Northshore Marine

Melges 32 MAXSTAR wins the dogfight at the CHRISTMAS REGATTA

2011-12-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club hosted the second Melges 32 Christmas Regatta last weekend. Two days of extremely close short course sprint racing on Pittwater, eight races in total.

Saturday offered a very shifty 10 knot easterly breeze, frustrating tacticians and mixing up the results, no one boat dominated the day although new owner Michael Turners “Sticks” from Gosford Sailing Club was successful in picking the shifts in the tricky conditions. The team onboard “Sticks” won the day with two wins, followed closely behind by Kim Williams “Rock and Roll” finishing the first four races in second place on count back.

Day two was a hard fought dogfight in a more predictable North Easterly sea breeze up to 20 knots. Boats were crossing and ducking within centimeters on the short course, the lead continually changing. The spectators were treated to exciting high-speed last minute gybes on the tight course.

After nipping at the heels of winning boats at recent Melges 32 regattas Angus Reid “Maxstar” from Canberra Sailing Club made a comeback on day two taking the gun in all four races to win the regatta four points ahead of “Rock and Roll”.

International Melges yachtsmen Petr Fiala kept “Maxstar” at top speeds all day. Petr from the Czech Republic has come to Australia to study and has been welcomed as a member of the international Melges community. After campaigning the Melges 24’s and 32’s in the European season he contacted Heath from Melges Asia Pacific and joined “Maxstar” for the M32 State Titles on Lake Macquarie.

Angus (Gus) Reid and crew were thrilled with the win and are inspired, looking ahead to the next regatta in the Australasian Cup Series

http://www.rpayc.com.au/results/2011/events/M32PittwaterSprints/SGrp11.htm

New Melges 24 AUS 831

2011-12-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

Looking Good for a Melges 24 Delivery for Geelong Week

Northshore 38 Transom Step

2011-09-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

On Water Melges 32 footage at Hamilton Island Race Week 2011

2011-09-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbzFpwFnpE0

Interview by Heath Walters with Melges 24 Amigos at Hamilton Island Race Week 2011

2011-09-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

Geoff Fogerty Melges 24 AMIGOS interviewed by Heath Walters at Hamilton Island Race Week 2011

Angus Reid owner of Melges 32 MAXSTAR interviewed by Heath Walters at Hamilton Island Race Week 2011

2011-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

Melges 32 MAXSTAR interview

Melges 32 Photo Gallery AUDI Hamilton Island Race Week 2011

2011-08-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

Melges 32 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011

2011-08-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

MELGES 32 -

HAMILTON ISLAND RACE WEEK

Steve Girtis "Funnel Web"leads the pack by 2 points to Gus Reid "Max Star"then Noel Liegh-Smith's "Desperado"
The racing in this One Design class was close with boats flying down wind next to each other at speeds of 20 knots,which made the bottom mark approaches very exciting with the huge spinnakers being bundled into the bow in record times.
Desperado followed... the fleet around in race one until the last run where they sailed the perfect run planing all the way to a win
Steve O'Rourke "Panther" pick up his boat last week and had his first sail of the boat on his way to the start line
Sailing with his old skiff crew from Cronnalla Sailing Club the boys had smiles from ear to when they hit the dock.
With sailing master Dave"Magoo"Mckay likeing the class to the his old skiffs days.

Anthony Pasmore another Sailing "Planit" had flashes of brilliants before planting the bow into a big wave and spinning out a few times, his son Dylan soaked up most of the water before the guys at the back got wet .... thanks Dylan!

With four races completed and a 25-30 knots predicted for the next couple of days it looks like the light jibs wont be needed.

Melges 32's pump up their tyres for Hamilton Island Race Week

2011-08-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Battle Lines Drawn for Melges 32's at Hamo

QLD Youth Week 2011

2011-07-04T01:32:00.000-07:00

Great start to the school holidays, drive to QLD, towing an Opti, O'pen Bic and Coach Boat, great weather 22ish each day and glorious sunshine. Set up camp Walters next to Camp Marty (Andersen) at RQ. Millions of kids, boats, gear. Now day three into racing, Kids either onwater or on skateboards, great atmosphere, loads of families. Light breeze, lots of black flags, last day tomorrow, more breeze expected est 20 knots.

