Weekly Sailing Summary

HEAVEN CAN WAIT

The race on Lake Macquarie NSW for the 70-boat Heaven Can Wait One Lap Dash and 24 hour fleet started in 13 knots of breeze which built steadily into the 20s, before dying away. The One Lap Dash winner, Nathan Outteridge sailing a Foiling Moth, finished in two hours seven minutes and 31 seconds. www.heavencanwait.com.au

AWARDS

ISAF and Rolex announce the Nominees for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2010. Australians nominated are Laser and Etchells World Champion, Tom Slingsby and 470 World Champions and World Cup winners, Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page. www.sailing.org

AMERICA’S CUP

TEAMORIGIN, the British yacht-racing team established by Sir Keith Mills and skippered by triple Olympic Gold Medallist Ben Ainslie, will not be challenging for the next America’s Cup scheduled for 2013. After analysing the race format, the proposed fixed wing catamaran boat, the timetable, rules and costs, Sir Keith has concluded that the 34th America’s Cup is neither viable commercially, nor an attractive sporting contest for TEAMORIGIN. www.teamorigin.com

KEEL BOATS

The opening race of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Grant Thornton Short Ocean Pointscore Series provided a challenge for the 18 starters. A spectacular rain and wind squall gave the fleet a wake-up call, with boats reporting speeds of 25-26 knots after starting out in a six-knot east nor’easterly. www.cyca.com.au

Vistula, the smallest boat in the fleet, beat the time limit by just four minutes to win the Channel Race, the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s opening race of Hobart’s summer yachting season. www.ryct.org.au

Peppers Anchorage, Port Stephens NSW, will host the 2010-2011 season opening regatta for the Australian Farr 40 class on 15-17 October. A number of the Australian teams racing over the upcoming season in preparation for the 2011 Rolex Farr 40 Worlds, will be racing under the Farr 40 class Corinthian Division rules. In February 2011 the perpetual trophy for the Corinthian Division will be awarded at both the Farr 40 Australian Championship and the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. www.farr40.asn.au

MATCH RACING

Newly-crowned ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Champion Lucy Macgregor is relishing the prospect of taking on her tutor and mentor, two-time Match Racing World Champion Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar sponsored by Argo Group, at The Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda. www.wmrt.com

OFF THE BEACH

The first race of the 18 footers for the 2010/2011 season on Sydney Harbour starts on 10 October with the Alf Beashel Memorial Trophy. www.18footers.com.au

AROUND THE WORLD

The Velux 5 Oceans solo around the world race starts from La Rochelle, France, on 17 October. The skippers head for Cape Town in South Africa, then into the notorious Southern Ocean stopping at Wellington in New Zealand before rounding Cape Horn and making for Salvador in Brazil. A short hop up the coast to Charleston in South Carolina, USA, makes up the fourth leg before the skippers set off across the Atlantic to complete the race in La Rochelle in May 2011.www.velux5oceans.com

NEWS BRIEFS

Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service (Hunter Region) has received a second donation from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Safety of Life at Sea Trusts (SOLAS). A pledge of $17,752 was made to Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service, with the first instalment of $10,025 being presented recently to purchase a new EAM Aviation T4S Sam series Life Raft for the Service’s existing BK117 Helicopter and ten floatation collars. www.cyca.com.au

NSW Maritime has switched on the first web camera to assist inland boaters on NSW waterways, allowing them to view live boating conditions at Lake Eucumbene. The other web cameras are located at Coffs Harbour; Narooma; Port Macquarie; Shoal Bay, Port Stephens; Tweed Heads; Manning River, Harrington; Swansea; Sussex Inlet; Moruya Heads; Merimbula Lake; Bermagui; Brunswick River; Richmond River, Ballina; Clarence River, Yamba; Nobby’s Beach, Newcastle. www.maritime.nsw.gov.au

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Oct 8 – 10 -- Club Marine Mandurah Boat Show, Mandurah Offshore Fishing & Sailing Club WA www.mandurahboatshow.com

Oct 16 – 17 -- 2010 Classic and Wooden Boat Festival, National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney - 100 boats from graceful yachts to streamlined speedboats, a festive marketplace selling all things nautical and an outstanding display of boating products. Discover the skills of traditional maritime craftsmen including blacksmiths, rope knotters, caulkers and sail makers. www.anmm.gov.au

Oct 17 -- ORCV's Rip Tour shows yacht and powerboat owners how to approach The Rip at Port Phillip Heads in Victoria. The tour, which always sells out departs from Queenscliff and Sorrento and bookings are essential. www.orcv.org.au

Oct 24 -- Davistown Putt Putt Regatta & Wooden Boat Festival, Central Coast NSW. The focus is on the heritage fleet of Putt Putt boats that were a vital form of local transport in the early 1900s. Market stalls, on-and-off shore entertainment. www.visitcentralcoast.com.au

Oct 30 -- Hempel Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race www.gosfordsailingclub.com.au

Nov 7 -- Try Sailing Day NSW - Sailing and yacht clubs around NSW devote their club, boats and instructors to give people of all ages, with little or no experience a chance to experience the joys of sailing for free. www.bia.org.au

Nov 13 - 14 -- The Copper Cove Marina Festival in South Australia will combine the best products and produce from local boating, seafood and wine suppliers. www.coppercove.com.au/marina_festival

Nov 20 – 21 -- 2010 Lipton Cup Regatta, held on Port Phillip. www.liptoncupregatta.yachting.org.au

Dec 6 - 9 -- Sydney International Regatta - Olympic Class regatta on Sydney Harbour www.nsw.yachting.org.au/

Photograph: X-Rated competing in the Heaven Can Wait race courtesy of Nicole Scott and