The Port Macquarie Sailing Club held their 6th race of the handicap start series on Sunday, although numbers were down a little as some of the juniors are away at the CHS (Combined High Schools) regatta at Belmont on Lake Macquarie for the week, along with their families. The day started with no wind at all, and, as is common in autumn, there was much conjecture as to whether enough breeze would come in to enable a race to be run. Just at the crucial time, a little Easterly puffed in, encouraging the fleet to rig, and by race time, it had strengthened a little more. The breeze stayed in for the race, veering to the South as the race progressed. The race started on low water and a relatively slow run-in tide picked up during the race.
In the catamaran class, Dave Winter on Spica was the first boat to start, and had a magic run missing all the wind holes and sailing well to win by a large margin. Rob Barwick on Drift also sailed well to come second ahead of Frank O’Rourke on Dino and Tony Kuhn on Stella.
The monohull division was won by Rohan and Charlie Nosworthy in Water Rat after they spent all race slowly reeling in the fast sailing Martina Holt in Spellbound and finally passing her on the last work to the finish. Terry Howard in Ratz was next followed by Steve Bohlsen and Ed Molony in Interceptor, neither of whom could catch up in the light conditions.
Next Sunday is the Easter Cup with a midday start, a stand-alone race that does not contribute to any point scores, so time spent with families or away won’t affect things. No one is rostered on duty at this stage.
