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QUEENSLAND SHARPIE ASSOCIATION

NEWS!

QUEENSLAND STATE SHARPIE TITLES

YEPPOON , 29-30 APRIL 2017

The titles were held in conjunction with the Kepple Bay Sailing Club’s 60th Anniversary Regatta, which was a milestone event for the locals, and attended by many founding members and life members who had laid the foundations for the wonderful institution it has become for the Yeppoon community. It was a real pleasure to be part of the celebrations.

The championship series comprised 6 races held over 2 days, with the traditional Dash For Cash race held on the Sunday afternoon not counted as part of the series.

Breezes were light, around 6 -10 knots on the Saturday, but a bit fresher on Sunday at around 12-16 knots, which resulted in some incredibly close racing on both days.

With around 42 boats racing in 4 divisions, the 4 Sharpies raced in a mixed bunch of monohulls, which made for some interesting starts.

All 4 Sharpies had their moments of glory, with 3 of us having 2 wins each, and Damian Byrt’s Stormdog having a turn at the front on a few occasions, but finishing 4th overall. At the finish, only 3 points separated the front 3 boats

A couple of notable events were:-

1. Silent Butt Deadly stealing a win in Race 2 by gybing early on to port on the square run and picking up a freshening breeze to come from 4th to first at the bottom mark, and
2. Andrew Wells and the Jess crew leading the last race and the series, until a catamaran got in the way up the last work and created a port and starboard collision with Spent, resulting in penalty turns putting them back to 2nd overall.

Congratulations to Yeppoon skipper Sarah Rice , sheet hand Naomi Fee and forward hand Damon Stover on Spent for winning the Queensland State Titles, a well deserved and rare win for a Yeppoon based crew!

Spent also won the Dash for Cash on the Sunday afternoon, capping off a great weekend for them.

The club ran a great series, and provided great hospitality. A meeting with their management and officials on the Friday night gave us great confidence in their professional capacity, enthusiasm and ability to run a great national championship for us at Christmas time.

Bring it on!!

Rick Outhred

75th Nationals Accommodation update!
KBSC have kindly done a ring around on accommodation options. They have advised for people to book as soon as possible as it is peak tourist season.

As of March 2017, current availability close to the club for 29 December – 5 January is as follows:

• Salt Yeppoon – Still plenty of 1 bedrooms and a couple of 2 bedrooms
• Echelon Yeppoon – A couple of 2 and 3 bedrooms left
• Beaches on Lammermoor – Still multiple 2 and 3 bedrooms available
• Surfside Motel Yeppoon – All rooms still currently available
• Bayview Towers Yeppoon – Still multiple options available
• Oshen Yeppoon – Only a few 2 bedrooms and numerous 1 bedrooms available
• Poinciana Tourist Park – Most still available
• Beachside Caravan Park – Many options still available
• Rosslyn Bay Resort – Plenty of rooms still available

For more information, contact Tara Ducker, Qld Sharpies Publicity Officer

Queensland Sharpies and the 75th Sharpie National Championships (2017/18)

Get Ready to Get Wet, Get Tropical and enjoy everything Central Queensland has to offer... 29th December 2017 - 5th January 2018

Queensland Sharpie Assoc. has selected Keppel Bay Sailing Club (KBSC) at Yeppoon as the proposed venue for the 2017/2018 titles, following the clear preference nominated in our recent national survey. The Club and local Sharpie guys, headed by Damian Byrt, have shown extreme enthusiasm for running the series, so it promises to be great event.

Download the KBSC 75th Sharpie Championships information flyer.

In selecting Yeppoon as the venue, our recent AGM considered the excellent proposal put forward by Keppel Bay, the fact that we haven't had a series there for 18 years, that second place venue favoured by the survey, Lake Cootharaba, had already committed to a catamaran series during our time period, and that the wonderful RQYS Brisbane club had run 2 other series in the recent past. No brainer!

Rick Outhred

69th SHARPIE NATIONALS AT RQYC, QUEENLSAND

Wild rides for the invitation series

Blur, skippered by Mal Higgins with Sam Sanderson and Andrew Chisholm as crew, wins the Sharpie National Championship 2012. Sailed initially in strong conditions, winds eased to become moderate and shifty - perfect for the South Australian crew. The Sharpie Nationals were held on on Waterloo Bay, Manly, hosted by the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Great coverage of the racing across online media ...

Blur, Heat 1 on Waterloo Bay, on their way to another Australian Championship. Photo Chris Murray

Sharpies make a Splash at Humpybong

Two Sharpies and a 505 fronted the starter in the first race of the year at Humpybong a new club for Sharpies in Queensland. Rick Outhred/Bruce Rankin/Ben Phillips in "Silent But Deadly" joined the newly purchased "Quardia Del Fuego" . Unfortunately the breeze was a good 25 knots which lead to the new boys capsizing and getting a Bramble Bay choc top eventually having to be towed in. Meanwhile out on the race course Rick O was having to use all his experience to stay upright and but for one swim completed the course. The 505 who sailed completed without putting up a spinnaker unfortunately capsized after the finish breaking his mast.
Those of us who've sailed on Moreton Bay are aware of how unforgiving it is when the breeze is up.

Keppel Bay Sailing Club - May Day Regatta

Damian Burt sailing "Storm Dog" (Q924) took out Keppel Bay Sailing Club's annual May Day Regatta on the 5-6 May. Sailing in a mixed fleet which consisted of an I14, Contender, Cherub, Foiler Moths and a Taser, Damian started slowly however won the last two heats to clinch the Championship from the I14. He also won the Dash for Cash over the same weekend. Congratulations to Damian and Crew.

