Sabre Sailing Association of Australia

You'll find entry prices (note the fee is inclusive of the welcome & presentation nights); details of the choce of regatta shirt or rugby top; the program (no morning races weather permitting) and so on.

Note that a late entry fee applies for entries after 28 NovemberNOR July 30

Nationals Accommodation Advice

For those keen to head to this years nationals but don't know where to start the following links may be of interest:-

www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org - all tastes catered for.

Accommodation advice free of charge (Also toll free number of 1800 804 009).

Caravan Park - Dromana Big 4 (4 1/2 stars)

www.kangerong.com.au (03 5987 2080)

Fairways Resort (Rosebud Country Club)

www.rosebudcountryclub.com.au (03 5950 2111)

The event will offer two fully catered meals as part of entry, secure mast up storage, lots of racing with 10 races planned to be held, and all in a great holiday location. Whether a seasoned competitor or someone trying there first nationals, it should be a great event.

Photos of Vic State Titles

To obtain a copy of the great State Titles photos for the 2008 states, please refer to the Victoria Page.

2008/2009 Nationals to be held at Safety Beach Sailing Club on Victoria's Pt Phillip Bay

At last - the waiting is over. We are pleased to announce that the 2008/09 nationals will be hosted by the Safety Beach Sailing Club.

Safety Beach is on the Mornington Peninsula, about 60 minutes south of Melbourne. The club has an all-new clubhouse, and is positioned next to the major new Martha Cove development. The club successfully hosted a 79 boat fleet for the national 29er class championships, and is a recent host of the Victorian state Sabre championships.

The series will run between 27 Dec and 3 Jan, and we are planning on an 'afternoon racing only' schedule (mother nature permitting).

Safety Beach Regatta Flyer (PDF or Word) Sabre Nationals 2008 Word or Sabre Nationals 2008 Pdf

A list of accommodation in Safety Beach & surrounds is available hereClick here. A map of the Morninton Peninsula is available here

Victorian Championships

The Victorian champs were held at Elwood Sailing Club on 23/24 Febraury. Winds were in the 18 - 25 kt range in the four races completed, with large swells thrown in for good measure. (Check out the photos.....)

Overall placings:

1st Wayne Bates on countback from....

2nd Callum Burns

3rd Alan Riley

4th Chris Dance

5th Alister Danks

(full results to be posted when we get them from the club !)

Thanks Russell Bates for the sensational photos

Russell was busy with the digital camera during the Vic champs at Elwood in Vic. Enjoy some of his shots down the right hand side....

Victorian Association advises GLYC that 08/09 titles will not be held on Gippsland Lakes

The Victorian Association has unfortunately had to advise the Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club that we were unable to accept their offer to host the 2008/09 titles. It's been a dificult couple of months, and sadly it brings to an end a large amount of planning and promotional work done by both the Gippsland folk as well as the Sabre committee. We'd really like to acknowledge the passion that the Gippsland Sabre sailors have displayed for their club and the region generally, and we look forward to the day when we next hold a championship down on the Lakes.

Adelaide Results

Congratulations to John Gratton and Fiona McCulloch for winning the Overall and Ladies National titles respectively. Yet another fantastic regatta for the sabres - with over 70 entries, a great venue and fantastic support from sponsors which saw numerous great prizes from competitors. For full results please refer to the SA Sabre page

An article has also been posted on Sail world, click the following link for details:-

http://www.sail-world.com/australia/John-Gratton-wins-his-1st-Sabre-Australian-Title/40758

New champion John Gratton is congratulated after the final race by previous winner Wayne Bates

Nationals photo link

http://www.sail-world.com/australia/Images-from-30th-Aust-National-Sabre-Championships/40899

Vic 08 state titles

The Vic State Titles will be held the weekend of the 23rd & 24th of Feb 08. Refer State page for more details.NOR 2008

NSW to be by-passed for 2009/10 nationals - Tasmania to be the hosts.

The National Association received advice from the NSW Sabre Association that they would not be in a position to host the 2009/10 Sabre nationals (being when it would next be their turn). As a consequence, the Tasmanian Associationn has confirmed that they will be in a position to hos the 09/10 titles in Hobart. Several clubs are under consideration, with a likely move to a club downstream of the Tasman bridge.

This updated program of future regattas was confirmed at the Sabre national AGM in Adelaide in Jan08.

