⛵️ Sail Peninsula 2026 Weekend is Here! ☀️

New Members

The Executive Committee and members would like to welcome the following new members to Safety Beach SC. We look forward to meeting you at the club or on the water in the very near future.

• Mares Lindner
• Simon Crawford 
• Frank Cannavo and family 
• Paul Economedes and family 
• Nicholas Byron and family 
• Michael Fagan and family 
• Jonathan Embrey
• Santino Gray
• Parker Draper
• Patrick Hamilton

Off The Beach News 

Howdy troops.

Well, two good weeks in a row, wowsers! Last Sunday was a great day on and off the water, beautiful sunshine, some breeze albeit a bit on the light side, and a bunch of happy sailors. The juniors again had a terrific day on the water and some of the are getting enough skill and confidence to come out in the afternoon and join in. I sailed past  four girls, Iona, Tully, Evelyn and Zara in a Pacer not going anywhere in a hurry but they sure were having fun if the laughter was any indication. Clem, Iona's father was keeping a close eye on them, until the racing bug bit him and his mate Brett and they were off! The girls sailed around for quite a while before heading in. A great start and reminded me of when all the Lowe, Everett and Miejer kids would take a Quest out six up and have a party! I also sailed out alongside another of the new crop, Cooper, single handed in a Terra. He was going along nicely just behind me, but I thought, He's not going to make it in time. The I looked back to see he had picked up a burst of speed and was even keeping up with Ewan on his A Class! It wasn't until they flew past me that I noticed the rope between them! Nice work Ewan, and Cooper stayed out and completed the race too, awesome job.

Those that had ventured out early in case the breeze died out were the smart ones, as some of us slackers (too much talking in my case, would you believe it) would have missed the start completely if RO Ross M hadn't put up the postponement flag until the wind built up a bit. Where was my A Class tow Anthony?

16 boats started and the light conditions split the fleet left and right. Left to the beach seemed to be better early but the big advantage was in paying attention to the other boats to see where the holes were and picking the shifts. James T and Di J did this well in Div 2 as did Abbey E in Div 3. Di pulled in 2nd even after her brain fade at the start where she mistook the bottom mark for the pin and had to double back. I thought I was the only one that did that.

Race one was clean, with no mishaps and everyone finished close together. A slight course change and Ross had us lined up again. Just for giggles, he had set a 60-degree course as a tryout for future races, so that was why the reaches were different. It didn't matter in the end, as the breeze was dropping and swinging to the left big time. As all the boats were coming into the top mark together, I decided to protect a very narrow lead and give everyone a lesson, 101 in how to completely bugger things up at a mark rounding. Instead of sailing just a little bit further on port before tacking, I thought it could lay it. Wrong. Then James and Erik came along side in a 420 and also couldn't make it so they tacked back to port. Here's my chance, I tacked too, after all, I only needed a couple of metres. Trouble was, they tacked back to starboard and I was...stuffed! Minor bump, full stop, no steerage for either of us, and everyone else sailed merrily by, including Duncan Mc in the same Div as the 420. Sorry guys. I did do my penalty turns though, I had to just to get around the mark! On to the wing. With the wind fading fast and the shortened course flag up, I was resigned to 3rd, until Katrina M picked up a nice little gust not 50 metres to the left and went flying past, nearly catching Di and James. There is no justice, sigh. 

The day done, it was back to the beach, whereupon the wind swung around and gave us all a beautiful sail home. 

Of note, for doing good stuff not bad, was Scott MacV and son Ryan in their Tasar. They relished the lighter conditions and had a ball on the water rather than in it. Dave P went out one up on his Nacra 5.9 monster and gave Ewan in the A Class a run for his money.

Thanks to the race team too. Ross M and Super D on Start, the always happy Rob C, Finn M and Steph K in Woodsy and Rob W, AKA James Bond, on Sutherland with RHIB debutant Ella (Clem's other daughter), we're looking forward to seeing more of her as she is keen to get her power boat license!

Finally, my apologies for razzing people up to enter Sail Peninsula this weekend and thank you to everyone that has. We just managed to make our minimum cutoff number of 15 boats, so we are all looking forward to a great weekend of sailing. A lot of factors kept our expected numbers down, including the Sabre States at Westernport, where they have over 90 entries so far! Good luck to Bill M, Fiona M and James T, who I'm sure will all do well.

That's all for now folks, see you at Sail Peninsula, Pete Chippy

This Week’s Racing - OTB

Sail Peninsula Schedule:

Keelboats 

There are secret things happening at the Dog Beach. It’s Monday morning. 0730. Still chilly and the sun just rising. Little Ninjo has anchored. Brett Illingworth, the keelboat proctologist, wades out, commenting politely that we are too far out, submerges, sets about attending to Ninjo’s bum. Then, just as the work is completed, a mast appears, moving slowly down the canal. Unprecedented emerges and sneaks round to the Dog Beach while the proctologist awaits with the instruments of his art.

Yes, it’s Sail Peninsula time and boats want to be fast.

The day before was Race 6 of the Club Championship series. Elaine and I had driven down to Blairgowrie on Saturday to catch up with our Darwin friends, their children and grandchildren. Five Minnows had arrived from Darwin in a container to compete in the 50th Victorian Minnow Championships. On the veranda we ran into the Rawhides who were there to sail the Victorian Adams 10 Champs. After Day 1 they were leading.

Meanwhile, the INSPIRE MARINE Friday Twilight saw 16 boats on the water with Unprecedented and Amanda in the Tower. Course 15 was selected to include R1 after a run out to SB1. The breeze was nice and cool and an enjoyable beat home from R1 was had by all. First in was Anthea, followed by L’esprit and 11:11. Interestingly Anthea had read the course wrong and rounded the Mussell Farm to port on the way in. Sheer inspiration! The AMS result was Patriot followed by Perception and Ninjo.

Boat of the Week was AMITY, sailed single-handedly and fast by David Mason. Only pipped on the approach to the Yellow Pile.
Eight yachts competed for Race 6 of the COMMUNITY BANK SOUTHERN PENINSULA Club Championship. L’esprit was the duty boat (thanks) and Lynlee Coutts presided and did the numbers on Sailsys. The wind was predicted to be light and while we started in a brisk enough beat out to SB2. It died out towards the end of the race. The course was Course 2, chosen in expectation of light airs and the spinnaker run from SB2 to the finish took some skill. Unprecedented took the PHS honours from Anthea and Patriot. The order under AMS was Unprecedented followed by Patriot and Mr Bojangles. Under ORC the order was also Unprecedented followed by Patriot and Mr Bojangles. Rawhide was representing the club at the Adams 10 Victorian Champs, so was awarded average points.

Till took a reading of the R1 position as he rounded it during the Friday Twilight. The position is :
S38⁰16.279m
E144⁰58.195m

Geoff has updated the Sailing Instructions accordingly.Di and I had separately also taken readings. R1 was respectively located at Di’s house and ours. No boats chose those courses.

And how did the Blairgowrie events go? In light winds on the Sunday Rawhide ended up 3rd overall behind Praxis (RYCV) and Bo Derek(BYS) in a closely contested regatta, while Leo Batenburg, a Darwin Minnow, took out the Minnow Champs with a clean sweep.

Results - Keelboats

This Week’s Racing - Keelboats

Sail Peninsula Schedule:

ORCV

Photo of the Week

 

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