OK enthusiasts have again participated in a weekend of fun but hard racing. This time however a road trip was required because this weekend the racing was at the Big River Sailing Club in Northern New South Wales.
The Big River Sailing Club is situated on the banks of the Clarence River surrounded by the cane fields of Harwood Island. The club is quite small with a membership of just over 50, and while it’s a very family orientated club, the sailing is taken seriously and the courses are always a challenge. The river conditions too often add a unique degree of difficulty. That members take a very active role in the running of not only the races but the activities associated with the club creates a great dynamic within the members and adds to the warm atmosphere experienced by guests.
While in previous years the club has held an exclusive Laser-only regatta, last year OKs were invited to sail with them. One of the Big River Sailing Club’s OK sailors this year coerced other sailors from a number of other clubs to participate, and this expanded the regatta to three other classes: Sabres, Impulses and OKs. The Sabres and Impulses were no shows but the OKs arrived in force with a final fleet of 15 racing. Due to the distance most participants took time off on the Friday to make the drive of around 650 km; quite a commitment. But then again, OK sailors are a rare breed.
Saturday morning saw the campers wander out of their tents and slowly make ready for the days events. Club members were already there to provide a breakfast of cereal and coffee. By 1000, the club was beginning to come alive with meals being prepared, entries being taken for the regatta, people launching rescue boats and others setting out tables and chairs. Boats were in various states of being rigged while conversations were being conducted elsewhere throughout the grounds.
At the 1300 race briefing, the commodore welcomed everyone and laid out the law: what happens on the water stays on the water! The race officer then proceeded to explain his convoluted course to all the skippers. The river makes a full triangle course impossible. This means two things: a) more marks are required to be set; and b) the course gets pretty interesting. Navigating becomes essential and it’s easy to make a mistake.
The start for the first race was set for 1330 but ended up a bit later due to the length of the briefing. One good thing about racing on a river is that you are never far from the start line. The first start was tight ― as it always is with OKs ― and it was probably just as well the race officers were lenient with line breakers as a lot of boats misjudged the current and found themselves in all sorts of strife. Still, the start was fair and, as is always the case, the cream rose to the top. The wind was a nice 12 – 15 knots at most, enough to get most out hiking.
The first race saw Tim Davies and Darren Hunt clear out from the fleet and fight out for the win on their own. Tim eventually took the win from Darren and Peter Robinson having a well deserved third with his great off wind speed, “mind you it helped that the down wind leg was the longest and against the river current!”
The second race was held directly after the last boat finished race one. As before, the start was tight. This time, people were giving the current more respect. The race consisted of the same course, but with the windward mark being extended out further. This made for a better beat as well as testing the legs more. It also made the down wind leg even longer. So, with the tide fully flowing out, strategies for avoiding the worse of the flow were critical.
Once again Tim Davies took out first with his brother, Gareth Wells, showing great form taking out second. Peter Wallace took third place comfortably.
With the weather being perfect and still plenty of daylight left it was decided to go for a third race This time Tim Davies came second to his brother Gareth Wells who sailed a very good race. Third place went to Darren Hunt.
What a pleasure to be able to pull the boats out of the water and onto the clubs grounds. No de-rigging was required, just a quick wash down and check of the gear before throwing the covers over. Showers were hot and plentiful so people quickly returned to the Club’s porch with beers in hand ready to talk over the day’s fun.
This year marked the Big River Sailing Club introduction to “the Rum Bucket”: an event that is still new to the NSW association but fast becoming an accepted tradition.
The beauty about camping at the club is that it avoids having to drive. The end result was that much “Rum Bucketing” took place by a select few. This was offset by the club catering crew, who put on an excellent supper with lots of food. In fact, it was a credit to them that they actually managed to fill the OK lads.
It was to be only expected that three party animals were still up and carrying on at 03:00. In fact, they were very kind to ensure all who were camping knew this by gaining access to the Club’s portable air horn and megaphone thus keeping everyone posted on their progress.
The club has since decided that they would lock up all loud noisy devices for the next time!
Day two saw another leisurely start with the Club putting on a good cooked breakfast for all the campers. This set everyone up for the 0930 briefing and 1000 start.
In the first race, with the wind light from the west, there was an urgency to have the proceedings underway and finished before the sea breeze would come in and kill the wind. Start was a tough one: right in against the shore from the club. The tide was setting up river, and racers were again being forced prematurely over the line. This time though, there was no room to the right of the line to set up for a starboard lay line start as the river bank was in the way, just to make it a bit more difficult. The course was to be a simple figure eight with two laps and the wind was light. After the first two marks the boats were running against the tide. Most of the fleet headed directly across the river to the next mark and were in the strongest part of the current. Some of the tail-enders decided to sail along the near bank to avoid the worse of the current with the idea of working up parallel to the next mark before reaching across the river to it. This worked well, and for a while Bill Tyler in particular showed all how to do it. Unfortunately, the wind just died away even before Bill could make the third mark and all racers found themselves slowly sailing backwards, despite still making way through the water. Sensibly the race officers cancelled and all boats went back in to the shore for lunch and to give the sea breeze time to fill in.
