It turned out to be great conditions for getting back into sailing after the Christmas New Year break. It was great to see everyone again, and to welcome back Serenity. Wayne McKinnon tells me she will turning up more often now his Sydney to Hobart sailing commitments have tapered off.
We had four starters line up to enjoy today’s fantastic conditions, Serenity with Wayne, Joel, Dale and Richard Hipsley aboard, Bluhart with Arthur and Frank aboard, The Blonde with John and Ray aboard and Frou Frou with Daniel, Pete, Ian and me aboard.
Thanks to today’s duty crew of Jack Kroek supervising Digger and Leo, usually sailing Grey Fox. They set a great course that kept us on our toes in the puffy 15-20 knot North to North Easterly breeze. Usually the North Easterly comes in strong and consistent at this time of year but today was different with lots of gusts and dead spots around the course.
From the start there appeared to be two separate TY races with Frou Frou covering Serenity up the first work and Bluhart covering The Blonde.
Frou Frou led around the first mark by a small margent to Serenity. We had some trouble holding the boat down in the gusty conditions and could have benefitted from having extra weight aboard. Although having a few spinnaker issues Frou Frou was able to hold on to her lead heading up the second work. However a quick glance astern to see Serenity smoking up the second work gaining lots of lost ground in the process. I have heard some unkind people say that Richard is good for adding considerable stability but I am sure it is sailing talent possesses not just righting moment that he contributed to Serenity’s improvement in up wind speed. Frou Frou put some distance between Serenity on the downwind legs only to watch her catch up again on the works.
From our perspective Bluhart and The Blonde were having the best of the racing, still only a short distance apart approaching the final leg home to the X mark and finish line. I think the Blonde was giving some performance away with their floppy headsail setup but am told this will be on the list to correct prior to the next race.
Final positions across the line were Frou Frou, followed by Bluhart, The Blonde and Serenity.
Final Places for Pointscore 13
Places Boat Name Corrected time PBH (minutes)
First Serenity 105.81
Second Frou Frou 111.40
Third The Blond 112.00
Forth Bluhart 112.30
Remember no Sailing next Saturday. The IYC Australia Day race on Sunday starts at 12:30 pm