(Sydney Harbour, NSW, Australia)- Dave Suda’s faster than a heart-attack team
on their new J/24 foiler PACEMAKER retained the NSW State Title for 2013 in a
“lightning-plagued” series on Sydney Harbour over the weekend. Saturday’s
racing was severely curtailed by some of Sydney’s biggest lightning storms ever
seen. Plus, lots of rain and lack of wind and constant direction changes
meant only two races were held towards the end of the day on Saturday in pretty
nice but light conditions. Sunday was a “glam day” with a 10–16 kts SE
breeze and plenty of sunshine- four races were held by the Royal Prince Edward
Yacht Club RC team to give a thrilling climax to the weekend (here's one of
PACEMAKER's more amazing surfs-up foiling action shots to get in front of the
fleet here!). Here’s
Simon Grain’s report:
“Sunday’s racing was close and hard fought from the get go with Sean Kirkjian
taking a first on the Saturday and now already fighting for the championship
with Dave Suda. Both Kirkjian and Suda were on equal points after Saturday’s
racing, however, both were behind Ron Thompson who had a 1st and a 3rd going
into Sunday.
This year’s fleet was smaller at a round dozen boats but the depth of the field
was strong, with NSW stalwarts John Crawford, Dave West, Chris Lee, and Arthur
Crothers all on the water. From Victoria were Dave Suda, Ron Thompson and Simon
Grain steering Arthur’s KAOTIC. Doug Watson from SA was also there in EL
FIDELDO. Also rounding out the fleet were STARPAC, NOKOMIS and Brett Hudson
crewing for Jeanette Thompson on his own boat WILDFIRE.
A perfect breeze prevailed during Sunday as we raced across
the harbor avoiding each other (most of the time), TP52s, ferries and everyone
else on the harbor that day. Banging corners didn’t seem to work as well
this year as there were considerable wind bends and lifts in the middle of the
course. Arthur Crothers turned 70 and was presented with a wicked chocolate
cake, NOKOMIS swam a crew member in one race and KICKING BOTTOM prepared to
call “starboard” on a seaplane— yes, those were just a few of the usual
oddities in this regatta!!
As the day progressed it became clear that the regatta might just go back to
Dave Suda from Victoria and he and Sean had a personal battle in the last race
to decide the honours. In the end Dave retained the crown and Sean came second
on a count back from an amazing performance from Ron in KB. Ron also taking out
the Thommo Cup from Jeanette on WILDFIRE, although as a consolation she won the
handicap section.
Once again the RPEYC venue excelled with sunny skies above the lawn at the
waterfront of the club when it counted and lightning shows when it
didn’t. Friendly staff and capable race management meant we were happy
both on and off the water. Commodore Sean once again amazingly ran the club
(thanks to all the volunteers and staff), the class team (thanks to Paula and
Tim), ran the crew ferry and still came second! What a fantastic place,
after years of grumbling, even Herschel loves the place and passed a thought of
keeping a summer boat there. Talking about being there, getting there was an
event in itself for some with huge storms on the Friday night, Joe Pearson
taking nearly 6 hours to get there and making what must be an all time record
for Luke Mathews taking 19 hrs to fly to Sydney from Melbourne (via
Launceston).
Now is the time to think about a trip to Royal Prince Edwards, as the 2014
Nationals will also be held here in January 4 – 9th. If you want a great place
to sail, a great place to relax in between racing, then RPEYC is your summer
regatta of choice.”
The J/24 STIG also chimed in with their report:
“Once again the foreign invaders triumphed in the NSW J/24 State Titles held at
RPEYC (Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club)! The slick crew work on David Suda’s
PACEMAKER came to the fore when the pressure was on in the final races. After
drop calculated for the top 3 boats PACEMAKER, SAILPAC and KICKING BOTTOM were
equal on 6 points after 4 races, with the ever competitive Chris Lee on VORTEX
nipping at their sterns.
Tom Waterhouse had Suda as early race favourite with the betting wide open for
the minors. The performance of the weekend came from evergreen veteran Ron
Thompson, who once again prized the Thompson Cup from Janette’s grasp.
Nestled amongst the Blue Ribbon Mansions of Double Bay the RPEYC was the
idyllic setting for the Ashes on water between the States. The lone
representative from Festival State (SA) and home of the mass murderers
(of beer steins) on EL FIDELDO snuck under the radar and had some great
results. Once the trough of bad weather brought up by the Victorians cleared we
had some fantastic racing. The TP52 sailors next to our track looked on in envy
of the tight, competitive and sometimes aggressive nature of J/24 racing made
their regatta look like a “kontiki tour” with brolly’s in their drinks.
Once the spray had settled the committee from NSW’s had to accept they would
once again be invoiced for trophy engraving by David Suda. A worthy champion
with a great crew; however the admiration will soon disappear and sledging
begin with the Nationals around the corner.
Thank you everyone who made the huge effort of bringing your boats to the
regatta and we hope to see you all in January for the Nationals.
Unfortunately we will not be using Paula’s scales from home at the Nationals so
make sure your crew weights are correct.”
If that weren’t enough great perspective, there’s amusing commentary from Ronnie
Green about sailing J/24s in Sydney:
“Sydney Harbour on the weekend? Expect the unusual and you will still be
surprised! The J/24s had a great weekend of racing on Sydney Harbour
which lived up to its reputation as a venue which tests your heart beat to the
maximum. Great location, spectacular sights and even more unusual things
to plan and look out for on the water.
