REPORT ON 2023-24 HARTLEY TS16 NSW AND ACT STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

HELD AT SOUTH LAKE MACQUARIE ASC [SLMASC]

DATES – 29-30 MARCH APRIL, 2024.

The Championship regatta was held at and hosted by SLMASC on the south western side of Lake Macquarie at the beginning of Easter 2024.

The last time SLMASC was the venue was approximately 2015 and the fleet was reminded of what a great venue it is.

It has easy access into the water with its large carpark close to the club, a safe shoreline for anchoring and friendly and efficient host club members.

A 2- day format was used this year with 5 races scheduled, 3 races required to constitute a series and 3 races need for competitors to drop their worst score.

The weather was fine, warm, and comfortable over the 2 days. The winds were predominately light from the east or south east. While a stronger wind would have been preferable, the wind did arrive each day late in the morning to allow the series to be completed. While there were noticeable shifts of wind direction on the course during the races, the layout of the marks maintained true positioning.

2 variations of course were allowed for – a 2 lap triangle and windward return and 3 lap course with a extra triangle added. 4 of the races were 2 laps and one of 3 laps.

With the wind forecast in mind, Race 1-3 were held on Friday and Race 4-5 on Saturday.

12 boats entered, mainly coming from the usual Hartley strongholds of Drummoyne and Saratoga sailing clubs as well as 2 entrants from SLMASC, one from Wagga Wagga and one from the Coffs Harbour region – so a large portion of the state was represented.

Turning to the competition, there was generally very close racing throughout the fleet, particularly for the 2^nd to 9^th place. It seemed that most boats spent a bit of time in one of the top 3 positions during a race at some stage of the regatta.

However, consistency paid off for the top 3 boats with the most notable performance coming from V Sinister, skippered and crewed by the current Australian champions, Paul and Natalie Pritchard. They tendered to have superior boat speed and made the most of the wind pattern to claim victory in 4 of the 5 races to finish with the lowest score possible of 4.

Second was Greg and Gary Williams, sailing Deception, who made the trip up from Wagga Wagga, with 10 points.

Third was Eric Partland and Gary Wills sailing Uncle Bob with 12 points.

These 3 boats and crews have been regular placegetters in the recent NSW and ACT championships and congratulations to them.  

Mention should be made of Mark Jarred and John Horler on Matrix, who finished a close 4^th on 13 points.

In the Handicap division, 5 points separated the top 5 placings. Vinca was first, JJ was second and Extremely Sinister [skippered by Ron Johnston with 83 years of experience] third.

The Hartley TS16 Association of NSW and ACT and the competitors in this regatta would like to thank SLMASC and especially the club President Alan Caldwell, for their assistance in preparing for and running this regatta. We hope that we are welcome to run future regattas at this club.

The results are available on the attached file. 

Some photos of the regatta are attached but a good number of photos are available on the Associations Facebook page. Thanks go to John Needs, Debbie Nolan, Glenn Pritchard, and others for send us the photos.

Next years Championships are allocated to return to Wagga Wagga SC again over the Easter period. A Notice of Race will be produced in near future.

Glenn Nolan