The situation…
Brett Morris (AUS8) was in the box seat. First or second spot, beat Steve or one spot behind Sean, or no racing at all would see him crowned the Series champion.
Steven Floyd (AUS222) needed to beat Brett and come no lower then one position behind Sean to win.
Sean O’Brien (AUS120) needed to beat Brett and Steve by more then one spot and not finish lower then 5th to win the series

The forecast was for increasing NE’ers in the afternoon. The race organising committee had decided that there would be no race starts after 4.30pm to allow time to pack everything up and prepare for the annual prize giving party.
All day long we sat waiting for the wind. Those of us who were there on the Thursday and Friday had seen the wind fill in at 4pm both days and figured it would be a repeat performance on Sat.
Things started to look better and better, with some people hitting the water and trying to convince the RO’s that it was windy enough to sail. At 2.55pm the AP came down and everyone rigged in preparation for racing. An hour later and it was all on, a beautiful 12kt Northeaster, a little gusty, but with good flat water.

Race one
Brett had a poor start and struggled to work his way through the fleet.
Steven had a good start and slotted into third spot
Sean found himself in a position that he is not used to – second spot.
and streaking out in front was the inimitable Sam Parker, on his shiny new JP Formula board, NP RSR II and VMG fin. Sam showed everyone the way around the course and took the victory. (Sam – is that a big enough plug for you???? Remember this when I need gear next ;-) )

Race 2
Sean tore the clew out of his modified Point 7 sail (borrowed from one of his main rivals) and could not race the last race. With no drops for the heat it was all over for him.
Steven found himself in second spot again, with Brett close behind.
but once again there was Sam Parker in the lead and doing it easily.

In the FE+ fleet we saw Ben Turner continue his domination to record the victories he needed to claim the season title outright.

With only two races completed in the allocated time, it was Sam Parker the Heat victor, Steven Floyd second. The crowd on the beach went absolutely wild. Brenda, Kay, Ev, Nerida, Sweetie, Rachael, Tam, Bel and of course Nicole ran around popping champagne corks and expressing their delight at the end of another season and the safe return of the warriors from battle (OK – I don’t really know what the reaction was but I expect this is pretty close to the truth).

Saturday night was the annual prizegiving function and a beautiful meal was enjoyed by all, and the prizes were distributed.

Thanks to…
Mike Nelson for MC’ing the night
Chris Ting for helping with the technology, and his Presidential address. Next day Chris stepped down as StormRiders President after 9 years, luckily he is not going far so we will still be able to benefit from his sage advice.
Tam (T2) for organising the function, including location, catering, cake, cleanup, cake, drinks and even more cake. Organiser Extraordinaire indeed
Sam Parker from WindSurfnSnow (‘nBowling) for sponsoring the prizes
Brett Morris for organising the trophies. He also managing to do so much work for StormRiders, Windsurfing NSW, AWA and still come second overall. Is there any limit to his abilities?
Barry Fawkes for talking his son into running racing for us that day, and kicking my ass on the water at every event this season. Barry – you are an inspiration.
Wayne Bowness for being on his best behaviour, it was a big ask but Wayne came through with flying colours.
All the competitors (54 in total) for their enthusiasm and sportsmanlike behaviour throughout the season.
Steve, Brett and Sean for providing a fantastic nail-biting last round, in my 24 years of racing different boats it was the best showing of friendly competition I have witnessed.

Series Winners were:
Overall: 1 – Steven Floyd, 2 – Brett Morris, 3 – Byron McIllveen
Grand Master: 1 – Rick Murray, 2 – Wayne Bowness, 3 – Bruce Healey
Ladies: 1 – Allison Shreeve, 2 – Krystal Weir, 3 – Jessica Crisp
Youth: 1 – Mitch Stephenson, 2 – Ben Morrell, 3 – Luke Baillie
FE+: 1 – Ben Turner, 2 – Barry Fawkes, 3 – Mick Saunders

Results and pics will be on http://www.storm-riders.com.au/, some there are some great shots on http://richcrowder.blogspot.com/

The talent included Wilhelm Schurmann from Brazil, 3x World Champion Allison Shreeve, Olympians Jessica Crisp and Krystal Weir, as well as a bunch of sailors from as far as France, Hungary, Greece and New Zealand on top of all the local Aussie contingent.

Greeted with a forecast of 20 knots the sailors were eager to get out on the water, however, the wind failed to come through and after 3-4 hours of teasing and four attempted starts which were abandoned we finally came back to the beach for an impromptu lunch break to see if we’d get a chance to race at all on Saturday.

Back on the beach it was interesting to see all the new gear. Lots of guys out with new fins from VMG Blades, a plethora of Starboard LWRs and HWRs, brand new TR-6’s from MauiSails and lots of black machines (new Exocet). Finally after another 30 mins of racing the wind picked up again (very light still) and we went back out on to the course.

