60^TH HARTLEY TS16 AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

VENUE – LARGS BAY SAILING CLUB, ADELAIDE

DATES - 1^ST FEBRUARY TO 7^TH FEBRUARY 2026.

MAJOR SPONSOR – CARAVAN STORAGE ADELAIDE.

Regatta Information is available on the dedicated Regatta page available on the Largs Bay SC website

www.largsbaysailingclub.org.au under the Sailing Events tab. Race results can be seen in detail under the View Race Results tab.

Sunday 1^st February –

The first day of the 60^th Hartley TS16 Australian Championships regatta opened with measurement and registration. The local boats were weighed last week leaving the 5 interstate boats needing to go on the scales. To my knowledge all boats passed measurements despite some needing to carry weights to bring them up to the minimum weight of 360kg.

The regatta has attracted 19 entrants with 14 boats coming from South Australia, 3 from Victoria and 2 from NSW.

A Competitors meeting was held at 12 noon in the clubhouse. The Invitation race was scheduled for this afternoon. Unfortunately, strong southerly winds caused the race to be abandoned.

A welcome function is being held tonight in the Largs Bay clubhouse.

Looking ahead, 2 races are scheduled for each of the next 3 days. The weather forecast seems reasonable so hopefully at least 4 races will be completed to constitute a series.

I will attempt to post a report and results each day. Photos of the events on the Hartley TS16 Facebook page or the Largs Bay SC sites.

The Sailing Instructions have designated a course with a triangle, windward return and then a upwind leg to finish. The target time for the first boat is 60 minutes.

Monday 2^nd February- Race 1 and 2

Race 1 – the start was delayed as the wind struggled to settle from the morning easterly direction to the south east. The full fleet of 19 started in about 8-10 kts of breeze. A long start line allowed a spread of the fleet. The best to get away were the 2 Sinister boats – Totally and V. They led the fleet around the course for the entire race. The wind stayed reasonably consistent through the race with a gradual strengthening. V Sinister [Michael Simms and Paul Paparella] prevailing over Totally Sinister [Andrew Doyle and Darren Cross] by about 40 seconds.

In third place was Serenity [Peter Howitt and Wally Hiemstra] crossing the finish line 2 minutes later.

The rest of the fleet finished in the next 5 minutes.

Race 2 – As the last boats crossed the line in Race 1 the wind changed direction from the south east to the south west and built in strength to about 15 kts. It also brought with it a short steep wave pattern that required a change of boat setup and sailing technique.

There was an abandoned start sequence followed by a delay while the committee reset the entire course to suit the new wind direction.

When race 2 did start it seemed that the top half of the fleet were more tightly bunched. Eventually, reigning and 5 times Australian Champion, Tru Blu [Mihael Horvath and Michael Berger] established a lead and held it through to the finish. The wind during the race increased up to a reported 20 kts.

Second was Totally Sinister and third was Tarango [Kim Tuck and Glynn Hughes]. After that there was a steady stream of boats finishing within 10-20 seconds of each other.

Tuesday 3^rd February.

Race 3 started on time in about 5-6 kts of south westerly wind. It was a fair start with most boats getting away ok. The first up wind leg saw V Sinister take a close lead from Matrix [Mark Jarred and Glenn Stewart] and Freudian Slip [Glenn Nolan and John Needs]. These boats held their positions for most of the race despite taking different approaches to the up wind legs. A shift in a wind direction to a more southerly direction resulted in the finish line being positioned away from where the windward mark had been. This caused the top part of the fleet to compress a bit but the top 3 boats held on the cross the line in the order they had held.

Race 4 was started without much delay despite the course needing to be reset due to the change in wind direct as mentioned. A port biased start line was set. During the last minute before the start the wind again changed direction long enough to make even more port biased and difficult for most of the fleet to cross the start line on starboard tack. The resulting mass tacking onto port brought some temporary chaos but eventually everyone got away OK. The first upwind leg saw a spread of the fleet over the entire course. The next upwind saw most boats hugging the shore line on the left side of the course. However, Tru Blu gained good ground by going to the right side of the course, where there seemed to be a bit more wind strength – now 8-10Kts.

Tru Blu managed to stay ahead of V Sinister and Totally Sinister to take the win.

Wednesday 4^th February

Race 5 course was set to align with the existing South West wind, which, at that stage was quite light. 2 start line realignments were needed before the warning flag was raised. The race seemed to stay in a lull period of wind, with most boats struggling to get going. Tru Blu, the Sinister boats and Matrix seemed to get away best and formed a lead bunch for the first half of the race. The remaining boats except for Pickled Pelican formed a close pack.

