The Port Line Cup  held in August provided a fascinating duel in the J24 Division between reigning National Champion(Sean Wallis) and multiple SA State Champion (Alyn Stevenson).

Starting in about 14 knots Fun2 were extremely light on for crew and sailed with only 260kgs crew weight.

Fun2 started at the Eastern bank about 10 seconds late but right next to start mark and Sean sailing Lunatic Asylum had a great start close to the Western bank. First tacks and Sean Wallis was in front with Fun2 calling starboard on the rest of the fleet.. Fun2 had the back stay on a fair bit to keep the boat flat and started swapping tacks with Sean Walls and Good Company ( Robyn Townsend) all the way to the Sub Base.

Sean and Alyn sailed in close to the shore doing many tacks to stay out of the tide and sailed away from the rest of the fleet. After going around the bend Fun2 sailed past Wallis and held the lead for about 10 mins only to see Wallis again take it back around the bend. Wallis kept Fun2 nailed into the mangroves and held the lead up to the second lot of turning marks.

Now back on the wind heading back towards Outer Harbor we both swapped tacks with Fun2 managing to keep clear air, and with the breeze dying Wallis ventured towards the eastern bank much to the delight of Fun2. With a ferry coming down the river Wallis was unable to get back to Fun2 immediately and Fun2 regained the lead. The kites were back up again and Wallis harassed Fun2 around both turning marks.

Heading back down the river on a close beat Sean tacked out and Fun2 followed to cover, and both boats then tacked back. Fun2 then eased sheets and gassed Wallis forcing him to tack back into the river. We then went into immediate point mode to make sure we could lay the bend in the river and this allows us to open up a big break on Wallis and his team.

Although the breeze was dying Fun2 had to cover every move Wallis made under kite to make sure we were not dumped in a different patch of breeze to Wallis.

Fun2 went on to win The J24 Division by close to 5 mins from Lunatic Asylum, with Kaizen and Code Violation about an hour behind in 3rd and 4 th spot. The rest of the fleet retired and headed home.

Stewart and Garlene as well as a local Junior who joined the team did a fantastic job despite us not sailing the J24 since march.

Alyn

Fun2 sailed in the Nationals Championships and also the South Australian State Championships.

Our venture to Melbourne to compete in the National Champions was filled full of adventure, with a late arrival at the Championship after my daughters wedding. The Late arrival did not deter the crew and we fronted up first race with a great 3 rd place..

The Championship was the hardest regatta for many years with enormous depth in the field and we finished most races in the top 5 and just got pipped for 6th place outright.

On the last day after leading in a few heats during the Regatta we finally won out first National heat race.

The trip back proved interesting with us blowing the head gasket on the Jeep, but in true Aussie tradition out boat was on another 4WD within 10 Min’s and on the way back home. 10 Min’s later the next team member picked me up after I managed to get my car towed to the nearest town. A week later we picked up the vehicle on a car trailer

Last weekend we sailed in the South Championships and had a hard Regatta but blew 2 races when leading to hand it to No Eye Deer. We finished second giving us 4 titles and 3 2nds out 9 State Championships.

Next season will be interesting ? New Club and maybe a new boat!

Alyn

The aim is to build a fleet of over 10 J24′s in 18 months based at this new marina facility. The committee is progressive and are promoting a variety of sailing that will enable the club to bloom.

With several High Schools basing their programs at the club it offers the opportunity to have juniors in out program as well as bringing new people and boats into the class. Peter Stevens has bought his second J24 "Haywire" and this will also be based at Port Adelaide.

The Fun2 team welcome Laura and Bogdan to the team, with the team in full training for the up coming Nationals. We are currently training 2 to 3 times a week in the Port river experiencing lots of shifting breezes, huge variances in pressure and large tides. It is hoped this will sharpen our skills and awareness to changing gears.

WANT TO JOIN THE FUN YACHT RACING TEAM – RING ALYN 0400227562  mnfs@adam.com.au

Day 2 – with plenty of sleep overnight we had a great start and were 2nd around the first mark and finally finished in third place. On Race 4 we were between 3rd and 6th most of the race but gear failure dropped up to 6th . This was a rare for our team to have gear failure and more was to come.

The U bracket for the Jib Halyard broke and when during rigged created many problems with the kite. We started race with an excellent start and were 4th around the first mark but lost 6 spots downwind due to spinnaker problems. this was the pattern of the race make time uphill to lose downhill finally finishing 9th.

Race day 3 Heat 6 saw us have another excellent start and were in 5th spot for the whole race. This was sensational considering we were only 345 kgs and sailing in 25kts.

Heat 7  Well we were infringed by another boat but it was greed that led to a disastrous start. I bailed out and ducked boats and went right and when we tacked back we were in mid fleet when the rain squall came.35 – 45 kts and we were out of there.

With no visibility and knowing there may be hail to come (which did) we retired and headed back with the  race was abandoned.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=copRtsdQ4zw

The full dvd which is highly recommended can be purchased  from Harken or North Sails

Fun Yacht Racing - FUN2 prepare for J24 Asian Championships

Team Fun have been hard at work preparing the boat for the up coming Asia / Pacific Championship. with a superb field of competitors the competition will be tough.  HI and  Fun 2 will hit the water next week and do some speed testing and then compete in the follwing weeks Winter Races.

The Championships will be held 6th – 8th June at the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia www.cycsa.com.au/ANC/index.html 

Fun 2 – 2009 Season

Alyn Stevenson and his team sailed an arduous season competing in over 70 Races, which included the Nationals , States and 3 Regattas. The Team was made up of Stuart Kilner – trimmer , Ben Steele – Pit, Kathryn Reeves – Mast , Garlene Kilner – Mast , Chris Rivett – Bow and Alyn Stevenson – Skipper / Tactician.

2009 was a great effort following on from a great 2008 and the team went on to win their 3rd straight South Australian State Championship and second CYCSA club championship in a row.

The Australian Nationals 4th placing was followed with a domination of the South Australia State Championship winning 7 out 8 races. The June long weekend in June saw the teram come 5th in the first Asia – Pacific Championship

Results for 2008 /2009 Season