Queensland State Titles

The QLD Sharpie fleet could be described as a somewhat sporadic bunch but with Rick O’s leadership and the promise of racing the state titles saw six boats gather on the lawn at RQYS the weekend of 16-17 March.  Lots of handshakes and hellos and discussion of dust and spiders webs and of course congratulations and a welcome to Elke and Sam’s new addition to the fleet.

The starting line-up had the usuals Rick (Silent Butt Deadly), the reliable Gingerbread team, us (Jess), Ralph and the lumpy deck team, Owen and crew making Mango Magic and an old face in a new boat with Ray King in the only optimised sharpie in Australia, the yellow boat Q882 (now named Sheila).

As has become the trend in QLD in recent times, the breeze was light with maximum of 8-10 knots for the whole weekend.  The racing was tight and saw three different winners and lots of lead changes.  We had a major gear breakage which saw us head straight in after the first race.  The story of the day though goes to Ray.  Shortly after rounding the starboard gate at the bottom mark in a close second but surrounded by Etchells, Ray’s new purchase was collected by an Etchell.  I think 1.5 tonnes of plastic has changed Ray’s view of gates for a long time. 

Sunday was more of the same with close racing in light breezes.  At the end of the final heat we assumed there was no drop and congratulations were passed to Rick.  Just as with our other areas of preparation and planning we were wrong and we dropped our DNS from Race 2 to be part of a three way tie with Gingerbread Man and Silent Butt Deadly and win on a count back.  The three way tie in a six boat fleet reflects just how close the racing was.

Great to see boats on the water, close racing and lots of fun.  Our thanks to RQYS and DPSS.  Same time next year?

Winner on Countback Q906     Jess     
Second on Countback Q892   The Gingerbread Man
Third on Countback     Q903   Silent Butt Deadly

Congratulations to the Jess team for coming out on top. Congratulations also to Ralph and Owen for competing in the series and supporting the class. Owen had to survive the southerly buster which swept across the bay just as he was finishing the last race. He got home with great seamanship and just a little choc-top at the top of the mast!

It appears that Sharpie racing is alive and well and we will build up for some great racing next season. In the meantime, RQ will be running their Frostbite races, and DPSS is also running a winter series, if anyone is interested in the odd challenge. The annual Sail Mooloolaba winter event is also coming up, so keep me informed if you are interested in attending any of these races.

Cheers,
Rick O.

Results for Qld State Titles 2013

Results for Qld State Titles 2012

QLD state titles were finalised on the weekend of 24 and 25 March, 2012. These images were taken from the first few heats in lighter conditions in Moreton Bay.

69th SHARPIE NATIONALS AT RQYC, QUEENLSAND

New shortened format for the 69th SHARPIE NATIONALS - sailing from Thursday 29th December to 5th January 2012 gets underway in strong conditions on Waterloo Bay, Manly, hosted by the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron... read more on sailworld.com

Scratch Results
Handicap Results

April 2011

We finally got a good breeze last week at the second stage of the state titles, held at Sandgate Yacht Club on the 9 and 10 April.

At least, on the Saturday we did, around 14 – 16 knots, probably the best wind we’ve had all this season. Having an inkling the wind was going to be light on Sunday, we crammed in 3 short 40 minute races on Saturday, and it was all great fun.

Elke, Sam and Rowan on the Gingerbread Man gave us all a great lesson in boat speed on the Saturday, and came from behind to win the light heat on Sunday proving excellent consistency and skill to win in the testing 5 – 7 knot breeze for Heat 8.

The local guys on Ullman Sails skippered by Jonno Freeman were also consistent, getting mostly second places, with Damian from Yeppoon performing well to grab 3rd place overall.

We were all thankful for the great courses and organisation by the Sandgate Yacht Club crew, including the hot snags and cold beers after the races.

It was also great to see the new home built boat launched by the veteran Sandgate crew led by Owen Hutchison on the Sunday. She had a bit of a shake-down cruise and managed to stay afloat and get spinnakers set, so all bodes well for her future racing.

Download results for the state title racing at both Lake Cootharaba and Sandgate here.

The format of holding the States at 2 different venues over more heats seemed to work well. We look forward to a bigger fleet next season racing regularly leading up to the Brisbane Nationals.

To finish off this season, there is racing at the Lake Cootharaba regatta over Easter, the May regatta at Yeppoon, and the Sail Mooloolaba event in June.
I hope we see you there at least at one of these events.

Happy Sharpie sailing,

Rick Outhred

14 February 2011

It's exactly the right time to be planning ahead for the next nationals to be held at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadran in Brisbane, Queensland.. There will be more info coming out shortly, but yes there will be camping allowed on site at the club. You might like to contact the club directly as it is yet to be confirmed if if they want to take bookings or just let people turn up. Although there's plenty of room for camping, there may be quite a few Laser sailors camping there as well.

There has been great feedback at Black Rock from sailors from all states wanting to come to the Qld titles, so it should be a great series.

Download, print and distribute this flyer at your local club - 69th Sharpie Nationals at RQYC

Easter 2011 - State Titles at RQYS

Pass the word around that we're holding the last 4 heats of our state titles at RQYS on the weekend of April 2 & 3, with the intention to invite NSW boats up for a preview of the club and sailing conditions.