Palm Beach Sailing Club

	The “Bullets” Regatta at Palm Beach The “Beware the Bullets” regatta put on by the Palm Beach Sailing Club gets its name from the powerful nor-east gusts that blast competitors at the top mark under Barrenjoey headland. This year was going to be different though. Due to so many events in a short period ( NSW Hobie State Titles at PBSC/pre-Worlds training for the Hobie 16 sailors/Hobie Worlds in Fiji) the regatta was held over from its normal November timeslot, when the nor-east sea breezes prevail, until April when calmer winds prevail making it a very different bullets regatta. Everything was going as expected until the last race on Sunday when an extreme storm came out of the south (it had not been forecast) and raced up Pittwater with winds over 45 knots and pounding hail.Those who turned to look south took evasive action abandoning the race and heading for the beach which meant that only 8 of the 35 strong fleet finished. On the beach a lightening strike on a Taipan mast resulted in one competitor being thrown 2m from his craft and necessitated the calling of an ambulance and a 4 hour stay for observation in Mona Vale Hospital. Another sailor was suffering muscle cramps from a smaller strike to his boat so he took himself off to hospital as a precaution, while 3 other sailors reported mild electric shocks while unrigging. Most abandoned their boats on the beach and one was caught by the wind, tossed into the air and landed on it's mast - which subsequently broke - a rather expensive regatta for some! The club's strong support boat capability ensured that no one was in danger and most competitors will have a great story to tell their grandkids. With reference to the weather bomb which hit the fleet Commodore Andrew Nelson commented "The club is thinking of renaming the event the 'Beware the Bomb' regatta if we run it at this time of year again!" Most of the racing was held in either a light nor-easter on Saturday or a light to moderate south-easter on Sunday. The start line positioning on the deeper western side with its port bias brought the tide into the decision making process and made for some great tactical sailing. There was some very competitive racing in the large Hobie 16, A Class, Taipan & miscellaneous fleets. The A Class fleet was one of the strongest assembled this year. The starts in particular were very competitive and ultimately decided the podium finishers. Steve Brewin led the series until an OCS (over early penalty) in the last completed race, relegated him to 2^nd. Andrew Williams won with Gavin Vize third. These sleek, stealth-like catamarans generated amazing speed and put on a magnificent sailing exhibition. In the Hobie 16 fleet local stalwarts Rod and Kerry Waterhouse were too good and won all but one race. The real battle was for 2^nd. At the end of racing on Saturday there were 5 teams tied for 2^nd place. The shifty southeast conditions on Sunday saw this battle see-saw until the last “extreme” race. Sam Wood and Nicole Corlett took out the last race from Anthony and Sam Duchatel cementing them in 2^nd and 3^rd spots respectively. The Hobie 16 “youths” were taken out by Jason Waterhouse sailing with his cousin Lisa Darmanin with Dean Price and Murry Grant taking 2^nd. These two youth teams now head off to New Caledonia for training with some of the best youth teams in the world. Shortly after Jason and Lisa then head off to Europe for more training prior to the ISAF World Youth championships in Denmark in June. In the miscellaneous class we were treated to the re-emergence of Jay Booth to competitive sailing. Jay was one of the key drivers for catamaran sailing on Pittwater and the club owes he and his generation a great deal for their leadership and drive that set the foundations for our club. The winner of this class was Ben Cutmore on his Mossy. Other winners were John Kersh and Lesh Bennett in the Hobie 18’s. It was great to see them down here from the central coast. We wish them well when they travel to America latter this year to compete in the American Hobie 18 Nationals. In the Taipans, the winners were Sam Broden and Melanie Gilbert from “expats” Steve and Leslie Kylie. Many thanks to Kerli and Ali for providing their cruiser for the starts and running the races, to Andrew and Maria Nelson on the Webster and Mike Warren on the RIB. Full results will be available soon but in the meantime to look at the photos Click Here

The “Bullets” Regatta at Palm Beach

The “Beware the Bullets” regatta put on by the Palm Beach Sailing Club gets its name from the powerful nor-east gusts that blast competitors at the top mark under Barrenjoey headland.

