Monthly Archives: October 2018

Vale Matt an inspiration…

After a long battle with cancer, sadly Matt Owen passed away recently. Our thoughts are with his wife Karen and son Will.
Matt was known to many, not only in the Fifteen community but the sailing community at large as a respected and inspirational sailor. His good humour and camaraderie was infectious; both on and off the water. He was accommodating and affable with an excellent nature with everyone.
After many years sailing in other classes, such as 18ft skiffs, 49ers, keel boats, trailables, he joined the Fifteen class in a borrowed boat from the boat park of the Canberra Yacht Club about 2007. With sailing partner Andrew Reed, they quickly became successful in the class; their Fifteen achievements are endless. They won over 10 ACT Flying Fifteen championships and finished in the top five at the world championships in Hong Kong and New Zealand. They currently hold the title of New Zealand 
National Champion.
Some of the amazing achievements are listed below…
2009 Victorian State Championships – Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club
2011 Australian National Championships – Canberra Yacht Club
2012 Australian National Championships – South of Perth Yacht Club (crew with Steve Goacher)

2014 Australian National Championships – Lake Macquarie Yacht Club
2016 Australian National Championships – Canberra Yacht Club
2017 New Zealand National Championships – Napier Sailing Club
2018 Australian National Championships – Mornington Yacht Club
In December 2014, Matt was given less than a year to live when diagnosed with gall bladder cancer, however with his positivity and the help of a drug developed to fight breast cancer he managed to extend that diagnosis.
Despite his cancer, Matt being CEO ran the Canberra Yacht Club and continued to sail and live his life to capacity; including jumping out of a plane, bungee-jumping and swimming with whale sharks! As recently as August, he competed in Hamilton Island Race Week where his team was placed second.
A celebration of Matty’s life will be hosted by the Canberra Yacht Club on Friday 26 October 2018 from 4.00-6.00pm…everyone is welcome who knew and loved ‘Pillow’ (as he was affectionately known).
Keep Smiling Matt!
Words by Lyn Wallace et others
Photo of Matt at his last sailing regatta, Hamilton Island Race Week, courtesy of Stuart Loft
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Australian Sailing Awards

The 2018 Australian Sailing awards are coming up on the 19th of October and, of the four nominees for “ Club of the year”, two are long time supporters of the Flying Fifteen class viz. Canberra Yacht Club and Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club.

Congratulations to CYC & RFBYC on being nominated.

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FfSake wins 2018 Queensland States

Tin Can Bay hosted the event on 29/30 Sept & Monday 1st October. 14 boats entered with one contestant – Gary Richardson coming from Darwin.

After a short tuning/procedure discussion by Adam Kingston and Ashley Smith, Racing commenced in 15-20Kts from the North, Ashley and Adam in ffSake cleared out from the rest of the fleet only to round the wrong mark at the gate, not once, but twice.
Reliance 17 Greg and Laurie Williamson and Reliance ffenty foo Nicole Magyar & Les Kearney, battled side by side up the last beat with Reliance ffenty foo edging out Reliance 17 on the line

Race 2, Ashley and Adam again cleared away after the start, rounding all marks correctly according to the SI. Reliance 17 finished 2nd with Nicole & Les in third

Day 2 was forecast 20-25Kts from the south with storms predicted later in the afternoon.
The 20-25 Kts forecast was a little light as there were good 30 Kt gusts against the incoming tide the resulting sea conditions had the rigs rattling, some retirees and spinnakers kept in the chutes
ffSake prevailed in the trying conditions followed by Reliance 17 and third was. Flying Fish
The racing session was cancelled for the rest of the day due to the impending storm.

The southerly 15-20 Kt forecast remained consistent for the three races programmed for the Monday session
After two general recalls race four got under way under threats of a black flag, and as in previous races ffSake showed the benefits of training winning this race from Reliance 17 with Reliance ffenty foo third
Race five results were the same as race four
Race six saw a very congested boat end of the line with ffSake not having the usual clear start and sailing the race flying the red flag. It took all of the first work for Ashley & Adam to regain control of the rest of the race. Reliance 17 followed ffSake over the line with Bubbles, Ken & Lee Bubb in third. The red flag was returned to its stowed location in the boat following robust discussions in the boat park

 

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