Welcome to Radio Control Sailing Australia

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

DOBROYD AQUATIC CLUB 25-28 April, 2019

DAY 1. An eventful first day of the Championships came to a close after 9 races. The wind was out of the west, but varied in its fickleness all day; essentially driving most sailors nuts with its variability, its strength and its dead spots.

We saw all sails during the day, from A to D, and many sailors found they had made wrong sail choices once on the water. Once the racing had settled down after the seeding races a rhythm developed moving from the B fleet to the A fleet, and back again for most people. There was little respite for those bouncing between the two fleets. A number of times, skippers found they could not capitalise on good finishes in the B fleet, once they went up to the A fleet. So, at the end of day 1. we saw a bit of a changing of the guard in the top order.

DAY 2 Frustrating! The wind was just not going to behave itself, and demonstrated that by moving all the time, causing constant course changes. We tried to set a course with a south westerly wind, and we got a couple of races in before some significant moves in the breeze caused the comedy of the day, with the course setters constantly changing positions. We moved to the eastern side of the deck and got in a race, and then the wind really started coming from all points of the compass. The course was set of the end of the point – that is a desperate move from our point of view, and then we moved into unknown territory by moving further around the point for a final few races. We only ended up have 4 races for the day!

DAY 3 We all had our fingers crossed for what would unfold, and were greeted by a nice westerly breeze. Racing started with the course holding up, but the wind was slowly dying off until it became a millpond. Early lunch was called. At this stage it was generally considered that there was not much chance of any more sailing; but a bit of a puff came up out of the east and firmed into a nice B sail breeze for the rest of the day. The course was reset, and the final races were sailed in conditions we were hoping for all weekend. There was still some shuffling among the places, particularly lower down the score sheet, but Scott Fleming had it locked up from day 1. Brad Hein took second place, and Graham Brown took third – both finishing on the same points; but a countback separated them.

A great Championship. I want to acknowledge the great job done by the Race Officers – Scott Condie and Owen Jarvis on Day 1, then Paul Martin on Days 2 and 3. A special thanks needs to be given to our Scorer, Jayne Fleming; who carried out the job to perfection. I also want to note the efforts of all our members, volunteers, and outsiders who jumped in and helped make this a memorable event. Lastly, I want to thank everyone who competed for the good spirit that pervaded the event, and which made it an enjoyable event to be part of. Thanks to you all.

Noel McPherson #RCL65

2019 RC Laser National Championships – Dobroyd Aquatic Club

Results at end of Day 1    (26/04/19)

State	NSW	VIC	QLD	SA
Raw Points	32	22	14	8
Multiplier	1.0	1.8	1.8	3.6
Shield Points	32	40	25	29

The 2019 RC Laser National Championships are underway. Check in here for live results.

Day 3 Sunday 28th April Results at Lunch

Day 2 Saturday 27th April Results at Lunch

Day 1 Friday 26th April Results at end of racing (13 races)

Day 1 Friday 26th April Results at lunch

Update Feb 2019. The NOR, Entry form and full program are available for the 2019 RC Laser National Championships being held 25th – 28th April 2019.  The organising committee has been busy working through the details of the event. The annual championships dinner is being held on Saturday night 27th April at the Barnwell Park Golf Club – very close by to the sailing venue.  Optional practice sailing and a welcome BBQ is planned for Thursday afternoon/evening.  Early entries are encouraged by the committee as it helps with planning. Updates and registrations will be posted on this site. Click here to download the brochure which includes the full program and other useful information.