Last Saturday was a great day for sailing when Batemans Bay Sailing Club conducted the annual John Boyes Memorial Broulee Race. There was a 15 knot seabreeze blowing which got the boats to Broulee and back in just over 3 hours. A total of 8 yachts went out including “Avior” (Tony Sutton) and “Out Wide” (Peter Schwarz) which accompanied the racing boats. Race officer Dave Magill and his trusty crew aboard the committee boat “Clarence the Clocker” set a pin end favoured startline. The start was closely contested with “Attitude” (Simon Byrne) getting in a position to be able to hold the other boats out beyond the port layline on the first short upwind leg to the Marine Park Middle Mark. She narrowly led “Wishful Thinking” (Andrew Bain) and “Accolade” (Lachlan Brown) on the reach to Black Rock. From there to Burrewarra Point the reach was broad enough to set spinnakers. “Accolade” was unable to drop their jib when the top of the sail somehow got clipped onto the spinnaker halyard. The three Adams 10.6 yachts each hit speeds of 14 knots coming across Broulee Bay. At the rounding mark off North Broulee, “Attitude” maintained her lead from “Wishful Thinking”, “Accolade”, “North Star” (John Drummond) and “Ghoster” (Dion Perrins). The Accolade crew were able to drop both the spinnaker and jib, undo the tangle then rehoist the jib without losing too much ground.
It was then hard on the wind to Burrewarra Point and hence Black Rock. The wind was veering progressively which enabled “Accolade” to sail through to the lead by holding a more offshore course on starboard tack compared to “Wishful” and “Attitude”, who may have also snagged some seaweed. “Accolade” maintained her lead on the reach to the finish at Caseys Beach to win by 90 seconds from “Wishful Thinking” with “Attitude” a further 7 minutes back. “North Star” was a further 40 minutes back while “Ghoster” took an even cruisier approach. The AMS placings mirrored the line honours results while on PHS “North Star” had done enough to win from “Accolade” and “Wishful Thinking”. In Division 2 “Hobo” (Peter Withington) had a convincing victory.
