Club Marine Series – Swimming in it

by John Curnow on 15 Feb 2015 After a long hiatus for the busy Christmas period, there was many a joyous crew out on Melbourne’s Port Phillip today. Literally, they were swimming in it. As you can see from the pics, some were even doing so very creatively. Providing there even is such a thing… Anyway, a high temperature and non-existent breeze conspired for the Answering Pennant to be hoisted, not flown, from both Tarni, which was administering the Division Zero/One course off Green Point and also, Thorsen, which was attending to Divisions Two and Three from the top of the Bay, off Williamstown and in line with Point Ormond.

Normally, all four divisions would be away from 1330hrs, but in a very interesting occurrence, Blue Division was away from the Brighton tower bang on its usual 1400hrs start time. There was just enough of a breeze line to convince Race Officer, Ron Clarke, to send them off, as firstly zephyrs became lines and then holes filled into appear as consistent ripples. This might not sound too interesting, until you take into account the large amount of rain to fall over Victoria during the course of the previous evening and night, along with the significant clouds that virtually ringed the Bay, well into the late afternoon.

So it was a good thing that Blue Division went to work, as it were, off to the South, for they definitely dragged the breeze with them to the Southern course, where Div0/1 were now fairly keen to get going to. By the time the leaders of Blue were getting in towards their top mark, preparations were being finalised for the top two White Divisions to go racing as well.
Blue Division is all about social racing around fixed marks, as opposed to the more rigorous, windward/leeward courses laid for the White Divisions. They were set course six, which had them head South to Green Point and then out to the top of the Bay, before running along in front of the host club. David Staley is the Sailing Manager from the host, Royal Brighton Yacht Club, and he was also the Assistant RO on the Div0/1 Course. 'Lovely triangle first and then basically a windward return and pretty good on the breeze axis, as it turns out. They had some breeze inshore early and it was gamble that paid off, well and truly. A good call.'

The tower start was at best, soft. Barely making four knots, actually, but still three boats managed to be too anxious. One was notable for its diminutive size and yet significant standing, which was Aquarius, and the others were K2 and Get Smart, which ended up scored DSQ, so it is kind of immaterial.

The start split the fleet a lot, with many going to shore, whilst a few hammered out to sea, like line honours winner, Next Moment, and also the perpetually chuffed, Redline. Doing well too were Wild Child and Longshot. Pizazzz would later storm out from on top of the iconic Brighton Baths to join them. Yes they are big adjectives, but if someone is actually moving in light breezes, then it kind of feels huge. At any rate, you did not want to come out too far, for it had not filled in that much, yet… A massive seven knots was nearby, however.

K2 was first around and to get a kite up, but as we now know, this does not count. Pizazzz was the leader then. Next Moment was, well, next and they set their blue and white spinnaker to make for wing mark.

The Holland 25, Aquarius, won on the day, as they have the other three rounds. Not surprisingly then, they lead overall too! Speaking with a jovial Lloyd Hetrick afterwards, he said, 'The secret is that the Handicapper has not caught up with me yet! Honestly, we have just gone out there and sailed as best we can. The light winds we’ve experienced so far are best for us. I have done some ocean racing, but it is just the three of us on board mostly. There is my wife, Shanna who’s been at it for three years now, and also our friend, Christine Alexander.'

'To have four souls on board is handy sometimes, but we handle her quite well with just the three. It is a small, fun boat to sail'. Shanna immediately says, 'It is a great boat to learn on!'

Lloyd continues, 'I’m praying for more light weather and a blind handicapper! Got to be happy with the three bullets so far, but I am sure someone is going to pay particular attention now. We are definitely looking forward to the rest of the CMS Blue Division. I’m away for the next one, but the boat will be out with Jeremy Larkin driving, so I can blame him if it all goes to hell. It might just be the handicapper round…'

Aquarius leads by seven points over Sun Kiss (everyone certainly was today) and then an additional 11 points to Wild Child in third place.

Be careful! You might just catch it…
So almost an hour after play was meant to begin (1422hrs), the sequence of signals and flags denoting an impending start out on the Div0/1 course was commenced. This meant we were away with Div0 at 1431hrs. But being OCS was fairly contagious it seems, with Zero having two (Rush and Terra Firma) with it probably costing the latter the race, or in the very least, the chance to have a go at it.

