The 2018 State Women's Keelboat Championships
at Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club
19th of May 2018
Once again the girls take to the water to contest the right to be the top cats for the year.
Amongst the starters this year, I can hardly help but notice that Freshie has not one, but three teams in this year and Royal Perth managed to stump up for a couple of teams as well. If the two Royals don't sweep the field this year I'll have to rethink my opinion of the racing. The other clubs are quietly confident though and given that SoPYC has Mara back at the helm again, well wait and see. No one can put Caroline aside though and all she needs is some of those older and wiser heads at Freo to come sailing with her. Hillary's and East Freo have been known to upset applecarts and given we are likely to have flat water sailing in nor easterlies, it could be a great morning out.
A day for the champions.
Cool, a light easterly, but certainly enough to sail on and a lot of action on the docks as I arrived. They'd eschewed the traditional coffee and muffins that were inhaled by the early starters and the briefing had been short and sharp. I had arrived just in time, but they were saddling up, and rolling the teams out onto the moorings where the boats had been parked overnight. Some lucky ones had been allotted boats that had been parked further back on the dock, but by 8.30 they were almost ready to go out on the water.
For my sins I'd been given a ride with one of the umpires, Richard Goldsmith and as we'd been out before, it was a matter of sorting out the boat and stowing gear before we headed out. The only disadvantage of working from an umpires boat is that I don't get to pick my shooting lines, so long shots and spinnaker hoists get missed as we're constantly in close with the boats. But plenty of action shots were there and I could have doubled the number of images I took, without a certain amount of discretion.
On the water, the effort that RFBYC has been putting into women and training came to fruition as the three teams they put onto the water put in solid effort with only South of Perth YC putting the hard word on Adele's team. Slick as a whistle in the light breezes, the experience that the Freshy girls had showed. Hoists and trimming, marks and starts. So rarely did Adele raise her voice above a murmur as she drove the boat, she simply let the team work around her and you could see it as she took the advice from her tactician and played the breezes to her advantage. Both Fremantle and Royal Perth had good teams and it was a bit of bad luck that didn't let them push ahead. At the other end of the fleet Hillary's, East Fremantle and Royal Perth B were busy trying to keep ahead of each other with the occasional 6th place coming as a reward. South of Perth was hoping to make it four years in a row, but they had no answer to Adele's sailing and despite a spirited performance, they had to settle for second place.
However with Adele handing out sailing lessons at the front of the fleet and a spirited battle for the back end of the fleet it was a wonderful morning and it became even more interesting when, as the breeze swung a little, the start line was tucked up close to the club start box and the pens. Made it interesting for anyone there and even the umpires were ducking for cover into the pens as the nine boats roared up and down the prestart track.
Congratulations to all the sailors, volunteers, chief umpire Jenn Suffield and the start team. Of course, many thanks to Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht club for hosting the event and to the hard working team headed by Andy Fethers at Swan River Sailing who organise and run the racing on the river with these Foundation 36's.
Enjoy the images and yes they are for sail.
Amongst the starters this year, I can hardly help but notice that Freshie has not one, but three teams in this year and Royal Perth managed to stump up for a couple of teams as well. If the two Royals don't sweep the field this year I'll have to rethink my opinion of the racing. The other clubs are quietly confident though and given that SoPYC has Mara back at the helm again, well wait and see. No one can put Caroline aside though and all she needs is some of those older and wiser heads at Freo to come sailing with her. Hillary's and East Freo have been known to upset applecarts and given we are likely to have flat water sailing in nor easterlies, it could be a great morning out.
A day for the champions.
Cool, a light easterly, but certainly enough to sail on and a lot of action on the docks as I arrived. They'd eschewed the traditional coffee and muffins that were inhaled by the early starters and the briefing had been short and sharp. I had arrived just in time, but they were saddling up, and rolling the teams out onto the moorings where the boats had been parked overnight. Some lucky ones had been allotted boats that had been parked further back on the dock, but by 8.30 they were almost ready to go out on the water.
For my sins I'd been given a ride with one of the umpires, Richard Goldsmith and as we'd been out before, it was a matter of sorting out the boat and stowing gear before we headed out. The only disadvantage of working from an umpires boat is that I don't get to pick my shooting lines, so long shots and spinnaker hoists get missed as we're constantly in close with the boats. But plenty of action shots were there and I could have doubled the number of images I took, without a certain amount of discretion.
On the water, the effort that RFBYC has been putting into women and training came to fruition as the three teams they put onto the water put in solid effort with only South of Perth YC putting the hard word on Adele's team. Slick as a whistle in the light breezes, the experience that the Freshy girls had showed. Hoists and trimming, marks and starts. So rarely did Adele raise her voice above a murmur as she drove the boat, she simply let the team work around her and you could see it as she took the advice from her tactician and played the breezes to her advantage. Both Fremantle and Royal Perth had good teams and it was a bit of bad luck that didn't let them push ahead. At the other end of the fleet Hillary's, East Fremantle and Royal Perth B were busy trying to keep ahead of each other with the occasional 6th place coming as a reward. South of Perth was hoping to make it four years in a row, but they had no answer to Adele's sailing and despite a spirited performance, they had to settle for second place.
However with Adele handing out sailing lessons at the front of the fleet and a spirited battle for the back end of the fleet it was a wonderful morning and it became even more interesting when, as the breeze swung a little, the start line was tucked up close to the club start box and the pens. Made it interesting for anyone there and even the umpires were ducking for cover into the pens as the nine boats roared up and down the prestart track.
Congratulations to all the sailors, volunteers, chief umpire Jenn Suffield and the start team. Of course, many thanks to Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht club for hosting the event and to the hard working team headed by Andy Fethers at Swan River Sailing who organise and run the racing on the river with these Foundation 36's.
Enjoy the images and yes they are for sail.
Many thanks to the ladies who went for a moment of madness.
Those last few race starts up against the pens at RFBYC were fun. Weren't they?
Seriously; it's two looks at the start line and a bit more.
FSC, great start line -- the low aspect; and love that RPYC entry in the second start?
Then a run around the track with a look at a decision at the bottom by two RP boats.
Enjoy.
Those last few race starts up against the pens at RFBYC were fun. Weren't they?
Seriously; it's two looks at the start line and a bit more.
FSC, great start line -- the low aspect; and love that RPYC entry in the second start?
Then a run around the track with a look at a decision at the bottom by two RP boats.
Enjoy.
Team Photos
and my apologies to Karen Koedyks team of RP... sorry guys I tried to get one of you, but umpires stop for no one.
and my apologies to Karen Koedyks team of RP... sorry guys I tried to get one of you, but umpires stop for no one.
And Presentations.