Latest News - MHYC | Middle Harbour Yacht Club

Gentle Thursday Twilight

*Kayimai currently leads the Division 1 Twilight Pointscore*

A warm and sunny afternoon with a gentle easterly breeze made for a very enjoyable twilight sail on Thursday 7 November.

Stewart McGeady and the crew of Gambler claimed the Division 1 win from Zen and Kayimai. In Div 2, Gusto (Angus Grinham) finished 40 seconds ahead of Equinox with Starstruck another 30 seconds astern. Charles Caskey’s Perception led Zeusus and Peach Teats Velocity to the line in Div 3, while Thiseldo (Kevin Bloor) was the first Div 4 boat home ahead of Single Malt and Nashira.

At the half-way point of the Pre-Christmas Twilight Series, Kayimai (Rob Aldis) leads Div 1 on a tie-break from Onya (Andrew Hurt), Eliza (David West) tops Division 2 and Bula (David Lavings) is clear ahead in Div 3. Three boats are on equal points at the top of the Division 4 leader-board, but Kevin Bloor’s Thiseldo leads on tie-break from Nashira (Evan Hodge) and Single Malt (Peter Gilliland).

To view the latest Twilight results – click here

Giant Steps Charity Race a great success

The Giant Steps Sailing Regatta was held at MHYC yesterday with some exciting sailing conditions with winds gusting up to 20 knots.

This terrific event was established to provide companies with a unique opportunity for entertaining or team building while raising funds for children with autism. Twenty Two boat in three division participated in the event with many corporates returning again from last year. The yachts headed off for a passage race around the harbour incorporating Fort Denison.

First across the line was Rumba, in Division 3, with Balance and Co staff on board. Second place in Division 3 went to Pindimara and Tula in 3^rd place. In Division I it was the TP52 KOA that got the gun with Buildline on board followed by Lend Lease Bouryges Westconnex on Wot Eva in 2^nd place and Little Nico 3^rd with crew from VSL 2.

In Division 2 The Count took out 1^st place with crew from Giant Steps and VSL 1 followed by The Tony Moffat Team on Zen in 2^nd place and Samarkand in 3^rd with a group from GHD.

Congratulation to all participants, with a special thanks to the skippers that generously donated their boats for this worthy cause.

For full results click here

For more information on the great work done by Giant Steps click here

For more photos click here Photos courtesy of Marg Fraser-Martin

Challenging Twilight Racing on Thursday

There was a breezy and gusty westerly for Race 2 of the Middle Harbour Twilight and first race of the Women's Twilight Series. 28 boats took on the challenging conditions, with massive wind shifts, gusts and lulls in Middle Harbour and beating back across The Sound in a westerly up to 30 knots.

In the Twilight Pre-Christmas Pointscore, Rob Aldis' Kayimai was the first Division 1 boat home ahead of Wailea (Neil Padden) and TSA Management (Tony Levett). David West and the crew of Eliza claimed the Division 2 win from No Friends (Geoff Charters) and Gusto (Angus Grinham). Grahame Jackson and the GJLaw N Mocean team claimed their first race win, beating home Freedom (Stephen Smith) and Plan B (Warren Lesnie). Harry Brigden's Chowringhee was the best of Division 4, ahead of Single Malt (Peter Gilliland) and Cutting Loose (Tim Kaill).

Liz Charles was at the helm of Kayimai to claim the Division 1 prize for the Women's Twilight. Tracey Richardson topped Division 2 on the Adams 10 No Friends and Amanda Hicks steered Peach Teats Velocity to the Division 3 win.

There was plenty of fun back ashore with music by Rick Herbert and a selection of great curries by Dan and Sarah with crews enjoying the food and a few drinks on the beach in the lead-up to the prizegiving. Peter Portanger was the winner of the SailPass member lucky draw tonight.

To view the Pre Christmas Twilight results - click here

To view the Women's Twilight results - click here

Thankyou Marg Fraser-Martin for the photos......

