There has been a venue change for the final Heat 6 of the NSW Windsurfing Series, to Valentines/The Slips at Lake Macquarie; sorry about the short notice. The intention as always will be to have Saturday the final day of racing for the 2010-11 series with the Presentation on Saturday night and Sunday a spare day for some sailing fun or relaxation (ie, no points for the series to count on Sunday). More information about the venue for the Presentation will be posted shortly.
From The Blog
Venue Change – Heat 6 !!
The non racing Sunday seems a bit silly to me. We used to do the preso on Sat & hold back the prizes that were undecided & then we raced on Sunday. At this time of year when the wind is dodgy we may end up not racing at all (given the new “no light races” policy) & only the preso to show for a weekend away. 2 days gives a better chance of racing & if we get 2 good days even better. The preso is not so important that the racing should be sacrificed.
Are all you blokes happy to go all the way to Newcastle for 1 day only? It is shown as a 2 day regatta on the calendar & notice of series.
All good points Bruce. With the reduction in events this season it has actually high-lighted the potential lack of racing at the last event.
We are just checking the rules to see if it is possible to make Sunday part of results.
Looking positive at this stage.
Bear with us, as we will advise asap.
fe just didnt seem to add up to me. I asked my school teacher wife to check the figures she said its just the new fangled maths you young fellas were taught.Sure puts the kiss of DEATH on you tim timmy two laps
Good spot…correction will be up asap…cheers
Updated results now online.
Sunday racing at the last event……hmm i know I’m only new on the scene and have a new family to think about more than some of the more mature hands. However there are a few others in my position. One day event for the last weekend sits well with us as the family can come up for the day and have fun as well as joining in on Sat night without to much hassle. 2 days with young family sitting at ‘the slips’ – no thanks…its cool for us racers but not cool for the family. Held at a different location and I would support the idea for sure.
Just a perspective…….
What do you mean Baz??? thats one race for you on your home turf ;)
given enough notice, 2 days would be great but we made plans around the dates posted – the venue change in itself makes if difficult but changing it to 2 days will really suck
Tim,
Very insensitively put, try to be more considerate. The Newcastle guys will be hugely offended if you spread such opinions. The Slips is one of Newcastle’s finest picnic spots. The tarts & brats just love sitting under the big tree & the water is the best in the lake, ideal for chucking them in & watching them learn to swim.
Alternately, it is a dusty hole with no shade & hoards of bogan tattooed Novocastrians who probably eat small children & use their toes to scratch their ears. She won’t want to come with you.
Tart management is a fine art my friend, I can see you have a lot to learn.
This is the last chance regatta for the year, the long, cold, windless winter beckons. Make the most of it or spend winter crying in your soup (or VB if you are a Novocastrian and it is breakfast time). And if you still want to make it a one dayer just go home Sunday morning.
two laps the series pointscore had you on 6 me on 19 mick on 22 when i went to work this morning but some SOB has changed them . must learn to keep my mouth shut. you must be prepared to sacrafice a happy marrage for your sailing addiction sorry but thats just the way it is. has anyone concidered toronto yacht club for the presentation we used to windsurf out of there once
Tim,
You appear to have a blatant snobbery against “The slips” – as evidenced by your willingness to race for 2 days at an alternate venue.
As our Novacastrian skins are extremely thick – mainly due to scab build up on our infected prison tattoo’s – I doubt you will lose any of your Novacastrain acquaintances.
But lets be honest – the venue is crap, we are forced to race in between whatever other class are on the water. We dont have the free run afforded to us by Hawks Nest, Jervis Bay and to a lesser extent Ramsgate – thus losing a lot of potential racing time.
Further I was amused the paradox of Uncle Bruce’s eloquent description of the oafish locals. Who would want to submit their own flesh and blood to the boat toting moron who terrorised the learn to windsurf mob at the last event there.
