It was a great day for sailing when Batemans Bay Sailing Club held the sixth Bay Cup race of the season. The BBSC committee boat "Dave Magill" was still out of action with engine woes so the Davey family generously lent their runabout "Shlaaam" to the club for the day. There was a delay for an hour waiting for the sea breeze to fill in against a prevailing hot nor'wester.
Race officer Terry Paton and his trusty sidekick Andrew Bain set a pin end favoured startline for the six yacht fleet. "Accolade" (Lachlan Brown) got the best start and led around the top mark in Chain Bay with "Attitude" (Simon Byrne), "Wishful Thinking" (Simon Dunlop) and "Moonmist" (Tony Sutton) closely bunched behind. Approaching the leeward mark off Caseys Beach the wind backed as the nor'wester took over. The "Accolade" crew had a character building interlude as she got caught in a hole while "Wishful", "Attitude" and "Moonmist" sailed past just to windward in 15 knots of breeze. "Sail La Vie" (John Drummond) and "Cool Change" (Richard Dunne) were only a short distance further back.
The nor'wester turned the race into a soldier's course so there was little opportunity for overtaking. The breeze was characteristically full of gusts coming from various directions which made helming and sail trim a challenge to say the least. Due to the delayed start, the race was shortened after the second lap of the course. "Wishful" stayed away to cross the line first, but "Moonmist" was just behind and won the race decisively on PHS and AMS.
Full results are up on the BBSC website www.bbsc.org.au. The next Bay Cup race will be held on February 25th. .. with thanks to Terry Paton for the photos
Wishful Thinking
Sail La Vie and Cool Change
Cool Change
Moonmist
Sail La Vie
