We could not have asked for an easier day’s sailing. On arrival at 10:30am the lake looked calm but gradually an 8 or 9 knot breeze filled in from the SE. The temperature was ideal – a very comfortable 24°C. It was absolutely perfect weather for sailing, mind you, this is the totally biased view of a wannabe A Class sailor.
We had 5 big cats arrive for the rescheduled Club Championship Race 3 combined with Point Score Race 22.
Missing in action were Les Porter (on grandfather duty), and Kurt Griffiths who (rumour has it) is now a proud owner of a Nacra 16 Sq. That’s great news indeed for all - and especially Paul English who was missing closer company on the water.
The port course was set with the windward mark set towards Primbee, the wing mark near the entry to IYC and the bottom mark about halfway between Gooseberry Island and the clubhouse.
At the start, everyone got away cleanly on starboard tack with the F18 TJM sailed by Tim Makepeace and David Zhara tacking away to port first and heading towards Mt Warrigal. This paid off as there seemed a tad more pressure on the right side at the time. TJM led around the top mark by about 50m from Phantom and Symphony 2, followed by Rob and Josh on Shark Bait and Paul English on Playtime. When TJM’s big purple spinnaker went up it looked like it was going to be a case of “shut the gate the horse has bolted”. But sailing can be a cruel sport and I’m told the spinnaker halyard kept slipping through the cleat. This ‘wardrobe malfunction’ cost Tim and David valuable time until they found a fix. It certainly allowed the other big cats to stay in touch and make a tighter race of it.
On the first broad reach the big cats starting passing the small cat fleet. I was happily surprised to see Jody Mathews racing neck and neck with Tony Sanderson. Congratulations to Jody who really has stepped it up a level and is now getting well acquainted with her sailing mojo.
Another strong performer among the small cats was Billy Ledger on his Nacra 14 Sq “Billyo” who somehow managed to hold off the big cats for one and a half laps! Well done Bill!
In the big cats, the lead changed several times with Phantom Menace, Symphony and TJM all taking turns at the front. Bob and Rose Porter on Phantom Menace showed good overall speed upwind and downwind. Symphony seemed to have the best of it upwind but was no match downwind for the F18 once the spinnaker was working.
Finally, TJM managed to get away on the last run and convincingly won by 45 seconds from Symphony 2, with Phantom only 50 seconds behind. Fourth and fifth place over the line was Shark Bait and Playtime, respectively.
When Jody came charging through the finish ahead of Hugh Lewis a small fanfare ensued with Billy Ledger leaning on his car horn and many sailors cheering her on. It was a great moment for everyone.
Next week is the last official race of the season and it’s CC8 for Big and Small Cats – don’t miss it!
Also, if anyone is interested we plan to sail on the Anzac Day weekend – weather permitting - with Denis Baker bringing his foiling A Class. Anyone wanting to sail is welcome to join in.
And finally, the format of the racing results has changed to include a race-by-race breakdown of the Small and Large Cat Championships and Point scores. I hope you like the extra detail which includes Back Calculated Ratings and Back Calculated Elapsed Times.
PS. If your name is strangely missing from the overall results it is not because we don’t love you because we do. It’s because we are nearing the end of the season and those that have not completed 6 Pointscore races or 4 Championship races have to be excluded from the results – otherwise the results will be wrong. Come and see me if you need more details.
See you all next week for the final race of the season and Club Championship 8!
We had 5 big cats arrive for the rescheduled Club Championship Race 3 combined with Point Score Race 22.
Missing in action were Les Porter (on grandfather duty), and Kurt Griffiths who (rumour has it) is now a proud owner of a Nacra 16 Sq. That’s great news indeed for all - and especially Paul English who was missing closer company on the water.
The port course was set with the windward mark set towards Primbee, the wing mark near the entry to IYC and the bottom mark about halfway between Gooseberry Island and the clubhouse.
At the start, everyone got away cleanly on starboard tack with the F18 TJM sailed by Tim Makepeace and David Zhara tacking away to port first and heading towards Mt Warrigal. This paid off as there seemed a tad more pressure on the right side at the time. TJM led around the top mark by about 50m from Phantom and Symphony 2, followed by Rob and Josh on Shark Bait and Paul English on Playtime. When TJM’s big purple spinnaker went up it looked like it was going to be a case of “shut the gate the horse has bolted”. But sailing can be a cruel sport and I’m told the spinnaker halyard kept slipping through the cleat. This ‘wardrobe malfunction’ cost Tim and David valuable time until they found a fix. It certainly allowed the other big cats to stay in touch and make a tighter race of it.
On the first broad reach the big cats starting passing the small cat fleet. I was happily surprised to see Jody Mathews racing neck and neck with Tony Sanderson. Congratulations to Jody who really has stepped it up a level and is now getting well acquainted with her sailing mojo.
Another strong performer among the small cats was Billy Ledger on his Nacra 14 Sq “Billyo” who somehow managed to hold off the big cats for one and a half laps! Well done Bill!
In the big cats, the lead changed several times with Phantom Menace, Symphony and TJM all taking turns at the front. Bob and Rose Porter on Phantom Menace showed good overall speed upwind and downwind. Symphony seemed to have the best of it upwind but was no match downwind for the F18 once the spinnaker was working.
Finally, TJM managed to get away on the last run and convincingly won by 45 seconds from Symphony 2, with Phantom only 50 seconds behind. Fourth and fifth place over the line was Shark Bait and Playtime, respectively.
When Jody came charging through the finish ahead of Hugh Lewis a small fanfare ensued with Billy Ledger leaning on his car horn and many sailors cheering her on. It was a great moment for everyone.
Next week is the last official race of the season and it’s CC8 for Big and Small Cats – don’t miss it!
Also, if anyone is interested we plan to sail on the Anzac Day weekend – weather permitting - with Denis Baker bringing his foiling A Class. Anyone wanting to sail is welcome to join in.
And finally, the format of the racing results has changed to include a race-by-race breakdown of the Small and Large Cat Championships and Point scores. I hope you like the extra detail which includes Back Calculated Ratings and Back Calculated Elapsed Times.
PS. If your name is strangely missing from the overall results it is not because we don’t love you because we do. It’s because we are nearing the end of the season and those that have not completed 6 Pointscore races or 4 Championship races have to be excluded from the results – otherwise the results will be wrong. Come and see me if you need more details.
See you all next week for the final race of the season and Club Championship 8!
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