Port Macquarie Sailing Club members optimistically rigged up in light westerly conditions at the top of the high tide on Sunday for the first double-header of 2023 consisting of Summer Series Race 3 and 4th Club Championship. With no other catamaran competitors for the first race, Frank O’Rourke decided to try his luck in an Impulse and compete in the monohull division instead of taking home the guaranteed summer series points.
Naturally, as the race started, the wind eased and saw many competitors drifting backwards before the wind came back more southerly but still in patchy 5-6 knot bursts. It took the fleet 15 minutes to round the two upwind marks and even with the tide assisting, the going was slow.
At the third mark, the fleet was still remarkably close, but different strategies soon separated the boats as crews fought the strengthening tide and dwindling breeze. Eventually, the planned three lap event was sensibly reduced to just one.
At the pointy end of the fleet Martina Holt in Spellbound and Frank O’Rourke in Impulsive battled it out with Spellbound crossing the line first. After Impulsive, Simon Gandy and Brian Doorey in Voyager snuck in front of Jeff Walsh in Serenity to cross the finish line next, but were pushed back down the fleet by yardsticks that awarded fourth place to Terry Howard in Flying Dragon, then Steve Couch in Lazybuoy, Voyager and Tony Walker in Deep Purple.
With handicaps applied, results were: Spellbound, Deep Purple, Impulsive, Lazybuoy, Flying Dragon, Serenity, and Voyager.
As the rain fell during lunch, competitors kept a keen eye on the wind which didn’t seem to improve, so with several crews calling it a day, the Club Championship planned for the afternoon was called off.
Since Thursday is Australia Day, a special event was planned at short notice: The Commodore’s Cup will start at 1pm and may consist of one or two races depending on the conditions and opinion of those entering the event on the day.
The next regular Sunday event will be Sprint Races 16-20 starting 2pm. Jeff Walsh is rostered on duty.
