Mid-week practice is the secret to success for Rob Barwick who won the 6th Handicap Start Race in Impulsive at Port Macquarie Sailing Club on Sunday during a busy day of sailing on the Hastings River.
Earlier in the day, an impromptu Junior Regatta was held over three races featuring crews from Urunga, Queens Lake and Port Macquarie Sailing Clubs. Edward and Chloe Smith from Port Macquarie claimed the win in a very close competition. Tara Warren and Ruby Beauchamp, visiting from Urunga, finished in second place, with team mates Kara and Tara Smith coming third. Lucy Bohlsen from Port Macquarie and Sid Ayriss from Queens Lake teamed up and finished in fourth place. 
It was great to see so many junior sailors on the water and hopefully some more friendly competition can be arranged with other clubs on the mid north coast to encourage participation in the sport of sailing.
The main event of the day for the more “senior” competitors was the last handicap start race of the season. The busy activity of the day with the junior regatta left very little time for the usual banter and exchange of financial incentives with the handicapper for favourable start times.
In the monohull fleet, Impulsive set a good lead lead and used the upwind legs to maintain the gap. While hesitant to sail after a few weeks off, Martina Holt in Spellbound was quickly back into swing of things passing Steve Couch in Lazybuoy before the first mark. Flying Fish, skippered by Terry Howard also carved a path through the early starters. 
Stuart Symons and Esra Mert in Elmo had a great afternoon on the water as did Jeff Walsh in Serenity. Scratch boat was Warren Sykes in Runamuck who was also in fine form and didn't have any problems navigating most of the way through the fleet.
Simon Gandy, sailing solo in Up Beat, was making great progress through the fleet, caught up with Elmo and had sights set on the next conquest. But unfortunately, too little time and care when rigging resulted in the halyard not being secured effectively and the main started to slide down the mast. By the time corrective action was taken on the mud flats, those hard-fought victories were now half a lap ahead.  
Final result was: Impulsive, Flying Fish, Spellbound, Elmo, Runamuck, Serenity, Up Beat, and Lazybuoy.
In the catamaran division, Tony Kuhn on Stella, and Scott Witchard on Hummer sailed a competitive race with Stella able to come out in front. Dave Winter on Spica enjoyed the afternoon, and there wasn't enough time for scratch boat Zero, skippered by Frank O'Rourke to make up the distance. Final result: Stella, Hummer, Zero, and Spica.
Next Sunday is the last race day of the season featuring Summer Series Race 8 starting at 11am and Race 9 starting at 1pm. Scott Witchard is rostered on duty.