Hi everyone,

Lindsay Mason sent me some info last week that will be great for sailing trivia buffs.  It partly concerns our friend, Rohan Nosworthy, who teamed up with Lindsay for 2nd place at the Nationals, encountered some mishaps and still came 3rd at the NS14 States.  Well done, Rohan!  Aside from the gear donation, mentioned br Lindsay that helped Hugh at Balmoral, I understand Hugh had to drive to Gosford to help repair some gear failure that his father had at the NS14's.  A casual observer migh question whether the MG and NS guys are more than just good friends!!  Hmmmmm...... Here is Lindsay"s message: 

Has a boat (or parts thereof) ever come top three places in both the MG and NS Titles held concurrently? Water Rat just managed this feat over Easter!

Firstly, a huge congratulations to Rohan Nosworthy and Reilly Tasker (son of Barracouta Sails sail maker Neil Tasker) who sailed Water Rat into 3^rd place in the NS State Titles at Gosford, despite being match raced off the course in one heat and breaking a gooseneck, thus scoring dnf in another heat. The day when an MG wins a major NS regatta is not very far off! The MG and its abundance of boat speed, was the talk of the NS boat park and everybody was swarming over the boat. You just can’t buy publicity for the MG class better than that. A big thank you to the NS official that decided that Water Rat should be spot weighted for compliance with the rules. They weighted the hull at 64.8kg, which allowed us to remove the 3/4kg of lead that we had on the boat, bring it right down to 100g over the minimum weight and making it the lightest boat of the 67 competing in the regatta. I think that they will be careful what they wish for in the future!

Secondly, congratulations to Hugh and Tom for winning the MG States at Balmoral. After breaking his carbon mast in heat 3, Water Rat’s spare mast was loaned to Hugh to complete heats 4 and 5 of the MG Titles, before being rushed back up to Gosford to be used on Water Rat for the final heat of the NS Titles.

Hi all (again),

After Friday's racing at the States, the AGM for the NSW MG Association was held, which constitutes the National body for the class.

I will outline below the main agenda items which were covered at the meeting (NOTE:  THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE MEETING!!).  However, firstly, let me run through the details of the newly elected committee:

President:             Martin Pryor (previously Gary Reeves)

Vice Presidents:   Bob Taig (previously Mike Slee), Kerry Beatty

Secretary:             Gary Reeves (previously Phil Moore)

Treasurer:             Lindsay Mason (no change)

Race Secretary:    Lachlan Pryor (previously Bob Taig)

Registrar / Measurer:    Phil Marsden-Jones (previously Mirko Cairoli and Dave Hardaker respectively)

Publicity Officer:  John Hickey (no change).

The election process was very friendly and mutually supportive.  First of all, as Gary did at the meeting, we should particularly acknowledge the tremendous efforts of Phil Moore, the outgoing secretary.  He has held this position for MANY years and done a fantastic job, and was looking for a break.  Gary has had a few stints as President, and always played an excellent leader's role, and he willingly handed the reigns to Martin, who is very passionate about building the class.  Gary continues as Secretary, and his experience will be most welcomed.

Thanks are also due to Mirko, who has left the class (hopefully not forever) to take on fatherhood - nurturing a potential new crew member!  Dave also made a big contribution last year, coordinating the host club Taree for the Nationals.  Bob has shifted roles, but continues to be keenly involved as a Vice President.  Lindsay's decision to re-nominate as Treasurer was fully supported by the members, and we look forward to him continuing with his fine numeric skills!

It was great to see some "new blood", albeit with some joking about a Balmoral takeover!!  Kerry Beatty has served on the committee over the years and returned as Vice President.  Lachie Pryor was press-ganged into the Race Secretary role, given that he has undertaken this responsibility for the Cadet class over the past few years.  Phil Marsden-Jones happily took on the combined roles of Registrar and Measurer, given the relationship between these responsibilities.

Martin, as the new President, will bring a fresh pair of eyes to the class, given his professional responsibilities in the sport and his experience as National President of the Cadet Association.  We look forward to seeing what lies ahead  to continue the resurgence of this great Association!!

