The last day of summer dawned foggy and stayed that way well into the morning thanks to nil wind. It didn’t look promising for Port Macquarie Sailing Club’s Harold Dick Marathon. Sailors gathered and argued to and fro until a couple finally agreed to 2 short social races and eventually others also caved in to peer pressure.

Instead of putting out the buoys for a formal course, it was decided to start from the beach (Le Mans style) and race around two of the channel starboard markers and back to the beach to decide how to proceed for the second race.

Chris Thompson, visiting from New England Sailing Club, in Another Kelpie, Terry Howard in Ratz and Roger Shipton in Zazoo got off to an aggressive start with the (very) high tide just starting to run out and a gentle 7-10 knot south-easter. Steve Couch in Lazy Buoy, Martina Holt in Spellbound and Dave Winter on Spica were also close behind while Ziggy Ewart and Riley Armstrong in Equalizer struggled with their centerboard and Simon Gandy in Flying Fish came to a sudden halt when his centreboard found the rocks as he cut the corner after leaving the beach.

By the first mark Another Kelpie continued to edge out Zazoo. Spellbound magicked up a few places by pointing higher and not even needing to tack on the first leg. Around the mark and in the shallows against the tide, Spica took the lead thanks to her slimmer waistline. Flying Fish also put her spinnaker to good use claw back a few positions.

Final line honours went to Spica followed by Another Kelpie, Zazoo, Spellbound, Ratz, Flying Fish, Lazybuoy and Equalizer.

The same course, but with two laps was decided for the second race. The start and first leg were almost identical to the first, but without the problems for Flying Fish and Equalizer.

The second mark sorted out the skilled (or extremely lucky) as Spica and Zazoo just squeezed past the mark to start the second lap as the wind dropped and the rest of the fleet were left to battle the tide for what felt like half an hour, but was probably 10 minutes just to get around the buoy.

The light breeze came back in to complete the second lap, but with Spica on the beach and Zazoo finished and almost home to the canals, the rest of the fleet was racing from the last mark across the now fast flowing tide back to the finish line (the yellow no powerboat buoys near the beach). As the closely placed boats approached the line, the wind dropped and while drifting on the finish line, the river pushed everyone (apart from Flying Fish) past the beach backwards and into another unrequested lap (which was a marathon given the conditions) just to get back to the clubhouse.

Final results across the line for race 2 were: Spica, Zazoo, Equalizer, Ratz, Another Kelpie, Spellbound, Lazybuoy and Flying Fish.

Next week will be Race 7 in the Handicap Start Series starting at 1:30pm. Roger Shipton is rostered on duty.

It is hoped a rescheduled marathon will be held later in the season. An updated program will be published when it is organised.

Steve Couch – Publicity Officer

0417 667 879

publicityofficerpmsc@gmail.com