Still the chance to race with O’Brien, Morris, Floyd, Parker, Nelson et al for an extra day? Cmon….turn it up Timmy
I love it,
Dear Diary,
Sorry Novacastrian’s, please accept my sincere apology.
How foolish of I to make such rash and harmful comments. I do love the fragrance of fresh epoxy mixed with anti fouling topped of with a hint of Winfield red, no really, I do! Gives me that all over warm feeling. ;)
Oh wise Uncle Bruce, how wise tho are, by going home on Sunday it would ensure that our warm hearted, loving, caring, extremely handsome Bazza would leave us and chase you around for the 2 laps next season. Leaving us mere mortals in FE+ to flutter around the course with glee…. Such vision and wonderful thought.
C U on the day, bright eyed and bushy tailed!
You guys are all weird!:-)
Adam,
Well put and succinct. The nicest thing said about me in a long time.
Tim,
Are you referring to our Baz when you say “warm hearted, loving, caring, extremely handsome Bazza”? If so one must doubt your judgment, eyesight and hearing but on the other hand I have always suspected some pretty dissolute behaviour amongst the FE+ guys & now it is confirmed. At least we can guess what goes on while you wait for us to finish the second lap. I know you will both be very happy together, even if together means open fleet.
Ben 555,
I see you miss the essential point of brat management but I am not about to enlighten you further. Surprised at “the boat toting moron who terrorised the learn to windsurf mob at the last event there”, I thought he was your brother, there was a strong resemblance, his hands dragged on the ground.
Anyway, we are getting off the point. The location is chosen, no point whingeing. Best we can hope for is 2 days to finish off the season. The original thought was to have fun sailing on Sunday (when it was at at Jimmies) but that is not happening in Newcastle, everyone will go straight home.
Uncle Bruce,
Despite your advancing years you are still capable of withering invective.
Whilst I agree that the boat toting moron has some resemblance to myself (I too can scratch my ear with my toe – and that is not due to any sort of new age physical therapies – merely poor gene selection) I am able to construct a sentence with the use of words of more than one syllable and use a keyboard (something that Baz has not mastered).
Alas, whilst your invective is still sharp your comprehension is not.
If you had bothered to analyse my concluding, statement in my previous posting you would conclude (if your comprehension skills were adequate) that I would race around a bathtub in hell (Tim’s version of the slips) for two days rather than a single one.
As for brat management – yeah you got me on that one…….
There will be an official update soon, but here is the hot oil.
Only Saturday will count towards the series as per the rules.
Prize giving is all organised for the Saturday night. (new venue)
Sunday will be a test event. Not sure of the official name yet, but Island marathon race should give you a clue.
Well I hadn’t really had a good look through the comments posted here earlier, but a few people seem to have number a negative comments towards sailing at Belmont/ Valentine.
I trust these comments will be retracted in the coming days after a very successful weekend of sailing.
Belmont
- Yes you do have to compete for water space on most weekends during peak hour, that’s because it is popular!
- it gets the seabreeze the earliest and is the strongest on the lake which enables us to race earlier than other location which may otherwise not get the same breeze and may not be raceable.
- It’s parking is the closest to the water on our tour)
- Shade
- Relatively clean toilets
- amenity for supporters if they choose to come and use the park, cycleway, swim, kids ride bikes safely or can easily take off to the beach or shopping less than 15minutes drive in no traffic.
Valentine
- plenty of shade, grass & parking
- perfect side shore location for a southerly.
- Has had many successful days racing conducted over the last 5 or 6 years.
- popular picnic spot for a lot of people so not sure why family members from Sydney would not be interested in hanging out there (beats 4 lanes of cars in your ear at Ramsgate, less than 50m from your children.
In summary I’m bias but Lake Macquarie is internationally renowned as an excellent sailing venue (read some articles from the world moth tiltes).
Sailing on the lake also provides excellent exposure to the junior classes and other sail fleets which help feed our fleet and class profile.
If we only sail at Jimmy’s and Jervis we will have limited exposure to entice new people into our great sport.