Cadibarra 8 was late to line and flopping over on to Port tack early was Simply Fun, who had a cracking day and scored the prized IRC win, as well. They only had the larger Cookson 50, Terra Firma, and Reichel-Pugh 52, Scarlet Runner, ahead of them, with 46 and 44 footers behind the slick H/H42. Heading back down, Scarlet Runner would be the leader in a very slow, if scenic kind of a race. They were out to the Sou’east and came down on the ‘new’ breeze, as it were. The top three remained that way for the race. Veloce made a lot of road back on Simply Fun, but the biggest mover was Rush, who despite a return over the line, came in to get fifth place.

Simply Fun have the series IRC lead overall currently, with Veloce and Scarlet Runner close enough to cause damage. Look out for Terra Firma who took it out last year, despite not competing in any of the Spring Rounds prior to Christmas.

In Div1, Joust was another who had caught OCS. In a light breeze, they were a long way over. JAMHU, however, were in the centre of the line and they did well. Niche were late to the party, up at the boat end and they went out on Port, along with Dream who had already decided this was the approved course of action. Down at the pin end, Ikon and to windward her sistership, Schüss, got busy. Notably, Port very quickly became the board to be on. With Blue Division in behind them on the beach, it was very picturesque, indeed.

Look out! Here we are.
On the run down, Cartouche deserves a mention if for no other reason than her large, sky blue and white kite. Jazz Player (Think Pink) also earns a mention for their super close finish with Ikon. On the day they received a first, second and third place in both the measurement categories (IRC and AMS) and also under Yachting Victoria handicap (PHS). That’s good work, almost as good as Ikon’s, who are still the boat to beat in the series under rating. On handicap, Dream holds a handy lead, but Twitch was not out there and Soirée Bleu are within striking distance.

David Staley commented, 'It was four knots when they got away. We saw 6’s mainly and it was trying to lift, but did not have enough steam. 190° was the axis and it was oscillating a lot, with 160° quite favoured. For the second work it was clocked left to 170°, but the range was maintained at 1nm for Division Zero, whereas Div1 had just 0.6nm for their middle lap. So two laps for all amounted to 4nm for Div0 and 3.2 for Div1. This meant the target race time of just over an hour for the first Div0 boat was achieved.'

'They were difficult conditions with shifts, but it was there for everyone, so a fair track, overall. Certainly would have had them all looking outside the boat! A few boats were OCS at the start, but it was all pretty clean really. The Div0 stack at the pin end of the line was probably influenced by what the breeze had done just in the last minute before the start. Ultimately, we could not have an additional warning signal after 1545hrs and we were finishing first boats just before then, so one race was all that was on offer.'

Peter Jackson has the Beneteau First 40, Niche, which was launched in late 2013. They are currently holding second overall in AMS (Div2), third in IRC (Div2) and are just the four and 10 points adrift respectively of perennial podium placer, Ikon. 'Really enjoying the boat and still getting used to it, in this our second season. We came up from a Beneteau 34.7 and race this new boat with nine souls from a roster of about 12. We are using Doyle sails exclusively and it is good to have Blake Anderson and Josh White coming out with us.'

'We like racing against other 40’s, such as Wicked and Bandit. It is fair to say that we were off the money before today’s start with the light breeze, hence our super late arrival at the boat end of the line, so to finish with a sixth place is pretty good. Overall, we aim to be consistent and hope that this gets us up near the top of the table.'
Patience is a virtue.

It took some time after all of this other racing got underway for Div 2/3 to receive enough breeze, but they finally got away too! WooHooooooo. Now as a gift to all, it had been the PRO’s hope that two races would be proffered on the day. Alas, this did not come to pass and one was deemed sufficient, so having had Round Two blown out, there is still the need to get a double in at some point. You can bet that when the weather allows for this to come to pass, it will happen.

