News

Australia Day Regatta Heats 2 and 3 Resail

It was a wild ride for the elite fleet that assembled on Saturday to complete the Regatta. Gusty Northerlies up and over 20 kts made for gutsy sailing and it was a great effort by all to finish.

Race 2 and 3 Class Racing Results

It was a determined fleet that went into battle for the 'All in and Class Racing Heats' with a looming dire forecast - a surprisingly good turn out.

Australia Day Regatta Blowout

It was carnage on the water for the Australia Day Regatta as the winds gusted to 25 knots and the heavy seas took their toll on even the most experienced sailors. Rescue boat crews were kept busy as boats toppled! Of the 18 boats that left the shore, only 8 managed to finish. Congratulations to Anthony and Caroline on their win in the Tasar. A valiant effort! Unfortunately, the conditions showed no signs of abating, so the final races of the regatta will be Sat 22 February (a resail day).

Provisional Challenge results - Merrick's bronze

In a superbly organised race day (thanks to the fantastic team led by Simon Webster) Merricks has achieved a bronze medal result (okay out of four clubs but who's counting). Our fastest four boats were all Melges (Richard, Stewart, Tom and Andrew Webster) out of our fleet of 21, all of whom finished.

MYC member, Tom Picton launches album and single

The music round at the trivia night was tough - but it's clear Tom Picton (our Secretary Sarah Porritt's son) knows his music. So it wasn't so surprising that his band has just launched an album and a solo track.

Big fleet battles in out in heats 7 & 8 of summer series

In a large fleet for Merricks, 18 boats battled it out, with Andrew Webster winning the first heat in Admiral Simon Webster's Melges, while Richard Jagger won the second heat. And Keith Darwent bounced back from a gap due to illness to come second in both races.

A strong midweek racing fleet battle it out in light winds

Koby and Craig won both races on handicap, while our former scorer, Tom Clarke won on yardstick in the first race but didn't have the stamina to continue to the second race (to be fair he'd run a great Junior Sailing Morning earlier in the day).

Our glorious handicapper prevails

Our glorious handicapper, Tom Clarke, prevailed in the 4 January 2025 - Class racing - completing the race in 2/3rds of the time of his nearest competitor in the Melges/Aero class. The Laser Radial class (and don't those boys exude class) was more competitive where the winner, Matt Darby, was only about three minutes ahead of the last in very flukey conditions. There as also only three minutes between the first Sabre (Grandpa Doug Varey) and the last, Councillor Michael Nolan.

Sarah Porritt storms home - twice!

Sarah won both the first two races of the Mid-week series on handicap, with Karen Buckingham and Kris Symons joining her on the podium for the first race. In the second race it was Matt Johnson #2 on his A Class classic, with Storm Johnson on his A Class vintage only just behind him. [Note to self - does vintage describe the boat or the skipper, and why is the 'mid-week' race on a Monday??] And, yes, the Commodore did finish last in the first race which everyone with a marine radio heard.

Club racing - not for the feint hearted

With strong winds forecast and most sailors late to arrive (seemingly only turning up when the lunch break at the cricket commenced) we set an unusual sausage course. While this led to lots of complaints from the tower (lovely to see you back Jonka), it suited Tom Clarke, who won the 1st race on handicap, & Richard Jagger who won both races on VYC handicap. There was also fear in a lot of sailor's eyes, but that was mostly due to the prospect of being rescued by Martin Corden and Simon Webster.

Lets ignore the invaders

Race 5 saw our three visitors take out #1, #2 & #3. (and they can see the results in the link below) But if we ignore them it was Doug Varey, followed by Anthony Brand and Derek Hollander (great to see you back on the water, and able to leave Jonka to disrupt race control).Race 6 saw a Laser Radial trifecta (again if we ignore our visitor who beat us all), with Leigh Glover, followed by Simon Corden, and BEHIND SIMON was Martin Corden.

Kobe rulz - two 4 two

In fluky winds only the most talented (and/or lucky) prevail. And so it was on Saturday when our fleet of 12 battled it out. While most of the fleet had very different individual results between the two races, Kobe was the winner in both! Great effort.

The Summer Series commences

Nine boats, and 13 hardy sailors started in the first two heats of the Opening Series. Initially in flukey and then strong winds Leigh Glover managed to win both races, while Martin showed consistency in coming sixth and then fifth. Simon Webster came first among the Melges in both races, helped by both Stewart Carter and Richard Jagger being on the rescue boat. Koby Langford and Liam Clarke battled it out in their Pacers - doing a great job in challenging conditions.

The Admiral wins

Simon Webster, the MYC Sailing Admiral, achieved victory in Heat 8 under difficult conditions. Admiral Nimitz once said 'An Admiral who doesn't make mistakes isn't trying hard enough." but today our Sailing Admiral (okay Captain) proved that trying to hard finally leads to success. After Simon in Heat 8 was Karen Buckingham, and Pete Balka in the Sabres. Heat 7 saw Richard Jagger, Simon (again) and Matt Darby on the podium. Well done team!

The Pied Piper of Merricks

It was a day of ignominy for Merrick's Laser sailors where, after completing three laps of the course, they followed Mitch Campbell (who had missed briefing) on an unplanned fourth lap in the fifth race of the Opening Series. Was this an attempt at a collective Magoo Award, or just the fact that none of these sailors can count to three? In the end they took #1, #2 & #3 on handicap anyway.

Boring - those Melges take the first three places again!

It was light and variable winds, and for much of the race many sailors were going faster backwards with the tide. So after a shortened course we were left with the results where #1 Richard Jagger, #2 Stewart Carter and #3 was Tom Clarke. Oh well, there is always next week.

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