Twilight and Offshore Racing

Our Thursday Twilight racing is entering its 12th season and its never looked better.

We are consistently getting close to 20 boats on the water every Thursday doing what most people must refer to as “being very lucky”.

Yes we are very lucky to enjoy the magnificent Gold Coast weather every Thursday afternoon as we race our boats up and down the Broadwater. The comraderie amongst most of the boats is sensational and its great to give your friends a wave as they pass you (maybe only half a wave if they’re passing you and taking your position in the race) :)

The 2018/19 season has concluded and the Thursday Twilight champion for the year is none other than Russell Birse sailing his magnificent yacht Xvitesse. He, along with his crew, are consistent winners over many years and are always hard to beat. Russell has been doing Thursday Twilights almost since its inception 11 years ago so its great to see the championship go to someone that has supported the series for a long time.

We’re now into the winter months and that means the occasional jacket comes out for warmth, fortunately not too often. So far this series it’s the smaller boats that have been showing the way with a few new entries joining our fleet and having good success. I’m sure the larger boats will certainly have their day as the weather and tide conditions are different every week.

The great thing about Twilights is that its very safe. We mostly race in the Broadwater which means its a great way to get introduced to yacht racing in a slightly more relaxed atmosphere than the serious weekend offshore races.

So, if you’re up for it.......contact me, and lets get you onto a boat.

See you on the water. Cheers, Ray

OFFSHORE SAILING

The offshore fleet are looking forward to the new season that’s upon us with an expanded and exciting offshore calendar ahead. First up was the annual Mooloolaba Marathon on 3 rd -5 th May with the fleet encountering the most challenging event in the 4 years to date that we have been running this 2-leg 168nm return offshore passage race.

With a 5pm Friday start, the fleet encountered light head winds in leg 1 to Mooloolaba and took 20-23 hours to complete the 84nm leg, including 2 yachts from the fleet of 6 retiring. The return trip saw increased winds that had shifted to the SE to provide head winds all the way home as well. Rod West’s Another Painkiller took out the line and handicap honours double on both the leg north and the return leg south, edging out a highly competitive Blunderbuss, led by Danielle Hutcheson with Glenn Burrell’s Wildflower2 retiring after Leg 1 with mainsail damage, but still finishing 3 rd overall. It truly was a marathon effort with only 2 of the original 7 entries completing both legs of the race.

In a coup for the Southport Yacht Club, we have secured the hosting rights as the finishing club for the 1,400nm Category One, Solo Tasman Yacht Challenge for the next edition of this 4-yearly event in 2022. This shift of the finishing club from Mooloolaba to Southport is the first time since the race started in 1970, that it won’t finish at Mooloolaba. The Solo Tasman Yacht Race is the second oldest solo yacht race in the world and I have to acknowledge the great support behind the scenes by Ray McMahon, Drew Jones and Simon Turpin in helping pitch and secure this opportunity.

As your Offshore Division Rep for the past four seasons, I am really proud of the fact that SYC will now host the finish of one of the most challenging category one ocean races in the Southern Hemisphere. Look out for more on this as we look to increase the number of SYC entrants in the 2022 edition of the race (marking the 50-year anniversary).

On a personal note I competed in the 2018 edition of the race, representing SYC with Ocean Gem. It’s a fantastic personal, mental and physical challenge and I am excited at the prospect that we can grow the fleet for the next race from 6 in 2018 to closer to 20 in 2022. While the race can be sailed safely with thorough training and preparation, that fact that Ocean Gem was the only one of five yachts that initially left Australia in the same week in March 2018 to cross The Tasman Sea for the qualifying trip, that actually completed the crossing and made it to the April start line for the race back. The other 4 yachts all turned back after suffering damage to rigs, rudders and electronics, reinforcing that just getting to the start line can be a bigger challenge that the race itself.

David Hows Offshore Division Representative