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SATURDAY NIGHT SHARPIE PARTY!!
BBQ Fundraiser for the Victoria Association (Sending boats to the Nationals at Yeppoon)
Live Music by Matt Mo Music
Mordy SC Bar open till late

There is definitely a crew coming from NSW and potentially one from SA to compliment the ever growing fleet locally.

Spread the word. It is going to be a ripper weekend and one not to be missed. Time to start working on those boats and think about getting on the water.

We will have a second round of State Championship heats at Portland Yacht Club on 10/11th February 2018.

VIC Sharpies can't wait to see everyone on the water

Vic Sharpies have continued to see success as 2017 continues with Regional Regattas around the state.

Victoria hosted the 74th Australian Sharpie National Championships
Venue: Mordialloc Sailing Club
Dates: 29 December 2016 - 6 January 2017

VSSA are hoping to get as many boats to as possible to the 2016 Vic State Titles, and word on the street is there may be some interstate boats coming across to get some practice in for the upcoming nationals!

Please let Jake know if you are interested in competing at this years state titles and if you need any help and he will do his best to help get you what you need!

Head to http://www.vicsharpies.com/ to check out the new and improved website which has a calendar and all the information you will need to keep up to date!

With not too long to go before hosting the Nationals, the Victorians are focussed on getting out there and getting boats on the water!

I am very happy to be sending out the program that will take us through as a class to the end of the year (and on into our nationals!).

There has been a lot of hype interstate and locally about the upcoming nationals and a lot of the ground work is being done behind the scenes to make sure it's a good one.

The biggest thing we need to ensure we do now as a final push is to get as many local boats as possible sailing regularly, so that a, we keep competitive and b, once the interstaters hear that this is happening they will be keen to come and have a crack at us (both on and off the water!)

Please feel free to contact me if you need help with anything and I will endeavor to accommodate, be it a ride, a crew, a beer or just someone to laugh at.

Victorian State titles were sailed at Parkdale Yacht Club, on the north east of Port Phillip, on the weekend of 2nd & 3rd April. We arrived on the saturday morning to an 18 knot south westerly, and the delightful Port Phillip chop to about 1m. Messy. All credit to RO Rob and his terrific team for getting 3 windward/leeward races in.

Many stories were told over a great BBQ hosted by PYC for the weary sailors and friends.

Sunday saw us having one triangle morning race in a 12 knot breeze, followed by 2 windward/leeward races after lunch (in slightly more wind) to coincide with club racing. We generated lots of interest in our wonderful class, as there was one PYC boat in the fleet - Chemical Imbalance - sailed by Chris Hewitt and Marcus & Aaron De Fina. A huge thanks to these guys for staying overnight at PYC to keep an eye on our boats on the beach.

Starts were pretty tight and hard fought. There were a few entertaining capsizes and some very fast action. Did the PYC team get any good pics of the great action? Hope so.

Ostentatious has been up front in the last few state titles, and Jon Newman with Craig Garmston & Jono Neate kept us busy chasing them again. Dave Bretherton with his crew of Greg Shapcott & Graeme Fisher kept them on their toes, and Rage Factor (Peter Stuchbery, Rohan Allen & Jason Willis up front) came back from an untimely swim to totally seal their third spot. Yours truly coaxed Dale Collings back into a Roo, this time to steer rather than his old spot of wiring.

Our thanks to PYC for their excellent hosting of our 2015/16 titles. We hope to drop in on them sometime soon. Friendly club, hot showers, great food and coffee (yes, proper GOOD coffee!), exciting racing - who could ask for more?

Ten Sharpies took to the water on 20th February for the annual (when Lake Wendouree has enough water) Ballarat Bertie. Ballarat Yacht Club hosted us, and in usual form the start lines were true for a fraction of the time, as were the beats, reaches and runs. Challenging to say the least for any Race Officer. If you have never been to Lake Wendouree, you have certainly missed out. It was the venue for the rowing for the 1956 Olympics, and is still one of Victoria’s major rowing hubs.

