1996 Tigger Too – Hugh Tait and Tara McCall – National Champions 2007-08 Volume 157 - 1 - March 2008 NS14 Bulletin President’s Message A number of exciting things are happening in the class at the moment which bode well for the future. We have a new hull (Moondance) being produced and two different carbon masts being actively pursued which means development is still alive and kicking. Being aware that there is nothing so constant as change is the nectar of a development class. Experimentation which might or might not lead to something is vital in the class’ future – look at Russell’s upside-down sail; nothing ventured nothing gained. Another thing of note is passing the 2000 mark in sail numbers – properly this time. Also the revitalisation of the Victorian association is great news for the class. Five boats have gone into the state over the last twelve months with three competing in the Nationals. We should give every support we can to help their efforts to rebuild the class there. And yet another bit of action is the potential introduction of the class into the UK and other parts of Europe. Toby Peacock in England is being very active in creating interest in the class in UK and has created a website for the class there – www.sailns14.org. The plan is to create the means to allow the class to expand internationally in a coherent manner. Despite the lower than ideal numbers, the Nationals at Black Rock were great fun with some spectacular rides. This was the first regatta since the removal of reference to age in the rules allowing a young teenage crew to compete. Various State titles and other regattas are on now and I encourage everyone to get along to support your class and have fun. See you at And at the end of the season you have a the States! chance to see all the experts display their skills. The Champions’ Trophy, to be held in May at Concord Ryde and the brain child of Russell Moore, invites all winners of State and National Championships to compete in a regatta with our best youth acting as crew. This will be a great challenge and a lot of fun with plenty of war stories being told at the social event. Watch the website for further details but if you are a previous champion, contact Russell. Likewise if you can offer a boat for use in the regatta by people who know what they are doing let Russell know. Have a great second half of the season. Michael Tait January 2008 Volume 157 - 2 - March 2008 NS14 Bulletin The Editor This edition is a mix of pre and mid-season material due to a number of imbalances in the editor’s work/life balance, plus the usual excuses! Originally this section was drafted to say “no technology problems” but alas this was not to be the case. The NS14 Bulletin seems to carry some voodoo hex for my computer, in preparing this issue I have experienced automatic reformatting of fonts, including “hidden text” that won’t print, a bug that caused the computer to crash without saving, one hard disk crash and one CPU failure. Yes, I now have an external hard disk with everything backed up! On top of this work problems and jury duty have conspired to keeping me off the water, so 1940 is now renamed Invisible for the obvious reasons. So as this edition goes to press I’ve just had my first sail for 3 months, which was very exciting. See you at the States …. …. if I can find a crew! Notices of Race These are now published on the website as soon as they are available, together with relevant news and pre-race material. NORs will be included with printed copies of the Bulletin. Currently available NORs include: Tasmanian States Lindisfarne 8-10 March NSW States St.George 21-24 March QLD State Championships Mooloolaba 25-27 April Results of Races These are now published on the website as soon as they are available, often before the weekend is over. Far too quick to make it into the Bulletin, so keep up to date via www.ns14.org. Volume 157 - 3 - March 2008 NS14 Bulletin Mark Thorpe Boats Mark Thorpe Boats 1st, 2nd 3rd 5th 2006~07 & 1st 2007~2008 NS14 National Champions sailed Tiger hulls Phone # (02) 9982 3537 web www.thorpeboats.com email [email protected] Thorpe Boats also sailed by National Champions in Flying 11, 13’ Skiff and MG14 Classes Volume 157 - 4 - March 2008 NS14 Bulletin Sail numbers We’ve passed the 2nd millennium, with recent activity being: 1999 Jet Lagged Ian Ritchie 2000 Diabolical David Johnson 2001 Road Runner Colin Wylie 2002 ? Andrew O’Brien 2003 Bandit Phil Scott Will we reach 2008 