We have received some correspondence from Ed and Olie at the Worlds in LA:

Race one was held in 5 to 8 knots which did not seem to suit the Australians. The second race, however, was held in 20 knots and big waves which saw the Aussie fleet progress upwards through the rankings. Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry took out the race, with Grant Geddes and Dan Wilsdon in 2nd, Ed and Olie very happy with a 30th.

Today started off with quite a lot of fog, however it lifted in time for Race three which was held in 15 - 18 knots, again with some pretty big waves (making for some hairy rides, apparently). Results can be found at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club.

(It might also interest you to know that the coast guard ribs have big machine guns and have been pulling boats over for sailing on the wrong side of the channel!)

The first official regatta took place on the weekend, being the Brass Monkey regatta at Sydney Flying Squadron. This also formed round 1 of the NSW 14ft Grand Prix.

Having 8 14s entered made us the biggest fleet at the regatta which has hopefully raised the profile of the class in NSW. We were in Division 2, with a couple of 16's, several 12s, some 49ers and a couple of Flying Dutchman.

Whilst the sun was turned on for day 1, the wind was not, with observations of "Calm 0" and "3 - 5 knots" during the major portion of the day's racing. As a result, a number of boats were DNF and the race committee were forced to postpone the second race to Sunday. The wind (or lack thereof) still seemed to suit Robert Vickery and Wayne Frankholme ("Carbon Concepts") who came 3rd, with Stewart Vickery and Justin Woods ("Argo") in 11th and the other 14s retiring early to the comfort of the bar. Free beers from the sponsors, Blue Tongue Larger, and an afternoon BBQ were a suitable end to the day and a great way to catch up with all the 14 sailors.

Sunday was looking to be similar to Saturday with a forecast 5 - 10 knots. At the start of the first race, the wind died then started to come in from behind us, resulting in a nice little kite ride to the "top mark". A shortened race found Robert Vickery and Wayne Frankholme 6th, Alan vickery and Andrew Wilson ("WAM") 7th, Oliver Merz and Ben Hillman ("Budgie Smuggler") 8th and Stewart Vickery and Justin Woods 12th. Unfortunately, David McCrudden and Kate Cooper ("Dukes") missed the gate and ended up heading home early.

As the afternoon progressed the breeze continued to increase with some more interesting sailing for all. Alan Vickery and Andrew Wilson progressed through the fleet to post a 6th and a 2nd. Similarly, Stewart Vickery and Justin Woods seemed to have a better day with a 5th and 10th. Consistency for Oliver Merz and Ben Hillman in 12th and 11th, and Robert Vickery and Wayne Frankholme in 9th and 9th, resulting in an overall win in the 14s for Robert Vickery.

The weather over the weekend also provided a nice introduction for Tomas Stewart, in one of his first outings in his new Boat, "Toucan Tango". It was also excellent to see Martin and Murray Mulholland ("Redback") back out on the water after few appearances last season.

Big thanks to the Vickerys for coming up from Melbourne and helping to boost the size of the 14 presence at the regatta. Also thanks to the Sydney Flying Squadron for hosting the regatta and ex-14 sailor Ed Blackman for organising it. We are hoping the Brass Monkey regatta will be as sucessful next year.

The Sydney Flying Squadron has announced that the Brass Monkey regatta will be held on the 12th and 13th August 2006. This will be the first regatta in the NSW 14ft Grand Prix. Event details, NOR, and online entry are available on the Squaddy Website. Please make sure you get your entries in for this. More information about the Grand Prix will be available shortly.

Woollahra Sailing Club are hosting the "Cock of the Harbour" marathon around the Harbour on Saturday 29th July. This will be a good warm up for the Brass Monkeys and all NSW 14s are encouraged to attend. The NOR can be found here.

2006 State Titles Report

Report, results and photos of the successful 2006 NSW State Titles can be found here.

Other News

• Apologies to Justin Woods and Luke of "Loose Unit" for failing to mentioning that they also represented the ACT at the recent Victorian State Titles.
  
• Shigemi has sold Toucan Tango to Thomas Stewart who's father used to sail 14's and visited us at the Squaddy on Sunday. He hopes to have the rig sorted soon and have a few sails over winter, before joining us at the Squaddy next season.
  
• Paul Carpenter and Paul Clark have also sold Thunderbird 1 to Neil Halls who also came down to check out the States and will also be sailing at the squaddy next season.
  
• 4 - 5 NSW / ACT 14's will be heading to Bateman's Bay for their regatta this weekend. Those who went last year really enjoyed it and we're all looking forward to it.
  
• The last racing day at the Squaddy for this season is Saturday 29th and we race with all fleets. It would be great to have a good turn out of 14's for this race.

BYRA Marathon

The BYRA Marathon is on again this year, Sun 30th April. Great fun race, Le-mans start at the North end of Pittwater then down to Lion Island and back. Info and entry form now available.

Batemans Bay ANZAC Regatta

NOR now available here, we should have enough boats to create our own division so don't miss it. 1pm Start on Saturday and 11am on Sunday.