Unfortunately for series leader Sean O’Brien, his race was over before it started as he broke an extension leaving the beach. Back on the course it was Wilhelm Schurmann who dominated the super light wind race ahead of Steve Floyd and Steve Walsh who was sporting the new TR-6’s. One race was all we could get in on the Saturday unfortunately.

After dinner the youngsters headed out to the local watering hole; the Tea Gardens Hotel Pub for the usual horrific local covers band and drinks served in plastic cups. For a change, the band this time was really quite good and played a set of AC/DC and Thin Lizzy hits which most of the youth division complaining that they’d never heard of.

Sunday morning about 3am a big front blew through with 40 knots measured on the beacons and plenty of rain. By 10am down at the beach we were rigged and ready to roll as the wind had subsided a fair bit but was still cranking 15-20 knots for the first race. Wilhelm continued his dominating form taking a victory by only 30m from Sean O’Brien (now with new extension) and Steve Walsh continuing his form from yesterday in a convincing third.

As the afternoon blew on, the water stayed increasingly flat which just makes this spot so memorable as the water is a really tropical green and the sand on the beach is super white (making it easy to spot the dolphins and turtles). Race 3 was a bit of a re-run with Wilhelm taking the bullet closely followed by Sean O’Brien again and this time with Brett Morris and Sam Parker back in their more usual positions up the front coming in 3rd and 4th respectively. Allison Shreeve gave a few of the boys a scare again banging in to the Top 10 in this race after nailing a 4th in the lightwind race yesterday! (that’s right boys, hands in the air if you got beaten by a girl?!)

Sean O’Brien led his star pupil astray in the next race with himself and Krystal Weir awarded an OCS which ruined his chances for the event win. Wilhelm had no trouble in this race taking another bullet with Murray Towndrow bumping up to 3rd and Byron McIIveen, the other black-power (Point-7) sailor taking a well deserved 4th.

Brett Morris added to the list of broken gear in the next race with Sean politely helping out with rescues in the little yellow submarine (umm, I mean… “boat”). The race crew were keen to get the guys back out on the water so Sean had to blast down to the start in the 20-25 knot cranking NE’er but missed the start by 4 minutes despite clawing his way back to 10th with some power fuelled by frustration!
It was easy to mark out who the PANSIES are in the fleet with Chris Ting, Sam Parker, Julien Ventalon, Brett Morris (slightly excused with broken gear), Luke Baillie, Jessica Crisp amongst others all sitting out the final race due to exhaustion. And yes, I did put these names in bold so you can be singled out and ridiculed. We might even publish this list on the notice board at the Oceanics so you can further be reminded of how soft you all are.

Back at the race-track Wilhelm took a cruisy bullet to finish the event with a perfect 5-from-5. Steve Floyd was able to return to his Saturday glory with another 2nd and Murray Towndrow another convincing 3rd.

Another fantastic event at beautiful Hawks Nest and a great chance for everyone to tune up before the 2010 FW Oceanics & Australian Championships start on Wednesday.

Enjoy the photos by Tam Hohnberg and Rob Plim.

NSW Formula Windsurfing States 2010
Ramsgate Beach, Botany Bay, Sydney
12-13 Dec.2009

After a nervous wait wondering if the predicted NE sea breeze would ever eventuate, we were rewarded with the one of the fastest developing sea breeze I can remember.
The standard rigging frenzy commenced, with some delusional sailors totally misreading the strength i.e. rigging 12meter sails, we were on the water for the 1st race in what was going to be challenging days sailing. Brian Lancy (Water RO) set a simple double windward leeward course with a finishing mark just of the beach. This allowied for great views for the peanut gallery but also a fantastic opportunity for the racers to finish and get some rest or change rigs in between races.

Race 1. Sean O’Brien AUS-120, Sam Parker AUS-3 and Brett Morris AUS-8 battled the whole race only meters apart with Sam (who was christening a Starboard LWR) taking the first victory after Sean had to double tack the top mark. John Bear AUS-135 drew first blood in the FE+, and Allison Shreeve AUS-911 was 1st woman and 5th home in the open (very impressive).

Race 2. With the wind now up around 20-22knot, there were plenty of sail changes and chicken straps miraculously appearing. Sean made no mistakes this time to take victory from Sam, with Mike Nelson AUS-12 just behind. Chris Ting AUS-5 had some serious pace in 4th, (could be something to do with his new *board HWR and Secret VMG Blade?) Barry Fawkes AUS-2111 won the FE+.
A break for lunch was called so that the a few rescues could be made, including a futile attempt to recover Sean Dayhew’s new 10.7m sail, which is now a permanent feature of the bottom of Botany Bay.

Race 3. The wind was now reading 28knots with a nasty short steep chop, probably something to do with wind against the tide? Sean was now firmly in control, but some of the others were starting to get to grips with the conditions ie Remi Dunoyer FRA-73 on a new Exocet Warp, and Steve Walsh AUS-55 in 5th and 6th respectively. Tim Ford AUS-71 won his first ever race in the FE+ making it 3 different winners in 3 races.