in 2008? Place your bets now! All Champions Regatta This is very early notice – and more details will follow. Russell Moore had the idea and it is receiving a lot of interest. Date 17-18 May 2008 Place Concord Ryde Sailing Club Basically, the “All Champions” regatta will pit former state and national champions against each other, using borrowed boats and junior (under age 21) crews from local clubs. So far 9 acceptances have been received – so it is much more than pie in the sky. Russell has a long list of others to trace, contact and do some arm-twisting on. Not only will it be great racing, it should also be great spectator sport as well, given CRSC’s vantage point and newly covered deck. Watch this space – and the website - for more information as it comes to hand. Weather Not sure whether to sail on Sunday or not? www.bom.gov.au not very helpful? I’ve already pointed out the very useful wind forecast on www.seabreeze.com.au but this is seriously weak in telling you the level of precipitation. Have a look at www.freemeteo.com (currently in beta testing), which offers the weather in 1 million locations around the world, with a 7 day forecast - and - 3 hourly forecasts for the selected forecast day. Watch out for the ads, and the annoying pop ups, but it's quite a useful forecast. And you can tell how cold it will be after the southerly change has passed through, so you’ll know how many woollies to take with you. Volume 157 - 5 - March 2008 NS14 Bulletin Nationals – 2007~08 Black Rock Yacht Club, Melbourne, Victoria; 27th December 2007 – 3rd January 2008 The NS14 Nationals held at Black Rock Yacht Club in Victoria had a bit of everything that Port Phillip Bay had to offer. During the full nine race series the fleet initially encountered light winds that almost died out to then be faced with a South Westerly exceeding 27 knots causing one race postponement that was caught up later. Then came the hot gusting northerlies, which were replaced after a couple of days by the classic southerlies that gave some great rides down the swell. The last day saw a building easterly. With boats from all six states and territories that the NS has fleets, the competition throughout the fleet was intense. In the end Hugh Tait and Tara McCall on Tigger Too were too consistent for Scott Day and Holly Norris on Salty Lips and Steve Jones and Sharyn Calwell on Pawnstar. The competition for the youth and female prizes was fierce with Henry Kernot with Nathan Warner on Captain Planet prevailing as the leading youth skipper and Karen Davis with Katherine Davis on Go with the Flow the first female skipper. Michael Tait and Jack Breislin on Tigger took out the Handicap prize followed by David Aylward and Charlotte Holliday on Beach 25 and Tim Dunstan and Christina Stewart on Uproar. The regatta saw a number of firsts with the first carbon masts being used, the first time there was no age restriction on crews and the first time for sail number 2000. That boat, Diabolical, was also the first of the Moondance hulls and was completed only two days before the regatta. Black Rock did a superb job of race organisation, the social events were great and sponsorship from Zhik, Anchor Marine and Banana Boat made it a fantastic event leading to the revitalisation of the class in Victoria. And there are lots of photos of the action at www.ns14.org. Volume 157 - 6 - March 2008 NS14 Bulletin Results 1 Tigger Too (H. Tait, T. McCall, NSW), (3)-1-1-2-(3)-1-1-1-1, 8; 2. Salty Lips (S. Day, H. Norris, NSW), 1-2-2-(3)-2-2-2-2-(28C), 13; 3. Pawnstar (S. Jones, S. Calwell, NSW), 4-3-8-1-1-5-3-(28C)-(28C), 25; 4. Wildfire (C. Gardner, D. McGhee, NSW), 7-4-3-5-4-3- 7-(28C)-(28C), 33; 5. Spinifex (P. Davis, M.Davis, TAS), (9)-(10)-6-8-5-4-6-3-2, 34; 6. Bohica (P. Williams, M. Williams, NSW), 5-9-(12)-4-7-8-(16)-9-5, 47; 7. Enigma (P.Stephinson, A. Stephinson, NSW), 2-8-10-6-(12)-(13)-8-8-6, 48; 8. Captain Planet (H. Kernot, N. Warner, NSW), 6-6-7-(18)-9-(17)-9-5-10, 52; 9. Beach 25 (D. Aylward, C. Holliday, NSW), (15)-5-13-7-6-(18)-13-7-4, 55; 10. Tigger (M. Tait, J. Breislin, NSW), (20)-13-9-14-8-6-(15)-4-3, 57 Nationals Photos Slideshow Thanks to the many photographers that submitted photographs on the website – there are literally hundreds to look at! The best to way to see them is to: 1.log onto the website 2.Click On photographs 3.Select a gallery 4.Then click slideshow (top right hand corner) 5.Set “delay” to 1 second, if the default of 3 seconds is too slow 6.