73rd Nationals, Hobart - I think it's quite safe to say that Team Vic had a bloody ripper time both on and off the water getting 4 boats down, which was good to see but about to get bigger. The racing was good fun regardless of being shifty for us simple folk. On shore I think we left an impression lasting enough to leave everyone riddled with excitement for the upcoming nationals at Mordialloc Sailing Club from the 29th Dec - 6th Jan, where we'll have the home ground advantage. Included in this excitement is the Victorian girls team taking home the Chug-a-lug trophy for the second time in three years.

The best thing this nationals had to offer was the amount of young faces around that could make even Grant Nichols feel young again! Great new crew down at Tazi and hoping that they'll keep it up and even drag some of their mates into it and we see them all up here next Christmas period.

Follow this link to find the calendar of essential events that we're hoping to get boats to at this point obviously trying to get as much in as possible at Mordy in the lead up to the Nationals. Hope to see as many of your pretty faces at as many of these events as possible. The states is one of the big ones and this year we're hoping to have some boats from other states attend ours as well as try and get out to theirs if possible.

If you need any information or have any questions feel free to email Jake Nichols at jaketnichols@gmail.com

Victorian AGM resulted in a great blend of youth and experience with the
Election of Jake Nichols as President, Peter Stutchbery Vice. Lou Hollis Secretary/Treasurer, Race Manager Rob Radnell, Jason Wills Public Relations,
Grant Nichols Measurer with Max and Nathan Nichols on the Committee.

President – Jake Nichols
Vice President – Peter Stuchbery
Secretary/Treasurer – Lou Hollis
Race Management - Rob Radnell
Public Affairs – Jason Willis
Measurer – Grant Nichols
General Committee – Nathan Nichols & Max Nichols.

The Old the Lonely & the Forgotton take out the Victorian State Ttitles for 2015!

The States were sailed on the 14th and 15th March at Royals in Williamstown. 8 Sharpies made the effort to turn up with 7 sailing on the Saturday and all 8 hitting the water on the Sunday. On the Saturday the wind was generally from the North ranging from about 10 to 15 knots. There were some lighter patches and the odd stronger gust. The last race for the day was sailed in a breeze reaching about 20 knots at time. The course was a triangle windward return with downwind finishes for all races except race 3 which had an extra windward return but still with a downwind finish. It was really good to see the number of younger faces around the boat park. In fact every boat except Rage Factor had at least 1 crew member under about 22.

The Old, the Lonely and the Forgotton getting it on for the 2015 Victorian State Titles. Photos (incluing sidebars) courtesy David Wallace

Grant Nichols borrowed V847 The Old The Lonely and The Forgotten and gave Matt, Max & Zach V835 Psycho Therapy for the series. It was also great to see V772 Veranda Over the Toyshop on the water after many years in drydock! John Radnell and friends showed some good speed at times in the 3 races they completed.

Race 1 started about an hour late due to the swinging wind. Nicho, Owen and a NSW import Dylan won this race with Rage Factor (V878) 2nd and Peter Coburn with Breakaway (V642) coming in 3rd. Nick Major skippered V738 Screaming Eagle and managed a 4th with Veranda Over the Toyshop 5th. Sally Radnell in V777 Fig Jam came 6th. Unfortunately the young guys in Psycho Therapy had some issues and didn't complete any races on the Saturday.

Race 2 saw a great battle between Nicho and Rage Factor. As the wind swung a bit more left the top mark for the second beat was moved. Both the Old The Lonely & the Forgotten and Rage Factor overshot this mark. Unfortunately Breakaway had a swim about this time letting the Screaming Eagle through. Rage Factor rounded the top mark 1st but Grant and the boys were flying downwind and snatched the win by 5 seconds. Rage Factor was again second with Screaming Eagle 3rd Fig Jam 4th and Breakaway 5th. Veranda Over the Toyshop retired for the day during this race.

Race 3 saw the course shifted as the wind picked up and swung even more left. Also an extra 2 legs were added as this was the last race for Saturday. Rage Factor was showing great speed upwind with Nicho flying downhill. These 2 boats had a good battle for the triangle but Rage Factor had a bit of a break starting the last windward return and held onto to win by about a minute. The Old the Lonely & the Forgotten came 2nd with Breakaway 3rd. Fig Jam got another 4th with the Screaming Eagle home in 5th.

