Celebrating our Sailors - Part 4
As the Annual Presentation Night to celebrate MHYC’s 2019-2020 season was not possible due to Covid-19, we are announcing the award winners online over a period of 5 weeks.
In our fourth instalment, we celebrate:
- Shaun Lane – recipient of the Norman G Booth Trophy
- Sail Exchange (Carl Crafoord) - The Nigel Holman Trophy and Salamander Cup
- Perception (Charles Caskey) - Seven Islands Race
- Rock Solid (Mitchell Miller & Andrew Gunton) - Sydney Harbour Trek
Shaun Lane – Norman G. Booth Award
The Norman G. Booth trophy is awarded to a skipper or crew, other than an Annual Pointscore winner, from any Division, nominated for his/her consistent racing with MHYC and with an emphasis on enthusiasm, improvement, sportsmanship and clubmanship throughout the season.
Shaun Lane is a worthy winner of the Norman G. Booth trophy this year - an active MHYC member who has campaigned the MC38 Lazy Dog over the past two seasons.
After a concerted effort over the previous 12 months to develop the crew and boat, Lazy Dog claimed the 2020 Australian Championship. This followed a string of strong placings throughout the season of MC38 Events in this highly competitive class. As a volunteer, Shaun is President of the Australian MC38 Class Association and a Board Member of Middle Harbour Yacht Club.
Sail Exchange (Carl Crafoord)
MHYC member Carl Crafoord and co-owner Tim Horkings from CYCA are keen competitors in offshore series with the Cookson 12 Sail Exchange. This year, they claimed 1st Place ORCi Division 3 and 2nd Place IRC Division 5 in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, earning MHYC’s Nigel Holman Trophy. Sail Exchange also won the Salamander Cup for the best placed MHYC boat in the Cabbage Tree Island Race.
Perception (Charles Caskey)
Charles Caskey’s Perception is a regular starter in MHYC’s Wednesday, Thursday Twilight and Feature Event races and won Division 2 of the Seven Islands Race in November last year.
Rock Solid (Mitchell Miller & Andrew Gunton)
Mitchell Miller & Andrew Gunton’s Adams 10 Rock Solid is a high performing boat both in Championships and MHYC’s inshore series. They were third overall on One-Design in the season Adams 10 pointscore and won Division 1 of the Sydney Harbour Trek last October.
Green light for the Farr 40 Class
After a long and frustrating off season navigating Covid rules and restrictions, the Farr 40 Class has been given the green light to hold their first point score regatta of the season on 17 & 18 October 2020, hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club.
Australian Sailing and NSW Health zoning restrictions have now been lifted, and the Class is keen and committed to get all future regattas away with no further postponements.
Both Victorian teams, Double Black and Nutcracker have committed to this weekend’s regatta. Owners Rob Pitts and Rob Davis have appointed substitute helmsmen for what promises to be a great first regatta of the season with seven boats on the start line.
Lang Walker has recently sold the iconic Kokomo to a local owner and she will now join the ever-increasing fleet at MHYC. A number of yachts have changed hands recently, which is positive news for the Australian Class with Sydney fleet numbers on the rise.
Due to Covid, the 2020 National Championships which were scheduled to be held back in March were postponed until next month. If the Victorian borders are re-opened, allowing Double Black and Nutcracker owners to travel, the Nationals will go ahead as planned with this regatta the only lead up event. Jeff Carter’s Edake and Tom and Alan Quick’s Outlaw are the two teams vying for the National Champion crown and the infamous red championship blazer.
“It’s been a strange year for everyone and Dad (Alan) and I will be sharing the helm this weekend. We are really looking forward to being back on the water and competing with all our Farr 40 mates. It’s a shame our fellow skippers from Melbourne won’t be joining us, however, we appreciate their commitment to the Class by entering their boats and we look forward to welcoming them back hopefully next month.” Quick said.
After what has been a difficult year for our sport, owners and crew have never been more keen to hit the water and PRO Phil Yeomans has scheduled up to eight races being sailed offshore on Saturday and back inside the harbour on Sunday.
