James Mahoney's professional video of the TAWA training weekend at Busselton

Tasar training at Busselton 29-Sep-13

Busselton Training Weekend

A long weekend down the South West of WA, Watching the Dockers in the Grand Final, a day of sailing and coaching then an evening debrief with a great meal and a coaching seminar. This was an excellent way to spend a long weekend.

Before the re-cap, many thanks to the coaches, Ron Jensen, Kayne Binks and Scott Olsen. 

Also many thanks to Brendon Green for trailing his powerboat down for the weekend, and to Jim Mahoney for the video footage from the day and again to Ron and Scott who used their personal boats as coach boats for the day.

Travelling down on the Saturday to get there in time for the start of the Footy was a relaxed start to the weekend. Some Tasar sailors watched the Footy at the Yacht club, others watched at their accommodation, but unfortunately Freo could not recover from their slow start to silence the West Coast fans (Strangely supporting the Hawks).

9am Sunday a briefing was held before two demonstrations onshore showing the tacking sequence, the pole launching and gybe sequence.

This set us up for our first session. Sailing around a windward Leeward course the three coaches following the fleet of 7 around the course. The coaches rotated around working with individual boats as they sailed around the course assisting the boats with improving the skills and developing the techniques learnt onshore. 

Lunch was called just after 11 and everyone headed to shore and tried to not freeze..

1pm, back on the water. The afternoon session was commenced by a series of short races.

3 minute start sequence with the boats confined to a box behind the start line to make the boats jostle for position. The starting practice was great, position your boat on the line to take advantage of the favoured end, and also to be able to take advantage of the first shift.

Initially we were sailing windward returns, then once we were all starting a bit better the box was removed and a wing mark was laid. This format was backed up by the coaches again rotating around the fleet, guiding the boats with techniques through tacks, gybes set and drops.. Then we started sailing triangle, sausage courses. There were multiple races with minimal time between starts, this meant lots of practice in the pre-start and plenty of first works. The racing was really close and competitive which emphasised the importance of a good start.

After the sailing we packed up our boats before everyone reconvened at Ron Jensens' house for an evening meal, debrief and seminar. The seminar was an excellent addition to the days sailing. Some of the skills we had been working on during the day were reinforced in the presentation. We also reviewed the video footage which is a great way of highlighting what the coaches were trying to emphasise on the water. There were also some great examples and case studies to show everyone for where we can improve next time. There was so much to take away from the weekend. The boost in skills from each boat, the improvement over the day. Then the relaxed evening, nice meal, great company and excellent knowledge shared to all.

The whole weekend with the coaching and racing, 3 of the best coaches in WA, 2 comprehensive on water session and an extensive debrief and seminar to top it off was a great success..

Many thanks to TAWA for organising the event, the coaches and all those who attended for making such a fun few days.

HYC WINTER SERIES

Just a quick note from the Tasar WA news letter about eh HYC Winter Series.

The Tasar Fleet will
sail up at HYC over winter. Race
dates are as follows:
8th June
22nd June
6th July
20th July
3rd August
17th August
Race start time is 9:45am – so need to
be up there at 8:15/ 8:30 to ensure you
make the start on time.
Enter at the club on the day! Hope to
see you there!

Go-Pro Trial

MOFSC Easter Regatta

Cows With Guns sailed the Friday and Saturday of the MOFSC Easter regatta. The sailing was excellent and a lot was learnt. A video from the Friday training day will follow shortly.

Friday Training:

3 boats turned up for the coaching day on the Friday. 

On Edge, Yes Boss and Cows with Guns hit the water. Scott Olsen shared his knowledge from the coach boat.

The first part of the training session involved the coach following each boat around a triangle course in succession. With the one on one coaching we worked on all aspects of racing. Upwind set up, reaching (specifically crew positioning and balance) and a bit of running to improve/learn how to use the jib pole. This training gave each boat the opportunity to improve their mark roundings, practice all aspect of a normal race on their own terms and get that additional one on one coaching.

Next we did starts with a windward return. This was quite valuable in getting used to the acceleration of the Tasar and positioning on the start line for the first work. I think all boats got some value out of this exercise.

Fianlly onshore the de-breif was excellent. A lot of questions were asked and the discussions on how things are done, and how they should be set up were great. Everyone got something out of the onshore talk.. The two newbies got many new marks on their boats and practiced some new techniques, especially gybing. 

This training day was great, a very big thanks to Kayne Binks, and Scott Olsen for making the day a success. Hopefully we can organise another session down the track.

Saturday Racing:

6 boats hit the water at our allotted 9.15am launching time. We then commenced our voyage to the race course, nearly an hour passed before we reached the course, only to hang around as the Easterly and the sea breeze battled for supremacy. Eventually racing got underway in some sort of sea breeze. Race 1 was challenging.. some boats went left, some boats went right, a couple stayed in the middle of the course on first work. The corners seemed to pay. Butterfly Effect and On Edge led the way around the first mark, closely followed by Yes Boss and Cows with Gun and then Unleased and Tae Think Again. The two lap race saw the boats condense on the runs, with Unleased and Tae Think Again moving through the fleet on the runs. On Edge maintained their lead and finished strongly in first (results listed blow).

Cows with guns left the race course after the first race to do a quick crew change (a quick crew change is difficult when the race course is over an hour from shore) and did not sail races 2 and 3. Yes boss sailed races 1 and two and then returned to shore for lunch. Butterfly Effect and Tae Think Again did not sail the final race.

Race 4.

The sea breeze had steadily built, and was now a good 15 knots.Cows with Guns arrived back on the race course for the final race. This time with guest crew Julie Olsen.

3 boats remained on the race course for the final heat. 

