With AUS Sails Sam Haines accepting a role with North Sails, we were hopeful that we would be able to transfer our sponsorship of the Victorian Summer Sprints series across as well.

Our thanks goes to Aaron Cole and the North Sails team for not only agreeing to take over the sponsorship, but to also increase their level of support. Aaron is often seen on the water providing after sales service to the 38s and Sam tells me he will have more time on the water and less time on the sewing machine now he is part of the North Sails team.

On behalf of the 38’s – thanks North Sails.

Click on the links below

National Championships Newsletter No 1.

Sydney-38-Nationals-2016-Newsletter-No.-2

National Sydney 38 champ Phoenix takes out Sydney 38 Victorian titles

Short and sharp. Not the usual chop on Port Phillip but the Quantum Sails Sydney 38 Victoria titles that were reduced from a weekend to a single day series after 25-35 knot wind squalls, driving rain and hail pushed up from Bass Strait.

The fleet encountered light and fickle 5-8 knot west to nor’west winds on the Saturday, April 18, 2015. Looking out from the warmth of the Sandringham Yacht Club glass front on Sunday was like Armageddon in contrast.

Brenton and Jen Carnell’s Phoenix won the states in convincing fashion, the reigning Australian Sydney 38 champion also the new Victorian champion. The seven race regatta became a four race series and Phoenix’s scorecard of 2,1,2,3 and final impressive tally of eight points delivered them a nine point win over the second placed Ikon38, Kirwan Robb’s first class result with the former Whisper.
“It’s amazing to finish off the season with a state win not long after our nationals victory,” Carnell said. “The crew were fantastic, turning the corners we had the edge on the others, and our tactician Chris Jones was amazing; we were on the line every time and on the right side of the course.”

Being the final event of the 2014-15 one design season Carnell thanked “the Sydney 38 Association for their hard work over the season and my wife Jen for putting up with me.” The Carnells are looking forward to a break…”it’s been a huge year,” Brenton admitted.

Audacious (Greg Clinnick and Paul Holden) came in one point behind Ikon38 in third, tied on points with Playground (Andrew and Gayl Robinson).

In Corinthian results Audacious placed first, then Playground and Sierra Chainsaw (Andrew, Pat and Mel Mollison). Half way into Saturday’s four races Sierra was tied with Phoenix for first but chose to go hard right in race three and four which didn’t pay and put them out of the top placings.

Playground is a husband steering/wife tactician model – testing at times, especially when a penalty was taken by Playground over a port/starboard situation – but all were smiling at the regatta end.

Sponsors Quantum Sails and Ronstan supported the event, as they have done over a number of years. Dave Eickmeyer from Quantum played a very hands-on role as tactician on Stephane Howarth’s Mille Sabords and presented the prizes at Sunday afternoon’s trophy presentation.
All nine boats were represented at an excellent social function held at Royal Brighton Yacht Club on Saturday night where crews enjoyed videos from the recent nationals and stills of the day’s sailing, courtesy of Sailing Shack, plus the highlight, 100 cupcakes decorated with the Sydney 38 logo.

“No protests were lodged but the on-water jury did arbitrate on several incidents, keeping the tacticians on their best behaviour. Overall it was a very well run regatta thanks to SYC and their band of 12 plus volunteers,” commented class President Greg Clinnick.

The next event for the 38s is the Morris Finance pre-season two day series Royal Geelong Yacht Club will host over the last weekend of September, 2015. Over the Australia Day long weekend in January 2016 the class’ nationals are set to coincide with RGYC’s annual Festival of Sails.

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Event: Quantum Sails Sydney 38 Victorian State Title, April 18-19, 2015 hosted by Sandringham Yacht Club

Southern chapter contest Quantum Sails Sydney 38 Victorian title

A fleet of nine Victorian Sydney 38s entered for this weekend’s class state title will vie for bragging rights as the fastest Sydney 38 on Port Phillip Bay.

Sandringham Yacht Club is hosting this signature event for the southern chapter of the Sydney 38 Class Association. It will be a busy weekend for SYC hosting the 38s, J24s and their Centenary regatta, one of the largest club regattas for the year. The view from the club balcony will be a spectator’s delight!

Brenton and Jen Carnell’s Geelong based Phoenix is hot favourite. Fresh from a recent nationals title victory in Pittwater, they showed they are the boat to beat in light airs and will be watching the weather closely to see if their A grade light air game can win them another piece of silverware for their expanding trophy cabinet.

