Gday everyone,
With the Formula and Wave Tours well underway, its time to start the Slalom Tour. This year we are having one event on Lake Macquarie, and the other two in Sydney
Nov 24NSW Slalom Tour - Heat 1Lake Macquarie
Dec 15-16NSW Slalom Tour - Heat 2Kyeemagh, Sydney
Jan 05-06NSW Slalom Tour - Heat 3Kyeemagh, Sydney
Heat 1 is this coming Saturday, 24th November. The venue will be wind dependent however our preference will be
- Sand Islands/Swansea Caravan Park for NE wind
- Marmong or Valentine for S wind
For those who were at the Formula Regatta last season at Swansea, you will remember the beautiful flat, clean, clear water, plenty of parking, good toilets etc. If you haven't been there before, check out the photos below courtesy of local sailor muz720.
Click for a map to Swansea from Sydney : www.google.com.au:443/maps?saddr=Sydney+Harbour+Bridge,+Cumberland+Street,+The+Rocks,+New+South+Wales&daddr=Unknown+road&hl=en&sll=-33.077159,151.63712&sspn=0.015085,0.01929&geocode=FQxW-_0dHj0DCSE-xMAXt46UaA;FehdB_4dUr4JCQ&vpsrc=0&gl=au&mra=ls&t=h&z=10
Start time, final location and other details will be posted closer to the date. Entry is open to anyone and all local and Central/North coast freeride sailors (especially Mid North Coast Marauders!) are encouraged to come along and enjoy a bit of go-fast fun at what we think is the best slalom sailing spot on the east coast.
Cheers
James
Looking forward to some fast slalom fun.
Top photos Muz.
Shoold be a good day to get some high speeds and sail with alot of other windsurfers fromm all around.Hopfully the Mid North Coast Marauders can come and enjoy some flat water sailing.
That sounds like a day not to be missed. I will be there. I'm sure I will be able to get a few boys off our Marauder team as well.
We should set a date maybe for the Central Coast. It definately has two ideal flat spots within 1 km of each other which would cater for any direction of breeze. East round to the west at Peel st Toukley and Canton for any thing with west through to South East.
Hi,
Do you need to be a member of a sailing club to enter? Will there be different grades of racing? Ie for those who have not entered before.
It is a great spot so hopefully there is some wind.
No membership required Karl , it's more a
Fun day and get together , I will be in the rescue boat getting loads of photos of everyone involved,
Will be good to catch up with everyone. ,
No membership should get a few more people there. If its 6m weather or better i will come check it out, never done any racing so would be good to see how well or crap i am. Any one got a 32cm ish slalom fin i could borrow. come on blow wind blow.
Hi all,
The forecast is still looking great for a 15-20 knot nor-easter so we will confirm that the event is definitely SATURDAY, and location will be Swansea Caravan Park, end of Dobinson Drive, Swansea.
A few more details about the day:
- Entry fee $20 per sailor - this money goes straight to WindsurfingNSW and Marmong Point Sailing Club to cover costs (boat, fuel, insurance etc) and support the future of the sport.
- As mentioned earlier, you don't need to be a member of a club to race. However, only members of a club will be able to count points towards the overall NSW Slalom Series. So if you're thinking about racing at the two Sydney events as well, we would recommend that you join a club (Marmong, Stormriders, Illawarra, St George and Dobroyd are all WindsurfingNSW affiliated clubs).
- Remember that windsurfing can be dangerous, so please take care, sail safely, and be aware of other sailors around you especially at gybe marks.
- Important: Every sailor needs to wear a lifejacket while racing.
- Sail numbers - In order to record results, the officials need to have some way of identifying you via your sail. Formal AUS numbers are preferred, but if you dont have one of these, please bring along a roll of electrical tape to make a number up on the day (eg your initials, or a favourite number). Whatever you choose will need to be unique, so we will record these at registration.
- If you are putting the location into your GPS, look for "Dobinson Drive, Swansea".
- Schedule for the day
- Registration - 10am-11am
- Briefing - 11am
- Racing - 12 noon onwards
- Wind limits - 12 knots up to 35 knots (wishful thinking for NSW!)
- Race format - Downwind M-Course slalom. At the briefing, each sailor will be allocated a heat in each round. This heat can be recorded on your arm, then before each start the Round Number and Heat (A or B) will be displayed on the boat.
- Drops - After every four rounds, sailors can drop their worst result.
- Start sequence - 2 minutes - More details of flags etc at the briefing.
Byron and Murray have been busy figuring out the best courses to sail. These will be confirmed at the briefing but are shown below to whet your appetite!
Cheers
James
Standard M-course:
Potential Long distance course (boat traffic and weed dependent):
Hi all,
Starting out slalom racing shouldn't be daunting thing for the newcomer. I did my first slalom race two years ago down at Dolls Point at the nationals and really enjoyed the experience of sailing next to some of Australia's best sailors even though I was pretty average. I really learnt a lot from that day and all of the fleet was really welcoming and helpful. One of the things I was a bit anxious about was the rules and the start sequence.
As such we have now compiled a few basic rules for newcomers to slalom racing as a basic guide to prevent collisions and make the day an enjoyable experience for all.
Slalom Racing Basic Rules
Avoid a collision if at all possible, even if another sailor is to blame!
Opposing Sailing Directions or Tacks
• Starboard tack (right hand forward) has right of way over Port.
• In general, Starboard sailor should hold their line while Port sailor passes downwind.
Same Sailing Directions or Tacks
• Overtaking board must stay clear.
• With overlap, upwind board should not bear off on a downwind (leeward) board.
• Downwind board should not violently luff up into wind, to prevent being overtaken by upwind board.