2019 10 17 MHYC Twilight Pursuit MFM9317

Double Black wins first Farr 40 pointscore regatta of season at MHYC

The final four races of the One Design Trophy were held between Obelisk and Watsons Bay on a sensational day on Sydney Harbour where Rob Pitts and the Double Black crew won their first Farr 40 regatta.

Today was a special day for Pitts, who joined the Class five years ago and has never missed a regatta. The newly appointed Australian Class President was elated with the result.

“We are so happy to win our first regatta. I want to say a massive thank you to my mate Billy Idle for joining me on this journey. Billy works so hard on our boat and puts in a huge amount of time finding crew and organising logistics. I simply couldn’t do it without him, and I dedicate this win to him.”

What was supposed to be the last race of the day was abandoned due to a wind shift which didn’t allow the course axis to be changed within the time frame. Double Black were leading this race and had the win set in their sites. It was meant to be and the classy team backed up and secured the win in the last race.

Pitts continued, “We thought we had it and were a little deflated when the race was abandoned. Kudos to my awesome crew for regrouping and winning that last race, which was the decider, as there was nothing in it for the top three.”

Gordon Ketelbey booked a last minute flight to Japan to watch the Wallabies play in the Rugby World Cup. He left Zen in the extremely capable hands of his trusty substitute skipper Clare Costanzo, who put together a youth team including Finn Alexander and Louis Schofield who recently won the Youth Nationals in Match Racing.

The average age of the Zen crew this weekend was 24 and the young team had a blinder today scoring 2.1.2 and were awarded Boat of the Day.

At this afternoon’s presentation, Rob Pitts paid tribute to Jeff Carter and team Edake on their Corinthian World Title and presented the trophy, just delivered from Long Beach, California. The trophy will live at Middle Harbour Yacht Club until the Sydney Worlds in November 2020.

Special thanks to Middle Harbour Yacht Club, our fabulous PRO Phil Yeomans and his wonderful team on the Committee boat for a top weekend of sailing.

Next stop Newcastle on 16 & 17 November 2019.

The Farr 40 Australian Class is proudly sponsored by Hacer Group.

Results: www.farr40.asn.au/results

By Jennie Hughes - Farr 40 Australian Class

Yacht Sales Australia Wednesday Non-Spinnaker Series

MHYC's Yacht Sales Australia Wednesday Non-Spinnaker Series 1 has now passed the half-way point. A moderate southerly moved east during the afternoon for this week's race, with the course taking the boats toShark Island and then Manly.

Rob Reynolds' Exile was the first Division 1 boat home, ahead of Little Nico (Adrian Walters) and Lazy Dog (Shaun Lane). In Division 2, Lumine Lunae (Kim Darling) took the win from Anitra May (Dion Hart) on debut, with Sirius (Garth Riley) third.

After 7 races, Little Nico leads the Division 1 pointscore and Brian Lees' Contentious is ahead in Division 2.

To view the results - click here

Centreboard Club Championship - Day One

The first round of the 2019-2020 MHYC Centreboard Club Championship was sunny and mild with a moderate and consistent south-easterly – a perfect way to start racing for the new season.

Ten Optimists, three Club 420s and a 29er were on the water for three races commencing at 2pm. Ben Crafoord took the lead today in the Division 3 Optimist fleet with a 4-1-1 scoreline, only ahead of Jakob Marks on tie-break and with Miles Greenwood in 3rd.

Thankyou to the parents and coaches who assisted with race management and safety . We look forward to the fleet building for the next racing on November 3.

To view the latest results – click here

For more information about Centreboard Racing at MHYC - click here

Entry Open for 2019 Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship

This year marks the 42^nd running of the first major keelboat regatta for the season, the Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship (SSORC), hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club over the weekend of 23 and 24 November.

Entry is open and the Notice of Race online, with some enthusiastic owners already signing up for what is shaping up to be a battle of the titans across the board, and particularly in the TP52 class, as seven owners have confirmed early they are rigged and ready for some serious racing.

