This year’s Nationals were held at the YMCA Sailing Club of Canberra on the grassy shores of Lake Burley Griffin at the foot of Parliament House in Yarralumla. New President Pete Strong and his able committee embarked on an impressive marketing campaign with a glossy promotional poster sent to all clubs in Australia with Pacers and 3 half page advertisements in Australian Sailing. The result was a lift in numbers to 20 Pacers (5 Non Spinnaker) and 3 Pacer Pursuits who were attending for the first time. The class thrives on its strength as the perfect trainer class for Parent and child or 2 smallish adults. This year we had boats from Victoria, ACT, South Australia & NSW. The Nationals in 2012/13 are most likely to be sailed at McCrae Yacht Club on the Mornington Peninsula and we expect number to swell to 30 + boats given the interest from the Canberra and Adelaide fleets.
Photos from this event are in the Gallery.
The following report is extracted from Phil Chadwick's daily log (text messages to family and friends) showing the up’s and downs of a difficult regatta and the emotional roller coaster it was.
28th December 2011
Boys I need some help! 7th in invitation race. Winds from all points ranging from 0 to 4 kts. We had a reaching start and were 2nd best and led to top mark. We set the kite too early on next leg and went too close to headland near Spinnaker Island. The wind sucks and heads here and we go back to about 4th with bogies all over us. The next leg is upwind. We made early gains but are rushing our moves tacking just too early which costs us near top mark. We are now about 6th. The wind shifts again and the next leg is now also upwind. The locals in low tech training boats are killing us. We are slipping backwards fighting a swarm of boats now. The next leg downwind is nuts. We have a very light pressure tight reach. Campbell Martin has great pressure square and smashes us. Final beat is no different. We can’t seem to get any good gains. We fight hard for 7th out of 20 boats. Winners are Michael Leydon from Canberra sailing with a tiny little girl crew Laura who had only sailed once or twice before from Campbell & Claire Martin and then Murray & Liam O’Brien. Ron Thompson the Commodore sailing with his grandson Jackson Flannery put on a grand performance to win the non-spinnaker division.
Have you got any advice? SOS
29th December 2011
Nothing came back from my supporters other than a reference to a regatta from 1981 at Yarrawonga from my brother Cliff which was not helpful. Thanks anyway Cliffy. The solution was to reduce shroud tension, increase cunningham tension on both sails and sheet soft on both sails the same as the low tech lake boats. This set up allows the boat to accelerate and copes with wide angle changes better. Our speed has improved alot but is it enough?
Heat 1 – We get a great start at pin however the breeze lifts 30 degrees. With big shift and pressure changes, we round the top mark about 12th. Thankfully the leaders are parked up at gybe mark. We set the kite on a very tight reach with a light breeze and converge on leaders. We bring the breeze with us and get to the gybe mark with the leaders and quickly sail into 2nd. We sail in the front group from here to take 2nd from Murray & Liam O'Brien in 1st. 3rd was Graeme & Corey Riley. We had lady luck with us in this race.
Heat 2 – We start mid line on port sailing towards right hand air. We had a huge lead of half a leg at one stage only to lose it all and go back to 3rd on the last beat. We get the last shift of the day to win the race from Campbell & Claire Martin with Graeme & Corey Riley again in 3rd. The alarm bells are now ringing and I mention to a few people I think we are not super quick.
Heat 3 - Started near the boat end protecting the right. We sailed in 2nd all race with Alan & Nathan Riley in front sailing faultlessly. A 15 knot gust down the last run brings us right onto their tail which piles the pressure on them and gives us the momentum we need. They try to cover and we pass them but they get the last shift to win. Adrian & Luke Lejins from Canberra are 3rd and sailing really well. Alan & Nathan are fast and we know it. I remind myself of a quote from Paul Elvstrom “in a shifting breeze you must race the wind” not the competition.
30th December 2011
Heat 4 - Started mid line with a big bunch at the favoured boat end. Left shift came late to bring us up to 2nd at top mark. We pass Alan & Nathan Riley on first reach to take the lead. We extend all race sailing good numbers to with by over one minute. Graham & Corey Riley pinch 2nd from their brother & cousin Alan & Nathan in 3rd.
Heat 5 – We have a terrible start at pin end. We tried to gybe around bailing out but left it too late. Murray & Liam O'Brien copied us and stopped us dead to start about last. Sailed great numbers to come back to 8th at top mark. We made great gains downwind to get to 5th at the bottom mark. Sailed good numbers to finish 4th closing in on leaders. Alan & Nathan Riley are 1st from Graham & Corey Riley 2nd with Murray & Liam O'Brien in 3rd.
