RICHMOND RIVER AND ROWING CLUB

Newsletter 19th November 2014

Big River - Bridge to Breakers There was no racing at RRRSC last weekend. Instead a lot of sailors headed to Harwood for the Bridge to Breakers event at the Big River Sailing Club. Over 60 Boats hit the water for a great weekend! For those who are yet to attend this regatta, it is a great event with free camping, great food and a good family atmosphere.... and some really fun sailing in a beautiful location. The long race to Iluka and back on saturday was held in a blustery North Easterly. 10-20 knots and bright sunshine. There were some great rides to be had! Overnight (after a great meal) the wind changed and howled in from the south. People scrambled to secure boats and tents before heading to bed for the evening... This meant that the party was cut a little short but the sailors all woke up feeling healthy for a change! Sunday’s racing started late as the wind was a bit late arriving, but we managed to get one race in prior to lunch and another two after lunch. After all was said and done, RRRSC Sailors came away with some great results (some would say we dominated!!): 1st Trailerables: Bill Heuchmer and Johnno onboard Reg. 1st Monos: Brendan McKeown and Tom on their NS14 2nd Monos: Kynan and Liam on Dog’s Breakfast in the 3rd Cats: Zac Heuchmer

An awesome event and a great way to spend a weekend. If you’re yet to attend this event, don’t miss it next year!

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club www.richmondriver..org.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 RICHMOND RIVER SAILING AND ROWING CLUB

BIG BALLINA REGATTA IN 2 WEEKS - THE GREATEST EVENT IN THE WORLD! America’s Cup? Volvo Ocean Race? Worlds? Olympics? They’ve all got nothing on the BIG BALLINA BASH! Make sure you tell all your sailing mates from around the world that the best regatta of ALL TIME! is about to hit the waters of the Richmond River. Over two exciting days (29th and 30th November) Our club will play host to the world’s best sailors from all corners of the globe. A long race to Pimlico island and back will be the format for the first day, with a short race series on the Sunday. Whether you have a BIC or a 49er, a Mosquito or a , A Castle 650 or a Spider 550, Gather as many people as you can to get them on the water. We should aim to have every single boat in the yard (on the planet!) sailing.... This may well be the GREATEST EVENT OF YOUR LIFE! DON’T MISS IT! Rumour has it that we will have some visiting skiffs from Brisbane, and I also hear that the Big River gang is set for revenge after our dominance of their little event last week. BRING IT ON!!!

Working Bee In preparation for the greatest regatta the world has ever seen, we need to spruce up the club a little bit. We will be having a working Bee this coming saturday 22nd November. The working bee starts at 8.30am on Saturday. All help appreciated and ‘many hands make light work’. Please bring garden gloves and whatever tools you can eg: electric sander/planer, wheel barrow, sandpapers, rakes, mattock, spades, ladders, saw horses, planks to stand on, mower, brushcutter, paint brushes, turps, rags, bags to put garden rubbish in and takeaway.

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club www.richmondriver.yachting.org.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 RICHMOND RIVER SAILING AND ROWING CLUB