Terry Wetton, organiser for the TP52 group, advised that Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban, Marcus Blackmore’s Hooligan, Gordon Ketelbey’s Zen, Craig Neil/Bob Steel’s Quest, Sailors With DisAbilities’ Wot Eva, Mick Martin’s Frantic and Sam Haynes’ Celestial could be joined by two or three others for the TP52 series, now starting its second year.

When you look at the talent, where do you put your money? Ichi Ban has won countless events, both inshore and offshore, including the 2017 Rolex Sydney Hobart. Quest has won the Sydney Hobart twice; in 2008 under Bob Steel and in 2015 as Balance for Paul Clitheroe. Steel also finished second to Ichi Ban in the 2017 race.

Hooligan is hard to overcome inshore. She has beaten and been beaten by Ichi Ban for the top spot and won SSORC in a small field last year. Zen has been quietly making gains, beating Hooligan at the Port Stephens TP52 event in April, which was won by Celestial, and giving as good as she got at Airlie Beach Race Week, missing the win by two points.

Ketelbey remarked, “The long and short of it is, we hope to win. We have a fairly non-professional boat of mostly regular sailors who have been with me since the Farr 40 days. We’re proud of the fact we can knock them off.

“Ichi Ban is very hard to beat – and Hooligan. They have professionals on board, but we’ll give it a go and do our best,” said Ketelbey, who lacks the inshore rigs of his two rivals, but does swap the offshore wheel for tiller steering at regattas.

The Sydney yachtsman confirmed SSORC is the ideal vehicle to iron out wrinkles in the boat and sharpen crew work, along with the CYCA’s Blue Water Pointscore and Ocean Pointscore (OPS). In fact, the TPs will sail the opening coastal race.in conjunction with the OPS. On the Sunday, it is three offshore windward/leeward races; all will be scored under IRC and TPR.

Expect fireworks among the rest of the fleet, particularly between last year’s Division 1 winner, Bob Cox’s Nine Dragons against Andrew and Pauline Dally’s Khaleesi. The two DK46’s regularly swap the winner’s seat at various events. Nine Dragons did the slaying at last year’s SSORC, defeating Darryl Hodgkinson’s Victoire, Khaleesi and Noel Cornish’s St Jude by seven points when the latter three finished on equal scores.

The same can be said in Division 2, where Phil Dash’s JustADash and Jack Stening’s Stormaway go toe-to-toe every year. In 2018, JustADash did the job by one point from his nemesis.

While all the above boats sail offshore for the weekend, there is also MHYC’s popular feature event on Sydney Harbour on Day 1. The Seven Islands Race has a pursuit-style start from the Club, takes the fleet around various well-known Sydney Harbour islands, and the first one home to the Club finish line wins.

Expect to see the usual suspects and a few new players as owners and crew ramp up for the summer offshore season ahead.

All information, including Notice of Race and entry: www.ssorc.mhyc.com.au

Di Pearson/MHYC media

2018 11 24 SSORC Crosbie Lorimer Photo 2027 Toy Box 2

2018 11 24 SSORC Crosbie Lorimer Photo 1913 Quest

2018 11 24 SSORC Crosbie Lorimer Photo 1797 Super 12 Action

2018 11 24 SSORC Crosbie Lorimer Photo 0230 Super 12 Swish

2018 11 24 SSORC Crosbie Lorimer Photo 0005 Super 12 Lazy Dog

Crowded Farr 40 leaderboard with Outlaw at the top on Day 1

With just one point separating the top four boats, Farr 40 sailing has never been closer and Tom Quick’s Outlaw is regatta leader at the end of day one of the first point score regatta of the season.

PRO, Phil Yeomans sent the fleet offshore for three quick races before the breeze kicked in and exceeded the Class maximum wind speed of 25 knots.

“We had a nice gusty westerly of about 15-20 knots but as predicted, the breeze really kicked in at the end of race three, so we called it a day and headed back to MHYC for an early Dock Party.” Yeomans said.

