Sail Brisbane 2011 Cancelled

Sail Brisbane has regretfully been cancelled due to disappointing numbers. Due to the ISAF Sailing World Championships held in Perth coinciding with Sail Brisbane this year, entries have been significantly lower than previous years.

Having such low numbers in each class has made it impossible to assemble a large enough fleet to deliver competitive racing. We regretfully apologise for any inconvenience caused.

We look forward to next year’s Sail Brisbane regatta delivering competitive sailing for all.

2011 NOR & Online Entry Now Available

The Notice of Race and Online Entry Documents are now available for the 2011 Sail Brisbane regatta.

The ISAF Grade 2 event is proudly hosted by Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in conjunction with Yachting Queensland and Yachting Australia.

Sail Brisbane is the final leg of the 2011 Youth Sailing Grand Prix.

To access the NOR and entry documents – Regatta Information > Race Documents

Sail Brisbane Highlights

Final day highlights from Sail Brisbane available online now

The opening round of the 2010 Sail Down Under Series finished up on Thursday with the final day of Sail Brisbane. Held at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, 103 crews battled it out for honours on Moreton Bay.

Mixed conditions made for difficult racing throughout the fleets with many classes going right down to the final race.

Final day video highlights are available to view online now and can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNRGHpMuI6Y

The video can also be viewed at the Sail Down Under website (www.saildownunder.org.au), Sail Brisbane website (www.sailbrisbane.org.au) and the Sail Down Under YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/SailDownUnderSeries).

Round two begins at Sail Sydney on Monday with video highlights again being available following the final two days of racing, Wednesday and Thursday.

Craig Heydon
Communications Coordinator
Yachting Australia

Day 4 Video

Check out the highlights from Day 4 of Sail Brisbane!

All videos can be found here | Media > Videos

Check it out!

Dead heats and OCS = Excitement!

A dead heat, OCS calls and cream rising feature on Sail Brisbane’s final day

Conditions were much improved for the fourth day of the Sail Brisbane regatta, and the competitors put on a show. The promised 15-20 knot north-easterlies did not eventuate and races were generally sailed in 6-10 knots of breeze, with the pressure sometimes dropping away completely to test the skills of the sailors. But there was no rain.

The very promising Queensland 420 duo of Angus Galloway and Alex Gough had an early end to their regatta. The 10 race series allowed crews to drop their worst two placings. With a scorecard of seven wins and a second place from the first eight, they chose not to sail the final two races of the day.

They now head to Sail Sydney where they expect to encounter “a few more boats” but Alex commented that the main competitors were all sailing in this regatta. “They were getting closer to us so it will be a good event down there,” he said.

The talented women’s crew of Elloise Brake and Jaime Ryan managed to steal one win from the men and were second in the series, with Shelley White and Georgie Toner third.

The RS:X sailboard class also had an early end. The light winds meant that the two races which were sailed were classified as “pumping” events, and no more than two “pumpers” can be sailed in a day.

The series was won by Chang Hao from Taipei, whose reasons for competing at Sail Brisbane included improving his English. As the board sailors de-rigged on the grass in front of the clubhouse, his new Australian friends were busy convincing him that it was traditional for the winner to give a speech at the prize-giving, then get thrown into the water. “Henry” looked suitably unimpressed.

Seb Wanghansen of Norway was second in the series and Luke Baillie of Australia was third, after he finished second and first in the two races today. Commenting on his final race win, Baillie said, “I was lucky. The wind died when Seb and I came round the top mark and we were the only ones on the plane. From the last mark to the finish I basically just rowed.”

In the other Olympic class to be sailed at this regatta, the cream continued to rise to the top. Ryan Palk, who dominated early, held off a fast-finishing James Burman to win by three points, with Klade Hauschildt third.

Burman won five races to Palk’s three, but some early fifth placings cost him the championship. On the final day he finished first, second and first but had left his run too late.

All three sailors are members of the Australian Sailing Development Squad and showed the benefits of the extra competition this offers. Ryan finished sixth at the Kiel regatta in Germany and both Ryan and Klade made the Gold fleet at the 2010 Laser World Championship.

“I learnt so much in Europe,” Ryan said. “It was worth 10 times what it cost to go there.” He also thanked his Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron training partner, Klade Hauschildt, saying that having such close racing every day really helped him out when James Burman put the pressure on.

Madison Kennedy sailed a very consistent series in the Laser 4.7, winning the final race to hold off the challenge from Nicholas Connor and Jacqueline Van Soest.