Heat 6 – A really tough 2 hour long race in drifter conditions after lunch tested everybody’s patients and nerves. I must confess to a meltdown myself and the need to apologise to my daughter Bridget who did a great job fighting all the way to the finish. We start mid line going left with Alan & Nathan Riley. We should have bailed early, I knew the number was low but I wanted to stay with Alan & Nathan. A dramatic and unsighted port + starboard with Mark Read and 12 year old daughter Georgia from Christies Sailing Club, S.A. and subsequent penalty made things tough. We raced in 4th - 5th all day passing 2 boats on the last beat to snatch 2nd from Alan & Nathan Riley in 1st and Adrian & Luke Lejins in 3rd. It is now very tight. We have a 2 point lead.
31st December 2011
No racing today with no wind at all. The kids had a ball splashing around on four Open Bic’s and a Laser generously supplied by the club. These boats had an extreme workout every day and were a hit with the kids. Happy new year to you all. I am thinking of ways to improve our speed and have decided to increase the tension on the jib halyard to stand the rig up further and also induce a bit more prebend. This will allow me to increase the tension on the main cunningham which will flatten the sail and allow the head to open earlier. Fingers crossed it works. If it is slow we can easily change it back for the next race.
1st December 2012
Lay Day – Sightseeing at the War Memorial and Embassy’s then back to the pool at the caravan park.
2nd January 2012
Race 7 - Started towards pin expecting left pressure trying to get on Alan & Nathan R. The breeze built from left and headed allowing Alan & Nathan to cross. We continue for a bit and go with them. Alan & Nathan come back and put on a tight cover. We bail further left and pick up pressure and angle to lead at top mark. We lead downwind and go left of middle up the 2nd beat. Graham & Corey Riley go further left and pass us. My son Jack (crew) trims to perfection to compress at bottom mark to round 1 boat length behind Graham & Corey R. We tack simultaneously and drag race to the finish. The breeze softens in the right first and then heads to bring us up level. We tack just short of the finish boat lay-line and duck Graham & Corey R, they continue for a boat length and tack. We lift through the line to take 1st by about 4 seconds from Graham & Corey with Adrian & Luke Lejins in 3rd.
Race 8 – This is the most difficult race of all with a former National Champion taking 8 minutes to cross the start line. Another 2 minutes and they would have been disqualified. We start towards the pin end expecting a header and got it initially and then raced right expecting pressure there. The pressure fills from the right which brings the boat end boats into the lead. We rounded the top mark in about 5th. We raced in 4-5th all day slowly closing in. We squeeze past Alan & Nathan R to take 4th at last top mark and it is Jack’s turn to shine again. The kid trims us from 4th to 1st again in a light square run with many boats in contention. He is a superstar. We round the bottom mark inside 4 boats and go left for pressure and get it to extend to another win from Murray & Liam O’Brien in 2nd and the ever reliable Adrian & Luke Lejins 3rd.
The non-spinnaker division was well represented this year with 5 entries and had extreme tough competition with Chris & Chloe Dean winning from Ron Thompson and grandson Jackson Flannery in 2nd and Mark & Georgia Read in 3rd. We expect the non-spinnaker division to be a growth area for the class with the majority of the 3000 Pacers in Australia belonging to secondary Schools and Yacht Club training fleets now being targeted to enter fleet racing events like the National and State titles.
The new high performance Pacer Pursuit class was won by its designer and builder Jim & David French. The Pacer Pursuit is an ideal stepping stone for crews graduating from the Pacer and looking for a faster ride. Existing Pacers are being modified with taller rigs with spreaders and trapeze, bigger sails and asymmetric spinnaker system. Numbers are expected to grow rapidly over the coming seasons.
Thanks to my 12 year old daughter Bridget who did a great job crewing for me in heats 1, 2 and the killer long race heat 6. She had a lot to put up with and never let me down fighting all the way to the finish. Thanks also to my 11 year old son Jack who crewed for me in the Invitation race, heats 3, 4, 5, 7 & 8.
Thank you to the PRO 79 year old Paul Fitzwarryne, Hamish Balfour, Alan Perry, Ron Thompson, Janette in the galley and the support team from the YMCA of Canberra Sailing Club. The professionalism and hospitality was second to none and we would highly recommend any class holding their championships here.
Thanks also to the sponsors who supported the event in Ronstan (major sponsor), Irwin Sails, South Eastern Sails, J & L French, Masrm Yachts and Halcyon Proteins. Your sponsorship is much appreciated and helped add excitement at the end of racing each day to see who would be the lucky winners for the sponsored bounty.