Three races produced three different winners and current National Champion, Tom Quick and the Outlaw crew are in first place on joint points with Exile in second.

“It was an extremely shifty day, so it’s great to come away being in the lead. It was the first time on our boat for guest Tactician Tom Burton and he did a terrific job. We had four crew changes for this regatta, so I’m really happy to be top of the leaderboard, even if only by a whisker.” Quick said.

Midcoast Boatyard & Marine owner and Newcastle local, Joe de Kock has always expressed his preference to sail offshore and today the Good Form crew were on fire scoring a fourth followed by a third and finished the day off with a win placing them in third place overall, just one point behind regatta leader, Outlaw.

Steve McConaghy was missing from the Farr 40 scene last season, however, returned today as the Main Trimmer on Double Black. Although McConaghy spends most of his time in Asia these days, he is enjoying being back in Australia and sailing with owner Rob Pitts.

“Eighteen months ago I started coaching at the Noahs Sailing Club based in Dongshan. I was at the China Coast Race Week recently when my manager asked me to go to Australia. It was funny because I was wondering whether there might be a Farr 40 regatta on and within half an hour of this thought, Billy Idle (Double Black team manager) called me and offered me a spot.”

Double Black had a great day on the water scoring 2.4.2. A win was in their sights for the last race before things went pear shaped.
McConaghy continued, “We had a bad rounding because the jib came out of the foil and it took a few minutes to get it back into the foil. It was a bit of a disaster and we were forced to go left, when everyone went right. Fortunately, there was big left shift and we had a clear lead. Then the breeze hit hard and the kicker blew out of the cleat and the spinnaker pole skied into the air. We had a massive wipeout but we recovered and got second.”

The scores are tight and tomorrows racing will commence at 11am inside Sydney harbour with up to four races.

The Farr 40 Australian Class is proudly sponsored by Hacer Group.

Results: www.farr40.asn.au/results

Jennie Hughes, Farr 40 Australian Class

Photos: Margaret Fraser-Martin

2019 10 18 MHYC Farr 40 OD Regatta MFM9355 01

MHYC sailors head over to RSYS for Ladies of the Sea Regatta

Congratulations to MHYC members who headed over to RSYS over the weekend for their inaugural Ladies of the Sea Women’s Training Regatta.

Catherine Rofe and Rhoslyn Humphries co-helmed on the Elliot 7 Steadfast with Jenny Sorenson as crew in the One design fleet.

Skye Patton joined the crew of FINN, Janey Treleaven’s Farr 40. The event welcomed experienced and green sailors alike and provided a great opportunity for

everyone to develop their skills. Many thanks to Marg Fraser-Martin for the phographs. For more click here.

With so many exciting women’s sailing events happening around Sydney there is no shortage of opportunities for everyone to get involved.

MHYC Women’s Helm starts on the Thursday 17^th October and we are hoping for a some solid participation.

If you would like to enter the Women’s Helm Twilight please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact Catherine Rofe on 89693103.

Saturday Offshore and Inshore

It was another busy Saturday for Middle Harbour sailors and race management teams East and West of Sydney Heads with the Harbour Trek Feature Event, this year held in memory of Giff Clinton, and day one of the Farr 40 One Design Regatta. The MHYC Ocean Series also continued today in conjunction with the CYCA Short Ocean Pointscore race conducted by Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.

It was warm and sunny with a moderate westerly freshening as the day progressed. Gusts up to 30 knots were experienced on the harbour by mid-afternoon.

In the Farr 40s, Phil Yeomans and his team completed three races in the Manly Circle before conditions became too challenging. Tom and Allan Quick’s Outlaw, Rob Reynolds’ Exile and Jo de Kock’s Good Form each took a race win today. Outlaw is the series leader on tie-break from Exile with Good Form and Double Black (Rob Pitts) just one point behind. Four inshore races are scheduled for tomorrow to conclude the regatta.

