Report on CYCA's Blue Water Sailing

Australian Sailing Special Regulations Equipment Compliance for Blue Water Events

Category 1 – Offshore races of long distance and well offshore, where yachts must be self sufficient for extended periods of time, capable of withstanding heavy storms and prepared to meet serious emergencies without the expectation of outside assistance.

Category 2 – Offshore races of extended duration along or not far removed from shorelines or in large unprotected bays or lakes, where a high degree of self sufficiency is required of the yachts.

CYCA Blue Water Administration

Through my own experience travelling the world competing in yacht races, I am happy to report that the CYCA’s sailing office staff led by Sailing Manager, Justine Kirkjian acts in a professional and courteous manner when assisting entrants, especially overseas entrants to comply for the events. I find the CYCA’s sailing administration to be of world class level.

The CYCA Sailing Office provides safety advice to competitors in order for them to feel better educated when going to sea. For example, fatality reports from other events, which helps introduce a higher level of knowledge for all involved.

The documents and criteria required to enter CYCA blue water events or Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race are:

• Conditions of Entry Form; to be signed by the owner/charterer in addition to the online entry.
• Stability & Construction Declaration; all entrants are required to complete the Stability and Construction Declaration with documents that prove compliance.
• Insurance; the owner/charterer of a boat shall hold a marine legal liability insurance policy with respect to the boat current when racing, with a sum insured of not less than A$10 million (or its equivalent in another currency). The insurance policy shall state that the boat is covered for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race or that it is covered for yacht races of a length greater than 630 nautical miles.
• Australian Sailing Special Regulations Equipment Compliance Audit Form for Category 1 or 2; audited by an approved national auditor.
• A boat shall substantially complete a qualifying race of not less than 150 nautical miles not more than six months before the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
• Disclaimer and acknowledgment of rights form, as supplied by the Organising Authority; signed by each crew member.
• At least 50% of the crew on a boat shall have completed a Category 1 race or an equivalent passage.
• At least 50% of the crew on a boat shall have completed an Australian Sailing Safety and Sea Survival Course or an approved equivalent.
• At least two crew members on a boat shall hold a current Senior First Aid (Apply First Aid/Provide First Aid) Certificate or equivalent qualification, or be a practising medical practitioner.
• At least two crew members on a boat shall hold a Long-Range Marine Radio Operators Certificate of Proficiency (LROCP) issued by a relevant authority, or higher qualification.

It is noted that the CYCA does not require participants World Sailing’s sailor ID/classification to be entered with documents required for Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, in which other globally recognised blue water events do require this document. This would assist crew vetting of the Corinthian division in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The CYCA’s Sailing Manager and other experts are currently auditing the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions in order to keep the documents up to date with modern trends in yachting. They have been assisted by leading figures in the blue water arena.

The CYCA and Topyacht Software were globally one of the first on-line entry systems for yacht races. This system continues to be developed by the Sailing Office and Topyacht.

The CYCA’s entry fees for larger yachts are cheap in comparison to most events globally. Conversely, the fees for smaller yachts maybe proportionally too expensive. The larger boats will enter either way, but cheaper fees for smaller yachts might assist attract more yachts. It was noted that generally the larger yachts are more time consuming to administer their documentation compliance.

Opportunities for CYCA’s Blue Water Sailing

As the CYCA has a culture of continual improvement, the CYCA’s Sailing Committee is continually discussing future trends and other events. There are many options presenting themselves in our present time, but sometimes the Sailing Committee and Sailing Administrators have problems pushing new events and ideas through due to the club structure and some minority groups who do not want change for various reasons.

The 2013 America’s Cup started the revolution of yachts foiling, whether they be multihull or monohull. In the last six years, there has been a rapid progression of offshore monohulls foiling with large curved foils protruding from the sides of the yachts and the rudders having a “T” type section, known as elevators. The foils assist the yachts decrease their displacement and wetted surface area, in effect making them faster. The IMOCA 60 class has been developing foiling 18m yachts without these elevator type rudders, which prevents the stern from “lifting off”. The Volvo Ocean Race has since announced that they will be using IMOCA 60’s for the next Volvo Ocean Race, introducing rudder/elevators to the class, which could induce heavy nose diving from the yachts if the rudder is not trimmed properly.

Short-handed sailing is currently being discussed by the CYCA Sailing Committee to be introduced to CYCA’s blue water firstly sailing through the Ocean Pointscore and Short Ocean Pointscore in an effort to introduce short-handed sailing to the Blue Water Pointscore. In a recent survey that the CYCA conducted, out of 105 replies, 46% of the recipients were in favour of a crew of two to six people on board, with autopilot. There are some limitations to proper watchkeeping on a short-handed sailing yacht, but with proper training put in place, short-handed racing should be as safe as a fully crewed event. If it is proved popular, short-handed sailing could then be considered for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Multihulls compete in most of the major blue water events globally, with mixed finishing rates. Modern multihulls are being designed with higher margins for error than previously, but there are still continual capsizes and damage that gets reported from the world-wide multihull fleet. The survey mentioned above also has some comments regarding offshore and inshore multihull racing, so some members are still in favour of the idea of multihull racing at the CYCA. There are examples of successful multihull racing in Australia, with the Brisbane to Gladstone Race having had a multihull division since the late 1960’s. Even though the sea state is different to the southern Tasman Sea,  there are minimal retirements each year.