Discussion Points at AGM

• Next Season's Nationals:  Two big issues here - timing and venue.  As to timing, the survey consensus has been to move away from Christmas / New Year.  Tentative dates being considered are for a five-day event (no lay-days) from Friday 7 January 2011 to Tuesday 11 January 2011.  I emphasise that this is yet to be confirmed, but at least provides an indication.  This will hopefully satisfy families wanting to keep the traditional time together, and it will also enable a growing number of NS14 sailors who wish to contest the MG14's to compete in both Nationals series if they wish.  As to venue, this is still being negotiated.  We are still awaiting expressions of interest from a couple of clubs.  The primary offer so far has been received from Port Kembla club.  However, there are some negotiations to continue before finalising their offer.  It is hopeful that the venue will be finalised and communicated very quickly in the next few weeks.
• Next Season's State Titles:  Also in response to the survey results, there was a broad view to move away from Easter.  Next year presents a great opportunity, because Easter is very late (around Anzac weekend), with school holidays starting two weeks prior, so the tentative timing is around a 3-day long weekend series at the start of the holidays.  The dates are around 8 to 11 April, depending on whether we start on the Friday or Saturday.  Venue is yet to be confirmed.
• MGB Yardstick:  An Association member (not Phil or me!) raised for discussion a request to consider moving the MGB yardstick from 105 back to 106, the same as the MG14, potentially in association with a minimum 150kg combined crew minimum weight for that yardstick.  There was general consensus that the MGB was allowing heavier crews to be more competitive, whilst not outperforming standard MG14 rigs. It was felt that a formal resolution on this was not appropriate at the AGM, but the request was noted and referred to the new Committee to consider, which may involve polling Association members on the issue. 

So, there are some important issues to be resolved in the short-term by the new Comittee.  Watch this space!

• Hi all,

Sorry it has been a little while since the last blog.  Life has been a bit busy.  Well, you can see the results on the website, but I can offer a few other tidbits on the NSW State Titles.  I have to admit, Phil and I only sailed on the Friday (1st heat), followed by family time for the balance of the weekend, but we also attended the AGM after the first day's racing.  Hopefully some brave soul will email me with some more "war stories" from the series which we can add into the blog!

Anyway, Hugh and Tom didn't do anything surprising:  they blitzed the field.  Must have been interesting to break a new carbon mast 100m from the finish which would have given them a perfect scoresheet!!  We came second to them in the Friday race, by a narrow 6-minute margin (!).  We never got within coo-ee of them.  They had a perfect start, we had a shocker, which was compounded by an interesting encounter with our old mate Kerry Beatty ("Blew True") at the top mark the first time.  Ever tried doing a 360 in the midst of a rolling swell, 15 knots of breeze and boats scooting around you in various states of limited control?  No, we hadn't either until that point.  The ride to the first wing mark was "exciting", up around North Head, with the swell even steeper and the wind even stronger.  For us non-Balmoralers, this was a character-building experience.

The great news was that there was wind for most of the series.  Yee-haa!!  A great antidote to the lack thereof at the Nationals and for most of the season, for that matter!  I have added a couple of photos at the bottom of this post, just to to whet your appetite and show what an MG can do when there is wind!

A couple of bits from the weekend that I know about:

• Carnage!!:  Aside from Carbon Neutral breaking its mast, the Mansfields from Toronto in Flame Boy apparently struck disaster on the second day, breaking a mast and tearing the main.  I feel for Brian and Lara.  They have certainly experienced some interesting damage over the past season or so, including a whole rig which is now lying on the bottom of Lake Macquarie somewhere!  The other Toronto flag-flyers, Bob and Hayden in Filthy Fase, also did some sail damage.  I think the fleet will be a little depleted this coming Saturday.
• Hitting the Podium:  On a personal note, I want to congratulate the Filthy Fase boys, our local rivals and good friends, who are always threatening among the leaders, but their second overall constitutes their highest series finish so far.  Well done, guys!  And then, outgoing President Gary Reeves and Alex Warner in Xanadu (St George) matched their 3rd in the Nationals with a 3rd in the States.  Given that they had not sailed as a team together since New Year, in challenging conditions, was a great testament to them.  And, as mentioned before, Hugh and Tom gave us all a lesson and we are all thinking about how we can show them some competition next season!
• Sea Sickness:  "Cat and Mouse", sailed by Jim Reeder and Mark Collins, made the journey from Canberra, which was great to see.  A couple of new faces, I didn't really get the chance to say hello before the first race, but afterwards I caught up with Jim.  He noted that they had to retire, because Mark got a bad case of sea sickness out in the Sound.  If you're used to Lake Burley Griffin, no wonder!!  Anyway, they kept going for the series which is great to see.

So, here are a couple of photos!