Sailing News

Brown, Lone Survivor

Veteran skipper of Div2, Stephen Brown, displayed his mastery of strong wind conditions to end up the lone survivor when five other boats failed to complete their course. The howling easterly was at its worst with a steady 32 knots and the odd gust up to 34kn.

Two Div1 yachts were very tardy starters with Murray Deere in Wild One beginning several minutes ahead of Murray Howson in Sitting Bull in their King George Sound race. Deere, who was still leading coming back into the harbour, couldn't contact Howson by radio to suggest a shortened course so retired from the race not knowing that Howson, so far behind, had the same idea. Radio contact between yachts and the start box in all fleets needs to be rectified to prevent incidents like this.

Div2 opted to sail a harbour course rather than a KGS one. Geoff Oliver began well with Excitabull but sailed an incorrect course. Josh Hughes in Joker and Stephen Brown in Mary Maitland were fairly evenly matched and were slugging it out. Karen Timmins in Grey Moose had problems with reefing the main and chose not to start, using the time as a training session as she and her crew had not much experience in such winds.

Joker and Mary Maitland were still locked together until Hughes hoisted a spinnaker and it looked all over for Brown as he was sailing JAM (Jib and main). However, Joker had a nasty stuff up with her sails and lost so much time to Brown that it was another retirement. Brown was now the only skipper left on the water and the start box crew invoked the mercy clause and shortened the course. This is the second occasion this season that Brown has been the sole survivor in a race.

Picture: Mary Maitland, with a skeleton crew and skeleton sails, wins easily.

Race Day photos

To see more of Des' photos, including some contributions by others, see the links below.

Walpole in the Trees Regatta 2020

The Walpole Yacht Club is again looking forward to hosting the Walpole in the Trees Regatta on the Labour Day long weekend, Saturday 29 February and Sunday 1 March, 2020.

The Regatta programme includes five races over two days and is open to the following:

All off-the-beach dinghies, Trailer Sailers (JAM only) and Catamarans
Any shallow draft keelboats, eg: Red Witch, Flying Fifteen
Any veteran off the beach yachts

The regatta is a safe, family-focused event to be enjoyed by all, and an ideal way to experience the beauty of the Walpole and Nornalup Inlet Marine Park.

The Notice of Race is available here and nominations open 1 January 2020 via www.walpoleyachtclub.com.au.