Race 2 of the Sailing the Bay winter series conducted by the Batemans Bay Sailing Club was sailed last Saturday 19th. As expected for May was the forecast of light winds and the Bay delivered accordingly, a day of two moods – one , a frustrating start and then an exhilarating sail to the finish.
A good roll up of 7 of the 9 registered yachts gathered at Casey’s Beach with the horn blast at noon signalling the official start time from which all the boats would take their different handicap start times. However , the nightmare for skippers struck – no breeze which left the first four boats severely handicapped , drifting. In fact all four boats were still below the starting line when “North Star “ crossed at 1220 in a zephyr.
The light breeze began to build 6-13 knots from a NW-NE direction enabling all yachts to finally be under sail in improving conditions . The smooth waters changed later in the race to a covering of white caps with the wind strengthening.
In the second leg of the course, Square Head to Wimbie Beach , “Outwide” ( a Thompson 650 Sports with a sailing weight of about a tonne) sailed into the lead under a gennaker , followed by “Xanthia” ( trialing her new carbon genoa) then “North Star”. The rest of the fleet were now challenging the Bay course in the appealing autumn weather.
Maiden race entrant “ Charlie Barr III” sailed by Mel and Colin Stone were impressive and will be a threat when her new large blue and white gennaker is unfurled ! She kept in touch with the proven performer “Ghoster” . Meanwhile “Horizon” ( skipper Michelle Grybaitis , crew John Clement and Jane Elek) were duelling with “Eirene” (the Greek Goddess of Peace) and the positions changed a number of times ( that’s enjoyable sailing!).
“Outwide” skippered by Peter Schwarz and Pip Smith with crew Neil Starmer and Rob Way were first to finish in an elapsed time of just under 2 hours. “Xanthia” crossed 12 minutes later and “North Star” another 4 minutes back ( with the starting offsets).
The final placings : “1 Outwide; 2 Xanthia; 3 North Star; 4 Ghoster; 5 Charlie Barr III; 6 Horizon; 7 Eirene.
Above is the winner “Outwide” - Photos provided by John Drummond.
Next race is on 2nd June with a pre-race briefing at the Batemans Bay Marina at 9am. Race 4 is on 9th June .
Crew availability. People wanting to crew are to attend the briefing when a position will be allocated on a boat if available.
Boat entry for a single race is available and visiting skippers are most welcome.
Further details on www.bbsc.org.au - Winter series.
