SD Marine Winter Series Race 6 and the Le Hunte Cup, Sunday 28 July
Well, THANKFULLY, conditions for the last race of this year’s winter series were free of the apocalyptic fog of the previous one.
Conditions were very pleasant but light, with the Squadron’s RO, Darryl Emery, calling a short AP until he was satisfied.
Bowline had a great day to finish first on PHS in Div 1. Audacious sent half of their Port Lincoln cohort off to join Clockwork in the Sydney – Gold Coast Race and managed to not only record a start, but also a second without him. In third, the consistent crew on Outrageous, with the pink kite risen from the dead.
Also joining Clockwork in the Sunshine State were several members of the 3 Cool Cats crew – including the Skipper himself – obviously havingrealised they were unlikely to be missed at Presentations, and so might as well.
Nerana’s crew proved there’s life in the old dogs yet, and had a cracker of a race with an elapsed time considerably better than any of the other Squadron boats in Div 2 – enough of a lead to see them well ahead on corrected time for first on PHS.
Kevin Kelly has refined the Outrageous Performance Technique©, by not just serving warm-up rums but also rewarding with beers on the downwind legs. Passport came for a casual sail, bringing out the Big Guns from Quarante-deux as crew, which paid off to gain them second in PHS in Div 2. Divine Madness, fresh from the protest hearing held during the week, took third despite missing the start line on the first go and having to gybe around to get past the pin. No shade, though…Foundation 3 narrowly avoided the same fate in addition to being very late to the line!
The Race Committee wishes to acknowledge our sponsor, SD Marine – sincere thanks, Steve. Mucho gracias also to all the volunteers who made the race possible – the Most Excellent RO Darryl Emery, Brian Sutherlan Mr Wilbur), Geoff Beecham, Jasper Bowering, and the OG RO, Roger Oaten, for all his administrative work including SailSys. SPECIAL thanks to those on Protector who patiently waited for Foundation 3 to finish a mere 25 seconds before the 4-hour limit.
In AMS, results were:
Div 1: Audacious, Bowline and Outrageous
Div 2: Nerana, Take 5 and Freedom
Series placings were as follows:
Div 1 PHS: Audacious, Outrageous and Papillon
Div 2 PHS: Nerana, Freedom and – choo choooo! – Foundation 3
Div 1 AMS: Papillon, Outrageous and Audacious
Div 2 AMS: Nerana, Freedom and Take 5
If you were at presentations on Sunday afternoon and are confused by the results, no, it wasn’t the post-race bevvies - there were corrections needed later due to a glitch in the Matrix.
Nominations are now open for the Summer Series…head to the link to enter. Early Bird discounts currently apply!
Summer Racing Nominations — Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron (rsays.com.au)
By Jodie Roberts