Sun 26 March - SFS

The BOM actually had it right with their "we have no idea" forecast (SE/NE 8-13kts) which meant we got some practice in the light. We had a gate start and The Muppet Show (Ed and Paul) got away from us pretty quickly after the start. Back in the "classics", Dukes (Dave and Kate) and Test Eagle (Ant and Jamie) were pretty close throughout the race. A couple of good decisions on Dukes and they pulled away from Test Eagle to secure their first win in the classics. It was great to see Ant back on the water and we hope to see him every week now he has a new main and new mast stump.

Kate Cooper - "Dukes"

2006 State Titles

Documents and online entry now available here

Also check out the new woldwide I14 forum here

Sun 19 March - SFS

With Ed and Olie in Melbourne, representing NSW and ACT, respectively, at the Victorian state titles, we had two boats down at the Squaddy. We had a 10kt SE'er and as the course we set involved some pretty shy reaching, we had some close fun racing. Redback (Marty and Murray Mulholland) came out on top, with Dukes (Dave and Kate) not far behind (Kate very excited by perfect kite drops and pretty good gybes!).
Next Sunday the 12's are at Abbotsford for their state titles and Specky and Leasa are having a week off. We will still race (gate start) and it would be good to see as many people as possible as the state titles are not far off.

Kate Cooper - "Dukes"

Recent racing reports

Oops, Kate wrote this and a comprehensive report after the nationals and it took me two months to post it - sorry Kate.

Autumn Sprint Series 19th Feb

A 10 - 15 kt Easterly provided for really close racing between the 4 14's and 3 12's on Sunday. In the first short race (2 x WW-LW), Budgie Smuggler (Oliver and Ben) were impressive, holding a lead the entire way round the course. Ghost (Martin and Jamie) were well placed in second for most of the race, however on the last downwind leg, The Muppet Show (Ed and Paul) managed to squeeze past them. This was quite an effort as Martin and Jamie had not sailed together previously and it was Martin's first time on Ghost.

The second race was shortened prior to the start (1 x WW-LW) making the racing extremely close, with several position changes throughout the race. The Muppet Show came in ahead of a serious tustle between Budgie Smuggler, Dukes and Ghost. Dukes (Dave and Kate) were thrilled to pass Budgie Smuggler downwind, however, Budgie's superior gybes saw them sneak accross the finish line just in front of Dukes. During this leg, both boats managed to pass Ghost, which unfortunately went for a swim. So the final positions for race 2 were 1-The Muppet Show (Ed and Paul), 2-Budgie Smuggler (Oliver and Ben), 3-Dukes (Dave and Kate), 4-Ghost (Martin and Jamie).

It was great fun and the short race format was again enjoyed by all. It was also really good to see Oliver and Ben come up from ACT for a sail and we hope to see more of then (and the other ACT boats) in the future. We have also heard that Oliver has sold "Noo Wedgie" to someone in Bateman's Bay, so hopefully we will see him sailing it at the Bateman's Bay regatta, to which 4 14's are heading on 22nd and 23rd of April. It would be great to have as many 14's as possible down there for the regatta, so have a look at the calendar and follow the links to the club if you're interested. Otherwise, see you this Sunday for another set of sprints!

Kate - Dukes


Belated 2006 Hervey Bay Nationals Report

Invitation and Race 1 (31st Dec).
Sailing in 20kts and a fair bit of chop provided an interesting start to the nationals where each splash felt like "getting a bucket of warm piss tipped over you" (quote-Dan Wilsdon). All "NSW" boats finished the invitation race apart from Dave and Kate ("Dukes") who ripped their jib and Jusin and Luke ("Loose Unit") who chose to relax instead. Ant and Paul ("Test Eagle") were particularly thrilled with their efforts as Ant had only steered a 14 4 times and yet managed to finish two races in such heavy winds. That night, the club had arranged a NYE function for us all which meant we were able to meet the other 14 sailors and catch up with others we knew. This was quite fun, especially as the next day was a lay day and we had nothing in particular to do!

RESULTS R1: 1-Lindsay Irwin, 2-Grant Geddes, 3-C Padman, 24-Ed, 25(tie)-Oli & Ant, DNF-Justin, Dave

Races 2 & 3 (2nd Jan): 10-15kts
After a not-so-good start, Olie and Ben ("Budgie Smuggler") quickly caught up to the back boats and we had some good competition between the "classics". Meanwhile, Ed and Phil ("the Muppet Show") broke their boom on the second work (how many booms is that now Ed?) and had to retire from both races. Spending a long time re-rigging the kite in the water between races saw Dave and Kate rip sail number 2 (keep a tally) but several general recalls meant they still made it to the next start. In race 3, Olie and Ben ("Budgie Smuggler") were a long way in front of the rest of the classics but unfortunately Justin and Luke chose to retire. On the final work, when Dave and Kate had finally caught up to Ant and Paul, Dukes slammed into a sand bank at high speed (with a massive "CRACK" as the centreboard case compressed) and Dave and Kate chose to retire and assess damage rather than continue racing.

