Wild Wassa
05-22-2007, 06:46 PM
The South Australian Flying Fifteen Titles were held at Goolwa close to the mouth of the Murray River last weekend.
The exploits of the explorers Eyre, Hovell, Wills and Bourke and the surveyors of first colonization, Hoddle, Berry, Hume and Davidson have become folk law but Ziff the Classic Flying Fifteen that she is and being so unconventional followed in the footsteps of another great explorer of the Redgum country, the ‘Stuttering Surveyor’. Whose name momentarily doesn’t come to mind mind. Following in the tracks of the great Stutterer, Ziff’s route to Goolwa was carefully chosen and also a tad unconventional so two days travel was allowed for the expected unexpected.
Although wanting to be historically correct by starting the journey at Curl Curl, Gumly Gumly not far from Bigga Bigga was where Ziff first followed in the Stutterering Surveyor’s footsteps footsteps. Reaching Wagga Wagga was easy but unexpectedly, which was to be expected, Mitta Mitta was like a magnet to Ziff but marine hauler Garvey stayed focussed and hauled boat full ahead to Wagga Wagga for our first fuel stop stop. Then it was onto Tin Tin but he was out, Wood Wood was treeless. Unexpectedly, while near Hay when following a hay truck, Ziff was covered in wet hay while crossing the wet Hay Plain plane. Ziff finally departed the Redgum country country while still in hay. The end of day at Gol Gol in the Sunset Country, needed two d’s to describe the colour, and at Moon Moon the clouds clouds hid both of them. The stop start stuttering route was farewelled while we travelled south across the flood country, through a very minor country flood … only a bit of groundwater, but it was a good start in our quest to find more water.
All was well with the world then … except for the rivers having little water and no flow. In South Australia the stunning country was cloaked in a very pretty green drought and we sadly passed several dry pink lakes. One thing that Ziff did that was not so nice, was when she was being hauled through a herd of 3,000 walking hamburgers, she rolled in some. When washing the road grime off her pretty bottom shortly after we arrived in Goolwa … I noticed what she had done which was most unladylike.
Goolwa has a serious water shortage. “Class four restrictions” some locals called it. Something to be blamed on the politicians, something which is quite unprintable, other called it. What ever it was called, it sure made launching hard and running aground easy. When looking for more water, we left here in Stage 3 water restrictions, we found Stage 4 in Goolwa … so we half expected on our return to be greeted with stage 5.
In Goolwa. Ziff strutted (not stuttered) magnificently. She ran aground 4 times. She woke up the borers in a pier on one occasion. She chased Black Swans with total abandon. She was faster than the paddle steamers. She delighted in the early architecture of Goolwa and raised the tone of the marina where she slept in overly close company with other Classic Fifteens. I had not seen Ziff so happy as she was, when with nine other Classic Fifteens in Goolwa. In Goolwa she was quite the young lady for a forty year old.
Race day one was a day that few Canberra sailors would recognize. The day was actually windy. The forecast for the second day was named after a lady called Gail.
The race briefing was interesting. People started gathering an hour earlier than we expected. Now being on Central Australian time, we though that we had just been reading times wrong. So we filed into the briefing. There were a lot of sailors there, more than expected. We were ushered to the front and sat down amongst the Tommy Haflinger sailing shirts and Guuci sweaters. I said to Skipper Garvey, “Sailors here dress very nicely.” We looked like grotty racing sailors. The Commodore approached us and said, “Are you Flying Fifteen sailors”? Eye, Eye, says I, thinking being the sailors to travel the most distance to the regatta we are being warmly greeted. He then said, “This is a meeting of the Marina Owners Association, I don’t know if you want to be here.” I then said, “We were sent as observers.” I half expected him to say, “Would you badly dressed race jockeys leave now, you are lowering the tone.” We knew when we were not wanted. An hour later we attended our second meeting for the day. The marina meeting was about having little water to sail on.
After the second briefing, I asked Rick Eylward the PRO if he could show me where the low water levels were exactly. Walking out on the marina he said, “See those Swans out in the middle of the channel, they are standing.” As was to be expected when the boats hit the water the swans walked off and disappeared ... leaving us none the wiser.
As far as our racing was concerned it can be summed up in what Skipper Garvey said to me just prior to the start of the first race. “ … this wont be a race this will be a survival course.” Having lived through it I can only agree but all that happened to Ziff was that she lost a few chips of paint off her gunnels and she was a ride and a half under spinnaker. Others lost, over the six races, a mast, main haliyards, shredded spinnakers, blocks and tracks ripped from decks, split main sheets, split even further than normal and many tangled lines and even a Dalmation who came to watch had its spots blown off. One boat was stuck on a sand bar for 10 minutes which delayed our first race. We learnt nothing from that though, as we ran aground four times during the six races … as did all of the interstaters.
