Last Month 

Dick Cater Series – Bay Race

The last race of the Dick Cater series, a bay race had three nominees which were just enough to start the race. Impulse, Out of the Blue and Anastasia faced fickle winds. For a bay race, we like to have a windward leeward course to sail. Fortunately, Volare on her way to the reef that morning plonked a large orange buoy one mile to the west of C9 channel, a great saving as we didn’t have to send Pollyanna on a bouncy mission to drop then collect.

A downwind start had the three yachts heading for C9 in a light southeasterly. By the time they reached the mark the wind had veered more southerly which made for a near perfect asymmetric spinnaker run to the buoy rather than a spinnaker run dead down-wind as was hoped for. The sailing instructions called for two laps around C9 and the buoy as the wind temporarily picked up and backed to the nor-east. Back down the channel, and Out of the Blue had a beaut asymmetric spinnaker run all the way to the finish off Sailfish Key. Out of the Blue was first over the line with Impulse second. The favourable wind faded away leaving Anastasia struggling against the tide sapping the morale of the crew. However, the tables were turned once the handicap results were announced, Anastasia first, Out of the Blue second and Impulse third. This proves that the handicap system gives all boats a chance no matter what their speed. Well done Anastasia.

The final result for the Dick Cater series was Impulse on 19 having sailed four of the five races, Anastasia second on 31 with three races sailed and Out of the Blue third on 36 with two races sailed. Volare (38) and Balarama (40) both sailed two races and would have had a good chance at a podium position if they had sailed one more race. Guest appearances by Wild Spirit and Yes, one race each, finished the series.

Sail Cairns Regatta

The winds came back threatening a strong wind warning which, if eventuated, would mean a cancellation of the whole regatta. Saturday dawned with strong wind warnings from Cooktown to Cardwell but a close scrutiny showed the Cairns Coastal waters were the only sector without the dreaded warning so, racing was on. It’s unfortunate that the threatened winds put off a lot of participants.

Three monohulls were ready to start at 10 am, Wild Spirit on a .89 handicap were up against Out of the Blue and Impulse both quite different boats on .90. This was going to be interesting racing especially as light air would favour Out of the Blue and the forecast fresher winds favouring Impulse. Three catamarans lined up, Wet’n Wild, Barefoot (the green cat) and Leitning Storm with the latter two sparring for their annual challenge. Leitning Storm, fresh from the Airlie Beach race week had a keen and wound-up crew, Barefoot with a sleek new mainsail looking for a serious challenge.

Potential strong winds frightened off last minute nominations and precipitated a last minute change to the course, worse still, the planned four days was shortened to two. A modified WAGS course would be sailed with a light southerly wafting down the inlet but a strong wind still lurking for later on in the day with showers of rain.

All six boats started together, tacking up to the yellow buoy with Out of the Blue first round. Those with symmetric spinnakers set them in the southerly breeze for the run to Outer Red marker however, spinnakers hung limp as the boats were carried as fast as the wind on the ebbing tide. The catamaran ‘s and Out of the Blue managed to defeat the futile combination by tacking downwind flying asymmetric spinnakers. By the second lap the wind started to pick up & Out of the Blue lost their lead when the spinnaker suffered a botched launch, acting instead as a sea anchor. By the third lap, the wind became more easterly with nasty gusts rolling off the hills. Out of the Blue by now was overpowered with a full main while Impulse flew ahead with a reefed main. Gusts of up to 27kts were recorded as the race finished. Not fun.

The second race on Sunday started in much the same way as the previous day but, everyone, being a bit wary, made sure reefs were set before leaving the Marina. The wind now was tending more easterly, too shy for asymmetric spinnakers. The gusts came soon enough just as strong as the previous day with Impulse shortening to a second reef then shaking it out six times before completing the course.  It was a day for the cats to strut their stuff. They reached up and down the inlet lifting hulls and screaming around the course in clouds of spray to finished their three laps before the mono-hulls had completed two.

It’s unfortunate the series finished after only two races. Of the mono-hulls, Impulse and Out of the Blue won one race each meaning Out of the Blue took out the trophy on countback. Litening Storm took out the cat trophy. A great effort by Wet’n Wild completing the course on both days in spite of several equipment failures and the fact that this was their first regatta. Great to see you out there.

We are very lucky to have sheltered waters to sail in when the weather turns against us, the winds further out were ferocious.

Our Junior Sailors – Having a go!

Sierra Harrison from Weipa had a ball at the Youth Camp and Champs, Keppel Bay (Near Yeppoon) It was 3 days of training with Annie Eastgate and also having Ashley Stoddardt and Matt Belcher on hand was absolutely fantastic and she learnt so much information that will help her along. Then there were three days of competition. It was Sierras 3rd time sailing the Laser 4.7 and third time sailing this year and she ended up 11th out of 18 overall in her division (and 4th girl) 😀😀 In one race she was only 6 minutes behind first place so she was pretty happy with how she sailed overall! (Submitted by April M)

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Keelboat Learn to Sail

Adrian has completed another “Learn to Sail”  course and it’s great to see some of those participants transitioning to the bigger boats to hone their new skills. More courses to follow. Please contact Margie at the office 07 4031 2750‬ or email cyc@cairns.net.au

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Coming UP – This Month – & November

The Summer Series has been cancelled. The first Fitzroy race was cancelled as there were not enough nominations. Even the minimum of three boats makes it difficult to justify decent prizes so, reluctantly, the Sailing Committee had to cancel further races in this series.

Sunday October 28th

Ellis Beach, off the beach, book a laser of a Nacra 350 cat for a fun Sunday at Ellis’s perfect location. Kids & dogs welcome.

November 17-18 Commodores Cup

This will be the last races for the year, a short series over two days. Neil would like expressions of interest by 2nd November, you can nominate later in case getting a crew together is difficult at this stage.

A Division 2 has been introduced so skippers that mostly cruise can have a go. It would be great to see more of the WAGS fleet out there.

Div 1 Spinnakers
Div 2 Cruising/Non Spinnaker
Div 3 Multihulls
Div 4 Off the Beach
Please Contact Neil 0417 625 236 or Frank 0438 405 800, or Scott 0410 477 166.

November 24 – 25th

Ellis Beach break-up weekend. Bring a tent, camp the night and enjoy the last fun sail for the year.

December 8th

CYC Xmas party at Fitzroy Island. Plan ahead, a great finish to the year. This is not a race, cruise over cruse back or if you don’t have time to sail, catch the ferry!

WAGS – Every Wednesday. A fun sailing day with others, stress-free and a chance for non-members to sail for the day, just $20 gets you on a boat. Be at the Boat Shed at 12. No need to call anyone, just turn up. Backpackers welcome, the best value day out on the water you can have in Cairns.

Tackers Fun Friday – 4-5:30 pm

Trackers sailing program

The Tacker Fun Sailing program is held every Friday from 4pm to 6pm .. so bring your kids and grandkids down to the boat shed and celebrate the end of the working week

The club bar is open so while the kids are out having fun you can sit back and have a wine and watch them sail.

Over the Xmas holiday we hope to run a full tackers program but to do this we require a number of responsible adults to volunteer their time to supervise the young instructors. Please contact Scott if you can help out with building our participation numbers.

Riley Munro, Harrison and Daniel Brace are there to run the show – bring the kids or the grandkids 4pm to 6pm 
www.revolutionise.com.au/cairnsyc/events/23610/

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