Port Macquarie Sailing Club

15-2-26

PORT Macquarie Sailing Club’s race 6 of the Summer Series was held on Sunday after the final race of the NSW State Arrow Cat Championships had concluded, using the same course. The light Easterly wind had been fickle all weekend, and while it did come in a bit for a lot of the race, it swung to the North East and died away as the race concluded. With many members working all weekend to run the Arrow Cat Championships, the light breeze forecast, and overcast skies with threats of showers, only 5 monohulls contested the race, the Arrow Cats not racing as they were having their presentation. Dave Winter did the safety boat duty for the fleet. The course was 3 laps consisting of a work to a Port buoy A off Settlement Point, a very loose reach across to a Port buoy B in the mouth of Limeburners, a long run against the tide to a final Port buoy C across the river from the Governors Way canal, and a work to the start/finish line to complete the lap.

The Monohulls saw Jeff Walsh in his Impulse ‘Serenity’ win the start to soon be overtaken by Simon Gandy and Logan McNeill in the NS14 ‘Upbeat’ with Steve Couch in his Laser ‘Lazybuoy’ not far behind. ‘Serenity’, with ‘Lazybuoy’ still close, managed to keep in site of ‘Upbeat’ right to the finish, so once the yardsticks were applied, ‘Serenity’ took the win, ‘Lazybuoy’ was second, and ‘Up beat’ was relegated to 3rd place. Dave and Hudson McNeill in their Tasar ‘Toy of Joy’ were a late starter and lagged behind the 3 leading boats only to be becalmed half a lap from the end and unable to finish. Gary Herbert in his Laser ‘Allegro’ was busy doing the results for the Arrow Cats, but being keen for a sail, joined the fleet after the first lap then ended up capsizing in the start of the shallows of Big Bay and not finishing – he didn’t even get any oysters while he was there.

By Jeff WALSH