During the race the wind increased to about 12-15 kts with the resultant increase in short chop.

Eventually the lead boats maintained their positions to finish closely in the following order – Tru Blu, Totally Sinister and V Sinister. The rest of the fleet finished within 2 minutes of each other highlighting the close nature of Hartley TS16 competition sailing.

Race 6 started without delay with the wind as before. The start was a cleaner affair with most boats getting away the best they could. The fleet spread to both sides of the course but the main preference was to go towards the beach on the left side. It seemed to have less chop and possibly less tide.

The lead group of 5 boats looked to have a good gap on the rest of the fleet until the wind reduced in strength to about 7-8 kts, which reduced their lead. Luckily the reduced wind also brought flatter seas.

Eventually Tru Blu took line honours again, but there was only a 5 second gap to Matrix and then about 5 seconds again to the Sinister boats. Close enjoyable racing again.

Friday 6^th February

Races 7 started about 10 kts South west wind. The wind direction and strength were consistent, so it was a reasonably fair start. Also, the tide had not hit low yet so both sides of the course for the upwind legs were an option. This meant that close racing was the feature of the day as there was now significant wind shifts to improve positions and good sailing and positioning were rewarded.

V Sinister won the race by some 33 seconds which was the biggest gap in finish times between boats. Second was Tru Blu followed by Totally Sinister. Hissing Sid [Peter Behrendt and Peter Yeates] deserve mention in 4^th and 5^th for the next race.

Race 8 – the wind had built during race 7 to be about the 15 kt range by the end of the race which brought an increase in the height of the short wave pattern. Soon after the start the fleet split over the course with 7 boats establishing a gap on the rest of the fleet. The gap persisted through the race but the placings in the lower half of the fleet varied. Eventually Totally Sinister prevailed over Tarrango {Kym Tuck and Glynn Hughes]. Tru Blu was third.

Overall, it was another pleasant day sailing on St Vincents Gulf.

The 9^th and last race is scheduled for tomorrow morning. A lot of series positions will be decided during this race. The Outright top 3 places will be decided between Tru Blu and the Sinister boats, as there is a 18-point gap between 3rd and 4^th placings. Handicap places are also tight with Matrix leading but there is only a 5-point difference in the top 7 boats.

Saturday 7^th February.

Race 9 was held today. Being the final race of the Championship series, there is a lot of places to be decided for the Outright and Handicap results. The race was scheduled to start after 10.30am so it was never certain when there was going to be enough wind to hold a race. Luckily a 5kt Southerly was present and a race sequence started. Everyone was a bit keen to get a good start resulting in a general recall for the first time this regatta. The race committee then decided to display the U flag for the next start.

The race seemed to start without incident except for a port and starboard collision on the start line. A small group of boats got away better than everyone else and established a lead that stretched as the race progressed. This group contained the top 3 placed boats overall as well as Matrix and Rapscallion. The wind increased to about 10 by the end which helped to maintain a tight bunching of the middle of the fleet with 5 boats rounding the off wind marks together a common occurrence.

As the boats crossed the finish line, the fleet was informed by a support boat that 5 boats were recorded as UFD, for being over the start line within the last 60 seconds of the start sequence.

Among them were Tru Blu, Totally Sinister and Matrix, which had significance for the Overall and Handicap placings.

After the penalties were applied, V- Sinister [Michael Simms and Paul Paparella] took the win in this race and the Series. Hissing Sid was second and Tarrango third.

Therefore once 2 drops were allowed for after 9 races V Sinister is the Australian Champion on 12 series points, Tru Blu second with 14 and Totally Sinister third with 17. These 3 boats have been consistently the best through the series with the fourth placed boat, Tarrango, on 34 points.

Handicap results were also finalized with Pure Steel [Ellis and Michelle Armstrong] first on 38 points, then Hissing Sid [Peter Behrendt and Peter Yeates] second on 40 and Pickled Pelican [Robin Deussen and Harry Fisher] third on 49.

Congratulations to all the place getters and a big thanks to the Largs Bay members, committee and race officials for putting on a wonderful regatta. I think we were very fortunate to get moderate temperatures and winds for the duration of the week considering the high temperatures that were present in Adelaide the previous week.

The Presentation ceremony and farewell dinner is on tonight in the Largs Bay clubhouse.

Awards were

NOTES – The winds strengths referred to are the readings taken from the committee boat or at the Outer Harbour Adelaide.

Regards

NOTES – The winds strengths referred to are the readings taken from the committee boat or at the Outer Harbour Adelaide.

Regards

Glenn Nolan

Treasurer and Registrar

The Hartley TS16 Association of Australia.