ATTENTION SAILORS!!
Tomorrow’s forecast is for 40 degrees with less than 5 knots breeze. Rather than have our sailors wait around for wind in high temperatures, the committee has decided to cancel racing.
We will return next week in hopefully better conditions, and the two Handicap series races will be rescheduled at a later date.
LBYC sailing returns on 11th January 2025 at 1.30pm with the first two races of the 'B' Handicap series. Bring your boats or just come along and watch. All welcome.
Sail training will return on 8th February.
Lake Bonney Yacht Club held their morning Sail Training session and Club Championship racing heats 9 and 10 on Saturday.With 1 lady participant attending our 10 o’clock sail training session it was a great sail in a warm, ( well, maybe hot) 10 to 15knot SW wind. The wind was fast and enjoyable with grinning and chatter a plenty when unrigging and washing down the Pacer gear.1:30: Time for racing. With the RO putting the course on the board to start race heat 9 in a building but hot (38 degree) 15 to 20 knot SW wind. Racing went well for most of the starters albeit Vanessa's ILCA radial having a spectacular capsize on the first downwind leg and requiring a tow back to club via the race safety boat. The rest of the fleet had a blast with long windward leg works and quick downwind legs. The Contender boys were able to stretch their boats speed to their limits and swapped the lead position regularly. The Aeros were going quickly with Kirsten using a smaller #5 rig and both were on the pace, even though being treacherously close to disaster going square downwind. The remaining ILCA Radial with Joel at helm sailed well to be only minutes on corrected time behind the leaders.Result for Heat 1 (9): 1st Contender, “Pushing Limits” Geoff Ling, 2nd: Contender “Bandit” Beau DeLaine and 3rd: Aero 7 “Just” Stephen Thomas.For the start of Heat 2 (race 10) the course was unchanged, but the wind had increased to be up around the Club's upper wind strength. The strong 20 to 25 knot SW and squally gusts had a couple of skippers deciding not to race leaving 4 boats competing. With the bigger Contender boats streaking away and reveling in the strong wind the Aeros battled away, going ok upwind but being very cautious downwind doing granny gybes to be conservative and avoiding capsize. The Ling helmed Contender had a lucky escape from damage when working hard and fast up the last leg, a side stay pin popped, ending his race. This left 3 boats to finish the last upwind leg home.Results heat 2 (10): 1st“Bandit”, 2nd: “Just” and 3rd Aero5 “Sea Breeze” Kirsten Thomas.Thanks to Jean Holdernesse and Fred Eshman for their safety boat duties and competitor assistance on the course. Some great camaraderie and stories and laughs of race events over a couple of cold drinks were enjoyed under the aircon afterwards. Next weekend, Saturday 14th December, will see a resail of Heat 8 “A” series handicap and a Pacesetter race. The pacesetter races a couple of weekends ago were a great fun and success so hope to see all boats there again.After Saturday's racing, the club's Christmas tea and get together will be held, before breaking the racing season until the 11th of January.
Some more photos from Saturday’s sailing, with thanks to Jean.
Great to have Peter and Alby from Meningie Sailing Club with us in their Tasar. You’re welcome back any time!
Peter and Alby are legends.
Lake Bonney YC held their programmed Championship series heats 7 & 8 on Saturday 23rd November.
The day started with sail training at 10.00 in the morning and new sailors learning some skills in a beautiful warm 15 knot northwest wind. A lot of fun was had by all.
When the racing started at 1.30 the wind had swung to the west and cranked in at 20 knots raising a lot of dust on the flats and light rain showers. The first race, heat 7, got away with 8 starters in this wind which slowly ran out with heavy rain showers over the course and doldrum conditions formed in areas for a short time. Light conditions swinging to the east prevailed for the last leg of the race. All boats returned to shore for a new course to be set for heat 8 with a few of the skippers opting to not restart which left 5 starters for heat 8. Conditions were light 5 knot southerly which held the boats very close together until the last mark rounding, and this had 4 boats lined up like restarting. The last work home turned into a westerly wind shift creating a dogleg last beat and positions stayed close over the finish. The welcome and much needed rain came again whilst unrigging and stayed for the rest of the day.
Race Results.
Heat 7: 1st: Contender “Bandit” B Delaine, 2nd: ILCA7 “Blade” C Stevens and 3rd: Aero7 “Just” S Thomas.
Heat 8: 1st: “Just”, 2nd: Aero6 “Sea Breeze” K Thomas, 3rd “Blade”