Regatta November 2010

[storm petrel]

Hi Denis,

It has not been easy, but Storm Petrel had a new furler and spinnaker halyard fitted today (After a 2 hour, 6am start sail to Gosford Yacht Club in the rain this morning!). We are down a crew member at present but hope to press-gang a replacement. So all going well, we will see you on Saturday after all.

Cheers,
Mark

[storm petrel]

Many thanks to Denis and the crew at HRYC for organising this brilliant event for the second year. Fair weather and wind, a fun race, an exciting dinghy disaster and good company for the BBQ and breakfast. What more could you ask for?

Mark, Jacko and Keith,
Storm Petrel

[admin]

ladies & gents

Hope you all had fun, thanks denis & hryc for organising, wish i had been able to attend...

If you have photos that you wish to share on the gallery part of the website, can you please email (medium resolution ie no more than 1.5mb per picture) to info@tophatyachts.org

many thanks again
dan (auriga)

[Miker]

Thanks to Denis, Mark, Frank and Libby at the HRYC for putting on a fantastic weekend.

Whilst Dulcamara has nothing to boast about regarding the race, it was still well worth the competition. After all, where else can you get a decent bottle of red for coming last! I have to say though, it was a combination of a dirty boat being poorly sailed, but mostly being poorly sailed I'm afraid.

The HRYC facilities can be described as quite rustic, however the hospitality and the fun and friendship that goes together with gas lit dinners and the (almost) full moon made for a fantastic night, nothwistanding the grand entertainment of Mark's (Storm Petrel) overloaded dinghy turning turtle within 5 metres of the barge and the interesting methods used to slip Star of the Sea out of the raft up. No one could ever say it was a boring day, or evening! It's interesting to see how many cameras came out and how few life lines were thrown to the stricken dinghy crew.

Sunday was little more laid back, with a leisurely breakfast of bacon and egg rolls, with tea or coffee, then a leisurely sail to Refuge Bay for some, except Sonia on Curly Tops and Mark, Jacko and Keith on Storm Petrel.

Overall there were 5 Top Hats racing, Curly Tops, Storm Petrel, Mari-Anne, Night Cap and Dulcamara. Congratulations to Sonia and the all girl crew on Curly Tops who won by a country mile, followed by then Mark and his crew on Storm Petrel, then Mark on Mari-Anne. Shaun started last and was the victim of a very bad manouver by Dulcamara, but still managed to catch and pass her, so came 4th, with Dulcamara finishing 5th, or as they say in the classics, LAST..... Keith with Swift arrived just after the race finished, but he did sail up from Sydney much later than he had expected to leave, so we ended up with a total of 7.

Congratulations to Mark on Mari-Anne, because he won the club points race on handicap. His handicap is now under scrutiny we think.....

The raft up in Refuge Bay was a little disjointed, Storm Petrel headed for Brisbane water to get the tide, Curly Tops to stay with the wind to get around into Pittwater. Mark on Mari-Anne had to do a little tidy up at the club, as did Denis. Who both came later, but not before we had to leave. So the raft up ended up with Keith, Gabi, Shaun and I with visitor Kathy. Kathy joined the forum recently wanting to research Top Hats, so she came and raced with Shaun, sailed to Refuge with Keith, then sailed with Gabi and I to Pittwater. We think she's sold on a Top Hat, providing she can find one in really, really good condition that has a good head for her girlfriends.

Again, thanks to the HRYC, Denis and Mark for organising the event. It's one that I certainly hope will continue.

Michael
"Dulcamara"

PS, whilst we did have our camera, it didn't see the light of day, so I'll leave it up to others who did have their cameras to post them.

[storm petrel]

To set the record straight - Storm Petrel actually came in second place, approximately 3 minutes after Curly Tops (the second place HRYC medallion is on the bulkhead of the boat already) with Mari-Anne about the same distance behind us.

Cheers,
Mark
Storm Petrel

[Miker]

To set the record straight - Storm Petrel actually came in second place,
Cheers,
Mark
Storm Petrel

Oops! Sorry Mark, Post edited and corrected!

Michael

[Denis Smith]

Hi All

Just a short note on the Weekend……a great time had by ALL!

Race Results:
Note: The Race Started at 13:30hrs. I have recorded Finish Time below for those who wish to calculate how far ahead/behind they where.

1st Curley Tops --- 15:34:15
2nd Storm Petrel -- 15:37:50
3rd Mari Anne ----- 15:41:05
4th Night Cap ------ 15:53:40
5th Dulcamara ----- 16:03:50

Six Top Hat yachts came along for the weekend.
Keith (SWIFT) sailed up from Sydney late Saturday arriving just in time for the BBQ.

Thanks to all who participated and helped out over the weekend.

Denis
MIJ’A

[Kathy]

The weekend was fantastic. I came away convinced that the Top Hat is indeed the boat for me. Thank you to everyone who generously answered my questions and let me sail on their boats.

A big thank you to the organisers at the HRYC for hosting the regatta and showing us your very special club.

Kathy

[Shaun]

The friendly HRYC is probably the Hawkesbury's best kept secret.

Many thanks to Denis for again organising a very fun weekend, & who 'took one for the team', by being the "starter/finisher" on the barge, I didnt realise this until after the race, cheers.
Thank-you to Mark (Mari-anne), he sacrificed his eyebrows to cook our BBQ dinner!(when the BBQ literally blew up), cheers.
Thanks really to everyone that attended, you all made it a fantastic weekend!
It was great to have Kathy onboard, she had done more racing & sailing than me, so she became the Tactician.
It was a good race, we got there late as usual, motor sailed from Pittwater at full steam ahead, got to the start line & were racing straight away.
Unfortuneatly Michael had read Dennis Conner's Book of Dirty Racing Tactics, & trumped us early on, with a fantastic tack all good fun. We (Dulcamara & Night Cap) were left at the back of the pack, debating who had the most growth on their hulls.

Dulcamara

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Dulcamara

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Im glad someone got some photos of the Storm petrel crew, taking an unplanned swim only 2 dinghy lengths from the HRYC barge, I didn’t see it actually happen, but the story goes as they went down, Mark called “abandon ship” literally from the water, but Jacko didn’t like the call and kept clambering up to the highest point of the dinghy (Titanic style) as it went down vertically!.
Dulcamara & Swift were rafted up to Frank & Libby’s S&S 34 Star of the Sea, against the barge, & Frank royally slipped out of the raft-up without any fuss(Not!), wish I’d got photos, the racing tide & too many sailors to lend a hand, made it very interesting!, anyway we all had to have a calming cup of tea or nightcap after that episode, very funny to look back on.



On Sunday, Mark & Sonia cooked brekky

Mark & Sonia, Brekky

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A crowd always gathers when the Storm Petrel crew hop onto a boat.

Raft up against the HRYC

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It was good sailing weather so I sailed with Curly Tops to West Head, before I returned to Refuge Bay for lunch

Curly Tops

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Sunset in Refuge Bay.

Sunset at Refuge

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