Windy Winter Sprints for Busy Bees
After a busy morning's work getting the club in shipshape ready for the new season and with gusts of over 30 knots being recorded on the Harbour, there was nervousness in the air for the afternoon's racing. The briefing was delayed by 30 minutes as we waited to see if it was going to build even more.
The morning activities combined with strong winds meant only a small Radial and 4.7 fleet turned out, but a strong contingent of Standards made it to the start line. The course was set, and the brave ones took on the elements as racing started at 1:30pm.
David Airey won the first Radials race and then decided it was faster to spend the second race upside down for an extended period (see image below). Harper Spacey showed the Radials how it was done with first in the next two races. And Julian Doumit came home strong in his 4.7 to win the fourth race (despite spending the first race making on-water repairs with help from the second support RIB)
In the Standards it was close matches between Campbell and Zander for top spot, with Campbell taking two and Zander one. A personal highlight of the day was seeing both of them wipe out around the bottom mark as a huge squall came through, which opened a gap for Tuddy to take the win in the fourth race. We were setting up for a fifth race, but everyone else had other ideas as they set sail for the club. There were some high speed runs and plenty of wipeouts all day, but congratulations to all those that took on the elements and won.
Thanks to Jim Dounis, Rob Blum, Robert and Sara Bruce for their help on the water. Also, a big shoutout to two of our youth sailors Olivia Aitken and Pat McLachlan who joined us on the start boat and took charge of the flags.
Scott Hunter (PRO)