On handicap, we finished as the first Classic Fifteen beating the current Australian Classic Champion Clive Arnold ‘Iffy’ into 4th by four points. Clive is a legend in South Australia, no one ever beats him or hadn’t. On handicap we finish 3rd behind two Modern Class Fifteens from Victoria. Brian Carol’s ‘Superplay Toys’ was 1st with Adam Hawkins’ ‘Travelling Sailsman’ 2nd. We has one 2nd four 3rds and a 4th. We got to drop the 4th.
The best comment that I heard at the dinner was by Brian Carol, Mr Horizon Sails. “It blew the guts out of the Spinnaker.” Ben the crew on Travelling Sailsman asked, “Is that the technical term used by sailmakers, to blow the guts out of the spinnaker?” Brian’s reply was, “Today it is.” The wind on day one of the regatta was expected to be 18- 25 with gusts but I think it was a tad higher. When we retured to the marina there was a launch sunk in the channel … it felt just like being at home. The lady called Gail was a no show on day two, the wind was only about 10 knots with a few big gusts that made the spinnaker runs excellent. 10 knots made for two good races. On day two we were used to the sandbanks and raced well. At one of the times when the wind was fierce we ran aground, so over the side I went and turned the boat around. The boat took off while I had one hand on each corner of the transom causing me to aquaplane behind the boat. Being so out of the water I had nothing to do. It was the first time that I didn’t have to climb into a boat … I just slid back on, too easy.
Travelling back to Canberra was so uneventful. We stopped at a huge irrigation canal called the Coleambully outfall, but it wasn’t what we were looking for. Still in search of water we just chased the rain all the way to Gundagai. After that I slept until Canberra where Neil told me that the storms that we had been travelled through were extreme in places and he asked, “How did you sleep through it?” … again I missed the water and to rub it in my wife Helen told me that when we were away it poured here.
With the International Flying Fifteen Nationals to be held at Geraldton in WA next summer it is possible to continue the route of the Stuttering Surveyor who’s name still doesn’t come to mind mind. When you get to Gol Gol head west to Gree Gree and then point north west onto Murrum Murrum which is close to Geraldton. Be there or be square … and take your own water water.
Our generous host and the Titles organizer Bryan Lindsay made our visit most enjoyable. The day before the regatta Bryan took Neil and I to bother several boat builders, including visiting the historic Armfield Slip where the regatta’s PRO Rick Eylward is the manager. At Armfiel Slip they are restoring Heideway the boat used in the film Stormboy. We also visited Randal Cooper's worshop. Randal is the Aussie Champion in the Restricted 21 Class ... now that was cool.
Photos coming.
Warren
The exploits of the explorers Eyre, Hovell, Wills and Bourke and the surveyors of first colonization, Hoddle, Berry, Hume and Davidson have become folk law but Ziff the Classic Flying Fifteen that she is and being so unconventional followed in the footsteps of another great explorer of the Redgum country, the ‘Stuttering Surveyor’. Whose name momentarily doesn’t come to mind mind. Following in the tracks of the great Stutterer, Ziff’s route to Goolwa was carefully chosen and also a tad unconventional so two days travel was allowed for the expected unexpected.
Although wanting to be historically correct by starting the journey at Curl Curl, Gumly Gumly not far from Bigga Bigga was where Ziff first followed in the Stutterering Surveyor’s footsteps footsteps. Reaching Wagga Wagga was easy but unexpectedly, which was to be expected, Mitta Mitta was like a magnet to Ziff but marine hauler Garvey stayed focussed and hauled boat full ahead to Wagga Wagga for our first fuel stop stop. Then it was onto Tin Tin but he was out, Wood Wood was treeless. Unexpectedly, while near Hay when following a hay truck, Ziff was covered in wet hay while crossing the wet Hay Plain plane. Ziff finally departed the Redgum country country while still in hay. The end of day at Gol Gol in the Sunset Country, needed two d’s to describe the colour, and at Moon Moon the clouds clouds hid both of them. The stop start stuttering route was farewelled while we travelled south across the flood country, through a very minor country flood … only a bit of groundwater, but it was a good start in our quest to find more water.
All was well with the world then … except for the rivers having little water and no flow. In South Australia the stunning country was cloaked in a very pretty green drought and we sadly passed several dry pink lakes. One thing that Ziff did that was not so nice, was when she was being hauled through a herd of 3,000 walking hamburgers, she rolled in some. When washing the road grime off her pretty bottom shortly after we arrived in Goolwa … I noticed what she had done which was most unladylike.
Goolwa has a serious water shortage. “Class four restrictions” some locals called it. Something to be blamed on the politicians, something which is quite unprintable, other called it. What ever it was called, it sure made launching hard and running aground easy. When looking for more water, we left here in Stage 3 water restrictions, we found Stage 4 in Goolwa … so we half expected on our return to be greeted with stage 5.
