Sail Freo 2019
Once again, Fremantle Sailing Club has a great list of competitors lining up for a weekend on the water. With a fine mix of skiffs and the introduction of the Vipers and Etchells this year, its going to make the start line interesting when the weather gets up.
Looking over the Laser line up, its nice to see Zac Littlewood lining up, but don't think he'll be shirking for a minute as he's stepped up to the Standards and there's always someone to pick on you when you're sailing with the masters. Welcome to Caitlin, Zoe and Jacinta who will make the boys earn their keep in the radials although I think that Michael Compton and Stefan Elliot -Shircore will lead from the front, knowing that their competitiveness will drive them hard.
The 505's have half a dozen starters so far and I will be pointing at them as they mingle on the start line with whom ever the starters add to their start line. A strong array of 29ers will give colour and verve to the fleet and I'm really pleased to see a good selection of Optimist sailors ready to go well. At least two courses will be running and I'll be moving between the two courses as the nature of the day builds.
The Etchells and Vipers are an unknown mix and they will be pushing it hard if the weather is good.
Saturdays images will go up late Saturday night and Sundays images will be up on Monday.
See you on the water over the weekend.
Looking over the Laser line up, its nice to see Zac Littlewood lining up, but don't think he'll be shirking for a minute as he's stepped up to the Standards and there's always someone to pick on you when you're sailing with the masters. Welcome to Caitlin, Zoe and Jacinta who will make the boys earn their keep in the radials although I think that Michael Compton and Stefan Elliot -Shircore will lead from the front, knowing that their competitiveness will drive them hard.
The 505's have half a dozen starters so far and I will be pointing at them as they mingle on the start line with whom ever the starters add to their start line. A strong array of 29ers will give colour and verve to the fleet and I'm really pleased to see a good selection of Optimist sailors ready to go well. At least two courses will be running and I'll be moving between the two courses as the nature of the day builds.
The Etchells and Vipers are an unknown mix and they will be pushing it hard if the weather is good.
Saturdays images will go up late Saturday night and Sundays images will be up on Monday.
See you on the water over the weekend.
Sunday the 27th of October.
Once again the sun shone on the ocean off Fremantle, but the weather wasn’t as kind to us this time. A nor easter was in evidence and while Alpha course got underway and was successful in racking up five races in varying conditions, the big boats out on Bravo had to hang around after the first race until a vague sort of a westerly wandered its way across from Garden Island and finally settled into a pattern recognisable as a quasi seabreeze. But it was cooler on the water than on shore and while it hit 37 degrees in the city, a little swim helped pass the time for the 29ers.
Moving on to the racing and the inclusion of the Etchells and a couple of youth teams brought about a bit of a change in the order and while Chris Pratt took the win over all, Mark Whittington of FSC piloted his boat into third place and probably rued missing the first two races of day one, for a chance to further reduce his score. The Vipers had Rod Beurteaux in a winning mood and the 505’s could only stand in awe of Chris Paterson who was busy erecting a picket fence ( if you discount a couple of bad ones). Axel Fleet in the 29ers took no prisoners in the racing with the Joyner bros taking the only win in the series from him. The Contenders only had two players in the regatta who sailed the whole series and Simon Barwood and Richard Shallcross were the first and second respectively.
The Standard Lasers fell to Zac Littlewood, who relished the conditions and didn’t miss a trick all weekend, however Stefan Elliot -Shircore had to fight off hard working Jacinta Ainsworth in the Radials with Mike Compton putting this regatta down as one to improve on. The 4.7’s had Toby Coote out front and I’ll bet that the rest of the fleet is waiting for him to don a Radial sail and challenge the next fleet up. In the Silver fleet of the Optimists Lucas Brans did well to secure a tight overall win and Aaron Teo did a good job on his own picket fence in the Open class against a strong field of 28 boats. The O’pen skiff class had Lachlan Putt sail well to take the win and the Bic Techno’s had hard working Jake Hindmarsh wear himself out taking the wins, eventually succumbing to William McAullay in the last race giving him a well earned win. The Flying Ants had a nice threesome on the race track and Xavier Bates and crew were clear winners on the day. The 420’s had visitors from Korea ( as did the Opti’s and the Standard Lasers ) and they proved to be too strong for the locals with Kim Sunho sharing the lead with his country man Lee Sanghyeok taking second place.
And no, I’ve not forgotten the SB20’s, two boats battled out the series with Roger Britain taking the win over David Nelson, though I did see the name Keogh mentioned somewhere.
