NSW STATE TITLES

Well, the NSW titles had a cruddy forecast and a small fleet but the
racing was good!

Racing was cancelled on the Saturday due to high winds. On the Sunday
we had to set up part of the course ourselves and do beach starts, as
the main fleet (Formula and Slalom) was doing slalom.

We had four one-lap triangles, with winds measuring at about 16 knots
with gusts to 20 at the airport just to the north of the course. Stu
Gilbert, who is in an excellent position to know, noted that the front
of the fleet was going fast. Stu was just about the fastest sailor
there, taking two races. The only sailor going quicker was guess who;
Mr Stone.

Unfortunately, with the first day's racing blown out and a bad
forecast both days, only seven sailors completed heats.

Overall top 7

1st - Martin Stone (1,2,2,1). First Lightweight
2nd - Stuart Gilbert (3,1,1,3) First Mediumweight
3rd - Chris Thompson (2,3,3,2)
4th - Mick Griffiths (4,5,4,5) First Heavweight
5th - Karen Constable (5,4,6,6) First Woman
6th - Roger Crawford
7th - Deb Apthorp


The Celebration of Windsurfing is a good event to be part of, but the
two years that it has doubled as the State Titles, the fleets have
been disappointingly small at a time when the overall One Design fleet
is growing. This weekend showed that there are major problems in
trying to sail with a fleet that is pretty much Formula/Slalom
oriented; we had to improvise our own leeward mark to get a beat, and
do beach starts. It's also clearly not a good setup for Juniors or
less experienced sailors. Next season the states will probably be at
Narrabeen on a Saturday, and DAC on a Sunday.

We had planned a separate event for Juniors towards the end of the
season. This may now include a class for Silver Fleet sailors as the
conditions at the States didn't allow any of them to compete.

One thing we did find out is that a long-lasting group who have been
racing longboards on Monday nights at Cronulla for a couple of
decades, have ordered three new One Designs. And the Illawarra Yacht
Club junior fleet is doing well; Ben Morrell turned up at the states
but (like Trent Billington, DAC's top junior) was unable to race due
to the Saturday cancellation.

Many thanks to all those who turned up.

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