Chris Wren's Firefly 850 on board

Some great onboard footage from Chris Wren's brand new Firefly 850 Frequent Flyer racing in the St Helena Cup at Manly Queensland.

Looks like Chris and his crew had some great fun. Here is some onboard footage of how the race went down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6viElk3GMo

 

North QLD boys ripping it up in Thailand.

Wave of success for Townsville sailors

Team Harken sailors Mick Guinea & Viv Hayden are the Thailand F18 National Champions.

AFTER defying a dodgy boat and giant storms for a Thailand triumph, Michael Guinea and Viv Haydon have sent an ominous warning to their sailing rivals.
The Townsville duo could not have started their preparations for a whirlwind month of title defences - including their Australian F-18 Nacra crown - much better after clinching the Thailand National Championship last week.
By winning that, Guinea and Haydon were also awarded the annual Varuna Cup.
Given that they were on a borrowed boat that required "plenty of work" and that major storms cancelled two races, Guinea could not have been happier.
"It's good because you can get yourself into a bit of a rhythm," said Guinea, who along with Haydon is also the reigning Queensland champion.
"Sailing in different waters against different people (and) that time on the water and practising manoeuvres, that's where that is valuable."
More than anything, winning in Thailand proved that long-time crewmates Guinea and Haydon still function well under pressure.
Despite claiming the first two races at the two-day regatta, an infringement penalty in the third race meant they had to clinch the fourth and final or kiss the title goodbye.
But the North Queenslanders held their nerve, winning by about 30 seconds.
"We just had to beat this one other guy, so we just turned it into a match race," Guinea said.
"If he tacked, we tacked with him and covered him all the way around."
It capped a massive 12 months for the pair, but Guinea said the hard work was only just beginning.
"We've had a really good year, winning the state titles as well, and a few other regattas along with the regatta in Thailand, so it's been good, but we obviously want to defend the (Australian) title as well," he said.
That starts for Guinea and Haydon at the end of the month when they attempt to defend their Nacra National title in Hervey Bay. That is followed by the F18 Nationals in Newcastle and then the Nacra World Championships on the Gold Coast.

ANTONY STEWART | December 18th, 2012, Townsville Bulletin

Hobie Cat World Titles 2013

The IHCA Council would like to give sailors a preliminary notice for the 2013 Worlds for the following Hobie classes; Hobie 14 Dragoon Tiger  Wild Cat The World Championships are set to take place at Travemuender, Germany. The tentative dates scheduled would be 19-28 July 2013. These World Championships would be a bring-your-own-boat world championships. The IHCA thought it was important to give as much advance notice as possible so sailors could plan their holidays and begin to organize transport of their boat.  The IHCA has not yet finalized the necessary contracts for the events but is only waiting for ISAF approval for the World Championships. Stay tuned for more information.

Link to the IHCA Newsletter

www.hobieclass.com/default.asp?MenuID=News/10772/0/T