Lake Macquarie plays host to round 5 of the series this weekend.
Wind direction and strength to early to say yet but BOM has light Southerly predicted Saturday so Marmong Sailing Club will be the venue at this stage with full canteen facilities so no need to bring your lunch.
Sunday appears NE so will probable go to the slipways at Belmont no canteen.
See you all on the week end
As stated we will start at Marmong on Saturday its a bit of a mixed bag but still chance of light southerly so this will be the place to be.
don't be late if blowing we will start on time as always.
BOM prediction Thursday afternoon
Saturday 1 February
Winds
Northerly 15 to 25 knots turning southerly inshore 15 to 20 knots during the morning. Becoming northeasterly 10 to 15 knots throughout in the evening.
Seas
1 to 2 metres, decreasing below 1 metre during the morning.
Swell
Easterly around 1 metre.
Sunday 2 February
Winds
East to northeasterly 10 to 15 knots.
Seas
1 to 1.5 metres.
Swell
East to southeasterly below 1 metre.
Forecasts still all over the place for Saturday - BOM/Seabreeze saying NE, vs Windguru/Meteye saying southerly. As Byron said, we will have rego and briefing at Marmong then see what the conditions are.
Just a reminder of the schedule for the weekend.
EVENT SCHEDULE (Subject to wind conditions)
Day 1
- Registration 10:00 MARMONG POINT SAILING CLUB
- Briefing 10:30
- Racing 11:00 (earliest possible start)
Day 2
- Racing 11:00 - location to be confirmed at Saturdays briefing but likely to be Belmont Slips.
Remember to bring slalom gear because Sunday may have enough wind for slalom racing.
See you there.
We arrived at 10 to find a beautiful 15 knot southerly coming down the lake. Even enough for Remi to sail his slalom board and 7.7.
After a quick briefing, and some rushed rigging, the start sequence kicked off very close to schedule at 11:05am. Brett Morris took out Race 1 just ahead of Byron and Chris BEL29. With the wind fading, the decision was made to cut the course in half. Byron took advantage of the lighter wind with his 12m to finish Race 2 ahead of Tibor, with Brett in 3rd.
The fleet came in for lunch and enjoyed fresh ham/salad rolls, sausage sandwiches, and bacon and egg rolls thanks to Allison Mcilveen with her mum and dad in the canteen.
With the wind swinging a bit to the southeast, the race committee pushed the course southwards into an area with better wind. While patchy, it was enough to get two more races in, with Byron winning race 3 followed by Brett, who just managed to overtake an unlucky Remi when he dropped into a lull at the final bottom mark. Race 4 was won by Brett, ahead of Byron and Justin.
Preliminary standings at the end of Day 1
Open
Equal 1st - Brett and Byron
3rd Christophe Waerzeggers
Free Formula
1st Barry Fawkes
2nd Tim Ford
3rd Lyndon Adams
Racing tomorrow will shift to the Slips at Belmont as the forecast is for a stronger noreaster building during the day. Briefing at 10:30am.
Day 2 way full on action. 20+ knots (NE) & flat water. Best Formula conditions know to man!!!! i'm a bit bias, but some of the best conditions and racing of the season.
Photos, report and results coming soon on the tour FB and web page.
www.facebook.com/groups/165678660189943/
Huge thanks to the race crew who nailed the day......
What a day 4 races in blue skies and clean water and heaps of wind.
Congratulations to Brett on fire winning all 4 races today with myself taking a second in the first then Remi chasing Brett in the next 3 races.
I had a great battle with Murray, Wayne, Dave, Nick and Justin in the arvo races.
Ended the day going to the sand islands for a slalom sail. Tried to get speed board going but unfortunately not enough wind at sand islands. So had to use 90 RS2 Exocet. It was gusting up to 30 knots at coal point that?s where I was doing 34.5 in the chop with 6.6m.
Big thanks to race crew 4 races completed early afternoon unreal effort.
Preliminary results for Round 5. Congratulations to Brett for winning the round, followed by Byron and Remi. In Free Formula, Barry Fawkes continued his winning form. Nathan received average points for Race 8 as Justin volunteered that he had accidentally run into him. Justin received a DNF.
Series standings will be calculated once I have Heat 4's results.
Thanks again to everyone who helped out over the weekend.
Thanks to Irene for taking a few photo's as well as doing the results with John, Also thanks to Mick and Glen & Mick out on the start.
Great days racing, Belmont Bay at it's best!
Brett and Remi in a class of there own, good sailing guy's.
Yesterday was indeed a great day racing. Thanks to everyone involved in organising the weekend.
What a battle with Brett to the finish line...Select to expand quotemuz720 said..
Select to expand quoteThe Windsurfing Shed said..
Yesterday was indeed a great day racing. Thanks to everyone involved in organising the weekend.
What a battle with Brett to the finish line...muz720 said..
Looks a little bumpy out there!
I can see why Brett won - he's lost the beard and hat - must be the aerodynamics coming into play!! :)
Best racing conditions (i'm a bit bias)....Formula racing in high wind with flat water is too much fun. Really enjoyed the battle with Remi. Meters separated us the whole way around the course (as you can see from this photo)....Hat blew off, Beard was ordered off.....
Can't wait for the NSW Formula States in 2 weeks at Georges River Sailing Club.....Word is some QLD-ers are coming down to claim that title too!
