Sandgate Yacht Club

The 1st race of the Winter Series is being run this Sunday. First start is scheduled for 11:00.

Let’s hope the forecast improves or we might have to do some boat maintenance!

Starting from 11:00am tomorrow morning (Sunday) will be the AGM, followed by season trophy presentation and lunch.

Another shifty day on the water again today for the last 2 races for the Summer Series trophy.
5 boats took to the start line in a variable 5-10kt breeze that was anywhere between SE and SW’ly. At times all 5 boats were next to each other. Great racing today and thanks to the starters team 👍
Photo of the boats returning to the club thanks to Amelia Brown (Happy Birthday Amelia!)

Next race event is 30 May – Club Championship (final) races 7 & 8.

Last weekend SYC conducted 2 races for the Ted Rice Shield. During the briefing we welcomed many visitors – Gary Richardson from Darwin and crew Mark Holmes from Lake Macquarie, Nicky Magyar from Tin Can Bay and crew Les Kearney from Tewantin and Crofty recently returned from Gladstone. Bill Wheatley gave an emotional history of Ted Rice and the important contribution he made to the club right up until the time of his passing.

On the race course there was a lengthy delay waiting for the breeze to appear. When the breeze did appear it was light, shifty and unpredictable generally from the southwest. The race officers realigned the race course after race 1, but they needn’t have stressed as Hughy hadn’t mind up his mind if the breeze should come from the East, the southwest or anywhere in between.

Refreshments, a sausage sizzle and socialising were enjoyed in the clubhouse after racing.

The next race meeting is 16 May for the final 2 races in this years Summer Series.

Thanks once again to the many volunteers that made the day possible.

Ted Rice Shield 2021 Overall

Another great day on the water today. Breeze ENE 8-15 in the gusts. The breeze was not shifty but also not stable and again there was a right shift after the start. Results of today’s racing as well as last weeks event following.

Also BIG welcome to Brownsea Water Activities Centre members Naomi and welcome back to Ethan Harvey with a win in the second race. Great work guys and hope to see you back soon.

Next race is the Ted Rice Shield on 18 April.

Summer Series Races 5 & 6

Club Championship Races 5 & 6

Racing again this Sunday – Summer Series races 5&6, warning signal set for 13:00.

All boats welcome (our handicapper likes a challenge!)

It’s been a little while since the last update, so here are a few items to catch up:

⛵️ SYC held the 505 Qld State Championships over the weekend of 27th and 28th February. It was great to catching up with some familiar faces as well as meeting some new ones. 15 year old Chris Gregg has had good results at Sandgate but couldn’t pull off the State Championship win this year with the victory being awarded to Nigel Lott & Bob Franks, one point in front of Mike Quirk & John Warlow. See more and read more here

⛵️ Sunday the club held the Bramble Bay Shield in conjunction with the second day of the 505’s championship event. 23 competitors including Sharpies, Windsurfers, Flying Fifteens and the 505’s faced up to 2 races held in light conditions. Although Chris and Ian Gregg may not have won the 505 trophy, they had a good day on Sunday to succeed in winning yet another SYC event, this time the Bramble Bay Shield. Full results can be found on the results page

⛵️ This Sunday racing continues in the Club Championship series. 2 races are scheduled with an early start time of 10:00am.

Results from last race meeting can be found here

This coming weekend SYC are hosting the 505 State Championships. More details soon…

Sunday saw the running of 2 races of the Summer Series. The forecast was as predicted and the weather was tricky with very light, shifty and patchy conditions. We were joined by Josh, another member of the Brownsea Water Activities Centre who helmed with JP and did very well in the tricky conditions. Results coming soon.

Next event is Saturday 27 February, the 505 Queensland State Championships. We welcome the 5-0’s, Sharpies, and LT Queensland Windsurfer Class back again to join in on the Bramble Bay Shield event on Sunday.

Summer Series racing again this Sunday. First warning signal is scheduled for 11:00 and a high tide of 11:19. Current forecast is for at least 4 or 5 Flying 15’s, a Sharpie and a Status580.

👉 See you there

Club Championship races 3 & 4 are to be conducted this Sunday at Sandgate YC.

