The Sharpie Class has been nothing but kind and exciting for me since starting my ‘Sharpie career’. My first ever Sharpie event was the nationals in Yeppoon in 2017/18. I was encapsulated! I loved it. I came to that event sailing with good mates Steve Hart and Jack Layton, coming together and getting on the road with the sole purpose of having fun – and boy did we have fun!
Coming from Lasers to the Sharpie class, my mind was absolutely blown away at the level of inclusiveness and competitiveness all within a single event. It appealed to all levels, from those starting out, right through to the competitive stalwarts chasing down the title – and every single one of those people made you feel welcome. I was already a very competitive sailor, but seeing everyone on the race course from first to last getting along and letting their hair down was what appealed to me the most. I was drawn in from that event, and instantly hooked, knowing this class was about to be a big part of my life for the years to come. That is where it all started, I was no longer interested in the 505, the Waszp, Lasers or anything else – I wanted to give the Sharpie a proper go!
After missing out on the last South Australian nationals in Adelaide in lieu of the 505 Worlds in Fremantle, the next Sharpie Nationals I took part in was Mounts Bay in 2019/20, which involved us taking the Rocket Fuels (N812) across the Nullarbor to Perth, where we gave it everything. During the event though, we realised that an ageing hull, regardless of how well it had served us to that point, was what was holding us back from taking the next step in the class – so we needed to find a new one. One of the primary challenges for new people entering the class on a budget, especially when they are eager to cross tacks at the front of the fleet, is the condition of older boats. There is a need to support all our manufacturers so they can supply more boats and components and help drive the price of good second-hand boats down. Make that first step easier, and I’m convinced the class would accelerate even faster than it already has.
From the nationals in Perth, I was fortunate enough to form newfound friendships with Blackers and Fish, who had just started sailing together on The Trippa Snippa at that event. They introduced Steve and I to an opportunity to upgrade to 917, after Anthony Mitton expressed interest in upgrading to a brand new platform.
This marked a genuine turning point for Steve and I. The upgrade didn’t simply make the boat faster or improve boat handling, it changed how we spent our time. With fewer hours lost to maintenance and uncertainty in the hull, we were able to focus on racing and training, and that clarity bred even more confidence. In the end, it was the freedom to sail more and tinker less that lifted our sailing to another level. As many in the class know, older boats can still be highly competitive, as ours once was, but stepping onto an improved hull took us to a level we couldn’t have reached prior.
Being from Canberra puts a target on your back. I don’t believe many people from elsewhere in Australia take you as seriously. It’s the way it’s always been and it’s the way I’ve always felt, whether that’s in Sharpies or any other class. After a year off from the uncertainty of COVID, the Sharpie Nationals were then held in Canberra, which was a huge opportunity for our home fleet. I was sailing my new N917 – ‘Bangin Sheets’, and as it was a home event, I placed a lot of pressure on our team to succeed as we had a new boat and had put the time in. Unfortunately, Steve was a late withdrawal after going down with COVID on Christmas Day, and we also snapped our mast a week beforehand. I spent Christmas Day that year fitting out a new mast and re-splicing everything to ensure we would be ready to go.
A last-minute call in the lockdown period was made to Andrew Reed – a veteran sailor here in Canberra who was always someone I respected immensely. He came onto the sheets, while our regular sheethand Edward Molony stepped onto the wire to replace Steve. The practice race at that nationals I think was the first time Reedy and I sailed together, and with Ed also stepping into a new role on the boat, which threw a massive spanner in the works. We had a lot to learn and put together in a short space of time, but we made things work and managed to come away with third place behind Canberran Michael Forster and South Australia’s Jason Heritage.
