Sou’westerly winds and a strong run-out tide combined to create tricky conditions for the last round of sprint races at Port Macquarie Sailing Club today. The terrain caused plenty of wind direction changes that were complicated with intermissions of both gusts and holes.
The catamaran fleet started first with Frank O’Rourke on Turbo and Jack Corthals on Crackerjack getting away quickly while Rob Barwick was caught unprepared at the start. A barbeque boat and fishing tender tried to even things out by causing Turbo and Crackerjack to take evasive action, but a lack of fitness after several weeks off saw Drift withdraw without finishing. Turbo crossed the line first followed by Crackerjack. The cats were quick enough to get around the 2-lap course and thereby got a second race in with the same result Turbo then Crackerjack.
In the monohull division, competition was strong with Roger Shipton in Zazoo, Warren Sykes in Runamuck and Terry Howard in Flying Dragon vying for the lead at the pointy end of the fleet with Simon Gandy and Zoe Copeland in Up Beat and Jeff Walsh in Serenity keeping close, while the others watched in frustration as the leaders increased the separation.
Runamuck crossed the line first, followed by Zazoo, Flying Dragon, Up Beat, Serenity, Mitch Dawson in Impetuous, Steve Couch in Lazybuoy and Andrew and Kieran Copeland in Big Bang.
Drake and Oliver Houghton in Sailfish and Stuart Symons in Puffin both completed one lap.
Steve Bohlsen in Interceptor and Andrew Richards in Impulsive didn’t start.
Unfortunately, due to the length of the first race, a second race was not held for the monos. And, after lunch, the wind was dropping as the tide was increasing, so the remaining sprint races were cancelled.
There will be a double-header next week with Race 6 of the Summer Season starting at 11am and the 6th Club Championship starting at 2pm. A barbeque will be held in between races. Scott Witchard is rostered on duty.
