Opinion

Time to change our thinking on startline procedures

Yesterday was a bad day for the sport of sailing at the ISAF World Championships in Santander. A huge crowd of locals watched boats bobbing around for four hours, to get a single one-hour race finished in the Laser Gold…

Coffee with the umpires – a good way to get future calls right

The Extreme Sailing Series has been responsible for some very good innovations such as stadium racing, where they have brought the contest to within metres of the public. But a small, almost unseen initiative is one that could be worth…

Victorian government hits interstate boaters with stupid gas regulations

When is this country going to grow up and have one set of registration and one set of regulations for all states? Boats, by their very nature, move around a lot. And every time they cross into another regulatory environment…

Should you log a passage plan with authorities?

Almost every week we carry a story of yachts sinking, being abandoned or losing people overboard. There is one from Britain today that made me wonder how many people lodge a passage plan with Marine Rescue before they go offshore….

Our club handicapper is an idiot… or worse

Thank you for inviting me to “vent my Spleen”! In my club, we have a constant problems with the handicapper and his setting of handicaps in mixed fleet yacht racing. We are using PHS handicaps for our regular races, but…

Do you think lifejackets should be compulsory?

Do you think lifejackets should be compulsory at all times? Following the recent tragedy during the Flinders Islet yacht race when two well-known sailing identities, Andrew Short and Sally Gordon, lost their lives, the NSW Government is reviewing its lifejacket…

Should we ignore the America's Cup?

Is the current nonsense which masquerades as an America's Cup match harming the sport? Or will it ultimately be the catalyst for an event which once again turns the world's eyes to the sport of sailing? In an interview with…

Does the handicapper deserve to drink alone?

Generally the club handicapper drinks alone at the bar and is often referred to as ‘The knee-capper' with the critics always outnumbering the sailors who he can honestly call a personal friend. In all fairness the handicapper cannot factor in…

Are there too many different classes sailed at our yacht clubs?

I'm new to sailing – my daughter has just started at the local club – so I might be right off base with this one. But am I right in thinking there are way too many different classes of boat…

Oceans 13? This Dutch teenager is simply too young.

Last week, a Dutch court ordered a 13-year-old girl be put into the care of the social system while consideration was given to her attempt to be the youngest person to sail around the world. She reacted by saying that…