Racing

One place for the calendar, the courses and results. Racing runs on Saturdays from early October to Easter: a handicap start most weeks, scratch starts for championships, and both results published.

The courses

Five numbered courses, chosen on the day for the wind. The start areas keep the racing in view of the club and the shore. The Balmain Regatta has two of its own, North and South, round Cockatoo Island.

Each map is drawn from the club's own course cards, maps and sketches, with the marks in order beneath it. The maps are a guide to the course, not for navigation: the race officer lays the laid marks on the day, and the sailing instructions govern. The course cards book, each course, the race flags, the start signals and the radio one to an A5 page, to print or save as a PDF.

• Start and finish
• Leave the mark to starboard
• Leave the mark to port
• Start or finish line
• Australian Sailing buoy
• Navy buoy
• Laid mark, set on the day
• Landing beach, where a capsized skiff is righted

• Course1

  No. 1 North-Easterly course

  WindN NE

  Wind: North-easterly sea breeze · Start: Off Double Bay

  1. SStart at Clark Island Flag (CI)
  2. 1Beashel Buoy (BB), to starboard
  3. 2Shark Island (SI), to starboard
  4. 3Clark Island Flag (CI), to starboard
  5. 4Chowder Bay South Mark (CBS), to starboard shortened course mark
  6. 5Shark Island (SI), to starboard
  7. FFinish off Clark Island (CI)

• Course2

  No. 2 Easterly course

  WindE

  Wind: Easterly · Start: Off Kurraba Point

  1. SStart at Kurraba Point Mark (K)
  2. 1Shark Island (SI), to starboard shortened course mark
  3. 2Kurraba Point Mark (K), to starboard
  4. 3Shark Island (SI), to starboard
  5. FFinish at Kurraba Point Mark (K)

• Course3

  No. 3 South-Easterly course

  WindSE

  Wind: South-easterly · Start: Off Robinsons Point

  1. SStart at Kurraba Point Mark (K)
  2. 1Clark Island (CI), to port
  3. 2Taylors Bay Mark (TB), to starboard
  4. 3Shark Island (SI), to starboard shortened course mark
  5. 4Kurraba Point Mark (K), to port
  6. 5Clark Island (CI), to port
  7. FFinish at Kurraba Point Mark (K)

• Course4

  No. 4 Southerly course

  WindS

  Wind: Southerly · Start: Athol Bay

  1. SStart at Athol Bay Flag Mark (A)
  2. 1Clark Island (CI), to port
  3. 2Chowder Bay South Mark (CBS), to starboard
  4. 3Shark Island (SI), to starboard shortened course mark
  5. 4Kurraba Point Mark (K), to port
  6. 5Clark Island (CI), to port
  7. FFinish at Kurraba Point Mark (K)

• Course5

  No. 5 Westerly course

  WindSW W NW

  Wind: Westerly · Start: Athol Bay

  1. SStart at Athol Bay Flag Mark (A)
  2. 1Course 5 western flag, to starboard
  3. 2Shark Island (SI), to starboard
  4. 3Kurraba Point Mark (K), to port
  5. 4Naval Buoy No. 2 (N2), to starboard
  6. FFinish at Kurraba Point Mark (K)

• Balmain Regatta North course

  CourseN

  Start: Off the Balmain Sailing Club, by Cockatoo Island

  1. SStart line, between the orange flag on the committee boat and the BSC yellow inflatable buoy, off the clubhouse, heading east
  2. 1Balmain Regatta mark west of Goat Island, to port
  3. 2Balmain Regatta mark west of Cockatoo Island, to port
  4. 3Balmain Regatta mark east of Snapper Island, to port
  5. 4Balmain Regatta mark west of Goat Island, to port
  6. FFinish line, on the transit of the leading marks on the BSC clubhouse, across to Cockatoo Island, crossed heading west

• Balmain Regatta South course

  CourseS

  Start: Off the Balmain Sailing Club, by Cockatoo Island

  1. SStart line, between the orange flag on the committee boat and the BSC yellow inflatable buoy, off the clubhouse, heading west
  2. 1Balmain Regatta mark east of Snapper Island, to starboard
  3. 2Balmain Regatta mark west of Cockatoo Island, to starboard
  4. 3Balmain Regatta mark west of Goat Island, to starboard
  5. 4Balmain Regatta mark east of Snapper Island, to starboard
  6. FFinish line, on the transit of the leading marks on the BSC clubhouse, across to Cockatoo Island, crossed heading east

Landing beaches

An 18-footer that capsizes is not righted on the water: a rescue boat tows it to the nearest sandy beach, where the crew right it and strip the rig for the tow home. The stars on the course maps are those beaches, from the club's beaching card, its landing map for the Balmain Regatta and the beaches its race reports name; where the club notes when a beach serves, the list says so.

Landing beaches on the eastern harbour

Where the club races: the beaches on the club's beaching card, and those its race reports name.

1. 1Athol Bay, west side of Bradleys Head. Depending on wind and tide.
2. 2Taylors Bay, east side of Bradleys Head. Depending on wind and tide.
3. 3Clifton Gardens
4. 4Bushell's House (Carthona), west side of Double Bay. Tide dependent. Barely available on a high tide, and overhanging fig trees make it awkward on any tide.
5. 5Felix Bay, Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club
6. 6Whiting Beach, Athol Bay
7. 7Shark Beach, Nielsen Park
8. 8Milk Beach, Vaucluse
9. 9Double Bay
10. 10The club's ramp, Careening Cove

Landing beaches for the Balmain Regatta

The suitable landing areas on the club's map for the regatta.

1. 1Kellys Bush, Woolwich (western dot)
2. 2Kellys Bush, Woolwich (eastern dot)
3. 3Berry Island Reserve, Wollstonecraft
4. 4Snails Bay, Birchgrove Oval
5. 5Berrys Bay, east side (McMahons Point)
6. 6Birkenhead Point, Drummoyne (by Drummoyne Sailing Club)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the Open Database Licence.

Before your first Saturday

The flags flown at the start boat, the horns that go with them, the radio, and the club's manual for people new to the boats.

• Race flags

  What each race signal flag means, including abandonment, delays, course changes and recalls, with the club's PDF.

• Scratch signal flags

  The scratch start sequence, from the six minute warning to the start, with the club's PDF.

• Handicap start signals

  How the numbered boards count down a handicap start and when your boat goes, played out on a real start.

• Rule 26 start signals

  The five minute start in the Racing Rules of Sailing, sailed under at another club's regatta, and what follows a recall.

• Radio

  The two VHF channels, 73 for the race committee and 16 for an emergency, and the MAYDAY and PAN-PAN calls word for word.

• Sailing manual

  Rigging Tangles, written for people with little or no sailing experience, on the background, sailing and rigging of 18-footers, with the club's PDF.

How the racing is scored

The club's handicap system and point scoring are published on their own pages: the handicap system and the point scoring system. Where the club's manual and the results platform differ on penalties, discards, ties or handicap adjustment, both versions are published as two sourced pages and the reconciliation sits with the sailing committee.

What the boats race for across a season is set out on the sailing championships page: the club championship over scratch races, the season championship, the spring, summer and autumn point score series, the Australian Championship around the end of January, and Ladies Day, which the club runs as the Queen of the Harbour.