Note that the 2010/11 titles are likely to be at Brighton & Seacliff in SA.

Latest State Association newsletters

September Victoria : Victoria

September South Australia : SA

May & June Tasmania : Tasmania

Adelaide national dates announced - but get your accommodation booked fast !

The SA Association are hosts for our next nationals in Adelaide, and thet have announced preliminary dates for the titles - see the SA sub-site :SA nationals.

Seasoned vistors to past nationals will know that there is one thing you need to act on fast once the dates are known - book your accommodation !!

A long-time favourite of visitors to the Brighton & SeacliffeYacht Club is the Brighton (Kingston Park) Caravan Park. Why a favourite ? Well firstly, it's basically right next door; and secondly it provides bot camping style accommodation as well as a variety of cabins. As of mid February though, we understand that the cabins are booked out . For more info though-

.brightoncaravanpark.com

Now 7 ways to buy a new Sabre

It's probably been one of the best kept secrets in the Sabre class - these days we have 7 different professional builders of Sabres in Australia ! Victoria and SA both have 2 builders who can supply fibreglass boats, with 2 more Victorian and a NSW builder offering plywood boats. Options range from say a bare plywood hull - all the way up to a complete fitted out boat on a trailer ready to race. This provides a range of options covering those wanting to say do their own painting and fitting out, up to those who just want to have over the cheque and be done with it !

We have compliled an extensive range of information regarding all of the builders over the past 2 years, and it's all on our boats & equipment page:Boat builders

Below for example is a new boat from YMS in Adelaide. (John Gratton's boat actually). Brett Young at YMS is delivering quite a few Sabres at the moment, including 6 to Victoria. Now that's not something we've typically seen much of in the past !

National titles are over for another year...

Winning 6 of the 7 races, Wayne Bates retained his Sabre National crown at Cleveland Yacht Club on Brisbane's Moreton Bay over the Xmas / New Year Period. It was great however to see strong performances from South Australians, with the other podium positions going to John Gratton and Sean Hackett.

39 competitors took part in the series, which was sailed in breezes in the 10 - 15 knot range. Refer to the Queensland link on the left for all the details.

Here are a couple of photos from Cleveland...

The other way to launch a Sabre

For those unfamiliar with Adelaide sailor Sean Hackett's unique approach to launching and retrieving a Sabre - here is a sneak peak.

Spam Prevention - Changes to Membership Registration

Due to Website Spam the following changes have been made. When registering, only fill out the following fields:-

Username , Email Address , Password, Confirm Password, Confirmation Code & Location.

Note location must be 'Australia'. After registration is complete you can go back in and change/add details if you wish.

Also , you can still use the guest log in to post messages:- (Username) GuestMember (Password) Password1

September Victorian Newsletter

The September edition of the Victorian Association newsletter has been emailed to Victorian members. Click Sept newsletter for the full version. (Lots of photos too)

Farewell Tassie's Jack Thompson

News came through last week of death of Tasmanian Sabre sailor, Jack Thompson in a car accident in Northern Tasmania. Jack sailed out of the Midway Point Yacht Club near Hobart and competed in the last two National Championships and in the Vicorian state championships at Black Rock in his boat ‘Possum'. He was a true sailor who knew the Sabre spirit. His friendship and competitiveness will be sadly missed by all those who knew him.

Queensland Nationals Notice of Race

Click Sabre Sailing Association of Queensland for the Notice of Race for the Nationals at Cleveland on Brisbane's Moreton Bay.

May Victorian Newsletter

The May edition of the Victorian Association newsletter has been emailed toVictorian members. Click here for the full version. (Lots of photos too)

Forgotten your Discussion Forum logon password ?

We've probably all noticed that there has been quite a drop-off in postings on the Discussion Forum over the past few months. We're not really sure why, although we do notice that it coincides with the compulsory use of logons and passwords that we had to introduce to cut-out the 'bombardment' of illicit postings that we were suffereing.

We thought we'd trial an alternative approach.... If you've forgotten your logon or password, or maybe you'd prefer to actually make an anonymous posting - the we invite you to use this generic logon:

GuestMember

Password1

We'll keep these available for as long as they're not abused or hijacked !

Wanted ! Second hand Sabres for sale....

We go through phases in the Sabre class where we find there is a bit of a shortage of second hand Sabres on the market. Now seems to be one of those times !

