We hear it was a good regatta held at Patterson Lakes over the weekend 3-4 June – a quality field, and sailing with low end A rigs.
Bring your RC Laser to Wallaroo Sailing Club in 2024
RC Laser 2024 National Titles 3-5 May 2024
Copper Cove Marina, Wallaroo
It is only one year away and this event, jointly organised by Wallaroo Sailing Club and Mawson Lakes Model Yacht Club, promises to be a great gathering of RC Laser sailors.
Wallaroo is a major port town on Spencer Gulf and it is any easy two hour drive north of Adelaide. When combined with the nearby towns of Kadina and Moonta, the area is the major hub of northern Yorke Peninsula. It has a population of 15,000 people which means the amenities and services are excellent.
Wallaroo boasts one of the best appointed country sailing clubs in South Australia and most importantly it has an RC Laser fleet. Wallaroo Sailing Club RC Laser fleet sail on the Copper Cove Marina. It’s right near the ocean and has reliable south-westerly winds. Peter Burton (ex SA and NSW state RC Laser champion) rates it very highly as a venue.
So, save the date – it is only a year away! Wallaroo 3-5 May 2024
Brad Hein wins South Australian RC Laser titles
Photo by Gerry Geibel.
The SA RC Laser titles were run at Mawson Lakes on the weekend of April 29/30 in
light conditions with a fleet of 19 boats from 4 states.
The title favourites of Brad Hein and Peter Burton didn’t disappoint but local sailor Tony White in one of his first forays into the RC Laser world with a borrowed boat, really stirred up the competition.
The first race, which I won featured, winds which were on the upper margin of A rigs and local sailors, including Tony, chose A rigs while most of the visitors selected B rigs. However, with a slight increase in SW wind speed at the beginning of race two, 4-5 sailors downsized to B rigs. But not Tony. He stuck with his A rig and won the next two races. It was quite obvious that Tony’s larger A rig was advantageous in the tightly contested starts and his two wins soon had Brad and Peter running for their A rigs. Brad then proceeded to claim a string of four wins while Peter Elverd had gear problems. In the meantime Garry Polomka was quietly putting together a series of good races and finished day 1 in fifth place.
The starts were difficult all day and with light airs getting clear wind was absolutely
critical. As a result some of the heavy weather specialists like Grant Gillespie and
Peter Lee struggled. John Halloran from Queensland was always up in the top third
of the fleet and had some good results later in the day.
Sunday proved to be a difficult day with very light northerly winds. Only two races
could be conducted before light drizzle set in, killing of the last remnants of breeze.
The first race saw a very spread out field with Brad, Peter and Peter Yates getting a
big lead over the remaining boats.
The final race was very challenging with the lead changing many times with at one stage a group of 6-7 boats catching up to the 3 leaders. I led on several occasions and was fortunate to pick the upwind mark at the leeward gate and then in very light airs I managed to beat Peter Burton by a nose.
Overall the series was sailed in the usual good spirits that we have come to expect
from RC Laser events. Stewart Ross ran an excellent series and his firm hand in
making decisions was appreciated by all. Len Hearing and Lindsay Sawyer were
observers assisting Stewart. Lorraine Berry, Rose Ross and Ross Bessell were our
trustworthy scorers for the event. Bob Whitehead and Lindsay Sawyer conducted
measuring of boats. Brian Marshall, Garry Loughead, John Moore and Dean Bonnett
staffed the recovery boat. Meredith Reardon and Gaynor Kouwenhoven kept us all
fed and watered. John Berry was the organiser in charge of this successful event.
Words by Adrian Heard
Fancy a Relay Race?
SCRYC TEAM CHALLENGE A BIG SUCCESS
The brilliant idea of this inaugural Team Challenge at the Sunshine Coast Radio Yacht Club (SCRYC) was to introduce the club’s two classes to each other & have some serious fun before our 2023 seasons officially starts.
Feedback on the day was that the event, held on the 14th January, was a huge success.
It was a format of racing that we had not tried before – this involved selectively pairing up an IOM sailor with a Laser sailor. With 10 teams/20 boats at the start of the day – team selection was done before the day taking into account the various skill levels of entrants. Not an easy task but seemed to work well. Each team had to come up with a team name as you will see on the score sheet.
