Sandy Bay SC to host Sharpie Nationals starting 28th Dec, 2009

by Peter Campbell on 27 Nov 2009
Sandy Bay Sailing Club will host the 67th Australian Championships for one of the nation's iconic, high-performance centreboard classes, the Sharpie, on Hobart's River Derwent this summer from the 28th December 2009 - 6th January, 2010 (Measuring is on the 28th).

The Sharpie is a class that has been a stepping stone to international yachting success in the America's Cup and the Olympics, but also one that continues to provide spectacularly fast, one-design racing for its enthusiasts,

Past competitors have included John Bertrand, Sir James Hardy, John Cuneo and Grant Simmer, along with Tasmanian champions Andrew Hunn, Gary Smith, Stuart Hamilton, Frazer Read and Nick Connor.

The River Derwent, with its fresh to strong southerly sea breezes, is regarded as the optimum sailing waters for the Sharpie nationals and the 2009-2010 championships are expected to attract a fleet of 30 boats, including current Australian title-holder Mal Higgins from South Australia.

'They told us they want to come to Hobart this summer to enjoy the big breezes on the River Derwent,' Tasmanian Sharpie Association president Rick Buchanan said at today's launch of the 2009-2010 Sharpie Nationals at Sandy Bay Yacht Club.

'We are expecting Sharpie sailors from New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia for the Nationals which start with two invitation races on 28 December, with seven heats scheduled between 29 December and 6 January,' Buchanan added.

Australian Lightweight Sharpies, to give them their full name, are a national one design class with a long history of evolution. The class evolved from the 12 square metre class used in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, to form the basis of the Australian Heavyweight Sharpie, a solid wooden clinker style boat but still with the original gaff rig.

With the increasing use of marine ply and the 'need for speed', the design was updated in Western Australia to take advantage of advances in sailing technology. The Sharpie is quite distinctive shape with a 6 metre long, hard chine hull, a highly efficient shape for fine planing under spinnaker.

Modern fibreglass boats still retain this distinctive hard chine hull design, which, according to Tasmanian President Rick Buchanan, 'makes sailing Sharpies competitively so fiendishly difficult.'

A Sharpie carries a crew of three adults (helm, sheethand and for'ward hand on trapeze. It has a 7 metre tall mast with a powerful, fully battened mainsail, jib and spinnaker which produced a performance equal to the best senior dinghies in the world.

The class is highly popular with young club sailors moving from Sabots and Cadets to larger off-the-beach classes, but it is a class that retains the enthusiasm of many older sailors and the national championships include a trophy for skippers over 40 years as well as one for skippers under 21.

Sandy Bay Sailing Club is situated on the banks of River Derwent at Nutgrove Beach at Sandy Bay and is only 10 minutes drive from Hobart's CBD.

Formed in 1948, the club has since grown to accommodate a wide ranger of dinghy classes such as International Cadets, Lasers, Laser Radials and Optimists. A recent exciting addition to the club is the Formula Windsurfer class.

Sponsors of the 67th Sharpie Australian Championships are: Build Tech Supplies, Muir Winches, Stephen Salter Builders, Steve Walker Sails, Logan Group and Events Tasmania.

The Notice of Race and for other information about the Sharpie National Championships go to the website Fly Sharpie www.sharpies.com.au or the Sandy Bay Sailing Club website www.sbsc.yachting.org.au