Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club Website: P.O

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Commodore Phill Robbins 0466668541 Club Newsletter Vice Commodore Jonathan Horsley 19/5/2021 0412798505

Rear Commodore Chris Hallett Potential Handicap start for May 30th 0414866998 Daisy mentioned to the newsletter editor that she really enjoyed the Secretary handicap start which the club did a couple of years ago. After asking Phill if Nola Hallett 0414866999 it might be possible to have a handicap start for the last race of the season (personal handicap race on May 30th) the reply was to put it out there in the Treasurer newsletter (there usually being a three week notice for change of race Col Woodbry information) and that it could be done if there were no objections. So.. if

Class Reps there are any objections please let Phill know. For those who haven’t done a Gennakers – Michael Wiley handicap start before, the handicapper (Phill) will work out an individual start Catamarans – Michael Cocks time for each boat in each class in line with their current personal handicap. Trailers – Paul Morris Monos – Trent Morgan The faster boats will be starting after the slower boats (each boat allotted its own specific start time) and from then on it’s a race to the finish line – Rowing Officer whichever order the line is crossed in each division will determine the final results. Women’s Encouragement Officer Laura Stoltenberg

Website Admin Race Reports for May 16th

Publicity Officer/Newsletter Trent Morgan

Training team Club Committee

ALL EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE TO: [email protected]

CONTENTS 1. Potential Handicap May 30th 1. Gennaker Report 9. Monohull Report 18. Catamaran Report 27. Trailer Sailor Report 38. Mother’s Day Weekend 39. 18 Foot Skiff at the Club 40. Club Shirts

40. Covid-safe Sailing Reminder Race Pre-start 41. Crew Available/Crew Wanted 41. Idle Gossip 42. For Sale/Wanted Gennaker Report (Duncan Dey) 45. Ballina Slipway & Marine Services The southerly course was reasonable, though skewed as it must be to a port 46. Sail Repairs 47. Ballina Naval and tack to the Mobbs Bay entrance and a starboard run towards the Marine Maritime Museum Rescue tower. Four gennakers started, the mono mark being pin end.

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

The gennakers start

Vincent got a great start in one of the two RS100's and headed straight for Sandy Point, to ride the back eddy of the outgoing tide. Duncan followed and the racing was close up the first half of the first work.

Close racing early between the lone F15 (where were the rest?) and the 49er

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Vincent with an early lead

Liam & Ewan in the 49-er took the main channel along with Barry & Anna in the Formula 15.

The larger boats start to overtake 3

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

We rounded 49-er, F15, Vincent and author (no round table out there though).

As predicted the southerly dwindled from let's say ten knots at the start to say five over the race. By the end, the 49-er had lapped the RS100's but Barry & Anna had been taken out by a stray cat. We await enlightenment on what happened.

Keeping the kite filled 4

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Vincent still with a lead in the RS100s

Duncan chasing

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Vincent was way ahead of Duncan round the first windward mark but a snap rounding at the leeward mark put the author on Vincent’s tail. Duncan was ahead at the second leeward rounding when Vincent performed the same trick. In the outgoing tide, there was about a minute to be gained by dowsing the kite early and rounding cleanly.

From there Duncan pulled about eight minutes on Vincent - another kilos race.

Pre-douse

Duncan leading the RS100s 6

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Nice angle to see that sail shape 7

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

The 49-er won by 22 minutes on scratch and three minutes corrected.

First to Liam and Ewan

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Monohull Report (Seamus Coakley)

The start horn went and Trent and Daisy ( ) were across the line with Des ( ) closely behind on starboard. Seamus ( ), Paul ( ) and Reuben ( ) crossed on port a minute later, having all miscalculated the tide and had to do multiple tacks to pass the green mark. aaaddd

Panoramic vision after the start of the monohulls

Des on the work after a quick surf in the river mouth

This was followed by a work to the top mark. 9

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Paul always up for a chat mid-race

A spectacular back drop as GG prepares to round the bottom mark 10

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

On the third lap Seamus overtook Des who was avoiding the current in the shallows, and Paul - retiring from the race. The remainder of the race was the fleet attempting to catch Trent and Daisy, to no avail.