List of entries:
- Double Black (MHYC) - Rob Pitts
- Edake (MHYC) - Jeff Carter
- Exile (MHYC) - Rob Reynolds
- Good Form (NCYC) - Joe de Kock
- Nutcracker (SYC) – Rob Davis and Andy Baker
- Outlaw (CYCA) - Tom Quick
- Zen (MHYC) - Gordon Ketelbey
By Jennie Hughes - Farr 40 Australian Class
Celebrating our Sailors - Part 2
As the Annual Presentation Night to celebrate MHYC’s 2019-2020 season was not possible due to Covid-19, we are announcing the award winners online over a period of 5 weeks.
In our second instalment, we celebrate:
- Tony Levett – recipient of the RB Cooper Perpetual Award
- Powderhulk (Patrick Delaney) - The Gun Boat Trophy and Asiaciti Trust Trophy
- Innamincka (John Crawford) - The Chaos Cup - Division 2
- Rumba (Kerry Burke, Rob Carr, Stephanie Cook) Ninja Perpetual Trophy - Division 2
Tony Levett - The R.B. Cooper Perpetual Award for Voluntary Service
This award is presented to a club member whose outstanding voluntary service is deemed to have contributed most to the affairs and wellbeing of MHYC in a membership year.
In 2019-2020, it is the Club’s pleasure to recognise Tony Levett as our volunteer of the year. Tony has been a quiet volunteer helping our clubhouse look and run better. He started working with Lindsay Rose and when Lindsay passed away, started organising the chores to do around the club.
Generally meeting each Tuesday, this small group does so much for our club. Unfortunately, most would not notice unless it was not done. They do so much from painting (lots of it), hanging pictures, trying to get rid of seagulls, cleaning and fixing furniture and blinds, gardening, fixing doors and locks, helping restore our trophy cabinets and so many great other handyman jobs that make a difference to our club. We even roped Tony into helping our trophy cleaning group this year, which was great as he has so much knowledge and practical experience.
When Tony is not pottering around the club, he is racing his Sydney 38 yacht TSA Management Eleni. Tony enjoys his long offshore racing, having competed in 15 Rolex Sydney Hobarts and many other offshore races in her. He has had good success in these races having won the Sydney 38 division twice in the Sydney Hobart and once in Sydney Mooloolaba Race.
It is great that his largely unseen work is Tony being recognised this year for our volunteer award. It should also be noted that Richard Hurley (brother of John Hurley) has also been an integral member of this small team.
If anyone is interested in joining this group, please let the yacht club know. It is both fun and rewarding.
Powderhulk (Patrick Delaney)
Having now made the step up to a Farr 40 for the current season, Patrick Delaney and the crew of Powderhulk put in a strong and consistent final year in the Adams 10 class, winning the Gun Boat Trophy for Annual One Design Pointscore and Asiaciti Trust Trophy for Annual PHS Pointscore. Along the way, Powderhulk was first on One Design for the Spring, Summer
and Sprint Series.
Innamincka (John Crawford)
John Crawford’s J/24 Innamincka is a regular competitor in the club’s spinnaker and non-spinnaker racing program. In January, John and crew were the top of Division 2 in the Chaos Cup, MHYC’s annual Feature Race to Bedlam Point and return. In addition, Innamincka was 2nd on PHS and 1st One Design J/24 in the Division 2 Inshore Annual Pointscore and 1st PHS and 1st One Design in the Sprint Series.
Rumba (Kerry Burke, Rob Carr, Stephanie Cook)
Rumba is one of the most active boats at the club, competing in Wednesday Non-Spinnaker races, Thursday Twilights and for Saturday spinnaker racing in both Inshore and Ocean Series. First on PHS in the Division 1 Summer Inshore Pointscore and finishing the Division 2 Ocean Series Pointscore with a 3rd on IRC and PHS, Rumba also won Division 2 of the Leading Edge Pursuit Series in August to claim the Ninja Perpetual Trophy.
The sun shines for the Harbour Trek
A magnificent sunny spring day for the Harbour Trek feature event today with a solid fleet of twenty eight boats heading off down the harbour. With a very light breeze leading up to the start time the race committee went with a short course 3.
The leading boats had a very slow start but as the wind picked up above forecast the fleet made short work of the course.
In Division 1 Peter Sorenson got the gun on Advanced Philosophy followed by Kukukerchu (David Ross) in second and Bluetack (Patrick Delany) in third place. Well done to Rob Aldis and Peter Winter on Kayimai for their 7th place two handed.
