With the annual Bootie Bootie Cup on Wallis Lake cancelled this year, Port Macquarie Sailing Club’s race committee came up with a special event for this weekend: the WT Cup. The first race started in a strong run-out tide with very patchy 8 knot breeze that could not decide on a consistent direction making it a psychologically challenging morning. One mark in particular caused a lot of frustration with a lucky puff at the right time helping some boats, while others struggled. Several crews freely admitted to being happy enough to hit the mark and take the penalty rather than continue to fight the conditions.

In the monohull division, Warren Sykes in Runamuck took the yardstick win followed by Stuart Symons and Paul Robertson in Elmo, Roger Shipton in Zazoo, Martina Holt in Spellbound, Steve Couch in Lazybuoy, Terry Howard in Ratz, Simon Gandy and Zoe Copeland in Up Beat, Steve Bohlsen in Interceptor and Andrew Richards in Impulsive.

In the catamaran division, Rohan Nosworthy on Return made the most of every puff to cross the line in front of Dion Carle on Sacaramouche, Tony Kuhn on Stella and Scott Witchard on Hummer.

In the junior division, Charlie Nosworthy in Vitamin C took the yardstick win in front of Drake Houghton in Yin and Oliver Houghton in Yang

After lunch, the winds came up to the forecast 13-15 knots, predominately from the south, with some gusts up to 20 knots bulleting through from unpredictable directions due to the buildings and trees on the southern shore. A longer course was set with one buoy interestingly hidden in the canals adding to skippers stress levels with boats going in and out of the narrow opening while dealing with both the conditions and traffic in a confined space.

Runamuck took a second win in the monohull division, followed by Impulsive, now skippered by Paul Robertson, Ratz, Up Beat and Elmo now with Oliver Houghton as crew. Zazoo, only just back in the water after a broken mast, had a repeat dismasting and did not finish. Lazybuoy, Interceptor and Spellbound also failed to finish the race withdrawing citing safety concerns with the combination of course and conditions.

The catamaran division recorded very similar results in the second race with only Stella and Scaramouche trading places.

In the junior division, Vitamin C recorded another victory, followed by Aiden Nosworthy in Red Herring, Ziggy Ewart and Riley Armstrong in Intrepid, Baerin, Jo and Harriet Houghton in Britannia, and Kieran and Andrew Copeland in Puffin. Grady and Liz McNee in Better than Ballet returned to the beach with some rudder problems and then crewed with Alice McNee on Zax, which also unfortunately did not finish, along with Yin and Yang.

Some juniors gear including wetsuit, boardies and rashies was found left behind at the end of the day. These have been stowed in the clubhouse office and can be picked up next Sunday.

Next week will is another double-header consisting of Race 3 of the Summer Series starting at 11am, and the 5^th Club Championship starting at 2pm. A barbecue lunch will be held between events. Jack Corthals is rostered on duty.