Reuben with his radial rig

GG tacking on the Northern side of the sandy point 11

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

A laserly mid-race hello

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

GG’s sails looking like cicada wings 13

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

GG heading for home

Nice light on Des as he winds up for another work 14

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Same for Reuben 15

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Des heading for home 16

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Reuben on his way home

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Catamaran Report (Jonathan Horsley)

The Sunday morning breeze was a light to moderate south westerly and the intermediate sailing group had some challenges. The tide peaked about 11:00 pm with a small drop of about 0.5m. The wind continued to vary in strength from the SW and with the predictions for it to remain SW, the SW course was set. The Cat fleet numbered seven. The fleet included , , , , , and . All the main contenders for championship and handicap honours lined up at the start.

The start line was set off the mono’s bottom buoy with a slight port bias due to the tide. The wind continued to hold from the SW but varied in strength. As the start time approached all cats but chose the port end and all got caught by the tide and a drop in the breeze just before the start. This left with brilliant start on starboard and about a 30 second advantage.

Geoff off to a flyer

Trying to get across the line 18

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

It appears the rest of the fleet were generally following the rule applied to , ie be behind or below .

Typical trapeze style of Geoff as he forges upwind

The impact of the tide and the shifting breeze saw Neo’s lead quickly lost to and . One bad tack being very costly. The result of the first work (it was a work) saw and very close at the top buoy with rounding in third after a bad tack. and were having a good tussle early on while and struggled in the conditions. 19

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

The 4.5s close on the downwind as Michael heads upwind

The downwind leg had and in a bit of match racing with the result again close at the bottom buoy. The varying wind and current presented plenty of tactically opportunities.

2 FOOT extra heading upwind with Tony and Alan heading for the bottom mark 20

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Geoff pulling away from the other 4.5s

Tony pushing against the tide 21

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

The race proceeded with and swapping the lead several times. It was noted the Michael was not using his trapeze during the race even though was often two out. After the race Michael explained that his trapeze line had come adrift from his mast before the start, it appears the shackle pin had come undone. Talk about self-handicapping. A reminder for all of us to check our boats.

Close stuff again between these two

As the race proceeded Alan on found the windward leg to be way too confusing due to the wind and tide and retired early.

Alan negotiating the sandy point 22

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Out front had opened a lead of half a leg at one stage, but one wind shift and suddenly had was overtaking and pulling away to lead to the finish.

When it’s close there’s opportunity for a chat!

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Beautiful light on 2 FOOT extra

All the time was chasing hard after the lead cats and through plenty of good tactics was not losing much time.

Geoff taking Neo right in 24

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Trent and Daisy observed this improvised leaning style of Geoff’s elsewhere on the course as well

Close shot of Tony heading past the point 25

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

At the finish, it was from with third followed by and .

The finishing order L-R

lived up to its name when a Formula 15 in full flight under kite collided with the cat. Both were on starboard with working to windward. Luckily no one was injured but the Formula 15 suffered damage and had to retire. barely had a scratch and continued racing until withdrawing due to time.

After the Championship handicaps were applied, the results were from and . The championship contenders had finished in the same order so no changes to the standings.

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Trailer Sailors Report (Graeme Fleming)

It was a chilly day and the wind was SW to S and fluky but it was a nice sail. We had an unusual (very) course with a start seaward of the green nav mark and a work (sort of) up to what is normally the NE course bottom mark. The tide was with us downwind so negated the spinnaker advantage to a certain extent.

The trailer sailor start with some monos in the foreground

Close working early 27

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

A good mix of boats as the results show but obviously tricky conditions as the times were quite strung out.

Spudgun making the most of the conditions 28

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Andrew and Todd keeping Bad Blood moving

Chris Larson showed up and sailed on crewing with Norm.

Norm and Chris 29

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

My crew from a few years ago and ex Commodore Jen sailed with me and after some getting used to each other again we managed to get around the course ok.

Graeme and Jen

Jen and I sailed from when it was first launched in 2012 and before that in the Hartley. We did have three encounters with the sandbank near Missingham trying to avoid the increasing ebb tide and unable to see the bottom but fortunately didn’t get stuck but did stop in a hurry at least once. Had I have heeded crew advice I would have tacked earlier!

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Treasure Island with a crew of three

Showing the gap between Incy and Treasure Island at this point 31

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Forging upwind 32

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Treasure Island pushing out of the river mouth 33

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Seemingly living up to her name

Heading past the sandy point 34

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Spectator’s delight as the big kite got an airing on eX

A nice day and thanks to for taking second place to with in third. 35

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Nice and RELAXED on Treasure Island. Many would like the foredeck job on a day like this

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

This has spiced up the remaining CC race of the season with only 1.7 points between 1st and 2nd in the CC.

Looking like a post start but this is Incy’s (L) run to the finish

Trailer Sailors Report Mk II (Matt Cartwright)

It was blowing from the SSW at about 10-15 knots when I arrived at the club around 10:30 with the forecast predicting an easing in the afternoon. The tide was small, ebbing all afternoon with a 0.6M low at 4:30. We don’t have an official Southerly course so a reverser NE was set with the top mark at Mobbs Bay and the bottom near Shaws Bay with the trailer sailers to complete 5 laps.

This was the penultimate club championship for the 20-21 season and 6 boats were ready to compete; , , , , (sailed by Andrew and Todd) and . had a guest crew Chris Larson who now is a big boat skipper at Southport and had the regulars Paul and Charlie with a guest novice Nepalese crew.

The breeze had abated a little with about 5-10 knot from the SSW maybe a little more in the gusts. The start line heavily favoured the pin end so went for a starboard tack start to cross the fleet and was ahead until the next cross. Although the tide was a small one the current was significant and there were good gains if boats could keep out of the worst of the current.

At the top mark it was clear ahead followed by , , and I think it was in front of . managed to hit the mark which gave some breathing space to . On the run back to the bottom mark failed to make inroads into lead which gradually increased throughout the race.

One the third lap had edged in front of only to run aground while attempting to avoid the tide losing their gains for a short period. After sorted the crew positions placing their guest up front in the anchor well, they went much faster and started to catch and . sorted the kite and managed to pass .

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

On the last bottom mark rounding with in the distance it was and neck and neck with what looked like a comfortable buffer back to . After running aground earlier avoided the shallows and played is ‘safe’ not going to close to the beach. with its easier to pull up keel went right in close avoiding the worst of the current and made huge gains to pass at the green marker.

Over the line it was , , followed by a very frustrated . Both and had been lapped and still had a lap and half to complete. On corrected time it was , , , , with in 6th. This makes next week a very interesting race with only 1.8 points ahead of for the 20-21 Championship.

Mother’s Day Weekend

Three spinnakers on three trailers on 8th May with , and . Out for an informal sail/race.

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

18 Foot Skiff in the club yard

Many would have arrived to sail on Sunday to find an 18 foot skiff in the yard! This skiff has apparently been lent to Clare to practice with on the river. On Wednesday the 19th Clare, Liam Channer and Kynan Wall took the skiff out for its first spin on the river. By the looks of things it was a resounding success!

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Club Shirts

Here’s your chance to wear the colours of your club, to proudly display what you do every Sunday – wear a club shirt!

Royal Blue Club shirts payment required at time of order into RRSRC account with your name as reference BSB: 728728 ACC: 22288328 Email or text Nola with size [email protected] or 0414 866999

MensLong sleeve polo -$42Short sleeve polo -$40Cotton T-shirt - $25

LadiesShort sleeve polo -$36KidsCotton T-shirt -$22

(As worn by Secretary Nola and Kids Commodore Phill – reflective Cotton T-shirt - $17 safety vest optional)

Covid-Safe Sailing Reminder

You must NOT come back if you feel unwell or experience any new symptoms, respiratory or other. Play it safe and stay home. When you do arrive, there will be a sign-in desk set up on the club veranda and everyone is expected to hand sanitize then sign in: skippers on the race sign-in forms and crew, officials and visitors via the QR code with your NSW Service App, or on the contact register form.

Come dressed ready to sail and be able to change in the yard or your car, to minimize use of our change rooms. No items to be left in change rooms please. Although a major part of why we sail, socializing in person must be kept safe. Chat with your friends in the yard but keep good social distance. We will have a Duty officer each week as usual, however their duties will be different now. The club and change rooms should be clean before they arrive, so the Duty Officer is not expected to do cleaning.