Bruce Taylor’s Chutzpah38 features the late Lou Abraham’s ex-Challenge afterguard who are looking to move up the podium from their recent fourth place at the nationals.

The major talking point is the newly acquired Ikon38. Kirwan Robb purchased the 2014 national champion boat Whisper to be delivered to Melbourne just in time for the Quantum Sails Sydney 38 Victorian State Title, April 18-19, 2015.

Robb’s Beneteau First 45 Ikon is the current undisputed division 1 IRC champion sailing out of Hobson Bay Yacht Club and he and his crew are looking forward to transferring their success across to the local Sydney 38 one design fleet. “We were attracted to Sydney38s as they offer some of the best one design racing in Australia,” Robb commented. “Our Beneteau Ikon offers great sailing and we continue to push ourselves every time we race. Ikon38 offers the chance to match race large keel boats and forget about the handicap. We can’t wait to get out there this weekend and we are looking forward to seeing where we sit on the leader board after the last race on Sunday.”

Sydney 38 Class President Greg Clinnick reckons the addition of another top notch Sydney 38 to the Victorian fleet once again raises the bar and he welcomes Ikon38 and its crew to the Sydney 38 family, which now boasts 11 Victorian boats. “We saw a massive amount of interest in the class coming out of the recent nationals; several major sponsors, 3,500 Facebook views and 1000+ YouTube views. People are interested in what we are doing, that’s for sure. We have an increasing membership and I’m aware of two more syndicates interested in buying a Sydney 38.

“Our next nationals will be held in Geelong in January 2016 as part of the Festival of Sails and we already have 16 owners planning to enter, including those from South Australia and NSW,” Clinnick added.

The local Quantum Sails loft through Dave Eickmeyer is supporting the Victorian Sydney 38 state title with up to seven windward/leeward short course races scheduled across the weekend starting at 10am daily. The presentation of awards will take place immediately after racing on Sunday the 19^th on the balcony at SYC. The fleet will also enjoy a social function on the Saturday night.

We started on Friday with a 150nm race from Adelaide to Lincoln with 5 38’s and around 40 other yachts. It was perfect conditions for all and was looking like a quick race. The 38 fleet split up overnight and by sunrise Slipknot was 10nm in front followed by White knight, The Business, Asylum then Clockwork. We had caught up with the ben45’s and were in front of the 40’s and it looked like the 38’s would be in the top 5 till we found a parking lot 15nm from the finish for around 2 hours whilst the front guys found the wind and came home strong. We ended up in the top 10 and within the first 15 boats over the line.

The Lincoln regatta week started off in 25 + knts but flat water with all 5 38’s racing with the div 1 IRC fleet. After Slipknot suffered a man over board on the last work of the first race (whilst being 800m in front) the results were White Knight, The Business, Slipknot, Asylum & Clockwork. The second race was in the same conditions with Asylum broaching and blowing a masthead kite and ended up with Slipknot, White Knight, The Business, Asylum & Clockwork.

The second day we had our long race of 39nm. After a close start with the div1 boats it was a tight race all day with the lead changing several times in the shifty conditions and at the finish in front of the club was Slipknot 1^st follow by White Knight, Asylum, The Business & Clockwork who were improving each day.

The 3^rd day was the traditional 11nm race to Meggas BBQ.  After a few port starboards with the div 1 fleet, White Knight ended up taking the win by a couple of boat lengths over Slipknot then Asylum, The Business and closely behind was Clockwork.

The final day saw Slipknot and White Knight tied on points and it came down to the last race to decide the S.A. State Champion. We had a long postponement due to no wind, but once racing got under way it was tight all the way. White Knight took the win with Slipknot just in front in front of Asylum and Clockwork coming up 4^th .

There was some  fantastic racing over and week for all involved and Port Lincoln are keen to see the Sydney 38’s feature more prominently in their regatta – maybe host a future Nationals? The Sydney 38 scene in S.A. is taking off with two boat owners looking to step up to 38 ownership creating an 8 boat fleet in the near future. 

Anthony Wilson

Sydney 38 Association – S.A. representative

Phoenix rises from the doldrums as Australian Sydney 38 champion

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

There was no chance the 200 or so Sydney 38 and 36 sailors contesting the Performance Boating Sydney Yachts Regatta were going to die of thirst like the poor souls on Coleridge’s ship in his famous maritime poem, the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Yet three days of heavy cloud, thick humidity and barely there breeze warranted the doldrums reference and amounted to punishing racing.

