Last weekend was a great weekend to go sailing when Batemans Bay Sailing held the annual "South Coaster" keelboat regatta. The light breezes made for some tactical racing over the course of the two races. Progress was slow at times, but things never quite degenerated into competitive boat parking. Race officer Andrew Bain and his trusty
sidekick Terry Paton shortened both races appropriately to suit the conditions.
On Saturday things didn't begin well aboard "Accolade" when pigeons were discovered breeding inside the boat, necessitating a pre race cleanup. "Accolade"(Lachlan Brown) still got the best start at the boat end of the line. However, "Moonmist" (Tony Sutton) was going
faster upwind and sailed away on the work up to the Toll Gates.
"Wishful Thinking" was skippered by Canberra sailing legend John Tracey on the day, but along with "Attitude" (Simon Byrne), they went the wrong way up the first work and fell well behind. "Accolade" got past "Moonmist" under spinnaker on the reach to Wimbie Beach, but
"Moonmist" stayed close enough to win on PHS. The smaller boats "Horizon" (Michelle Grybaitis) and "Avior" (Peter Patterson) as well as "Attitude" headed home early.
On Sunday Peter Smith skippered his RL24 "Yaminji" in the non spinnaker division. "Accolade" and "Moonmist" were both over the start line early and had to go back. "Moonmist" got back faster and was soon back in the lead. "Wishful" (Simon Dunlop) fell behind on the reach to Chain Bay but nearly caught back up on the next leg when the spinnaker on "Accolade" got snagged on a forestay clip. "Moonmist" had already flown the coop and sailed on to an impressive victory. "Accolade" held off :"Wishful" on the run to Wimbie Beach. "Yaminji" scored a convincing win in her division.
Full results are up on the BBSC website www.bbsc.org.au. The next BBSC keelboat sailng event will be the Kosciuszko Cup on February 5th.
Above: Simon Dunlop and the Wishful crew were chasing the pigeon fanciers aboard Accolade, but Moonmist (centre of picture) had already flown the coop.
Above: Peter Smith and Michelle Grybaitis sailing Yaminji to victory in the
non spinnaker division. Photos: Terry Paton
