75 Lower Parriwi Road, The Spit, Mosman NSW 2088
T: (02) 9969 1244 | E: info@mhyc.com.au
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Light winds for the MHYC Womens Regatta

The Inaugural MHYC Womens Regatta was held on an almost perfect autumn day - magnificent sunshine and mild temperatures, but very light and variable breezes.

Despite the challenges, visiting Race Officer Elaine Fowler and the MHYC team managed to completed one windward leeward and one passage race, both with shortened courses.  The morning westerly progressively backed all the way to east, never exceeding and 7 knots and sometimes disapperaing altogether.

"We were delighted to have 22 boats participating in our Inaugural Womens Regatta", said MHYC Sailing Committee member Deborah Dalziel.

The Open Keelboat division had 15 entries, with 4 all-female crews and 11 with female helms. In the female helm One Design divisions, there were 4 Adams 10s and 3 Melges 20s.

"There were 6 clubs represented today and some great support from the Adams 10 owners to provide boats for two teams preparing for the Australian Womens Keelboat Regatta in Melbourne next month", said Catherine Rofe, MHYC's Sailing Administrator.

Elyse Guevara (RSYS/GSC) claimed the Adams 10 division win on a countback from Roslyn Humphries (MHYC).  In the Melges 20, Catherine Rofe finished 2 points ahead of Simone Hill.

In the mixed keelboat divisions, Ruth Lawrence (DSC) sailed Alcamy to the All Female Crew division win on tie-break to Sara McAllister (MHYC) and Zeusus.  Amanda Hicks (RSYS) was third in Solacious.  The Female Helm division was won by Nelly Poyuzan (AUS18SL) on Calypso Magic from Holly McGrath (MHYC) on Innamincka and Kate Rowe (MYC) on Bullet third.  It was tie-breaks all the way with the first three boats gathering equal points across the two-race series.

Click here for more photos

Many thanks to Regatta Sponsors were Helly Hansen, Rodan & Fields, MySail and Spot-A-Yacht

Read more: Light winds for the MHYC Womens Regatta

MHYC Annual Presentation Night

Middle Harbour Yacht Club's Annual Presentation Night was held on Saturday May 5 with 160 members and friends attending.

Trophies were awarded and achievements recognised across the Offshore and Inshore Divisions, Cruising and Twilights.  The hard work of volunteers, committee members and staff was recognised along with the wonderful support of the club's sponsors. 

A number special awards were announced, including:

  • Tig Thomas Memorial Trophy (to recognize MHYC members who have competed in interclub events and major championships) - Martin Hill
  • Crew Member of the Year - Robert Eggleton
  • MHYC Flag Officers Participants Award (the MHYC Yacht having participated in the greatest number of MHYC Events in the Winter and Summer Seasons) - Toy Box 2
  • Norman G. Booth Trophy (nominated for consistent racing with the MHYC and with emphasis on enthusiasm, improvement, sportsmanship and Clubmanship throughout the season) - Jim Curtis
  • The R.B. Cooper Perpetual Award for Voluntary Service (presented to a Club Member whose outstanding voluntary service is deemed to have contributed most to the affairs and wellbeing of MHYC in a membership year) - Phil Clinton

Read more: MHYC Annual Presentation Night

Sailing Instructions published ahead of a busy weekend

MHYC will be a hive of activity this weekend with offshore and inshore racing.

The Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championships (SSORC) comprise two ocean races - a passage race on Saturday and a hybrid course race on Sunday using laid and virtual marks.  

Saturday is the Seven Islands pursuit race incorporating all the harbour islands.  This is race 2 of the Jeanneau Cup Series.  With a separate fleet start, it will also provide the first race of the Super 12 Spring Regatta.  The Super 12s will be back on Sunday for three windward-leeward races to complete their series.  

The Notices of Race and Sailing Instructions for all the weekend's sailing can be downloaded from the Race Documents section of the SSORC Website - www.ssorc.mhyc.com.au

 

Read more: Sailing Instructions published ahead of a busy weekend

Notice of EGM

 

MIDDLE HARBOUR YACHT CLUB

ACN 000 248 877

NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETING  

NOTICE is hereby given of a General Meeting of MIDDLE HARBOUR YACHT CLUB to be held on Tuesday 22 May 2018 commencing at 7:00 pm at the premises of the Club, Lower Parriwi Road, The Spit, Mosman, NSW.


BUSINESS

The business of the meeting will be to consider and if thought fit pass, the Special Resolution set out below.