Big thanks to Nev and John on Sunday for ensuring everyone who contested the marathon race got home safely.
It was a great race to do, something I have personally wanted to do for years and to share it with the other was fantastic.
I for one would love to make this an annual event and cant remember a race where the positions changes so much.
For the record – I believe teh lake is the best sailing spot we go to, and have maintained that for at least two years. I have had my best results there so that might bias my belief somehow.
Seriously though, that lake has given us outstanding conditions for the last few years. Yes, it can be busy at times, but when it turns it on it is spectacular.
J
Muz & I have had this argument before. The slips has good wind but is crowded & often has bad weed. We are not exploring the other parts of the lake. Ask Byron or Steve Walsh about Shingle Splitters & other bits at southern end. I have sailed Shingle Splitters only twice but on both occaisions it was excellent, strong NE barrelling down a long open stretch of water (downwind from the bottom of the Island we went round on Sun) & apparently gets much less weed than Belmont Bay.
It’s closer to Brisbane so I like the lake ;-)
The most wind we had in the Marathon was at the slips at the start and finish.
Well Ricardo, you did take small sail & fin so what do you expect, blind Freddy could see it was not too windy & blind Freddy beat you home too.
You could have taken your 12.5 or 12m sails, you chose no to so your opinion of the wind being too light is irrelevant.
Seriously, if it had been 20 knots the risk factor would likely have made the race too dodgy & would not have been attempted.
Hey Muz,
Are you Marmong boys going to run more of the Marathon events as per the racing calendar on the web site?
It sounded like a ripper and I was sorry I missed it, however.
For the record I thought Valentine was a top spot.
for what it’s whorth – a foreigner’s view: I though both locations we raced at last weekend were great.
in any longdistance race there will be wind variations. for an example at the other end of the spectrum: in one of the last heats of last year’s Defi Wind in France we had 40 knots at the start line but it was gusting 53 knots by time we made it to the first mark 10 km down the beach… painful to try to hold down a 5.5 in those conditions, especially when you realise there’s second lap! that’s 40 km of sheer sufffering…
2 Lap Tim,
don’t call Muz a Marmong boy, he is very sensitive. You can reflect upon his parentage, everyone does, you can imply that he is no better looking than a horse’s posterior, he will laugh it off, you can tell him his car is a heap of junk, he will agree; but never, ever, accuse him of Marmongishness.
Agree with Muz. We spent several years surveying every corner of Lake Macquarie and always came back to Belmont Bay or Valentine.
Think I logged something like 150 days sailing on Belmont Bay back in the 90s (whist holding down a full time job and before 5m fins, 12m sails and 1m wide boards).
March is potentially a little late in the season to see it at it’s best, but if Belmont or Valentine is no good, no where else would be either.
Water is a little warmer down the South end of the Lake with the power station outlets.
Round the island marathon almost sounds like a good reason to come out of retirement.
NQ
South Gippsland Yacht Club invites all Impulse sailors to join in theTim Wilson Yacht Design Regatta at Inverloch.. .The final race of the2010-11 Impulse Travellers Seriesis to be sailed onSunday 10th April at 2 pm . Presentation for the Travellers Series to follow the race . .Tim Wilson Yacht Design races are scheduled as follows over 2 weekends .Saturday 9th April – Race 1 at 2 pm..Sunday 10th April – Race 2 at 11 am .- Race 3 at 2.00 pm.- .Sunday 17th April – Race 4 – 11 am.Sunday 17th April – Race 5 – 2 pm. . .Lunch will be available for purchase from the Yacht Club kitchen each day and a dinner or some other group activity will be organised if required on the evening of Saturday 9th.. .SGYC would appreciate an indication of numbers to help with the catering arrangements. . .Free accommodation can be arranged for 6 or 8 people at Toby Lyn s in Inverloch. First in best dressed.. .Race Fees 5.00 per race or 10.00 for the series. There is plenty of parking and boat storage.. .Come for one or more of the races or just for the food and fun.