Champagne Sailing
Finally a steady 10 knot south-easterly breeze greeted the 10 boats that went out to race the first Inside Course of the season, the third overall race of the season. It certainly made a pleasant change after being blown off the water the week before! This was the first time an Inside Course was a windward-leeward course.
The race got underway on time at 1pm with a clean start by all, though with the line biasing the committee boat end of the line those manning committee boat may have had few nervous moments with some coming very close to it on the start!
The racing was tight all around the course with Southern Cross (Greg, Lynne, Bill and crew) , Pass the Port (Paul, Lynne and Rhonda) and Lowana (Glen, Gary and Ken) having a fantastic tussle up the front for line honours with lead changing regularly. Next came Fly Navy Too (Greg and Rhonda) and Fun (John Aney and crew), who were again changing places regularly for the 2 to 3 legs of race. Fly Navy Too eventually managed to pull out a small lead on Fun which they maintained for the remainder of the race, despite the constant challenge from Fun. Not far behind them Backchat (Steve, Jan, Daniel and Mark) and Bay Blues (John, Steve and crew) were never more than a minute or 2 apart throughout with HooRoo (the Roo crew), Cheeky Chick (Robyn and Liz) and Serendipity (Dick and crew), very close behind and who ended up separated by just seconds!
With only 15 minutes separating first and last boats, it was an emphatic win for Cheeky Chick on PBH, congratulations ladies!!
Line honours go to Southern Cross, with Pass the Port a very close second, then Lowana, Fly Navy Too, Fun, Backchat, Bay Blues, HooRoo, Cheeky Chick and Serendipity.
PBH results: 1st Cheeky Chick, 2nd Serendipity, 3rd Fun, 4th Fly Navy Too, 5th Backchat, 6th HooRoo, 7th Bay Blues, 8th Pass the Port, 9th Lowana, 10th Southern Cross.
Next week is a no sail week as it is the Jervis Bay Challenge and the first race of the Southern Zone Series. There will however be a race on Thursday which will be the postponed race from 10 Oct 13, the Gate Start 1. The next weekend race will be on 9th November and will be a windward/leeward, handicap start Outside Course.
