In Club News, Sailing News

 

Round 2 of the NSW Sabot State Championships was held at the Drummoyne Sailing Club on the weekend of the 9th and 10th of February. In the largest gathering of the fleet since the National Titles were held here in 2013, 40 senior (1-up) and 12 junior (2-up) competed for the title.

 

NSW Southern and Northern zones and Queensland were represented with boats competing from Darling Point (QLD), Drummoyne, Gosford, Lake Macquarie, Lane Cove, Queens Lake, Vaucluse and Wangi Wangi clubs.

 

Saturday afternoon’s first race (heat 7) was conducted in a shifty and faltering Westerly breeze with line honours going to Darby Jones sailing Speed Demon from Lake Macquarie sailing club. The handicap winner was Christian Spencer sailing Silverfish also from Lake Macquarie. In the junior division Poker Face sailed by Kelson and Laken Eaton crossed first with Zara Coates and Bayley Mayne winning the handicap.

 

Soon followed heat 8 when the wicked wind of the west wound up to a gusty 15 to 20kt. The more experienced Sabot pilots took this in their stride – a great opportunity to demonstrate their advanced sailing skills. A certain amount of havoc occurred with some of the newer sailors – some requiring a tow back to the beach and it was decided not to sail heat 9 that afternoon. Support boat drivers as well as spectator boats all joined forces to ensure that everyone returned to the beach safely with a story to tell. The scratch winner was again Darby Jones with handicap honours going to our own Clancy Dwyer sailing Stinger. 2-up winner and, in fact, the only boat to finish was again the Eaton siblings in Poker Face.

 

Sunday morning produced ideal weather for any water sport apart from sailing with the river completely glassed out. A lot of fun was had swimming from the beach and jumping off the sea wall but the AP flag hung limply from the flagpole for a long, long time. Eventually, a flicker of a Southerly teased the fleet out on to the water. Icy poles were delivered to the fleet to provide some relief from the hot conditions. After a false start, heat 9 finally kicked off at around 10 to 2 nearly 3 hours after the scheduled start time. Despite shifts and holes, the race was completed successfully with none of Saturday’s turmoil. Scratch winner was Cameron Burt again from Lake Macquarie sailing Tiger Bite with handicap prize going to Georgia Silverton from Vaucluse sailing Havoc. The 2-up scratch winner was Why So Serious sailed by Velayus Wynne and Simon Clayton-Adams from Drummoyne, handicap went to Zara and Bailey in Synergy.

 

With only a few minutes to go before the 3pm deadline for last race of the day, heat 10 started at 14:56 in a shifty Easterly. The breeze was light but enough to get around the course. Cameron Burt triumphed again with Christian Spencer taking handicap first place. In the 2-ups, Poker Face did it again and Zara and Bailey again took out the handicap prize.

 

Overall results made Cameron Burt in Tiger Bite the well-deserved State Champion with Jacob West in Carbon Copy taking handicap first place. In the Junior Division the unstoppable Eatons in Poker face were runaway winners with James Medlan and Eve Doolan winning the handicap competition representing Drummoyne Sailing Club.

 

A big thanks to the many, many volunteers who made the weekend possible as well as to Warwick Plumstead, our Junior President, and his hard-working team.

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