Aussie Home Grown Sailing Alive and Well in NSW F11 State Titles

by David Price on 1 Dec 2009
This was a big event by anyone’s standards with over one hundred and eighty tough young sailors aged from 10-18yrs competing in their first round of the 2009-2010 NSW Flying Eleven State Championships hosted by Hunters Hill SC this weekend on the Parramatta River, of upper Sydney Harbour.

Strong and varied winds from the heat wave conditions tested the fleet of ninety one Flying 11s over the weekend with big gusts and unfamiliar river tides influencing heavily upon the results. The winds ranged from a fairly robust but twitchy 14-22kts easterly on Saturday to an angry 13-25kt westerly on Sunday. The ‘locals’ knowledge of current and position gradually permeated throughout the general fleet by the end of the four races, with the senior F11 sailors from all over NSW having to learn quickly to re-establish their dominance amongst the many 'in the know' crews doggedly imposing their rights to be amongst the leaders of the coveted F11 class.

The RO Col Chidgey was very impressed with the near 100 boats getting off with clean starts for all four races, excepting three ‘individuals’ for race one. Unfamiliar with the relatively shorter course legs than the norm, this first round of the States felt more like a sprints regatta with race 2 completed in just 45mins and all races finishing in under an hour. All crews performed at fever pace with no chance to get their breath back until the finish line was crossed.

The volunteers of the Hunters Hill Sailing Club, together with the stalwart Flying Eleven Sailing Association committee members put on a spectacular championship regatta. The representing NSW clubs were from Hornsby, Avalon, Hunters Hill, Middle Harbour, Belmont, Port Hacking, Drummoyne, Lane Cove, Cronulla and Manly.

The Flying Eleven Sailing Associations’ all year training, instruction and racing programmes demonstrates just how successful a totally volunteer driven 'Australian Made' youth class can surpass international classes and pathway participation levels here in Australia. Add a very competent club management and support structure to the mix, a dynamic class website and you get to see active participation levels in class youth sailing of yesteryear.

At the conclusion of Round 1 – 4 races with no drops, Avalon crew 1391 Bolt Tim Forbes-Smith and Jim Colley with 1/4/4/3-12pts steadfastly maintain their lead from Saturday’s racing over Manly crew 1366 Protagonist with 2/12/1/1-16pts, and Belmont crew 1340 XLR8 6/7/3/6-22pts.

These young crews will next meet up at Beauty Point, Tasmania to contest the 2010 Flying Eleven Nationals from 10th to 16th January and then return to conclude the NSW Titles Round 2 hosted by Georges River 16’SC on Botany Bay, Sydney on the weekend of the 6th/7th February next year.

Full race reports, results and photo links are available on the Flying 11 class website www.flying11.yachting.org.au