In the competitive Laser Radial, Madison’s brother Mitchell Kennedy suffered a scare in the first two races of the day before finishing second in the final race to take the series by two points from Brendan Torpelund with Luke Hookings third. Mitchell also won the Youth section from Daniel Smith and Jake Lilley.

The women’s division recorded a win for another international competitor when Claire Blom of the Netherlands was able to drop the last race and still finish ahead of ASDS member Ashley Stoddart on a countback. Christine Bridge was third. Some of the women were so keen to get started they were recorded OCS – on the course side of the start line when the gun went.

Benjamin Rankine continued his dominance in the foiling Moths, with a first, second and a third today. His scorecard included seven bullets from the 10 races. Jack Sherring was second and Nick Flutter third.

The 11 boat Optimist Dinghy fleet saw very close competition at the front. Kyle O’Connell took the title by finishing in the top three in every race. Kye Evans managed two wins to finish second with Xavier Winston Smith third.

The other introductory class, the Sabot, also saw very close finishes with the final race featuring a dead-heat between Kurt Hansen and Tom Siganto. In the series Hansen prevailed, finishing on 12.5 points to Seganto’s 15.5, with Henry Makin third. Five different skippers managed race wins, emphasising the competitive nature of the young sailors.

Also close was the 29er, where a countback had to be used to separate Sophie Lahy/Joel Turner and Josh Franklin/Lewis Brake. Both crews finished on 11 points but Lahy and Turner had won four races to Franklin and Brake’s three. Jessica Hansen and Liam Hilton were third.

A famous sailing name appears at the top of leaderboard in the Bic Techno, where Samuel Treharne from Middle Harbour Yacht Club was dominant, winning six of the ten races and finishing first in the series by 12 points from Shari O’Brien, with Reece Baillie third on a countback.

Sail Brisbane attracted international entries from eight countries, with 103 sailors aged from 11 to 71 taking part in the event.

From Brisbane, the Sail Down Under Series goes to Sydney next week before concluding with the ISAF World Cup event at Sail Melbourne. Sail Sydney has attracted 227 entries and Melbourne has 306.

Among the competitors at these events will be world and Olympic champions, including three-times Gold medalist Ben Ainslie and defending Laser Gold medalist Paul Goodison from Great Britain. Among the World Champions representing Australia will be Tom Slingsby (Laser), Matt Belcher and Malcolm Page (470) and Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (49er).

For more information on the Sail Down Under Series visit www.saildownunder.org.au.

Craig Heydon
Communications Coordinator
Yachting Australia

Video, trackers & crazy weather!

Video, trackers and crazy weather draw on-line crowds to Sail Brisbane

More than 4600 people have accessed on-line GPS tracking screens which show the course and positions of the boats competing at Sail Brisbane.

As torrential rain and 50 degree wind shifts caused chaos for organisers, people were logging onto www.sailbrisbane.com.au to view the action.

Also on the course was a video crew, recording live footage which has been posted to the site. This has been edited to include footage from head cams worn by competitors such as RS:X board sailor, Luke Baillie.

During a break in proceedings as organisers scrambled to re-lay turning marks, Baillie shot footage of himself and fellow board sailors “freestyling” in the 25 knot winds.

The day three video highlights can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTeS5GeZYrs or via the Sail Down Under YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/SailDownUnderSeries.

According to Yachting Australia CEO Phil Jones, the use of the electronic media is bringing the sport to a whole new audience. “We know from the on-line blog that many of the viewers are parents and friends of the competitors, but we are also getting comments from people who have never watched sailing at this level before.

Sail Brisbane concludes tomorrow with two more races in each of 10 divisions, commencing at 11am Queensland time.

Craig Heydon
Communications Coordinator
Yachting Australia

Day 3 Video

Yachting Australian Events team has put together this awesome video of racing for Day 3 of Sail Brisbane.

The video includes boat cam, head cam and capsize cam!

All videos can be found here | Media > Videos

Check it out!

Crazy weather causes chaos

Abandoned races, too much wind, too little wind and torrential rain were all served up to the competitors on day three of Sail Brisbane.

On the Laser course, competitors were half way through the first race when a 50 degree wind shift caused the principal race officer to hoist the “abandon” flag. The rain squall that accompanied the shift made life unpleasant and a following line of pressure saw wind speeds climb to above 25 knots.

