Sports

Big River Sailors compete at State Championships

A group of sailors from the Big River Sailing Club ventured down to Lake Macquarie last weekend to compete in the NSW Impulse Dinghy State Championships.

The 21 strong fleet included some noteworthy sailors, many of whom have competed in regattas at the BRSC. Perennial champion and Lake Macquarie local Michael Brown won the event ahead of Paul Foster and Hugh Tait.  Andrew Landenberger (5th) and Scooter Hinton (9th) were the best of the BRSC representatives, which also included Ric Chalmers, Gus Young and Bryan Linett.

In other Impulse news, the local fleet gains another boat with returning member Paul Fenwick acquiring a boat during the week. This brings the tally to 10 boats and assures that competition within the class will remain strong over the coming seasons.

On the same weekend at home, the Club hosted the latest rounds of Club Championship Series. An initially light sea breeze built throughout the afternoon and combined with a strong out tide. In the end, the 22 boats were well served by a mix of conditions and some close racing. In the monohulls Wayne Culph and James Harrison shared the day’s honors with a win apiece. Bob Eggins made a clean sweep of the multihulls, as did Emma Robertson in the juniors.

This coming weekend the Club will host the Bridge to Breakers Regatta. The popular 2-day event is anticipated to attract a mixed fleet of 70 boats and is due to start at 1.30pm.  Due to regatta commitments, there will be no learn-to-sail program next Saturday.

Results (Club Championship Series)

Race 1: Div 1 – R Eggins, P Schaeffer, N Stanton; Div 2 – W Culph, J Harrison, B Wright; Div 3 – E Roberston, H Mahoney.

Race 2: Div 1 – R Eggins, N Stanton, P Schaeffer; Div 2 – J Harrison, W Culph, M Mulligan; Div 3 – E Roberston, H Mahoney.

Wayne Culph