With the breeze coming in comfortably from the East the Race officers sent racers out on the water again, this time with a new course and a goal of two races.
Race four saw what was to be another typically tight start, and with the nice 12-15 knot breeze the OKs quickly made their way around the course. There were plenty of shifts to contend with and a definite wind curve to take into account when crossing the river. All legs were short, and plenty of mark rounding to test skills. Race four saw Tim Davies winning his third race with Peter Robinson taking out second and Glenn Yates pulling out a creditable third.
Race five was held straight after Race four and all the boats headed back to the start eager to have another go. By now the wind had set in to a steady breeze, with a bit more to the north but the tide was still on the change so no allowance required. This time, Tim Davies won his fourth race, with what was becoming typical of his minimum mistakes technique. Glenn Williams pulled out a second with Eddie O’Donnell coming third.
With the sailing being so good there was still plenty of time. The OKs requested a sixth race to be held. This was readily agreed to by the race officers and again the boats assembled for the last start. By now the current had begun to flow out as the tide change took effect, catching a few out on the start. The race was mostly a soldiers course requiring very few tacks and just out and out boat speed required. Eddie O’Donnell came out on top with an excellent win, followed by Glenn Williams and Tim Davies pulling in a third.
Overall, the final results were: 1st Tim Davies; 2nd Gareth Wells; 3rd Glenn Williams third. Eddie O’Donnell took out the travellers trophy as he typically has a mammoth task every time he goes sailing, not only getting his own boat ready but also his two sons as well. Frank Prater took out the sportsman award for his consistently good manners and much improved skills.
With the racing being so good and the club being so friendly it would be fair to say that the sailors will be making the journey again next year only this time the talk is to bring more families up and take a bit more time off to enjoy the beautiful area of the Northern Rivers.
|
Place |
Sail No |
Boat Name |
Skipper |
Sers Score |
Race 6 |
Race 5 |
Race 4 |
Race 3 |
Race 2 |
Race 1 |
|
1 |
732 |
Dune Buggy |
T Davies |
6.0 |
[3.0] |
1.0 |
1.0 |
2.0 |
1.0 |
1.0 |
|
2 |
742 |
Mako |
G Wells |
16.0 |
5.0 |
4.0 |
[5.0] |
1.0 |
2.0 |
4.0 |
|
3 |
719 |
Dilligaf !! |
G Williams |
22.0 |
2.0 |
2.0 |
7.0 |
[7.0] |
6.0 |
5.0 |
|
4 |
734 |
Cracked pepper |
E O'Donnell |
23.0 |
1.0 |
3.0 |
[14.0] |
6.0 |
5.0 |
8.0 |
|
5 |
7 |
A Fine Line |
G Yates |
24.0 |
4.0 |
6.0 |
3.0 |
4.0 |
[8.0] |
7.0 |
|
5 |
474 |
Smash Skippy |
D Hunt |
24.0 |
8.0 |
[9.0] |
4.0 |
3.0 |
7.0 |
2.0 |
|
7 |
736 |
Agent Provokateur |
P Robinson |
28.0 |
6.0 |
[10.0] |
2.0 |
8.0 |
9.0 |
3.0 |
|
8 |
716 |
Natural Selection |
P Wallace |
31.0 |
9.0 |
8.0 |
[9.0] |
5.0 |
3.0 |
6.0 |
|
9 |
726 |
Bundy |
P Lynch |
38.0 |
10.0 |
5.0 |
10.0 |
9.0 |
4.0 |
[16.0F] |
|
10 |
692 |
Dining with devil |
B Tyler |
44.0 |
7.0 |
[12.0] |
6.0 |
10.0 |
10.0 |
11.0 |
|
11 |
457 |
Hi-Je-Tarn ii |
C Lynch |
53.0 |
[14.0] |
11.0 |
8.0 |
12.0 |
13.0 |
9.0 |
|
12 |
695 |
Pale Rider |
T O'Donnell |
57.0 |
12.0 |
7.0 |
12.0 |
13.0 |
[14.0] |
13.0 |
|
13 |
685 |
Once More Dear Legs |
J O'Donnell |
58.0 |
13.0 |
13.0 |
11.0 |
[15.0F] |
11.0 |
10.0 |
|
14 |
660 |
Beaver Fever |
J O'Donnell |
61.0 |
11.0 |
14.0 |
13.0 |
11.0 |
12.0 |
[14.0] |
|
15 |
679 |
In the Black |
F Prater |
75.0 |
16.0S |
16.0C |
15.0 |
16.0C |
[16.0F] |
12.0 |
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