Virtual marks are rounding marks set to certain positions in blue water Sailing Instructions and the competitors need to round this position at the end of each leg and not an actual mark. Virtual marks are being used with success internationally and have been discussed at the CYCA’s Sailing Committee with mixed thoughts. With the modern tracking capabilities, the competitors on this type of course could be monitored.

Everybody spoken to was generally in favour of all of the courses that the CYCA runs in its blue water sailing calendar, except for the Newcastle Bass Island Race. Crews just do not like sailing past Sydney Heads. An alternative 220 NM course was recommended as; Start – Lion Island mark – Bird Island – Newcastle mark – Cabbage Tree Island – Lion Island mark – Bird Island – Finish. This course would provide plenty of sail changes around marks, islands and headlands, provide another qualifier and also add enjoyment to a 220NM yacht race not sailing past Sydney Heads. This type of course could support the use of virtual marks.

After the re-instatement of the 1,064NM long Ponant Sydney to Noumea Race, there was another potential race mentioned as an approximately 2,000NM race from Sydney to Fiji as a once every five year event. The destination of Musket Cove was mentioned at the time.

The most consistent comment regarding the safety of blue water racing was the communication process that the club mandates throughout its blue water events. HF radio was the largest complaint, in a time of sat phones, messaging systems, AIS and trackers. The competitors understand that the Race Committee needs a form of communication to the yachts and there was a large push to start to investigate other forms of communication. Blue water cruisers still use HF radio successfully for weather and communication, but they generally are not dictated to communicating three times a day, unlike the racing fleets. The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is the only blue water event to continue using HF radios for communication purposes.

AIS has been recently introduced from being recommended to mandatory. Many of the yachts in the fleet have previously installed on/off transmit switches for their AIS systems, which was recommended for the switches to be disengaged and noted on the CYCA Radio Compliance Form, which is annually updated.

With the introduction of AIS PLB’s, there is a global shift away from EPIRB PLB’s. There are many pro’s and cons for both models, which I do not believe needs to be discussed in this report as Australian Sailing is currently not planning on removing EPIRB PLB’s from the Category 1 & 2 audit compliance form.

The 2020 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is going to fall prior to the 2021 America’s Cup, drawing many superyachts to the Tasman Sea area. There is a great opportunity to provide the public with a spectacular demonstration Superyacht division in the 2020 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race not eligible to win either overall line honours or handicap. The spectacle of having five or six super yachts med style parked stern to the concrete wharf in Hobart would assist to draw the crowds to witness the finish of a majority of the racers. This would also assist in creating another new race course from Hobart to New Zealand after the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. 

Drones have recently started being used in sailing. It is a cheap alternative to helicopters and photographers and with modern day satellite communication, they can provide a far greater range than the helicopter. There are pros and cons to drone use, but all but one of the constituents are pleased to see the yacht club exploring drone use. They feel that yet again, the CYCA is assisting in leading the way in technology use in blue water sailing. Drone use has been limited to a few options recently, ie Volvo and 18 footers. Weather limits drone use and there are Civil Aviation Safety Authority legislations limiting drone use, but in general, these can be abided to in the offshore marine environment. There may be a few people who bend the rules with using a drone for outside assistance, but the footage and photography supplied by a drone offshore could only enhance the viewers enjoyment of spectating the racing. It was mentioned that the radio relay vessel, JBW could even have a drone pilot on board for supplying race footage.

With the blue water sailing global community continuing to grow, there was mention from RORC to create a global blue water championship within a period of two years. This may favour the European and American competitors, but RORC hoped to eventually see Australian competitors venturing overseas.

Analysis

The CYCA’s blue water sailing program is one of the strongest programs internationally, but new generations of crew members are not coming through with large numbers. Whether this be university, work and/or family commitments, the average age of our blue water sailors is increasing.

The CYCA Youth Sailing Academy was put in place to prosper and develop young blue water sailors. Although the graduates who do want to go blue water sailing are given every opportunity to, there are only a minimal number of yachts who utilise the training that the younger generations have received from the Youth Sailing Academy.

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Chairman and Race Committee are going through a generational change. This might take a while for the new committee members to learn their complete duties at hand, but the succession plan put in placed a while ago is working and eventually, there will be the next generation of Race Committee working towards making a fantastic event.

Conclusion

CYCA’s current blue water sailing program only has a few minor issues to resolve, with the present priority looking forward to the future trends of global blue water yachting to make sure that the CYCA is not left behind and it remains to be Australia’s leading blue water yacht club.

Possible Discussion Points

• Short Handed sailing
  • 2 POB
  • 4 POB
    • Type of event – RSHYR being the ultimate goal

• IT improvements
  • Tracking
  • Virtual marks, starts and finishes
  • Commercialisation of tracking technology
    • g. selling Yellow Brick race downloads on mobile devices

• Hobart to Bay of Islands YR 2021
  • Do we want to run such a regatta
  • How fast can the CYCA respond to requests to run or assist others in staging events

• Drones
  • Adding to website footage and photos
  • Can be used for outside assistance

• Sailing club vs Events club
  • Adding a “demonstration” fleet to the S2H would add a level of interest that may take away from other parts of the fleet.
  • How driven by our constituent’s concerns are we as a club
  • Can this be at the expense of developing new programs and ideas.