If you have a Sabre that is for sale - any state - then let us know by email here Sabre for sale. We'll see how we go at maintaining a table of boats for sale on this website.

New Victorian Sabre builder announced

The Victorian Association is pleased to announce that MartinSly of JL Sly Boatbuilders will be the new Victorian builder of fibreglass Sabres using the mould owned by the Victorian Association. (This is the mould that Botterill & Sons have been using since 1997). Martin is a sailor at Mordialloc Sailing Club, and the Sabre will add to the range of dinghy classes for which he is an official builder. These include the Minnow class (also taken over from Botterill), the 125 and the Sabot.

Martin will be taking over the mould at the end of June, and will be making a prototype boat before commencing roduction of boats ordered by customers. Pricing will be released after that prototype is completed. We will post further details of the new boats as they become available from Martin. In the meantime though, feel free to contact him on 9580 2446 if you want to make preliminary inquiries.

We are delighted to have Martin on board as a builder given his enthusiasm and reputation as a boat builder, and hope for a long and mutually successful partnership as we grow the Sabre class.

Victorian Winter Series 2006

The Victorian winter series will commence with 3 races at Black Rock in April / May. We then move inland for regular races on Albert Park Lake and Sugarloaf in the north-east suburbs. Full program is available at 2006 Vic Winter Series

Sail Sabre polo shirts now available

The Victorian Association has had a batch of polo shirts made up. They are a white shirt with navy tipping on the collar, sleave ang button area. They have the red Sabre sail emblem on the front together with the words 'Sail Sabre'. They're a great smart way to show you're a proud Sabre sailor, and to promote the class. Cost is $20 each if you collect it from a member of the Vic committee, or $25 posted. Available in M and L sizes. Contact Andrew Graham for orders.

Victoria lanches the 'e-Newsletter'

It has been 2 years sice the last version of the Rattle newsletter was produced, and in the period since then we've been using this site to keep members up to date. It's time now though to expand our communication with members. The Victorian committee has therefore lanched a new newsletter - but one which will only be distributed by email. The first edition went out in early March. If you are a Victorian member and you did not receive it - can we please ask you to send your email address to barry.eastgate@bigpond.com Meanwhile, a copy of the newsletter is available here : The Victorian eSabre news Mar06

See our updated photos April 2006

We've taken the opportunity to update some of the photos on our site - see the home page, Victorian page, and the Photo Gallery.Photo Gallery

Some tips from our Tassie friends on improving reaching speed

A great little article posted by Matt from Lindisfarne on the Tasmanian state site

Sail numbers have passed 1700

And in case you need proof, here is a photo of number 1701 up in Queensland. Queensland's state website This is Anne Mussett's new boat - a Haselgrove from Adelaide.

2005 Australian Championship report by Wayne Bates

Wayne has provided his thoughts on his Australian championship win...it is an enlightening and excellent read, particularly for those of us who didn't have a clue what was going on.

Read Wayne's report.

Discussion Forum - Urgent Notice 2 Mar 06

The discussion forum is being bombarded by illicit links that are being lodged by the generic "Guest" member.

The "Guest" username has been banned from submitting comments on the discussion forum until further notice. For those of you who legitimately want to contribute to the Sabre discussion forum, please register as a forum member.

Barry Eastgate

2006 Victorian State Titles

National champion Wayne Bates added the Victorian championship to his trophy cabinet after winning 3 heats and dropping a 3rd.

See the Victorian site for all details and results.

Retirement of Rob Botterill - new Vic Builder 13/2/06

Many of you will sad to hear that long-time Victorian Sabre builder Robert Botterill has retired recently thereby ending a 20 year plus relationship with the Sabre class. Many of the fibreglass Sabres that we see in our fleets today were built by Botterill at his premises in Highett in Melbourne. His first mould produced substantial numbers of all-fibreglass boats in the 1100 to 1400 range in the 80's and 90's, and the more recent mould in 1997 produced boats that included our national champion boat of 2004/05.

The mould that Botterills have been using is actually owned by the Victorian Sabre association, and we have recently collected it from Botterills.

The Victorian Association believes that it is important that we retain a builder of fibreglass Sabres in Victoria, and we are therefore keen to ensure that the mould gets back into use as soon as possible. We are currently seeking expressions of interest from a selection of Melbourne boat builders re use of the mould, and will provide details of the outcome once everything is finalised. With some good marketing, this is a great opportunity for us to give the class a real lift.

