Welcome to the S&S 34 Association homepage. You can find out more about the 34’s in the Technical pages. You can see what others think in the News and Articles pages and you can she what a great pedigree the S&S 34 has by reviewing the Members List and some of their accomplishments. The Grapevine is the email newsletter of the Assoc. and the Notes From Afar details the cruising trips untaken by members. Members can also ask questions and share their knowledge in the Discussion Forum.

The FSC Valmadre Winter series is now over, with both of the 2 S&S 34s competing having a podium finish. Blondie won Div 2 IRC (and also 3rd in the State Championship series which involved 2 extra short course races) and Le Jag was 2nd in Div 2 under YAH. The series was sailed under light conditions in Divisions with no overall winner, Continue reading →

The 2012 AGM of the S&S 34 Association was held at Fremantle Sailing Club on Sunday 8th July. Minutes are now available, please click here to read them.

The Association notes with deep regret the abandonment of the well known east coast S&S 34 “Morning Tide” of Byron Bay early on 12th June 2012. Details are unclear but a combination of engine failure, rig problems and severe weather conditions with huge seas and 45-50kt winds forced Allan and his crew member Sara Crozier to abandon Morning Tide. We believe that the yacht was taking on water and may have sunk subsequent to the rescue. We do not have any up to date contact details for Alan, but if any assistance is needed the Association is very happy to do whatever we can. For the ABC News report, please click here.

The 2012 Commodores race was held at FSC on 6th May. Congratulations to this year’s winner Seashell. It has taken a while to gather the results and photos, but here they are. For the race report and results, please click here Towards the bottom of the race report page is a Picasa link with around 100 photos.

Mike Finn has been awarded the Sparkman and Stephens Challenge Cup for 2012. The Challenge Cup is awarded at the AGM to the yacht that in the preceding year, secured a class or overall win by the greatest percentage corrected time margin relative to the next placed yacht, in either an offshore or around the cans race. Mike raced Constellation in the 2011 Iberia race to Busselton. In the words of the judges: “Mike won The Fremantle to Busselton Iberia Race in 2011 with an impressive margin. Constellation won her IRC division 2 by 33 minutes plus overall IRC 1 & 2 divisions by 3 minutes, a terrific performance.” It was indeed a great performance, beating the top performing highest tech custom offshore racers in Western Australia, capped off by then winning his Division in Geographe Bay Race Week. I believe that Mike has accepted the invitation from the Sparkman & Stephens Association to travel to Denmark to receive the award. For the full results, please click here.

RPYCs iconic 235nm Cape Naturaliste race, the longest regular ocean race in Western Australia started 30/3/12, contested by 25 yachts representing the cream of the WA ocean racing fleet.  Blondie once again showed that a well sailed S&S 34 is more than a match for any racing yacht by winning Div 2 on both IRC and YAH handicap, and coming second outright on IRC and YAH.  For full race results, please click here. For a race report, please click here.

Both Jamie and Jessica recently had their Life Memberships presented on separate occasions at RPYC. For report on Jamie’s presentation and photos click here. For a report and photos of Jessica’s presentation and sail on board Blondie click here.

Five S&S 34s participated in the Easter “cruise in company”, although unfavourable winds led to the decision to cruise down to Dawesville with an overnight stop in Warnbro rather than north to Lancelin as originally planned. Although the weather on Sunday wasn’t great and cut things short a little , a good time was had by all. More such events are planned as time and weather permit. We will get up the inside passage to Lancelin eventually!

For a full report and photos please click here.

The November edition of Australian Sailing features a 4 page article on the S&S 34, written by Bernie Kaaks. It focuses on what makes this such a remarkable design, still competitive in racing (now under IRC) 40 years after the first boats were launched. It is an article featuring the new S&S 34s rather than a simple boat test, and may be another good reason to buy a copy of the magazine.