Our Sailing News

Kioni wins again on Sunday
Congratulations to all of our team, what a fantastic day.  The competition, the Cadenza crew had just made the perfect gybe with the huge 3/4 oz spinnaker and all was going well. Cadenza were in the lead, just ahead of Kioni at the Manly mark. One little mistake due to the helmsman Terry having to avoid a small dinghy out of control probably cost them the race. The briefing afterwards was fun with many drinks and laughs and watch out next week Kioni.  

Kioni is a Beneteau and like all production boats is built of fiberglass, yachties would say is a plastic boat.  In the old days all boats were built in wood.  I remember my beautiful Gaffer,  a gentlemans' day sailor which was built out of a wood called Jarra, a real boat, we would say.  Of course to maintain the boat took a lot of effort and many days of varnishing and the actul sailing days were few. Plastic boats maintenance is low and sailing is no problem with most days available over the year.     

One of our hot Kioni Sunday crew just happened to mention her company HP is a sponsor of a plastic boat  arriving soon to Sydney.  Check it out., its build of plastc bottles and should arrive in Sydney  before the Sydney Boatshow.



http://www.theplastiki.com/

Not my Cup of Tea, but I get the message.

Seven years and seven minutes

International J24 Victoria State Championship 

Sandringham Yacht Club Melbourne

The Crew
 

‘Seven years racing together is what it took my crew and I to collect this 1st overall trophy’,   David  Suda, skipper of Pacemaker, speaking at the presentation.  The regatta was mainly light winds and Pacemaker was on fire with 5 wins and a second.  The winner of race 5 was Lynette Syme on an older boat rebirthed by the guys from Adelaide.  Syme came home with 3rd place overall and the all girl crew from Melbourne 5th.  Robyn the skipper of the all girl crew, said the guys better watch out at Gosford,  as they will be hot after returning from the World Championships in Sweden.

Our crew did really well with only about seven minutes of training.  Hank our skipper of Starpac,  and his crew, managed three fifths and overall 8th, not bad for a new crew with little training due to no wind on training days and a few crew missed training due to work commitments.  

The Starpac crew started as an all girl crew (bar Hank) with Penny on the bow, Sarah Marie at mast and Helen in the pit and Helen no 2 trimming.  Unfortunately Helen No 2 had some bad news with Dad unwell and jumped on a plane back home.  Luckily Zachary, an American Scientist, 75 kilos of muscle joined the crew and took over mast position allowing Sarah Marie to trim. 

Starpac was plucked out of the water at the CYCA, mast removed, the bum polished, training sails replaced with racing sails and strapped down onto the trailer.  1,000km later we arrived at Sandringham, the mast was put in and the crew jumped on the scales, (no problem this time (30 Kg under) but the boat was too light.  The chief measurer ordered that  a drum of 10 Kg of water be added, a 5 kg tool box and the 2 kg esky making up the 17 kg shortfall. Hank looked on smiling, as clearly Starpac was looking in top shape, light and very fast.

The boat was flying on Day 1 with winds from the north at 10 knots. The first race Starpac came 5th, a very happy crew, the next race was looking even better with a third but unfortunately was OCS (On Course Side) at the start and were DSQ (Disqualified).  We say that you can have the occasional OCS If you’re really trying hard, and they were, but we have to carry the points.

The evening was party time at one of the opposition yachts home beside the swimming pool, a night to remember. Day 2, although the wind was shifty our crew ended up very satisfied and asked when and where is the next championship,  and a promise to do more than seven minutes of training next time.  

Another great trip with over 2,000 kilometres; we made more great friends and enjoyed the best of the Melbourne restaurants.  

Congratulations Sophie (in Middle Black Shirt) 
Sophie crewed on Starpac at the Nationals and got a ride as foredeck and collected 3rd overall.



The October long weekend is the NSW State Championships and J24 Legends Regatta. Over 25 yachts have registered for racing and the Legends Dinner on the Sunday evening at the Crowne Plaza Terrigal. 

 


PSS will have seven International J24 yachts at the event crewed by graduates of the spinnaker courses. 

Details on Gosford Weekend Here

International J24 State Championship 
Sydney Harbour
2009

Click here for the full story and the results

Winds - flukey and very hot, a 16 boat fleet.

The race was away on schedule at 12.30 with many close calls at the start. 

About two minutes into the start  3 guns were sounded, which mean't the race was abandoned due to a major windshift at the top mark.



Simon Grain our national President from Melbourne suggested we sail in Melboune with a little less traffic. ha ha.