At the end of a seven race series, well short of the 12 originally scheduled due to the extreme weather pattern, the long delivery from Geelong to Pittwater became all the more worthwhile when Brenton and Jen Carnell’s Phoenix capped off the Sydney 38 Australian title by one point having staved off a late challenge from Mark Griffith’s Old School (RPAYC).

“We thought we lost it on a countback, it was extremely nerve-racking adding up the points,” Carnell said. “The results went right down to the wire and for us it made the preparation and the 500 nautical mile journey so incredibly worthwhile. This weekend’s been a huge learning curve; we’ve jumped up to the next level.”

Carnell’s Royal Geelong Yacht Club crew realised they needed to readjust the boat after day one to have a chance at defeating the locals. They spent Friday evening tweaking and found the extra pace, and went in the right direction on the offshore course thanks to tactician Chris Jones. “All the crew were fantastic, in the light conditions they were pressed down on the leeward rail all the time and maintained the concentration needed to do the job,” Carnell praised.

Cruelly for Griffith, his final series result means a trifecta of seconds at the nationals, all by one point. “We’ll be at the next one in Geelong next January and will try to move up one more spot,” the weary skipper promised. “We did everything we could and we are happy we gave Phoenix a run. They sailed more consistently than us, plus we had a little bit of bad luck in the first race with a big clump of weed caught on the rudder putting us back into last place, until we sent a swimmer to clear it.”

Third Sydney 38 on overall points was Bruce Ferguson’s Whisper from RPAYC and Bruce Taylor’s Chutzpah from Melbourne was declared the top scoring Corinthian, or amateur-crewed boat.

First Sydney 36 in their two-day series was Peter Franki’s Saltshaker (CYCA) then Steve Hatch’s M (RSYC) and Andrew Hurt’s Onya (MHYC) in third overall.

As the 4pm time limit for a start approached, race six and seven rolled off in quick succession making the most of the best wind of the regatta – 7-8 knots from a smidge north of east. By that stage the caravan of 20 Sydney Yachts and officials plus marks and support boats had relocated to “half way to New Zealand” joked the PRO Steve Merrington. In actual fact he shifted the track southwards and further offshore on the ocean side of Palm Beach, north of Sydney.

Having found a wind pocket and determined to keep the momentum going, Merrington started race six under a black flag following a general recall of the fleet, which means too many boats were on the wrong side of the start line to be called back individually. Richard Williams’ Calibre cut it too fine and the flag came down, disqualifying them from that race.

At this evening’s trophy presentation at the host club, the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, the winning Phoenix team received the rededicated Lou Abrahams Australian Champion Trophy named in honour of the four-time winner and class stalwart who sadly passed away last year.

Abrahams’ longtime right hand man Rowan Simpson now races with a skipper he refers to as “another legend of Victorian yachting, Bruce Taylor”. The pair, for 35 years competitors are nowadays wearing the same crew colours and Simpson says they spend a lot of time reminiscing about Abrahams and past regattas and races. “Not a day goes by we don’t think of Lou or refer to him.”

As the last in the 20 boat fleet of Sydney 38s and 36s crossed the finish line this afternoon, Sunday February 22, 2015, crews took to their radios to thank the race committee for a terrific job under trying conditions. In response Merrington thanked them for their patience and also the RPAYC race management team he says “is the best I’ve ever worked with”.

Looking forward, Sydney 38 Association President Greg Clinnick reminds all Sydney 38 owners that a new class rule means from September this year boats can carry 25% bigger mast head kites, making this the last nationals with fractional kites.

Clinnick has also issued a challenge to all 38 owners. “We are pushing for 10 Sydney 38s to enter this year’s Sydney to Hobart with the aim of being the largest one design fleet in the world racing one of the longest and toughest ocean races. Five owners are committed, the association is calling for five more to take up the challenge.”

The class’ 2016 Australian title returns to Geelong and the Festival of Sails in January 2016 where it’s hoped fleets from South Australia, NSW and Victoria add up to 20-25 starters. Next on the Sydney 38 calendar are the Victorian and NSW state titles planned for the same weekend in April, 18-19. The NSW states fall under the Sail Port Stephens regatta banner.

Link to video from day 2 of racing