With high tide (2.60m) at 1127hrs, the first Warning Signal is scheduled for 1100.

The first General Meeting of the year will be held next Monday evening at 7:30 at the Clubhouse – all welcome.

3 races decided the Verdon Shield today. The races were windward/leeward courses, 2 laps each with a downwind finish conducted in 4-8knot ESE’ly breeze.

There were oscillating shifts of around 15 degrees allowing for many passes over the race course. The race officers moved the start line further to the south for race 3 and after a hotly contested start there was large gaps between the fleet at the first top mark. The gap to the lead boat kept getting smaller but Relience 17 could not quite get the hat trick today.

No official results yet, but ….

1st Relience 17 (1,1,2)

2nd SNAffU (3,3,1)

3rd Saffron (2,2,3)

4th Criss Cross (5,5,4)

5th Patrick Kills Oysters (4,4,dns).

Happy Birthday to Amy! We all shared in some party food after racing to celebrate. Also thanks to Tom and Chris Noonan for setting the courses and running the starts.

Next race day is 31 Jan for legs 3 and 4 of the Club Championship.

2 events have taken place at SYC in the past few weeks.

The Excelsior Cup was run with competitors visiting from other clubs. There were 6 wind surfers, a Sharpie and 3 (or 4?) Flying Fifteens competing in strong 25 knot winds. The course set was Windward/Leewards and only 1 race was completed due to the strengthening winds. The race was won by David Larter and Laurie Williamson in Criss Cross and runners up were Neil Lestor and Graeme Dobson in Saffron. Thanks to all the visitors and we hope you return to SYC again soon – it’s not always strong winds and rough choppy seas…. honest! Refreshments were provided after racing with sausages, kebabs, salads and Christmas Cake for all the competitors and volunteers.

The final event for this year was held on Sunday. The Christmas Fun Race.

The committee of the Sandgate Yacht Club would like to wish all a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2021!

This coming Sunday is the first ever Excelsior Cup. This single race day will be run annually and is open to several divisions including Windsurfers. Racing results will be based on VYC yardstick handicap.

The Notice of Race and entry form can be found here

We hope to see you on Sunday!

A challenging day was had by some crews for the Merv Anderson Sprint Series this year while other revelled.

This is normally a great lead up event for the Flying Fifteen crews prior to their State Championships the fortnight after this event. This year the breeze was a firm 15-20 knot SE’ly. 5 starters headed out to the race course, 4 finished the first race, 2 finished the remaining races leaving one boat with a lot of work to do before packing up to go to Tin Can Bay for the Flying Fifteen State Championshpis. Congratulations to David Larter and Albert Schauss for sailing safely and consistently to take the win. Great to see previous club Commodore Andrew Pearson on the water again also.

Good Luck to all the crews sailing at the State Championships 21 and 22 November in Tin Can Bay.

Full results can be found here.

Racing at Sandgate YC this Sunday for the Merv Anderson Sprint Series. This event is a series of short races with the first warning signal at 1300hrs. High tide of 2.11m is predicted for 1452hrs.

Again any assistance you can give to the start crew will be greatly appreciated.

Last race meeting was the first 2 races of the Club Championship for 2020/2021. Results for that event can be found here.

Hope to see you all on Sunday 👍

Sandgate Yacht Club is conducting the King of Bramble Bay 2-day Regatta this weekend Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October.

Early starts both days at 1000hrs with high tides at 1016 and 1048 respectively.

Please observe COVID safe-distancing while at the Club.

Saturday’s event is planned to be a long course event around fixed marks which will have crews seeing most of Bramble Bay. Sunday we have windward-leeward racing planned.

The current forecast is looking very nice for 8-12 knot Easterly breeze on Saturday and 8-10 knot Easterlies on Sunday.

Race fees for the regatta will be $30 for both days and $20 per boat for one day only.

Any assistance offered to the Start Crew will be much appreciated. We hope to see you at the club this weekend!

Races 1 and 2 of the Summer Series were conducted today and the threat of late storms held off for a perfect days sailing.

