Spiral Travellers Trophy #9: Chipping Norton Lake Sailing Club

Almost a dozen Spirals made their way to this peaceful, blue bottle shaped body of water (about 50 hectares in size) in the upper reaches of the Georges River. The streams feeding this river first rise south of Campbelltown and the lake’s swollen dimensions are the result of years of sand mining in this area in the 1950’s. As part of the environmental rehabilitation of the site, it was decided to flood the mines in the 1970’s to create the lake we used today.

(Of course, two and a bit centuries ago Bass, Flinders and young William Martin sailed and rowed these waters on a nine day journey of exploration from Sydney town. Three men in their 2.5 m open boat ‘Tom Thumb’ had to first get to Botany Bay by sailing in the open ocean!)

The club uses the ground floor of the Chipping Norton Recreation Centre adjacent to the Grand Flaneur Beach (French for a ‘beach suited to strolling along’). And when we arrived a ‘stroll’ seemed like the ideal thing as not a breath of wind made it look unlikely that any sailing would take place! However, the race committee felt sure enough wind would arrive for at least one lap of the lake and so after a paddle to the start line we started in 1 to 2 knots of breeze at around 14:35.

So began an exercise in the gentle art of sailing in (very) light airs! The compactness of the lake and the absence of any signs of suburbia gave the experience an ethereal almost sureal feeling. Our Spirals were virtually the only boats on the lake so the water was as smooth as a mill pond; whatever speed you could conjure was not disturbed by wake or wash. Once begun, the race felt like a fusion between thai chi, meditation, mime and yoga. Whilst finding pressure and guessing the favoured side remained important, keeping the boat going forward was probably the key tactic. In keeping with the day, even those given to a bit of sledging did so in hushed tones!

Many of the fleet had a bit of a turn in the lead bunch however Bill Jauncey, Pete Eslick and Grae Baker managed to remain up the front throughout. Grae ended up winning the day followed by Pete and Bill.

Big thanks to everyone at Chipping Norton Lake Sailing Club for running the racing and making us feel welcome. Definitely a venue to add to your list of places to sail next year. Perhaps with a smidge bit more wind. (GT, 905)