DIVISION ONE RAMBLINGS

Starting off with some past news, courtesy of Peter Batt (Problem Child) as it was not printed previously in Soundings: The spring racing season ordinarily promises some fine sailing. The cold and wet southerlies subside, the warmer weather returns and with that, the predictability of a brisk mid-afternoon sou'wester. Well, that’s what we have come to expect, but this spring was very different, with the winds highly variable in both direction and strength.

For K Factor, a broken mast saw them sitting out most of the championship in the pens. For Problem Child, a close encounter with Maxstar resulted in the top of the mast electronics finding a new home on the riverbed, while Tapestry had a bad run of gear breakages that forced their retirement from at least two races. On the brighter side, a spring metamorphosis saw Argo transformed into Helios II. The heavier winds favoured the bigger boats, with Helios II ultimately taking out the double, winning both the Leeuwin Estate Spring Consistency Series and the ORC, with Farrago taking out the Saturday series. For the Frank Sampson Memorial Pursuit Race, it was Tapestry taking line honours, with Farrago in second and Wicked completing the podium.

The shifting breeze made for an interesting race, especially for those who opted to hoist a kite on the downward run from the start line to Sampson. On this occasion, for those sitting on the shore, several race boats were momentarily transformed into fishing boats as they 'trawled' the river, unsuccessfully, for prawns. Across the river, for the combined SoPYC and Royal Perth invitation race, Farrago finished first, with Tapestry in second and Problem Child in third - the perfect quinella. For Problem Child these invitational races are eagerly contested as they face off against the other two Farr 30s on the river.

Christmas Day saw our Club’s vice patron and sailing legend Len Randell grace our TV screens as Channel 7 broadcasted a good news story highlighting Len’s remarkable achievements over the past nine decades. We should all follow Len’s outstanding example, for it’s immediately evident that good things come to those who continue to sail.

OK! Now we are well into 2023 and the summer series has ended: RESULTS SO FAR:

Saturday Consistency saw Tapestry win over Farrago from Problem Child.

The Club Championship series saw a reversal of last year’s results with Wicked scoring over Naughty Black Shorts. As a negative, we seem to be losing regular competitors for Saturday races; what can we do to reverse this?

Wednesday afternoon races are becoming much more popular, and results for Spring Series saw Helios II win over Slippery When Wet, over Mistress Quickly. The Summer Series saw Sky Walker over Problem Child over Maxstar Around the pens, and we see David Thoms’ K Factor still mastless, The Avenue has a new owner, but the same skipper (Len Randell still out-foxing many of us with his knowledge of river winds!), and here I must mention that the previous owner, Joe Rapanaro, has very generously donated The Avenue to "Sail On" and the intention is to have many retired ex-servicemen get into sailing her. Ian Anderson’s Dart IV has not been out in ages, so maybe crew might be an issue?

After many, many months of hard labour, Peter Vlaar has wetted the bottom of Freo Doctor and she now sits over on Jetty 2. We are excited to see her out on the course. The mighty little Wicked is on sale and hopefully another clever skipper will continue to compete with her. Richard Evans has opted for the travel bug and we wish he and Fran 'all the best'. Richard has held the Handicapper position for 11 years and has done an outstanding job.

With Division One fleet finishing many races with little more than a minute separating them, it is a testament to his fine command of handicapping.

Chris Higham and George Ruul have stepped up to continue the handicapping role, and we wish them well (as long as we win occasionally!). Most of us love our sailing, competing and with the occasional win, but it all comes down to getting good happy crew, as the pictures ‘Apres Sail’ depict! The famous Scottish designer, William Fife III, built beautiful sleek yachts way back 100 years ago, with one or two still sailing on the Swan: His byline for any of his yachts was that they ... “Sail Fast and Bonnie.”

Until next time.

Iwould like to take the opportunity through this article to thank Glen Stanley for his conscientious service as Chairman of the H28 Division for the last thirteen years. Everyone in the H28 sailing group is appreciative of the time and effort given by Glen during his stewardship. We all wish Glen all the best in the future as he can now focus on maximising his enjoyment of sailing Wynella.

Opening Day.

Opening Day of the SoPYC 76th year was held on Sunday 3rd October, 2022. The weather was fine and importantly a reasonable breeze persisted for most of the afternoon.

The traditional sail past of H28s consisted of Aloha, Mariner, Swiftsure Saga and Wynella. The H28s followed Bill Richards and Swiftsure Saga past the dignitaries, flag officers and members gathered at the end of the jetty for Opening Day ceremonies.

With all official duties done the H28s lined up the Patron’s Trophy Pursuit Race. Both Aloha and Wynella were off to a great start. However, with much congestion on the river, many centreboards and a large SoPYC fleet continually criss-crossing the H28, fleet both Mariner and Swiftsure Saga managed their way to the front.

Mariner was a deserving winner of the H28 Division Patron’s Trophy. Well sailed by Brian and crew.

Wednesday Winter Results

H28 sailing on Wednesday ompleted the 2022 Midweek Winter Series. With four to five H28s sailing most weeks the final results were as follows:

Swiftsure Saga 22

Mariner 31.5

Wynella 36

Well done to Bill and crew for very consistent sailing and not missing a single race for the entire Winter Series.