On the RS:X course, this had competitors working on their freestyle skills. “We were just going crazy out there,” said a grinning Luke Baillie. When racing was finally re-started in 15-18 knots, Baillie powered to the front and held on to beat his more fancied overseas competition.

Unfortunately, by the time the second race got underway the wind had died again, although the rain persisted.

“In the second race I saw this huge line of pressure sitting out to the left. I thought I’d just bang it left and lift up to the mark. But it didn’t come in and everyone went through underneath me,” Baillie said.

The effect of the changing wind speeds was clearly seen on the tracking devices. In the first race the RS:X and Moth sailors were reaching speeds of up to 20 knots, but by the second race the wind had dropped to below six knots and the boats and boards crawled towards the marks at less than four knots.

Chang Hao from Taipei leads the RS:X with nine points after a second and a first today, from Seb Wanghansen of Norway and Marco Baglioni of Italy. Luke Baillie’s first and fifth leaves him in joint fourth position with fellow Australian Jimmy Levy. Both have 21 points after one drop.

Ultimately, Luke’s elusive line of pressure did arrive, but by then organisers had abandoned the last race of the day for all but the Laser Standard fleet.

In this class yesterday’s big mover, James Burman, continued to progress up the leaderboard. He placed fifth in the first race but then found his groove and won the next two. His fellow Australian Sailing Development Squad member, Ryan Palk, still leads comfortably on 11 points after placing first, fourth and second today, but Burman has moved into equal second with Klade Hauschildt 19 points.

The Kennedy siblings continue to lead in the Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 classes. Mitchell Kennedy had a poor day by his standards with a fourth, fifth and eighth but still leads both the Open and Youth divisions. Madison enjoyed a first and a fourth placing today, to leave her at the top of the 4.7 class on 11 points from Nicholas Connor on 14.

In the Bic Techno Samuel Treharne’s first and second placings today leave him on top of the leaderboard, while in the Moths Benjamin Rankine suffered his first loss, but dropped the resulting second placing to hold a perfect score. Perfect scores were also the order of the day for 420 sailors Angus Galloway and Alex Gough who also drop their only non-bullet performance.

In the Optimist Dinghy class, Kyle O’Connell has been on the podium in every race and leads his nearest rival, Kye Evans, by two points. After fifth placings in the first two races, Kurt Hansen has been the most consistent sailor in the Sabots, leading the class by two points from clubmate Henry Makin and Tom Seganto.

Only one race was completed in the 29er. It was won by Jessica Hansen and Liam Hilton, but second place was sufficient to keep Josh Franklin and Lewis Brake in the series lead with a score of eight points.

Full results in all divisions are available on the event website www.sailbrisbane.com.au, where you can also view videos of today’s racing and connect to the trackers to watch re-plays of today’s races.

Racing starts early at 10am tomorrow, with live trackers again being placed on the RS:X, 29er, 420, Optimist and Sabot classes. To date, more than 4600 people have accessed the tracking facility and 460 have participated in the on-line blog.

Craig Heydon
Communications Coordinator
Yachting Australia

Change to SIs #3

There has been a change to the schedule for racing tomorrow – Change to Sailing Instructions # 3.

View the Race Documents page to see the change.

http://www.rqys.com.au/marine-sports/SAIL-BRISBANE/10SAILBRISBANE-SI-CHANGE-3.pdf

Brother and sister lead

It was a good day for Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron members Mitchell and Madison Kennedy, with the siblings finishing day two of the international regatta, Sail Brisbane, leading their respective Laser divisions.

Sailing in both the youth and open divisions of the Laser Radial class, Mitchell won the first two races overall and finished fourth in the third. Madison recorded a win and two second placings in the Laser 4.7 to lead by the slender margin of one point going into the third day of racing.

RQYS members are enjoying their home waters advantage, finishing the day at the top of the leaderboard in eight different events. Ryan Palk has maintained his lead in the Standard Laser, while Christine Bridge and Ella Evans are tied in the Laser Radial women’s, giving the host club the lead in every Laser event.

In addition, RQYS club members lead the men’s and women’s 420 class (Angus Galloway/Alex Gough and Elloise Brake/Jaime Ryan) and the 29er (Josh Franklin/Lewis Brake).

Sail Brisbane is in its fifth year and has attracted 103 sailors from nine countries, including Scandanavia, Europe and Asia.

For more information please visit www.sailbrisbane.com.au or www.saildownunder.org.au.

Craig Heydon
Communications Coordinator
Yachting Australia