If there are any people out there who are in the market for a new Sabre for season 2006/07 - then we encourage you to consult the 'Boats & Equipmemt' tab on this site which lists 5 suppliers of fibreglass or plywood Sabres in Vic, SA and NSW. If on the other hand what you are after is a fibreglass Sabre from the "Botterill" mould - then we would be more than happy to take your details so that these can be forwarded to the new Victorian builder in the coming months. Feel free to email barry.eastgate@bigpond.com with your details.

AGM 2006 minutes

The National AGM was held in conjunction with the Hobart Nationals. See minutes

11/1/06 2005 Australian Championship

Wayne Bates won his 3rd Australian Sabre Championship in 4 years and his 5th in total. Defending champion Alan Riley was 2nd and dual past champion Michael Johnson was 3rd. Tasmanian and Sabre newcomer, Matt Westand sailed an excellent series to finish 4th after a close tussle with Barry Eastgate who finished 5th.

Full results and the story of the championship

New National Secretary/Treasurer - Mike Simpson

Mike kindly nominated to replace Maree Early and was voted in at the AGM in Hobart. He is a former OK dinghy sailor who only purchased a sabre in the past 12 months (1682 "Blusette"). Mike is an active sailor with Albert SC and Gippsland Lakes YC in Victoria and has held similar positions with Albert SC. The Victorian Assocn will work closely with Mike to help in the transition.

16/11/05 Position vacant - National Secretary/Treasurer

Members will recall that I resigned as National Secretary / Treasurer at the last AGM. Nobody nominated for the position at the AGM and I have been acting in a caretaker role to this point. I am no longer be able to fulfil these duties as I will be heading overseas permanently a few days after the conclusion of the National Titles.

The position of Secretary/Treasurer is not a time consuming position. SSAA is an incorporated association and is required to have a public officer at all times to meet its legal obligations. If no one is willing to take on this position we will obviously face legal ramifications.

The Association is urgently calling for nominations for the position of Secretary / Treasurer. If two people nominate, the positions can be separated but the work is so small that it really isn't necessary.

Maree Early

Acting National Secretary/Treasurer

1613 "Hello Buoys"

Notice of Race - 2005 Australian Championship

The notice of race is now available, curtesy of SSAT.

Please print from NOR 2005 Australian Championship and get your entry in by 30 November 05. A late entry fee applies after 30 Nov.

Vic Training and Coaching weekend 8-9 Oct 05

Venue: Black Rock YC

Sat 9:30am - 5:00pm

Sun 10:00 - 4:30pm

The coaching weekend is open to all Sabre sailors and is pitched at all levels of competency. Interstate sailors are also welcome. The weekend is free and lunch is provided both days courtesy of SSAV

Sailors intending to participate on either or both days need to submit their details to Barry Eastgate by 30 Sept.

An entry form will be mailed with Vic 2006 membership renewal notices shortly or can printed from this website.... Coaching & Training weekend entry form

29 August 2005

Urgent Notice - illegal Sabre Construction.

It has come to my attention that a timber Sabre is being built with the floor battens being deleted and closed cell foam glued to the whole of the cockpit floor. The finished laminate is to be fibre glassed -at least in the cockpit area.

This form of construction is NOT permitted under the Sabre Construction and Fitting Out notes.

Sabres may be timber, fibreglass or composite construction.

Composite construction comprises a fibreglass hull built in accordance with the class rules and finished with a timber deck.

The method of construction outlined above does not comply with any rules of the Sabre Class and I have never given approval for this technique.

Phillip Johnson

National Measurer

Vale John Seeber

John Seeber, popular long serving committee member of the SSAV died on 10 August. John retired in 2004 and not long afterwards was diagnosed with cancer.

He continued his work on the committee between extensive treatments and had a goal of sailing a new Phil Johnson sabre that he had on order at the Eden national titles. Unfortunatley John was not up to competing but did make the trip to Eden with mates Phil Hansen and Peter Reid and helped on the start boat.

John was a member of Mordialloc SC and over the past 4 years has been coordinator of the annual teams racing event held at Mordialloc. A number of Victorian members commisioned paintings of their sabres from John who was an excellent seascape artist.

Our sincere condolences go to Dianne and the Seeber family...John's laconic humour and contribution to Victorian Sabre sailing will be greatly missed.