Their first job will be to check or set up hand sanitiser in each of the change rooms, then set up a table on the verandah with hand sanitiser and two types of sign-in forms: the usual division based race sign-in forms and a general attendance register for everyone else. Skippers sign in on race sheet, while crew, officials and visitors sign the attendance register. It will be up to everyone to sign-in. The duty officer does not need to police it. The division based race forms will then be used for scoring, and when finished passed onto the handicapper who will enter all names into an electronic attendance register. Duty officer will likely be scoring races with an assistant, or helping on the rescue boat if required.

One of the most difficult things to do is to remember to keep your social distance when in a familiar setting with friends, yet this is what we must learn. To assist everyone in this, the other role of the duty officer will be to act as a Covid-Safe guide around the club and remind people to keep their distance when they need reminding. The committee will support them in this role. We have to assume that at some time during this pandemic an asymptomatic carrier of the disease will come to the club and we want everyone to stay safe if this occurs. If everyone is prepared to make some sacrifices in how we interact on our club site then we can continue to sail and stay safe.

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Crew Available/Crew Wanted

▪ My name is Fabiana Vieira, o I live in East Ballina and would like to volunteer myself as a Crew. o I have a little experience, having sailed a few times in Darwin NT on Tasars and other small boats around 4 years ago. But I am pretty keen and fast learner  o I am originally from Brazil, 37 o Mobile phone: 0244 651 409 email: [email protected]

▪ John Willey has recently joined the club and is available for crewing. o John has been racing all his life, most recently Etchells in Bris. Would be a good crew.

o [email protected]

▪ Potential new member wants crewing position: Sam Edwards 0449140150

o “I work as a teacher at Southern Cross School. I have experience sailing for a few years with my own small boat; Holfast trainer and a Moth, and spent a little bit of time on yachts. No racing experience. I’m a confident water person and easy to get along with. Cheers.”

▪ Crew available – Claire Rankin - capable of sailing a one-person catamaran, I also have much to learn from sailing with other people, especially those more experienced.

o My details are - email: [email protected] phone: 0409159280

Idle Gossip – Please send anything interesting sailing or club related to [email protected].

18 Footers TV

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

With Clare borrowing an 18 foot skiff and training in it on the river it might be a good time to remind those interested in 18 foot skiff racing that one can watch all the racing action from Sydney Harbour via the 18 FOOT Skiff website. You can watch the races live too when they’re on. The coverage is great with some knowledgeable commentary, and of course the vision of watching 18 foot skiffs in full flight is incredible. Here is the link to the 18 Footers TV page.

The photo above is of John Winning Sr steering Yandoo. Clare’s borrowed boat is named ‘Winning Appliances’. Not sure if this belonged to John Winning Sr or Jr (Jr races currently in the boat named ‘Winning Group’). Incidentally the newsletter editor’s father used to race against John Winning Sr in 12 foot skiffs when John was starting in the 12s.

For Sale/Wanted/Free to a Good Home

If you have any sailing related items for sale or if you want to buy something sailing related and want it put in the newsletter please let me know – [email protected]

Wanted: I have recently purchased a Heron sailing dingy and the gaff boom is in need of replacement. Do you know of anywhere that may have spares of these in the area, or if you have these dingies sailing in your club? Please contact Phill if you can help.

With Gratitude

Spike

For Sale: Mainsail and Jib for Hartley 16 both in good condition and comply with Association measurement rules. $300 contact Rod 0406 798 974

For Sale: Rhino Roof Racks would suit VW Caddy - Renault - Nissan vans. Good condition. $130 contact Rod 0406 798 974.

For Sale - NS14 skiff – Cosmic

Force Five Mk2 hull, good set of Barracuda sails, new mast, beach trolly . All in good condition

$2300

Call Graeme 0414281699

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

NS14 ‘Cosmic’ 43

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Sail Repairs

Matt Andrews

Did you know that Matt who often crews for Clare in F15 works as a sailmaker/repairer on the Gold Coast for Flow Sails? Craig Foley who sometimes joins our monohull fleet in a Corsair or crewing for Matt in an NS14 when not racing at Tweed, also works at Flow Sails. So if you need any sail repairs or new sails have a chat with Matt or visit their site here.

Sail repairs are also available in Ballina. The business is called Undercover Canvas. They have a staff member that is experienced in sail repairs.

3/1 Endeavour close Ballina Ph 02 66865116 46

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club website: www.rrsrc.com.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478

Until next week…. 47