NS14 Beginnings

Welcome to a blogspot about my NS14/ MG14 sailing skiff.

On this site you will find the diary of the 2006-7 sailing season which starts on the 3rd September 2006. This latest foray into sailing began in January 2005 when after a summer of disgusting waves I got drawn back to sailing after noticing a Laser for sale in main street Ballina. After much deliberation and discussion with my family I decided on the purchase of an Aero 9 model NS14 sailing skiff. I purchased a boat called Vindaloony from Sydney for a very good initial price and linked up with the Richmond River Sailing Club in Ballina which had a regular fleet of 4 other NS14's at the time. It took about 6 weeks to finally participate at one of the club events and it was at Regatta weekend in early March 2005 that I finally entered in my first race which was a long distance event. With mild conditions and an experienced crew Jane I finished this race but the next half a dozen or so races were a struggle with tricky conditions and inexperienced crews severly challenging my novice skipper skills. The last couple of races I was able to sail with a committed keen novice sailor Janet as crew. This helped immensly to develop some control over the boat.

Over the winter we sailed with one of the clubs other newer skippers Mark Goltz and his boat Run the Red to further develop our skills. The 2005-6 season started on the traditional Fathers Day weekend. I sailed and finished in every race that season only capsizing in a Richmond River race once I think and once just before the start of another race before starting on time and in good position.

The major challenge I faced during the season was the continued development of the boat Vindaloony as it was not set up as a serious racing machine. After finally getting most issues sorted on the boat by February 2006 I sprained my back and got itchy feet to purchase another boat after an expression of interest was offered on mine. This was when I was really starting to find some boat speed and consistantly starting to improve my place in the fleet.


I then purchased a boat which was registered as an MG14 with the intention of having it also registered as an NS14. One of the major attractions with this boat was that it had an established racing pedigree at MG14 national titles and I therefore thought that I would not have much development work to do on it. Unfortunately I was sadly mistaken, and though there weren't major issues there were problems that had to be sorted out which took time to find and to remedy.

I entered the Queensland NS14 titles which were held between 29th April and 1st May 2006 on the Brisbane River and finished 14th of 18 which I thought was acceptable considering the mistakes made.


It was almost a relief to get to the end of the season in late May. At first I wasn't keen to sail during the winter but after a couple of weeks I was over the trauma and settled into fortnightly sails mainly solo to keep up and improve fitness and too complete the development of the boat. I purchased a second hand mast purely for the NS configuration with a Carbon Tip and now am all set to go for the new season.