Inspection
0930 to 1000 Introduction, Race Officer briefing
1000 to 1600 Racing
1900 to 2200 Optional dinner at Carmen’s Restaurant, Barnwell Park Golf Club.
Sunday 31st August
0945 to 1000 Race Officer briefing
1000 to 1600 Racing
1630 to 2000 Presentation, refreshments at the Club (upstairs).
Sunscreen and bottled water will be available, gratis
PARKING:
There is a medium sized, free Public Car Park at the entrance to the Club. On a weekend and good weather this can fill. There are many spaces in nearby residential streets.
Driving in to the enclosed area is available for unloading and loading.
The grassed areas inside the gates are unavailable for parking and is unfortunately patrolled by Rangers.
RESTAURANTS:
There are many within in a short drive of the sailing venue.
Russel Lea, Five Dock, Haberfield have all styles of food.
The weekend of 17/18 May 2025 saw the 2025 SA RCL State Championships held in Mawson Lakes Model Yacht Club, in Adelaide.
The winner ~ Brad Hein 333, in convincing style, for his third consecutive year. Congratulations Brad!
Second place Mark Stockhausen 165
Third place Darren Cathie 297
Congratulations and well done to all competitors!
Fourteen sailors representing five different clubs across SA and Victoria arrived at Mawson Lakes in cold and wintry conditions for the first day of racing. With an apparent air temperature at midday of 11C, and rain squalls, even the Portland YC sailors went looking for a jacket. One of the nicest parts of any annual regatta is arriving to meet old friends and catch up with the news.
A busy team of sailors and volunteers spent the morning setting up the control area on the upper terrace, a gazebo for shelter, whiteboards, tables, chairs, and drinks etc, before we all tucked into a lunch of sandwiches and wraps, cakes and fruit, and drinks.
Race briefing followed at 12:30 with a welcome and introduction by regatta coordinator Peter Murfett, followed by a detailed race briefing by the regatta RO, Geoff Beacham.
The first race was an ‘Invitation Race’ of a single lap of the windward-leeward course to give everyone a chance to settle in, clear the nerves, give the RO a look at the course angles and time spent on course, and to confirm that the start and finishing procedures were all working as required. And then it was GAME ON…
All boats chose A rig in breezes that were predominantly light and variable, but with gusts that swirled up to 15kn at times, rounding boats up and out of control.
The RO was faced with the stuff that keeps RO’s awake at night…gusty breezes with big shifts, periods of no breeze whatsoever, rain squalls, and significantly, confined water on which to play. Despite all this, the best possible windward-leeward course was set, with a hitch mark at the top, and a leeward gate. We sailed six 2-lap races on this course, before the RO added a wing mark for the final race of the day to test our game skills.
Milestones during this first session occurred after race 4 which gave us a ‘drop’, after race 5 which gave us a ‘series’, and race 7, when we’d all had enough for the day and were keen to head over to the local pub for the regatta dinner ASAP.
Sunday morning we awoke to a forecast of a cold but sunny day with light breezes, and the BOM got 2 out of that 3 right. A short briefing from the RO, the course was set and it was GAME ON – DAY 2. Again with A rigs and breezes of 8-15kn, the fleet got underway, with a spectacularly tight racing session of 11 more races on a windward-leeward course. Fleet positions changed constantly, big gusts caused mayhem, but things all got sorted out in the wash. If you didn’t laugh…you’d cry. So we laughed. https://www.facebook.com/100006295839654/videos/pcb.2468106763552231/1002316092062479
At the end of day 1, Brad Hein 333 from the Portland YC led the field in a strong position, followed by Tony White 389 from sailing@Lightsview, and in third place Gary Hein 342 from Portland YC. But on day 2, in changed sailing conditions, the fleet shuffled, and with Tony White having to unfortunately retire from the regatta due to gear failure, a new top end of the fleet emerged.
Tony then swapped his boat for his camera and very large lens, to take a series of fantastic photos which, along with a large collection of photos taken by Gerry Giebel, can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/sailingatmawsonlakesgrouppage
If anyone would like a copy of a particular image file please let me know.
Racing concluded around 1315hrs and while having lunch, we acknowledged and thanked the many volunteers who worked together to make the event a success.
Prizes were presented by MLMYC Club President, Chris Levi, who further thanked everyone for their efforts, and extended a warm invitation to all to join us again at any time.
What was good about this regatta?
“The camaraderie between RCL sailors is strong”.
“Racing was tight”.
“Race management was excellent”.
“Lunches were great”.
“It was a great chance to catch-up, and meet new friends”..
“We can’t wait for the next one”.
Thanks go to the MLMYC Board and the RCL Committee for event organization, along with many club volunteers who stepped up and helped out where needed.
The South Australian RC Laser titles were conducted over the weekend of October 19/20 in light conditions. Saturday afternoon featured a 7-10 knot south-westerly breeze of reasonable consistency, whereas on Sunday morning the winds were 0-5 knots from variable directions.
Brad Hein and Adrian Heard both had consistent results on the Saturday, Brad sailing a B rig for most of the day and Adrian slogging it out on an A rig. There were a number of incidents of boats getting tangled up with each other and this particularly affected the last race of the day where 6 boats did not finish. Peter White scored two wins and Garry Polomka was pleased to win race 2.
Tony White, who was in third place overnight was leading the first race (race 12) on Sunday before he had problems with his receiver and abandoned the race. He also had problems with a servo on race 16 which really dented his chances of getting a podium position. Meanwhile Peter Elverd notched up three wins in the light conditions. Brad Hein sailed very consistently again in the trying conditions, whereas Adrian Heard had variable results which were not helped by failing to cross the finish line in race 17. Gary Hein and Bob Whitehead both had wins which they will long remember, with Gary winning in emphatic style.
After two days of racing the final score was Brad Hein 32 points, Adrian Heard 52 points and Peter Elverd 70 points. Congratulations go to Brad Hein in successfully defending his 2023 title.
Many thanks to Steve Arthur for officiating at the event. The scorers were Lorraine Berry and Stewart Ross. The recovery boat crew who had a pretty active weekend included Brian Marshall, John Moore, David Woods and Lindsay Sawyer. Lindsay Sawyer and Stewart Ross both acted as observers at various times. Also, a big thank you to Chris Levi, Gerry Geibel (photographer), Gaynor Kouwenhoven and a heap of other club members who did so much to make the weekend successful.