To view the latest Farr 40 results – click here

The Harbour Trek was sailed in memory of long time club member and race management volunteer Gifford Clinton who passed away in June. Mitch Miller, Andrew Gunton and the crew of Rock Solid were the first Division 1 boat home, leading Anitra May (Dion Hart) and Farr N Away (Graeme & Chris Lee). The winner of Division 2 was Mike Gallagher’s Galan from Innamincka (Lexi Schwartzkopf) and Astoria (Sam Jackson).

To view the results for Giff Clinton’s Harbour Trek – click here

The MHYC Ocean Series fleet had a lively afternoon offshore with numerous changes in direction and varying strength. In Division 1, Walter Carpenter’s Samarkand took the win on IRC from Kayimai (Rob Aldis) and Nine Dragons (Bob Cox). On PHS, it was Kayimai and Samarkand ahead of Toy Box 2 (Ian Box). Stormaway (Jack Stening / Colin Gunn) were the first Division 2 boat on both IRC and PHS, ahead of Wailea (Neil Padden) and Rumba (Kerry Burke / Rob Carr / Stephanie Cook) on IRC and ahead of Rumba 2nd and Wailea 3rd on PHS.

To view the Ocean Series results– click here

Harbour Trek photos by Marg Fraser-Martin….

Farr 40 photos by Marg Fraser-Martin….

Bronze for Archie Cropley & Max Paul at Youth Worlds

MHYC members Archie Cropley and Max Paul have claimed the Bronze medal in the Boys 29er class at the 2019 Hempel Youth Sailing World Championships in Gdynia, Poland.

409 sailors from 66 nations were racing across nine youth events including the Boy's and Girl's divisions of the 29er, 420, RS:X and Laser Radial as well as the Mixed Multihull, the Nacra 15. The best youth sailors from 28 nations contested 13 races in the 29er Boys series.

The Australian Youth Team was selected from performances across class and youth championships last summer and with a strong mix of returning Youth World Championships sailors and newcomers, the team had put in intensive training hours to tackle the best young sailors in the world this past week. It will be Max Paul’s last year in the youth classes, while 16-year old Archie Cropley still has a couple years ahead of him.

After three days of racing, Cropley & Paul were sitting in second place behind last year’s winners Norway.

“It’s been pretty good so far. We started a bit slow into the regatta and had a pretty light breeze the first couple of days, but we kept it pretty consistent and stayed close with the top pack. And today we did pretty well and had a bit more breeze which was a bit more beneficial for us,” Max Paul said.

The sailors from Middle Harbour Yacht Club not only put in their strongest day so far, but also had one of the best capsize recoveries of the day, with witnesses drawing comparisons to Olympic champions Nathan Outteridge and Ian Jensen’s race at London 2012.

“We had three races in 15 knots and the last one was probably reaching 20 knots and we had a really good day with a fourth, first and a third. In the last race of the day we hit a big set of waves on the downwind in a big puff and we couldn’t really do anything except pin pole, stick the nose in. So we had a pretty big capsize, but we recovered really well and were tenth at the bottom mark and third again around the top mark. So we did recovered really well to keep up there,” Archie Cropley described the incident.

Unfortunately the stronger breezes did not persist for the remainder of the regatta and the crew from Finland posted a series of bullets on the last two days of lighter winds to overtake the Australians.

Sydney sailors Will Cooley and Rebecca Hancock won gold in the Mixed Nacra 15 with one day to spare. The lead in the Nacra 15 changed on a daily basis but it was the Australians who ultimately prevailed.

The race for gold went down to the wire in the Boy’s Laser Radial fleet on Friday with Western Australia’s Zac Littlewood in the lead going into the final day.

The Western Australian, who won bronze at last year’s world championships, claimed two seconds on Thursday to remove local hopeful Tytus Butowski (POL) from top spot but just one point splits the pair. In the final race, bot sailors posted disappointing results to allow the Turkey’s Yigit Yalcin Citak to overtake them to claim the Gold. Littlewood retained the Silver medal.