Back out on the harbour

It’s almost like a homecoming, returning to the start boat at Middle Harbour Yacht Club on Saturdays. We’ve now had two races in to the 2015/2016 season.

The first race of the season got away finally in a nice Nor Nor Easter with windward/leeward courses for all divisions. There was no breeze on most of the harbour, however there was a nice vein from North head to Obelisk Bay. Those who sailed said it was a great first day. Last Saturday’s  racing was split in to two fleets. The larger Open division combined with the Fleet from Sydney Amateur Sailing Club further down the harbour, whilst I ran the rest of the fleet on a similar track to the previous week. The wind however didn’t quite go to plan staying a little right, the course ending up with a slight bias that way. Those I spoke to later said they enjoyed the downhills however with the Adams10s doing up to 15knots at times.

Saturdays racing was a combined event with Barts Bash for the Adams10s. Barts Bash is a world wide event raising funds for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. Andrew tragically died at the age of 36 in an accident onboard the Artemis AC72 yacht in San Francisco Bay in 2013. With Anthony [Nocka] Nossiter, a prominent A10 sailor and one of Andrew’s closest friends, his friends set up the event in his honour. In return Anthony’s mates from MHYC combined to support the event, donating to the cause.

Sunday I went to Woollahra Sailing Club for their Barts Bash. They held part of their event in Optimist dinghies in two divisions. The first off were the Green fleet Tackers, the second off were the guest skippers. On this occasion champion NACRA17 crew Lisa Darmanin sailing an Opti for the first time lead 49er sailor Harry Price home.

Congratulations to all those who took part. It’s interesting though, looking at the videos from around the world at the various events, all had light conditions. I think my fleet had the best on the day.