After a decision by me in 2020 to either end this New Year’s Day event at Island Beach or see it handed over to and continue under the auspices of the CYCSA as race organisers, I am pleased to report the event went ahead under the Club’s racing management and brought with it the additional help needed to make this fun event safe and enjoyable for all who participate on and off the water. The key elements that enabled this to happen and will be required each year are; at least three capable and willing volunteers to assist on the start/finish boat, a start boat of reasonable size, yacht or power, prepared to be on station from about 10.00am on NYD (and ideally a good fridge for cold beer) and three additional volunteers and a course boat to help inflate, put out and retrieve the course buoys. All this has to be pulled together in about three hours on NYD morning after what for many can be a very late and exuberant finish to the previous year! Thanks this year to Adrian Wotton, Wayne Grant, Steve Harrington, Peter Stark and his catamaran Even Keels, Vlad Humeniuk, Peter Clark, Keith Finch, Sandy Quin and Tracy Ayris. The point of all this of course is to host and participate in the first sporting event in Australia for the new year and in this pandemic year, perhaps also the first sporting event in the world for the new year.
The post-Christmas weather pattern provided a couple of optimum windows in which to passage south but those who were not safely anchored in Eastern Cove by New Years Eve were no chance to start in the Ballast Head Cup as a 30 knot SE whipped the bay all day on the 31st until late evening. As if knowing that this event was hanging in the balance, the weather gods delivered perfect conditions for New Years Day, a 10 to 15kt SSE all day with sunshine and perfect temperatures that saw a few hung over guests venture out of their homes looking for a sail and encouraged some equally sleep deprived yachties off their moorings to enter the race.
The briefing was brief for the seven CYCSA boats that entered as they had all sailed the course before. There was only one ‘Rocky’ division as no smaller boats and no American River boats nominated this year. Category 6 and COVID safety requirements were perhaps a stretch too far for them. Charles Cimiky in Javelin, a regular in this event, was a notable nonstarter this year due to ill health so wish him well if you see him on the water soon.
As the three N, Y and D flags were raised at the 12.55 preparatory warning signal Derek Morrison and crew on Sintara were still doing circles with not a sail hoisted as they loaded on board the six South American backpackers they had met the night before and promised a sail, but who had only just managed to find Island Beach at 12.45 along with a dinghy to tender them to Sintara. The start this year sounded with the traditional Island Beach cannon fired downwind from the stern of Even Keels and timed to within a few seconds of actual start time and at point blank range to Marnico who reports fragments of alfoil still impregnated in her mainsail. The yachts got away to a clear start with Sintara bringing up the rear as she got sails rapidly hoisted and backpackers and translators in key positions on the windward rail.
The first lap saw all boats in close company as they reached to the Rocky Point W marker close enough to the beach for all those watching ashore to feel part of the event, then a gybe and a long run to the S marker at American River. Race organisers had to make a speedy course boat dash to the S marker to re-anchor the mark as it drifted downwind challenging navigators to resort to calling a line of sight course thereby negating all modern GPS assistance. It was then onto the F mark at the west end of the bay which also needed a
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Sintara