Forecast was for 50% chance of showers, cloudy with increasing southwesterly wind 15-25km/h. Luckily the 50% chance did not happen & the cloud cover kept temperatures down. The wind steadily increased throughout the day – we could not have asked for better weather.
All IOMs sailed with A Rig all day & the Lasers used B rig, with one exception that used a C rig.
There were 12 races – each comprising two rounds of the course for the Lasers & the same for the IOMS.
The teams quickly got the hang of the new format – it was great to see the Laser & IOM sailors get on so well & the inter team banter added to the fun.
The day was won with consistently good sailing by Roger Frith (Laser) and Phil Pearce (IOM) with 25 points, second place was a draw with 30 points each but taken out by Neil Carroll (Laser) & Doug Allen (IOM) on countback , third place going to Geoff Morris (Laser) & Michael Bourke (IOM).
Overall the level of sailing was excellent with few issues on the water – a credit to those that participated & certainly added to the enjoyment of the day.
The club plans to use the same format for the season opener on Australia Day Thursday 26th January – details of the event are on the club’s website www.scrsc.org.au
Thanks to the members that arrived early for set up & to those that helped pack up at the end of the day. Adele & Ross Mackay did a great job mastering the club’s new BBQ providing a sausage sizzle for our hungry sailors & volunteers. Not to forget Doug & Derick for bringing & returning the MSU & Boat trailers. Scoring was performed by our highly proficient Gwen Warne & race observing done by Adele – thanks Ladies for a great job as usual ! A superb effort by all.
The final thank you goes to Roger Frith for donating a 6m x 3m marquee to the Club.
Congratulations Peter Burford – 2022 Champion
Yet another great event hosted by the Sunshine Coast Radio Yacht Club (SCRYC).
Congratulations to Peter Burford; Paradise RYC (2022 Champion), Derek Warne; SCRYC (Runner Up) and Geoff Morris; SCRYC (3rd).
And a big congratulations to all of the competitors for once again showing that RC Laser sailing is first and foremost about camaraderie and sportsmanship – evidenced by the good-natured banter and happy faces throughout the two days.
Very importantly, a huge thanks and recognition of the work put in by the large and tireless group of volunteers led by PRO Bill Clancy and scorer Gwen Warne.
Thanks also to Daniel for doing the boat and mast measures prior to the starters gun. Finally a big pat on the back to Bob (Mermaid Hunter) Caldow for the huge support he provides to the SCRYC RC Laser group
As a blow-in from the south, my first visit since pre-Covid, it was great to reacquaint myself with the excellent sailing venue (we held our 1st official event here back in 2005 (or about then!) – the first QLD State Title). It was very impressive to see the facilities the club has available and the way the club-members are so heavily involved in supporting and helping out events. Definitely a model for others to learn from. Also great to see the support that the local council and businesses provide.
Now, to the sailing:
The field of 17 included sailors from Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast along with 11 locals. It was pleasing to see a good number of travellers from far afield, particularly knowing that Covid is still in play, illustrated by the lofty airfares.
Winds ranged between B and C with cameo appearances by the A and moments where the D started edging itself out of the sail bags.
A total of 18 races, enabling 3 drops, were sailed over the two days in two fleets (A & B) using the heat management system (HMS) – except for late in the day on Saturday when several sailors retired early allowing single fleet sailing.
Peter Burford once again showed that event sailing is all about consistency and staying out of trouble. Always a gentleman on the water, Peter picked up seven 1st places and, after drops, his worst result was a fourth. Derick was only slightly less consistent with three 1st places and a worst result of 5th after drops. Both Peter and Derick were perhaps fortunate that Richard Fisher flew in from Hobart on Saturday morning and missed the first 4 races. Richard won 7 (50%) of the races he did compete in and finished in a very credible 6th position, only 2 points out of 4th. Richard also suffered radio interference problems in a couple of races, the Kawana Triangle making its presence felt to others as well.
There were many other highlights, not least of which was seeing Bobbie Caldow giving the fleet a lesson in port starts
All-in-all a wonderful two days of sailing enjoyed by all, thanks to the club members for the planning and organization, the success is a great credit to you all.
Check out the QRYA official report via the following link – some great photos
Cliff Bromiley