Four boats travelled up from Melbourne and one from Adelaide for this event.  Several ex national champions returned to race with the very hot J24 fleet. Eventually late Saturday 3 races were completed with two little bingles on Starpac and Blackjack. Our best result was a 4th with Leon skippering Jagged Edge then Sean on Starpac with a 5th. Pacatack was sailed by a South Australia team with a second place showing our fleet are right up there and fast. Blackjack hopefully will do better today with Terry on board with the works (all staff) team.

In the evening RANSA hosted our magnificent evening dinner with roast pig and beef on the spit, a competition drawing on the white paper table cloths with crayons and triva night and lots of lovely wine. (hopefully that will slow some of the competition) Three races today and we will see the results and a new state champion.



Day 2

Congratulations to our new State Champion Doug Mcgain and his crew on Code Violation, a Sydney Yacht.  In second place Ben Lamb (last years winner) in Kaotic with John Crawford third on Inaminaka. Racing was hard with the unusual conditions, smoke from the bushfires and a large ship parked on our race track.   

The day finished with a sausage sizzle at our very friendly host Club RANSA. The interstate boats were craned out of the water onto their trailers to hit the the road for the long drive to Melbourne or Adleaide.

We thank all competitors and the guys who travelled so far,  making it the great event that it was.  We can't wait until we hit the road for the National Championships in Melbourne starting on 2nd January 2010. 

We take this opportunity to thank the Lapstone Hotel group for their sponsorship for the J24 Nationals in Melbourne. 




 The social entertainment heart of the Blue Mountains - Click here



Sooo much Fun!

Good Luck Jessica



Jessica sailed out the Sydney heads yesterday on Pink lady in her attempt to sail around the world. In a week or two Jessica will have her tracker up and running.  This is the same as Justin and James had when they kayaked to New Zealand and the same as we have when we do the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.  We will be able to follow her every nautical mile of the way.

Join us tracking and supporting Pink Lady. 



Safe Sailing Jessica.

Crossing the Ditch is now Available!! 

No one had ever successfully navigated the Tasman by kayak from Australia to New Zealand. Two young Australians, James Castrission and Justin Jones, reached the sand at New Plymouth — and a place in history — on 13 January 2008, sixty-two days after they’d set off from Forster on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. They were sunburnt, bearded, underweight, physically and mentally wasted … and, most of all, happy to be alive.

Justin and James completed Safety courses with Pacific Sailing School prior to their departure and Terry was there to meet them. 

Read the book and watch the documentary.

Available at all good book stores and from www.crossingtheditch.com.au.

Some video Courtesy of Fairfax media

Operation Safe Landing

Pacific Sailing School had 60 people attend the set sail theory evening last night at the cruising yacht club of Australia.

While the office team entertained the students in the social part of the evening Terry Wise was crossing Bass Strait on Calypso. (calypsofishingcharters.com.au)

Terry has a team of 7 on board to support Allison Shreeve, 4 time world wind surfing champion and ambassador for coast care to be the first women ever to sail across Bass Strait. Click on www.bassstraitchallenge.net and help us support coast care and Allison with a small donation.

Wild seas, sea containers and sharks. These are just some of the obstacles Allison Shreeve (27), four times windsurf world champion and speed record holder (70 km per hour), will face during her attempt to cross Bass Strait in record time at the end of this month.

In 1998 Nick Maloney completed the 240 km journey from Stanley, Tasmania, to Inverloch, Victoria, in 21 hours. Allison thinks she'll be able to smash his record and cross one of the most treacherous stretches of ocean in seven hours.

Allison will windsurf across Bass Strait as an ambassador for Coastcares Life on the Edge Campaign to raise funds for coastal care. She also hopes to increase her exposure in an attempt to try and find a sponsor for the 2012 Olympics.

The world champion has prepared herself rigorously: running hundreds of miles, sailing extensively on Botany Bay and spending long days in the classroom participating in courses required by captains and crew for offshore sailing.

Pacific Sailing School armed Allison with a Yachting Australia Offshore Crew Course, a Marine Radio Course and a Safety and Sea Survival Course in Mackay. Principal Terry Wise of Pacific Sailing School will also be on the support boat which will follow Allison during her Bass Strait Challenge.
 
During her race Allison will keep a GPS-transmitter on her vest which will allow people to log onto her website to check her progress in real time. For live footage of the Bass Strait Challenge go to www.aus911.com and www.bassstraitchallenge.net.

Terry will take the support boat accross Bass Strait this monday and we hope to start the challenge this wednesday 25th March 2009.....ye ha