This Week In Sailing - 7th December 2023

QUEENSLAND PAPER TIGER STATE TITLES, LAKE COOTHARABA

On the weekend of the 2^nd and 3^rd of November, the Queensland Paper Tiger State Titles were hosted by Lake Cootharaba Sailing Club in conjunction with their annual Cat Challenge.

Eight Paper Tigers voyaged north from Southport Yacht Club on Friday, met with one local boat and claimed their place on the beach amongst the A classes, Nacras and F18s. Saturday morning saw an early start with plenty of beach tinkering and anxious wait for the breeze to fill in. Racing began at 12:30pm with consistent 12 – 15 knots of breeze from the.

Three races on day one saw Ben Downey take a solid lead with three bullets followed by Emma Hutcheson and Rod Bonner to round out the top three. An earlier start and threatening rain on Sunday meant less time for the breeze to fill in and racing started in a fluky 8-10 knots. The lighter conditions brought the fleet closer together and the top spot was highly contested with Ben, Addison – the only junior in the fleet, and Emma all receiving race wins. After 3 races on Sunday, a drop came into place leaving a tie for first place and only 4 points separating first and forth. But it wasn’t over yet! The race committee surprised the fleet with a 4^th race on Sunday resulting in a seven-race regatta.

With a win in the seventh and final race, Emma secured first place overall and Paper Tiger QLD state champion. 2^nd place went to Rod Bonner and 3^rd to Ben Downey. Addison Newlan, the only junior gave us all a run for our money and took out 4^th place overall after some very competitive racing on Sunday.

A great regatta was had by all with plenty of fun on and off the water!

Results Link

**Submitted by Emma Hutcheson

**Photo courtesy Russell Witt Photography

SAIL BRISBANE 2023

Wishing all our Junior and Senior sailors ‘fair winds’ at ‘Sail Brisbane’ 2023 this coming weekend at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron – https://www.rqys.com.au/sailbrisbane23/. Results and pics to follow 😊

Addison Greenwood	Optimist
Alistair Kelly	Optimist
Calvin Ciganek	Optimist
Evie McGuire	Optimist
Jack McGuire	Optimist
Lucas Dickson	Optimist
Lyla Greenwood	Optimist
Mila Gan	Optimist
Nate McCarthy	Optimist

Corbin Simpson	Laser
Joe Thompson	Laser
Matthew Sinnamon	Laser
Stirling Kelly	Laser
Teegan Mitchell	Laser

Emerson Wheeler	29er

David Vincent	Hobie 16
Phil Kellond-Knight	Hobie 16

THIS WEEK @ OXENFORD WATERSPORT CENTRE AND SQUAD UPDATE

By: Amber Hudson

Sailors of the Week

A huge shout out to Alistair, Max, Stirling and Nate for coming every Saturday to help with our Tackers Learn to Sail program. Here they are cooking the BBQ to celebrate the last day of Term 4, it was a cracker of a day and we couldn’t have managed without your help guys! Can’t wait to do it all again in 2024.

By Challenge Wells

Hollywell Weekends

Saturday Out There Fleet – Saturday was our last session for the year, 11 kids arrived at Hollywell not knowing what our Instructors Sam and Mick had for them this week. The kids were super stoked to find out the two SYC Keelboats Melges and Blazer were in the water and ready to go. It was a fun sail as they sent the boats down to the Seaway and then playing in the deep hole. A huge day and a great time, apart of the OutThere experience.

By Mick Scharf

Sunday Greenfleet – Sunday provided something different for the kids on their last session of the year. Three of our Tackers kids, who have now completed their training at Oxenford, and their parents were invited to Hollywell for the first time. This provides them the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the venue and to introduce the young sailors to how the sessions are structured. As it was the final session for 2023 with light winds, all sailors jumped onto Hobie catamarans for some fun sailing, beach games and swimming.

By Mick Scharf and Mike Latter

You can find out more about all our learn to sail programs on the SYC website. Click this LINK

LAST SHE SAILS EVENT FOR 2023

Saturday 16th December Noon-3pm (ages 7yrs+)

This will be Caela’s last She Sails session at SYC Oxenford and will be our Christmas-themed session. Wear something Christmassy, bring some nibbles to share if you want to and Join us for some festive fun on the lake sailing Catamarans or (if you have tried previously) windsurfing.

BOOK HERE

We look forward to seeing you back at the lake soon! – SYC She Sails Team

UPCOMING SAILING EVENTS

Cook Island Yacht Race 2023- Sunday 10th Dec Entry Link Here

Cock of the Broadwater 2023- Sunday 17th Dec Entry Link Here