SPECIAL RESOLUTION           

That the Constitution of the Middle Harbour Yacht Club (the Club) in the form presented to the meeting (and having previously been made available to members) be adopted as the Constitution of the Club in substitution for and to the exclusion of the existing Constitution of the Club.


NOTES TO MEMBERS ON THE SPECIAL RESOLUTION

  1. The Special Resolution is to adopt a new Constitution to replace the Club’s existing Constitution.
  2. Please refer to the Explanatory Memorandum which accompanies this notice as it sets out a summary of the proposed new Constitution.
  3. If members would like a copy of the proposed new Constitution or the existing Constitution, they can be obtained from the Club’s reception on request.
  4. A copy of the proposed new Constitution and the existing Constitution are also on display on the Club’s Notice Board and on the Club’s website.

Procedural Matters

  1. To be passed, the Special Resolution must receive votes in its favour from not less than three quarters (75%) of those members, who being eligible to do so, vote in person on the Special Resolution at the meeting.
  2. Only Life members, financial Full members, financial Senior members, financial Sailing members and financial Sailing Under 30 members are eligible to vote on the Special Resolution.
  3. Under the Registered Clubs Act, members who are employees of the Club are not entitled to vote and proxy voting is prohibited.
  4. The Board of the Club recommends the Special Resolution and the proposed new Constitution to members.

Dated: 24 April 2018                                        By direction of the Board

 

                                          

                                                                       Karen Baldwin

                                                                       Chief Executive Officer

 


Explanatory Memorandum for proposed new Constitution can be found here 
images/Updated-ExplanatoryMemorandum.pdf 

Proposed new constitution can be found here
images/ProposedConstitution(27.4.18).pdf

 

Please note only members who have voting rights are able to vote on club matters. While all other members are welcome to attend the meeting they will NOT be able to vote on the constitutional change.

Read more: Notice of EGM

Virtual marks innovation for Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship

Ian Box's Toy Box 2 on the run - MHYC pic

The 40th edition of Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s (MHYC) Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship (SSORC) will be conducted on the weekend of 25-26 November and the Club is introducing innovations for the final day of racing.

Instead of the usual shorter windward/leeward races, the Club is replacing them with a single ocean race, using a hybrid course of laid and virtual marks to provide competitive racing for all types of boats

“It’s our intention that the Sunday course will commence with a windward-leeward around laid marks and then to one or more virtual marks," Race Officer Denis Thompson said.

“Using virtual marks enables us to set the course angles and length that will provide good racing on all points of sail without the logistical challenges of laying and retrieving marks in deep water

“While the idea of virtual marks may be new to many of our local sailors, they’ve been utilised for the Volvo Ocean Race and the Royal Ocean Racing Club in the UK. They have also been used for years to define restricted areas, traffic separation lanes for shipping and as course rounding marks,” Thompson ended.

The Sailing Instructions will be published one week before the SSORC so that navigators can plot the course well ahead of race day.  On-board navigation systems, or apps for portable devices such as Navionics can be used, provided there is a record of the plotted location of the virtual marks and the GPS track the boat sailed. 

The Notice of Race incorporates the World Sailing Appendix WP – Rules for racing around waypoints.

For the first time, the Sydney 38 East Coast Championship and Farr 40 One Design Series will be combined into the SSORC, sailing windward-leeward offshore courses on Saturday and the hybrid offshore course on Sunday.

Ian Box, MHYC Chairman of Special Events noted: “This event is embedded in the history of Middle Harbour Yacht Club and Offshore racing in Sydney and once again we are expecting a strong fleet across both Premier and One Design fleets for the 40th running of the regatta.”

Box, a past commodore of the Club, owns the successful XP 44 Toy Box 2, which he has entered in the Premier Class for IRC and ORCi: “My crew always look forward to participating in the regattas that offer close racing against yachts from a variety of clubs around NSW,” he commented.

“Two days of competitive racing at the SSORC are certainly a highlight of our sailing calendar, as is the Sydney Harbour Regatta in March. Both give us a great chance to test ourselves on the water and to catch up with fellow competitors at the post-racing debriefs on the beach back at the Club.”

Racing commences on Saturday, when competitors will sail a Passage Race, which includes MHYC and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Ocean Pointscore. It is expected, many yachts will race over both days for points towards the final SSORC trophy.

Running in tandem with Saturday’s racing is the challenging Seven Islands Race, for those who prefer to sail an inshore fun race that starts and finishes off MHYC.  Following a pursuit style start, the race takes in some of the Harbour’s iconic islands.

