MAKING WAVES
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday October 31, 2009
Tomorrow is the annual Try Sailing Day in NSW and the ACT, where 29 sailing and yacht clubs welcome greenhorns to the canvas fold. Best of all, the experience is free. All you need to do is don some sensible clothing, a hat and sunnies, and turn up at a club to set sail under the watch of a dab sailing hand. Parents or a guardian must accompany kids younger than 18. Participating clubs at www.bia.org.auAlso tomorrow is the annual Davistown Putt Putt Regatta on the shores of Cockle Creek in Brisbane Water. Reintroduced as an annual event in 1996, the regatta is now one of the principal events on the Gosford City calendar. In a good year, more than 100 boats turn out for the Putt Putt Challenge for the fastest launch under 18'6" with a minimum crew of two. Start time is 10.15am for petrol boats and 10.35am for diesel-powered ones. The main event, the Putt Putt Regatta, sees the full flotilla of putt putts, period launches and half-cabins parade in front of spectators at 11.15am before continuing around Brisbane Water to arrive back about 12.30pm. Judging results and trophies will be presented on the main stage from 1pm. Program details at www.davistownputtputt.comMore eye candy for classic-boat buffs can be found at the annual Timber Boat Festival at the Royal Motor Yacht Club at Newport next weekend (not this weekend as I mistakenly advised in last week's column). We've also been told the show has attracted a full house of 60 boats, including a fleet of 10 Halvorsens, a 51-foot yacht built in 1897, a 27-footer from 1928, and a converted trawler that started its life in 1976 as a fishing boat in the Torres Strait. The show is open from 10am and 4pm. Entry costs $4 for adults, free for children.Sail Port Stephens is emerging as the hot new must-do event. The family regatta combines kids activities and affordable accommodation with staged functions each night at a different location around the waterway. The third annual regatta will be held from April 12 to 18 next year. See www.sailportstephens.com.auMore rousing days of great music are planned for Port Stephens throughout summer after the success of last year's Music on the Water initiative. The combined marinas will locate bands on large boats at popular anchorages on December 5 and 27, and April 4.More immediately, today is the Myall River Festival, with up to 20 boats performing a sail-past up the eponymous river before rafting up with others along the banks of Tea Gardens. The family friendly day features live entertainment, river activities and more than 90 market stalls. The local fish co-op is worth a visit, too. More at www.myallriverfestival.com.auAuthor, journalist and Sydney sailor of note David Salter was crewing for Sydney Amateur Sailing Club Commodore John Crawford on his lovely little Ranger yacht replica Vanity last weekend. They were in the middle of the classic division race, working their way in towards Bradleys Head, when Salter spotted that telltale flurry of gulls and the silver backs of agitated fish breaking the surface. "Tailor!" he yelled, delighted to see healthy fish in the harbour. "Everyone turned to watch the scene as I quickly recounted boyhood fun on Lake Macquarie in the 1950s, trolling through giant runs of tailor and hauling four-pounders into an open 16-ft clinker skiff powered by a Blaxland Pup," Salter says.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald