Note
Victorian 2010/2011 Calendar is out.
The results of the Owners Survey are in the Owners Area of the web site

News from Geoff Bonus July 2010

Hi All NSW Sydney 38 Owners

 First of all best of luck and fair sailing to Swish, Eleni, The Goat, J Steel and Zen for the Sydney Gold Coast yacht race starting tomorrow. The forecast and routing shows that this could be a small boat yacht race so do not be suprised if you see a 38 on the podium, as per the 2009 Hobart race. Staying ahead of the Archie 31 with the Tow Truck boys on board may be the big challenge.

 Some important dates...

 AGM Septemeber 15 at RSYS. An agenda and resolutions for voting will be out early next month. Get there if you can and if you cannot please be sure and provide your proxy as we will be voting on sails, crew weight, mastheads etc.

 NSW STATE TITLES 2010

Will be hald at RSYS Fri 29/Sat 30/Sun 31 October. Separate emails will begin late August regardinmg this event but we would like to get an idea of entries asap to assist with planning for the regatta. Let's make this another fabulous event. There will be free berthing in the pond from RSYS, beers and a BBQ on the dock on after racing Friday and lots more. PLease get organised and put this in youir sailing calendar.

 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011

Will be held at Geelong Race Week. Think 18-22 knots of SW and dead flat water every afternoon and you will get the picture. The Vics are arranging this event, the 38 Nationals are the main attraction and they have boats coming from SA and TAS to attend. Early indications are 13 entries PLUS any NSW boats attending.

 IF YOU ARE A POSSIBLE/PROBABLE FOR THIS EVENT PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY RETURN EMAIL ASAP SO I CAN LET THE ORGANISERS PLAN FOR THE EVENT.

This season the focus will be on a smaller number of bigger and better attended One Design events. and a draft calendar will be available early August.

 Cheers all

Geoff Bonus

Ullman Sails Sydney 38 Sprint Series - A day for Challenge    
Tue, 19 Jan 2010

'Lou Abrahams - Challenge'    Andrea Francolini ©

The Victorian Sydney 38 fleet enjoyed another great day of One Design racing at Royal Brighton Yacht Club last Saturday in the third day of the five day Ullman series.

The forecast of freshening southerly winds proved accurate as the 10 knots at the start of the first of race increased to the forecast 20 knots for the start of Race 3 gusting to 25 knots by the end of racing. This gave competitors a good work out of their sail inventory, leeward mark catastrophes and some hairy down wind rides. 'Challenge' recorded both a very near 'Chinese gybe' at one stage with the boom vertical and baring her bottom after surfing down one wave at 16 knots!

Five Sydney 38's faced the starter at 1300 for the first start. '38 South' with John Chatham at the helm gave his new crew a taste of victory by getting away to a great start and showing great speed. However, it was 'Challenge' (Lou Abrahams) which was first to the top mark closely followed by 'Sierra Chainsaw' (Andrew Mollison). Positions did not change on the run but on the next beat 'Audacious' (Greg Clinnick) sailing well, split with the fleet and 'Challenge' sailing the middle course, was caught out by a wind shift, allowing 'Sierra Chainsaw' to gain the lead for the run to the finish. 'Sierra Chainsaw' stretched that lead to win from 'Challenge' followed by 'Audacious'.

Race 2 started with 'Challenge' the only yacht on time for the start and led from start to finish recording a comfortable win after changing to a heavy headsail. 'Sierra Chainsaw' finished second with 'Audacious' again third.

For the start of Race 3, most competitors had changed to their number 4 headsail but 'Challenge' opted to keep her heavy number 1 and practice de powering techniques. With 'holes' in the wind and lots of twist in her sails , her crew felt comfortable with the rig and won without any real threat. However, it was at the leeward mark where all the action occurred. With the wind exceeding 20 knots, crews were being tested.

'Challenge' was lucky to recover from a jib wrapped around the forestay, 'Audacious' 'trawled' her spinnaker and '38 South' simply decided to avoid the carnage and kept sailing north. 'Sierra Chainsaw' survived to finish a good day with another second place whilst 'Orange' (Frank Mc Dermott) sailing conservatively and handling the conditions well finishing third.

With 10 boats entered for next week's Audi Geelong week, the Victoria Sydney 38 fleet is in good shape and we are looking forward to exciting One Design racing on Corio Bay.

by Rowan Simpson

2011 Nationals Geelong (pdf 1.41mb)