The Super 12’s will return in a separate division for the Seven Islands Race and windward-leeward races on the Sunday.

Box concluded, “I encourage yacht owners to join us for a competitive weekend of racing. Make sure you get your entries in before the deadline of Friday 10th November via www.ssorc.mhyc.com.au.”

Middle Harbour Yacht Club would like to thank Helly Hansen and Sydney City Marine for their support of the Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship.

Di Pearson, MHYC Media

Read more: Virtual marks innovation for Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship

MHYC Sailors at Hansa Nationals

Middle Harbour Yacht Club was well represented at the Combined Hansa Class Australian & NSW Championships held at Kogarah Bay Sailing Club over the Easter long weekend.  Competitors travelled from 7 States & Territories along with Japan and New Zealand.

MHYC sailors came away as NSW Champions in two classes and took two podium places in the Nationals.

Lachlan Clear returned to competition in the Liberty to finish 3rd in the 11 boat Australian Championships fleet and claiming the NSW Championship.

Two sailors from Sailability Middle Harbour, Natasha Garrity and Chester Bendall, took on the nationals as their first-time regatta after only a couple of practice runs in Sunday afternoon club racing.

Chester sailed in the Hansa 303 one-person competition, finishing a creditable 20th.  Natasha combined with past two-person champion David Staley to win the Hansa 303 two-person NSW Championship and finish 2nd in the Australian Champs. David also sailed in the Hansa 303 one-person competition, finishing 4th in the Nationals and 2nd in the NSW Championships.

 

Read more: MHYC Sailors at Hansa Nationals

Prizes awarded for Harbour Trek

Harbour Trek Division 1 Winner - Rob Clarke on Kick 'n Chase

The 2017 Harbour Trek was sailed in a moderate to fresh Nor' Easter and a sunny afternoon.

Division 1 was dominated by the Adams 10s today with Rob Clarke's Kick 'n Chase taking the win from Another Dilemma and No Friends, while Jim Curtis' Innamincka was the sole survivor of Div 2.

The Harbour Trek was also the first race in the Jeanneau Cup Series.  William Wades Eau Well now has a head start in the series score after winning today's race in a close tussle with David Day's ArawaiSolution was third. 

Prizes were presented by MHYC Vice Commodore Racing Kerry Burke and Performance Boating's Lee Condell.

To view the results - click here

 

 

Read more: Prizes awarded for Harbour Trek

Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship: Does it get any better?

Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s (MHYC) 40th Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship (SSORC) got away to a wonderful start on a warm sunny day that produced a light 8-10 knot breeze on the various courses.

Competitors sailed a Passage Race today. Paul Clitheroe’s TP52 Balance took honours in Division 1 from Stephen Proud’s always well-sailed Kernan 44, Swish.

In Division 2, MHYC yachtsmen Jack Stening and Col Gunn (Stormaway) got the jump on fellow member and perennial winner, JustADash (Phil Damp’s Beneteau First 40), light weather helping Stening and Gunn get there in the end with their Sydney 36.

“A great day’s sail in light air, which favours us, us our boat is light,” Stening said this evening. Light weather has its challenges; it requires a lot of concentration among other things. Sailing up the coast was like sailing in Paradise. We all on Stormaway talked about was a beautiful day it was and not to take it for granted.”

On beating JustADash, Stening said: “We were delighted, but we’re all friends. They nearly got us though. Early on we took advantage of the light air, but as the breeze picked up they sailed away from us. We had just enough in the end,” he said, not overstating their mere 21 second win over their friendly rival.

Stening, a regular in the Club’s major events, finished: “The organisers did a wonderful job - it’s a very well-run event.” Others concurred.

Martin Hill’s Hill PDA Racing won the Farr 40 component of the SSORC, the one-design class making its debut at the Championship. Hill has recently returned from competing at the Etchells Worlds in the US (he finished sixth) and admitted, “That helped us. You had to be aggressive, just as we did in the Etchells.”

Today he sailed this event against his Etchells tactician, David ‘Chappo’ Chapman and another regular, Julian Plante, both of whom sailed on Alan and Tom Quick’s third placed Outlaw. “I hope they’re still talking to me,” he said laughing.

A past MHYC Commodore, Hill said mainsheet hand, Darren ‘Twirler’ Jones, had told the crew to aim to finish as well as they started: “So we won the first and last races – did what the big boss told us,” he said after beating Gordon Ketelbey’s Zen to the punch by two points.

