8-2-26
THE Port Macquarie Sailing Club was to hold Race 3 of the handicap start series on Sunday, but without the start times, held race 5 of the summer series instead. It was sailed in an easy North Easter that eased a little during the afternoon on a warm day under an overcast sky. Simon Gandy and Lucy Bohlsen in the safety boat set a nice course with a work from the start to a Port buoy off Settlement Point, a reach across to a Port buoy in the mouth of Limeburners, a long run to a Starboard buoy off the Governors Way Canal, a loose reach across to another Starboard buoy on the North side of the river half way up to the Hibbard Ferry, then a work back finish the lap at the start/finish line off the clubhouse.
The Arrow catamaran division had 3 starters for their 4 laps. Frank O’Rourke on ‘Zero’ had a reasonable lead in the first half of the race, but Jack Corthals on ‘Crackerjack’ put the pressure on in the second half of the race to finish only 23 seconds behind ‘Zero’. Tony Kuhn on ‘Stella’ was 3rd. This was good practice for these Arrow cats as they will be competing in their NSW State Championship here in Port Macquarie next weekend.
In the Monohull division, the highlight was the now common race long battle between the Impulses. Jeff Walsh in ‘Serenity’ led the start, but by the end of the first lap, Terry Howard in ‘Flying Dragon’ and then Rob Barwick in ‘Drift’ eked past. ‘Flying Dragon’ was leading into the 3rd and last lap but Terry’s troublesome neck injury forced him to retire. ‘Drift’ opened up a 2 minute lead over ‘Serenity’ by the end of the race to take the win. Lucy Bohlsen had her Flying 11 ‘Popcorn’ rigged to race, then had second thoughts, so her Dad, Steve, jumped at the chance to race the boat, finishing 3rd.
Next week our club is hosting the NSW State Arrow Cat Championships over the weekend. Saturday’s racing will start at 1pm and Sunday’s racing will start at 11am. It is hoped to get 3 back to back races sailed each day. Our club members will be assisting in running the races.
We hope to run our club race next week after the Arrow cats finish their racing. It will be race 6 of the Summer series starting at around 2.30pm.
By Jeff WALSH
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