In Division 2, two handed racers Evan Hodge and Kelly Nunn-Clarke got the got on Sanctum followed by Farr N Away (Chris Lee) in 2nd place and Galan (Mike Gallagher) in 3rd.
For full results click here
Thanks again to Marg Fraser-Martin for her awesome photos.....
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Wild conditions for the first Offshore Race for the Season
There was some wild conditions for the first of the Ocean Series and Race 3 of the Inshore with winds gusting up to 35 knots.
Those boats that braved the conditions and made it around the track without any breakage came in all smiles, compared to a few more sombre reactions from those that had to pull out.
A very special thank you needs to be extended to the Race Management Team in these trying conditions, laying and retrieving course marks up to 3 miles offshore.
First across the line in the Ocean Series was Gordon Ketelbey and his TP52 Zen, taking out the 1st place trifecta on IRC, PHS and ORCi in Division 1. Bob Cox’s DK46 Nine Dragons took out 2nd place IRC and 3rd place in the PHS with sister ship Khaleesi, helmed by Rob Aldis, 3rd on IRC and 2nd on PHS.
In Division 2, the CYCA Sydney 36 Salt Shaker skippered by Peter Franki came home with a 1st on IRC and 2nd on PHS. Co-owners Rob Carr, Kerry Burke and Stephanie Cook on Rumba took out 2nd place on IRC and 1st place on PHS with 3rd place IRC going to Wailea (Neil Padden) and 3rd place PHS to Galaxy (Chris Canty).
For full results click here
While the waves were smaller, the shifty and gusty westerly provided challenging conditions for the Inshore Series with Little Nico, skippered by Adrian Walters, the only boat in Division 1 to finish.
In Division 2, David West got the gun on Ace to take out 1st place in the PHS and One Design, with Asterix ( Roberto Comacho) claining 2nd Place.
For full Inshore results click here
Only two of the Adams 10's ventured out today with Geoff Charters winning first place in both One Design and PHS categories on No Freinds and Sirius (Garth Riley) receiving 2nd place for both.
For full Adams 10 results click here
Marg Fraser-Martin was on the start boat for the Ocean and Inshore races and at the finish for the Ocean fleet.........
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Read more: Wild conditions for the first Offshore Race for the Season
Celebrating our Sailors - Part 3
As the Annual Presentation Night to celebrate MHYC’s 2019-2020 season was not possible due to Covid-19, we are announcing the award winners online over a period of 5 weeks.
In our third instalment, we celebrate:
- Neil Padden & Wailea – recipient of the Flag Officers’ Participation Award
- Sirius (Garth Riley) - The NSW Police Association Trophy
- Stormaway (Jack Stening & Colin Gunn) - The Ocean Series Perpetual Trophy - Division 2, Selo Cup – Division 2 and Cock of the Club Team Challenge Trophy
- Tempo (Michael Smith) Christmas Cup
Neil Padden & Wailea – Flag Officers’ Participation Award_0093.JPG)
Congratulations to Neil Padden and his yacht Wailea for winning the MHYC Flag Officers Participant award.
When Neil retired to Sydney, the plan was always to own a yacht, and he bought Wailea, a Beneteau 40.7. The idea was to carry on sailing in cruising and picnic mode with the occasional race thrown in, but says “when I started racing, I got hooked and quite soon the racing overtook any cruising. We bought our house in Clontarf, so MHYC was the obvious choice of Club, and John Hurley, David Lee and others helped me enormously to get started in racing”.
Neil now enjoys his racing at MHYC most Wednesday, Thursday Twilights as well as Saturday racing. Neil is a great supporter of new sailors joining MHYC. He has recruited several good sailors through the MHYC crew board, and folk just turning up out of the blue. He also uses MHYC’s Skipper and Crew Meet and Greet, Pacific Sailing website, and MySail.
Neil has been a tremendous supporter of our club. He was on the Board, most of the time as Treasurer, for ten years. Having served his time on the Board, he still helps ensure the smooth running of our club. He is a member of the Finance and Risk Committee, Chair of the Funding Committee, and a Director of the MHYC Foundation. Neil enjoys our club and says “MHYC, has been a very important social thing for me as a recent immigrant with no family here”.
High on his bucket list is… “I want to do consistently well on IRC, which we have always struggled to achieve, and I want to beat I more often!”. Watch out Stormaway!
