Champions on display

TASMANIAN yacht clubs in the South and the North of the state will be hosting national and world sailing championships over the next fortnight.

The championships range from the family off-the-beach International Mirror dinghy to the high-performance B14 skiffs, Paper Tiger catamarans, and the internationally popular SB20 one-design sports boats.

These championships will coincide with major offshore racing events finishing and restarting on the Derwent and Tamar next week: the Sydney to Hobart (including the Clipper Race Around the World fleet), the Launceston (Beauty Point) to Hobart, and the Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster races.

In total nearly 160 yachts will finish their races off Hobart’s historic Battery Point.

The highlight of the sailing championships will be the SB20 world titles on the Derwent in early January, with 60 boats, including 20 from overseas, expected to provide the most spectacular regatta on the river in years.

The championship circuit will start with the Australian championship for the International Mirror Dinghy, noted worldwide for its red sails. Kingston Beach Sailing Club will run the Mirror nationals from December 27-31.

The Mirror is a family class and there will be trophies at the nationals for parent/child, youth, junior, veterans, masters, ladies, cruiserweight and “classic Mirror’’ (following the introduction of a Bermudan rig and fibreglass hulls).

In a total contrast, starting the same day at Beauty Point on the Tamar will be the Australian championships for the high-flying B14 skiffs.

Hosted by the Port Dalrymple Yacht Club, the national titles will run from December 27-30, followed by the world championships from January 2-6.

Back in the South, Lauderdale Yacht Club will host the Australian championships for the Paper Tiger catamarans on Frederick Henry Bay from December 28 until January 2.

Two of Hobart’s major yacht clubs, the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and the Derwent Sailing Squadron, are jointly conducting the world championships for the SB20 one-design sports boat.

Racing for the fleet of more than 60 entrants will start on mid-river courses with a preworlds regatta from January 3-5, with the world titles running from January 7-11.

The SB20s, one-design sports boats sailed by a crew of three or four, depending on weight, are expected to provide one of the most spectacular and exciting championship seen on the Derwent in decades.

The final major championship in Tasmania this summer will be the nationals for radio-controlled

yachts, with the Montrose Bay Yacht Club hosting this fascinating form of yacht racing.

Racing will be held on the upper reaches of the Derwent from February 12-16.

And apart from the championships and the finishes of the ocean races, there is more coming up in January and February:

January 2: King of the Derwent, the traditional round-the-buoys river race for yachts competing in the ocean races finishing in Hobart, and local boats keen to take on the visitors.

January 5: River Derwent, start of the 11 Clipper Around the World Race yachts, heading from Hobart to Airlie Beach in Queensland and onwards in their circumnavigation.

January 12-13: Bellerive Yacht Club’s IOR Cup, a regatta on the river for yachts designed and built to the old IOR rating rule, such as “half-tonners’’.

February 10: Start of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s Bruny Island Race, the club’s oldest inshore/ offshore yacht race, circumnavigating the historic island south of Hobart.

February 12: Royal Hobart Regatta, combined clubs river race on the Derwent.

February 16-18: Bellerive Yacht Club’s Crown Series regatta for keelboats, sports boats and off-the-beach racing dinghies on the River Derwent.

Dozens of young Tasmanian sailors are also competing in national championships interstate, including the International Cadets at Metung, Victoria, the Optimists and Laser 4.7s and Radials in Queensland, followed by the Australian youth sailing championships in early January.

Southern stars

ENTRIES are open for two popular boating events south of Hobart.

From January 12-14, the Kettering Yacht Club will host the three-race Channel Challenge.

The event will start with a Hobart to Kettering race on January 12, followed by the Hope Island Tim Malone memorial race on January 13, and the Green Island race on January 14.

Entries have also opened for the fifth Kettering Wooden Boat Festival in February, which is expected to attract a large fleet, from rowing canoes and dinghies to keel boats and motor boats.

The Rally, sponsored by Boat Sales Tasmania, will run from February 9-11 to allow entrants to return to Hobart for the Royal Hobart Regatta sailing events on February 12.

For information and registration for the Kettering Wooden Boat Festival go to www.ketteringyachtclub.org.au or www.woodenboatguildtas.org.au

Village people

ALL three ocean yacht races finishing in Hobart over the next week or so will have special race villages dockside to provide the public with the latest race information and to welcome visiting crews.

The Hobart Race Village continues to be the ultimate celebration venue for the finish of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Club, which this year has a fleet of 109 boats, including 30 from overseas.

The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s volunteers will staff the Liaison Centre to provide the latest information on the progress of the fleet after the start on Boxing Day.

As the leading yachts sail up the river, MC Gordon Bray will bring up-to-the-minute reports and also conduct interviews with past Tasmanian competitors in the Sydney to Hobart.

The Village will open from noon to 10pm on December 27, then daily from 10am to midnight until the end of the race.

It will then remain open until 1.30am on New Year’s Day after the fireworks display on New Year’s Eve.

The Village will have ongoing food and drink outlets and entertainment for all ages as the public waits the arrival of the yachts, which this year includes 11 Clipper yachts sailing the Sydney to Hobart as a leg of the circumnavigation race.

The Launceston to Hobart Race and the Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster races will have their own Race Village further along the docks, organised by the Derwent Sailing Squadron.

The Village will be adjacent to where the fleets totalling nearly 50 boats in the L2H and M2H races will berth.

The L2H and M2H Village will feature food and beverage outlets, entertainment and race information.

This Village will open from Wednesday (December 27) through to January 2, from 8am until late.