Flying Fifteens

As any accountant will tell you: “the numbers don’t lie”. So, after 53 club races plus regattas pre-season, in January, the State Championships and the Tally Hobbs Regatta, you would have to say there’s been a few miles under the keel in the last 8 months. Add into this equation an average fleet size of 14 boats and the recipe for some great one design racing is complete. By now, the brains of the more mathematically focused will be grinding out the rest of the vital information like the amount of tacks per race and if the number of times a kite sheet goes under the boat is proportional to the quantity of shiraz splashed around the night before.

Lockdowns have wreaked havoc on the social program with, at the time of writing, the curry night being a casualty from mid-April and has now been re-scheduled to late May.

The end of the summer season allows us to pause and consider how blessed we are to be sailing on this side of our island with the isolation it affords. The recent State Championships held in Geraldton assembled the largest fleet of Flying Fifteens in the southern hemisphere this year with the regatta finishing just a couple of days before Cyclone Seroja whistled through the region.

Our thanks go to all the race officers and officials who make our racing possible and run a great program. Considering the race numbers quoted above, the amount of work they do in pulling flags, keeping times and moving marks is obvious and much appreciated by all sailors.

The winter series ( Applecross Cup ) starts on the 23rd of May. Images courtesy of Des from Wind Passion

Black Magic

Blue Blitz

Ruckus Bus

Going Gonzo Rush

The last few months of sailing have been quite exciting as WA recovered well from the wave of restrictions, with many 125s getting a flash makeover and hitting the water again beautifully.

We ended the year with 7 South of Perth boats travelling to Esperance to compete in the 39th National 125 State Championships, although this was meant to be the National Championship the turnout was still terrific. We all had great fun, even with a great white wandering past our sailing area one morning. Needless to say, that afternoons racing was cancelled and we took that time to explore some of the beautiful Esperance coastline. Racing was resumed the next morning to finish of the regatta. Our SoPYC 125s placed well with:

1st Ryan William Sherburn and Kimberly Lanter on Rush, 3rd Ferry Pascal Lanter and Tessa Canci on Blue Blitz and 4th Felix Browning and Mitch Stone on Black Magic.

After these states we headed into the year quite slowly with the Keating family, on Ruckus Bus and Going Gonzo, undoubtedly carrying the team, showing up nearly every Sunday and being the only SoPYC 125s at Rumble in the Reach at East Fremantle YC.

The next regatta was the HMAS Perth regatta, where after a lengthy sail over to Nedlands we finished 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th, with Black Magic, Blue Blitz, Going Gonzo and Ruckus Bus.

The Three of a Kind regatta was a bit hectic, with the start line packed with Flying Ants and Sabres the unavoidable collisions were painful, but as the gun went off the 125s shot in front, only to realise we did not know the course. This resulted in an interesting sail around to many different wrong marks, and finally a tragic 3rd place for the 125 team which included Ben and Mitch on Black Magic and Kimbi and Tessa on Blue Blitz.

We finished off the season with the 40th State Championships over the Easter long weekend. This was held SoPYC, a long-awaited event since the cancellation of last year’s States. We had a total of 21 boats, 6 of which were from South Perth. We took out some good spots including;

1st Ryan Sherburn and Jack Preston on Whateva, 2nd overall & 1st consistency, Ferry Lanter and Tessa Canci on Blue Blitz and 1st female, Georgette Keating and Calyn Reid on

Going Gonzo.

Along with these the Keating family was also awarded the Seaton Family trophy for their outstanding contributions to the 125s over the past year, we thank you guys again! Emily Jones was also awarded the Rooke Family Award for all her hard work contributing to the 125s over the years and for making these States run so smoothly and end with a bang! We thank you again Emily!

Finally, the season was wrapped up with the winners of the championship and consistency racing both taken out by Georgette Keating and Calyn Reid on Going Gonzo.

Overall, this season has been good fun and we look forward to the winter series ahead of us and the 21/22 season!

If you are interested in trying a 125 out don’t hesitate to contact the 125 Association. We are always looking to expand our community!

CRUISING SECTION BATTLES ON ALL FRONTS!

Due to the Covid restrictions our Cruising Section has not been able to enjoy the great events as robustly as 2019 but hopefully this will begin to change as the vaccine and other measures take effect.

In March, our SoPYC was raided by the motley Cockburn Power Boat Club pirates on the lawns of our club. With much gusto, grunting, slashing and yelling the marauding pirates finally overcame the battered but still enthusiastic SoPYC pirates.

It was a great afternoon and evening for all, followed by celebratory and commiseration drinks and a feast fit for royalty! The coveted Pirates’ Chest with some added treasures in it, now resides with CPBC until another club declares a raid on them next year.

Our committee is working hard to provide more events for the rest of this year. Our next event is for next month, the long weekend of June 5 – 7. The CS has again planned our annual trip to Mindarie. It is a fabulous long weekend and your Cruisy Scribe’s favourite event. All the details are available in “Coffee Pointers” if you would like to join us whether you have a boat or not and all members are welcomed.

Please continue to check your “Coffee Pointers” for notifications of our upcoming events.