Port Macquarie Sailing Club

ROB Barwick sailed his Impulse ‘Drift’ like there were a fleet of pirates on his stern, leading the way from start to finish and take the win in what was slated to be Port Macquarie Sailing Club’s first Handicap race of the season, but was eventually recorded as Race 2 of the Spring Series.

A nice 10-12 knot easterly was a welcome sight for sailors as they rigged up while Paul Robertson set the course with A and B marks suggesting a nice reach between Settlement Point and Limeburners, and a single downwind mark C near the canals west of the clubhouse.

With the season in its infancy, the handicapper was not sure about setting individual start times, so it was decided to use a class-based start with Impulse and Laser competitors starting first, followed by Tasers, then MGs and finally Catamarans with a 3 minute interval between each class.

Rob in ‘Drift’, and Steve Couch in his laser ‘Lazybuoy’ were first off the line. ‘Drift’ edged in front and simply extended the lead over the 4 laps of the race.

Visiting from Queens Lake Sailing Club, Derek Ayriss and Bob Dewar in ‘Rumpus’, and Stuart Symons sailing solo in ‘Elmo’ set off at the Tasar start, with Elmo finally getting past Lazybuoy in the last half lap of the race.

Simon Gandy and Sid Ayriss in their MG ‘Vamos’ learnt a lesson about double-checking the rigging when they attempted to raise the kite and found an unplanned tangle that let Steve Bohlsen sailing one-up in ‘Interceptor’ get the upper hand. After eventually sorting out the spinnaker halyard, the MGs ran a close race passing both Tasars and catching ‘Lazybuoy’ in the last half of the 4th lap.

Frank O’Rourke on his Arrow ‘Turbo’, had a lonely race with only one catamaran present for the day.

While not competing in the race, it was good to see Lucy Bohlsen was on the water gaining some experience sailing solo in her Flying11 ‘Popcorn’.

So, while the race provided the handicapper an opportunity to review competitors strengths and weaknesses for the next handicap race, an executive decision was made to apply yardsticks to the results and count this race as the Spring Series Race 2 in place of an earlier race that had been cancelled.

‘Turbo’ recorded the points in the catamaran division, while in the monohulls, ‘Drift’ took both line honours and yardstick wins. Yardsticks swapped ‘Lazybuoy’ to 2nd place, followed by ‘Interceptor’, ‘Vamos’, ‘Elmo’, and ‘Rumpus’.

Next event in the club’s calendar is Sprint Series Races 1-5 on Sunday starting at 10.30am. The usual format is 2 races, a lunch break, then 3 races. Stuart Symons is rostered on duty.

By Jeff WALSH