Race 4. We started in full on conditions, but ironically it turned out to be the lightest race of the day, with the wind moderating to what now seemed like a gentle breeze of 18-20knots. Brett and Sean adjusted to the lighter environment the quickest opening up a huge lead at the 1st mark, with Sean showing some great speed and skill to overtake Brett at the top mark and claim another victory.
Racing called for the day, which I think was a blessing for most, as the energy levels and muscle fatigue was starting to become a factor.

Sunday

The forecast of a 10-15knot SE wind was already achieved at 10am, so the general feeling was that we were in for another days of building breezes.
After getting on the water it became evident that although the wind was very consistent, it was osculating and appeared to be bending with the channel on the right hand side of the course.

Brian (RO) set a similar course except you were required to gibe around the finish mark. Again he managed to set a perfect course so the final short reach was not too tight and still allow us to finish 20m of the beach so we could get the maximum amount rest and change sail time if required. Target time was 14-15 mins for the winners.

Unfortunately for Brett, race 5 was a general recall, but not before the fleet had finished the 1st lap…Unlucky.

Race 5 proper got away with Sean and Sam continuing on from where they left off. The real point of interest was Mitch Stepensen AUS-195 (Youth) have this best race every, coming home in 6th, just behind Steve Walsh in 5th.

Race 6 Sam, Brett and Steve Floyd AUS-222 got the 3 best starts on Port, hit the starboard lay line and were rewarded with big leads over the rest of the fleet, and that is how they finished, with Murray Towndrow AUS-720 and Rick Murray AUS-4 sailing really well to lead the rest of the fleet home. Jessica Crisp AUS-15 finally broke Allison winning streak with an 8th place in the open.

Race 7 This race will be remembered for Byron McIlveen AUS-747 nailing 3rd place from the every improving Murray. In the FE+, Barry was starting to really get into the swing of winning races 4,5 and 6, but John Bear finally broke this run winning #7.

Race 8 After 2 days of solid racing and all of the positions established this race was almost not necessary, but it was raced and dominated by the by all the usual suspects.

The maximum of 8 races in perfect medium to high wind conditions combined with warm air and water has made the 2010 FW States one to be remembered.
Results:

Open: Sean O’Brien AUS-120 dominated the event and completely deserved his NSW State title. Sam Parker’s AUS-3 consistency and Brett Morris’s AUS-8 ability to stay within striking awarded them the minor placing.
FE+: Barry Fawkes AUS-2111 proved that his son Sam is not the only champ in the family, with a great victory in the every growing development fleet.
Youth: Mitch Stephensen AUS-195 from QLD is the story of the event, winning the youths with a 6th in one race, only just behind the guns. He beat out Ben Morrell AUS-88 who is back in the game after a being side tracked with small distractions, like exams? I may be wrong, but Ben was spotted on a 10.7m sail in 20knots at one stage and was out training on his BIC Techno after racing. Impressive stuff.

Woman: Allison Shreeve AUS-911proved her class yet again by competing toe to toe in the open division, but must have been happy to have another world class female competitor in Jessica Crisp AUS-15 to compete against. This was Jessica’s first FW event, which she elected to compete in, even though she was in-between RSX events “Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne” (that is 10days of racing in the last 13 days – OUCH).

Grand Masters: Rick Murray AUS-4, Wayne Bowness AUS-98 and Tibor Ferenczy AUS-1.

A huge thanks to Brian Lancy (Water RO), Glen Morral (Shore RO), T2 Tam Ting (Photos), John Hurley (Organisation), www.windsurfnsnow.com.au for their continuing support and all the volunteers who helped launch boats, do rescues etc.

With a relatively lengthy break until Heat 5, which is the warm up event for the Oceanic’s/Nationals at Hawks Nest (30Jan-06Feb2010)

Remember 1 week in beautiful, family friendly Hawks Nest will get you 2 amazing events plus a fantastic holiday.
Please pre-enter on www.fw-australia.com

Photos by Tam Hohnberg.
If anyone would like a larger copy of any of these photos, give Tam a shout on t_hohnber[at]yahoo.com.au

Got to the Photo Gallery here – Photos

Everyone partied on at the Prize Giving on Saturday night held once again at the HN Surf Club. Sam Parker took home the overall season honours as well as the Masters’ division. Check out all the results below with photos.

Results are below with some photos from Sean Dayhew and Adam Craven.

[ Results ] [ Photos ]

We wanted wind, and we got it in spades.  4 races on Saturday before the serious winds made Sunday unsailable.  Sam Parker AUS-3 won on a count back from QLD’s Sean O’Brien AUS-120.  Tristan Perez AUS-093 won the FE+ division.   Photos to come…

[ Results ] [ Report ] [ Photos ]

In the FE+ division there were 3 different winners of races, but Tristan Perez AUS-093 was the most consistent taking the overall victory.  Report and Photos to follow….  

[ Results  ] [ Photos ]

Heat 2

[ Heat 2 - Results ] [ Photos ] [ Report ]