Saturday on Sydney Harbour

This weekend was a long weekend in Sydney so there was no racing at Middle Harbour. After an early start at Woollahra Sailing Club where the East Coast Championships were being held for the 420s and Optimists, it was back to MHYC.

At Woollahra, I was able to have a good look at some of the 420s and catch up with some of the coaches and parents.

Later Steve Tucker, my assistant RO at MHYC, Phil Clinton, Vice Commodore and the chair of the sailing committee and I went out for a run around the harbour. The object was to GPS mark all the NSW Yachting Association marks as well as some of the other common marks such as the Shark, Clarke Islands and Fort Denison we use. Steve was going to update all the course lengths as they haven’t been done for some time, it’ll also give us an accurate database for any other courses we may set around the fixed marks.

Some of those we pinged were the posts at the islands, the one shown is on the Southeast corner of Clarke Island. Steve said that last season he’d run aground on the rock to which to post is fitted in a 30’er. Being in the MHYC startboat Hugh George [36′ and twin turbo diesel] and giving Phil Clinton driving lessons, we were able to come right alongside and have a good look down…mmmnn that one? The three of us were all able to have a good look for future races! Whether or not that’s inside knowledge or not…put it down to research.