It was another exceptional weekend of sailing in Jervis Bay, as the VSC hosting the NSW Hobie Cat Association’s Hobie 14 Coaching Camp from Friday afternoon, through till Sunday’s single-handed championship. With a a grand total of 11 x Hobie 14s hitting the race track on Sunday, along with the Waves, Getaway, Dragoon and Hobie 16, the day was nothing short of magnificent as the biraga baliya, the black nor’easter, filled in for the afternoon.
Kicking off after lunch on Friday, Paddy was on site with novacastrian, father/daughter duo Emma and Mark, as they began their lifelong journey as Hobie 14 sailors. As a regular team on the Hobie 18, Emma has committed to racing the H14 at the Hobie Nationals later this year. In addition, local legend Hazel was on site, celebrating the end of the school term by taking out the family H14 ‘Mouse’ for the first session of the season. We can confirm at the time of press, Bridget has been informed the Rafterys will require an additional H14 on her arrival home from Europe. With Mark and Paddy on ‘Tuffy’, Hazel and Emma had an exceptional time getting their bearings if the H14s in the dying south-easterly.
Saturday saw a welcomed change to the initial forecast, with a light to mid-range nor’easter filling in at midday allowing for a productive morning focussing on the sailing theory behind taming a Hobie 14. With Paddy running around on Tuffy, Emma, Hazel, Mark, Howard, Adrian, Rene with the ratbags Liana & Joel, along with Spinelli w/ Ava and Oliver, all hitting the water for a jaunt throughout the day.
Also on the south coast for the weekend, Michelle & Watty were in town, with Watty on deck to run the racing with Egbert on Sunday. Additionally, regular blow in Ellie was in from Wangi as well, bring along Courtney for first ever experience sailing a catamaran. All we can say is the skiff sailing is evident when on the helm of a Hobie 16.
Sunday brought the breeze as the fleet arrived for the single-handed championship. On the H14s, Jezza, Hatto, Jake, MB, and Dobbo, along with Spinelli w/ Oliver & Ava on the Dragoon, joined the fleet from the previous day as they hit the race track for four short, sharp and loud races around the cans. Ironing out the cobwebs, the VSC H14 fleet hasn’t hit the race track in a big nor’easter for a long time and there were plenty of moments that showed it! MB went over backwards, Paddy flew too close to the sun, and Hazel managed a few swims without anyone actually noticing. However, leading the charge for the amount of swims in a single session ever went to Ellie & Court, who came off the water beaten, battered and bruised but smiling from ear-to-ear all the same.
On the race track, Paddy & MB fought it out, with the former finishing the day with three bullets. Hatto, Jake, Jezza, Dobbo and Adrian were swapping positions every race, with the end results across the fleet coming down purely to the starts. For their first time racing 14s, and in some truly trying conditions, the Webbs were on fire as they battled through the tacks to get around the race track. Having the right idea, Emma mastered the ‘granny-tack’ technique to perfection. Likewise, Hazel’s boat handling quadrupled in capacity in the big nor’easter, finally falling victim to a turtle as they rescued Ellie’s hat.
To their father’s dismay, Oliver, Joel and Evan took the Wave for a spin on their own, sailing expertly around the wave challenge course before capsizing just off Orion’s. Coming to the rescue, Rene and Paddy dropped the boys to shore before they went about their own 1v1 wave challenge, ending the day on the highest of highs. Big shout out to Watty and Egbert running the racing, and Rebecca, Michelle Rene and Lisa managing the the clubhouse.
Tune in next week for a weekend of social sailing on Jervis Bay over the long weekend.
