Sailing News

Fickle Winds Frustrate

Saturday's warm summer weather had its drawbacks when sailors found themselves either moving sweetly one minute and then becalmed the next in the flukey wind.

Practically every yacht in the four fleets in a harbour handicap start competition experienced the fickle breezes at some point of their race. The south easterly wind didn't get much over 10 knots and went down to zero in the lulls. Boats were floundering about at various times compared to the strong winds over the last month.

Div1 were smartly away with Harold Keay in Shagabull showing the way. Murray Deere, in Wild One, didn't take long to catch Shagabull but had a devil of a time to get past as his spinnaker collapsed and Keay was able to get away. It was not for long, however.

Murray Howson in Sitting Bull found the going rather slow for a quick yacht while Marco Giuntoli and Craig Anderson in Scappata found themselves grounded and becalmed near the start and were left far behind as they lost valuable time getting going again.

Wild One continued to lead after finding plenty of breeze and went on to win handsomely, taking the important Frank Reddin trophy in a great effort. Howson finished well to take second place and Harold Keay, again with a skeleton crew, took third place.

Two Vipers were in action and it was a close and exciting battle. Steve Dines in Fang was opposed to Michael Cameron in Bite Me and there were only seconds between them for much of their encounter. They were locked together, nearing the finish line, and Fang managed to slip away to win by the narrow margin of nine seconds.

Flying Fifteens saw Aileen Lucas in Crazy given a minute start from Simon Lucas in FForever Young and she was never headed, although her lead was chopped right down to thirteen seconds which was the winning difference. The light winds favoured the lightweight skipper but FForever Young put on a great display in getting so close.

Div2 had a fleet of seven and it was Geoff Oliver in Excitabull who was the outstanding skipper. He ignored the fact that he had a huge handicap and went on the chase to catch and pass the six others in the fleet. Josh Hughes, in Joker, gave him a bit of cheek and tried to match him under spinnaker and did quite well for a smaller boat.

Bob Giles, after a sluggish start, made up ground but couldn't catch the leaders. Excitabull won handsomely to take the Harbour Master's Trophy in a great display. Hughes did an outstanding job to finish in second place and Giles was happy with third placing with Footloose.

Picture: Geoff Oliver's Excitabull on its way to win the Harbour Master's Trophy on Saturday.

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.