Another afternoon of superb sailing conditions greeted Port Macquarie Sailing Club members on Sunday for the 5th race of the 2023 Summer Series. Another nice nor’easter with 13-15 knots and a few larger gusts was recorded, but with the tide approaching a high, there was none of the chop that created rough conditions last week.
With everyone keen to get on the water, rigging problems proved to be a downfall. First to fail were Jim Kerrison and Deb Stening who were not able to compete due to some missing pieces. Shortly after the start, Elsa Gandy and Zoe Copeland in Up Beat returned to the beach to fix a slipping halyard and lost about 8 minutes, but did well to claw back some of that time during the race. The rigging hat trick was Terry Howard in Flying Dragon who was dismasted half-way around the first lap. It is suspected that during rigging a shackle was twisted that later came free and loosened the rig. Fortunately, nothing was damaged (other than pride).
Warren Sykes in Runamuck continued his winning run in the monohull division yardstick results. Paul Robertson and Andrew Copeland in Flembouyant came second followed by Roger Shipton in Zazoo, Simon Gandy and Chelsea Copeland in Voyager, Mitch Dawson in Impetuous, Martina Holt in Spellbound, Steve and Lucy Bohlsen in Interceptor, Stuart Symons in Puffin, and Elsa Gandy and Zoe Copeland in Up Beat. Terry Howard in Flying Dragon did not finish.
With handicaps applied, results were: Interceptor, Impetuous, Puffin, Runamuck, Flembouyant, Voyager, Zazoo, Spellbound, Up Beat.
In the catamaran division, only two constants took to the water. Tony Kuhn on Stella was happy to get back on the water after a few weeks off by doctor’s orders. Dave Winter on Spica also enjoyed the great sailing conditions on the day. Stella took the win on both yardstick and handicap.
Next week will be Handicap Start Race 7 starting 2pm. Roger Shipton is rostered on duty.