RESULTS R2: 1-Lindsay Irwin, 2-A finglas, 3-Alan Vickery, 21-Ant, 23-Olie, 24-Justin, 25-Dave, DNF-Ed

R3: 1-Lindsay Irwin, 2-Grant Geddes, 3-Alan Vickery 25-Olie, 27-Ant DNF-Justin, Dave, DNS-Ed

Races 4 & 5 (3rd Jan)
Ant and Olie both had awesome races in race 4, both almost beating Ed, Olie then backing it up to beat Ed in race 5. Dave and Justin had very close racing down the back, but Justin managed to stay in front in both races. Dave and Kate were a bit disappointed as they thought they might get their first nationals finish where they were not the last boat accross the finish line - unfortunately, in both races the boat behind them retired. They also struggled to keep up as they were using a small spinnaker as the big one had been torn (sail number 3).After the race, Ant took Jenny out for a sail and they also had an awesome time with Jenny steering. Meanwhile, the rest of the 14 fleet were attending the AGM, where the main points for discussion were insurance and next years nationals. Congratulations to Stewy who was elected president, ahead of "skiff fest" in Geelong next year. Skiff fest will include the 16' and 14' skiff nationals, 12' skiff interdominions, and should see some 18's in attendance.

RESULTS R4: 1-Lindsay, 2-R Blase, 3-Grant Geddes, 23-Ed, 24-Olie, 25-Justin, 26-Ant, 28-Dave
R5: 1-R Blase, 2-Grant Geddes, 3-Lindsay, 25-Olie, 26-Ed, 27-Ant, 28-Justin, 30-Dave
The next day was a lay day so the Sydney guys headed to Fraser Island for a day of 4WD-ing whilst the Canberra guys hired scooters and tore around Hervey Bay.

Races 6 & 7 (5th Jan)
Arriving at the club for race 6 and 7 was quite entertaining with a high tide, 18 - 20kts and waves crashing on the beach! Race 6 was postponed an hour so the tide could go down a bit and make it safer for launching boats. Even still, a number of boats decided not to race the first race, and opted to help the others into the water. There were about 6 people per boat to make sure they could get out safely. One boat still cracked their rudder case and another returned later with the head blown out of their main sail. We sat on the beach and watched Olie struggling with the stronger winds and spending a long time capsized (he excused himself later, saying he was fixing his boat for race 7). Ed seemed to be doing much better up wind than he had been through the rest of the regatta and was up with the main fleet.

Ant and Dave both decided to join in for race 7, whilst Justin thought he would conserve his energy and his boat for the next day. Dave seemed to be dealing with the heavy winds quite well and was able to keep height (rare occurance) getting passed Ant on the first work. He also passed a racked boat (Stuey) going around the top mark! During a massive bear away, Ant capsized and put a massive hole in the main, also doing some damage to the mast stump so unfortunately retired. Dave and Kate tried to carry the kite to the finish (after watching a lot of racked boats capsize in the attempt) and instead ripped kite 2 (sail number 4). Kate was impressed at her improved kite handling skills though, after Phil had given her some handy tips for gybing. Olie did quite well in race 7 although the results do not show it - he was quite a long way in front of Dave and did well enough to hold onto his overall lead over Ed.

RESULTS R6: 1-Lindsay, 2-Grant, 3- Jason Beebe, 23-Ed, DNF-Olie, DNS-Dave, Justin, Ant

R7: 1-Lindsay, 2-Alan Vikcery, 3-R Scherwinski 21-Ed, 23-Olie, 24-Dave, DNF-Ant, DNS-Justin

Races 8 & 9 (6th Jan)
The high tide was an hour later than on the 5th, and crews were greeted with a similar view of waves crashing on the beach. Some of the skates were out racing (their nationals was held in conjunction with ours) and suffered a bit of damage. It looked quite difficult to get their boats out of the water and by that time, some of the 14's were already packing their boats up. Most of the NSW crew spent a fair bit of time swimming until the race committee started pulling in the rescue boats and we realised a decision must have been made about the days racing. We went back to find an abandonement flag as it would not have been safe to start launching boats until about 4pm. Unfortunately, the abandonement meant that Ed did not have a final opportunity to try and get ahead of Olie on the score board.

SUMMARY:
Some pretty good footage of us all sailing was taken during the week and I am hoping to obtain it in the next fortnight so we can put it up for you all to see. It was good fun sailing in relatively constant breeze and no traffic! They also started a new division this year for "non-racked boats" instead of having a handicap award, so Olie and Ant were pretty stoked that they came 1st and 2nd respectively in the nationals! The preso was pretty good fun and we managed to sell a lot of our shirts that we had left over from the states.

Final Results: 1- Lindsay Irwin, 2-Grant Geddes, 3-Alan Vickery, 25-Olie & Ben (1st non-racked), 26-Ed & Phil, 27-Ant & Paul
(2nd non-racked),29-Dave & Kate (4th non-racked), 20-Justin & Luke (5th non-racked).

There's not much sailing in January, which will give everyone time to rectify boat damage - Dave and Kate have a date with a sailmaker to fix 6 of their 7 sails, Ant is on the search for a new mast stump. Will be good to see everyone at the squaddy at the end of January for the rest of the season.

Kate Cooper - "Dukes"