Thankfully the forecast was completely wrong for Saturday with the howling southerly never materialising, much to the relief of the eight yachts that lined up for the Outside Course (handicap start) and Sparrowfest (our committee boat ably commanded by Phil and Ray).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was still a southerly but only 5–10 knots (more on the 5 side) and very shifty which made it very challenging to sail in.
Optimist (Sandra and Darren) were the scratch boat, so were first off at 1pm, with HooRoo only 2 minutes behind.
There was then a six-minute gap to Equinox (Ken, Janette and Graham), Fly Navy Too (Greg, Ronda and Annabel), Son of Coco (Paul and Lynne) and Tingaround (Andrew, John and Gary) who all started within 2 minutes of each other.
It was then another 10 minutes before Southern Cross (Greg, Lynne and Bill) started with Salty Tiger (Scotty and Mel) bringing up the rear.
As previously mentioned, the wind was fluky which made the works a real challenge particularly for those in front as they had no hints as to what the wind was going to do next so just had to go with it, those further behind had the advantage of seeing what happening to those in front and then making tactical decisions based on that.
HooRoo, Equinox, Tingaround and Fly Navy Too got past Optimist on the first work and HooRoo was first round the top mark with the others in hot pursuit.
HooRoo managed to maintain the lead during the next two downwind legs but was eventually passed by Equinox, Tingaround and Fly Navy Too during the second work.
The downwind legs were very pleasant but did not offer any passing opportunities.
It was upwind where the opportunities lay, particularly as half the time it seemed that yachts only a few feet apart seemed to be sailing in completely different wind! Very frustrating.
There was more overtaking on the third and fourth upwind legs though nobody was able to reel in Equinox as they continued to increase their lead over Tingaround throughout the race, eventually winning by seven minutes from Tingaround.
It was very close for second with Fly Navy Too closing in on Tingaround but not quite able to catch them, crossing the line in third only 44 seconds behind them.
Southern Cross was fourth, again the course not quite long enough to allow them to catch Fly Navy Too, crossing just 90 seconds behind them.
HooRoo was next followed by Son of Coco and Salty Tiger and there was a Division 2 win for Optimist (or an 8th in Division 1).
As always thanks to Phil and Ray on Sparrowfest. Our next race is an Inside Course Scratch start on Australia Day, and we’re now less than two weeks away from our Regatta on February 2-3 (for details please go to our website www.sibyc.com.au).
PBH Results: 1st Equinox; 2nd Tingaround; 3rd Fly Navy Too; 4th Southern Cross; 5th HooRoo; 6th Son of Coco; 7th Salty Tiger; 8th Optimist.
