ILCA NSW & ACT

The latest edition of Laser World is now available here. This edition features an interview with Lijia Xu the current Olympic Women’s Champion.

If you want to see a really great Laser race – to see how mentally and physically tough Lijia Xu was to win the Olympic gold medal race at Weymouth have a look at the You Tube video of the race (circa 50 minutes) here.

The next round of the NB Sailsports Winter Sprint Series is on at Middle Harbour Amateur Sailing Club on Sunday 4th August. As for each of the four rounds there will be three races. For Middle Harbour the warning signal for the first race will be at 1.00pm.

The Notice of Race for the Series is here.
The Sailing Instructions for Middle Harbour leg are here.

Parking will be limited, so sailors including MHASC members will be encouraged to drop off their boat and gear, and then to park their cars off site. Free parking is available on Parriwi Road, but some distance up the hill. Paid parking is available in the Council Carparks on both sides of Spit Road near the club, or at on-street metres in Parriwi Road.

Trailers can be accommodated in the MHASC Rigging/Parking Area

Food and drinks will be available at the Club both before and after the racing.

It should be a great day of Laser racing so come along and enjoy it.

The Notices of Race are now available for the Victorian Association hosted National Championships. Click the link below to view the notices:

• Open National to held at McCrae Yacht Club from 27 December 2013 to 4th January 2014
• National Masters to be held at Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club from 13 to 17th February 2014

Marlena Berzins on the way to winning Heat 1 of the 4.7′s

We had 44 entries and lots of breeze from the west to kick off the NB Sailsports Winter Sprint at Woollahra Sailing Club on Sunday.

Sean Atherton won each heat in the Standard Rig. Martin White leads the Radials in the series with consistent 2,4,2 results and Hannah Ranger with 2,2,3 leads in the 4.7′s.

You can see a report on the racing on the day written by the winner Sean Atherton here.

The 4.7 sailors in particular did well in what were, at times, pretty testing conditions.

Thanks to Woollahra Sailing Club for hosting these races. Everything ran like clockwork as usual.

The results are here and you can see some photos of the action taken by Peter Heywood here.

The next race day for the series is at Middle Harbour Amateur Sailing Club on Sunday 4th August with the first race start at 1.00pm.

The NBSailSports Sprint Series kicks off 10.00am this Sunday 21st July at Woollahra Sailing Club.

NBSailSports have donated a free trade on a brand new Laser as first prize for the series.

The way the prizes are awarded is:

All entrants earn tickets based on entry and performance.

There will be a prize draw held after racing on the final day of the series at Double Bay.

Tickets for the prize draw will be awarded on the following basis:

•  Each round entry earns a ticket
•  Entering all rounds gets a bonus ticket
•  The top 5 in each class (4/7, Radial & full rig) at each round get a ticket
•  The top 5 overall in each class get a ticket
•  The Youth – as per ISAF criteria in each class get a ticket at each event and overall
•  The Top Female sailor in each event and overall get a ticket

Prizes in addition to some giveaways and smaller round prizes are:

1st Prize: A FREE TRADE on the LASER that you used in the regatta in exchange for a new LASER.
2nd Prize: A new Mast, boom, and top section (choice of rig)
3rd Prize: A new Top and bottom section
4th Prize: A new sail with numbers and country letters (choice of cut)
5th Prize: A new Carbon tiller and CST extension

Terms: The new boat prize includes the boat, foils, turbo kit and ropes, sail and spars. The trade-in must replicate this making a like for like swap – old boat for new boat. The trade in must be the boat you have used across the regatta series. If you have borrowed a boat other arrangements will be made at the discretion of NB Sailsports.

Eligibility: Members of the AST or Australian Sailing Squad or other non-Australian National Team or Olympic representative are NOT eligible for the main prize of the Laser.

The Notice of Race for the series is here.

NBSailsports has a number of Laser charter boats and transport for all major east coast regattas this Summer. These will include:

• NSW Youths
• Sail Sydney
• Sail Melbourne
• Laser Nationals
• Youth Nationals and Optimist Nationals
• Laser Masters

For more information or to make a booking please contact NB at Somersby 0243402223, Woollahra SC 0293717475, RQYS Manly 0402970060 or email info@nbsailsports.com.au

The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club is seeking  a highly motivated Assistant Coach to assist the Head Coach with the Club’s extensive yacht racing, youth development, sail training and cruising programs.