A great regatta nonetheless and congratulations to RO of Alpha Course Paul Harford and his team with RO John McKechnie and his team doing well out on Bravo. Many thanks to retiring Sailing Manager, Travis Burtenshaw who piloted me around for the weekend and to the volunteers of the canteen and those who supplied us with food and drinks. Mustn’t forget Sam Blackburn, the dinghy administrator who really had the event under control. Nice work Sam.
But I couldn’t sign off without thanking the sailors without whom we wouldn’t have had an event.
There are two sets of images. The Sailing and then the Presentations.
As you could expect, these images are for sale and I have a special of 3 for $50 or one form $20. Contact me through the website if you see some photos you like.
I'll see you at the Harbour Classic next weekend.
Once again the sun shone on the ocean off Fremantle, but the weather wasn’t as kind to us this time. A nor easter was in evidence and while Alpha course got underway and was successful in racking up five races in varying conditions, the big boats out on Bravo had to hang around after the first race until a vague sort of a westerly wandered its way across from Garden Island and finally settled into a pattern recognisable as a quasi seabreeze. But it was cooler on the water than on shore and while it hit 37 degrees in the city, a little swim helped pass the time for the 29ers.
Moving on to the racing and the inclusion of the Etchells and a couple of youth teams brought about a bit of a change in the order and while Chris Pratt took the win over all, Mark Whittington of FSC piloted his boat into third place and probably rued missing the first two races of day one, for a chance to further reduce his score. The Vipers had Rod Beurteaux in a winning mood and the 505’s could only stand in awe of Chris Paterson who was busy erecting a picket fence ( if you discount a couple of bad ones). Axel Fleet in the 29ers took no prisoners in the racing with the Joyner bros taking the only win in the series from him. The Contenders only had two players in the regatta who sailed the whole series and Simon Barwood and Richard Shallcross were the first and second respectively.
The Standard Lasers fell to Zac Littlewood, who relished the conditions and didn’t miss a trick all weekend, however Stefan Elliot -Shircore had to fight off hard working Jacinta Ainsworth in the Radials with Mike Compton putting this regatta down as one to improve on. The 4.7’s had Toby Coote out front and I’ll bet that the rest of the fleet is waiting for him to don a Radial sail and challenge the next fleet up. In the Silver fleet of the Optimists Lucas Brans did well to secure a tight overall win and Aaron Teo did a good job on his own picket fence in the Open class against a strong field of 28 boats. The O’pen skiff class had Lachlan Putt sail well to take the win and the Bic Techno’s had hard working Jake Hindmarsh wear himself out taking the wins, eventually succumbing to William McAullay in the last race giving him a well earned win. The Flying Ants had a nice threesome on the race track and Xavier Bates and crew were clear winners on the day. The 420’s had visitors from Korea ( as did the Opti’s and the Standard Lasers ) and they proved to be too strong for the locals with Kim Sunho sharing the lead with his country man Lee Sanghyeok taking second place.
And no, I’ve not forgotten the SB20’s, two boats battled out the series with Roger Britain taking the win over David Nelson, though I did see the name Keogh mentioned somewhere.
A great regatta nonetheless and congratulations to RO of Alpha Course Paul Harford and his team with RO John McKechnie and his team doing well out on Bravo. Many thanks to retiring Sailing Manager, Travis Burtenshaw who piloted me around for the weekend and to the volunteers of the canteen and those who supplied us with food and drinks. Mustn’t forget Sam Blackburn, the dinghy administrator who really had the event under control. Nice work Sam.
But I couldn’t sign off without thanking the sailors without whom we wouldn’t have had an event.
There are two sets of images. The Sailing and then the Presentations.
As you could expect, these images are for sale and I have a special of 3 for $50 or one form $20. Contact me through the website if you see some photos you like.
I'll see you at the Harbour Classic next weekend.
Saturday the 26th of October
You couldn't have asked for a better day with a good breeze out of the west sou west springing up and about 140 boats spread over the two courses. Sam from FSC was chuffed and with the advice and encouragement from sailing manager Travis B he was able to get the event under way without any problems. Mind you he had a great team of volunteers working with him and it was good that the teams on both Alpha and Bravo courses had everything running smoothly over the day.
With so many fleets and sailors I'll not waste time telling stories as its way into the early hours as I write. Just follow the story in the images.
See you on the water tomorrow.
You couldn't have asked for a better day with a good breeze out of the west sou west springing up and about 140 boats spread over the two courses. Sam from FSC was chuffed and with the advice and encouragement from sailing manager Travis B he was able to get the event under way without any problems. Mind you he had a great team of volunteers working with him and it was good that the teams on both Alpha and Bravo courses had everything running smoothly over the day.
With so many fleets and sailors I'll not waste time telling stories as its way into the early hours as I write. Just follow the story in the images.
See you on the water tomorrow.