So that was Summer

So that was the Summer

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done an update, especially those who like following my travels around the countryside. Covid of course put a stop to all that some time ago and there’s certainly many customers and friends whose company I miss when staying with them.  There’s always plenty of memories and stories to catch up on.

The last few months of weekends have been spent at home, with just a few chasing a variety of fleets that DeckHardware has supported. Trying to get ‘the shot’ whilst not getting in the way of any competitor. There’s been several trips to both Lake Macquarie and to Gosford, luckily the traffic either way hasn’t been too bad.

One thing that is a little different now that we are using the RIB more, is our knowledge of where all the boat ramps are and the  facilities provided like parking, pontoons and if there are toilets. We had been going to one at Lake Macquarie that is visible from the road when driving past, however there’s no pontoon to tie up to whilst getting in the queue.  We’ve now found another with a pontoon.

Then there’s the sight seeing, going through moored boats, ‘Ohh that’s where it ended up’. Those yachts that we may have competed against in the past.  Of course when you can do 25knots, it’s easy to get around, to and from a race course area. Certainly less hassles than being on the road.

Last weekend, I got back into the swing of things. I hit the road and went out on the water as the events PRO. I headed 4 hours south of Sydney for the annual Batemans Bay Sailing Club regatta, held around ANZAC Day each year. Numbers were down from last year, but the keen competition was still there. We had Six divisions across the main fleet course area and another couple of Sailability divisions inshore.

Division One was a combination of mixed, Sharpies, 505s and Flying Dutchmen with the runaway  scratch winner being a B14. Division Two was a fleet of Lasers and a lone Spiral sailed by my weekend host Lachlan Brown. Division Three were the VXOnes competing for their NSW State Titles.  There was some great racing, one heat had 5 boats in about 20 seconds elapsed finishing time. Winner was Rob Douglass, who was a little more consistent in the end. Division Four was a fleet of mixed trailerables, including Spyder22, Haines Trailer Tamp tri, Windrush 600 and a couple of RL24s. Overall it was a Elliott 5.9 on scratch. Division Five were the larger multihulls, NACRA, Viper, Mosquito and Hobie16s. Division Six was a fleet of Hobie 14s and a couple of Maricat 14s.

With a pretty standard seabreeze on Saturday of 5-8 knots and a Sou-Easter of 8-10knots on Sunday, the clear skies made it an enjoyable weekend out on the water. The mix of windward leg lengths and triangles kept our start team on their toes trying to keep up, but pretty much all the  competitors finished in about 20-25minutes.

The volunteers, the start team, the mark laying teams and the unsung ashore all contributed to  an excellent weekend. Whilst numbers may have been down a little this year,  I certainly hope that everyone will keep this event on their calendar.