The Flying 15 States at SoPYC Easter 2014
This has caught me on a weekend, when the planned replacement of the old computer with a new one has come unstuck a little. Never the less, we'll get the images up in due course.
A typical autumn day with the easterlies dropping out by 12ish and the seabreeze manifesting as a westerly and rotating into the true seabreeze with about 10 to 12 knots. A little bit of cloud around, giving me images that in my opinion are a little flat, but still some goodies came out of it.
Thirty seven boats, some from Gero and others from Esperance with the bulk from Freshie and SoPYC, the two major clubs that have the yachts. With the cross sailing evident in these boats, there are a number of Dragon and Etchell sailors in the mix and it's fun to see who is sailing with whom.
The racing was hard with a couple of people not finishing the day and Race Officer Les Swinton took the option of going for the third race to have one up his sleeve in case of poor breezes later on.
Enjoy the first day .
Saturday the 19th of April
A few mistakes were made with some of the crew members reminding themselves why they used hobbles to stay on the boat. Then there were problems caused by rounding the top mark in company and either hitting the mark and / or hitting some one else. A skipper could get quite dizzy catching up on penalties. The South Westerly meant that the left hand side was favoured with big gains made when you stayed in phase with the shifts. Felt sorry for those who suffered the OCS problem, especially Nick and Janet 'cause I thought that there were more. But not seen on camera so I can only offer my opinion. Three races were hard on the body, particularly given the racing from yesterday and the sailors must have been knackered by the time they parked their boats. Still straight home and get to work on the new computer. ( Yes a new one.. the old one was too slow and just couldn't cut the mustard with video requirements.) Setting up has been the problem as a lot of the programs available under XP are no longer available on W 8.
I've reviewed the images once again and still can't get away from the last 15 or so images as the " mob " headed for the top mark in the late afternoon light. Great images. But it's up to you. Choose what you like. Many thanks to Freshie and Dragoneer man, John Low who courteously dragged me around the first day and suffered the agony of the damned when his engine seized on Saturday. He scammed the Freshie rib from Dean and we chuntered around the river the next day with Glenda hitching a ride for the first two races. John's son was on the water with Trish all weekend and he ( and she ) sailed well.
By the way, there are clear indications that John Hassen can hike. Look closely at the images on screen.
Sunday the 20th of April
The last day and Easter Eggs flying around everywhere. Unfortunately I'd had my load of chocolate earlier on so I passed on the offer. Though Felicity does make a good Easter bunny I guess. The lack of wind was a problem and as one of the mark boat layer/drivers for the day I was happy to load up on a coffee and get the gear on board with Esperance man David and hang around until required. Start boats don't often break down and when Coffee Point nearly lost it's steering thanks to a hydraulic leak we were tasked with laying our own marks. No problem. The wind came in around 1030 and had settled in by 1100 hrs. It was interesting listening to the 125's putting things on hold as we were getting going ( as they couldn't see the breeze we were in? ) So as the 15's reached the top mark the radio crackled with a " lets get going" the 125's headed out onto the water and began making things hard to hear again. Oh dear, when you hit the top mark at slow speed and hang on it as everyone goes past you, it is very public n'est pas! No names, but she has made it plain she'll kill me if I post it. (but it's great shot and she's smiling) Ok, I wont.
Well sailed Lillo. A great way to finish the regatta and get up on the cranes first. Sorry to see Nick and Janet try so hard for this one falling short by two points and well sailed to David Tucker and Matthew Summers, taking the 2014 States with Hamish Carnachan and Peter Mudford for a good third. Silver Fleet was won by Stuart
and Narelle Paisley on Vengeance with 10 points, followed by Karen and Russell
Dawes on Eagle Eye on 11 points and Third was Fire Fox 3 with Mark Millman and
Frank Loane with 17 points. Consistency results had David Yu
and Chris Nelson on Tuffen Up first with Rob Donaldson and Ryan Norris on Ffast
Lane 2 from Esperance taking second and locals Karen and Russell Dawes on Eagle
Eyes taking third.
Stop and start again.
A review of the results. I did see something and there were two boats OCS in race 4. The Jerwood's and Dave Tucker. I'm not going into the how's and why's but the results have changed and the Jerwoods are now first, with Hamish Carnachan second and Dave Tucker third. Well sailed all and a pity that
My thanks to the Flying 15 people and John Hassen in particular for inviting me on board. As ever, the South of Perth YC for providing the 15's with the venue for the States to happen in and to all the contestants and other volunteers.
Special thanks to John Low who carted me around on the first two days.
Enjoy.
Rick Steuart