The Canberra Nationals was my first time seeing a Yacht Lab boat in a true production form. The original prototype had caught my attention in Perth, though it carried a few personal touches suited to Rod Allen. Seeing Sassy Foods was different. It felt like a realisation of the production boat concept, and it triggered very serious conversations with Steve about upgrading quickly ahead of the Tasmanian nationals. I test sailed Blackers’ boat during that regatta, and again in Adelaide at the SA Summer of Sail a month later. With a little further encouragement from Blackers, the decision was made and the order was placed. While a new boat wasn’t strictly necessary, it did present an opportunity to both challenge ourselves, and contribute to the ongoing development of the class. The effort we invested from then on was significant, and without the support of Ross and Grant at Yacht Lab, Alex Blacker, and the Canberra Yacht Club, the outcomes and opportunities that followed would not have been possible.
After putting the new boat on the water for the Tasmanian nationals in 2022/23, and some minor setbacks on measuring day, we put everything we’d experienced to that point behind us and began the regatta on pace and with our full-strength crew. Reedy was now a full-time member of the team and had added a huge amount of value to our set up and boat speed, while Steve and I were also laser-focused and gelling well after a few years of racing together. We put together an extremely competitive series and found ourselves leading the nationals going into the final race, where we ultimately fell short to Blackers. It was bittersweet in some ways, given how close friends we had become with that team and the work we all did together to get two Yacht Lab boats to the front of the fleet. But as we licked our wounds in Hobart that day, it put fuel on the fire to convince ourselves that we were good enough to win, and that we weren’t just “some team from Canberra”.
Coming home from Tassie was inspiring. We saw the excitement it generated across New South Wales, with many sailors taking up or returning to Sharpie sailing from that point on. The Currys ordered a new boat from Yacht Lab, and Riley and his team returned as well. But it wasn’t until I heard it directly from the stalwarts and legends of NSW Sharpies that the true significance of our results hit me. None more so than the late Rick Shortridge, who as we all know took ‘Proud Aussie’ to the title in Yeppoon in 1994 – the last NSW boat to win outside its home state. Having Shorty at Yeppoon last summer was a special moment for the NSW team. Despite being in and out of hospital during the event, shaking his hand on presentation night was humbling, knowing he had witnessed a NSW boat win again in Yeppoon, 31 years after his own victory.
When it comes to how we sail as a team and set up our boat, our ultimate focus is to try to keep things as simple as possible. We focus on doing the basics well and also like to sail on feel, rather than using rigid settings and rigging guides. I’m not one for obsessing over marking settings – I sail by how the boat responds. My max upright setting on the rig is usually 25’10” and then we can move back as far as 24’10”, but I just adjust constantly rather than setting and forgetting. I believe every lap is an opportunity to tweak things based on how the boat feels in the moment, and the conditions you’re racing in.
As Reedy and I have gotten older, and me perhaps a bit fatter, we no longer like to be a team that sails aggressively and tries to wrestle the boat around the course. Instead, we play to our strengths and focus on making sound tactical decisions while feeling the boat and constantly tweaking things to ensure we’re going as fast as possible. Systems like jib barberhaulers and in-and-out controls have been moved back to the control box, which gives us more ways to depower or power up the boat as needed, without having to unnecessarily shift our body weight around.
At the end of the day, a Sharpie can be as technical as you want it to be, but for us and I think many others in the fleet, simplicity is key. Having strong and reliable systems that hold their position and don’t shift under pressure is what allows us to find strong pace in almost all conditions.
While it was quite sad for Reedy and I not to have Steve up front in Yeppoon given the success we achieved, the extra time he was able to spend with his young family last summer cannot be underestimated. In the same way, I can’t thank Harry Fisher, his wife Emma and their family enough for taking the time out of their lives to come and sail with us in Yeppoon. We shared a house, spent some amazing quality time together behind the scenes and walked away from it all with an even deeper friendship and memories that will last the test of time – which is truly what sailing this class is all about.
To everyone competing in Port Lincoln, good luck and great sailing – and if you’re doing your first Sharpie carnival this year, I urge you to soak up every bit of it – I am sure you’ll end up just as hooked as I was.
Noah Taylor
2024/25 National Champion