A cremation service was held at Bunurong Memorial Park, Dandenong South on 19 Aug. Over 150 people attended ncluding many Sabre and Mordialloc SC members. Aside from his family the service centred on John's love of sailing and painting. Fittingly, John was movingly farewelled to the Rod Stewart song 'sailing'.

John Seeber at the Blairgowrie Nationals

2005 Nationals Lindisfarne SC, Hobart

The Tassie boys have put together some information on the location, accommodation etc and 10 GREAT REASONS TO VISIT TAS at Xmas...see Australian Championships page

or go directly to PDF info

Vic State titles results are available on the Victorian site.

1st.... Alan Riley 1564 "The Sea Drift Social Club"

2nd... Barry Eastgate 1611 "Big Day Out"

3rd.... David Wood 1677 "First & Last"

4th..... Andy McIntyre 1670 "Rocket Science"

5th..... Fiona McCulloch 1596 "Sealed Section"

6th..... Phillip Johnson 1644 "Shearwater"

7th..... Andrew Graham 1624 "Southern Aurora"

8th..... Maree Early 1613 "Hello Bouys"

9th..... Peter Reid 1555 "Endorphin"

10th... Andrew Little 1639 "Rattle & Hum"

See the Vic site for comments and results.

Secret Sabre Business

Alan Riley has kindly written an excellent article on how he achieved his well-deserved success at the Eden Australian Championship.

This article is a must for Sabre sailors and we thank Alan for the time spent putting pen to paper and sharing his thoughts with us.

It is in acrobat pdf format to facilitate printing.

Secret Sabre Business by Alan Riley

Alan refers to a website from which he downloaded Sailing Simulator software that he used for both enjoyment and to sharpen his sailing strategy skills. Fairly limited demonstrator downloads are available. Link to Posey Sailing Simulator

2004 Australian Championship - Alan Riley is the new Australian Champion

Alan Riley sailing The Sea Drift Social Club from Blairgowrie YS has won the 2004 Australian championship. Alan sailed a very consistent series to defeat Wayne Bates, the defending champion from 2003 and 2004. John Atkins NSW was third. The serie was notable for a wide range of weather but always with frequent 30 - 45 degree shifts with an occasional 90 degree shift.

Notice of Race - 2004 Australian Championship

The NOR is now available and you are encouraged to post your entry sooner rather than later.

Sabre 2004 Aust Titles - Notice of Race.

Succesful Vic Training & Coaching weekend

Vic Assoc conducted a training and coaching weekend 2-3 Oct which, despite lack of wind, proved very popular and deemed a great success. See Vic site for details.

New Web Site feature - Change Boat details

A new function "Purchases / Sale of Boats" has been added.

There are 2 forms which advise changes of boat names, sale or purchase of boats. Pressing the submit button generates an email to National Measurer, Phil Johnson and to Barry Eastgate who maintains the membership database.

This is of particular use for those sailors who have built new boats but didn't have a boat name when they obtained a sail nbr. It will help us contact new owners of 2nd hand boats who have not previously been members.

Thu 19 Aug, 2004

Sarah Blanck 4th in Europe class at the Athens Olympics.

Congratulations to Sarah on her 4th overall (best of any Australian sailor). Sarah is an ex sabre sailor from Blairgowrie YS.

Congratulations to Rohan Veal - Moth European Champion.

While not an ex Sabre sailor, Rohan designed and developed this web site and by association, deserves our congratulations. See Rohan's fantastic site with great pictures and videos of his hydrofoiling Moth.

http://www.rohanveal.com/

Sun 18 July, 2004

See Rules and Measurement. Measurements for Hull, Fittings and Equipment, Mast and Boom, Centreboard, Rudder and Tiller, and sails have been added.

Tue 22 June, 2004

See Boats and Equipment for sailmakers, foils and boatbuilders for top 10 boats at Australian and Vic championships More

Thu 17 June, 2004

Check sailing Tips. Links to ISAF rules and casebook have been added to the site.

Check the animated demo of the racing rules. More

Monday 24 May, 2004

Information on the 2004 Australian Sabre Championships is now available along with accommodation information including a number of nearby caravan parks. more...

Friday 21 May, 2004

Maree Early wins the 2004 Victorian State Titles.

Sunday 7 January, 2004

Wayne Bates wins the Nationals. more...

Australian Weather Information