The 3 boats started, along with the fireballs.. On Edge lead the way to the top mark, followed by Cows with Gun and then Unleashed. Cows with guns tried to keep pace and push On Edge all the way to the finish, but most importantly, and to Julies joy Cows with Guns beat Unleashed to the Finish..

Hopefully next year our race course is closer to shore and maybe we can convince more Tasar's to make the trip.

The two days were great, from my point of view I have learnt a lot about the class, and a lot about Cows With Guns and I am looking forward to my next sail.

David Meehan.

RESULTS

Race 1

Position	Boat No	Boat Name	Skipper/Crew	Finish Code
1	2673	On Edge	Kayne Binks/Louise Binks	FIN
2	2922	Tae Think Again	Llyod Lissiman/Fiona Campbell	FIN
3	2454	Unleashed	Scott Olsen/Virgina Horn	FIN
4	2774	Butterfly Effect	Kate Best/Roger Best	FIN
5	1954	Cows with Guns	David Meehan/Tiffany Felstead	FIN
6	2061	Yes Boss	Brendon Green/Kate Mahoney	FIN

Race 2

Position	Boat No	Boat Name	Skipper/Crew	Finish Code
1	2673	On Edge	Kayne Binks/Louise Binks	FIN
2	2922	Tae Think Again	Llyod Lissiman/Fiona Campbell	FIN
3	2454	Unleashed	Scott Olsen/Virgina Horn	FIN
4	2774	Butterfly Effect	Kate Best/Roger Best	FIN
5	2061	Yes Boss	Brendon Green/Kate Mahoney	FIN
6	1954	Cows with Guns	David Meehan/Tiffany Felstead	FIN

Race 3

Position	Boat No	Boat Name	Skipper/Crew	Finish Code
1	2673	On Edge	Kayne Binks/Louise Binks	FIN
2	2922	Tae Think Again	Llyod Lissiman/Fiona Campbell	FIN
3	2774	Butterfly Effect	Kate Best/Roger Best	FIN
4	2454	Unleashed	Scott Olsen/Virgina Horn	FIN
5=	1954	Cows with Guns	David Meehan/Tiffany Felstead	DNF
5=	2061	Yes Boss	Brendon Green/Kate Mahoney	DNC

Race 4

Position	Boat No	Boat Name	Skipper/Crew	Finish Code
1	2673	On Edge	Kayne Binks/Louise Binks	FIN
2	1954	Cows with Guns	David Meehan/Tiffany Felstead	FIN
3	2454	Unleashed	Scott Olsen/Virgina Horn	FIN
4=	2774	Butterfly Effect	Kate Best/Roger Best	DNC
4=	2061	Yes Boss	Brendon Green/Kate Mahoney	DNC
4=	2922	Tae Think Again	Llyod Lissiman/Fiona Campbell	DNC

OVERALL Position	Boat No	Boat Name	Skipper/Crew	Total	Nett
1	2673	On Edge	Kayne Binks/Louise Binks	4	4
2	2922	Tae Think Again	Llyod Lissiman/Fiona Campbell	13	13
3	2454	Unleashed	Scott Olsen/Virgina Horn	13	13
4	2774	Butterfly Effect	Kate Best/Roger Best	18	18
5	1954	Cows with Guns	David Meehan/Tiffany Felstead	20	20
6	2061	Yes Boss	Brendon Green/Kate Mahoney	25	25

The Beginning - Port Augusta SA

These photos are some snap shots from the beginning of Cows with Guns.
These photos were taken in Port Augusta - South Australia before the 30+ hour journey back to Perth..

Bunbury Long Weekend - KBSC Regatta

Koombana Bay Sailing Club annual Labor Day long weekend regatta:

2 boats graced the waters for the annual Koombana Bay Sailing Club Regatta in Bunbury.

Bungarra and Cows with Guns.

Day 1 - Signets and Herrons watch with stunned faces as a Tasar zooms past.

A leisurely drive to Bunbury on Friday afternoon to set up camp, and a relaxed start on Saturday morning registering and rigging before two back to back races in the Afternoon. Light to moderate breezes that built during the afternoon were perfect for the tasar. Two short 30 minute races saw Cows With Guns obliterated the Signets and Herrons. An enjoyable start to the weekend, followed by an excellent meal in Bunbury at the restaurant "Nicola's".

Day 2 - The face off

Sunday morning Bungara heading out to double the Tasar contingent, and the racing was on from the start.

Once the Tasars had skipped away from the other classes a tacking duel ensued. The close racing up the first work saw Bungarra lead the way around the first mark. Bungarra skipped away on the Triangle catching the JD's and bic's which started 5 minutes ahead, this ended up being Bungara's downfall, unfortunately the slack rounding from the other fleets saw Bungarra get a poor bottom mark round. Cows with Guns seized the opportunity and made the gain to round inside of Bungara and take the lead and maintain the lead to the finish.

Unfortunately Cows with Guns went to the Furguson Valley on Sunday afternoon and did not race against Bungarra, and can only imagine that Bungarra sailed rings around the Signet and Herrons again.

Day 3 - The Dash for Cash

With a cool change overnight and a bit of rain, the sailors were slow to head out on the race course. A lengthened course with all fleets sailing the same course, even keel boats, made for some interesting sailing.

With the upwind speed of the Tasar matching it with the 30 and 40 footers, things were interesting coming into the top mark. The tonnage rule applied to the bouy room at the first rounding.

Cows with guns sailed a steady race, and managed a top 15 result on yardstick handicap, not a bad result for the moderate planing conditions. Not ideal for a Tasar on the reaches.

Once again, the KBSC Labor day Long weekend regatta was extremely enjoyable. The sailing water are calm, the winds were excellent, and the club is freindly and welcoming.

I encourage all Tasar sailors to set the date next year and make the trip, its a great way to show off the class.