Port Macquarie Sailing Club members enjoyed some good winds for the last official races of the 2023-24 season on Sunday. Races 8 and 9 of the summer series were held in 13-15 knot southerly with some larger gusts and a fairly strong run-out tide.
With the wind directly behind, there were some nervous moments launching from the beach causing a queue that resulted in some crews being being late to the start line.
Thanks to the breeze, the fleet was quickly around the first mark, but the second was located in a hole that required some planning to be far enough past the mark to allow the tide to carry the boat around. Unfortunately, Steve and Lucy Bohlsen in Interceptor, tangled with the buoy on each lap.
Downstream to the third mark with the tide, was so quick that several skippers forgot the briefing and rounded the mark in the wrong direction. Jeff Walsh in Serenity, and Mitch Dawson in Impulsive returned to the mark to round in the correct direction. Stuart Symons and Esra Mert in Elmo were too keen to keep their leading position and continued on regardless.
The return trip saw several gusts that ended abruptly and it was difficult to avoid falling in backwards as the gust died. Impulsive succumbed to this effect and full of water returned to the beach instead of continuing.
In the monohull division, the elapsed time result was: Elmo, Simon Gandy and Caroline Pierre in Voyager, Serenity, Interceptor and Steve Couch in Lazybuoy.
The catamarans were conspicuous by their absence with only Frank O'Rourke sailing on Zero and enjoying some time on the wire for what feels like the first time since Christmas.
Juniors also competed on a shorter course with Adam and Samuel Smith in Puffin finishing first followed by Edward and Chloe Smith in Flying Fish and Dave and Logan McNeil in Nomad.
After lunch the course was extended to add some short work legs, and wind and tide conditions remained very similar with the southerly behaving changeable as it moved around trees and buildings on the southern shore.
Yardstick and handicap results were identical with Serenity finishing in front of Voyager followed by Elmo, Impetuous, Lazybuoy and Interceptor.
Again, Zero accumulated the points for the catamaran division uncontested.
There may be an attempt to run the Summer marathon after it was postponed twice because of light winds. Keep an eye on the Club's Facebook page for updates.
Officials are now tallying up the results in preparation for the annual presentation night to be held at the clubhouse on Saturday May 4th.