In the meantime, David LeRoy said of the racing today, 'We set a three lap course for Div2 and a two lap one for Div3. Initially, this was out to a range of 1.25nm and on an axis of 155°. After the first lap, the leg length was shortened to 0.85nm. We started in about 6 knots and did see 11 at around 1600hrs, before it dropped away to 6 once more, just as the last boats were coming home. All in all, what looked like a miserable day, actually ended up offering a good race.'

They had seen five knots just before the anticipated start time and the flags were even flying atop the Westgate Bridge, but Hughie can be cruel and it wandered off stage left and took more than a while to return. Right oh. Well, it was an Adams 10 kind of day, so there is little wonder Top Gun and Executive Decision did well. OK, that was the racing versions of this ever-popular craft. One of the cruising variants did not have such a good day at all, and was unable to tame its errant kite all day long, no matter whether it was the top or the bottom mark rounding. Indeed it dragged the under the hitch (clearance) mark and sent them careening way past the bottom mark. Everyone hopes they sent it to bed without dinner and told it to have a good look in the mirror!

It wasn’t me!
One or two other craft had similar, if smaller and far less frequent issues to contend with. It is unfair to name Maximumm on their own for they were in good shape prior to their extension of the course, so cheers to all of these craft. Don’t you just hate when you experience sailing’s version of a Doh! on a light day... At the other end of the spectrum were vessels like Ellipse, Salamander III, More Noise and Horizon Sprint. Quite possibly, the most unique item of the day was the way Top Gun and Executive Decision chose the Western and Eastern marks of the bottom gate respectively. It showed that the course was true, for Top Gun went on to secure the win by just 44 seconds.

The series results show that More Noise is doing well in both IRC and AMS, with about a five-way tussle in behind them. Top Gun, Way2Go, Reckless, Absolut, Horizon Sprint and maybe Moneypenny are there for the stoush. Thus far, the PHS result is more even, with Mrs Overnewton leading, then Horizon Sprint and Salamander III.

Getting the ‘happiest-crew-out-there’ prize had to be Johhny Be Goode, whose post-win celebration was both distinct and exuberant. Skipper and co-owner (with James Ryan), is George Hooper, who said after their Line Honours win (Div3), 'We were hot and thirsty and wanted to get home to the bar! A third in AMS was also terrific. The shifts were tricky, so we tended to be in the middle of the course. I’d say we were neither particularly lucky or unlucky and in the end, it was a really nice day.'

'I had felt like I was tacking from one knock to another and it was hard to hold boat speed, but overall it was fair racing out there. Many thanks to the crew, especially as they as they have only been together over the last three years. That’s not bad for people who had not sailed before (apart from James and I). We were all friends before this and not only do we still have that, I know it is also stronger as a result, and that is just great.'

'The Club Marine Series is the best competition on the Bay and we save nearly all our racing time just to be a part of it. The level of competition is just terrific. Others know their stuff, whether it is boat preparation, tactics or experience and so mistakes get punished. It is really fun and we enjoy it so much. It is the best racing I have done. Many thanks to the organisers, for it is always top notch and very well run', said Hooper by way of finishing.

Div3 is possibly most famous for the battle of the S80s. Intrusion have the IRC mantle overall, which a string of bullets will provide for. Skipjack, Recycled Reputation and Merak will fight amongst themselves you’d think for the minors. Elsewhere, Footloose and Johnny Be Goode, along with the Diamonds, Challenger and Lucy in the Sky, are good party crashers, and they are not to be ignored.

Like it? You too can have it…
So then, if you're based in Melbourne or nearby and think the Club Marine Series sounds like great fun, then you’d be right. To go racing on some of the most interesting water there is, head to www.clubmarineseries.com.au for all your race documentation and online entry. As some have shown previously, you can also mix it up between Blue and White Divisions, depending on your crew. You can also enter for all of the rounds or go casual and enlist as you so choose.

We’re on station again for Round Five on February 28, 2015. Many, many thanks to Hobsons Bay Yacht Club for providing today’s media vessel, Privateer, which was crewed by Joel and Gary. Sincere appreciation also to Club Marine, the proud sponsor of the regatta and Australia's largest provider of recreational boat insurance - details and full information about the series can be found at www.clubmarineseries.com.au or follow it @cmseries and join in the conversation via #cmseries.