Port Macquarie Sailing Club members wondered if they would be able to sail the first of two races on Sunday as they rigged up in a very light breeze.
With a fairly short course planned, the fleet started into the last of the run-in tide, and found the wind starting to come in as predicted, but wavering between easterly and nor’easterlly causing frustration for some.
Steve Bohlsen, sailing solo in Interceptor took line honours in front of Simon Gandy and Chloe Smith in Voyager, Jeff Walsh in Serenity, Stuart Symons and Ben Blomfield in Elmo, Steve Couch in Lazybuoy, Tony Walker in Deep Purple and Reid and Tyler Lucas in Britannia who celebrated completing their first race.
In the catamaran division, Scott Witchard on Hummer lead Dave Winter on Spica.
After lunch the course was extended for the Ted Kuhn Cup. The outgoing tide well and truly kicked in and stirred up a bit of chop against the wind which had also come in stronger. By the end of the race it was very reminiscent of last week’s 18-19 knot nor’easter.
Lazybuoy was first to pull out after a couple of capsizes before the race start. Not long after the start, Interceptor figured out there was too much wind for sailing without the extra ballast of a crewmember. Elmo made a late start, but was also quick to discover the conditions were a bit tough and also withdrew.
At the head of the fleet, Jim Kerrison and Deb Stening made a strong start until a breakage sent them back to the beach leaving Paul Robertson and Adam Smith to take over the lead all the way to the finish line. Warren Sykes in Runamuck put in some hard work to finish next and it will be interesting to see how the yardsticks pan out. Serenity and Roger Shipton on Zazoo were next on elapsed time. Simon Gandy, now with Edward and Samuel Smith, had some unscripted action that sent them back to the beach with a torn mainsail unable to complete the event.
In the catamaran division, Frank O’Rourke on his newly re-christened Zero was out in front for the first lap or so before a run-in with the mud flats caused some damage in the rudder area causing another withdrawal. Jack Corthals on Crackerjack didn’t seem to mind taking the lead and was followed by Tony Kuhn on Stella and Hummer close behind.
Next week will be Handicap Start Race 2 starting at 2pm Simon Gandy is rostered on duty.