This year was going to be different though. Due to so many events in a short period ( NSW Hobie State Titles at PBSC/pre-Worlds training for the Hobie 16 sailors/Hobie Worlds in Fiji) the regatta was held over from its normal November timeslot, when the nor-east sea breezes prevail, until April when calmer winds prevail making it a very different bullets regatta.

Everything was going as expected until the last race on Sunday when an extreme storm came out of the south (it had not been forecast) and raced up Pittwater with winds over 45 knots and pounding hail.Those who turned to look south took evasive action abandoning the race and heading for the beach which meant that only 8 of the 35 strong fleet finished. On the beach a lightening strike on a Taipan mast resulted in one competitor being thrown 2m from his craft and necessitated the calling of an ambulance and a 4 hour stay for observation in Mona Vale Hospital. Another sailor was suffering muscle cramps from a smaller strike to his boat so he took himself off to hospital as a precaution, while 3 other sailors reported mild electric shocks while unrigging. Most abandoned their boats on the beach and one was caught by the wind, tossed into the air and landed on it's mast - which subsequently broke - a rather expensive regatta for some!

The club's strong support boat capability ensured that no one was in danger and most competitors will have a great story to tell their grandkids. With reference to the weather bomb which hit the fleet Commodore Andrew Nelson commented

"The club is thinking of renaming the event the 'Beware the Bomb' regatta if we run it at this time of year again!"

Most of the racing was held in either a light nor-easter on Saturday or a light to moderate south-easter on Sunday. The start line positioning on the deeper western side with its port bias brought the tide into the decision making process and made for some great tactical sailing.

There was some very competitive racing in the large Hobie 16, A Class, Taipan & miscellaneous fleets.

The A Class fleet was one of the strongest assembled this year. The starts in particular were very competitive and ultimately decided the podium finishers. Steve Brewin led the series until an OCS (over early penalty) in the last completed race, relegated him to 2^nd. Andrew Williams won with Gavin Vize third. These sleek, stealth-like catamarans generated amazing speed and put on a magnificent sailing exhibition.

In the Hobie 16 fleet local stalwarts Rod and Kerry Waterhouse were too good and won all but one race. The real battle was for 2^nd. At the end of racing on Saturday there were 5 teams tied for 2^nd place. The shifty southeast conditions on Sunday saw this battle see-saw until the last “extreme” race. Sam Wood and Nicole Corlett took out the last race from Anthony and Sam Duchatel cementing them in 2^nd and 3^rd spots respectively.

The Hobie 16 “youths” were taken out by Jason Waterhouse sailing with his cousin Lisa Darmanin with Dean Price and Murry Grant taking 2^nd. These two youth teams now head off to New Caledonia for training with some of the best youth teams in the world. Shortly after Jason and Lisa then head off to Europe for more training prior to the ISAF World Youth championships in Denmark in June.

In the miscellaneous class we were treated to the re-emergence of Jay Booth to competitive sailing. Jay was one of the key drivers for catamaran sailing on Pittwater and the club owes he and his generation a great deal for their leadership and drive that set the foundations for our club. The winner of this class was Ben Cutmore on his Mossy.

Other winners were John Kersh and Lesh Bennett in the Hobie 18’s. It was great to see them down here from the central coast. We wish them well when they travel to America latter this year to compete in the American Hobie 18 Nationals. In the Taipans, the winners were Sam Broden and Melanie Gilbert from “expats” Steve and Leslie Kylie.

Many thanks to Kerli and Ali for providing their cruiser for the starts and running the races, to Andrew and Maria Nelson on the Webster and Mike Warren on the RIB.

Full results will be available soon but in the meantime to look at the photos Click Here