S80 2022 State Championships and Club News
WA S80 Association State Championships
The 2022 WA S80 Association State Championship event was held again in Cockburn Sound and conducted from the Royal Perth Fremantle annex. Shadowfax (Mark Gooding skipper) was the sole SoPYC entry in the event, which was jointly run with the S97 State Champs and the Farr 9.2 State Champs. A total of 28 yachts competed across the three classes.
Eleven S80’s contested the championship with two yachts from Bunbury, one from Mandurah and seven from Royal Perth, including a development youth team who performed well sailing on the Association training boat Grand Piano.
Shadowfax finished 2rd overall with some close racing in all 8 races, over the three days of the regatta. The title went down to the final day of racing, with Bunbury based Miss Behaving sailed by Phil Slee winning the State title by just one point (12 points). Third places was Escape sailed by Darrin Tinley (25 points).
SoPYC S80 Club Series
The 2021-22 S80 season both club and Association has been trucking along and is fast coming to a close.
This season we have introduced a five race S80 SoPYC Club Series, which has provided some increased interest. This new series is aimed at those boats that struggle to get a regular full crew or who can’t sail each week due to work or other commitments. This is a first step towards building race numbers and regaining our S80 Club Championship status. The final series will be decided on next Saturday 19th March with both Fair Game and Shadowfax equal on points.
S80 Sailor Development Training
The S80 Association supported by our hard-working section rep Mark Gooding has been running the Sailor Development Program for all keelboat sailors in all divisions within the club again this season at SoPYC. To date two Spinnaker Handling courses have been run, plus a Racing Skills course, with another about to kick-off. Later in the year a Skippers course including night navigation will be run. By seasons end some 42 trainees will have clocked up 770 hours of on-water and seminar training, supported by some 290 hours of coaching support. Six trainees have joined (or upgraded) as club members to undertake the courses. A massive thank you goes to those sailors, and in particular John Boswell, who have stepped up and volunteered their time and energy to support others learning to become better keelboat sailors.
Next Racing Season
The S80 section is looking to encourage more S80’s to sail on both Wednesday and Saturday’s next season and has a target to get a minimum of 6 yachts racing regularly. We are also trying to increase sailing numbers with the idea of keeping current S80’s (for sale) at the club. Two yachts have been kept at the club through a syndication ownership plan, and will eventually strengthen the local fleet with more participating sailors. Shared ownership offers the ability to share costs and workload, but also provide wider access to crew and sailing opportunities.
So if you are interested in racing why not become a part owner in an S80 and share great yachting enjoyment and satisfaction in a one design fleet. The following yacht syndicate shares are available to interested and dedicated sailors:
- Glasgow Kiss – one third share in a competitive racing boat (two already sold); and
- Spectre – two 50% shares available (in around 8 weeks).
Contact S80 section rep Mark Gooding on
S80 Association Legends Event
The S80 Association Legends race is on again this year and will be hosted by Royal Perth on Wednesday April 6th. The race encourages past sailors and “legends” of the S80 fleet to borrow an existing S80 boat, put together a crew and have a competitive but fun jib and mail race on the Swan River. It is a great chance to catch up with old friends and maybe even beat one or two across the line. So get yourselves organised with a boat to get out there.