• Luffing that is easy to react to and is gradual is OK.
At Gybe Marks
• With overlap, on approach to mark, outside (windward) board must allow enough water for inside (leeward) board to perform a gybe.
• With overlap, outside board must not initiate carve gybe until inside board has started their gybe.
• A board arriving at the mark after another board, should not interfere with the board that was at the mark first. (Exceptions obviously apply if first sailor falls off, leaving 2nd sailor with no time to react!)
• If in doubt about your ability to gybe inside another sailor safely at a buoy please gybe around the outside.
And finally:
All competitors have a duty to stop and assist any fellow competitor who due to kit failure, injury or other unknown circumstance may require assistance.
Thanks David, some great info there.
I forgot to mention that we will have a dedicated rescue boat as well (small yellow boat) on the water. So if you see someone struggling in the water, and they need a tow back, let Greg on the yellow boat know.
Cheers
James
Well said it is important people turn up on time so we can organise the numbers so when the wind is in we are ready to go.
Please mark your sails for identification.
It is looking like we should have a day of fun slalom racing we will never forget, I can not wait its going to be epic.
Gday andrew,
Glad to hear you can make it.
We are having a briefing at 11, then need time to rig and be on the water. Before the briefing we will need some time to work out the heats on the laptop, so if everyone could be registered by 10:45 at the latest that will help us get out on the water asap.
Dont forget life jackets! if you have spares, bring them along for the people that forget!
Cheers
James
hey, hows it going, ha, this looks like a sweet event, ive spoken to some of the canton locals, me, pete and mick, maybe spence, are coming, thankyou to everyone involved in organising and running, thankyou for letting us come without club membership, it will be sweet if donavan, (sic em) larko, chris christian etc, micheal thompson, leo, etc, those guys are great sailors, could challenge bryon and walshy for third spot, with me and mick battling it out for first,
, its gunna be sweet, looks like a sweet forecast, ha, c ya all soon, ha, im sooooooooooooo tempted to start talking some ****,
That's the sort of attitude we like to see!
This is going to hopefully be one of everyone's most memorable sailboarding day's.
For some, the first crack at lining up for a start and going around the buoy's for other an event to compare against previously contested.
I sincerely hope as many people attend this great day and enjoy the location and sailing.
It really is the best way to improve your skills, meet new people and see the latest gear and just all round share the day with like minded people.
What else are you going to doing, mowing the grass, renovating the house, that stuff can wait!
See you all there tomorrow!
Well said Muz the lawn will still be there on Sunday or Monday whenever.
We are looking forward to seeing some new friendly faces in a unreal windsurfing location.
Get pumped up for some fun will see you all tomorow.
Good that you posted up the info, didnt know about needing
a life jacket, got one now & the tape for numbers.
Racing from 12kts, I be watching from 12kts till 20.
I can video if it dont pick up enough.
dont i get a mention milsey!! Or do the real greats remain namless?? Wish i could be there folks. Sounds like fun
might be a little late have to take my daughter to the airport schoolies but i will be there
My backs out at the moment so no sailing for me. Someone else will have to take the honour of coming last..
After a cloudy start to the day, the seabreeze gradually filled in to about 12-15 knots. Those who were able to stick around were able to sail in two planing races around 5:30pm, with people on sails between 7.5 and 9.0. A third race was started but abandoned as the wind was starting to die as the sun went down.
Thanks to all 21 sailors who came along, including Rick Turner who came all the way from Jervis Bay for the day! Also good to see a few new racers from Sydney and the Central Coast. Hope to see you all back up in Lake Macquarie again soon.
Thanks also to John, John and Greg who put in lots of work on the boat and to Byron, Murray and Brett for their help with all of the event planning.
Results are shown below. Congratulations to Byron and Remi for their dead heat 1st place, and to Tibor in 3rd place.
Next round of slalom is over the weekend of 15th/16th December at Kyeemagh, Botany Bay. And the next round of Formula is back at Lake Macquarie next weekend. Location and more details will be posted up during the week.
Cheers
James
It was a shame the wind did not come in as forecast , But was great to catch up with everyone ,and also to meet some new people .
Well done to the organisers
So was everyone on slalom gear or some on Formula and others slalom? If so how did you handicap people?
I will be turning up to more of these events, great organisation, simple courses, simple rules, great people.
Everyone was on slalom gear, well if you can call those boards slalom some were 82cm wide & big sails 7.6 to 10m i think.
Got me thinking its time to update the 12year old boards with some new wide & short style ones, with a 7.5 7.8 for the 15kt days since there is alot of them.
Shame the wind didnt come in but maybe it will play today.
This is slalom Sue, max board width 85cm. sail max 10m, no formula and no handicap.
This is slalom Sue, max board width 85cm. sail max 10m, no formula and no handicap.
It was a shame the big NE breeze did not come in as we had set an epic downwind slalom course in anticipation.
Still two races run and yes I was only on 7.6m sail with 111L board 39cm fin.
Well done every one who raced especially Remi and Tibor you were both flying.
It was worth hanging around as it was good fun.
A big thank you to all the people that make these events happen as James has mentioned. Also I would really like to thank the new people for coming and having a go. It was excellent to see some new faces turning up to a fun event. You are more than welcome and please remember if it is going to be a really windy day on a Saturday arvo we sometimes run fun slalom at Marmong club.
For the record the money from these events go to Marmong Sailing club to pay for insurances fuel etc. but most importantly so Marmong windsurfing club stays profitable now and into the future for all of us to enjoy.
This is slalom Sue, max board width 85cm. sail max 10m, no formula and no handicap.
This is slalom Sue, max board width 85cm. sail max 10m, no formula and no handicap.
