Did you go sailing on Saturday.

[Dolphin]

Well, its been a bit quiet and this is a bit off topic but did you go sailing on Saturday?
The Flying 11 dinghys had their state championships in "The Sound" on Sydney Harbour. The wind got up to about 20 to 25kts from the NE as shown on the Wedding Cake wind instruments. I think it was a bit stronger funneling through Middle Harbour. It was picking the sand off Clontarf beach and whipping it into the harbour.

The Flying Elevens are crewed by 12 to 16 year old boys and girls generally and in the two races on saturday they clocked up around 28 nautical miles and hit speeds of 12 or more knots. There were 86 boats in the race. I put a GPS on one boat and the track is shown below. On Saturday they sailed the equivalent distance from Botany Bay to Broken Bay. So next time you pass a dinghy race on Sydney Harbour be amazed at what these kids can do. You may be passing the next Olympic or Americas Cup sailors. Of the 8 Australian sailors that competed at the Sail for Gold, run on the next Olympic venue in Weymouth England, 6 of the 8 came through the Flying 11 class. Next time you sail past a dinghy race, just think of what a great job these "kids" are doing. Two of the members of the Top Hat group had kids in the races.

[Miker]

That's neat! Perhaps we should get some of these kids out to skipper at our next Top Hat Regatta.....

Michael

[bearmcnally]

Hi All


Saturday was a true " Black Nor' Easter" 15 knts with 10 knt sea breeze on top great sailing wind. Bring on summer





Bear