Classic finish to the sailing season.
Saturday was the last official sailing day for SIBYC 2020-2021 season and thankfully the weather gods were kind. A week earlier it was looking like we could hold the race on the roundabout outside the Spar, but thankfully for all of us we didn’t suffer as badly as some communities’ further north and we wish them a speedy recovery.
With 20 boats registered to sail and 19 making it out onto the water, it was an 11am start in Jewfish Bay for the longest passage race in the SIBYC calendar. With our regular committee boat away on other duties, it was Kingston Lady with Shawn and Garry on starting duties for the first time, and they did an excellent job, in a light and variable WNW breeze and even managed to get all the flags up the right way and in the right order!
It would be a one tack work around the Kangaroo Point Cardinal mark and then down into some very light breeze in Swan Bay. Black Sheep showed their sports credentials by leading the way, but with some stiff competition from the fleet of Ross 780’s and the ever competitive Magnum of Todd Curry, Nirvana 7. The second half of the fleet was either the smaller boats or the more “relaxed” crews. Newcomers, Beagle (David and crew), having their first visit to the basin, put in a commendable effort in unfamiliar waters and were in good company amongst some much larger boats.
With the wind variable, but still with us and even starting to build a little, it would be the first of many Spinnaker legs, down into home bay (sadly no time to stop and call into the Cooee Pub), back out around Garden Island, then into “Ernies”. With the breeze still building a little and swinging a little to the west, it meant that the back boats could stay in touch with the leading pack.
Final mark was up into Erowal Bay off Wrights beach, then a long work back to the finish in Jewfish Bay. Black Sheep would take out line honours in just over 2 hours and 20 minutes elapsed, with the slowest (and smallest) boat Ruby, last to finish in a little over three hours. It would all be down to handicaps for the “official results” but the main aim for this event was to have fun, and we think everybody was a winner by that criteria.
As ever there would be no point in holding these events without the visiting boats so a big thank you to all Skippers and crew for making the journey to visit, but also thank you to all the club boats for a good showing at the end of a long season. Finally, a thank you to the event organisers and committee members for helping to run the event:
Louisa – Event organizer and stress bunny.
Shawn – Race management and photography
Garry – 2IC committee boat, horn blower and acrobatic dismounts from a vessel (10/10 from the Russian judge)
The crew of Backchat (Steve, Jan, and Mark, assisted by Graham and Rhonda) – Catering
Greg and Ben for course management and buoy wrangling.
Scotty – Social Media
Fitz – Number crunching.
Thank you as ever to the RSL for the Venue and staff.
Full results are available on the website but on the podium:
CBH – 1st Fly Navy Too, 2nd Nirvana 7, 3rd Rosterred Off.
PHS – 1st Ruby, 2nd Two Up, 3rd No Name (you know who you are).
