It was a big weekend on the water for Port Macquarie Sailing Club, starting on Saturday with many locals calling in for Discover Sailing Day that was held jointly with the Port Macquarie Yacht Club and Sailability. The fun continued on Sunday with the third handicap start race of the season.
As usual, the handicapper had everyone starting at different times with the aim of getting a close finish at the end of the race. The early starters took off down river into a nice 9-10 knot nor’easter with a strong run-out tide behind them. Dave Winter on Spica was first away for the catamaran division followed by Tony Kuhn on Stella and Frank O’Rourke on Zero was the scratch boat.
Rob Barwick in Impulsive led out the monohull fleet that also included Steve Couch in Lazybuoy, Stuart Symons and Ed Smith in Elmo, Martina Holt in Spellbound, Simon Gandy and Chloe Smith in Voyager, Terry Howard in Flying Dragon, Paul Robertson and Warren Sykes in Flembouyant, Jim Kerrison and Deb Stening in Death Defying Too which was the scratch boat for the monohulls.
A storm cell passing to the north killed most of the breeze for the second lap leaving many competitors wondering if the shortened course flag might make an appearance, but eventually some rain fell and brought back the wind allowing everyone to finish the race.
In the catamaran division, Stella and Zero were able to catch up with and pass Spica, but there was not enough time for Zero to close the distance with Stella.
The result for the monohull division was: Impulsive, Lazybuoy, Elmo, Flying Dragon, Flembouyant, Voyager, Spellbound, and Death Defying Too.
Next Sunday is the last double-header for the year, consisting of Spring Series Race 8 starting 11am and 3rd Club Championship starting 2pm. Dave Winter is rostered on duty.