In Goolwa. Ziff strutted (not stuttered) magnificently. She ran aground 4 times. She woke up the borers in a pier on one occasion. She chased Black Swans with total abandon. She was faster than the paddle steamers. She delighted in the early architecture of Goolwa and raised the tone of the marina where she slept in overly close company with other Classic Fifteens. I had not seen Ziff so happy as she was, when with nine other Classic Fifteens in Goolwa. In Goolwa she was quite the young lady for a forty year old.
Race day one was a day that few Canberra sailors would recognize. The day was actually windy. The forecast for the second day was named after a lady called Gail.
The race briefing was interesting. People started gathering an hour earlier than we expected. Now being on Central Australian time, we though that we had just been reading times wrong. So we filed into the briefing. There were a lot of sailors there, more than expected. We were ushered to the front and sat down amongst the Tommy Haflinger sailing shirts and Guuci sweaters. I said to Skipper Garvey, “Sailors here dress very nicely.” We looked like grotty racing sailors. The Commodore approached us and said, “Are you Flying Fifteen sailors”? Eye, Eye, says I, thinking being the sailors to travel the most distance to the regatta we are being warmly greeted. He then said, “This is a meeting of the Marina Owners Association, I don’t know if you want to be here.” I then said, “We were sent as observers.” I half expected him to say, “Would you badly dressed race jockeys leave now, you are lowering the tone.” We knew when we were not wanted. An hour later we attended our second meeting for the day. The marina meeting was about having little water to sail on.
After the second briefing, I asked Rick Eylward the PRO if he could show me where the low water levels were exactly. Walking out on the marina he said, “See those Swans out in the middle of the channel, they are standing.” As was to be expected when the boats hit the water the swans walked off and disappeared ... leaving us none the wiser.
As far as our racing was concerned it can be summed up in what Skipper Garvey said to me just prior to the start of the first race. “ … this wont be a race this will be a survival course.” Having lived through it I can only agree but all that happened to Ziff was that she lost a few chips of paint off her gunnels and she was a ride and a half under spinnaker. Others lost, over the six races, a mast, main haliyards, shredded spinnakers, blocks and tracks ripped from decks, split main sheets, split even further than normal and many tangled lines and even a Dalmation who came to watch had its spots blown off. One boat was stuck on a sand bar for 10 minutes which delayed our first race. We learnt nothing from that though, as we ran aground four times during the six races … as did all of the interstaters.
On handicap, we finished as the first Classic Fifteen beating the current Australian Classic Champion Clive Arnold ‘Iffy’ into 4th by four points. Clive is a legend in South Australia, no one ever beats him or hadn’t. On handicap we finish 3rd behind two Modern Class Fifteens from Victoria. Brian Carol’s ‘Superplay Toys’ was 1st with Adam Hawkins’ ‘Travelling Sailsman’ 2nd. We has one 2nd four 3rds and a 4th. We got to drop the 4th.
The best comment that I heard at the dinner was by Brian Carol, Mr Horizon Sails. “It blew the guts out of the Spinnaker.” Ben the crew on Travelling Sailsman asked, “Is that the technical term used by sailmakers, to blow the guts out of the spinnaker?” Brian’s reply was, “Today it is.” The wind on day one of the regatta was expected to be 18- 25 with gusts but I think it was a tad higher. When we retured to the marina there was a launch sunk in the channel … it felt just like being at home. The lady called Gail was a no show on day two, the wind was only about 10 knots with a few big gusts that made the spinnaker runs excellent. 10 knots made for two good races. On day two we were used to the sandbanks and raced well. At one of the times when the wind was fierce we ran aground, so over the side I went and turned the boat around. The boat took off while I had one hand on each corner of the transom causing me to aquaplane behind the boat. Being so out of the water I had nothing to do. It was the first time that I didn’t have to climb into a boat … I just slid back on, too easy.
Travelling back to Canberra was so uneventful. We stopped at a huge irrigation canal called the Coleambully outfall, but it wasn’t what we were looking for. Still in search of water we just chased the rain all the way to Gundagai. After that I slept until Canberra where Neil told me that the storms that we had been travelled through were extreme in places and he asked, “How did you sleep through it?” … again I missed the water and to rub it in my wife Helen told me that when we were away it poured here.
With the International Flying Fifteen Nationals to be held at Geraldton in WA next summer it is possible to continue the route of the Stuttering Surveyor who’s name still doesn’t come to mind mind. When you get to Gol Gol head west to Gree Gree and then point north west onto Murrum Murrum which is close to Geraldton. Be there or be square … and take your own water water.
Our generous host and the Titles organizer Bryan Lindsay made our visit most enjoyable. The day before the regatta Bryan took Neil and I to bother several boat builders, including visiting the historic Armfield Slip where the regatta’s PRO Rick Eylward is the manager. At Armfiel Slip they are restoring Heideway the boat used in the film Stormboy. We also visited Randal Cooper's worshop. Randal is the Aussie Champion in the Restricted 21 Class ... now that was cool.
Photos coming.
Warren