Despite an ominous forecast, 5 Batemans Bay Sailing Club yachts headed out on Saturday afternoon for the second Bay Cup race of the season. Race officer Terry Paton ventured forth with Andrew Bain in Andrew's runabout with plans to shorten the race and head in if the forecast southerly change arrived early.
The boats sailed a short upwind leg from the start to a laid mark near Square Head. "Moonmist" (Tony Sutton) won the start with a daringly late run at the line. She led "Accolade" (Lachlan Brown) narrowly on the first two legs before disaster struck when the spinnaker got
caught around the forestay. The "Moonmist" crew just got the kite down before the leeward mark but didn't have time to get the headsail set, allowing "Accolade" through.
From there "Accolade" gradually sailed away with enough margin at the finish to win on AMS from "Moonmist" with "Wishful Thinking" (Simon Dunlop) in third. "Xanthia" (James Gardiner) put in another impressive performance to beat the normally much quicker "Wishful Thinking" over the line and win on PHS. Ron Spelman was perhaps a little spooked by the forecast and had his yacht "The Shed" well reefed down at the start, but in the end a gentle N/NE breeze prevailed and the big southerly didn't arrive until much later."
"Xanthia"
"Wishful Thinking"
