Race Report Saturday 3 October 2026

All photos by Scott Findlayson

SprinT Racing (October long Weekend)

We set an initial course early in the morning expecting a solid northerly, but as is often the case, the weather had other ideas. The first race got underway in quite light conditions and took around 25 minutes to complete. As the wind gradually shifted towards the north-east, it became clear that some adjustments were needed, so the course was rotated and shortened.

The wind built, and we managed to get in seven quick races for a beautiful day’s sailing.

An early challenge was getting the offset mark positioned correctly. In the early races with light winds there was much congestion at the top mark and unfortunately the race leaders needed to drive a path straight through a bunch of boats attempting a port lay line, which was a bit messy. But after a couple of fiddles, we got it right.

One thing that stood out all day was the excellent behaviour on the start line, with only one breach over the seven races.

We didn’t record race winners, but there were certainly some standout performances. In the Radial fleet, Andrew Cox was the dominant sailor of the day, consistently getting to the first mark first and holding off challengers like Roberto, Alistair and Charlotte. The Standard fleet was largely controlled by Campbell. Healy and Zander also put together strong performances and were frequently challenging near the front.

The decision was taken to curtail the racing at 4:00pm, ensuring everyone got ashore before the rain (and associated local flooding) hit. This was my first time as a PRO, and I was a bit nervous., but with great help from the support crew and great support from boats on the water the day turned out to be champagne-worthy.

- Scott Findlayson, PRO