Sirius (Garth Riley)
The NSW Police Association Trophy is awarded in memory of Ben Nossiter to the yacht in the Adams 10 Class with the most line honour successes in the Sprint Series. The trophy uses part of the shotgun used by the MHYC race management team until 1999. When the gun licensing laws changed, the Club was forced to surrender their starting shotguns. The Police Sailing Association had a trophy made using one of the butts and donated it to Club in appreciation of our close relationship over the years. As well as claiming the Police Sailing Association Trophy and winning the Adams 10 Sprint Series, Sirius was 1st on PHS and 3rd on One-Design in the Spring Pointscore and 2nd on both One-Design and PHS in the Annual Pointscore.
Stormaway (Jack Stening & Colin Gunn)
Stormaway is a regular and strong competitor in the club’s Ocean and Inshore series, in Feature events and for Wednesday non-spinnaker racing. In 2019-2020, Stormaway had another successful year, winning the Ocean Series for Division 2 on IRC (Selo Cup) and PHS (Ocean Series Perpetual Trophy) and was part of the winning team who claimed the Cock of the Club trophy for the Chaos Cup in January.
Tempo (Michael Smith)
The Christmas Cup trophy was originally presented to MHYC by the Captain and Crew of the Golden Hawk in 1988 and is awarded in memory of Gordon Reynolds. Tempo was the Division 1 winner in December and also went on to claim a win in the Division 1 Twilight Annual Pointscore.
COVIDSafe Sailing Update - 25 September 2020
As the Covid-19 Regional and Metropolitan Zone recommendations issued by NSW Health and Australian Sailing in August have now been lifted, we are pleased to advise that pointscore racing has re-commenced in all MHYC Series from 1 October.
COVIDSafe Crew Registration is required for all races conducted by MHYC. For more information and to register crew - click here
MHYC is pleased to be able to continue our sailing program, but COVID-19 is still with us and the way we sail needs to adapt. We are all obliged to work together to fight the transmission of the virus, so the club has introduced some new requirements for racing and developed important information for competitors. The MHYC COVIDSafe Sailing Information for Competitors has recently been updated – click here
Please remember - the “new normal” for sailing at MHYC and other NSW clubs is GET IN, SAIL & GET OUT…..
Warming Up for Twilights
MHYC Thursday Sailing for 2020-2021 got underway this afternoon with the Twilight Warm-Up Race. Seventeen boats across four divisions enjoyed a moderate south-easterly and a relatively short course targeted at getting everyone across the line before dark. The burger bar was in full swing afterwards and everyone enjoyed having the Harbour View Room open again.
Brad Newton’s Sydney 38 Kaizen was first home in Division 1, ahead of Wailea (Neil Padden) and Kayimai (Rob Aldis). In Division 2, it was Rob Carr, Steph Cook & Kerry Burke on Rumba leading home from Equinox (Todd Trenear) and Stella Polaris (Goran Hultin). Martyn Colebrook’s Slac-n-Off was the first Division 3 boat from Elysium (John DeMeur) and Freedom (Stephen Smith). Harry Brigden’;s new boat Happy Hour was the sole Division 4 starter.
For the full race results – click here
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Celebrating our Sailors - Part 1
As the Annual Presentation Night to celebrate MHYC’s 2019-2020 season was not possible due to Covid-19, we are announcing the award winners online over the next 5 weeks.
In our first instalment, we celebrate:
- Mitch White – Recipient of the Tig Thomas Memorial Trophy
- Galan (Mike Gallagher) – Feature Events and Inshore Division 1
- Exile (Tony Reynolds) – January Cup
- Flo (Martyn Colebrook & Anna Alvsdotter) – Yaffe Cruising Trophy
- Buggalugs (Jeremy Clarke Kristin Kool) – Cruising Division Drogue Trophy
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Mitch White – Tig Thomas Memorial Trophy
This award was donated by Tig’s family & friends, dedicated to recognizing annually MHYC members who have competed in interclub events and major championships. Points are awarded for both participation and placings in State, National and International events.
