NOWRA Community Sailing Club contested heat four of the Bomaderry Bowling Club point score and heat three of the Kel Campbell Championship on Saturday afternoon.
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The wind was very similar to the previous week varying from five to 10 knots from the north-east to the south-east.
The tide, however, was a very fast run-in tide for the first half of the race then slowing down as the tide got closer to reaching its peak.
Four boats lined up for the race.
Young Cameron Hertzberg returning for his second race in his laser No More No Less and Cameron (Cam) Phelps returned after all his recent scouting and kayaking adventures sailing his spiral Green Titan.
Also sailing again this week were Wayne Norris in his spiral Never Satisfied and Steve Phelps in his spiral Moving Along.
Mick Fairbairn was stuck on the road for work resulting in a rare sailing miss for him.
With the fast run-in tide, the southern side of the river was the optimal side of the river for the start.
Cam, Steve and Wayne all crossed the line in close proximity with young Cameron just behind.
The first three boats stayed close for the first tack across the river with Wayne just pulling ahead however all four boats then took different routes for the remainder of the leg up to the top mark.
Steve just managed to round the top mark ahead of Wayne, then Cam with Cameron a bit of a distance back behind after a quick swim.
Soon after completing the first lap, an error by Steve quickly relinquished the lead to Wayne and Cam jumped into second.
Positions remained the same for the second lap with Wayne opening up a small lead from Cameron and a couple of boat lengths back to Steve.
During the run on the second lap, all competitors noticed young Cameron in a little bit of difficulty in the strong current in the channel near the bridge.
The race was paused while all sailed over to Cameron to ensure he could safely sail away from the very fast-moving water under the bridge.
A few minutes later, after Cameron was back on the course, and with a recommended adjustment to his sail setting, the race continued with participants roughly leaving a gap similar to where they were before the pause.
Over the next few laps, Wayne slowly increased his lead, Cam and Steve battled for second place and young Cameron, with his re-adjusted sail was more stable and easily handled the conditions.
The battle for second continued throughout the race with Cam sailing well holding his father out for most of the race other than for a short period in the fourth lap where Steve briefly held the position before Cam quickly maneuvered his way back to second.
The race finished after nine laps with Wayne crossing the line first.
At the top mark of the final lap, Cam got stuck on the wrong side of a short wind shift allowing Steve to sneak ahead to finish in second and Cam taking third only a few seconds later.
Young Cameron completed the race again picking up valuable experience and showing further improvement.
For the Bomaderry Bowling Club point score handicap, the winner was Cam with Wayne in second, Steve third then Cameron.
The winner for the Kel Campbell Championship was Wayne with Steve in second, then Cam and Cameron.
Next week sailors will return for point score heat five and club championship four.
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