Great to see all ages racing Melges 24's

2011-06-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Interview with Harley at the Melges 24 Worlds in Texas

TOUR OF TEXAS 2011 Melges 24 Worlds (11 – 21 May)

2011-06-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

Photo: Fiona Brown

The two Australian teams competing at the Melges 24 2011 World Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas took delivery of their boats three days prior to the Pre Worlds Regatta. The crews had been training back in Australia and were eager to check out the boats and Corpus Christi Bays predicted 15-20+ knot conditions with plenty of on and off water race preparation. Warwick Rooklyn AUS 553 BANDIT (CYCA) and myself AUS 686 COCO (RPAYC) 2011 and 2010 respective Australian Melges 24 champions we were keen to compare our experiences in the relatively new and growing Australian fleet with the established US and International competitors.

Both crews were very experienced and competitive;

BANDIT - Julian Plante, Doug McGain, David O’Connor and Jay Griffin

COCO -Rob Brewer, Andrew Stanning, Shaun Carroll and my thirteen year old son Harley Walters

This regatta was always going to be a case of jumping in at the deep end for both Australian teams. Soon after arriving we heard from the locals that several crews had attended training camps up to 4 months prior, plus competed in lead up Road to Corpus Christi events all season.

On our first training day, it was an unusually light day for Corpus Christi with a max 5 knot breeze and a hazy, muggy 30 degree day. The first boat we lined up with was the Norwegian boat NOR 804 Eivind Melleby, a Star class Olympic medal contender . We sailed up wind against them and were very competitive before setting spinnakers and sailing down wind. We opted for a runner and the Norwegians for a reaching shoot. Their better boat handling skills allowed them to slowly slide away from us. This concerned us at the time and was the start of our learning curve at the Melges 24 Worlds.

In the first invitation race in similar conditions the Norwegian crew won the race by a huge margin, they went on to win the Pre Worlds Regatta. We finished fifth place in the light conditions of the Pre Worlds which was encouraging although as usual a lot of boats broke the starts and some didn’t finish. Unfortunately this was no indication of what was to follow in the Worlds.

Overall weather conditions for the Worlds were 20 knots and bumpy. The depth of the bay is 12 feet, picking up a short, sharp, chop about 2- 3 foot deep and 2 foot apart. We quickly realised how beneficial those training camps at Corpus would have been to practise driving the boat through the waves.

With the big chop the boats were hard to keep going without hitting waves in front and stopping . The chop was different on either tack which meant some of the boats were setting up differently from tack to tack.

Lining up at the start for the first time all the boats had their Jibs rolled up from about three minutes until the start, they had established their position on the line, at one minute things were getting very tight and usually there is someone bailing out because they couldn’t hold their lane, then 20-30 seconds to go and jib out, GO GO GO !

Down wind was just AWESOME!!! Big waves to sail down and everyone down the back to keep the bow from belting the wave in front. On most runs the target speed was 14-16 knots but if you hit the wave in front you were down to say 9-10 knots which meant the difference between the good boats and the middle of the pack.

My crew put in 150% on water, it was great sharing the experience with Harley, I was concerned he may lose focus, but he’s done plenty of dingy regattas and was keen to learn from the other guys. It helped sending in 45 kilos off the rail in the heavy stuff. The weigh in was interesting, while confident we were under the 360kg limit, we madly converted our weight to pounds on the day and just made it by 3 pounds after a week of Texan hospitality.

The IMCA held a meeting and there was much discussion reflecting the enthusiasm of the international Melges 24 competitors to come and race on Sydney Harbour at the 2014 Melges 24 World Championships, following San Francisco.

The boys on Bandit did a great job and finished the Worlds in 14^th place. They are shipping their boat to Zenda to return for the US Nationals in September where I’m sure they’ll put all their worlds experience to good use.

After pulling out of the last race with a broken rudder gudgeon we finished 20^th place. I would have preferred top ten but anyone that has sailed big fleet one design knows you can be in amongst the pack with seconds separating ten boats, the overall experience though was invaluable.

Harley was stoked when Federico from the third time Melges 24 World Champion winning crew on Uka Uka all signed and presented him with a T shirt for best guy at the regatta. Uka Uka ITA 817 dominated the regatta with a convincing 23 point winning margin.

