The 46th Combined High Schools Sailing Championships (CHS) in conjunction with 34th Australian Secondary Schools Sailing Championship and 37th NSW Secondary Schools Sailing Championships. An event that tested all those in attendance, competitors and race officers alike. What was with that weather! Breeze, No Breeze, pouring rain and boiling hot! From Freezing in the rain to crews going swimming and capsizing on purpose or being capsized by other competitors during the postponement!
Watching the sky above Lake Macquarie proved a tricky read for Race Officers and competitors resulting in several postponement’s and a day abandoned. Wouldn’t it have been nice to have a Noreaster!
Watching the skill levels of some of the sailors out on the water was fantastic. It was great to see so many different classes being sailed so well. In particular the leading Flying Eleven sailors who I enjoyed watching sail extremely well. Along with watching people sailing something new to them or giving a regatta a go. I hope you all enjoyed the new experiences.
With the inclusion of Allen, TBS and PROtect Tape to our range of Liros Rope we are now in a position of being able to supply a support van to local Regattas. Our first trial of this was the CHS at Belmont. I could not have done it without the assistance of Rhys and Georgia Llewellyn, Goughy, Liz Gazzard, Greg and Emma Harris. Thanks so much for your help in keeping the van company! Special thanks to Rhys who helped re rig a couple of boats along with Georgia, Kate and Emma who took time to write and draw on my whiteboard to be displayed in the van. I learnt a lot about how to manage the van at regatta’s in the future. It was a fantastic experience and we will be doing it in future. So keep an eye out for the newly stickered DeckHardware van! Thanks Rhys for putting the stickers on.
Special Congrats go to Georgia for coming Third in the Laser Radial plus Emma and Susie Milton coming Third in the Aust Girls Division. The Narrabeen Lakes Sailing Club was represented by 6 fantastic young women who did so well!
Congratulations to all competitors and especially to the Division winners. Year 6 and all High School Students make sure you put this in the Calendar for next year! It is a great event to meet sailors from other classes and perhaps sail something you would not normally compete in.
Here are the links to all the photo albums on our facebook fan page. I hope you enjoy all the photos. There is video yet to come. A huge thanks to our DeckHardware supporters / assistants Liz Gazzard and Rhys Llewellyn who assisted in getting so many photos from different locations during the regatta.
Melissa Yeomans 
thank you for your comprehensive reports and photos.