For 2019-2020 the award was awarded to long term MHYC member Mitch White. Mitch was an integral member of the Wizard Sailing Team resulted in Wizard being crowned World Sailing Team of the Year in 2019 for:
- Caribbean 600 overall win
- Trans Atlantic – winners in IRC1 and overall winners
- Rolex Fastnet race - 1st in IRC Z and overall winners
In addition, Mitch achieved the following in his racing:
- 2019 Sydney to Hobart on Infotrack - 2nd line honours and 3rd in IRC Div 0
- 2020 Sydney 38 on Conspiracy - Australia Champion
- 2020 Middle Harbour Regatta on Little Nico - Super 12 overall win
Mitch started sailing at MHYC at an early age and many of us can remember him as one of our tender boat drivers in his teens. He started serious offshore racing as bowman at age 17 on the MHYC boat Morning Mist, travelling North for the major races in Queensland. Over the years he has become a very active member and supporter of MHYC and MHYC boats.
It is with great pleasure that we see Mitch win this award, as he recently bought Tig’s famous boat Plum Crazy from his father, Steve. Mitch has spent a lot of time completely reinvigorating her to her beautiful past glory. She is once again proudly moored at MHYC and there is nothing more Mitch loves doing than taking his young family out for a spin on the harbour.
Galan (Mike Gallagher)
Galan is a Jeanneau 409 which has been campaigned by Mike, Hillary and Samantha Gallagher over several years, participating in regular Saturday Inshore racing and Thursday Twilights. Galan had a spectacularly successful season, winning the Heaven Can Wait Trophy for PHS Division 1 and claiming trophies in four Feature races – Sydney Harbour Trek Division 1, Seven Islands Division 3, January Cup Division 2 and the Cock of the Club Team Challenge for the Chao Cup.
Exile (Tony Reynolds)
The Farr 40 Exile is active in One-Design Class Series, Wednesday Non-Spinnaker racing and MHYC Feature Events. Sailed by Rob and Tony Reynolds and an enthusiastic crew throughout the year, Tony was at the helm to claim the January Cup.
Flo (Martyn Colebrook & Anna Alvsdotter)
The Yaffe Cruising Trophy was donated by the late Sid Yaffe and is presented to a Member of the Cruising Division each year for a meritorious long ocean passage. The 2019 recipient was Martyn Colebrook & Anna Alvsdotter’s Catamaran Flo, following their four month long cruise to North Queensland and return in 2019.
Buggalugs (Jeremy Clarke Kristin Kool)
The Jeanneau 36.2 Buggalugs, sailed by Jeremy Clarke and Kristin Kool, was awarded the Cruising Division Drogue Trophy for season 2019-2020. This is a trophy presented to a Member who has demonstrated being in too much of a hurry and getting to the planned destination “too” quickly. Buggalugs cruised quickly to Jervis Bay, Pittwater and a number of other locations during the year.
Congratulations to all the MHYC 2019-2020 Trophy Winners!
Thursday Twilights start on October 8!
The MHYC Twilight Non-Spinnaker Pointscore Series gets underway on Thursday 8th October. We are looking forward to another enjoyable season of Thursday afternoon sailing, but things will be a little different this year.
To comply with NSW Public Health Orders, crews must be registered for each race and there will be changes to the catering arrangements. A beverage service will be available in the Sand Bar and Harbour View after sailing and a burger bar will operate downstairs. If you would like a table in the Harbour View, bookings are essential – contact the Sand Bar.
As for all club racing, crew members are required to either be a Sailing Member of MHYC or another affiliated club or have a valid SailPass for the day.
Remember to be COVIDSafe and don’t come to the club if you are feeling unwell.
For crew registration – click here
To obtain a SailPass – click here
To view the COVIDSafe Sailing Information for Competitors – click here
Annual Skippers Briefing Tonight 17 Sept at 7pm on ZOOM
The Annual Skipper’s Briefing will be held via Zoom Teleconference this year on Thursday evening 17 September at 7pm.
It is mandatory for at least one representative from each boat to attend, but being held via teleconference enables mutliple people to take part.
This important session will include an online briefing from NSW Roads & Maritime Services, cover on-water emergency procedures and changes to the racing program for the coming season. It is a must-attend event for the skippers (or a representative) of all MHYC yachts.
Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone the Sailing Office (9969 1244 Tues-Sat) to confirm your intention to attend or if you have any questions.
MHYC invites you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: MHYC Skippers Briefing
Time: Sep 17, 2020 07:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 826 5866 8764
Passcode: 193844
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Read more: Annual Skippers Briefing Tonight 17 Sept at 7pm on ZOOM