Sail-World.com : No yacht racing on Harbour, March 8-9
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No yacht racing on Harbour, March 8-9 |
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'Powering down Sydney Harbour'
Ray Schembri
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Major yacht clubs have decided to abandon racing on Sydney Harbour over the weekend of Saturday, March 8 and Sunday March 9 because of the inaugural Sydney Superboat Grand Prix, which has seen a extensive exclusion zones placed on the main harbour on both days.
The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron has advised members that it has abandoned racing on those days because NSW Maritime’s exclusion zones and a significant spectator fleet ‘have made it impossible to race on these days.’
In a notice to yacht owners who race in the RSYS Saturday and Sunday fleets, the Squadron says: ‘With careful deliberation and in the interests of safety, the Sailing Committee has decided to abandon racing.’
Sydney Amateur Sailing Club, in its magazine ‘SASC News’ this week, says the Superboat Grand Prix will have a significant impact on the SASC sailing program, with the exclusion zone being effective from 1330 to 1510 hours on Saturday and from 1400 to 1615 hours on Sunday.
The Amateurs has cancelled all long-series pointscore races on the Saturday. Short series races will be rescheduled for the following Saturday, March 15. The Division 6 and Gaffers Division scheduled for the Sunday are cancelled.
Other clubs on the main harbour, including the 18-footers and dinghy clubs, are expected to also abandon racing on both days. Middle Harbour Yacht Club will not be affected, although some courses that go up the Harbour may be shortened.
The Sydney Superboat Grand Prix will be the first ever powerboat race to compete on a closed circuit inside Sydney Harbour. Organisers have described this as a pilot event to ensure that all environmental, safety and economic issues are addressed and managers.
On the Saturday afternoon a polling ‘shootout’ will be held in a 400m wide exclusion zone between Fort Denison and Shark Island, with normal harbour traffic, including ferries, allowed outside the exclusion zone.
On Sunday afternoon, with a full circuit race, the exclusion zone will be much larger, extending from Farm Cove to Rose Bay. This will lock spectator craft inside bays on the north shore and south shore, with no passageway down or up the harbour from a line between Taylors Bay and Steele Point and the Bridge.
Event organisers say they attempted to hold a meeting of yacht and sailing clubs early in December through Yachting NSW, as the body representing clubs.
However, because of lack of response from Yachting NSW until almost a month later, a meeting could not held until January 31.
Event organisers have said they will welcome an input from all harbour users following the pilot event to enable planning to be undertaken for a future Superboat Grand Prix to be held with minimum disruption to the use of the harbour by others, including yacht and sailing clubs.
by Peter Campbell Share
4:01 AM Mon 18 Feb 2008 GMT
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