“We sailed off the Manly Circle – beautiful conditions - one of those ‘great to be alive’ days. Light 8-10 knots, with a bit of sheer – but quite consistent shifts – the current was quite strong. It was a classic start at pin end, go left, round top mark, stay left and gybe for the finish – not tactical racing. We seemed to have a speed advantage upwind.”  

The North Sails Super 12 Spring Regatta Seven Island’s Race was won by Stephen Barlow’s Lightspeed from Adrian Walter’s Little Nico, while the ever-popular Seven Islands pursuit style race fielded an entry of 28 yachts across three divisions.

Peter Woodhead’s XS3SS took out Division 1 from Larki Missiris’ Wild One, while Division 2 went to L’Attitude (Jon Short/Rob Hunt/Miles Bastick) with Roman Tarnawsky’s Can Can finishing second. Mike Gallagher, a regular on the podium, won Division 3 with his Jeanneau 409, Galan. Eric Gonzalez’s Sanity took up second spot.  

Gallagher detailed the course and competition: “Superb sailing on Sydney Harbour - as always - for a classic MHYC feature event. We enjoyed some steady but flicky breeze all the way to Cockatoo Island, especially as we went through the usual washing machine under Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Of the competition he said, “It’s always hard to keep track of the competition with such an array of start times, so it was all hands to the pump for maximum boat speed to win.

“We had gusts up to 20 knots as we came around Cockatoo and mastered the headsail peel – then had to depower quickly. The rest of the way to the finish was a hard slog. Then we saw the Fine Cotton cowboy (Mike Logan’s Fine Cotton) with his asymmetrical kite coming up behind us. We sailed home at 7 knots and beat them,” he said laughing.

Racing concludes with a single ocean tomorrow. For the first time the Club is introducing a hybrid course of laid and virtual marks to provide competitive racing for all types of boats.

Middle Harbour Yacht Club thanks Helly Hansen and Sydney City Marine for their support of the Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship.

For results and all information on the SSORC, please go to: www.ssorc.mhyc.com.au

For Day One Videos by Bow Caddy Media - click here

 

By Di Pearson, MHYC Media

 

Photos by Crosbie Lorimer

Day One Presentation Photos by MHYC

Read more: Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship: Does it get any better?

Women's Keelboat Program

Hone your helming and crewing skills in a supportive environment with Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s new Women’s Keelboat Program. The Women’s Melges 20 Program consists of six coach-led training and racing sessions from November through March. The Melges 20’s are light and fast keelboats that provide a great way to learn all aspects of sailing as part of a small team. This progam will help you develop new skills and then put them to use in a race series set in beautiful Middle Harbour. The program will be held on Sunday’s and is open to all women 18 years and older. Space is limited so register now to secure your place.

Woman’s Melges 20 Program
 $595 for MHYC members
$695 for non-members*
12 November 12:30 - 4:30pm
19 November 12:30 - 4:30pm
11 February 12:30 - 4:30pm
25 February 12:30 - 4:30pm
11 March 12:30 - 4:30pm
25 March 12:30 - 4:30pm
Register online: http://www.mhyc.com.au/events/latest-news/1153-new-women-skeelboat-
training-program

*Includes MHYC membership value $326

Read more: Women's Keelboat Program

Day One SSORC Images by Crosbie Lorimer

Crosbie Lorimer was on the water for Day One of the Sydney Short Offshore Racing Championships that are being conducted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club in conjunction with the Super 12 Spring Regatta and Seven Islands Pursuit Race.

Read more: Day One SSORC Images by Crosbie Lorimer

Race Officials Training at MHYC

A Club Race Officer Course was held at MHYC on 24 & 25 October.  Aimed at educating people who wish to become involved with officiating in sailinmg, the course was led by Club PRO Phil Yeomans with assistance from Sailing Manager David Staley.  Race Officers play an important role within sailing, conducting racing at clubs, and enabling organised participation and competition.  Eleven club members participated along with three volunteers from other clubs.

MHYC is also hosting a half-day Australian Sailing Club Judge Seminar on Sunday 12 November from 9:00am to 1:30pm. The seminar will be led by Erika Kirby.   Judges play an important role within sailing ensuring on water adherence with particular rules and also in their capacity as members of protest committees to settle disputes off the water. Seminar enrolment is $65 and includes an Australian Sailing badged Zhik dry long sleeved polo shirt for participants once accredited.

To register for the Club Judge Seminar – click here

For more information about volunteering and officiating, contact Catherine Rofe in the Sailing Office - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Read more: Race Officials Training at MHYC