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Tell Tales from Queen's Lake By George Watt State President Six hearty corsair crews contested the 40th Annual NSW State Titles on Queen's Lake over the Easter weekend. It was great to meet the Oyston family and friends from Lake Illawarra Sailing "God Speed" Tim must have enjoyed the weekend as he now has new sails on order and is keen to compete again. Roger and his family and crew found a good campsite on the point and settled into an eventful, fun filled weekend. Dave and Doreen settled in with the family at Old Bar. Kevin and Laurel were happy with their new accommodation and have helped us to know where NOT to send people for the Nationals!! Kath, Kim and Brad set up their international commune and the laughter could be heard all over the lake both day and night. On Friday night we held our AGM. Positions remained the same I think! The Nationals will be at Queen's Lake and our next States will hopefully be at Lake Illawarra. The 40th Nationals 2008/2009 may be in Tasmania.
We were all given the task of encouraging others to come to the
Queen's Lake Nationals and especially to encourage the cadets to
come. The sailing over the weekend was very close with all boats in contention at the first mark. The only boat to make a real jump from the fleet was "Succession" but that was short lived as the whole fleet came down to her as the wind died and shifted. We experienced a variety of wind strengths and conditions from no wind to rain squalls. Roger in "Breaking Wind" was the only casualty with a broken boom. The association came to his aid in buying a spare corsair from a backyard in Laurieton. All five regular corsairs were well on the pace while the crew from Wollongong with what they learnt during the regatta (and new sails!!) will be hot on our heels next time. The series was won and lost by picking the wind shifts, especially by looking well up the course and picking where the new breeze would come from. Final Results were: Watt Fun, Succession, Deciduous, Sunset, Breaking Wind, God Speed. A big thank you must go to Greg and Penny Marshall and the crew from Queen's Lake Sailing Club for the professional way in which the regatta was conducted and we all look forward to the Nationals at the end of the year. Looking forward to seeing you all on the water next season. |
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157 God Speed, Tim Oyston The State Titles were held at Queens Lake Lauriton during the Easter long weekend. Gust southerly winds, rain and brief periods of sunshine provided the racing with a constant variety of testing conditions. This weekend was something I had eagerly awaited, as it would be the first opportunity I had to race against other Corsairs and meet fellow owners as I had only been an owner of 157 for 10 months. I convinced my wife Joanne and daughter Harri to accompany my good mate Dave and my son Thomas and me on the 7 hour trip form Wollongong. Upon arrival at Queens lake Dave and I looked down onto the 5 Corsairs on the lake shoreline and immediately noticed that they had much newer sails than what we had ever seen and we knew that these people obviously knew how to race this class of boat. We quickly set about rigging up and had some brief introductions before the 6 boats set out to compete in the first of the five races that would take place over the next 3 days. The first race started with light breezes of 5 to 10 knots but quickly saw conditions change to 20 to 30 knots with a ½ metre waves. The rough conditions on the shallow lake made for some interesting moments, especially if you happened to be gibing with the kite up while some of the larger guts hit. The first race was won by 801 Watt Fun with a close field behind. We, however, were last across the line by quite a margin with a muddy mast top and many questions about just what made the other competitors so much faster than us? Saturday morning started with long sunny periods but these soon gave way to the southerly conditions throughout the day. We were now rigged with borrowed sails which were much newer and some pointer about trimming them. With our confidence renewed Dave, Tom and I went out to do battle, but yet again we followed the field around the course and finished last both times. Racing for the lead was fiercely contested with 801 Watt Fun being the winners of the day. Sunday provided milder conditions and some close racing. Second and third position was for the state title was decided by a couple of seconds at the end of the last race. We managed to learn enough throughout the weekend to get 157 across the line only 6 seconds behind the fifth boat 524 Breaking Wind during the morning race! I would like to thank all who assisted in hosting the titles and the fellow Corsair owners for your generosity, encouragement and acceptance of a novice racer such as me. The warmth and friendship of those who attended the weekend have provided me with a greater love for the Corsair Class, if that was ever possible |
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Where;
Lake Macquarie, NSW