On Saturday we all sat at the magnificent Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club
(RPEYC) drinking our Pimms, watching the stream of thunderstorms cross the
harbour. Some played pool while others started watching that sledging game on
TV. We were calmly interrupted every 46 minutes by an announcement from
Sean that a decision on sailing is imminent, don’t go away and just wait for
the next 30 minutes. The wind kept blowing from the north, no …
south east, no … north east, no … east, changing every 5 minutes from 6 knots
to nothing. After about our 10th bottle of Pimms, suddenly there was a
gap in the thunderstorms and guess what, we are all on the water sailing out to
the start line. Only the wind died again, sails dropped and engines came
out again. Decision to sail to be made at 3pm and at 2:55pm KB was seen
circling the committee boat desperate to get back to watching that sledging
game and the 11th bottle of Pimms. No … the wind arrived from the North
and low and behold we are off.
RPEYC has unique rounding marks being the colour red, which is fantastic as
every other mark laid on the Harbour is yellow. You can imagine the mess
as there are a few races being sailed at the same time. The top mark was
laid 0.6 km upwind (important fact to remember). The fleet took off and
everyone went left eyes searching the harbour for something red. Yes, I
see two red marks near South Head amongst the 20 other yellow marks and KB
tacked as they appear to be near the east side of the harbour. ‘That’s
the longest 0.6km I have seen,’ was yelled from the back of the boat, ‘there
must be others.’ Yes, was the answer and there is another red mark but
only one. ‘Well find the other one was the answer.’ Suddenly,
a fishing boat moved and the second red mark was found right in front of our
position. Don’t point!! Just keep quiet as ACE and us are the only ones
who know. I call it brilliant tactics – my sister called it something else
starting with something like ‘b.s.’
Next lap we were out in front, rounded the top mark, put up the kite
brilliantly, and found ourselves right under a 50ft yawl with a mast head
spinnaker. Had to quickly gybe away and our competitor quietly went to
windward. Who was supposed to looking out for this was the yell again
from the back of the boat. Answer – YOU. Kept quiet then. We
had to do some deft maneuvers to stay in front.
Sunday was a fun day as all the fleets came out including the TP52s who started
next to us and sailed across our course. Lovely. I remember
completing a tack to lay the top mark when the bow sprit of a TP52 just passed
behind us travelling at 10 times our speed! Just about had me a heart
attack!
Race number four, the top marks were laid just south of Shark Island. We
were flying, chasing Sean and the breeze was a bit tricky near the rounding
mark. Suddenly there was a call to watch out for the plane, so I cast my
eyes skywards thinking there was a low flying sea-plane about to land.
Silly me, no the plane was right in front of us about to take off!! You
have to learn to expect the unexpected on Sydney Harbour. Fortunately it
moved so no harm done except to the heart- again!
On one downwind leg there were four boats charging to the port rounding mark to
go south on starboard so we went to the starboard mark to head up the middle on
port. Suddenly, there was a call for a ferry rounding Bradley’s
head. A quick look up checking our VMG against the speed of the Manly
Ferry (about 20 knots) indicated if we don’t look and keep our eyes closed we
should make it across. What a fantastic feeling as we tacked to starboard
to see us windward of the ferry and the rest of the fleet behind it. I
thought this was brilliant sailing but my sister said something like ‘b.s.’
again! Her vocabulary is not very good. Or, perhaps she IS smarter than
me (the debate will rage forever)! The excitement only was short lived as
that bloke Sean came from behind the ferry and crossed us and then I said
‘b.s.’ again.
The race committee decided we should go for a picnic on Shark Island, as they
laid the top mark close enough to visit. One time we tacked to lay the
mark easily. Learnt lessons from the past, when suddenly the genoa backed as
the wind changed 90 degrees on us. We tacked only to see NOKOMIS coming
at us on starboard. A bit of yelling and screaming but thanks to a great
effort from the crew we made it around without putting more green paint on the
opposition boats.
Overall on behalf of the crew of KB, a “huge thank you” to the officials and
management of RPEYC for a great regatta, brilliant venue and magnificent
support crews taking us to and from our mooring, one even gave us a tourist
lecture of the houses in the Bay. I look forward to January when the
Harbour will be clear and at its best.” For more J/24 NSW Championship sailing information in Sydney
Harbour
(Sydney, Australia)- This year’s J/24 Nationals were sailed on the fabulous
Sydney Harbour and the teamwork at the host club, Royal Prince Edward YC, was
nothing short of amazing. Though the fleet had thirteen teams
participating, the depth of talent was huge and great skippers were back in the
pack. Midway through the regatta, Ben Lamb, Dave Suda and Steve Girdis
all had a mathematical chance of winning the regatta. It was incredibly
close racing all the way until the end. In fact, big changes could (and did)
happen on the final day of racing in the middle of the pack where just 6 pts
separated six 
places! In this
group, Rolex Sydney-Hobart winning tactician Sean Kirkjian, Vlad (Singapore),
Doug Watson, J Spot, Ron Thompson, Dave West, are all great skippers and would
be treated to a “roller-coaster” ride of ups & downs all the way to the
end.
(maybe it was too much
grog?). In races 7, 8, 9 they posted a disastrous 6-5-10 and basically
had to win the last race to gain the title. Alas, that was not in the cards for
them, watching Girdis’s CONVICTS win the finale and bragging rights as “Top
Gun” in the Australian J/24 fleet. 
This
year’s three weekend series saw just about every weather condition
imaginable. The first weekend was fraught with almost no wind with most
big boats barely finishing and most littler boats having to take DNFs
(sometimes entire divisions!). The second go-around saw a gorgeous sunny day
with 5-8 kts of breeze from the West. Then, the final weekend was cool,
partly cloudy with foggy drizzle and a strong breeze of 10-20 kts from the SW.
