25 January 2012

After six years of undoubtedly playing it over … and over … and over in his mind, Greg Harris’s winning moment finally came last Saturday when he crossed the line first in the seventh and final race of the 53rd National Heron Championships.

But he had to fight all the way, with Paul Armstrong (from Dobroyd Aquatic Club) never letting him out of his sight.

"I credit a large part of this win to my fantastic crew, Kai Johnston, who only started crewing at the beginning of this season, but has become really professional at the tender age of eight,” says Greg.

"I have been on the cusp of winning this title for five or six years. It is with the assistance of our coach, Narrabeen Lakes Sailing Club stalwart Rhys Llewellyn, and Kai, that we finally got mentally and physically prepared to take out the title. It's fantastic to win the championship for NLSC."

The 10-day regatta was held at Lake Macquarie and hosted 62 boats from all over the country, 12 of which heralded from Narrabeen.

Greg wasn’t the only Narrabeen sailor to take out a top gong though. Ian and Annie Macgregor won the trophy for the first unplaced NSW boat, Georgia Llewellyn (crew Eleanor Macgregor) was the second placed lady skipper and third placed junior. Emma Harris was the 4th placed lady skipper. Narrabeen also boasted three of the top ten boats, with Greg in first place, Ian Macgregor in eighth and Ian Milton in ninth.

But congratulations really needs to go to every skipper and crew member out there. We had every sort of weather during the series, from 18-20 knot breezes which challenged the back of the fleet, a storm squall and driving rain that drenched us all, seven knot breezes and chop that turned the lake into a washing machine and comfortable 12-15 knot days.

On two of the sailing days we even got to play with the big boys. Not only did we share our course with Etchells, but we had 40 and 50ft yachts crossing our paths as we all raced to our respective finish lines.

But, of course, we didn’t just sail. We danced the night away on Rock Star night, laughed, clapped and cheered our way through Heron Idol night and celebrated a fantastic series at Presentation Night.

I think I speak for everyone who attended when I say it really was an exciting, fun – albeit exhausting – regatta.

Jump onto the Narrabeen facebook page to see a bevy of photos of our local sailors as well as some very funny social pictures. While you are there, remember to ‘like’ the page so you can get regular updates and photos.Feel free to send the links of our website and facebook page to friends and family so they too can see just how much fun we have, and how much we all love our sport.Our website ‘gallery’ page is almost up and running, so you will find regular photos appearing there soon too.

Other nationals links
• Series results
• Social event photos
• The complete box set of sailing photos (courtesy of Deck Hardware)

9 January 2012

I know I speak for most of the members in the club when I say, "It's great to be back." Sure we were only away for a couple of weeks so we could spend time with family and friends over Christmas, but many of us do tend to get withdrawal symptoms when we are away from our boats, the lake and our sailing 'family' for more than a week.

The weather was kind to us for our first day of the summer points score with a light ENE in the morning and stronger winds in the afternoon for short-course racing in the western basin.

Just a reminder that the Herons are away for the next two weekends as we compete in the 10-day National Heron Titles regatta at Lake Macquarie. (Wish us luck!)

Junior coaching will also be on hold for a fortnight, as all our coaches are competing in the Nationals. But the Lasers will continue to race over the next two Sundays.

19 December 2011

The Champagne breakfast and marathon sailing day is definitely one of the favourite events on the calendar down at the club. The kids and the adults always have a fantastic day!

The rain stayed away so we began the festivities with a leisurely hot breakfast, Champagne Bellinis and lots of smiles. Then we took to the water to sail a lengthy course around the island, through a channel, over sandbars and back to the finish line.

At lunchtime it was back to the beach for more frivolity with a visit from Santa. He handed out little gift bags to the kids and we all snacked on Jenni's delicious reindeer cupcakes and Christmas tree biscuits.

More surprises came in the form of the Christmas raffle with about a dozen hampers up for grabs. (Thanks to everyone for your yummy donations.)

An afternoon sailing course was set in the central basin and everyone seemed to enjoy jumping in different sailing craft and testing their skills and developing some new ones. Georgia and Kate were the ones to beat out there as they did lap after lap on Kate's Laser.

All in all, it was a fantastic day for all our club members and visitors.

Have a fun and safe Christmas everyone, and we look forward to seeing you all in the new year.

15 December 2011

The boat name may have confused some regular Heroners, but there was no doubting the skipper in the lead at the inter-club race held at Concord Ryde Sailing Club on December 3.

In true form, our own Greg Harris (crew: Matthew Harris) took the lead despite having to leave ‘the Goat Boat’ on the shore and instead racing in ‘Grumpier’.

Georgia Llewellyn (crew: Samuel) was also up the front of the 18-strong fleet, coming in at fifth.

Emma Harris (crew: Kate Fitzgerald) also did a fantastic job, placing 13^th.

Well done guys. You did NLSC proud, especially given that our representation was certainly considerably less than usual. (Although most of the absentees can probably be forgiven considering they were preparing their boats for the upcoming Nationals.)