Sunday came and we had basically a southerly of about 10 to 15 knots. V592 Riff Raff joined the fleet. Rage Factor and the Old the Lonely & the Forgotten continued their battle with some very close racing. Rage Factor would lead at the top mark only to be passed downwind. Rage Factor would then assume the lead uphill again. With Race 4 Grant passed Rage Factor on the last leg to win. Screaming Eagle came 3rd with Breakaway 4th. Matt & the boys in Psycho Therapy sailed really well for a 5th with Riff Raff 6th, Fig jam 7th and Veranda Over the Toyshop coming home in 8th.

Race 5 was déjà vu with The Old the Lonely & the Forgotten & Rage Factor battling it out. Rage Factor lead up wind only to be passed downwind only to gain the lead upwind again. With some very close finishes it was great racing. Nicho won again with Rage Factor 2nd. Breakaway came 3rd with Fig jam in 4th. Screaming Eagle finished 5th with Riff Raff 6th, Veranda Over the Toyshop 7th and Psycho Therapy 8th.

Race 6 saw the wind pick up to 15 to 20 knots. Rage Factor broke the start so had to restart. Nicho lead at the top mark with Breakaway and Screaming Eagle close behind. Rage Factor rounded in 4th. With a good kite set Rage Factor sailed into 2nd on the first reach. Grant led at the bottom mark but Rage Factor soon overtook them. With a bit more breeze Rage Factor had a bit of a lead at the top mark with just the run to go. As usual the Old the Lonely & the Forgotten showed great downwind speed but Rage Factor managed to hold onto the lead to win by 1 second! Breakaway came home in 3rd with Screaming Eagle 4th. Riff Raff was 5th, Psycho Therapy 6th and Fig Jam 7th. Veranda Over the Toyshop didn't finish.

So after 6 races The Old the Lonely & the Forgotten skippered by Grant Nichols won with 4 firsts and 2 seconds on 6 points (dropping a 2nd) with Rage Factor (Peter Stuchbery, Simon Tedstone and Jason Willis)2nd with 2 wins and 4 seconds (also dropping a 2nd) on 8 points. Oh for up wind finishes!!!

Breakaway came 3rd with 16 points after a drop, Screaming Eagle on 19 points after the drop got 4th with Fig Jam on 25 points in 5th . After drops Riff Raff was 6th, Psycho Therapy 7th and Veranda Over the Toyshop 8th.

Six Sharpies arrived at the Ballarat Yacht Club on for the annual Bertie series. V563 Footloose, V642 Breakaway, V720 Kanga Crusher, V823 Chemical Imbalance, V840 Furnace of Affliction and V878 Rage Factor. We were greeted with about 5 to 1o knots with the very odd gust of a bit more and quite a bit more of less than 5 knots. The wind was generally from the south but swung anywhere from south west to south east. After the race we checked the compass and saw that Rage Factor had a top speed of 12.5 knots which would have been in race 2 on the return.

Three races of a triangle, windward return, triangle windward return and a beat to the club finish where completed. All races where closely contested with many lead changes amongst the fleet.

Race 1 saw Breakaway win by about half a boat length from Rage Factor with Kanga Crusher 3rd.

Race 2 was won by Breakaway with Kanga Crusher 2nd and Rage Factor 3rd.

Race 3 was won by Kanga Crusher with Rage Factor 2nd and Footloose 3rd. Breakaway came home in 4th. This meant that both Breakaway and Kanga Crusher where on 6 points with Rage Factor on 7. Due to Breakaway winning 2 races they were declared the winner.

Congratulations to Peter Coburn, Dave Garner and Charlie Coburn on the win.

Hope to see some more boats in Ballarat next February 2016 for the next Bertie.

The next Vic Sharpie event is the State Titles at Royals in Williamstown on Saturday 14th March and Sunday the 15th. More details will come out shortly.

Who could imagine a better way to spend New Year’s than at one of the infamous Sharpie Carnivals, and I have to say this year’s is one to go down in the history books. First and foremost congratulations to Mal Higgins, who has claimed his seventh win equalling John Cuneo’s record and is looking to break the record for most wins in Sharpie history next year. Besides this momentous victory, the off-the-water entertainment has more stories than the amount of brain cells I have left.... read more of Jacob Nicols account of the 72nd Sharpie Nationals

Weather permitting Steve Edwards, Tony Quirke and Stephen Fankhauser (Bowling for Burgers V829) will be sailing Heavyweight Sharpie Cheyenne as one of the 3 HWS participating in the Mordialloc SC around the bay event. Stephen says their leg will be short Mordialloc to Frankston then return to Chelsea YC, or if they are sick of pumping then just Mordialloc SC to Chelsea YC. Start at Mordialloc SC is 1000 am on Saturday 28th February 2015 at Mordialloc SC...read more.

Victorian Sharpie Association season program is now posted on the web. Check it out at www.vicsharpies.com and we will see you on the water .

Victorian Sharpies Winter 2014 Newsletter – read all about the Victorians at the 71st Nationals in Perth, the Ballaarat Bertie, Victorian State Titles, Easter regatta and more…download here

Saturday March the 1st and Sunday March the 2nd saw the sailing of the Victorian Sharpie State Titles. The event was sailed out of the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria in Williamstown. Three races were scheduled for each day with the first start at 1.00 pm each day. 11 Sharpies arrived on Saturday and it was really good to see Rab Radnell turn up with Fig Jam. Rob made a quick dash to SA on the Thursday before the states to pick up the newest addition to the Victorian fleet.

Race 1 got underway in about 8 knots of breeze from the south. The course was a triangle and 2 windward returns with a downwind finish. This was the course sailed for all 6 heats. The breeze was a bit shifty up the works so we were kept on our toes. John Newman and the Chelsea boys showed us all how it is done and went on to record the win. In fact I don't know why we sailed the next 5 heats as the finishing positions of the first 6 boats in heat on was their actual position at the end of the series! The Williamstown Sailing Club plonked their Saturday afternoon sailing course almost right on top of our course just before the start of Race 2. This led to some interesting conflicts with them not realizing the Sharpies were racing.

Race 2 was very much like race 1 with the wind strength and direction. Ostentatious had another win with The Old the Lonely and the Forgotten in second and Rage Factor third.

Race 3 saw the breeze slightly increase but it was very up and down. Rod Allen chomped at the heels of Ostentatious and Grant Nichols came home in third. Flash as a Rat and Rage Factor had a great tussle down the last run with Rage Factor getting 4th by just a few boat lengths.

Sunday arrived with a similar forecast as the Saturday forecast, but there was actually a bit more breeze when we got down to the club. Bowling for Burgers (Or has it been renamed Barging for Burgers?) didn't come back for the Sunday sailing so we were down to 10 boats.

Race 4 started in about 12 knots from the South. The Old the Lonely and the Forgotten and Ostentatious had a great dual both upwind and down. Rage Factor hung in there for the first triangle but half way up the second work the adjustable rope on the starboard trap wire broke. After a quick circle to pick up Jason who went for a swim we started back up the work trying to fix the trap wire. We dropped back to 6th at this stage. Rod Allen went on for the win with Ostentatious 2nd with Psycho Therapy 3rd. The young blokes on Screaming Eagle sailed a great race to get 4th. Rage Factor managed to pass Flash as a Rat to record a 5th. The boys in Waiting on a Balance managed to rip the centre console out of the boat so headed home for the rest of the day.

Race 5 started with the breeze picking up to about 15 knots form the south. As the wind strengthened it became a lot truer. Again The Old the Lonely and the Forgotten and Ostentatious had a great battle with Rage Factor not far behind. Rod Allen got the win with John Newman 2nd. This meant that going into the last heat Ostentatious had 3 wins and 2 seconds whilst The Old the Lonely and the Forgotten had 2 wins and 3 seconds. The most pleasing thing about this race was the efforts of Fig Jam, skippered by young Sally Radnell, who showed some great speed and sailed a great race to come home 4th.