Interested? For more information click here, contact RPAYC’s Sailing Administrator Jenna Walters on 02 9997 1022 or send your résumé to jobs@rpayc.com.au

All Laser sailors are invited to compete in the NB SailSports Winter Sprint Series. This is a series of short races, 3 per day, held at 4 venues Woollahra Sailing Club, Middle Harbour Amateur Sailing Club, Gosford Sailing Club and Double Bay Sailing Club.

This series has been scheduled to coincide with pre-season events already planned at these clubs together with a new one at Middle Harbour.

The format is designed to give everyone the opportunity to get some pre-season racing in a variety of conditions at several venues. The earlier starts at some of the venues is an attempt to catch the best of the winter winds. There will be three races each day total 12 with 9 to count towards the series result. This means you can sail in three of the four events and still get a decent score.

NB SailSports are the sponsor of the series and will provide some great prizes.

As well as providing prizes NB SailSports will have their van at the venues to assist sailors to upgrade their gear. New ropes sails spars and repair kits will be available with Mitch Buckingham able to give advice and provide assistance. They can also arrange bookings for hull touch-ups and repairs and of course take orders for new boats if your old one is not up to scratch.

The Notice of Race is here.

This year Double Bay Sailing Club are running a season kick off regatta on 7th and 8th September.

The Regatta will comprise three races each day with the Saturday start at 12.00noon and Sunday 11.00am. Entry which can be placed at the Club is $40 or $20 for sailors under 21.

DBSC  have an arrangement with Double Bay Public School for trailer and car parking. This arrangement and race details are in the Notice of Race here.

The RPAYC is hosting its annual Ice Breaker Series this winter starting on the
19^th of May 2013.

You can see the Notice of Race here or contact Sailing Administrator Jenna Walters by phone on 02 9998 3762 or email jennaw@rpayc.com.au.

On 23rd April  the International Laser Class Association ILCA issued a statement covering the ongoing dispute over Laser licensing. The statement outlines actions taken by ILCA and the International Sailing Federation ISAF to ensure the continued supply of Laser boats and equipment and retention of the Laser as an international and Olympic class. You can see the ILCA statement in full here.

Co-incident with the ILCA statement ISAF issued its own complimentary statement which you can see here.

The following message is from James Stewart from Lane Cove 12′ Laser Fleet

“I just wanted to get a handle on how our Arnold Metcalf stacks up against other laser sailors in NSW/ACT or even Australia, He just completed another season with us here in a Radial at Lane Cove & started in 18 races & completed 13 of them.
He was out quite a few times in winds of 20 knots + and finished 3rd in the Radial club Championship.
Not so remarkable you might say, but Arnold is 84 years old being born on 12/12/28. He started sailing at Lane Cove in a Laser around 1975-76, so he was a late starter at about age 48.
It would be good to find out if there are any others of his age sailing.  Maybe he is the eldest ?”

One guy who might qualify except he is a Yank is Harry Heckel who completed his second circumnavigation at age 89.

Then there is the “Cheat the nursing home die on your Laser” man. A mere pup at 64 you can see his blog here and his 50 rules of Laser sailing here.

Woollahra Sailing Club has purchased Laser 4.7 rigs for youth sailors for use on club boats or for loan to members who have a Laser in the family. Jakub, the new Club Coach, is leading youth training with an active youth classes after school and weekends to fit youth availability. Youth members are encouraged to join the youth group in the programs.

The Club will;

• Run a weekday after school coaching and race Sunday program starting in May and running for 8 weeks.
• Have two school holidays 4 day camps which are now fully booked.
• Run winter sailing on Sunday at 10.00am starting on 16th June.
• Run morning (light weather) practice races on Sundays a.m.

Contact Woollahra Sailing Club if you are interested.

Telephone 9371 9805
Email sail@woollahrasailingclub.com.au

The dates and venues for next season’s events are set. You can lock these into your own and your club’s calendars. There is a print friendly version of the event list which includes national and international events here.

Online entries for these events are now open. Just click the Enter or Join tab and select the event.

We are always looking out for good venues for these events so if your club would is interested to host a regatta in the future please let us know.

The South Pacific Masters event is coming on 12th to 15th July at Royal Queensland Yachts Squadron.

This is a great winter event.

The Notice of Race, which includes accommodation information, is linked in our Events Page and you can see it here.

The NoR says that there is limited camping available on the RQYS site. We are assured by Kerry Waraker that this is still the case though you will need to book through the RQYS on 07 3396 8666.

There are lots of accommodation options convenient to RQYS and there are some charter boats available for sailors who want to fly in and fly out for the four day event.