Cats report - Bridge to Breakers The travelling cat circus attended the Big River Sailing club regatta for another exciting weekend with all sorts of wind conditions to test the sailing ability of everyone. The cat travellers of the club included Zac, Jacq, Norm, Dave, , Phil Homan, and Roy as the prime representatives. Where were the rest of you?? Harwood is just an hour down the road. Did you read the forecast and make a decision? Never do that!! Always turn up and find out on the day. You just never know what you will miss!! The cats were represented with participants from Coffs Harbour to Bundaberg with a few from in between joining in. The Bundy crowd so enjoyed the Saturday reach down the river they said it was worth the 7 hour drive just to have 2 fat boys hanging out on the Nacra 5.8 for a magnificent ride!! The Potter boys from Bundy also had some exciting time with Jarrad on his new 16sq recently purchased from Geoff Horsley and his young brother in a 350 practising turtle turns. A couple of ’s and one and one arrow added to the cat fleet. Saturday morning was a morning of questions: Will it blow? will I rake the mast back? Will we go 2 up? Will we wait till 12.30 to decide?? It did not look too bad so Norm and Jacq went one up and Dave Bowler crewed for Roy and the others made no changes. Two more 4.5’s were expected from Brisbane but they missed the start and came out to show off their flying skills and practice in their new boats. The fast cats had a much longer trip and the wind increased but made it all the more fun for them. The wind was very erratic on the way to the Iluka buoy and it was not a good idea to cleat the main. Most stayed upright for the first lap but some capsizes were recorded in the second for the fast cats which included the 16 sq playing with his spinnaker and I heard Zac did have a swim too. Mark’s new flat bottom cat had the wobbles on the downwind and looked rather out of control but when this was mentioned they pretended it had not happened. Roy and Dave also demonstrated some downwind wobbling where Roy was trying to leave his crew somewhere on Harwood island but Dave hung on. Roy and Norm did not do the leg to the bridge and back but Jacq managed to complete the race though holding on to the main became a major feat but the achievement is always worth celebrating. The other cats completed and Zac had the 5.8 and the taipan chasing him. The Saturday ended with a great meal, once again prepared by the team at Big River and just after desert the southerly change came in and blew so hard that tents were flattened or broken, a boat was blown over and no one was left sitting on the veranda. Most retired to their tents to hold them down. Sunday the wind was close to nothing which delayed the race, as no boats could get near the start line with the tide. As usual the wind picked up and a morning race was run. It was a little chaotic with the trailers on the work, the cats on the downwind and the monos and juniors hanging around the start. Quite a traffic jam. Luckily no collisions except those with the start boat at the start as the 5.8 had collected the anchor rope and had nowhere to go when being pushed up and Jenni and Phil were also collected in the start. The 4.5’s had some great competition with James and Craig Fraser on their boats and Steve and crew Georgie as well as the RRSRC mob Dave, Norm and Jacq. There was some serious close racing and some tactical moves made to try to keep ahead in the lighter and manageable conditions. In the fast cats this race was made for Roy who had some magnificent spinnaker runs all the way to the bridge. After lunch we were out again for a 2 races back to back and the wind was a little better and once again some close racing for all. The stronger wind was more to the liking of the younger cat sailors and Zac blitzed the fast cats and James Fraser the cats. Towards the end of this race the wind developed into those might bullets of over 20 knots which sent many of us scampering to the shore and others returning to change some settings. Zac Heuchmer won overall for the fast cats and James Fraser for the cats ( they now know not to call us slow cats). The ages of these boys are 14 and 16 so doing well guys... So, another Big weekend at Big River. Plenty of practice now for our regatta coming up in 2 weeks time. Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club www.richmondriver.yachting.org.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 RICHMOND RIVER SAILING AND ROWING CLUB

Gennakers/Monos Report The Monos headed to Harwood for the Bridge to Breakers last weekend. There was a good fleet of lasers and a few to contest the Big River race last weekend. At home the NS14s and the Skiffs aren’t in the same category so this added a new element to the racing. The long race to Iluka on the Saturday took around two hours to complete. Such a beautiful river to sail on, however the wind and tide made for challenging conditions to sail consistently. We had some hair-raising moments and some thrilling runs! Kynan and Liam in the 49er won the opening race by a consider- able margin but on corrected time there was only 2 minutes in it. Brendan and Tom did a great job of getting around the long course very efficiently to post a 2nd. On the Sunday morning, with wind against tide, the 49er again had the advantage and came away with a convincing win. However, in the afternoon, when the tide turned and the breeze dropped, it made for a much closer contest. The last two races had less than 30 seconds between 1st and 3rd. Very tight racing! Brendan and Tom scored two wins for the afternoon and the 49er team scored two 3rds. Brendan and Tom won the regatta by one point! Well done guys, it was great to see how much fun you were both having!.... we’ll get you next time :)

H2O Training Centre Opening 2015 New training centre opening January 2015 The H2O Sports Academy Australia is based within the impressive Point Wolstoncroft Sport and Recreation Centre on Lake Macquarie, NSW Our team of instructors includes Olympians, meet the H2O Team Book a training camp for your Club members BYO boats or make use of H2O’s boats For more info, check out our website: www.h2o-sports-academy.com

Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club www.richmondriver.yachting.org.au P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 RICHMOND RIVER SAILING AND ROWING CLUB

Boats for Sale

NACRA 16sq- a fun competitive , complete with trailer & beach wheels. $5000.00. Phone Chris Hallett 0414866998

Laser and Manly Junior for sale Radial and 4.7 137517 with three sails, turbo kit and beach trolley. In good condition, ready to sail away. $1950 Phone Callum 6684 9496

Manly junior 2518 for sale $200 ono. [email protected] Committee Contacts Commodore Class Reps NS14 For Sale Jenni Heuchmer Kulmar Built NS14 Cats - Phil Robbins Vice Commodore 0466668541 Sail No: 1766 Graeme Fleming 3 Headsails, 1 Main 041428-1699 Trailers - Col Hin- Beach trailer wood Hull & Sails Good Rear Commodore 66454429 Condition Chris Hallett 0414866998 Monos - Mike Wiley Registered Trailer 66295881 $2500 NEG Secretary Currently located in Jacqueline Heap Rowing Officer Currumbin 0423230840 Leslie Sanderson Call Frank: 07 5598 8162 0448878317 Treasurer or Brendon: 0423175607 Norm Hunt Webmaster HH0427291367 Colin Hinwood Richmond River Sailing and Rowing Club www.richmondriver.yachting.org.au Training Officer P.O. Box 963 Ballina 2478 Brendan McKeown 0411757527