I arrived in Sydney Tuesday morning.  After clearing customs, I went straight to the boat park at Woollahra Sailing Club on Rose Bay.  Within a couple hours I was on Sydney harbor sailing the 29erXX in, what was for me at the time, the most wind I had ever sailed in – around 20kts.  My crew for this event was Charlie McKee who has plenty of days spent sailing skiffs on Sydney harbor.  Day two was the windiest and we had one particularly spectacular wipe out that sent me flying.  Suffice to say the bruises are just starting to diminish…  After three days of nice sailing on Sydney we packed up the trailer.

Final Results

 

About two hours out of Sydney is Lake Macquarie, the host of the first Australian 29erXX National Championship.  Known for it’s big wind and flat water, Lake Macquarie is home to the Wangi Wangi Amateur Sailing Club.  The lake is a hot bed of skiff sailing.  Most notable of the sailors who have honed their skills on Macquarie is Nathan Outteridge, 49er world champion and Olympic medalist.  In fact, Nathan’s father was the PRO for our regatta.

The Wangi Wangi club is a group of extremely friendly people who welcomed all the 29erXX sailors to their facility.  Many club members were checking out the XX set up and asking us lots of questions about how it sails.  There were even some junior sailors that were there with their parents and you could tell it wasn’t going to be long before XX rigs take a hold on this lake.     Every day after sailing we were treated to a nice and hearty dinner.  If you couldn’t wait till dinner and needed some food right away, no worries because Nathan’s mum was running the snack bar so you really couldn’t ask for more out of a host club.

Racing started on Saturday with typical Macquarie conditions, which is big wind.  I was told the wind speed was solid 25 with gusts over 30kts. All I know is we managed to finish two races with two 2nd places on our scorecard so I was extremely happy.   The next 3 days of racing would prove to be “abnormal” conditions for the lake with the wind never getting over 7 kts and many races sailed in under 5kts.  Suffice to say we didn’t do as well in those races.  In the final race of the regatta the wind returned with a solid 15kts and we were able to squeak out another 2nd place finish.

In the end it was Sydney junior sailor Byronn White and crew Ashley Rooklyn who won the regatta.  They proved to be able to really sail the boat fast in the light airs but still keep it going in the few big-wind races.  Byron and Ashley sail the 29er together regularly and Byron represented AUS at the youth worlds in the 29er where he finished 8th overall.  These two young guys loved the power of the XX rig and honestly are a little bummed they’re sailing the standard rig at the Sydney International Regatta next week.  It’s great to see top level 29er sailors step in the XX rig and have success.  

In second overall was Dave O’Connor, another Sydney local and former 29er Australian National and European Champion.  It was Dave’s first weekend in the XX rig and he proved to be very skillful at making the boat sail fast in all conditions.  

In all it was a great sailing experience.  The members of the Wangi Wangi Sailing Club hosted a great event.  

Cheers!

K.Lane

Photos by Haylee Outteridge and Emmett Lazich