The PRO today selected a Triangle-Sausage-Triangle course from the handbook and race 1 was run with a fickle light NE breeze and made for tight first windward mark roundings. It took most of the race for the cobwebs to be blown out and the boats found their groove. PRO elected to realign the course during the break between races and the breeze built to about 10kts before the start of the second race. The starts were hotly contested today and Race 2 was no different with boats bailing-out at the favoured boat-end of the line – all managed to get away cleanly and without serious incident.

It was great to see the return of racing and while the clubhouse activities may have not continued after racing, the boat park was an active area for discussion and debrief. Results for todays racing can be found here.

Next race day is the King of Bramble Bay Regatta 3-4 October.

It’s been a while…. Sandgate Yacht Club kicks off the 2020/2021 racing season this Sunday by conducting the first two races in the Summer Series.

On-shore social distancing regulations must be adhered to and a contact tracing register of all crews and visitors will also be maintained.

Warning signal for Race 1 will be at 1100hrs.

Any assistance for supporting the start crew would be greatly appreciated. We look forward to seeing you Sunday!

Australian Sailing has created the eSailing National Championships which are currently taking place all over the country. Each club are invited to elect a representative to compete in the State Championships as qualification to the National Championships. Sandgate YC will be represented in the Qld State eSailing Championship by Laurie Williamson. The racing starts at 1100 tomorrow morning and can be viewed on the Australian Sailing site https://m.facebook.com/AustSail/

Good luck Laurie!

Until further notice, all Sandgate Yacht Club activities are cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak and imposed government restrictions. SYC will continue to observe Australian Government directives and begin activities when the situation allows for it. Please stay safe and we look forward to seeing you on the water again soon.

All racing scheduled for Sunday 15th March at Sandgate has been POSTPONED.

This morning the BOM extended their Strong Wind Warning for tomorrow to include Moreton Bay and Gold Coast Waters (26-30kts), with a strong ridge forming along the east coast.

SeaBreeze predicts 29-30kts at midday Sunday.

We will endeavour to re-schedule the Verdon Shield to 26th April in place of our Fun Race.

Sorry to disappoint and have a great weekend.

Hopefully we will be sailing on Sunday. The forecast winds and conditions are still looking strong. The race officers with the management committee are planning to look at the forecast conditions again tomorrow. There should be an update on the SYC webpage tomorrow.

Here are the results for Merv Anderson Sprint Series from last weekend.

We are racing again this coming Sunday for the Bramble Bay Shield. First warning signal is scheduled for 12:00pm and the high tide is predicted to be 1.86m at 1:16pm. All boats are welcome to participate, but if you don’t have a boat you can assist managing the on-water events being part of the race officers team.

We are hoping to see a number of 505’s this weekend. A coaching and training session on Saturday followed by racing the Bramble Bay Shield on Sunday.

This coming Sunday was a spare day in the calendar for making lost days. We are going to try AGAIN (🙄) to run the Merv Anderson Sprint Series.

The timing for the first warning signal is early – 1000hrs – to complete at least 3 short races to add to the one race already sailed.

The final races of 2019/20 Summer Series are to be run this Sunday.

First warning signal is scheduled for 1300hr and the high tide is predicted to be 1.86m at 1514hrs.

Last week saw only one race completed towards the Merv Anderson Sprints owing to the unsettled stormy weather – we’re looking forward to complete these sprints next week.

Hope to see you on the water Sunday, either racing or helping out on the start boats.

Today was the rescheduled Merv Anderson Sprints. 5 boats took to the water in overcast, although lovely sailing conditions.

Race 1 was started under a gentle NE breeze. Most boats started at the mid-pin end of the line with only one starting at the boat end. Unfortunately for SNAffU, a general recall was declared and all returned for another attempt. The second start got away cleanly and the laid course meant a strong starboard bias.

First over the line was the Sharpie, Patrick Kills Oysters, recently back from repairs in the boatshed, followed by SNAffU, Soggy Sox, Saffron, and Criss Cross.

The course was being adjusted before the second race start as a storm was rolling in. Before the second start, racing was cancelled for the day and all crews made it safely ashore before the storm hit. The remaining races/banter of the day were conducted in the clubhouse with some refreshments and lunch sponsored by the club.

Racing again next week.