Heaven Can Wait One Lap Dash and 24hr race - October Long Weekend!

by Mark Cherrington on 30 Sep 2009
If you are in NSW,ACT, South East Queensland or Victoria and you have a sports boat, trailerable, 18 footer, pump up the tyres in your boat trailer and be ready to hit the road TOMORROW. - there is a MUST DO regatta on this NSW October Long Weekend. If you are in Sydney and you have a draft of two metres or less, you can sail up to Lake Macquarie in time for this classic event.

This Saturday, on the October Long Weekend, the 2009 Heaven Can Wait (HCW) charity yacht race kicks off on Lake Macquarie, just south of Newcastle, NSW. It incorporates a 24-hour overnight race along with a shorter 'One Lap Dash', and raises funds for cancer research and support programs, as well as for the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol. You need to enter NOW!!

This fantastic race, on one of our finest inland waterways, the largest salt water lake in Australia is a challenging sailing event for sportsboats, racing yachts and cruisers, with all entry fees going to our nominated charities (and being fully tax deductible).

The race, now in its fourth year, raises funds for the NSW Cancer Council and the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol, and was initially conceived by Lake Macquarie sailor and cancer survivor Shaun Lewicki, who is Copmmodore of the Heaven Can Wait Yacht Club.

The event consists of two races, held concurrently on the waters of Lake Macquarie, a 24-hour race in which participants sail around the 28+ nautical mile course as many times as they can over 24 hours, and a 'One Lap Dash' which finishes before nightfall. The 24 hour race fleet will finish racing mid-Sunday, so there is plenty of time to eat, tell tall stories and celebrate. The prize giving is the same afternoon and then sailors can fall down and travel home on the Long Weekend Monday

The HCW 24-hour race requires entrants to have a YA Cat 5N (for overnight) safety certificate, while the One Lap Dash is a YA Cat 7 race. If you don't have a current certificate inspection pre-race can be arranged with prior notice.

The event is organised and hosted by the Heaven Can Wait Yacht Club and the Royal Motor Yacht Club Toronto, and starts and finishes at RMYC Toronto. (just a few km off the F3 freeway about an hour north of Hornsby)

Boats can enter either or both races, which have a common start line and use the same course. Start time is 1100 on the Saturday the third and for the 24 hours race, it finishes at 12 noon Sunday. (That is daylight saving change over)

The One Lap Dash is a conventional 'first past the post' handicap race with times and places recorded by the event’s committee boat, while the HCW 24 hour race requires participants to log mark roundings as the go around the course, and provide a precise GPS position and estimated elapsed distance at the end of the 24 hours.

The One Lap Dash has challenged 18 footers, lots and lots of sports boats over the years.

However the HCW 24 hour race moves up another gear. It is a challenging event to take part in; it requires good navigation and management of watches to remain competitive over the 24 hours.

At the same time, it provides excellent experience for those who have not done any overnight racing, in a relatively protected environment, with rescue facilities close at hand throughout.

Within theSo far, up to 15 boats will be coming up the coast from Port Jackson or Pittwater, while trailerables are coming from as far away as Victoria and the ACT. Berthing facilities organised by RMYC and and Trailer parking available at RMYC, the new ramp is now operational.

The silting up of the Swansea Channel has handicapped our ability to attract keelboats from out of the lake, but dredging has commenced and – due to fantastic co-operation from the NSW Lands Department and the dredging contractor – by Thursday morning, the channel at the shallowed point, at the Dropover will be 2.2 metres + deep and will be dredged sufficiently to allow boats through to the lake.

This year’s event is also on track to raise record funds for the charities it supports.

In 2008, the HCW race raised over $13,000 for the NSW Cancer Council’s Hunter division and the Lake Macquarie division of the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol.

In addition to all race fees going to charity, this year the event has seen the introduction of sponsorship for individual boats, where family, friends and colleagues of the crew on boats entering can make donations directly to the Cancer Council.

So far, individual boat sponsorship has raised almost $8000 for cancer research and support programs.

For more information on the 2009 HCW event, please go to our website at www.heavencanwait.com.au, email us at info@heavencanwait.com.au or call on 0419 236 704.

To check out our the sponsorship page, please go to www.everydayhero.com.au/heaven_can_wait_charity_event.