Race 6 was sailed in about 18 to 20 knots. Again it was Ostentatious and The Old the Lonely and the Forgotten having a great battle. The tacking duels kept on happening. Rage Factor was again sailing around in 3rd. Grant and the boys in Psycho Therapy showed some great downwind speed (no weight helped with the dead runs!). Dave Youlden had Flash as a Rat flying as well. The State Title was going down to the wire with the last run to go. The Old the Lonely and the Forgotten went to pull up the kite and the halyard pulled through the actual block and fell to the deck. This left Ostentatious to sail on to record their 4th win for the series and give them their 3rd consecutive State Title. Rage Factor popped the kite to sail over The Old the Lonely and the Forgotten down the last leg to record a 2nd . Rod Allen managed to hold onto 3rd which gave him 2nd overall and Rage Factor came in 3rd for the series

There was a small presentation of some prizes after sailing while we enjoyed the hospitality of the club.

Full series results

Ballaarat Bertie 2014

Eight Sharpies trekked to the infamous Lake Wendouree where Ballaarat Yacht Club hosted the ?th Ballaarat Bertie on 15th February. The date being determined by rowing regatta needs for water space. It's a busy little lake, and well used by lots of water birds, too.

Yours truly arrived at the lake best known as an awesome Olympic rowing course mid morning to be greeted by a nice 8-10 knots in which a bunch of kids were having fun in Optimists. By midday, the breeze had completely evaporated into a light puff here and there coming from no particular direction. Nicho brought the ugly trophy back to be sailed for, and the club included a 6 pack of Ballarat Bertie, which was part of a special commemorative brew some years ago, and is now a valuable item on Ebay, we were told.

Kanga Crusher, Breakaway, Psycho Therapy, Crews Control, Rage Factor, Flash as a Rat, Furnace of Affliction and The Old, The Lonely and The Forgotten (OLF) all got briefed, along with a couple of assorted dinghies and some Jubilees. We had our own start, as 3 short races were lined up for us, and one standard length race for the others. Fun for race management.

Racing took place in a 2-8 knots from variable directions, which made for a great test on the patience of everyone out there, except perhaps for Tory Bilney, who was celebrating her 16th birthday, replete with party hats on all Kanga Crusher crew members.

Just before the end of the third race, Kanga Crusher got caught in what appeared to be a willy willy, and did a most graceful capsize after Neville fell overboard due to a breaking tiller extension. Tory reckoned it was the most fun for the whole day.

After 3 races in which beats turned into runs and reaches, then back again, the results were:

Kevin & Ross Wilson won the first Bertie in the 1976/77 season sailing Pussyfoot. The Bertie was sailed every year in February until the drought dried the lake up. We missed 8 Bertie's with a dry lake. It was a HUGE event sailed on the Sunday with a morning and afternoon race. Many a visiting Sharpie would come up to Ballarat and sail the club race on the Saturday, stay for a big night on Saturday and sail the Bertie on the Sunday. Even more boats would come up either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. We would have had around 40 odd Sharpies in the hay day. As a 15 year old I remember Drew Kettle when he had Arunga V62, from Colac sitting at the bar when I left the club on Saturday evening only to return Sunday morning and see Drew still perched at the bar! I think my first Bertie must have been the 2nd one – 1977/78 season when I was plucked off my Arafura Cadet to sail on Typhoon(probably round the V20's or V30's) with the Pages. I would think that Dave Youlden has probably sailed every Bertie except 1 or 2 which is a great effort. The club has a long association with Sharpie's and they really support the class well. I was good to get 8 boats but I am aiming to crack the 10 before too long.

Three boats from Victoria competed at the Nationals in WA and if we exclude Grant Nichols average age was around 22. They had a great time camped at Pelican Point Seascouts next to the Mounts Bay Sailing Club, and took out the men and womens Chug-a-lug. Sharpie stalwart Chris Ablett reportedly got a great kick out of seeing the old "Z" turn up - apparently it was better than the boat they were going to bring. He’s not sure how many lives a Sharpie gets, but this one has had a few. "Z" - V694 was listed as ‘free to good home’ at the start of the season and performed pretty well at the Nationals, especially in the last race they were 7th around the first mark.

Tasmanians take out the 2010-11 Nationals in One Hump or Two, skippered by Drew Latham with Nick Carter and Nick Johnston - full scratch Series Results here.

Bank of New South Wales Trophy for Overall Handicap went to New South Wales courtesy Marc Ablett in Rocket Fuels, with Michael Denny and Ben Phillips on the wire.

NEW ARCHIVE - On the official sharpie website we try to keep as many history and posts online as we can - visit the Victoria Archive pages