The last race for Port Macquarie Sailing Club’s 2023 calendar, Race 9 of the Spring Series, started at the top of the high tide with a fresh southerly, promising tricky conditions with the wind expected to shift and change around the trees and building on the southern shore.
While a late lunch delayed the start for Paul Robertson and Kelly Witchard in Flembouyant, it didn’t take long for them to work through the fleet for line honours in the monohull fleet. Simon Gandy and newcomer Steve Waters in Up Beat also performed well crossing the line second, but were pulled back into line by yardsticks.
Jeff Walsh in Serenity started out wide to take advantage of cleaner air, and didn’t put a foot wrong for the entire race. In the middle of the fleet, Roger Shipton in Zazoo and Stuart Symons and David Plumb in Elmo had quite the battle going throughout the race with Steve Couch in Lazybuoy not too far behind. Andrew and Kieran Copeland in Big Bang picked a challenging day to get back onto the water after several weeks away. Lucy and Steve Bohlsen in Dorado also braved the conditions but completed only one of the event’s three laps.
One lonely catamaran division entrant took to the water: Scott Witchard on Hummer clearly enjoyed the long reaching course and brought home the points.
Yardstick results for the monohulls saw Flembouyant in front of Serenity, Zazoo, Lazybuoy, Up Beat, Elmo and Big Bang. With handicaps also applied there was a shuffle of positions: Serenity, Lazybuoy, Flembouyant, Big Bang, Elmo, Zazoo and Up Beat.
There is no race on Sunday. Sailing will resume on Sunday January 7th with Race 1 of the summer series starting 2pm. Stuart Symons is rostered on duty. Have a happy and safe Christmas!