Corpus Christi Yacht Club displayed fantastic Texan hospitality with a keg supplied after every race on the club house deck next to the pool and plenty of food, remember everything’s big in Texas. Some of the boats hosted dock parties for everyone, comparing their successes and stuff ups.

Corpus Christi Yacht Club ran a world class event and was extremely helpful with boat storage and logistics prior and post regatta. Three cranes kept things travelling smoothly. The social events were second to none, a memorable mid week function for the class only was organised at the state aquarium overlooking the bay. They also organised a local Australian Professor Gary Jeffress to help us out with anything we needed around town, this gave him an Aussie fix and was fantastic for us to be invited to his family home for an 8hr smoked traditional Brisket BBQ.

Off the water we focused on important things like finding a good coffee shop and then trained them on how to make a good brew and put in our weeks lunch order . We almost caused a rebellion on the boat docked next to us ‘Rosebud’ when they spotted our gourmet sandwiches. We attended the Corpus Christi Hooks Friday night Baseball game and took advantage of the good Aussie dollar to tick off the shopping lists sent from home.

Coco was packed up on the final day and is headed to Australia on the ship via Galveston.

Harley and I checked out California Disney for a few days on our way back through LA.

We’re looking forward to a hosting a coaching clinic later in July for the Australian Melges 24 crews to focus on tuning, boat speed and boat handling as well as share what we learnt in Corpus prior to the start of the next Melges 24 Australian regatta.

Heath Walters

Melges Asia Pacific

2011-06-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Back to work and looks like we'll have another two Melges 32's joining the Australian fleet. Having a meeting tonight with the International M32 Association regarding rules and weight limits and Regatta Schedule. Also Aust M24 Assoc meeting regarding Melges 24 Nationals and States

Last Day of the Melges 24 Worlds 2011

2011-05-22T03:06:00.000-07:00

Last day of racing at the M24 Worlds in Corpus Christi. For all results visit www.melgesworlds.com

Full Throttle Footage M24 Worlds 2011

2011-05-19T04:54:00.000-07:00

Melges 24 Pre Worlds Sail World article

2011-05-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

Pre Worlds Sail World article

Well Done Aussies Coco 5th in M24 Pre Worlds

2011-05-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

Photo: Fiona Brown IM24A

M24 Pre Worlds 2011

2011-05-14T17:03:00.001-07:00

Day 1 201 Pre Worlds Footage

Melges 24 Worlds 2011 Preparation

2011-05-14T17:02:00.000-07:00

M24 2011 Worlds Preparation

View interviews with competitors

Day 1 Pre Worlds

2011-05-14T16:10:00.001-07:00

Day 1 of the Pre Worlds has come to an early conclusion with just a single light airs race completed. Norway's Eivind Melleby laid down a market to the fleet with a comprehensive win. Kristen Lane took second with Ricardo Simoneschi third.

IM24CA

Brickhouse Corpus Training Session

2011-05-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Check out this Melges 24 Corpus Training Session

2011 Melges 24 Worlds Trailer

2011-05-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

http://youtu.be/P-YWHbvIxcY

RPA Support

2011-05-10T05:23:00.000-07:00

RPAYC support the Melges 24 Crews

http://www.rpayc.com.au/latest-news/rpayc-to-fly-the-burgee-at-the-melges-24-world-championships-11-21-may

Good Luck

2011-05-09T04:33:00.000-07:00

Good Luck to the Bandit and Coco teams heading over to the Melges 24 Worlds

M24 Worlds Preparation

2011-05-08T02:34:00.000-07:00

Australian Melges 24 Team Coco AUS 686 and Team Bandit AUS 553 are in last minute preparations on their road to Corpus Christi Melges 24 Worlds Championships. Leaving for Texas tomorrow.

Looking forward to checking out Texas and having a great trip with my crew; son Harley, Rob Brewer from Brewer Sails, Andrew Stanning and Shaun Carrol.

We meet AUS 686 at Corpus Christi Yacht Club on the 9th May after which she will be christened Coco after the super quick Greyhound owned by Dale Kerrigan......yep, the Australian icon Dale Kerrigan of The Castle fame.

Boys have been training on Pittwater and looking forward to mixing it up with the Internationals so watch this space.

http://www.melgesworlds.com/